Last Tuesday, I told a little story about unexpected delays, and then promised to follow up with a couple educational blog posts on Thursday.

I talked about family medical emergencies and final homework assignments. I didn’t really say much about my novel coming out in June.

But I have a novel coming out in June. I’ve dumped it on my editor with a request to read it really fast, and dumped it on everyone else I think will tolerate the request asking for some hurried beta-reading. And while they’ve been starting on it I was still rushing to finish it. Last weekend I wrote 17,000 new words (on this old novel) to get around to “The End.”

Now I’m sprinting into a read-through and struggling to stay ahead of my beta readers and hoping I don’t have to do too much work when I get their final analyses. But, in case it’s not apparent, I’ve spent the last two weeks doing a couple months’ worth of work on my novel to get it ready for a looming publication deadline.

In other words, I’m swamped. Sorry for the missed posts. Best things I’ve got to offer you this week is a glimpse inside the life of the self-published writer who’s still managing a day job, keeping in limited contact with his immediate family, and pursuing a Master’s degree.

It’s hectic. It’s fun. But you’ll definitely let things slip through the cracks. That’s when it really pays to have generous and forgiving friends and family. I’ve got a wealth of ’em.

See you next week.