Car Crash...

 I went to LibertyCon in Chattanooga last weekend (6/22 - 6/25) and on the way home (yes, I drove this year) we got caught in a nasty squall. After most of it had passed and we were on our way again, a gal in the fast lane hit a large puddle and lost control. I think she may have spun a 450, but I'm not really sure, due to just how much water she was putting up into the air.

I was in the middle lane and started moving into the slow lane and had slowed down considerably. When suddenly she got traction and shot forward (she was now pointed across the highway) and hit the side of my car, hitting the left front wheel and then ripping down the side of my car. 

The car is totaled, sadly. She ripped the door halfway off and I'm lucky that she hit me up by the tire and not right on the door, or I'd probably be in the hospital right now. Or worse. This has messed up my schedule this week as I've been dealing with insurance agents, hers mostly as it doesn't appear that she reported this? Of course I had to spend the night in Little Rock and rent a car to drive home, and my wrecked car is now sitting in an impound yard in Little Rock as well.

So it's been a right pain in the ass. 

I'm hoping I don't have to get a lawyer, that her insurance company (State Farm) just ponies up the money they owe me and deal with the car in the impound lot. Then I can move on. However, I need a car that will seat at least four, if not six, can tow a trailer, and gets decent gas mileage and is in excellent shape. Because that's what I just lost - a well maintained 2011 Ford Flex with -all- the options. With the prices of used cars right now, I very much suspect that I'm screwed and won't be getting enough money to replace what I just lost. Looking on line the price of that car is almost TWICE what I paid for it. And of course blue book goes by what I paid 4 years ago - not what that car costs now.

Anyway, hoping I'll be back to writing fulltime tomorrow. I'd hoped to finish the first draft of the new book by Friday. As I've got 30 to 40 thousand words left to write. That ain't gonna be happening...

Oh, the wheel is canted in now, the picture doesn't show it well.

The New Valens Heritage book is now live: Bellicose

 Bellicose <- URL

 

 Mihalis finds himself in a new situation, one which all of the training he's received growing up isn't helping him to cope as much as he'd hoped. He's angry. He's never truly been angry before in his life and the anger he's dealing with isn't even coming from him! It's coming from the djevels.

His lion side, he's discovered, is far less affected by it than his dark elf, which only makes sense when you consider his dark elf heritage. But if he wants to pull himself back together, he needs to understand just what he's dealing with and how to manage it.
Then of course there are the other djevels out there. There are more he needs to bring under his banner and Prince Bratsch will undoubtedly be looking westwards towards those lands that once belonged to the former Prince Talt's now dead lords.

Last of all there is that nascent hotel business of his and Sawyer's. Nobody ever saw through Superman's glasses disguise, maybe Mihalis can do the same with those horns?

Thoughts on a Song

 

I was out working in the shop on one of the motorcycles, then a few other odds and ends as the rain hit and neither I nor my dog wanted to get wet walking back to the house. So I'm taking care of some repairs that had been put off and the Bryan Adams' song 'Summer of '69' comes on. I'm sure you've all heard it, but mostly he's singing about how High School was the best days of his life. It's a song about disappointment when you get right down to it.

This got me thinking. I don't think I've had a 'best days of my life' as far as looking back and wishing I was 'back there' and how much 'better' then was. This isn't to say I haven't had great times in my life — I have. I have a lot of things I look back on with incredibly fond memories and happiness — people too! Friends, lovers, acquaintances, some who are still in this world and some who are no longer with us.

I honestly don't think I've 'peaked' and I don't know that I ever will.

This isn't to say I haven't been through bad times; I've had more than my fair share of shit. I've been homeless. I've come close to death more than once. I know what it's like to pray to god that when the sun comes up, you're still alive. To see a dozen people killed in an instant, and it was more luck than anything that it wasn't you.

Maybe it's because I've been through some of these things that I stopped viewing setbacks of any kind as permanent. I've seen the truly terrible things that people who think they're entitled or untouchable can do. Been on the receiving end of that more than once. Sometimes there was justice, but more times than not, there wasn't. However, I learned from those things, I grew, I moved on. But I can tell you that:

There is no greater motivator in the world than spite.

There is no sweeter taste than the taste of revenge.

And love will carry you through a lot of troubled times.

But to get back to the song, sure I wouldn't mind being young again, who wouldn't? But I don't spend my life looking backwards, neither should you. There will be good times and great times, but you have to go looking for them. All pain is temporary and all fame is fleeting. All things will pass.

As the saying goes: Life, is a journey. Enjoy the ride.