The first 4 episodes of the podcast are out. They’re the only episodes I’ve recorded so far, and I think they’re getting better. I’m getting more comfortable with the tools I’m using, and I’m less nervous about putting the content out in the world.

But why put out a podcast at all?

I don’t honestly know. I suppose it all started with Writing Excuses. That’s really the first podcast I listened to for any length in time. I tried a couple of the different SciFi/Fantasy podcasts, and they were fine, but I don’t even remember their names. I think their names changed over time.

Writing Excuses lead to retreats, and other conferences, and I saw them do their thing live several times. It looked like fun.

When The Repossessed Ghost came out, Steven had the idea of doing Live From Baycon that year, and asked if I’d like to interview people. I did it, had a lot of fun doing it, and I’ve been doing “Live From X” episodes for Small Publishing in a Big Universe ever since. It makes up a lot of the SPBU episodes.

A few times, I’ve received compliments, either about how I conduct interviews, or the sound of my voice, or both.

As LLMs and generative AI (I’m never calling it SI) became more pervasive, the timing seemed right. If I can talk about writing in a way that helps people get over the fear of the blank page, if I can show people that writing is, in fact, fun, then maybe they will think differently about using an LLM. Even if I can convince just one person to forego AI in favor of using their own voice, I would consider this whole thing a success.

Looking back, it seems inevitable that I would try this.

But how do you feel about it?

I feel pretty good about what I’ve put out so far. There is quite a bit of work that goes into it, but it doesn’t feel insurmountable anymore. Before I recorded the first episode, I was intimidated by it, and dragged my feet. But now it feels relatively natural, and something I want to continue to do.

From what I can see of the numbers, there are a handful of people listening to the episodes. Spotify warned me that most podcasts like mine average 4 viewers, and I might be beating that by a little bit.

I came into this with very low expectations, and I’m not disappointed with how things are going. This is not the sort of thing that’s going to make me rich or famous. This is just another way for me to put out into the world some of the writing advice, tips, and tricks I’ve been gathering for several years.

Anything else?

There’s a handful of people that consume the podcast on YouTube. Those folks may be further entertained; I bought a green screen. I’m probably just going to put my keyboard logo behind me. It should be less distracting than the blurred background I used on the first 4 episodes.

My camera setup at my desk where I did the original recordings doesn’t work with the green screen, though, because the aperture is so wide. I set it up, tried it, and it is quite comical. I’ll switch back to using my Surface to do the recordings, either with the same microphone or my Yeti Orb. Both are great. I’ll do some experiments with both and see which one I like the best, and then go forward with that.

For those that have checked out the podcast, thank you! I appreciate it, and I hope you got something from it.

I’m going to finish the first season of this, and then evaluate after that whether or not I keep doing this.

If there is anything you’d like me to cover on the podcast, or if you or someone you know would be appropriate for an interview, let me know!

The 4th episode is out!

Here is the YouTube link:

Here is list of items I talked about:

• Emotions and Chapters
• Write as Often as you Can
• Finish What you Star
• Do Whatever Works

A lot of the content for this entry came from this post: https://briancebuhl.com/?p=1080

I said in an earlier post I was going to put the RSS, Spotify, and Apple links up in a doodly-doo at the top, but I haven’t really had time, so here they are again:

RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/1166519d8/podcast/rss

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Fxa7eJNO8CFbz9w5OkTMN

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/write-something-good/id6805610402

This episode is the last one I have recorded, which means I need to spend some time either this weekend or the next getting the next 4 recorded, edited, and uploaded.

Tomorrow, I’ll talk more broadly about the podcast, how it’s going, how I feel about it, and what I see for it in the future.

I think this episode is pretty good. I grew more and more relaxed as I recorded, and I think both the content and the presentation are improved because of it. Hopefully the next 4 will be even better.

It’s been a few months now. I’m continuing to meet with my therapist online, every other Wednesday.

So how is it going?

It’s going fine, I think? It’s hard to say.

