Interregnum¹

Portrait of a Scribe
Bartolomeo Passerotti
c.1560 (PD)

Those of you who have visited this page, should recognize the painting above. It is where I keep links to the historical fiction I have written, not all of it mind you as I quickly discovered that creating all of those links was rather time-consuming. As I am naturally lazy (I am a firm believer in Newton's First Law of Motion - at rest is my natural state), doing extra work is something I assiduously try to avoid. Which, you might gather, is interesting. If I spent as much time and effort doing something, as opposed to not doing something, I could probably get a lot more accomplished.

But to what end?

If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well.² But who decides whether or not a thing is worth doing? Aye, there's the rub.

Anyhoo, as noted at the end of yesterday's post, the first part of my prequel to Almost a Lifetime,³ is complete. It doesn't necessarily mean that the prequel itself is complete. As I leave Part One behind, it is December of 1941, Almost a Lifetime opens on the 2nd of June 1944. From New Year's Eve 1941 to 6 June 1944 is eight hundred and eighty four days. A lot of history between those two dates. Lots of stories to be told.

So I'm not quite sure where the Muse will take me next, but at least for a few days (weeks?) I shall leave the fictional writing "on hold." Something I desperately need to do is go through all of the great material my editors provided when I put the book out for review. Grammar needs cleaning up (unless it's a character speaking in some weird vernacular), spelling needs fixing (the whole "principle" versus "principal" thing of gestern springs immediately to mind), and there are other issues I need to clean up as well. (Can you say "holes in the plot?" - I knew you could.)

Now that last bit is work that I believe is worth doing well. After all, the end goal is to get published and perhaps enhance my revenue stream. It's doable, I'm sure, but the work has got to be put in.

I also need to compile the Prequel, Part One (for lack of a better name) to see just how long it is. If it's "long enough." then maybe it's a second book (in need of a title), or not. I could go back to work on my War in the Wild series, which petered out due to the writer's exhaustion with doing research and my own perception that interest in that particular series wasn't as high as I expected. (I require lots of hits and lots of comments to spur my not inconsiderable ego to keep working at something. I am, it must be said, rather self-centered at times.)

All that being said, things could change based on a whim, a soft breeze, or an inspiration from the Muse.

Stay tuned.

A while back I posted about some miniatures (Napoleonic) that I had purchased. I'm building up three armies: British, French, and Prussian. Discovered something that I just had to have ...

(Source)

Finally ordered them on Monday. I was informed that it could take up to four weeks for them to arrive.

Monday was the 17th, on the 18th I received notice that the package was on the way, from the UK. I figured, "That'll take some time to get here."

The package was in Indianapolis on the 19th, then it arrived on my doorstep on the 20th (today as I write, tomorrow as you read). To say that I was impressed is a bit of an understatement.

Well played UPS, well played.

So now Napoléon has his Guard ready to go into action, infantry AND cavalry.

Look out Wellington and Blücher, here we come.

Um, did I say "we"?

Why yes, yes I did.

Back tomorrow with something, whether it be fiction, ramblings, or fact, only the Muse knows for sure.

And she ain't telling.

Yet.

A bit o' Tull works for me at the moment ...

"As the white sea snaps,

At the heels of a soft prayer,

Whispered."

Now THAT is writing.

¹ Has multiple meanings, see here. You can choose the one you like. I'm going with #3, for now.

² Attributed to Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, 1774

³ The tentative title of my first book, suggested by one of the readers. I liked it, so I kept it. It's what you might call the "working title," but unless and until someone comes up with something better, it stays. And yes, I get to decide the definition of "better."