I was hopping around among playlists on a LONG drive recently and found an old one called "Music for Orana." As I was on my way to a book event in Knoxville (hello LONG delays on I40 from Asheville to the Tennessee state line), I put that on to get me in the headspace to sell the stories I wrote about my Orana characters...who have in many ways become more real to me than some real people in my life. Authors, you know what I mean about the voices that wake you up in the middle of the night to deliver a plot twist...
Anyway, the title for this song by Alex Clare slid onto the screen just behind my steering wheel and I took a quick second to remember what part of the books was inspired by this song. Two seconds later I knew... This is what I imagine it is like for Gin to feel the bond in her mind when Taeben is controlling her but convincing her he does it because he cares for her.
Relax my beloved, don't worry for me
Don't shed a tear for me, always be near for me
Be confident my love, don't bow your head for me
Promise you'll smile for me, don't ever cry for me
He is soothing her and convincing her to let him take care of her. He wants her to be the best version of herself, unlike the Qatu Sath who wants to hold her back so he has to rescue her. He begs her to smile for him, though her smile is the bit that brings into sharp focus what he is actually doing, and it breaks him a bit each time.
For my second signing event in 2026, I'm over the moon (with Artemis II) to get to tell you I will be at SC Comicon this weekend! Saturday and Sunday, 10-6ish, I will be in the Vendor Hall in Artist's Alley with books ready to go home with you!
I will be in space 1032 (marked on the floor map below) which is on the opposite side of the hall from last fall if you came to the one day Fall Comicon, and will have all of my Orana Chronicles epic fantasy novels, The World of Arcstone litRPG duology, and the first in the alternative fiction series Luminous Beings series, Strið.
I hope to see you, not just because my books need homes but because the line up for this Comicon is amazing! Anson Mount (Star Trek: SNW), Ron Perlman (Beauty and the Beast), Ruth Connell (SPN), Mark Sheppard (SPN, Firefly)...it's going to be amazing! Also, there will be authors I love there, including Darin Kennedy, Matthew Saunders, and the Crowded Shelf!
There's a monster that authors, especially of the self published/ indie published variety, have to deal with...the scammer. It can be anything from wanting to publish my novel for the low, low price of hundreds of dollars, promote my book on Amazon to get me more readers (again for hundreds of dollars), or the one I got recently: to feature me and my work in an online book club.
Sounds great, huh? How could that last one be a scam? Follow along, my dears, and I will show you...this is a conversation/cold email from this week.
Dear Nancy E. Dunne,
My name is [redacted], and I organize [redacted]. Our readers are drawn to immersive fantasy that blends emotional truth with rich world-building, and Storm: An Arcstone Novel does this with rare sensitivity and imagination.
Your exploration of destiny, courage, and the inner storms that shape identity resonates deeply with our group. We admire how you weave themes of hope and self-discovery through a universe that feels both magical and deeply human.
We would be honored to have you join us virtually on October 23, 2025, to discuss your creative journey and the heart behind Storm.
If you have a magic wand, what will you change in your present result ???
Warm regards,
[Redacted]
[I ignored this one. Sometimes they just go away, but this one was very persistent.]
Hello Nancy E. Dunne,
[Too many spaces between hello and my name. Really? Rookie giveaway.]
I truly value your work on Storm: An Arcstone Novel and would love to see you at our upcoming event. Wednesday is the final day to confirm your participation, but you can also confirm today to secure your spot early. Your story deserves this spotlight.
If you have a magic wand, what will you change in your business outcome or present result???
Warm regards,
[Redacted]
[So this time i decided to answer…]
I'm curious why you chose the second book in a series for your focus. What did you think of the first?
Cheers!
Nancy
["She" wrote back. Usually, when I call them out for wanting to highlight the second book in a series, they disappear. But not this one. Persistent.]
Dear Nancy,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply! That’s a wonderful question, and one that truly reflects the depth of your storytelling across the Orana Chronicles and Arcstone worlds.
We were first introduced to your work through Wanderer and Tempest, and what stood out most to our readers was the way your universe evolves with each installment, the emotional stakes rise, but so does the spiritual and psychological depth. Storm felt like a natural continuation for our group because it captures that moment where your characters begin to fully confront destiny rather than simply move through it.
That growth, both internal and cosmic, is exactly what makes your series resonate so powerfully with our readers. It’s not just fantasy, it’s a reflection of the courage it takes to face change and self-realization.