Why I Started Going to Therapy

I was having a difficult time focusing on work, and on my hobbies. I wasn’t writing. Depressive thoughts were common, and suicidal ideation was a part of my life again. That is to say, I wasn’t actively looking to harm myself, but I did wish my life would end, hopefully without pain. I fell asleep many nights thinking that the world would be objectively better off if I wasn’t in it.

I needed to get the dark thoughts under control. I wanted to get back to feeling more like myself, and doing the things I enjoy doing, and being productive again.

Melissa told me that free, online options would eventually be part of our plan through BlueShield of California. Last year, open enrollment finally gave us the online options. Most of a year after they became available, I finally made an appointment and tried to get my life in order.

How has it helped?

The thing is, it’s hard for me to pin down what has changed. My therapist has given me homework a couple of times, but it’s all easy stuff, and nothing I would expect to change my way of thinking. I talk to him for about an hour every other week. He makes comments occasionally. Sometimes he questions a couple of my statements. That’s it.

There are a few things I’ve observed about myself that have changed since going to therapy. The first is that much of the dark thoughts I experienced were bound up together. They were judgements about the world or myself, tied to each other as “supporting evidence,” one into the next, leading to some horrible conclusions. For example, I would string statements together like:

1. My closest friend tossed me away like used trash
2. I don’t have a ton of friends anymore
3. I am the common factor in all of my relationships
4. Therefore, I’m a terrible human being that doesn’t deserve the comfort and joy that comes from friendships

With therapy, I’ve been able to short circuit some of that “logic” and find other conclusions. The friend that tossed me away and treated me like trash, for example, was being a narcistic asshole. That doesn’t really have anything to do with me. And yes, I don’t have a lot of friends, but I do have some very good ones. It doesn’t really matter that I’m the common thread in all of my relationships; there are other reasons for those relationships to fail. I might be a terrible human being, but everyone deserves love and happiness, and there really isn’t that much evidence to support the notion that I’m worse than anyone else.

The other way that therapy has helped is that my therapist is really good at helping me dissolve the reasons or excuses I come up with not to do something. For example, I knew I wanted to get the first 8 episodes of the podcast recorded and scheduled to go out before Melissa and I went on the cruise. But, I didn’t have time. There was too much to do, and by the time I could actually get to recording, I only had one weekend. It was too much.

“Do you have to record all 8?” My therapist asked.

No. No, I could record a subset.

And so I did. I have scripts/notes for the first 8, but I recorded the first 4, leaving me with just enough time to figure out how to get the podcast set up and the episodes scheduled out.

Going Forward

I still have things to work on. I’m still not writing as much as I want, or building keyboards as much as I need to, and I’m still struggling with work.

Also, my head is still filled with dark and terrible thoughts. They’re not as tightly bound into a knot, holding me down and filling me with dark conclusions. The demons are still inside, and I need to continue to be vigilant and keep them from getting together and painting over my outlook.

Therapy is still scheduled out. I’ll keep showing up, doing the homework, and trying to become the best version of myself. I want to be happy, productive, and proud of myself. I’m not fully there yet, but I’m a work in progress.

I have talked about zombies before. I’ve even talked about Project Zomboid a little bit before. That last link goes to a post capping a 31 day blog challenge in July, three years ago. It used to be unusual for me to play games for so many years.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. Let’s do this right.

What is Project Zomboid?

Project Zomboid is a sandbox zombie horror survival game with an isometric view and a fairly simple artistic style. It looks a little bit like Sims 2, and depending on your settings, can kind of play a little like Sims 2 as well.

The game is technically in early access, but it’s been in a fairly complete state for many, many years. People have been able to play the game since 2013. Different builds of the game mark landmark feature advancements by the primary game developers.

The current build is 42, which was highly anticipated for several years, as it revamps the crafting system, introduces farm animals, and to everyone’s surprise, brought a sorely needed facelift to the game which made the whole experience fresher and more exciting. Build 42 came out a couple months ago and the game has enjoyed renewed interest and excitement ever since.

