Dear Readers,

It’s been another week of wasting away again in Coronavirusville. I’ve had a few health issues pop up lately that aren’t the virus, including a cancer scare. It’s a long story and not one that I really want to tell, but let’s just say that the original fear turned out to be unfounded after more tests and consultations. Given my occupational history as a firefighter, and the fact that I smoked like there was no tomorrow for twenty years, it’s really just a matter of time, and so had it turned out to be the big C, I wouldn’t have been all that surprised. The second issue landed me in the Emergency Room last week, which is NOT the place you want to be during the Rona! For those of you who have followed the blog for a long time, you’ll remember that between Nov. of 2017 and May of 2018, I spent a total of six weeks in the hospital, including a three week stay and two major operations. When I got out of the hospital that May, I weighed 130 pounds (remember, I’m 6’4!) and it has taken me two and a half years to finally hit 180 again which is what I weighed before that nightmare started. Truthfully, since the second surgery, I haven’t thought or much worried about a recurrence of the problem. At least not until last week. It wasn’t a full recurrence, but it was enough of one to cause severe pain and send me to the ER. By the time I got there, it was starting to resolve on its own, so they let me go home eventually, but now I am left to feeling like I am playing Russian Roulette with it. The issue (chronic small bowel obstruction) is not only horrifically painful, but also potentially fatal as it can cause serious complications. That’s not something I ever wanted to have to worry about again, yet here we are. 2020 has been a shit year for my wife and I, even if you take the Rona out of it. Still, we keep pushing ahead.

If you recall, late in the spring, we had to have a massive amount of home repairs. As part of that, we did a bit of redecorating/rearranging of the house. My bedroom is also my “office,” as our house is only 900 sq. feet. We moved all of the big bookcases into the living room, which opened up the whole wall near by my writing space. I write standing up because of my spine injury, but I wanted to decorate it nonetheless. I selected two regimental flags (the Royal Irish and the 79^th [Cameron Highlanders] Regiments of Foot as I have familial ties to both. My other regimental flag, the Connaught Rangers, is in my office on campus. Then, I selected two 19^th Century military prints; one of the Connaught Rangers storming the walls of Badajoz during the Peninsular Wars, and the second of the last stand of the 44^th Regiment of Foot at Gandamak during the Anglo-Afghan War. And, of course, I also added some framed photos of my Mashka. Last but not least, I have printed out four of the photos of the unnamed prostitute who inspired Molly’s Song. It’s only right to include her! Plus, there’s more of her story to tell. Remember, that’ll be a three book series. Now, it looks like the proper place for a writer/historian to work, but I’m not a historian, I just pretend to be one in bars.

I’ll get Molly’s Song back from my editor at the end of this week, and then the book will go out on submission. Wondering what that means? It means rejection. A lot of rejection. The best advice I could ever give to aspiring novelists is to develop a thick skin and learn to live with rejection (and self doubt). Even the best books get rejected a few times. Unfortunately, I cannot give you an firm estimate on when the book will be released…it might be a while yet. Rest assured, Dear Readers, that it will happen as soon as possible. The best way to stay up on all the current book news is to subscribe to the blog by email or to follow me on The Twitter. My handle is author_hutch . You’ve been with me for this whole journey, and I’d hate for you to miss out on any happy news relating to the book.

Don’t laugh at me, but I’ve discovered the TV series Glee which ended several years back. It’s a teen comedy/drama about a high school Glee club. I love music, as I think most of you know. 2/3rds of the space on my phone is taken up with music divided into various playlists, including the one for Mashka which I’ve written about here. And you can see the full playlist I listened to while writing Molly’s Song here! Anyway, the music in the series is really good. This might actually be a better series than Dawson’s Creek…but I’ll reserve that judgement until I have finished binge watching it. Once upon a time, I could sing, but I shredded my vocal chords with years of yelling over the sound of sirens, yelling to be heard through an SCBA mask, breathing in God knows what while investigating fire scenes, and twenty years of smoking. However, since I have given up the cigarettes, my voice is starting to come back a little bit. I’m planning a nice surprise for my wife, but you’ll have to wait until the next installment to find out what that was.

