The terrible heat wave we Northwesterners suffered in June has given us one of the most colorful autumns we have had in many years. All last week, even the native trees were colorful. Usually, our native maples are relatively dull as compared to the non-native ornamentals.
My euonymus alata compacta, AKA Burning Bush, was glorious this year. That is a non-native shrub, but wow! The hedge really brightened up the yard.
Our magnolia tree even bore two fruits this year, which it never has done before. We planted the tiny sprouts in containers, hoping maybe they would grow. Who knows, we might end up with two more trees.
In industry news, Publishers Weekly reports that with most categories posting increases, sales at the 1,158 publishers that report results to the Association of American Publishers’ StatShot program rose 6.9% in July over July 2020.
They also said that Amazon’s growth has slowed to 15% in the third quarter of 2021. At the same time, Hachette Book Group’s third-quarter sales dropped by 9%. I find that interesting, as it says that with the pandemic easing, people are making less time for reading. Amazon sells far more than books, while HBG’s focus is on printing and selling paper books.
I ran across an older article in the HuffPost yesterday that still has merit: Traditional Journalism is Dying: Why the Publishing Industry Must Adapt to Survive | HuffPost Impact.
Apparently, short attention spans are still affecting that side of the industry. If people don’t have the patience to read a short article—
Where was I? Oh, yes. Today (Wednesday) is the third day of NaNoWriMo2021. I am managing to get all the clerical work for my region done and keep a path cleared through my home. Monitoring the Discord channel for my region has been a bit distracting. However, I still have the time to get a respectable amount of work done on my new book.
At the time of this writing, the plumbing is still a problem on the homefront, but that is closer to being worked on. More on that debacle later when I have at least an answer and an estimated cost.
This year having an outline has been a real bonus. With my home in plumbing hell, having the outline for reference keeps me focused on the story.
Today, my goal is to finish fleshing out the Antagonist’s backstory. When that is finished, I will move on to the inciting incident.
My novel is not a book at this stage, and it won’t be until sometime in January. But I hope to have the entire story arc written and ready to flesh out by the 30th of this month.
I learned early on that even with an outline, this first draft is my “thinking draft.” It will be a combination of backstory and brilliance. In January, the weeding will begin. Hopefully, I will be in the editing stage by next November, just as I am now with last year’s NaNoWriMo novel.
So that is the news from the Command Corner at Casa Del Jasperson. Happy writing!
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 
I am SO unfocused! Not giving up… yet, but my writing mojo is AWOL. 😦
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Some years are harder than others. Some years I write random snippets of stuff, poetry and short stories, as my brain refuses to function, but every word counts. Any writing is good, in my opinion, and a habit of writing daily is a good thing to develop, even if you aren’t writing for word count. I believe that whatever you write, or however much you write, it can only be a good thing. 😀
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