Not that a long period between updates is uncommon for me, but I finally feel up to posting something. A few weeks ago, I had my septum straightened. While I thankfully don’t recall anything of the surgery, I was unable to breathe through my nose for the following two weeks of recuperation. This wouldn’t have been a problem if I didn’t have sleep apnea. I have this pesky habit of not breathing while I sleep, so I have a machine (CPAP) that forces air into my nose. No such luck, when my nose is packed with gauze and magnetic stints.

In any case, I went a couple of weeks without sleep. I may have caught a few naps here and there, in my chair while watching the Science channel for the entire time, but not once did I get into bed for the night. I was a little cranky by the time I was ready to have the stints removed. There was a slight complication when the doc pulled them out, though. He thought it might help me breathe clearer if he took out a scab that was deep inside my nose. Turns out it was on an arterial vessel. Who knew I could bleed so much so fast? Well, he did apparently, because he had more gauze jammed up my nose in no time. Of course, I was covered in blood by then. I really liked that shirt, too.

I think I’m caught up on my sleep debt now and ready to start doing more than watch How It’s Made, my new favorite show. There’s a few things I wanted to do before starting to work on the revision of book two, The Mists of Faeron. Aside from rereading the first book and taking some close notes, there are some other books on writing I wanted to finish reading. As a writer, I’m always trying to improve my craft. Once that’s done, I want to take some time to just sit and really think about what needs to change in book two. There is the obvious change to point of view that needs to be done, as well as incorporating all of the changes from book one, but more than that, I want to solidify and encapsulate it into a stand-alone story. That’s going to take some doing, I imagine.

I’m scheduled to visit Italy in early February and return late in the month. I’ll most likely start working on it then. I have a small group of beta readers that go over the chapters as I write them. Besides catching the inevitable typos, they provide invaluable feedback that helps me keep the story on track. I always work from an outline, no matter how vague, but tangents do occur. If anyone else is interested in joining that group, send me an email.

I hope everyone had a great holiday!