I have retired from my day job. Shortly after my last day, we flew to the United States for our grandson’s second birthday. We’re back home now in New Zealand, slowly recovering from jet lag and the effects of weeks of non-stop talk with family and friends. As much as I love them all, I’m too much of an introvert to not find that intense contact exhausting.
At my retirement luncheon back in April, my colleagues at Wētā Digital/Unity gave me this lovely hei matau (pounamu fishhook) pendant. This is waaaaay better than a gold watch! The fishhook catches good luck and prosperity. It also represents safe travel over water—quite appropriate, given the timing of our trip.
Now that I’m retired, I’ll have lots more free time to write, yes? Well, maybe. If I’m lucky. We have some family health issues to deal with that are likely to be serious, ongoing, and draining.
I started this blog six years ago in a state of enthusiasm, posting something nearly every week. I soon discovered I couldn’t keep that pace up and get anything else useful done while I was still working full time. Lately, one post a month is about all I’ve been able to do.
I am still writing, but I will be focusing on my current project: the Monster Duke saga. This will be a fantasy duology, unrelated to the Reforging series, set in a world with sentient castles and early 20th-century technology. There is a fanatical king determined to exterminate the fae, an imprisoned prince equally determined to prevent their genocide, and a subversive, sadistic duke. There are assassination attempts, a jailbreak, and a Beauty-and-the-Beast-style romance. The working titles for the two books are Skin Deep and To the Bone, and I’m 130,000 words into the first draft.
I may post something on this blog occasionally, if I stumble across a book that excites me enough to draw my attention away from my Monster Duke, but for now I’m having much more fun fleshing out that story.
Ciao!