I used the phrase “primary game developers” because this game has a thriving mod community. There is a staggering number of mods available for this game. One of them, which I’m not going to play, is called “Project Viewpoint” which changes the game from a top down, isometric display to 1st or 3rd person. The mods for this game run the gamut, from minor, quality-of-life fixes, to completely reshaping the game beyond anything the original creators intended.

The Setting and the Story

The game is set in a fictionalized 1993 Kentucky. Depending on the choices you’ve made starting the game, you are a survivor of the zombie apocalypse, and this is the story of how you died.

You typically start in a house alone, and you have a few moments to loot your house for the things you’ll need to survive, before the zombies start breaking down your door and crashing through your windows. You’ll want to get a weapon, some food, water, some useful tools (such as a can opener), a bag to carry your stuff in… that sort of thing.

This is a pre-Internet world. You get glimpses of Kentucky life through newspapers, radio and TV programs, fliers, and situational, atmospheric story telling.

There really isn’t much in the way of official lore or an intended story in the game. It’s sandbox, and the greatest stories told by this game tells are emergent.

Why does Brian Buhl like this game?

Years ago, when I first started playing it, I think I kind of hated it. The game can be cruel. Things can happen that truly do not feel fair. You can have a character that you care about, that’s survived some terrible situations, die because of a blind corner that you thought you cleared. Or, fall to their death because the game didn’t paint a clear distinction between the floor you’re on and oblivion.

Without cheating, there is no running the clock back, reloading an old save, and continuing as if the mistake didn’t happen. You have one life, and it is fragile, and the entire world is trying to take it from you.

That’s not the kind of game I normally enjoy, and I didn’t enjoy it until something clicked in my head. I started getting better at the game, and the cheap shots stopped landing as often. I started having fun, and even started playing with the sandbox settings to make the game even more challenging.

As your character performs actions in the game, they get better at those actions. There isn’t a leveling system like you would find in a roleplaying game. There is a skill system, which was recently expanded in Build 42. There are all the different weapons skills, but then there is crafting skills such as Carpentry, Blacksmithing, Knapping, Carving, and tons of others. Progression in the game comes from building these skills, up to a value of 10.

Progression is also measured environmentally and through certain accomplishments, such as clearing an area, establishing a base, setting up renewable food sources, building a complete library of skill books, and any other goal a player might set for themselves. The cooking and crafting is extremely flexible, with its own rewards. The game either has depth, or provides a good illusion of having depth.

This is a game that can be played solo or with friends. The experience is different, and I enjoy both.

Anything I don’t like about it?

I think the vision the primary game developers have for this game doesn’t always line up with what I find enjoyable, and I don’t think they are consistent with which elements of the game they choose to be “realistic” and which elements are allowed to feel gamey.

I’m usually not that kind when I think of the developers, actually. I’m not convinced they have a unified vision for the game. I also think they work at cross purposes to their stated and implied intentions.

For example, Build 42 introduces a number of new crafting skills, such as Glassmaking, Blacksmithing, Pottery, Masonry, and Knapping. It is clear that a bunch of effort was made to change the crafting system and expand what a player can do. However, Pottery and Glassmaking are slow to level and don’t offer much to the player in terms of utility. Blacksmithing offers tons of amazing utility, but is one of the worst grinds this game has ever seen. Masonry and Knapping are somewhere in between. The schizophrenic developers are saying with one voice, “Check out these new toys,” and then with another voice, saying, “This game isn’t about thriving in the apocalypse; this is how you died.”

I’m not sure I’m getting the idea completely across, and that’s okay. I’m enjoying the game, and most of the things I would normally complain about can be addressed just by loading a few quality-of-life mods.

Conclusion

Project Zomboid is a good game, but something of an acquired taste. I don’t think this game is for everyone. However, it is widely configurable, with tons of mods available, making it a game that potentially anyone could enjoy.

By the time Build 42 came out, I had stopped playing. I returned a little bit reluctantly, but now I’m playing with more enthusiasm. I’m also playing with easier settings, trying to keep the experience more relaxing. That’s weird to say about a zombie apocalypse game, but it’s true. Clearing a town, building a base, securing power and food… these can be very relaxing and enjoyable experiences.