We’d be honored to spotlight Storm during our October 23 virtual session while also touching on the roots of your world in The Nature Walker Trilogy. The goal is to celebrate how the threads connect, showing your evolution as both a storyteller and world-builder.
Would you like me to share the event details and the short registration process so we can confirm your feature?
Warm regards,
[I'm thinking AI]
[At this point "she'd" shown "her" hand. Register for an appearance in a book club feature? That sounds like I have to pay you for the privilege and Nancy doesn't pay to play, friend.]
Actually no, I don't think so, but I appreciate the invitation.
There isn't a way to tie Storm's plot in with the Nature Walker Trilogy because they are from different series. I hope that your members enjoyed Wanderer and Tempest and will enjoy the first book in the World of Arcstone series if they have a chance to read it. Have a great evening!
Cheers!
Nancy
[No answer so far this morning…I must have blown up the algorithm.]
So when I can't sleep, I often have my Alexa read my own novels to me. I know how that sounds, and I'm not saying that my books are so boring that they put me to sleep. I'm saying that they are familiar and that is soothing to me...like the fact that I watch The Big Bang Theory over and over. Lately I listen to them in order...and wish that I was at the point where I can offer professional HUMAN-read audio books.
Anyway, this song is, for reasons I can't fully explain, The Nature Walker Trilogy. This is a video with lyrics on the screen, so no need to put them below. Enjoy.
If you have been on socials this month I'm sure you have heard Livingston's new single, Shadow, along with others from his new album that dropped yesterday.
Can we take a second to acknowledge that I am clearly morphing into a teenager here in my self imposed exile while in treatment for cancer? Honestly.
Anyway! I heard that first verse in a TikTok and I haven't been able to get Taeben and the novellas I'd planned to write IN A FEW YEARS out of my head, so here we are. It's also a...bop? It slaps? I don't know. It's an earworm and I'm not mad at it. There. Enjoy.
And speaking of my current Nanowrimo project...I will have copies of the first book in the series (plus the rest of my Orana novels and Proud Racer/Clobberpaws) this weekend at the Carolina Renaissance Festival. I'm participating again in a book signing/author meet and greet event with other local Fantasy and SciFi authors. Come out and see us if you're local!!
I will be appearing this year at ConCarolinas in Charlotte, NC as an author guest. The Con is 4-6 June 2021, and is in person this time!
So last year, ConCarolinas was completely virtual. I did one panel about strong women in history and how they influence our writing. I had a new book out, but nothing really came of it because it was virtual.
This year is a completely different experience. I will be on several panels. I will be in Author's Alley when I'm not on panels, signing copies of all my books including, hopefully, the one there in the picture. Darkness, the first book in the new Guardians of Orana series, releases right before ConCarolinas and I can't wait for folks to read it!
So come see me, grab signed copies of the Nature Walker Trilogy, the Tales of the Forest War, and Rift, and just enjoy the Con! Do note, though, that the Con is requiring attendees to wear masks in all indoor public spaces.
Coming next year: A new series set in the world of Orana: Guardians of Orana. The origin stories of the characters from the Nature Walker Trilogy and the Tales of the Forest War intertwined with the ongoing story of Orana, due out in the autumn of 2021.
Watch this space, and visit nancyedunne.com for preordering information.
[Their story is coming, for those who have laughed along with and fallen in love with the most unlikely duo in all of Orana.]
So, I was first introduced to this song by a Rennie friend of mine when he mentioned how perfect it was for a workout. Y'all, I am so far away from a workout if it involves leaving my house...but it ended up in my Music from Orana rotation and I had never associated it with any one character or place until recently.
I've been doing some drafting for the Guardians of Orana series where I want to be able to tell the backstories and current exploits of the cast of characters from the Nature Walker Trilogy, and this song is just Elys and Hack. Their unlikely friendship hit like the thunder before the lightning. Readers of the trilogy know Elys's backstory and how she never takes anything for granted. She is the line in the first verse that is dreaming of bigger things. Hack is the lightning strike that either illuminates her way or blasts it clear for her - sometimes/often both. Conversely, Hack is the thunder that warns the enemy - Elys does love to burn things, just like a lightning bolt.
Also, Imagine Dragons. Y'all. Perfection. Have a listen.