Until next time, Dear Readers, take care of yourselves, and each other.

L.H.

Dear Readers,

I think for the first time during this whole Rona thing, I’m getting a little stir crazy. Thankfully, when I get too fidgety, I can go down to Sylvan Beach. It’s less than a mile from my front door and I can sit there in the truck and watch the ships coming down the Bay from the Port of Houston. Rumor has it that the college will remain (mostly) online for the spring semester too, so by the time I’m physically there again, it’ll have been eighteen months since all this started. Honestly, when I left campus for the last time on March 6^th, I had no idea that so much time would pass before I’d be back. Sure, I figured I might not be back for that semester, but I didn’t have the slightest inkling that this would last as long as it has.

If you’ve followed these entries over the past six months, you’ll know how insane this whole quarantine period has been for us, what with major home repairs, renovations, etc. 2020 will be memorable for many, many reasons. Every New Year’s Eve, I write a year in review post. I don’t know how I’m going to manage that this year. There’s so much to say, but at the same time, everything has been said already. I’m sure I’ll be able to cobble together something, so fear not.

I’ve had some excitement this past week. Since the semester started, I’ve been getting some headaches, usually late in the day. With being online only now for school, this means a lot more time in front of a computer screen than I am accustomed to. Since my glasses are five years old, I decided it was time for a new prescription and a new pair. So on Monday, I sallied forth to the optometrist. Armed with a new prescription, I picked out a pair of glasses. They arrived today (Saturday), but I’m going to wait to go and pick them up until Monday morning.

To aid me in my quest to slay the Nic O’Tine dragon, my doctor gave me a script for Chantix. I started taking it a couple of weeks ago. It’s not causing me any nausea, which is the main side effect. What it is doing, though, is causing me hardcore insomnia. Like, can’t sleep at all, insomnia. I don’t know how well it is working for what the prescription was for, but we’ll see. I have two weeks left and then I’ll decide if I want to stay on it or not. I’ve also been working on decorating, or rather redecorating, my workspace. After all the renovations, we moved the bookshelves out of my room and into the living room. Now, I am left with a big white wall adjacent to my standing desk. I purchased some art and a few other odds and ends to put up. So far it is looking good, but I have a few more pieces to add. I’ll post pictures once it is finished, but since one of the items is coming from the U.K., it might be a while.

And the best news for last! Molly’s Song is now back with the editor! I’ve finished all my work and now it is time for the copyedit. Then it will go out on submission. I have no idea of a publication date, but as soon as I know one, I’ll let you know. It took six months to write and nine months to revise. There are days when I think it is a fantastic story. And there are days where I question why I ever learned how to write in the first place. To be a writer is to be plagued by self-doubt on a regular basis. It’s an occupational hazard for us.

Until next time, Dear Readers, take care of yourselves, and each other.

L.H.

Dear Readers,

I hope this latest missive finds you well and free of the Rona and far away from any hurricanes. It’s been a hectic week, or maybe ten days, around here. Not for any bad reasons though. On Saturday, September 26^th, I’ll hit send and forward Molly’s Song back to my editor for the final polish. I’ve been immersed in her world up to my eyebrows for days now making sure that all my edits are finished. Books are not written. They are re-written. The version of the novel that will go to my editor is actually the 7^th Draft. I’m a fast writer but a slow editor. That’s why I finished the book last November and it will be eleven months later that it is ready to go out on submission. With so much time spent with her lately, I’m dreaming about Molly at night. (No! Not like that, you perverts!) My hope, my only hope, is that I do her story justice. For her, and for the millions of women like her from the earliest times right up to the present day who have found themselves victims of traffickers.

I had a surreal experience the other day while working on the manuscript. People had suggested to me that I might like to watch Poldark on Amazon. As I had finished my latest binge watch of something, I decided to go ahead and turn it on. Honestly, I was working and so I wasn’t paying much attention to the show. Then, I looked up and I swear to God it was as if Molly herself were staring back at me. Eleanor Tomlinson, who plays Demelza in the series, looks just like Molly looks in my head (except Molly’s eyes are brown). And I’m officially in love with the screen version of Demelza. If the Molly’s Song series gets produced for television/Netflix/Hulu/Amazon, it would be grand if Ms. Tomlinson could play her.

