I have been quite busy this past week, and for the past few weeks for that matter. That might seem strange, as I am still out of work with all of this virus business taking place, like many other people are, and one would think that being in such a position would give them quite a bit of extra spare time. As an author, however, there is always work that I can do, and since I cannot return to my job right now, I simply must take advantage of the extra time.

Right now I am working on the second book, which has come quite a long way since I began it last June. Though I hesitate to be very specific, I will say that the book is approaching the editing stage, which would mean that I have completed the writing and revisions for it. That is a very good point to be at, though I would also say that during such a point I am looking over everything to make absolute sure that every detail is how I want it. When the book reaches editing, then what is written will be final, and thus I want to make sure there are no needed changes that I forget to take care of.

Among other things, I have spent some time trying to figure out twitter.com, which I recently made a page on. I have been looking for other authors to follow, as well as any fantasy outlets, and figuring out how things like retweeting and this # business works. It is all quite general and straightforward stuff. I have been told that the website is a very good place for networking with others in the field, and so I had to make sure to create a page. When writing the first book, I worried only about just that, the writing, but now that the book is published, there is the marketing side to figure out. Being on my first book, I knew that I would be figuring out the marketing side of things as I went along, and that there would simply be no way around that. I also knew that patience would be important, if not the most important thing needed in this business.

On the marketing side of things, there are some places where I want to place some advertisements, so long as the prices are within budget, and there are some places where I am looking to get reviews. On such things I am hesitating for now though, because with all this virus business, many people are out of work, myself included. I am monitoring when places are reopening, and I want to wait until then to do any advertisements, when at least a good number of people are working again. Likely in a month or two I will be doing such things, depending on how things go.

And finally, I must tell you that in this past week there has been a possum in the backyard and a couple of birds that went into the gutter and fell down the spout. First, a possum was hiding behind a bench, and then it was by the wall of the house. When I approached it, the possum did not run away at all. Having two dogs, the possum would have been in some trouble if they were outside. But I left the possum alone and took the dogs for a walk, and when we came back the possum had left.

Then a few days later a bird got into the gutter, which has a screen over it, and the bird fell into the downspout. Now the trouble is that the downspout goes into the ground, and so there was no way for the bird to be able to get out. I had to take the downspout apart, at the part that was just above ground level, so that there was an opening for the bird to get out. I looked into the spout, the opening that went beneath the ground, and at first saw no bird. Then after a minute or two, a bird came out and quickly fly away. I thought that was the end of it, but then a couple minutes or so later, a second bird came out from beneath the ground and flew away also. Those birds would otherwise have been stuck down there. I don’t quite know what they were doing getting inside the gutter, but they sure found themselves in some trouble.

That is all the news for me to give. All the best, and take care.