In my current solo run, I named my character Bella, after the character from The Repossessed Ghost, and it’s amazing what a name can do. It has been a sort of magical experience. Zomboid Bella can’t cast spells, but she’s exceptionally lucky, and really is thriving and making great progress pushing back the zombie hordes. I will be sad when she eventually dies, because that’s how all Project Zomboid games end. In the mean time, it’s a lot of fun, and special treat when I’m not overwhelmed with other real-life challenges.

I could have sworn I’d done a review of Building Baby Brother by Steven Radecki before, but I can’t find it here. I found a place where I said I would do it, but that was about a year ago.

After spending a day with Steven yesterday, selling books — including Building Baby Brother — it’s time I posted my review for all to see. Or at least, the people that visit this blog.

The Short Review

Here is the short review in case you don’t want any of the story spoiled: This is a fine, short, soft SciFi novel that doesn’t overstay its welcome, and deviates from some of the typical tropes you usually see in similar stories. It’s not a perfect story, but it does its job well enough that I’m comfortable selling it and recommending it.

The Long Review

A young boy, Josh, asks his recently divorced father for a little brother. The father distracts Josh with the promise of more toys, dodges the bullet, but the idea is stuck in his head, further complicated by watching the movie AI by Kubrick and Spielberg. As a software developer by trade, he gets the idea that maybe, just maybe, he can give Josh exactly what he wants.

If you’re hoping for some harder SciFi around building the robot and AI, you’ll be disappointed. The story sort of handwaves the construction of the child robot away. There probably could have been a version of this story where we see the father struggle more to bring his constructed child to life, but this is a shorter story, and we don’t spend too much time lingering on overcoming the technical achievement.

Josh is introduced to his new robot baby brother, which is named Gavin, and they hit it off. Gavin’s prime directive, as it were, is to make Josh happy, and part of that is learning and growing, to become a better brother to Josh over time.

Gavin grows beyond his creator’s expectations, and there are several sections where the father and Gavin converse about Gavin and Gavin’s perspective. These sections remind me the most of stories about Data in Star Trek:TNG, which I very much like.

I don’t want to go too much more into what happens next. I don’t want to spoil the whole story. I will say that other stories like this, where the robot is created and begins to grow beyond its creator’s intentions, the robot turns evil and has to be put down for the good of humanity. That’s not where this story goes.

In fact, this story is less concerned with science, engineering, robotics, and AI. It’s really about the experience of being a parent, watching your children grow, and learning to let them go when they no longer need you. In that way, the story is very sweet.

I have a few nitpicks I could go into with regards to some of the details, but none of what I have to say on that is important at all. And some of those nitpicks include spoilers for the end of the story, so I’ll keep those to myself.

I will say that I was reading a version of Building Baby Brother that was rife with formatting and editing mistakes. I found those very distracting. The version that is out there now has those things fixed. While at the table yesterday, I had both versions available to me and was able to look and see how the editing mistakes were fixed.

Here is a link where you can buy Building Baby Brother directly from the publisher.

Here is a link where you can get it from bookshop.org.

It’s also on Amazon, but I’ll let you find that link on your own. Bezos doesn’t need the extra advertisement.

It’s short. It reads relatively quickly. And Steven Radecki is a great guy, and I think it would make his heart swell if you were to buy his book and give it a read.

When you do, let me know what you think of it.

It’s Saturday night. I’m sitting at my desk, having just eaten junk food for dinner, and I’m listening to a bunch of acoustic Chris Cornell songs. This is what I look like when I’m trying to quickly recover from an event.

The event today was Wordstock, the 1st instance of this annual event, in Stockton.

Let’s turn the rest of this into an informal Q&A. We all love those.

How was the event? It must have really been something if you’re binging on soulful, sad music and eating cheeseburgers.

The event was okay, but very lightly attended. There were panels, and live readings, both prose and poetry, and there was a taco truck, and pizza, and soft drinks, and a pitching event. Lots of good stuff.

Just not a ton of people, so we didn’t have a ton of sales.

Also, it was ridiculously hot. Too hot for an October afternoon in Stockton.