[For everyone that is currently thinking that Nelenie didn't have a surname, she does. I just haven't gotten that book published yet. So, as per usual, SPOILERS and YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, etc.]
There has been a topic floating in a fantasy writer's group I belong to for a while now. It ebbs and flows and resurfaces. "Do you feel inspired by music/Do you have music on while you write?" The five or six of you that are regular readers of the Lettuce know the answer for me, but it has been interesting to see how much my experience is not the norm, at least because I listen to music with words. Many of my colleagues in that group listen to ambient music/sounds or instrumentals only. Does that mean I'm cheating because I'm listening to music with lyrics that speak to me about my characters?
Nope. At least, I don't think so. Everyone is inspired by something, and this inspires me to create them. I think that's fair.
So, this week, a minor character turned major character as the story moved along. Nel and Gin grew up as friends until the differences between the Alynatalans and the Aynamaedeans pulled them apart. Their friendship influenced Nel's relationship with Elys and Tairn's reverence for Gin as a mother figure. Gin's feelings of inadequacy took root when Ben chose Nel over her. Not so minor, eh?
I have been thinking about her because she resurfaces in Guardians of Darkness, the beginning of the Guardians of Orana series and because the woman that inspired her is a good friend of mine who is accomplishing amazing things against incredible odds. So as I always do, I sat with a few songs before I found one that really is Nel's song to me.
Nel experienced so much upheaval during the events of the Nature Walker Trilogy. Her life changed when she came of age and realized that she and Gin were different. Her life changed when she followed the path of a warrior rather than a magic-user and took on all the difficulty that choice entailed. Her life changed drastically when she bucked the system of her people and trained Elys, an Aynamaedean, to fight in the way that Nel was taught. Her life certainly changed when that relationship was discovered and reported - by someone she had loved and trusted for her entire life - and she was exiled, forced to live as a mercenary.
But with each trial, Nel held her head high and just got on with things. It's what drew her to Elys, I think because they are very similar in personality and threshold for surrender. But there comes a point where you have to just stop, reassess, and take the steps to get back on your path. The song "From Now On" from the musical/movie "The Greatest Showman" really spoke to me when I thought about Nel, and how she comes to that point - and I'll stop there before Nancy Spoilers spiral out of control.
From Now On
Zac Brown Band/Hugh Jackman
I saw the sun begin to dim And felt that winter wind blow cold A man learns who is there for him When the glitter fades and the walls won't hold
'Cause from then, rubble What remains can only be what's true If all was lost, it's more I've gained 'Cause it led me back to you
And from now on, these eyes will not be blinded by the lights From now on, what's waited 'til tomorrow starts tonight Tonight, and let this promise in me start like an anthem in my heart From now on, from now on
I drank champagne with kings and queens The politicians praised my name But those are someone else's dreams The pitfalls of the man I became
For years and years, I chased their cheers At the crazy speed of always needing more But when I stop and see you here I remember who all this was for
And from now on, these eyes will not be blinded by the lights And from now on, what's waited 'til tomorrow starts tonight Starts tonight, let this promise in me start like an anthem in my heart From now on, from now on, from now on
And we will come back home And we will come back home, home again And we will come back home And we will come back home, home again And we will come back home And we will come back home, home again
From now on, these eyes will not be blinded by the lights And from now on, what's waited 'til tomorrow starts tonight Starts tonight, and let this promise in me start like an anthem in my heart From now on, from now on, from now on
And we will come back home And we will come back home, home again And we will come back home And we will come back home, home again From now on, from now on, home again
New month, back to Orana and specifically to Taeben and Gin in Tempest. I know, the first thing a lot of my readers think when they see Taeben's name is that hashtag #benisadick that goes around. I mean, he's the bad guy, so he is supposed to be, right? Today, though, I want to present you with another view of him. This is a view that I got called out for pushing by one of my beta readers. I have a tendency to see the best in people, even when they don't deserve it, and the feedback was that I was giving Taeben so much grace that he wasn't even a bad guy anymore.
Some writers can create two dimensional bad guys who are like the little girl with the little curl, but I am not capable of that. I wanted people to know all sides of him because to me, that makes the reaction to him when he is bad more visceral, more shocking. This was the idea behind Tempest, to show the relationship between Taeben and Gin, so that his later behavior is even more awful and hard to believe. But I went too far, I think, at least for that beta reader - and, in truth, for me I suppose. Y'all, if I had kept on the way I was headed Taeben would have been completely unbelievable as a villain.
