The Hangover Within a Hangover

Don't get too excited just yet, I'm talking about book hangovers. The kind that causes severe emotional distress and leaves you stuck in the author's world, aching and unwhole. I know that's what every reader thirsts for, but it still manages to stun us when we finally close the book on that final page.

Well, Stephen King managed to deliver a double whammy with Wizard and Glass.

Again, I know I'm like... a decade late to this party, but one of my resolutions was to discuss every book I read this year, not just the indies, (although the indies will get extra special treatment.) So here it is. My thoughts on Wizard and Glass.

I touched on this briefly in my Other Worlds post when I had just started Wizard and Glass, and was still mega happy that I had finally finished the train ride. That part of me is now whole. In my late teens, I was left hanging off the most horrible cliff anyone could imagine, and there was no comfort to be had for years. I’m pretty sure King’s cliffhanger has reached legendary status by now because even non-readers are aware of the hiatus after The Waste Lands. 

And then my excitement turned to “WTH am I reading?!?” just a few days afterwards because King went off on a tangent for like... THE WHOLE BOOK!! Debra wasn’t happy. Where did Suzanna, Eddie and Jake go? They were the ones I wanted to read about, not Alain and Bert and the dinky little town of Hambry. So day after day, I plugged in my ear buds and loaded up audible, suffering through Roland and Susan’s love story and barely able to tolerate it. Until I wasn't just tolerating it anymore…

By that I mean, King drew me in, again, and my tolerance turned to acceptance, then to curiosity, and finally morphed into obsession. What took me months to get into, I ended up finishing in a rush and was unable to put the book down.

Then the story ended… but the book didn't. I was suffering Hambry hangover, and I still had a couple chapters left to go when I was suddenly back with Roland’s ‘New York’ ka-tet. I had just enough time to get all cuddled up with them, AND THEN the book ended.

Blargh!

There you have it. Hangover followed by hangover. It’s a rough life for a reader sometimes.

I have eased my suffering by starting Wolves of the Calla, but it’s read by George Guidell, NOT Frank Muller who read the previous three books. Why you do this to me, Penguin Audio? I might have to find the time to read the book myself since I got so used to Muller’s Eddie Dean. Guidell just can’t pull off the accent as well. We’ll just have to see what happens there.

Now, I have to apologize for the lack of post last week. Things were going along wonderfully as far as edits go, but a monkey wrench got thrown into the works by way of a stress headache last Thursday. Set me a little behind, but I’m back at it now. Working on a few projects, which I know those eagerly awaiting part three probably don’t want to hear, but it helps with the burn out factor. Don’t worry though, The Phoenix Curse remains my primary focus now and will be until it’s finished. The other couple projects I have are just stress relief. :)

Also, for the Sherlock fans out there, Season 3 is out and it is absolutely smashing!! The game is on, people!

Happy New Year!

I'm back!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, wonderful 2013 holiday season! We've made it through another year, woohoo! The family and I spent New Year's Eve playing board games and having fun. At 10 till midnight, I realized I'd forgotten the eggnog and we had to improvise. The internet is truly an amazing thing. I pulled off a recipe, whipped up the creation and voila! Holiday eggnog. Wonder if a new tradition was just born?

Now, I have a few people out there waiting on paperbacks. I'm expecting my first shipment to arrive around the end of this month and I'll start shipping in February. Just a little update on that.

Also, I'm happy to report that it feels like I have a solid grip on things again. I haven't felt this way since before we decided to put our house up for sale. We're finally all settled after the move, I feel pretty settled in at the new job, my wrist is almost back to 100%, and I've been able to hit my daily goals for the past couple of weeks. You know what that means? I'll probably be sending my manuscript off to the editor by MARCH! That's a huge leap from what I had originally expected.

So, wishing everyone the best this year. Remember, it's up to you to make it all happen! I'll leave you with some poetry I wrote ages ago, written sometime during those horrible high school days. Maybe it wasn't ALL horrible.

Time passes, year by year.

Friends who go, new friends to meet.

And so on, life floats slowly by

Making memories, forever sweet.

                                                    d.r.johnson
                                                    circa 1994