Are you bummed out about the sales?

Not really. Most of the people that came to our table bought something. Compared to the other vendors, we did really well, at nearly $100 for the day. Other vendors averaged around $45. It didn’t cost us anything, other than our time and gas, so that’s basically a win.

It did cost me $80 to fill my mustang, but I needed to do that, anyway. I wasn’t going to be able to put off fueling my vehicle forever.

Also, I wouldn’t say I’m bummed, per se.

Then what is all this recovery business about?

The event was lightly attended and easier than many I’ve done this year, but it still took a lot out of me. I was recently sick, and I don’t think I’m at 100% yet. Helping setup, and staying present physically and mentally took a toll on me. Driving to Stockton was the longest car trip I’ve taken since coming back from the cruise. And I had to get up early in order to get there by around 7:30AM for setup.

Once I got home, I needed to sit down and recharge, in all ways.

And sometimes these Chris Cornell binges just sort of happen on their own. No one sings like him anymore.

Are you sure you’re okay?

I’m good. Just tired, kind of emotional, and needing some comfort food and comfort music. By tomorrow, I should be right as rain. I hope.

Anything else about Wordstock?

Yeah, I think the event has a lot of potential. The world is still hungry for books. San Jose recently had a book festival, while Melissa and I were on the cruise, and I hear it was phenomenal. The Sacramento book festival has been incredible year after year, and it keeps getting bigger.

I think Wordstock has the potential. It takes a few years for events like this to build up word of mouth and inertia. The staff was extremely friendly, helpful, and even provided a bunch of free food for us vendors and participants. They have the right stuff.

For them to succeed in the future, they’ll need to find more ways to get the word out. And, from what I heard, they’ll need to figure out ways to get the event to pay for itself, maybe through charging vendors like us a small fee.

Or, maybe they just need to keep doing exactly what they’ve been doing, because like I said before, it takes a couple years before the event becomes big enough and settled enough that people just know about it.

Money and attendance aside, there was one thing that happened that made the entire event worth it, at least to me. There were a couple of High School kids that came to booth, excited about books and fiction. One is a fledgling writer, and I had the opportunity to give her encouragement, the kind of encouragement that fanned the flames when I was at her point in my writing journey. She and her brother both lit up when I spoke to them.

That, to me, made it all worth it. It made my day. Maybe my whole weekend.

Will you attend Wordstock next year?

I don’t see why not. Steven and I both had a good time.

I think that’s all I have to say about the event today. I still have a query to write and send out, before the weekend is over. Not tonight, though. Definitely not tonight.

It wouldn’t do to mess up Blogtober on Day 2, but apparently I needed a nap after work that took me all the way to 10PM.

That’s okay. There’s still time, and this should be an easy one.

I went 5 years without a haircut, and my hair grew really long. The longest strands could touch my belt. Lots of dark, lots of gray, and a little bit of curl in it, my hair drew many compliments.

Melissa is the reason I grew it out in the first place. She wanted to know what I’d look like with long hair, and she often enjoyed braiding it or helping me put it up. Three years into this experiment, she loved the length. After five years, though, it was too long, even for her.

I… kind of hated it, most of the time. “It grew on me” was the joke I’d make when people asked about it, and it’s true I enjoyed it from time to time. But mostly, it was a constant inconvenience. It tangled easily. It often wanted to taste my food before I could get it to my mouth. It made showers longer, taking way more shampoo and longer dry times. I was always sitting on it, accidentally pulling it, and it made every day tasks more difficult.

I didn’t recognize myself in the mirror most of the time.

Here’s a picture from Baycon a couple years ago.

Here’s what I looked like just before the haircut.

And here’s what I looked like after a shave and a shower at home.

I think I look significantly younger. I feel like myself again.

I feel… better. Not sure how else to describe it.

Once my cough finally goes away, I want to exercise. Lose some of this extra weight. Really feel like myself again.

I think it’s doable, especially without all that hair catching on things and holding me back.

When I first grew my hair out, someone told me that it suited me, and that it softened my look. Made me more approachable. I’m a little bit worried about that, but I think feeling better and happier should help.

