First: The Theme
So this month things got insane, and some of them fell apart, which is why this newsletter is a few days late. That and I forgot the number of days in February and got blindsided while dealing with a sick kid on the 28th. That said, the theme for this month is recovery, because there’s a lot of things ahead of me and I’ve sort of had to force myself to take some rest in order to be in shape to execute the stuff that’s looming on the horizon. In the last month’s newsletter I said “Hopefully this month will be better.”
Reader, it was not better. Let’s get into it.
Second: The Work
As of the time that I’m writing this, 1:36 PM on a Tuesday, Broken Vessels is halfway done at around 116k. Note that I said ‘halfway’ so there’s still a lot of race left to run, and I am jumping through a bunch of hoops making sure everything is internally consistent between the two books and the different parts of this book in order to spare future me more work in edits. This means the work is going a little slower than I would like, but I am still on track to finish the first draft of the book and get it through edits before Glassblade’s chapters finish releasing. That’s really all I need. As of the time of this writing, Glassblade Chapter 5 has just dropped for general audiences and will be going up on Wattpad Friday 3/6/26. If you’re wondering another way you can help the story, incidentally, reads and votes and comments over on that site are always great for me, and are deeply appreciated.
On top of this project I’m also dabbling in several of the other ones I’ve mentioned in previous newsletters. I don’t go into the details of any one of them yet at this time as nothing is set in stone as the next definitive tradpub project and I don’t want to build expectations for something I might end up walking away from early for various reasons. I have so many trunked novels, y’all. I think that’s really the universal writer experience, but the number of things I want to go back to in time really is expanding.
But really, the big theme for this past month, as mentioned, has been recovery. I got sick shortly after that last Newsletter, and then my wife got sick, and then my son got sick, and then my daughter was under the weather which kept us in a state of flux for almost the entire month. I wish I’d seen it as the opportunity for rest that I should have, but sad to say I spent most of that time isolated and irritable and frustrated that I wasn’t accomplishing things at the pace that I felt I needed to. It took me almost till Sunday to realize that I was fighting burnout, and that I needed to slow down in order to be able to keep my lasting commitments, which is what I’m going to focus on in march.
Okay, moving on.
Third: On Craft
I hit a hard wall in February, as I said in the last section. Between illness and obligation and social isolation and all the stuff currently happening in the world, I didn’t realize that I had slammed into the brick until this past Sunday when the only thing that would go was the words for Broken Vessels that needed to get out. I probably started and deleted this Newsletter a dozen times over that whole day and yesterday. As it is, I’m having to take this iteration slowly and methodically, getting up and out of my chair for numerous tea-breaks and to stretch my legs. One drawback of aging is the level of stiffness that comes from sitting in a chair for an extended period of time, which is part of why I do most of my writing at a standing desk.
Taking this slowly, however, is not a bad thing. I have a tendency to shoot from the hip when it comes to my words, and being forced into a context where every one must be chosen deliberately, purposefully, is a kindof therapy, and like the best therapy it is equal parts healthy and frustrating (‘come on! Why am I not DONE yet!’) to get through. Like the average nine-year-old, however, I am still bad at taking my medicine. That is something that has not changed with age.
So where am I going with this? Simple: rest, you nonce. The ideal time for doing that is in the intervals between obligations and before you embark on the really hard stuff, because if you don’t you’re going to end up trying to do the linebacker thing against a brick wall, and I’ll tell you, that never works even if it sometimes feels like the ennobling and artful thing to do. If you don’t take the time to recover from important and draining tasks, your body and brain will eventually force you to do so, and I’ll tell you, they almost never choose a time we think is convenient to shut down. What recovery looks like and how much needed is going to be different for every person. This is where I laugh because what counts as that for me rarely looks like it. When I’m mentally burned out I tend to launch myself into martial arts and fitness, because those two things are deeply therapeutic and engage both a different part of my brain from writing and give me the benefit of an activity where I can selectively turn off parts of my brain so they can get the restorative time they need. It’s also good for my health, and since I’m prone to overwork, that’s very important.
Your rest can and should look different where necessary however. Not everyone needs to do a two-mile breakneck pace ruck march in order to recover their creative faculties. That’s just how I do it, and if I don’t I steadily go insane, as I have learned.
Alright, next up.
Fourth: What I’m Doing
1st: media being consumed in bullet point form.
-Watching: The Winter Olympics (awe-inspiring, tear-jerking, Alysa Liu is a queen), My Dress-up Darling (just started—cute!), Ascendance of a Bookworm (good!) Shōgun (rewatch!).
-Playing: Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment (playing it with my son—very fun and engaging and cathartic), Battle for Wesnoth (cute, fun, and a fall-back when I’m exhausted).
-Reading: Ninth House, Ascendance of a Bookworm, Emily Wylde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries. You may have noticed I’m a slow reader.
-Listening: Fated Mates, the History of Japan, Reading Glasses.
2nd: here’s all the other stuff I’m doing.
My Warhammer army progress has been stalled a bit, but I’m still putting stuff together, though I don’t have pictures this week. I did get a very cool new miniature carrying case and magnetized a bunch of what I’ve made so far so it can sit on the trays and not shuffle around every time I pick the thing up. Putting the things you’ve made in a nice display spot is a good way to give yourself a confidence boost whenever you look at them. On top of this I’ve been doing a lot of HEMA book reading, and last night I was in for HEMA class for the first time in awhile and was able to spar again. I have a tournament coming up at the end of the month, and it will be good to get as much floor time as I can in the interim. I don’t really do this for medals or glory anymore, but it is a nice opportunity to throw myself at opponents I don’t normally get to see and pressure test ideas I’ve been having and playing around with.
Which reminds me! I will be at SoCal Swordfight in Los Angeles from March 20th-22nd. I’ll be teaching a class on holding space and building confidence as a Fencer, and I’ll be competing and socializing and doing all the things that one does at a HEMA event. If you’re there, please come and say hi. I may look like a deer in the headlights, but I’m friendly.
In Conclusion, or What’s Next?
We’re two and a half months out from Glassblade’s launch, and it’s honestly going better than I hoped. The next three months are going to have a lot of travel and a lot of little obligations and fewer opportunities for rest than I’ve had, so I’m trying to get what I can in now before the chaos begins. Remember to get your rest as well, where you’re able. The world needs you, your stories and your energy and your friendship and your contributions, and you can’t pour from an empty cup. A reminder that if you have subscribed at the Basic Tier or above, and have not received your discord code, let me know, and I will send you one.
Stay healthy, stay friendly, stay curious.
-Joe