So, to the point of this being a Music Monday post - I heard today's song, Silent Lucidity, in a TV show I was watching recently (ok, I will admit it was Supernatural and I'm trying to binge watch 14.5 seasons before October because I am late to that bandwagon) and I remembered that I loved that song back during the time that I was heavy into my MMORPG that inspired the Orana Chronicles. That was the time that I knew the person that inspired Taeben. It all fell into place as I was driving yesterday and heard the song again. That is what I was trying to convey in the relationship between Taeben and Gin. Maybe he was always bad. Maybe he had malicious plans for Gin well before the events of the end of Wanderer when he pulled Sath and Gin apart.
Maybe this is Taeben and Gin in an alternate reality. Maybe this is Taeben's plan that went awry. Either way, I sat with the lyrics of this song for awhile after I got out of the car, and I couldn't get away from Taeben and Gin.
I have been invited to join the virtual vendor showcase that Greyhound Crossroads is hosting this year since their signature event, Beach Bound Hounds, was cancelled due to COVID-19. I invite you not only to grab a signed copy of the books in my back catalog, but to find unique and wonderful merchandise for you or other dog lovers in your life, while supporting the work that this group does to place retired racing greyhounds in homes in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. This opens to the public on September 4th - search FB for BBH Vendor Virtual Showcase. See y'all there!
Books available for signed paperback purchase:
Proud Racer: An American Greyhound in Yorkshire
Clobberpaws and Clobberpaws, Too!
The Nature Walker Trilogy: Wanderer, Tempest, and Guardian
Yeah, I couldn't sit on this one any longer. Anyone who knows me or has seen me talk about Gin and Sath and the Orana Chronicles knows how much I love these two characters. When I first heard this song I was captivated. It seems like it was written for them, documenting the path they take in the Nature Walker Trilogy. Please find the lyrics below and enjoy the music of this band from Dublin as they talk about my superheroes, Gin and Sath.
Superheroes
The Script
All the life she has seen
All the meaner side of me
They took away the prophet's dream
For a profit on the street
Now she's stronger than you know
A heart of steel starts to grow
All his life he's been told
He'll be nothing when he's old
All the kicks and all the blows
He won't ever let it show
'Cause he's stronger than you know
A heart of steel starts to grow
When you've been fighting for it all your life
You've been struggling to make things right
That's how a superhero learns to fly
Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power
When you've fighting for it all your life
You've been working every day and night
That's how a superhero learns to fly
Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power
Oh-oh, oh, oh
Oh-oh, oh, oh
All the hurt, all the lies
All the tears that they cry
When the moment is just right
You see fire in their eyes
'Cause he's stronger than you know
A heart of steel starts to grow
When you've been fighting for it all your life
You've been struggling to make things right
That's how a superhero learns to fly
Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power
When you've fighting for it all your life
You've been working every day and night
That's how a superhero learns to fly
Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power (power, power, power, power, power)
Every day, every hour turn the pain into power
(Power, power, power, power)
Every day, every hour turn the pain into power
She's got lions in her heart
A fire in her soul he's a got a beast
In his belly that's so hard to control
'Cause they've taken too much hits, taking blow by blow
Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode
She's got lions in her heart
A fire in her soul he's a got a beast
In his belly that's so hard to control
'Cause they've taken too much hits, taking blow by blow
Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode
When you've been fighting for it all your life
You've been struggling to make things right
That's a how a superhero learns to fly
Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power
When you've fighting for it all your life
You've been working every day and night
That's a how a superhero learns to fly
Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power (power, power, power, power, power)
[SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE TALES OF THE FOREST WARS.]
When I first started working on the Tales of the Forest War, I had plans for one book. Just one. Simple characters. Focus on the conflict and the aftermath. Easy, right?
Yeah, not so much. Once I got in there and started really thinking about what would cause this kind of conflict and how anyone other than the supremely powerful dragons (and the gods, of course) could come out the other side of it at all intact, it became clear that the personalities had to be as powerful as the overall story. This story was about more than just a war.
There are always names. There are always places. War spawns heroes and villains, winners, and losers. This war could be no different. This war would forge a bond between two very different family lines that lasts for many generations to come. And so, knowing that meant that I knew that one of my characters would be the Nature Walker. But what of the other?