It’s great to be myself again. Even if it means I no longer match my cover photo.

Today is October 1st, which I personally think is a crime. But since I have found no way to turn back the clock (yet!), let’s move forward and set this month up for success!

Like several previous years, I’m going to try and write a blog post every day in the month of October. I’m doing this as part of the Ultimate Blog Challenge and hopefully, this will get me back into the habit of writing a little bit every day.

It really is hard for me to believe that October is here already. Last month, there was WorldCon, the WXR Cruise, and then the start of illness which I’m still getting over. I still have a cough, and my chest still feels like it’s in a vice. I’m getting better, but it’s impacted my ability to focus. It’s hard to keep up with the day job, let alone get any writing done.

Before I get to the Blogtober schedule, let’s get some simple house keeping complete. Namely, the 3rd episode of Write Something Good went live on Wednesday last week, and it’s where we start to get into actual, practical advice.

Write Something Good — S1-E3

Here is the YouTube link:

The list of basic advice in this episode:

• Read Widely
• Use Strong Verbs
• Avoid Adverbs
• Adjectives are Delicious

Much of the content came from this previous blog post.

Here are all the other relative links. Later this month, I’ll make a doodly-doo at the top of this page so that they’re always available:

RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/1166519d8/podcast/rss

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Fxa7eJNO8CFbz9w5OkTMN

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/write-something-good/id6805610402

Blogtober 2026 Agenda

31 days, 31 topics.

1. Agenda
2. Back to Short Hair
3. Stockton Book Event
4. Book Review: Building Baby Brother
5. Project Zomboid – 2026
6. Therapy – How it’s Going
7. Write Something Good — S1-E4
8. My Thoughts on Write Something Good So Far
9. A Brief Visit with Politics
10. ???
11. The Anti-Terf Post
12. The Media I’m Consuming
13. What I’ve Learned about Selling Books
14. Valheim 2026
15. Building a TTRPG Adventure
16. The State of the Internet – 2026
17. My Lived-In Experience – The Birth of the Internet
18. Writing Tools Over Time
19. Professions Popular Media Gets Wrong
20. ???
21. Write Something Good — S1-E5
22. World Fantasy 2026 — Day 1
23. World Fantasy 2026 — Day 2
24. World Fantasy 2026 — Day 3
25. World Fantasy 2026 — Last Day and Summary
26. Book Review: The Tainted Cup
27. The Problems with “The Chosen One”
28. Eugenics, Royalty, and Other Problematic Fantasy Tropes
29. Book Review: Contact – A New World by M. D. Neu
30. ???
31. Happy Halloween 2026!
    

I suppose I should have said, 31 days, 28 topics. I’ve left the 10th, 20th, and 30th open to inspiration, or if someone leaves a comment with a topic they would like me to write about, I’ll do it. And, there are a couple topics on here I wouldn’t mind replacing with better ideas, so please feel free to comment and I’ll update the list.

Wish me luck, and I hope you enjoy this year’s blog adventure!

Good afternoon!

The next episode has gone live, and it is about evaluating writing advice.

Here is the list I’m working from:

• Look at the source
• Check other sources
• Avoid Absolutes
• Trust your instincts
• Experiment

Here is a relevant blog post where I talked about this information before.

Links:

RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/1166519d8/podcast/rss

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Fxa7eJNO8CFbz9w5OkTMN

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/write-something-good/id6805610402

I’m still on the cruise, enjoying the Writing Excuses community. There are 2 more episodes recorded, uploaded, and scheduled to go out. I have 4 more episodes outlined and ready to record. I’ll derive the rest of season 1 based on how the first 8 episodes go.

Let me know if you’re hoping I talk about something in particular, or if you have any book recommendations for me. I’m still planning on doing book reviews, with an eye towards what writers can learn and apply to their own work.

The day is Tuesday, but I only know that because the elevator I just rode had a sign on the floor telling me the day of the week. The crew on the ship rotate the elevator day-tags nightly, right around midnight. I saw them do it, once. They have this metal tool that looks a lot like a fireplace poker. On the day I saw the rotation, all they had to do was pick up the existing sign, flip it over, and make sure it dropped into place. I imagine it’s a little more involved on other days.

