Where Am I?
May 25th, 2026
Where Am I?
I’m pretty much where I was last week at this time. Getting the house ready for photos and to sell has taken up a lot of time. Sometimes life happens and slows down the good stuff, so whatchagonna do?
Not much further on revising Falling Leaves, completed maybe a chapter or two. I like how it’s coming along, though, much improved (I hope) over its first few iterations. Just changing the leprechaun’s name from F-Bomb to Surly was a big step-up, as was cleaning up the language to appeal to a broader audience (I’ve substituted most of our real-world curse words with fictional expletives specific to the Fair Folk). The original idea was to make the setting as gritty and dark as a modern mob movie, hence the profanity. I think I’ve found a way, though, to keep the atmosphere while softening the language.
I’m a few hundred pages into Winter of the World, and it’s brilliant, as expected. WW2 hasn’t broken out, yet, but the lead-in has been fascinating: the takeover of the Nazi party in Germany, the fall of the Spanish government to fascists, the conflicts between the left and right in the UK, and all the other events that led to the Second World War, all covered through the lives of the families at the forefront in the novel. So well done!
Reading time was a bit limited, as was TV and game time (leisure time in general, compared to our usual routine), so to blow off some steam (and not mess up the house before pictures!), Chris and I ate out a few times over the weekend, something we usually restrict to once per week (for Date Night) or travel. Nothing fancy (El Pollo Loco on Friday, the Cracked Egg for breakfast yesterday, and Borracha last night), but it was still a nice treat. I’ll be making burgers for dinner today (a good Memorial Day meal), so our caloric intake will have been higher than is normal for us, but sometimes you just have to roll with it and run wild. Funny how that’s “running wild” now that I’m in my mid-fifties…
And that’s where I am.
May 17th, 2026
Where Am I?
Getting ready to sell the house, so that’s taking most of my mind-space right now. A lot to do. After selling the place, we need to find movers, close out our utilities, hold our mail, find a place to stay in the Memphis area, find a job… Whoo boy! But, stressful a time as it is, life is good!
Still plucking away at the Falling Leaves revision. I think it’s going well. Fixed some weak points, for sure. At least one more revision after this one, though, and then I’ll try to sell it. I’m tempted to write a screenplay adaptation, too – it would be a great HBO series.
I started reading Winter of the World, the second of the Century novels by Ken Follett. Only about a hundred pages in, but it’s fantastic, so far, like most of his historical fiction. It starts in 1933 Germany and will go through WW2 (probably a little beyond), featuring families in the UK, US, Germany, and Russia. The first in the trilogy, Fall of Giants, was about WW1 (the same families, just a generation earlier), and the years leading up it. This guy can spin a tale!
We’re caught up on The Boys and For All Mankind, two very different but excellent shows (one or two episodes left in each). We watched a couple episodes of Season Two of The Daredevil Reborn, which I also like. Somewhat of a slow burn, at times, but gritty, grounded, and very well done.
Finished the Wintermute game… I did not like the final episode. There were interesting parts, but it mostly felt like one long cut-scene after another. If I had to give The Long Dark a rating just based on Wintermute, I’m afraid it would have been a 2 ½ stars, out of 5. Survival Mode in the game, however, is so good that I’d give it 5 stars as a whole, even with the weak Story Mode.
And that’s where I am.
May 12th, 2026
Where Am I?
We just returned from Pensacola, Florida, from a weekend mini-vacation. The forecast was rain, clouds, or storm for the whole trip, but the weather turned in our favor (cloudy the first day, sunny and beautiful after that). Great time with the family! Always enjoy getting together with my son, his fiancé, and our grandson (hilarious, that kid!). And shout out to the Cactus Flower Café – delicious!
I was reminded over the weekend how challenging it can be to get reading time with a two-year-old running around. I wrapped up the third Dragonlance book (Dragons of Spring Dawning), the best written of the trilogy. Still early in the writing careers of Weis and Hickman, still some weak spots, but it’s encouraging (and valuable) to see their skills improve. I can only hope I keep getting better as time goes on, as well.
I also made quite a bit of progress in Nicholas Nickleby. I started it a few weeks ago, but I really had trouble getting into it. In fact, I almost set it aside (I would’ve dropped it after about a hundred pages, if I didn’t normally love Dickens so much). I did a quick Google search to see if I was alone in not digging this novel, and it turns out a common complaint is that it’s slow and meandering for about the first 25 chapters (agreed!), so I pushed on. After Chapter XXV, it did indeed pick up. Almost finished now, I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Just had to endure those first 300 pages to get there…
For my own writing, I’m making some good progress on Falling Leaves, maybe about two-thirds of the way through this revision. Focusing on some wording and plot points on this go around. After I’m done, I’ll set it aside for a bit to let it marinate, then I’ll go through again to fill in some blank spots. I’ve noticed there are longish sections of dialogue without any scene or action descriptions. Sometimes this works, other times some detail of what’s going on around the words would be better.
