Hello, friends.

I am thrilled beyond words this week: I finally – for the first time in over 2 years – made my writing goal this week of at least 3 hours per day. Fuck, it’s so little, isn’t it? One hundred-and-sixty-eight 60-minute blocks in every week, but nevertheless, I am delighted this week I managed to get my ass in a chair in front of my keyboard for a solid 27 of them, making 101 hours worked so far in 2020, and 63,995 words written (probably just as many deleted, but screw it.) Pick your glass up, my friends, and make a toast with me for I am fucking jubilant.

Next goal is to make a steady 30 hours per week minimum for a solid month. I can do it. Wish me well.

In that 30 hours per week, I will be working on my draft.

Holy shit, I have a draft.

It’s crappy, it’s way too big (96K), but it exists. It going to be the best I can make it with what I have, and that’s going to be enough. I release into the universe my stupid ingrained beliefs that nothing I do is ever good enough because that is why I have a bushel of unreleased and/or unfinished books on my hard drive. This sucker is going out into the world. All that matters is getting another goddam book out and then another and then another and I will not stop.

I have a cover. Thank you Natasha Snow. Look! It’s all brooding and lovely.

I plan to have the book out in May, depending on the availability of my proofreader who I haven’t even contacted yet because I am still working on the draft and it’s still got to go to a beta-reader and I’m still pulling the extra overtime to pay for the proofreading. But it is coming and I am ecstatic and I will keep you updated.

In other news, I did not win $50 million last weekend, but if you needed more proof the Cosmic Joker isn’t just a theory, NZ’s second coronavirus patient visited my town the day she returned from Northern Italy, and so the chances of me getting COVID-19 turned out to be not so small after all. I’m fine though! *waves*  Daily life feels weird though. Half the night shift took Friday off work and hand sanitizer is sold out across the whole region. I got Dominos pizza for dinner tonight and the usually bustling car park was empty, and they only had two orders on the whole board, one of which was mine. It was the best Dominos I’ve ever had. Now I know how good Dominos could be if it wasn’t fast food.

You remember I’m 100% invested in Morgellons being a real thing, right? Well, there was a very interesting journal article published in Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology in February on a proposed classification system for Morgellons based on its being caused by a tick-borne Borrelia infection. The whole article is public access so you can download to read.

Be well, friends, and do what makes you happy this week. I am leaving you with Lady Gaga because this video has burrowed into my brain this week, exactly like a ludicrously neon pink Borrelia burgdorferi infection, and I am transmitting it to you. You’re welcome.