D'Ayna (named thusly because the first time I said it out loud it sounded like Diana and I was smitten) Turlach is an Ikedrian. She is a lieutenant. She is military-minded. She possesses magic that her family will not accept. She is every one of us that has tried to suppress who we are to fit in, and finally comes to the turning point where that isn't working anymore. She follows her heart. She loves her family. And all she has, in the end, is her battle cry: a mighty roar combining anger and fear.
Don't tell Gin or Tairn, but Ayna might be one of my favorite characters I've ever written. Maybe. So this song spoke to me in that gruff yet soft way that Ayna did while I was writing these novels. She was afraid - OF COURSE SHE WAS - but she knew what had to be done. This song is like an imagined conversation between Ayna and Draoch after the war. And that's as spoilery as I'm going to be.
Also, when the Orana Chronicles become movies I am FOR SURE involving Imagine Dragons - you are going to see a lot of them on Music Mondays. Enjoy.
She's a minor character in the Nature Walker Trilogy, really, but she is so very important. Gin's younger sister who grew up without parents and learned at an early age to take care of herself so that no one else had to do. But this song is very Lairky to me when I think about her relationship with Kam. He's an Ikedrian - serious, dark, broody, methodical. Lairky is none of those things. She grew up swinging from the bridges connecting Aynamaede, playing in the dappled sun, and driving her older sister and brother mad.
I just heard this song recently, but it jumped out at me as so very Lairky. One little wild girl that grew up to take action that would change the fate not only of her sister but all of Orana. Not so minor after all, huh?
Leave Her Wild
Tyler Rich
If you find a girl, hands up, hangin' halfway out on the highway
You find a girl who likes whiskey mixed in her hangover coffee
Find a girl that scares you half to death
You'd kill to be the train she wrecks
And don't tell her I never met someone like you
Then try and turn her into every girl you ever knew
If you're gonna love her, if you're gonna love her
If you're gonna love her, leave her wild
If you're gonna make her, if you're gonna make her
Make her smile, smile
If you're gonna let her, if you're gonna let her
Let her dance, let her sing, let her be whatever she wanna be
Leave her wild
Don't tame her, try to chain her
The second you do you'll break her
Don't dull that shine that caught your eye
'Cause you're afraid somebody will take her
She ain't a dial you just turn on and off
She ain't all found, but she ain't all that lost
If you're gonna love her, if you're gonna love her
If you're gonna love her, leave her wild
If you're gonna make her, if you're gonna make her
Make her smile, smile
If you're gonna let her, if you're gonna let her
Let her dance, let her sing, let her be whatever she wanna be
Leave her wild
Oh, leave her wild, yeah
Leave her wild, leave her wild
Leave her wild
If you're gonna kiss her, if you're gonna kiss her
Kiss her slow
If you wanna change her, if you wanna change her
Let her go
If you're gonna let her, if you're gonna let her
Let her dance, let her sing, let her be whatever she wanna be
If you're gonna love her, if you're gonna love her
Leave her wild
If you're gonna make her, if you're gonna make her
Make her smile, smile
If you're gonna let her, if you're gonna let her
Let her dance, let her sing, let her be whatever she wanna be
Leave her wild
Leave her wild, wild
Yeah, leave her wild, leave her wild
Let her dance, let her sing, let her be whatever she wanna be
If you're gonna love her, if you're gonna love her
So as promised, today's Music Monday consists of music that inspired everyone's favorite villain from the Nature Walker Trilogy, Taeben. I know that there is a hashtag out there among my readers referring to Ben: #benisadick, but he is really a product of his environment more than anything. His story will come one day, but I'm not quite ready to tell it.
Until then, though, when I sat down to think about a song that always makes me think of Ben, this one kept coming to mind. It's an older song, from when I was younger than I am now, and it is what I think of when I think of Ben's motives, specifically his feelings for and actions toward Gin. Lyrics to follow after the embedded video.
Fortress Around Your Heart
Sting
Under the ruins of a walled city
Crumbling towers in beams of yellow light.
No flags of truce, no cries of pity;
The siege guns had been pounding through the night.
It took a day to build the city.
We walked through its streets in the afternoon.
As I returned across the fields I'd known,
I recognized the walls that I once made.
Had to stop in my tracks for fear of walking on the mines I'd laid.
And if I've built this fortress around your heart,
Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire,
Then let me build a bridge, for I cannot fill the chasm,
And let me set the battlements on fire.
Then I went off the fight some battle that I'd invented inside my head.