Watched “Gary,” The Bear special episode. Well done, but kind of unnecessary. Just a back story and character study on Carmy’s brother, really. I don’t regret watching it, but it didn’t change my life in any way.
And that’s where I am.
May 3rd, 2026
Things are sort of normal back to work, but… I tendered my resignation yesterday. I’ll be with the company through June, and, fortunately, they’re leaving me a very generous severance package. A good thing, because I don’t have anything lined up… It’s time, though. In part, I’ve grown weary of the job, though it’s a great company and I will very much miss the people (and, most especially, the yearly trips to Belgium/ Amsterdam – dinners with the team were always wonderful). Mostly, though, we (Chris and I) are just missing our son and his family (he has a son of his own, now, and another wee one on the way).
On the writing side, I’m still revising Falling Leaves, and making pretty good progress. I’ve received a few more rejections from agents for Farthane, and frankly I don’t think that one’s going to sell just yet… too long, and I’ve made some mistakes in the query letters. Still learning as I go along, but I’m optimistic.
I finished reading Dragons of Winter Night, and I’ve started on the next Dragonlance book, Dragons of Spring Dawning. While I see some improvement in the writing (still way too many adverbs… Uncle Stevie would not be pleased), I still cringe sometimes (part of that is that it’s a YA novel, and I’m in my fifties). I have to say, though, that the story itself is quite good, and the characters are very memorable (they’ve become icons in the world of fantasy, after all). I’m enjoying revisiting the books (I last read them in the 1980s), but I don’t think I’ll read the next trilogy right away – I need something written for adults. Most likely I’ll read Winter of the World, by Ken Follett (one of my favorite writers of historical fiction).
Chris and I are watching For All Mankind, which we love, and the new season of Daredevil (which I love; Chris is still undecided). We haven’t purchased a new puzzle, yet (we finished a Mona Lisa puzzle a couple weeks back, but we’re missing a piece… grrrr), but I think we’ll try a 3D puzzle, next.
I haven’t played Wintermute much, been busy with other things, though I’ve started the final Episode. Still a great game, though I think I prefer the Survival Mode of The Long Dark to the story mode.
And that’s where I am.
April 26th, 2026
Where Am I?
I just wrapped a big convention (NAB Las Vegas), which took up pretty much every waking moment of the last week. During the show my daily schedule was wake up, do the show, go out to dinner, go to bed, rinse and repeat. Exhausting, but not as bad as it might sound – it was a nice change of pace, at any rate.
I didn’t get time to write, revise, send queries, or any of that, though, during the show. No time to watch TV or build puzzles (or even chat) with my wife, no time to play games, and very little time to read (I did finish Dragons of Autumn Twilight, and started the next book in the series, Dragons of Winter Night). After the show (and all the post-show follow up, still in progress), when I finally had a little time… my computer died on me. Ah, well, such is life.
So this week, except for work, no progress. I’ll probably have to restart Wintermute from the beginning, which is a bummer (I believe the files for the game were only saved to the hard drive, not to the cloud), but in the grand scheme of things, that’s pretty small potatoes.
Chris (my wife) and I did go on a long, challenging hike at Red Rock yesterday, which was a ton of fun. We only covered about two miles in four hours, because there was no trail, just climbing rocks, jumping a few narrow gaps, and squeezing (sometimes thorny) bushes. Surprisingly, no rattlers, though we did see a couple of very large black birds (too far away to see clearly what they were), some lizards, and a frog.
And that’s where I am.
April 18th, 2026
Writing-wise, I’ve just been working on revising Falling Leaves. I get about a chapter completed every two days, and one or two chapters on the weekend. I’m about 1/3 finished with this revision, I think. I have a convention this weekend, though, so I won’t have any writing/ revision time.
I also threw out a couple more queries, but I need to research more agents, a very time consuming (and tedious) endeavor.
I have been thinking a lot about what to write next. I should do some screenplay revisions and get them out there, but the revision process is only semi-creative. I’ve been jonesing to do some “real writing.”
I’m debating on three stories right now: an “origin” story about one of the characters in Farthane, basically a revenge tale from the perspective of a blind woman; a modern thriller about a blind woman newly moved to a small town, stalked by a man from her past (obviously a parallel between those first two; the challenge of writing a novel using no visual cues just sounds interesting); or a post-apocalyptic sci-fi fantasy, in the same world as Farthane but about 1500 years later.
Chris and I finished watching One Piece and The Pitt. One Piece if silly fun. We also finished the second season of The Pitt – excellent, but heavy at times. Debating now what to watch next.
Played a bit more of the Long Dark Wintermute story. I’m on Chapter 3 now, and I’m really enjoying it.