Speaking of the series, as I think I’ve said before, I project this to be a three book series, possibly more. I can now state that books 2 and 3 have been roughly sketched out. Book 2 has an outline that is a little more fleshed out since it will be next up to write. My plan is to start on it once Molly’s Song goes out on submission in early October. It’ll give me something to do while piling up the rejections. (All authors get rejections…it’s part of the business. My advice to anyone who wants to make a go of it in the publishing world is develop thick skin!)

We had some NFL action this weekend. I got to see my Saints give the Bucs (with Tom Brady) a pants down spanking. Who Dat Nation is back! Anastasia and I listened to the game together on the radio. I’m thinking about getting her a little Saints cheerleaders outfit. I bet one made for a small dog would fit her. She’s not fat. She just has big bones. We are a few weeks into the semester now. I think everyone is started to get the hang of things. It’s tough for students that are not used to taking online classes. It pays for those of us on the instructional side to be as understanding as we can.  

Until next time, friends, take care of yourselves, and each other!

L.H.

Dear Readers,

My fall virtual semester started on Monday, August 31^st, so I now have more to occupy my times. I spent time loading everything for the whole semester, so once it starts, it is a matter of holding virtual office hours, responding to emails/questions, and grading. Not a whole lot different than a regular semester, just without the face to face contact hours. Our classes are asynchronous, meaning the students log in on their own schedules to complete the weekly lessons. There is not a set time that they have to be in front of the computer. This is an easier way for students, particularly those working full time or with families (like many community college students) to stay in school despite The Rona.

As I mentioned in my last entry, Hurricane Laura made landfall to our east and so we were spared any damaging winds or storm surge. My wife had come home from where she was living to be here in case the storm hit and to help with storm preparations. We decided that it would be best for her to just go ahead and stay here and not move back out. Is it risky? Yes, it is. But life is short and we’ve spent enough time apart in our marriage. I’m infinitely happier with her being here, that I can tell you. I did fairly well while she was gone. Physically, that is. If you follow this blog or if you follow me on social media, then you know the challenges I face and also how I feel about my wife. Ours is a love story straight out of a Nicholas Sparks novel, though I don’t know if that is necessarily a good thing. Let’s just say that we’ve been through a lot together. Or maybe I should say that I’ve put her through a lot. This is why our song is Far Away by Nickelback. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the video I made for her for Christmas.

Speaking of songs, I bought a new karaoke machine in early August. It helps with the cigarette cravings. That may sound odd, but it actually works…singing instead of smoking. Glen Campbell I ain’t, but here is a video of me singing Galveston. Twenty years of eating smoke (both as a firefighter and a lover of Nic O’Tine) shredded my voice, but there’s still a few songs I can do. We are thinking about having a karaoke party for the students at the college whenever we resume normal operations (either in January or possibly next August). Having fun at work is an essential ingredient of being happy in your job. I just wish that more people realized that it is okay to have fun at work.

I’ve made a new friend during the pandemic. For several months now, I have a nightly visitor. I call him Paul the Possum. He stops by each night around 8:30pm to eat some cat food. He’s gotten fairly comfortable around me. Him being a wild animal and all, I don’t try to touch him, but he will come and sit under my chair or between my feet. He is friends with the feral cat that I take care of too. With everything going on in the world, it doesn’t feel like I’ve truly started back to school for a new semester. Nor does it feel like the summer is over, though to be fair, this whole quarantine period has passed (at least for me) with lightning speed. I imagine this is due to all the crap we had to deal with house-wise in April and May.

Last but not least, the NFL will be starting in a few days! Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints!

Until next time, friends, take care of yourselves, and each other.

L.H.

Dear Readers,

Who had major hurricane on their 2020 bingo card? Living on the Gulf Coast, it is always a possibility, so I don’t know why I just assumed that we wouldn’t see one in 2020. It was kind of dicey because originally, the weather guessers on TV were saying we would get hit by a weak Marco, while Laura went very far to our east. Then, Marco kind of died out and next thing we knew, they told us that Laura was head straight for us and would make landfall as at least a 3 and possibly a 4. That’s just what we needed, right?

