As we round third on our way to 2026’s home plate, join me in taking a quick look at the events and accomplishments from July to September. This year has absolutely blown past, and this quarter has been one for the ole memory banks.
First, and probably most daringly, I decided to take the jump and making writing my “full time” gig. I left my cushy consulting gig with SBIR Advisors at the end of July, and threw myself into my writing projects. Without the support of my delightful wife, the low cost of living in Wyoming, and my VA pension, this wouldn’t have been nearly as easy to do, so I thank them all, but especially Jenny for supporting me (literally and figuratively) while I chase this particular dream.
Along those lines, the first draft of my third novel is somewhere between a eighty and ninety percent completed. My goal is to have the manuscript completed, edited, and rewritten at least once between now and the end of 2026. In 2027, I will spend a considerable amount of effort trying to track down a book agent and publisher. If anyone has a connection inside the publishing industry, please hook me up!
It took Jenny and I a hot minute to get our stuff delivered from Hawai’i. For some reason, one of our crates didn’t make it off the truck in Denver and was shipped all the way to Kentucky. We knew this because this particular crate contained our firearms, to which we affixed tracking pucks. So, we got to watch the shipment arrive in Denver, just two hours South of our new house, and just keep going to Kentucky.
After asking the moving company what the heck was going on, and waiting weeks for a helpful response, the receiving warehouse in Kentucky reached out to Jenny through FACEBOOK MESSENGER to let her know they had our crate. Through some additional frustrations, we did get the crate shipped back, but we were left wondering how long the moving company was going to hold onto our other seven crates while they scratched their heads at what happened to the eighth.
Frustration with our household goods delivery aside, Jenny and I have loved our time in Wyoming so far. We have had ample opportunity to explore the mountain west region, including stops in Laramie, Casper, and Douglas in Wyoming, and a few trips down to Denver, Fort Collins, and Idaho Falls in Colorado.
We particularly enjoyed the festivities held in Cheyenne. Independence day was a lot of fun, and Cheyenne Frontier Days was something to behold. This past summer has been great, and we are looking forward to autumn and apprehensively waiting to see exactly how brutal the winter gets.
I recently wrapped up a Black Bear hunt in Minnesota, and am preparing for a fall packed with hunting deer, elk, ducks, geese, and whatever else I can get a license for. The results of my Bear hunt will be presented here in a series of articles. I had a blast, but it really did take a lot of time, effort, and frustration to get through those two weeks.
You may have noticed some of the old articles from the blog’s past resurfacing. While I have stuck to publishing new articles on the first and third Wednesday of every month (plus an extra one on the last Wednesday of every quarter), I’ve taken the off-weeks to re-format and update some of the old posts. Many of these posts are from the previous blog, and had even less editing support than I have now. I’ve been advertising these old articles on the Norseman Creative YouTube and Instagram page as short-form video content.
Anyway, buckle up for the last quarter of the year! If you are looking forward for Christmas Gifts (as you should be), I still have copies of both Frozen Reaction and Retrograde Absolution in the shop! Pick up your favorite niece or nephew a good book and read it to them.
