Insanity in August...

Well, it wouldn't be an August if things weren't going batshit crazy, now would they? Moving for the third time in two years, trying to finish a book, working a full-time job, starting up my second job again around August 22, working with a new artist... yeah, that's a full plate. Hard to believe there'll be any time for fun and games, but at least I've got that going for me. Going to a Steely Dan concert in a week and a White Sox game the following week. So there is that amidst the craziness.

Craziness and insanity, I would say, can be a good thing, albeit in controlled doses, and as long as it doesn't overwhelm you. Coercion was born in a time of great insanity and calamity and though I had to start over twice because various approaches weren't working, it did end up working and I suppose having something to focus on during a very difficult period of my life helped me enormously. Among other things, I got fired from one job for bullshit reasons, was basically homeless for ten days, and also had other minor problems that seemed to come up.

There is a purpose for everything, I suppose, and by the end of the production I came out of the situation scarred and hardened by the experience, but I also wound up going on the current direction that I am in my life right now.

I like to think this next month will be another transitory period for me. A chance to build off a stronger foundation for the future. With any luck, I will have a new cover for Coercion by the end of next week, which is when I am supposed to move. I should *knock on wood* have Avarice completed by the end of the month and in the final editing process. I'm not sure what the cover will look like yet, but I imagine it will be similar to the final design for Coercion, but with key stylistic changes that make it work well within the context of the story and its themes.

So, we'll see what happens. Sales have been on and off, more than anything. Like mood, some days just happen to be better than others. A new cover and a new book in the pipeline, I hope, will be the necessary ingredients to really get things moving.

But, like anything else, it just depends. I'm not religious in any strict sense, but I do believe that everything has a purpose. Hard to imagine a world where things happen purely by accident. Some things do, and some have a specific purpose.

The trick, if there is one, is to recognize when both happen and to take advantage of them.

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