When it rains…

…the ceiling caves in.

Okay it hasn’t caved in, but the roof is leaking, no one can find where, and I’m pretty stressed.

Over a week now of managing this. I’m not sleeping because I want to be ready in case someone needs to come in, and I’m barely able to focus on the stuff I have to focus on (why does work need my brain?).

And it’s on the heels of Libby dying on Nov 28.

Rodney being diagnosed with cancer Oct 31.

And oh yeah after an emergency on Oct 10 I learned stress can now kill Shawn.

You know what’s stressful? Having his mom not sleeping because the ceiling is leaking water that could make him and the other cats sick, scared that we’ll be homeless (again) if renovations are needed, and welcoming in strangers who make noises and require him to be confined to a room (I am grateful everyone is on top of investigating! very much so, I’m super lucky. but I would rather this not be happening, I’m so worried for him).

Anyway, I am still working on stuff from November because this is the Bad Place, apparently.

I got through a revision pass on Waverly 5, finally. It was not the in-depth pass I intended it to be, but my concentration is shot, so I spent this one just drafting up the missing scenes and rearranging things (about another 30K words), and then I’m hoping first thing in January to do a more in depth pass adding some flesh and prettying it up.

The intent was to spend two weeks over Christmas going over the Livi files to redo the paperbacks with the new covers, as well as the Demons books (I haven’t revealed those new covers yet but the rebrand is done)–just skimming, fixing things, reformatting, etc, and then also getting them loaded to BookVault so I can sell direct on Payhip. Now I have absolutely no idea, I might be freelancing the rest of the month and (or, if I get stuff done this week) crashing entirely. (I also need about two weeks to redo all my freelance site stuff but I just don’t have it in me right now, and writing is where most of my income comes from.)

That is to say, though, if you want Livi or Demons books with the current covers for the styles matching, now’s the time to grab them. I still have copies here I can probably sell later, but no guarantees what I’ll have in stock. The new versions will be the same trim size but they’ll have the rebranded look.

Assuming I get the Demons books done, I’ll post a reveal here when they’re changed over and live. As that may not be before the end of the year–and this might be the last thing I post in 2025–my year-end wrap up on projects.

It doesn’t feel like a lot but those are the new-ish things–it doesn’t count the audiobooks and the large-print editions, although both took a lot of extra work. It doesn’t cover the weeks I spent on Waverly 4 revisions that added so much more to the word count, and I didn’t include all the different Patreon shorts that posted (some of the written ones are being held until next year, some might not post at all or wait for Waverly special editions).

There could be a miracle, I could magically finish Waverly 8, These Haunted Woods, because I did significant work on that this year…but I’ve got at least 70K to write there and I can’t see that happening with the state of things.

But next year’s serial is drafted, at least, which represented a pretty huge thing I’m proud of doing (even if I have so much work ahead of me).

If we’re busy having a nervous breakdown the rest of the year, happy holidays to you and yours. I hope no one’s ceiling collapses.

ETA: it SEEMS to be fixed, I’m really grateful everyone kept investigating, and I’m hoping this means no stress for Shawn for a while.