One More Turn

in which our hero is hard on himself for having fun

Dear Readers,

I’m trying out something new today: dictating this issue of the newsletter with my mellifluous voice (instead of typing it with my sore and sometimes clumsy fingers). Of course, you can’t hear my voice and I’ve already had to stop once because the dictation robot did not understand the word “mellifluous,” but what are you going to do? I’m sitting in the car, waiting for my daughter to be done with a final exam, I’ve got time to kill, and I’ve been distracted by other things all day. So I figured: why not?

I did manage to export a few images from the next few pages of The Blood of Seven Queens #3, but that’s about all I got done before I had to leave my desk. That said, I’m very excited about how these particular images turned out.

I actually think it’s really good that I’ve been sharing stuff with you at this later point in the week, which usually happens totally by accident and/or incompetence and/or laziness. Why? Because I’m at the point with the pages I’m working on this week where I’m not sure I know what the hell I’m doing. Looking at these finished images that I created just a few weeks ago reminds me that I’m not as bad at this as I sometimes feel like I am in the heat of the moment.

In other news, this afternoon marks the beginning of a two-week vacation from the day job (there’ll be some checking of email here and there, but no commuting into the office). Yes, there are the holidays and all the requisite family time which goes with them, but I am hoping there will still be plenty of time for catching up on the writing, world building, and art that I feel like I’ve fallen behind on.

(The truth is that I haven’t fallen behind. I’ve exceeded the goal I set for myself for this month’s WorldEmber community event at World Anvil, and that I should probably just go easier on myself. But fat chance of that!)

I have been playing a lot of Civilization VI lately, as I wait not quite patiently for the release of Civilization VII in February, and I think it’s the way that I can get obsessed with that game that is causing me so much consternation. I am having fun with it most of the time, but I’m not as comfortable with these huge bouts of relaxation and/or goofing off as most people, and that leads to more stress and self-hatred. I wish I could quit you, Civ. But I always need just one. more. turn.

But enough about that. The progress on issue three is good and I anticipate it will be released as expected in late January or early February. The work I’ve been doing for WorldEmber will be exceptionally helpful next year with what I’m planning to write, even if the work hasn’t been as verbose as I was expecting. And I’m still alive. I’m still breathing. So there’s that.

That’s all for now. Paid subscribers, keep scrolling for your sneak peek at the next four pages of issue three. Everyone else, I’ll see you back here next week.

Yours,
Chris