There are so many frustrated people because of the home quarantines and the social distancing. I work at home, so for me every day is almost business as usual. I can't go to Walmart at two in the morning anymore because they close early, but the adjustment for that isn't very large because I'm old enough to remember when the stores closed early. For me it's kind of like going back in time.

I'm still plugging away at writing, my comics, and acting. I completed a new song in the past couple of weeks. I've had a few bored clients come for more work to be done, so that's helped my pocketbook a little. Not by much because a lot of people are having to really watch what they're spending. Some people on my Facebook have reportedly lost their jobs, even if it is only until everything is done. But there's always the fear that when everything is done, they will not have a job anyway.

It's a scary time all around. Whatever the numbers really are, people are dying. This is the fact of it. Despite that, my neighbors aren't exactly practicing much social distancing. If someone in that cluster gets it they all go down. I hope they never get it. 

I'm just making this blog post to you at about one or two in the morning, walking along the streets, not disturbing anyone, getting my exercise in. It's a good way to wrap up my day.

I had been experimenting as I had mentioned before with using dictation as a way to speed up my molasses, slow-like-snails writing process., It's an effective method. I have written a complete story, and now I only have to polish it up. It took me 48 minutes to tell the story to myself while I mumbling to myself like a crazy person, as I keep saying everywhere. But hey whatever works.

I even worked a little bit on an old story tonight. Not much because I really don't know where the story is gonna go. I basically decided to practice the technique more with it, and I like what came out. I think of you might like it, if you're a sci-fi fan. 

Another positive thing I have to report, and something I know I say a lot and probably will keep saying, is that I am pleased with how Akashik looks. I am finding more things to tweak so that it is looking better and better page by page. If you're an old fan, I encourage you to please go read it. Leave me a comment. Let me know you're out there, let me know that I'm not wasting my time on this project.

I know it's probably very silly, but I've been thinking that I would like to put out a musical album. I'm not very good with my music, my filking, or even the autoharp I play but it's just something I've always wanted to do. It's something my grandmother did with the group she was in, The Kentucky Sweethears. The only copy of the album that I know of was taken by my godmother and aunt, and who knows what happened to it. I am pretty sure I will die never having gotten to hear my grandmother's playing. By the time I was born she never played any more at all. Although she did show me how to make the poor man's G, as she called it, on the guitar.

The album would be mostly public domain stuff. My most requested song is the Rising Sun Blues. Of course the person I actually started playing for is no longer in my scope to play, and I don't even know if he is alive or dead. I don't go to that convention anymore, and the last time I went they had mostly taken away my ability to filk anywhere. So I chose to spend my money elsewhere.
 
I do have enough songs in my weapon repertoire for an album. I just don't have the recording (and probably playing) skills. It's different from audio narration. There's a different style of mixing, things called auto ducking and other arcane spellworks and curses. I can't afford to rent a studio right now. So I would have to record at home in my tiny booth. But still, it's something I would like to try to do.

I can't really think of anything else for this latest update. We don't have any new books coming … Akashik is probably the thing that's going to have a book out next. It will be a small comic book. I probably will not put it to print on demand. This means I would have a limited run of the comic printed – a few hundred or so if I can afford it – and I would probably only be able to offer it up at Amazon and have on my table at the rear convention. 

Who knows when there'll be another convention that doesn't get canceled by this mess. But then again, when I think of all the sick people I've seen at conventions where it was clear they had something more than just the sniffles… Yeah closing the conventions is probably the safest thing for everybody. As much as I hate it.

Well I'm going to sign off now. It was nice chatting at you and experimenting with this way of creating through dictation.  Now I'm going to see what kind of mess Dragon NaturallySpeaking turns it into. Cross your fingers and let's hope I don't have to do too much polishing. 

Have fun!