That’s right, it is finally done and only took me most of the summer to complete.
Really, the doing of it all and setting up our little homestead really hasn’t been bad. The work isn’t terribly rough. It’s just time-consuming to slip in a little here or there between the day job, writing, publishing, and spending time with the family.
Their guardian rooster, Pip, is on duty to protect the girls under his care. And they were gracious enough to reward us with our first eggs Monday morning.
Now, as a funny side note. Once upon a time in another lifetime, we had a pet Bantum Rooster that someone had saved from a few cats and given to us. The little guy followed me around in the yard just like the dogs and would fall asleep on whoever’s lap he found himself in.
When I picked up the extra hens and Rooster on Saturday, this little guy was in the batch and is the spitting image of the original Pip.
@wjroberts76 ##Bantyproblems ##bantumrooster ##Pip ##chickens ##authortok ##flocktok ##homesteadlife ##homesteadersoftiktok ##authorlife ##herem ##farmtok ##gardentok
♬ original sound – wjroberts76
The best part is when I heard him crow Sunday morning, it was the same pitiful little crow. He has already become a spoiled little rooster.
@wjroberts76 ##fortcocks ##chickens ##squirrelwrangler
♬ original sound – wjroberts76
Writing updates
I’ve managed to scribble myself a few thousand solid words, wrapping up stories for the “It Came from the Trailer Park” and the next Salvage universe anthologies, with a fLUX Runners short on deck for the next “Give me LibertyCon” anthology being published by Baen books.
I know, that’s one hell of a step up in the game. I Gotta get my big writer pants on and produce the best product I can before sending it to Chris and Toni.
Next on deck is a follow-on short to my story “Billy and the Kid,” from the Standing Fast anthology in Bill Web’s Last Brigade universe.
After that, I’ve decided to dive headlong into the Seven Kingdoms universe devised by Benjamin Tyler Smith, myself, and R.J. Ladon for submission to the Writers of the Future contest. Once that is wrapped up, I have a few other loose ends to tie up before Diving back into my original fantasy novel. 65,000 words from twenty or so years ago are waiting for me to breathe life back into them and polish the words of a forgotten universe for all to enjoy.
The universe is my fantasy and gaming universe of Teri`Ni and the first novel of the series being Wards of a Warrior.
After that? Who knows. I have so many stories on my to-do list at this point, that It’ll be a miracle if I ever finish them all. One thing I know for sure is that my short story writing days are numbered. It’s time to put some hard focus into some long fiction and build the universes that I want to create.
Then, Labor day weekend, I’ll be hiding away in the quaint little town of Mount Vernon Illinois with co-conspirator R.J. Ladon for a writers retreat where we hope to knock out a good portion of a new Fantasy/LitRPG series for Three Ravens and the plotting of a few novels in that series. It’s just too bad that Ben can’t get away to join in the fun.
Other odd things
By now, most of you have either seen or are on tiktok, one of the hottest social media platforms out there today.
Well, I’ve kinda dove in headfirst, playing around with it and by total accident hit almost 18,000 views on one post. Freaking weird, huh?
@wjroberts76 ##googlefu ##squirrelwrangler ##hivemind ##gardenersoftiktok ##farmersoftiktok ##authortok ##author life ##gardening ##farmtok ##homesteading ##homesteadinglife
♬ original sound – wjroberts76
So that’s it for now. Time to finish up the day job and dive into my fLUX Runners short story.
Until next time, keep your heads up and your pens sharp.
~WJR~