Having grown up on the Gulf coast, I’m an old hand at hurricanes. I’ve been through quite a few either as a civilian or as a firefighter on duty during the storm. The problem is that you have to start making plans a few days out, but forty-eight hours before landfall, the safest place to be is right in the middle of the Cone of Doom that the weather guessers put up on TV. More often than not, the storm goes somewhere else. That is kind of what happened with Laura.

My wife’s school announced on Tuesday that they would be closed for the rest of the week due to the approaching storm, as did most schools in the area. I am unable to make the necessary hurricane preparations by myself, so she came home. Our plan was that she would stay here if it would hit as a Cat. 1 or 2 and she would leave with the cats for a 3, 4, or 5. I ain’t for that leaving, so I’d stay home regardless. Our house has been through 14 hurricanes (2 Cat 4s, 2 Cat 3s, 4 Cat 2s, and 7 Cat 1s, plus a dozen tropical storms…and it is less than a mile from Galveston Bay). I’d feel safer in my house than any modern structure in the city. On Tuesday evening she and my brother started boarding up our windows and they finished on Wednesday morning. By the time we finished, it was looking like the storm might hit around 50 miles to our east, but that would still put us in the middle of some wicked winds. Then, the weather guessers started shifting the track further east. Laura ended up coming ashore about a hundred miles to our east instead. Wednesday night, we got a couple of wind gusts in the 25-30 mph range, but no rain.

The same cannot be said for the Golden Triangle area of SE Texas and SW Louisiana, particularly Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes. As I grew up in the area, this is a particularly difficult thing for me to see happen. That area has suffered so much over the past fifteen years with Rita, Ike, Harvey, Imelda, and now Laura. And since it happens well away from the bright lights of Houston or New Orleans, the media and the country soon lose interest and the survivors are forced to try and recover on their own without the huge outpouring of support we see when storms hit more populated areas. There won’t be any telethons or national fundraising campaigns on their behalf. This compounds an already tragic situation.

We got the boards taken down on Saturday and brought them back to the storage shed today. Hopefully we won’t need them again this year, but it looks like their might be more trouble headed into the Caribbean as we are nearing the peak of the hurricane season and it is also the Cape Verde season…the big, long tracking hurricanes. There’s never a dull moment down here on the third coast. Today, my wife will leave again to go back to where she is staying for the semester. We are hoping she’ll be able to come home for good in another week or two, but we’ll see.

When not busy dodging hurricanes, I had to spend time getting my classes set up for our fall semester. We start late this year, on August 31^st, but that is by design and was decided long before The Rona or Hurricane Laura. I think I’ve got everything ready for the semester, but I’ll no doubt have to tweak a few things as we go along. I’m lucky in that I’ve taught at least a couple of online classes a semester for years now, and so I already have a lot of material ready. Given that all our classes will be virtual this go round, I took the opportunity to revamp my courses to make them, I hope, better for the students. Like many, I look forward to being in a physical classroom again, though, if I am honest, I’m kind of enjoying being at home too. Or at least I was until my wife had to leave.

Molly’s Song goes off for the copyedit on Sept. 28^th, which reminds me that I need to make my last couple of changes. When I get the manuscript back around Oct. 9^th, I’ll then enter into a world known to writers as “Query Hell.” This is where you fire off emails and sample chapters in order to place the manuscript with an agent (or publisher). My brother Andrew can tell you stories from the bowels of Query Hell as he’s placed articles with national publications. I now know what direction the sequel is going to take, and I’m actually slowly working on my Russian Revolution epic, Dark Raven, while I plot out Molly’s {Insert Word I Haven’t Decided On Yet Here}.

Until we meet again, Dear Readers, I wish you fair winds and calm seas. And remember, take care of yourselves. And each other.

L.H.

P.S. Hurricane Laura can kiss my Irish a$$.

