With the calendar changing over from the previous year to the current one, it gives me pause to think about what's lying ahead for yours truly. My day job has kept me rather occupied, as has home life. But in the final weeks of 2022, I was met with a bit of an inconvenience.
On November 11, 2022, I was walking home from a women's college basketball game, and crossing at a lighted intersection. Two vehicles were attempting to make a right turn at the same time I was crossing with the light. The two cars failed to yield to yours truly. While I was able to avoid the first car, I was not as fortunate with the second. Long story short, after going for X-rays a few days later, it was discovered the pain I was in from the incident was well-founded. I spent an overnight stay in a nearby hospital, and although I was still ambulatory, I ended up suffering a small fracture in my C5 vertebrae. It has been six weeks since that hospital visit, and I'm still wearing a neck brace for stabilization. At the time of writing this post, it is guesstimated I have another five-and-a-half weeks with it on. It has been a slight inconvenience, but I've grown somewhat accustomed to it.
That being said, I'm almost at the end of my current Christmas holidays from the aforementioned day job, with a return to work this coming Tuesday. One would think I would utilize the time off to rest, relax, and recharge. But instead, I've opted to do something I hadn't done in quite a while; write a new novella. The goal was to write a 20,000-word first draft in two weeks. With one day left in my self-imposed challenge, I am currently about 925 words shy of my target. I'm liking the story, about two college students in Florida who end up in a couple of the same classes together in their junior yeear, and embark on a relationship with one another. There are some potential trigger warnings involved with this story, so I'm considering uncrating the long-dormant "Dirty Red Cloud" persona for this one when I eventually release it.
2023 will house the first three of the four stops of what I'm billing as my "Farewell (For Now) Tour." Due to some personal initiatives, I'm suspending myself from doing any signings after what will be my final eventr slated for Kansas City, Missouri in February 2024. Before that, I will be making stops in Ann Arbor, Michigan in April 2023, the final edition of a Tampa, Florida event I've been part of every year since 2017 this June, and concluding my 2023 slate with a massive event in Salem, Massachusetts in September. If you're interested in seeing me at any of those stops, please come out and meet me, and my fellow authors at them.
In conclusion, although it's currently 18 hours after midnight here in Florida, I'd like to wish my readers and followers a Happy and Healthy 2023. May you find joy and enlightment in the words and pages you read in the upcoming months.
