Welcome, ladies and gentlegerms to the strugglebus edition of the Archefire Newsletter. Unfortunately – or maybe fortunately depending on your proclivities – this is going to be a quick update, for once. I know I've said that in the past and then bombarded you with 1500-word newsletters, but trust me this time!
You may recall from last month:
Well, friends, that's just how the struggle month began. There was certainly a bit of Silksonging going on (or Skonging, as the kids say), and it did result in a chunk of lost writing days at the beginning of the month.
But lo, as soon as I finished Silksong, I came down with Covid yet again (my fourth or fifth time, I think). A lot of my writing time is on the train into work, so that left yet another void in my writing metrics spreadsheet. Not to worry though, I was in such a fog that writing while Covid-infested would have just made more work for me during the second draft. I'll be feeling better soon, and then I'll get right back into the story!
Then Nazgul got sick. Friends, this was worse than getting Covid myself. At least when I was sick, I got some sleep. When Nazgul was sick, he was getting me up 5 times a night to go outside. It was debilitating. But we got him on some probiotics. Problem solved!
And then Benny got sick. He caught Covid as well, so he wasn't able to go to daycare, which meant more days staying home unable to write. Thankfully, it was a mild case, and he felt better quickly. Time to start drafting agai—
And then I got sick again. This time it was something like strep throat, which felt like swallowing daggers. That also came with a high fever that wiped me out for a few days. Little writing got done.
That brings us up to date. I don't know if the sequence of events is entirely correct because my brain was absolutely fried throughout most of it. But you get the idea. So, what's the grand total of words I've finished this month? Brace yourselves...
Sibling Suns 3 Update
9,750 words in September. You know, it's not as awful as I was expecting (this is my first time adding it up too, so we're finding out together). Even with all that going on, it's not my worst month ever—though it certainly felt like it in the moment.
Perhaps the more surprising thing is that nearly 10,000 words only resulted in two and a half chapters. Definitely longer chapters than I've been aiming for in Sibling Suns 3, but they've been some of my better ones. Silver linings!
Where's the rest of the newsletter?
Uh... yeah, so that's about all I've got this month. I didn't manage to finish my next essay, which will be on C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man with a mini-review of That Hideous Strength. (Spoiler alert: both are brilliant.) I also didn't update the website at all this month. It's all falling apart! Archefire Publishing is a sinking ship, people. You had better buy my books now before they go out of print. Here, I'll make it nice and easy:
Schnauzgul
I guess that mean's it's time for Nazgul to close us out!
Even the Nazgul section is cut short this month. Tragic!
And that's going to do it, folks. I'll be doing my best to depart the struggle bus in October. Stay tuned to find out how it goes.
As always, thanks for reading!
— Josh