A week has now passed since my wife moved out. We talk on the phone every night, of course, and she stops by once a week to bring groceries, though when she gets here, I have to put on a mask and go outside while she brings them in (and she wears a mask and gloves), and then we can talk on the porch for a bit, while staying ten feet apart and wearing masks. This past week was a little busy. I had a Skype meeting at 0900 on Monday. My Summer 2 courses were also doing finals this week, and so I had to get all that wrapped up and post grades/handle paperwork. This coming week, I actually don’t have anything school related to do. I’m going to give myself the week off before I had to jump into planning my virtual classes for the fall semester. My wife is doing as well as can be expected, though her district had four teachers test positive for the virus this week after being at in-service with all the other teachers. (The students won’t start back until the coming week). Rather than telling teachers who have been around those individuals to quarantine, the district is just acting like it didn’t happen. I guess that’s what happens when the district leadership thinks the virus is a hoax. Despite how they claim they are following CDC/State guidelines, they posted pictures last week of teachers not social distancing and not wearing masks.

Enough of that. My birthday was Friday the 14^th, and it passed with little fanfare, though I did get my new masks in the mail. One of them has a picture of Mashka and the other a picture of all the Grand Duchesses. I’ll probably not wear them (since I have masks of better quality), but one day they might make a nice collector’s item. My wife did stop by on my birthday for a few minutes. My buddy Paul the Possum showed up after dark to say “Happy Birthday”…okay, actually it was to eat the leftover cat food. With Molly’s Song ready to go back to the editor, I have turned some attention to the sequel. However, the novel that I planned to write over the summer has kept nagging me. Initially, I think I was to start it on May 15^th and I’d be finished with it by now. Home issues intervened (remember the whole roof and re-wire thing?), and so I had to shelve it. For whatever reason, perhaps because I’m alone and I have nothing else to do, I was struck with a sudden bolt of inspiration. This has allowed me to steadily knock out 5K-6K words a day, almost double my typical writing output.

In a way, I’m okay with this as I hope to be finished with the first draft around the same time I get Molly’s Song back from the editor on Oct. 8^th. When Molly goes out on submission, I can turn to editing the other book and also writing Molly’s sequel. It’s an ambitious plan, I guess, but it is one that is workable.

I apologize for the short post, but I don’t have much exciting to report from the week.

Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

L.H.   

Dear Readers,

Today was D-Day. We spent the day getting my wife’s clothes and other teaching related items packed up. The biggest task was to go through the house and make sure everything I may need (water, food, etc) was on a counter or shelf at least waist high for me. Since I cannot bend at the waist, and I cannot lift anything heavier than a half-gallon of milk, we had to make things accessible for me since I’ll be going it alone for the foreseeable future. We’ve had to do this in the past when my wife has been out of town for a few days or a week, but this is the first time we are doing it without knowing when she’ll be able to come back home. Then it was time to load up her car. We said goodbye, and she drove away.

Obviously, she isn’t going to the far side of the moon. We’ll be able to talk/text every day. And at some point, we anticipate that she will be able to come home, we just don’t know when. It isn’t a permanent goodbye, though if she catches the virus at her school, I suppose there is a possibility that it will be. I am in a shitload of pain today, probably due to the stress, but I tried to hide it as best I could so I wouldn’t upset her. People who live with chronic pain get very good at hiding things like that. It’s how we cope without making everyone around us miserable. Here in a little bit, I can take my medication and lay down on my ice packs. Hopefully, that will drop my pain level from an 8 to a 6. A 5 if I am lucky.

I have a busy week ahead of me, which is a good thing. I have a meeting tomorrow, another one on Tuesday, my online classes are taking their finals, I have to submit their grades and paperwork, I have a telehealth appointment on Friday, and I also turn 42 on Friday. This first week, keeping busy will help me, I think.

As for tonight, I am going to lay on my icepacks and watch my favorite television mini-series, Тихий Дон (2015) on YouTube. It is fourteen episodes long and will a week’s worth of nights for me. I have it on DVD, but it is on YouTube for free. Losing myself in the saga of the Don Cossacks in peace, war, and revolution, not to mention the love between Grishka and Aksinia will be just the ticket for me.

I know this is a short post, but I’m at a loss for what more I can say. But I hope all of you are healthy and well and if you are fortunate to be with people you love, hold them close to you. As a retired firefighter, I know all too well how fragile life can be, even when we are not in the midst of a pandemic.

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

L.H.