Away so long for years and years,
You probably thought or even wished that I was dead.
While the armies are all sleeping beneath the tattered flag we'd made.
I had to stop in my tracks for fear of walking on the mines I'd laid.
And if I've built this fortress around your heart,
Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire,
Then let me build a bridge, for I cannot fill the chasm,
And let me set the battlements on fire.
This prison has now become your home,
A sentence you seem prepared to pay.
It took a day to build the city.
We walked through its streets in the afternoon.
As I returned across the fields I'd known,
I recognized the walls that I once made.
Had to stop in my tracks for fear of walking on the mines I'd laid.
And if I've built this fortress around your heart,
Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire,
Then let me build a bridge, for I cannot fill the chasm,
Please, while I try to figure it out, enjoy this shot I sent my friend Brina of the mask her daughter made for me back at the beginning of all this.
Seriously, I know what day it is. But I was surprised yesterday by how shocked I was that this is August. I have always had trouble with estimating the passage of time and am a chronic watch looker as a result (even when I didn't have a watch, how sad is that?). So this pandemic has made that little character flaw even more vivid.
How is it August? It was just mid-March a few days ago, wasn't it? Is Christmas tomorrow?
Side note: It had better not be tomorrow because that means we skipped my birthday but in the grand scheme of things that's probably okay as it is the last one before I turn 50 so...what was I talking about?
Right. Notes from Exile. Writerly stuff. Author life. Got it. Rift continues to do fairly well and I had plans to work on the next book in that series over the summer/possibly as the November Nano, but I haven't heard from Em and Alex in a while, so they may just get put back on their shelf in my hard drive for a bit longer. What I have fallen back in love with is Gin and Sath's story - but let's be honest, I never stopped loving them.
I'm in the middle of the second draft of Guardians of Darkness, which is the next chapter for Gin and Sath, and while the story has plot holes you could drive a BUS through I'm enchanted all over again. So, I thought that I would start a new thing here at the Lettuce called Music Monday, while I'm shoveling mad amounts of literary tarmac into those chasms.
The first one is a new one for me in terms of immediately making me think of the Rajah and the Nature Walker: Ride, by Lenny Kravitz. Enjoy. (Lyrics follow the embedded video.) Next Monday, a song that reminds me of everyone's favorite villain from the Nature Walker Trilogy. Let me know in the comments here or on social media if you have a favorite character from any of my work and I will look at my playlists for that character's inspiration.
Today, so far, I have been frustrated with work in the DayJob™ to the point that I posted about it on social media, and then got the whole thing wrong. Y'all, the imposter syndrome is STRONG today in that world. Strong.
As far as the Writer Life goes...well, I need to find motivation there too. Scorch released a week ago on Friday and for those who have it and have or are reading it, THANK YOU. That project meant a great deal to me, as it was my real foray into worldbuilding. The Nature Walker Trilogy was taking a story idea and shoehorning it into a world, but I got to step back with the Forest War and really look at that world. Ignite and Scorch are tied for second place in terms of my favorites in the Orana Chronicles. Wanderer is still my favorite because I love how innocent Gin is and how the whole story is still ahead of her, waiting for her to find Sath and get on with saving the world, already.
Another Nano event starts Wednesday. I'm planning to work on a reboot of a story that I have tried to write several times and have come up frustrated and empty. Kinda like the look on my Willow-Pickle's face there. I know the overarching story, but I have no idea how to get from A to B. I can only hope that my MCs have a bit more insight to share than they have in the past.
Other than all of that, I'm just hanging out here, working from my sofa while I await the arrival of my desk and desk chair. Sounds glam, huh? I will be the first to admit that I have been jealous of my friends that do their job from home - but when I said I wanted to do the same I meant as a writer. This DayJob™ stuff from home is too hard. TOO HARD. But I will get through it and on with it, and make my soup for lunch and listen to the Femmes and deal.
We aren't really quarantined exactly because Hubs is still going to work every day and I have left the house on Sundays to go grocery shopping. That's been a surreal experience - there was a 15-minute queue to get into one shop yesterday because they are limiting how many people are in the store at a time. It's the new normal - but for how long? This is all so weird.
Maybe by the next time I sit down to pen type "Notes from Exile," I will have more coherent thoughts to share or at least a positive Camp Nano update. Meanwhile, keep safe and healthy, y'all. We're all in this together.