It is easy to lose track of time on a cruise like this. This morning, we pulled up and parked next to a glacier. Melissa and I took a bunch of photos, and I’d share some of them if I could have more than one device connected to the Internet at a time. I could probably go back to our room, get my phone charger, transfer the pictures via cable to my Surface, but that sounds like a lot of work. For now, trust me when I say that the views in Alaska can be breathtaking and surreal.

Actually, you know what? You deserve a treat. Here is a picture I took while Melissa and I were getting breakfast. The blue thing in the middle is a glacier. Ask me about crevasses and moraines.

The ship we’re traveling on is The Voyager of the Seas, and it is part of the Royal Caribbean fleet. We’ve been on a ship almost identical to this before. I’m very familiar with the layout. Not so much that I could navigate it blindfolded, but I know the fastest way to get from the aft to the fore (go to Deck 4, go outside, and walk along the starboard side so as to avoid smokers). You can also go to Deck 5 and walk through the promenade, but then you’ll have to encounter a bunch of people that aren’t in your group. That is, if you’re traveling with a group of around 100 writers, as I am.

That’s the other facet of this trip. Writing Excuses Retreat: The Grand Finale. It is the last planned cruise. There are hopes and dreams that they’ll start up again in 2029, when ICE and Trump aren’t making it difficult for our international community to join us. Trump ruins everything. Even my beloved writing retreats.

But I don’t want to think about Trump or ICE or Hegseth or zombie Mitch or any of the myriad things that I think so much about when I’m home. That’s one of the points of going on this retreat. To get away from the real world for a little while, vacation, relax, connect with the found family which is this writing community, and try to get some writing done.

I already brought up some of the bullshit that’s going on in the real world, as it were. If you were to extrapolate from that and assume I’m failing to vacation properly in other ways, you’d be right. My clothes don’t fit very well anymore, so I’ve been careful about what I’ve been eating. And, to help Melissa’s blood sugar levels, we’ve been walking a lot, especially after meals. My feet feel like they’re about to fall off. I’m constantly aware of the muscles in my legs. And, foolishly, we’ve been getting up to an alarm every morning to make sure we can get a good spot in the Windjammer on Deck 11.

As far as connecting with the community, I’m doing an adequate job. They’re really what I’m here for, after all this time. These truly are friends, even if I only see them for one week of the year. Good people. Good writers. Found family. My people.

I’ve managed to get some writing done, too. I’ve advanced The Psychic Out of Time a little bit. There was a particularly difficult spot I’ve been struggling with for the last couple of months. The section wasn’t complicated. I found it kind of boring, and if the writer is bored, the reader will be very bored. I needed to find a way to make it either shorter or better, and this week, I figured out how to do both.

Later today, I’ll be doing a reading from The Psychic Out of Time. Reading in front of a crowd is nerve wracking, exhilarating, and reaffirming in different stages. I’m really only nervous about this one section because I have to do a kind of funny voice for half the dialog. If I pull it off, my peers will be entertained. Otherwise it’ll be embarrassing.

There is a kind of melancholy I’m holding at bay, because as one of the other writers pointed out before we even got here, this could be the last time I’m going to see some of these people. Melissa and I have been making this trip for 8 years. It’s hard to believe that this is the last one. It makes me wish that we had more time on this cruise.

As I suggested at the beginning, it’s easy to lose track of time, even when we have a schedule of events and items on the agenda forcing us to delineate and divide all of this gelatinous time. I’m doing my best to just be in the moment, laugh, love, and enjoy, without thinking about how Friday will arrive before we are ready, and The Grand Finale will be finished.

In case I don’t post about it tomorrow, the second episode of Write Something Good goes live on Wednesday, September 9th at noon Pacific time. You can find it on Spotify, Apple, and the video footage is on YouTube. The first episode was the introduction, so there wasn’t that much meat on the bones. The second episode is on how to analyze writing advice, to make sure it’s something you should listen to.