The five books and 237 chapters of The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins have come to an end as of today. It's been quite a ride. I started writing the story in November of 2018 with no idea how long it would be until the characters took on a life of their own while I was getting settled in Arizona for the winter. Then I couldn't stop writing, pumping out a chapter a day for about eight months.
I hadn't reached the end of the story when I started slowing down in July of 2019. In August I found out why as I was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation. By the time I got to the end of the story in mid-September, I was only able to write for 15 minutes at a time before I'd fall asleep again. It was nearly the end of my story. I finally finished Double Team and went to Seattle to 'celebrate' my 70th birthday. Instead of celebrating, I was admitted to the emergency room and went in for immediate cardioversion. (They stop your heart and then restart it at the right rhythm.) I recovered.
I haven't been productive at the level of a chapter a day since then, but I'm happy to say that I've also produced the J-Hop short story "My Sex Slave" (https://storiesonline.net/s/22975/my-sex-slave) and five other serials that have been or are running on SOL. (Things I Never Told My Wife, Adams' Apples, The Props Master 2: A Touch of Magic, Pussy Pirates, and The Art and Science of Love--refresh)I also wrote a book by Nathan Everett (Wayzgoose) that will begin posting in this timeslot on Tuesday. A Place at the Table was posted in first rough draft last winter as "American Royalty". The story is so completely different than that draft after three rewrites that it will go up as a new story simultaneous to its release to the general public and SOL on December 22, 2020. It will be available in eBook form from Bookapy.
And I've not had a serious problem with my heart since October 2019. Knock on wood.
So, with the conclusion of Double Team, where am I going from here? I am nearly finished writing another Swarm Cycle story that will then be reviewed by the Swarm Authors forum and I'll completely rewrite. Then it will get posted here, I hope. The response to Pussy Pirates in that universe has been positive, so I'm very hopeful. I am doggedly determined to finish this new story, hopefully in the next week, so I can move on to another. I will begin one or more of several projects I've been toying with. We'll see where it goes. After all, I expect to spend most of the next four months in continued isolation as I look out across Puget Sound and watch the shipping traffic in and out of Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia.
Suffice it to say, I'm not dead and I am writing. More to come.
Thank you for your kind comments and reviews of Double Team.
aroslav