Covid has cleared out of my system, and I'm doing a bit of writing catch-up.

A few months ago, I was interviewed for a magazine.

Two and a half years, and it finally happened. Covid found me.

You know what I like? Art.

It's an odd thing to move to a different landscape. Moving within a local area, you get pretty much the same, just slightly different views. Moving from Colorado to the Arizona desert, though, everything is different.

Moving 900 miles (1,400 km) sounds pretty straightforward, right? You just box up your stuff, hop in a vehicle, and make the drive.

I'm probably driving or last-minute packing when this goes out.

One week to go, and I'll officially be a desert dweller. I can't wait to get to the new place, get settled in, and get back to editing the novel.

Really, I can't wait.

I like to move quickly. Not just with actual, physical moves, but with many things in life.

Selling a house takes time, energy, and hard work. My spouse and I have been at it for three weeks straight. It's like having another full-time and part-time job on top of regular work.

Still working on the whole move across the country thing. This is the second time in my life I've done it.

Moving across the country is a lot of work.

I publish my newsletter via email. I post archives on my website, and I select a few from the archives to post on Reddit, Medium, and Vocal. No matter how often I look at an article, check the links, re-read it, etc. I always find something that needs a slight adjustment.

What kind of crazy world are we living in? Tae and I were trying to remember the name of the psychic phone networks advertised on TV back in the '90s, and as we were Googling, my browser autocompleted to "Dionne Warwick vs. Oreo."

I was typing up part of Absolution: Behind the Scenes and ranted a little bit, and thought I'd place it here in a blog, as it was a bit of a tangent away from the main topic. So, here's some context for you: You know those TV shows, films, and even books that tell you a writer banged out a new great novel over a weekend of booze and sex with strangers?

I keep seeing news about the shelling in Ukraine by Russia and can't help but think of how much life and legacy are being destroyed. Everything that people worked so hard to create, accomplish, and put into the world—gone in an instant.

An expert has comprehensive and authoritative knowledge on a subject or skill, but how do you know a person is an expert? I don't have a good answer for this. Often, it seems that there's a college degree plus years of experience, but what about things where such schooling doesn't exist?

The invasion of a sovereign nation should never happen, and my heart goes out to Ukraine and all of the people around the world affected and everyone trying their best to do what they can to help. I've been doing what I can with donations, spreading awareness, and contacting my representatives so they know my opinion. I don't know where all of this will go or where it will end up, but I know that I would like to live in a peaceful world.

While working on the second draft of my novel WIP, I noticed something that I didn't when I wrote the first draft.

Retelling a treasure hunt for the last part of Absolution was a big task. I was initially making a video but decided I'd want ample time to inspect and take in everything if I were viewing it. I played around with several ideas and eventually landed on a mix of lots of photos and narration from Zarina. I think it turned out well. I'm excited to start writing the Behind the Scenes, as there's a lot to show, and I've had years to reflect on the entire thing.

I love audiobooks but never imagined I'd make one. Honestly, I never really thought about it.

I think about this on and off whenever I come across a best-selling novel, popular TV show, or movie that I don't like—or when I stumble upon a fantastic gem of a story in any of those. There are plenty of theories about what makes a great story, popular ideas such as conflict, tension, surprise, well-developed themes, engaging plot, memorable characters, and so on. I don't think it's any of those, and I don't think there's a magic combination either.

I wrote and published a retro creature feature called Night of the Living Cake Monsters a while back. Despite the challenges of marketing a self-published work, the novella has gained a few die-hard fans.

I offered to read through someone else's first draft, and I'm about 1/3rd of the way through the story now. It's a unique concept, one I haven't seen before.