Dear Readers,

I hope everyone is well. The upper respiratory infection I had has turned into a raging ear infection. I’ve lost some of my hearing in my right ear. Right now, I am taking heavy anti-biotics to clear up the infection. If it isn’t better (and my hearing back) by Friday, then I have to go in and they will drain the ear. That doesn’t sound too fun. Hopefully the anti-biotics are working, because they are sure doing a number on my stomach.

Today, of course, is Halloween. I’m not a big Halloween person, but I do have one tradition. Every Halloween night, I turn out the lights and listen to the original War of the Worlds radio broadcast, thought it aired on the 30^th in 1938 and not the 31^st. If you want to join me tonight, you can listen to it here. During the day, SiriusXM Radio Classics, the station at airs the old time radio programs, has nothing but Halloween-ish episodes all day, and so I am listening to those now.

The past week has been taken up with grading and an ever increasing number of student emails. They tend to peak around this time every semester, regardless of whether or not we are online due to the Rona, or in person like normal. I think we have something like six weeks left before Christmas Break, but I’m not one hundred percent sure of that, and my calendar isn’t handy at the moment. I am sure of one thing though, it’ll be here before we know it. And then, the spring semester will be upon us in short order. I’ll be teaching from home again in the spring. Lord knows when we’ll be back to fully face to face again. Hopefully by August. I would like to say that the isolation isn’t getting to me, but I’d be lying.

I have no news for you on the Molly’s Song front. Well, no good news, that is. Lots of rejections so far. It isn’t unexpected, as you would be hard pressed to find a published book that wasn’t rejected multiple times by agents/publishers. I hope to know by the end of the year what direction we will be going, but that might be overly optimistic on my part. By the time the book is on the shelves, it will have been far too long in between my first book and my second, but that fault is entirely mine.

With Molly’s Song still being up in the air as far as publication, I have decided to hold off on writing the sequel for now until I know more about where the series will be going. I’ve plotted out the sequel and could have the first draft done in 45 days, but I don’t want to do that just this yet. Instead, I’ve decided to step back and write the book that I was intending to write in May/June, had it not been for the Rona and the massive home repairs we had to undertake. (You’ll recall those if you’ve been following along for the past several months). That book is my (planned) epic tragedy tentatively entitled Dark Raven. Writing about the Russian Revolution amidst the current pandemic, global uncertainty, social unrest, and a bitterly contested election, at least to me, seems appropriate. That book is likewise entirely plotted out. I’m hoping to have the draft finished by Christmas. The good thing about writing a book set in this time and place is that my Mashka can make a cameo appearance.

So until next time, Dear Readers, take care of yourselves. And each other.

L.H.