State of the Dread: Jan 29-Feb 4

Utahraptor ostrommaysi, and I wrapped his shins so they wouldn’t hurt after running.

Writing

I’m officially working on the print draft for SHERIFF PORTER. It’s more or less set. I also drafted an episode of TALES FROM THE ROAD.

AND I FINALLY FIXED THE PAPERBACK EDITION OF PATRIOT’S GAME!!!! NO LONGER DOES THE MAP SAY THE ATLANTIC IS THE PACIFIC!!! It only took me 5 years to figure that crap out!!!!! Go buy the paperback edition to celebrate!!!!!

Reading

Finished pretty much everything on the slate from last week. WARLORD is getting an Upstream piece. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER has a writeup over here. I also blasted through Larry Correia’s nonfic about guns.

This week I’m finishing EMPIRE OF SILENCE. It’ll be my third time reading this beast. I’m gearing up for a run at the sequels. After that I’m going to listen to an entire book on Speechify. It’s a kitchsy old sci-fi for the 372 Pages podcast.

In print, I am really enjoying a L’Amour book right now. It’s a long one, so it’ll be a while before I finish.

Side note, my daughter is almost completely potty-trained, know what that means? It means I’m upping my Audible membership babyyyyy, I’ve got room in the budget for more credits babyyyyyy, haha. It’s crazy how expensive it is to have your toddler poop in a tidy way. Like forty bucks a month, frick.

Drawing

The piece up top. I’m also gearing up for the full slate of SHERIFF PORTER illos. I’m forcing myself to limit it to 10 pieces plus the cover. This will help me get a realistic idea of how long it will take to illustrate HOWLING WILDERNESS.

The soft-finish date for the PORTER illustrations is Friday, March 31st. I feel like it’s doable. Then that book goes out to be crowdfunded.

Reminder that you can listen to the 3.5 hour audiobook for free on my other podcast.

Video

There’s a new segment on my YouTube and Rumble called “Ask a Trucker.” I film these short videos on my DOT break. I’m considering adding a little extra to these; they’re easy to film and I like doing them. If you have a random question for a trucker, send it to dreadpennies at gmail dot com.

Audio

New episode of Radcracker dropped here. Make sure you subscribe on any platform you use. Google, Apple, Spotify, whatever.

Fitness

I did my 2,000th pushup of the year, and also had a 10-exercise circuit in the shop, which is officially named Fortress Fatphobia. At the weekly weigh-in I was down to 215 lbs. This week I want to be down to 214.5. I still didn’t get that second PE session in with my kids but I did do the drawing class with them, so there’s progress.

The goal this week is two workouts in the Fortress, with my sons. Aiming for Wednesday and Friday because it won’t be as cold on those days.

That’s it for now. Get back to work. And when you’re done working, cancel Netflix, cash your paycheck and go buy a good book!