Life has been … chaotic lately. That’s why there haven’t been as many posts on other topics outside of Being a Better Writer.

For one, Starforge is kind of a big deal at the moment. Right now I’m in the middle of a massively important chapter that the series has been building toward since the very beginning, so writing other things (aside from Being a Better Writer) is a bit … distracting. Starforge is at the 75% mark, by the way. Next up is the calm before the big finale. So yeah, like I said, it’s tricky to even think about other writing projects.

Granted, I do have to think about other things, and there’s been a lot of distracting elements going on in my life lately. Like, for example, my landlord selling the place I’ve lived in for the last few years, and the general lack of any respect by the company handling it for things like “renter’s rights” or “those darn laws you’re not supposed to know about.” People showing up expecting to walk through the house with zero warning, many of the buyers being flippers who just immediately want to evict us (or think that upon buying the house, any and all contracts such as a year-long rental agreement are null and void so we have to leave that way) … The last few weeks have had that specter looming overhead, which hasn’t been fun. Especially when at any hour of the day we can randomly be given a phone call from our landlord saying “Hey, someone’s going to see the house in a few hours, so you need to be there.” That whole 24-hour notice thing required by law? The realtor actually seems to have convinced our landlord that the contract he signed with them allows them to ignore it.

Then again, that seems par for the course with this realtor. The few times people have asked after their name, I’ve gotten scowls and nothing but “Oh they’re the worst” stories, even from people who own homes.

Fun, right? America: Where laws are only for little people. The US featured in Colony and Fireteam Freelance was supposed to be a warning … and yet I feel like for too many people it’s becoming a guide.

The on top of that, book sales are whiplashing hard right now. Some days I’ll sell a bunch of copies, then other days just one … and then I’ll have a whole string of days without a sale at all. There seems to be little rhyme or reason to it as well; at least that I can find. So then there’s that hanging over things. Plus … well, I’m not going to drop all of my trials here, but these are three of the vastly escalating pile slamming over things.

Basically, life almost feels rudderless right now. It’s me, on a tiny little ship, facing storm after storm, and the boat’s slowly coming apart, but I’ve got no recourse other than to sail on or stop and drown at this point. Looking at the whole picture is kind of grim.

But then, that’s a storm. Some days I’m riding the top of a wave, still in it but at least able to catch a glimpse of things around me. Other days … I’m stuck in the trough, and all I can see is those same titanic waves threating to crush what little I’ve managed to assemble into kindling.

Sink or swim, I guess.

Anyway, that’s why there haven’t been many posts on the site lately aside from Being a Better Writer. With everything going on, when it comes to writing I’m putting my time into Starforge, and all the various stressors hitting from every direction are keeping me from writing much else because Starforge is another log in the raft I’ve been frantically trying to keep afloat on for eight years, and if I can lash it in place, maybe that next wave won’t drive me under.

Sands and Storms, that’s kind of depressing. Sorry for the downer post guys. Life’s just really rough right now and being a bit of a struggle. So now, I’m going to hit “post” and go work on Starforge.