A Happy New Year to all!

If any of you have been waiting with bated breath for the first post of 2019, I apologize for the delay; several great (and in a couple cases long-overdue) developments have recently come down the pipeline, thus keeping me away from Unbound for the past week or so. The exhilaration from these, and from the writing that's taken off the last couple of days, has become almost ride-like...and only one song seems to best fit the mood: Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf (Usual copyrights apply; I own nothing!)

Probably the best part of the recent "ride" is this, for those who haven't seen my recent Wordpress post: As of two days ago, my Civil War What-If draft Bloody Relations is officially in the works to be published by the Alternate History outfit Sea Lion Press! Since this will be my first true publication with any literary group (and novel-length at that), I've been torn between excitement and nervousness, and probably'll stay in that state all through the initial paperwork, editing, cover design, and official release (currently estimated around the halfway mark of this year). I'm expecting the formal offer email in the very near future; details to follow, as always!

I've also started (or in this case restarted) work on the first draft chosen for this new year: my Civil War/Cold War What-If Dixie Curtain, presently at or just beyond the two-thirds mark. Prelim work will be ramping up this semester, and when paired with a recent (welcome) job change, it's anybody's guess how much time I'll in fact have for writing (plus ca change, I know :D ), but I still anticpate finishing this novel in full by mid-March, and can let that stretch a bit if need be, in accordance with my "slow=better" philsophy for this year.

This attitude (and some helpful advice from other aspiring authors on Unbound) has also helped me rethink my update approach on this site. For the past year and more (in some cases doggedly), I've been posting every week, with and without tunes, and always with at least some tidbit of writing news, to where it felt like I was deluging the Internet for little response. Given the assured and likely demands of this year, and as a way of breaking out of an apparent rut, from this point on I will be cutting back on the updates, to either a monthly or biweekly basis. I'll still have music for backup on some of these, but for the most part it's back to basics: short and sweet, with just critical or especially noteworthy writing news, on Discarded or any of my other works. Drop me a line if you have any thoughts on this or anything else; otherwise, keep sharing, reviewing and commenting, and I'll see you again later this month (or early next)!