On the reading side, I visited an old friend from high school: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first of the Dragonlance books. Definitely a YA novel, but still fun. I think I’ll finish the original series (4 books), and then maybe the next trilogy. As much as anything, I’m curious on how the quality of writing will improve over that period. DoAT was the debut novel by the duo that wrote it (Margaret Weiss and Tracey Hickman), and their inexperience shows sometimes. I’d still highly recommend it to any young adult interested in dragons, elves, and that sort of thing!
And that’s where I am.
April 11th, 2026
On the writing side, I’m still submitting queries for Farthane. I try to do at least one per day, though it can be time consuming (and tedious). I think I put out about five this week.
I’ve revised the first five chapters of The Fair Folk Book 1: Falling Leaves. For those that read the first version a few years back, the story is the same, but I’ve made a lot of revisions (even before this particular reworking). F-Bomb is now named Surly, and I’ve pared back the language quite a bit. At the time, I wanted to do a Tarantino-style Urban Fantasy, but what works for film doesn’t always work for a novel. I like the foundation of the story, though, and I think there’s a market for it. I guess I’m about a third of the way through. Once I’m done, I’ll set it aside, work on another project (probably revisions on some screenplays), and do another final revision before querying.
On the leisure side, I finished both the Body Thief and the Moonlit Path. So far, the Body Thief is my least favorite Anne Rice book. Her prose is terrific, as always, but the story didn’t grab me. I still think she’s great, one novel won’t change my mind on that. The Moonlit Path, on the other hand, was excellent, and I’m sure it will prove useful if I ever run a Werewolf game. I’ve just started Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby, and about two chapters in I realized I read it already, about 20 years ago. Rereading it anyway, as it’s worth another visit.
I finished Chapter Two of The Long Dark, and am on Chapter Three now. Love that game. Story mode is MUCH easier than Survival mode, but I’m enjoying Wintermute quite a bit, just the same.
My wife and I finished Season 3 of Shrinking, and we both like it very much. Silly and understated at the same time, with a lot of heart. We’re also about halfway through One Piece Season Two. Fun show. Definitely bonkers. Recommended to us by our son, which, by the way – happy birthday, Little Buddy!
And that’s where I am.
April 4th, 2026
Professionally, writing-wise, I am working on a few projects (including developing this website).
I’ve submitted queries for my most recently completed novel, Farthane, to about 30 agents, so far without any luck… I suspect Farthane is too long for a debut novel, but I’ll keep trying as I work on other projects.
I’m not going to start a new novel just yet, though I’ve taken notes on a couple of prospective works. Instead, I’m going to review some past pieces I’ve completed: screenplays, novels, and short stories. I’m going to revise the ones that I think are good, to hopefully make them great, and try to put them on the market. I’ll probably push Falling Leaves first. It has a lot of potential, I think, as a solid urban fantasy tale, but it needs a lot of work…
On the personal side, I’m currently reading The Body Thief, the fourth book in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. So far, not bad, though a little slow… The previous novel in the series, The Queen of the Damned, was my favorite so far.
I’m also reading The Moonlit Path, a sourcebook for the 5E Werewolf: The Apocalypse TTRPG. Only a few pages in (just finished Wyrmtide, which was excellent), but I’m excited by what I see.
For my RPG friends, I’m working on a Starfinder campaign, and I like the way it’s going. We still have a couple sessions left on our current Pathfinder campaign, and next we’ll play a Call of Cthulhu campaign run by one of my close friends (I’m very excited! I tend to be the “forever GM,” so it’s always a treat to be a player). That should give me ample time to put together some material for the Starfinder game, which I’ve never played.
My wife and I just finished watching Season Two of Falling Skies, which is pretty good (imperfect, but enjoyable). We’ll probably watch the second season of One Piece next, and we have one more episode of Shrinking to watch. We also watch The Pitt as it airs, and we’ll probably start watching Season Two of Daredevil: Born Again. I’ve been rewatching Firefly at the gym (on the elliptical). Love that show, and I’m hoping against hope that the upcoming (🤞) show will do it justice.
We watched 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple last night. Bonkers, like all the Danny Boyle/ Alex Garland “28” films. It was just so-so for the first 3/4, but in the end I liked it. I’ve noticed that on their previous collaborations, my opinion changes at the last part of the movie. I loved the first half of 28 Days Later, but was meh on the last the whole bit at the army fortress. I enjoyed most of 28 Years Later, but I didn’t like the ending. My overall opinion of these films is positive, and I’m very much looking forward to the next one.
On the video game side, Hinterlands Studio finally released the fifth and final episode of the Wintermute story for The Long Dark. I’ve played countless hours of the game in Survival Mode (one of my favorite games of all time), but I held off on the Story Mode until it was complete. I’ve just started Episode Two.
And that’s where I am.
Sen Braieth (The Official RT Metcalf Author Site) 