This week is one of those milestones in my life. It isn't a big one, at least no certificates or fireworks to herald its coming, but meaningful for my personal goals over the last fifteen years. Our youngest is finally out of daycare. That means I can move to the next step which is use the money we needed for daycare to reduce our debt and reduce our financial risk. I'm guessing that this will take about two years.

Naturally, just the hint of having more money meant everything started breaking down including the dishwasher giving up the ghost, a car bumper almost falling off, a kitchen light burning out, and a slew of other expenses. On the other hand, they thankfully waited until we could afford to handle them, so it is just one more thing.

Debt is a nasty thing. It is expensive to carry it but it is also very difficult to get out from underneath it once you get into the hole. To dig oneself out, it requires a discipline I don't always have and a lot of patience (years in this case).

Related to that, I want to get a book out but I shouldn't. I have two that are effectively done now (Flight of the Scions and Second-Hand Dresses) with a third (Raging Alone) that should be done by end of year. They all require at least one editor round.

My updated plans are to publish either Flight of the Scions or Second-Hand Dresses in time for ICON in 2021. Then one or two books in 2022.

The idea of two to three years is one of the frustrating part. I don't want to wait so long to get a book out but that is how my priorities go. As I mentioned before, a lot of my focus on tasks comes from something I read in Reader's Digest a long time ago.

You have time for only three things in your life. It may be family, work, or a hobby. Pick those three and don't worry about the less.

The above quote is paraphrased with the haze of decades. My three things are: family, work, and writing.

I'm still planning on posting a chapter every week at fedran.com. I've been doing that for four years now and it's becoming a thing.

On the other hand, I not going to update d.moonfire.us with the chapter announcements. When I was always working on a single piece at a time, it was easy to set up announcements between the two. However, with the self-doubt of Raging Alone and my Pride Month challenge, that got disrupted and I don't think it's worth the energy to maintain inconsistent schedules on two sites. The Fedran website will always have the chapters.

Speaking of Pride Month, I finished it but it was tight. I ended up writing four stories but one of them got switched to serializing weekly to give me a bit of breathing room (and it was much longer):

• Let His Memory Go: This is a story I talked about in 2015 about Mikáryo knowing that Rutejìmo was about to experience in Sand and Ash. This has some naughty scenes in it. It is fully posted on the site and has gone through my writing group.
• May I Lead This Dance: Spinning off Second-Hand Dresses, I wanted to write about a trans girl who wants to go to a Tarsan party but is scared to because everyone sees her as a boy. I mean, Lily is poly and bi on the page but she's still cis in society. It is fully posted on the site but still going through the writing group so it has some rough edges.
• Prospects of Love Among Mages: Related to my forensic murder mystery stories and novels, this is a story about four mages in the city guard talking about love and sex (or a lack of thereof). It a story with an ace, an aro, and a polyam while touching on depression, support networks, and being on the autism spectrum. It is fully posted on the site and has gone through my writing group.
• Coins for Your Troubles: The longest piece about a lesbian warrior who gets injuries and spends a month recuperating at a small inn that she once saw a pretty girl. This has some naughty scenes in it. This is serializing until mid-August and my writing group hasn't seen it, so it is very rough.

Opinions, comments, and the like is always appreciated. Otherwise, enjoy reading and tell me what you think.