See, that’s a tough one to answer, but when everything the last few months around the house has decided to break, including my dark beauty, the mile count starts to slow down.
As I mentioned in my last post, I had some health issues pop up after a visit to the VA doc. She put me on several meds to get my blood pressure under control, which for the sake of dropping it lower, I ride any chance I get and slowed things down over at Three Ravens, even returning titles to authors because I was out of spoons.
The hustle worked the last few years, working my ass off at conventions and building Three Ravens and my own reputation, but that hustle caught up. I’ve been overdue for a bit of a break for a long while.
Then, of course, the Universe decided to roll a 1 just to toss me several new bits of chaos to deal with. So, yes, I’ve had a break, but not, all at the same time.
And what is it with water? Seems like nearly everything that has broken or happened has been water-related. Between storm damage, sixty-year-old drains, and irrigation issues, I’ve been a bit busy.
And of course, there were a few weeks of carburetor issues on basically everything. I still need to tear down the carbs on Midge. She does run, but only with choke fully open. I figure the idle ports on at least one of the carbs is clogged with grit, but that’s just a matter of pulling it apart, cleaning everything, and putting it back together without the cats knocking parts off the workbench.
Then there were the clutch issues. The clutch failing on Veronica, which isn’t horrible. I’m pretty sure it’s the factory clutch considering the mileage on her. I put over 20,000 miles on her of the 28,000 on the odometer, but she’s a 96′ Vulcan 800, not too bad for a thirty-year-old clutch. I’ll get a new Barnett clutch pack to install soon and get her back on the road. And after servicing Josie: 3-hole oil, fresh plugs, clutch adjustment, inspection, etc., the clutch was fully engaged, and I couldn’t get it to adjust out.
After tearing it down to get to the ramp assembly, I found one of the ball bearings had slipped from the ramp, and the throwout bearing retaining clip was broken, so I picked up a Baker heavy-duty throwout kit, but the clutch was still engaged. It kept acting like a bound-up cable. To eliminate the possibility of a bound cable, I rerouted the clutch cable, pulling it out of the headlight nacelle where it was originally routed and zip-tied it across the handlebars. Hazaa!
I found where it looked like the cable had slipped in the nacelle and bound on the frame as I tore it apart to get to the ramp assembly. I feel dumb as hell not looking at that first, but now, she shifts smooth and easy. Even got her adjusted out where I can shift to neutral while at a light. For those of you out there turning your own wrenches on bikes, you know how much of a pain that is to find.
The garden has been going gangbusters, but this recent wave of excessive heat and rain has killed off several tomato and cucumber plants. Nothing like a fresh tomato from the vine for a sandwich. And the habaneros are delicious. It might not last till the end of summer, but we’ll can and freeze anything we can till then. The next big bit for the garden is to prep the last few old spots for fruit bushes. Moving the blueberries, cherries, pomegranate, and figs to give them a better chance at producing more.
Other than that, been spending more time with Meg and the kids, going to concerts, making new friends, and like I said, putting down as many miles as I can. Overall, just taking it easy and enjoying some life while I work out the next few story outlines I need to do.
Currently working on
Well, before everything went a little wonky, I was cranking along on the first novel in the Braxton Hicks Series: Carnies, Cash, & Cuts. It all went sideways at the moment I realized I needed to do some overarc planning to make sure each novel ties together well with the overall story I’m trying to tell. In the meantime, I’ve been putting a few words down while I work on the next Braxton Short for It Came From the Trailer Park 6. Otherwise, I’m clearing the deck of all projects at Three Ravens so I can go full bore at writing for a while.
After I get this short wrapped up, I’m diving back into the Car Warriors series to wrap up my last two Dead Man’s Run novels, then I’ll most likely be back on Braxton to kick off this novel series.
Recent Releases
I know, I’ve been horrible about updating this page and my Substack. Part of it is my ADHD, doing something that needs done vs. doing something I want to do, but things need fixed, and the family needs me around, so back to the old evil of balancing it out.
My latest novel, On the Wings of a Weeping Angel, let me dive into biker culture and superheroes all at the same time as well as more biker action with The Misadventures of Braxton Hicks: Volume 1. Then of course there were several anthologies: It Came From the Trailer Park Volume 5, Frumious Bandersnatch, and Wyld Magick. My horror novella Black Creek, came out last October, and that is one that I’m seriously proud of. It let me dive back into a bit of my childhood with the kids in the trailer park and some of the stupid things we use to do.
Last but not least is the Veteran’s charity collection I helped put together that took the DOD about three years to complete the review for redactions before we could release. All profits from this collection go to the We Dare foundation, helping veterans overcome PTSD with Jujitsu.
Upcoming Appearances
September 26th to the 28th, I’ll be down in Dallas, Texas for P-Con as the publishing guest of honor. Should be loads of fun, plus I get to hang out with my buddy Taylor Anderson, author of the Destroyermen series. And it looks like I’ll be heading back to Evanston Writers In the Trenches conference November 14-15th up in Chicago, Illinois. Links for both are below.
Reading
Buff Orpington vs. the League of Conspicuous Evil is a novel I’ve been waiting to get my hands on since Casey Moores and Jamie Ibson told me about the idea a few years ago. Cheezy action adventure… Luckily they had copies at LibertyCon, and I picked up a hardback from them to read. So far, love it. I just need more time to sit down and read.
Playing
The kids have been dying to have me play some games with them for a while. Once I got the new desktop setup, I installed Steam and let them drag me through the zombie-infested areas of Killing Floor. No story whatsoever that I can see; it’s just unadulterated zombie slaughter with your choice of weapons. I tend to go for shotguns or the chainsaw, because Bruce Campbell is awesome! So far, I’m digging it for a mindless game I don’t get sucked into.
Listening To
Honestly, I’ve been diving back into lots of classic rock, and a damn good playlist for that is anything Supernatural. What little bit of time I’m getting to write, it helps to feed the muse, and also helps set the scene while I’m proofing submissions for Trailer Park 6.
Writing Tip
Don’t give up! Even when life kicks you in the ass, you can at minimum get a few words down for a new idea, or outline notes to use later.
Patreon & Substack
Of my three sites, I honestly prefer to just post here on my main site. The others are extra and honestly, I don’t want to worry about updating. So I’ll be shutting down those pages and focusing my posts here. I’m pretty sure there’s a way to do something similar to Patreon and Substack where I can hide any recent chapters and such for those of you who want to see the raw product as it’s coming along. I’ll do some digging on that for my next post to test it out.
Until next time, y’all take it easy, and keep the shiny side up.
WJR
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