No, I’m not beating myself up (well, not badly, anyway), but the last couple of months have been interesting. Interesting as in the old Chinese proverbial curse, “May you live in interesting times.”

I’ve been at work on getting Dear Josephine, Book Two of The Steep Climes Quartet, published, and since it had been my hard-worked plan to publish Dear Josephine in Spring 2024, I grew quite frustrated by delays. One big delay was my disappointment with my editorial service, which, admittedly, was good in some ways—good line editing and work against my tendency toward overusing past perfect tenses—but weak in other and very crucial ways, and most especially story editing, where, despite my specific instructions for the editor to look for cut opportunities, my subsequent pass through found 7,000 words to cut and I’m not through yet.

Sigh.

There was the triggering concern over proofreading quality, too, and once I finish my manuscript rewrites, there will be another proofreading sweep using a different and hopefully better service provider.

Still, the main delay came from the world of Presidential politics and the Biden/Trump debate debacle and the weeks that followed when Trump looked like he stood a real chance at the Whitehouse again. Since the first book, Kill Well, takes place in 2026 and the second book, Dear Josephine, takes place in 2029, and since my scenario assumptions are that Democrats would continue to gain—yes, yes, slowly—power in the executive and legislative branches,  for some nail-biting weeks it looked like I’d guessed (hoped?) wrong. The nail biting continues, albeit at a slower, less nibbling pace. I was thinking that a significant rewrite of Book Two would be required and that a revised edition of Book One would need to be queued if Trump prevails, and so I decided to look and learn, with fingers crossed.

Keeping one’s fingers-crossed is a requisite state in writing near future speculative books, especially, as in the case of The Steep Climes Quartet, when the work attempts to create a realistic and identifiable near future. Trump was threatening to trump such assumptions, and, yes, there are still cards to be dealt, but that gut-wrenching few weeks has eased.

It isn’t that I haven’t kept busy, including an exhausting but enjoyable stint providing bar service for a wedding that had nearly a quarter more guests show up than expected, but all is well that ends well. It doesn’t make it any easier that I’m a crafted classic cocktail guy who had created a nine-cocktail menu. I pulled it off quite well, by all reports, and I’m not begrudging myself the week or so recuperation period I needed.

There was public speaking, too, in August, adding to the talks I’m giving on the Future of Climate Change, and other work on lining up other such talks for 2025, when Dear Josephine is well out and about in the world. I’m looking forward to getting back to Book Three, Over Brooklyn Hills, already well underway and a sight more relaxed in that the action takes place in 2035, when, I’m pretty sure, Trump is unlikely to be a candidate.

I’ve missed my postings and the conversations these can lead to with readers.

So, I’m in the state of grace now and you should talk to me.