I am not done with Vanished. I am signifcantly closer, but I am not done with it. Granted, I have been distracted by the world. *gestures at the news* Which means I am job hunting in the biggest economical crisis in a long kind. Fun times!

And to make things even more fun, I have to go to work at a hospital. Yeah.

So the current chaos makes it even more important that I finish editing Vanished. But! I also made a patreon. Which might be silly of me, but right now I don’t feel I have anything to lose. So, if you want to read sneak peeks and get other fun stuff, that is definitely the place!

So I think I haven’t talked about my plans for 2020. I have mentioned it on Twitter, but not in detail. Since Twitter in a fast moving venue, I wanted to have it somewere more stable.

The plan is simple. (Caveat: This might change, depending on what happens with my dayjob.)

*Publish Vanished.

*Publish Daughter of the Dark in print. (Which involves lightly editing it, since I hsve grown as a writer since I wrote it: I was also dealing with a parent newly diagnosed in lung cancer,. (that summer is something I never want to experience again.) when publishing it.)

*Decide about a bundle with Exile, Vanished and Daughter of the Dark. (Which will mean getting Exile edited, etc. So we will see.)

*Edit and send The Shifter’s Justice to beta readers. (I would *love* to be able to publish one book per year in the Portal Justicar series.)

*Outline the rest of the Portal Justicar series. Right now I am not certain of the order, which is one reason I got stuck on The Sun Bird’s Shadow. It could be book 4… or not. (Considering how it starts, I think it is book 4, but I also think I need to know what happens in the other books first. Isn’t series writing fun?)

*Write a book or two. Probably one that wont be released for awhile.. Or it might be. You never know!

So I had an wonderful christmas, that was mostly spent away from the internet. Which was glorious. I read lots of books, ate good food, played with my nephews (especially the oldest one, since we spent New Year and a whole weekend together, talked with my siblings, met family I don’t see ofte,, ate tasty food. Mmmm..

I hope you had a wonderful holiday too, with family, and friends, and tasty food and laughter and memories. And if you wasn’t… I am sending all the virtual hugs, and hope that the next one is better.

I am going to treasure the memories, and smile when I see the art my uncle gifted me at christmas. (“You live in a smaller apartment, so you get two paintings.” Which are lovely, but I am still scratching my head over the reasoning.)

Anyway, I am back in my apartment, and am slowly editing Vanished. I am part way through chapter three. Which is a nice progress, since I have a March deadline.

So if you follow me on social media, you will have noticed that I have mentioned that my dayjob is laying off a lot of people.. and I am one of them, I found out a couple of weeks ago. I have no idea what will happen, to be honest.

A lot of the discussion is happening without me, which why I am so glad I am member of the union. Otherwise… no one would fight for me. And people *are* fighting for me. From the union, who is vehemently disagreeing with the HR’s stand poimt that only my permant position should count, to the two doctors who are fighting with the clinic board to change their minds.

We are in a disagreement if it will help or not. One of the doctors assured me a couple of days ago that it helps. I… am less convinced. The hospital needs to save a *lot* of money, And on the paper, my position isn’t essential. Except… if they split up my position, it means that 2 people will get 40 % more to do. Which… is a lot.

So right now, I am still in a bit in a shock, though I am also working at my CV and pondering my options, since…even if there is a miracle, and I get to keep my position, the trust that was a bit battered before is now cracked. There is also the fact that while I like my job, and I am good at it… I am feeling the need for a challenge.

Oh, and in between all this, I am also working on the outline for an new book. Needless to say it is going slowly, but I like what I get. I have no idea when I’m actually going to write it, hopefully in December, though December is awfully close now. I really want to go somewere warm and sunny, but… that’s not going to happen. *tired sigh* At least I’m going to Malmö in December and hopefully I’ll see some friends then.

So years ago, I bought a book on a whim. I bought it, since it seemed interesting.

The years passed, and I kept the book, but I didn’t read it. Too busy with life, with other books. But when I sat down to work on the notes for the next portal justicar book, I knew it was time to read it, and some other books in the TBR pile.

And then, I couldn’t find it. I knew it was here, somewere, but I couldn’t find it.

Until one day, I found it .In the same spot that I had looked before. Yeah. I am reading it right now, and it is really interesting. It might be a bit dated, since it is almost 20 years old, but I recommend that you try to find a copy.

So I finished the rewrite, a couple of weeks ago I think. Then I firmly took a week off from writing, since I had earned it. (Also, because I managed to hurt my shoulder.) It was a good timing, though, since family from other parts of Sweden was coming to Stockholm. Which was fun. And then dad had some health issues, which scared everyone and was less fun (When my sister called, I thought she was calling to schedule the spa day we had been loosely discussing.)

He is fine now, and we have mostly stopped fretting. Mostly.

Then I worked (a lot) and poked at the notes a bit, got an extra book case, emptied the last of the boxes (yay.)

And then I had a week of migraine, triggered by the news that my 10/10 deadline had been extended to late November.(I called dad today, and asked if there was a connection between my deadline extension news on Monday and the migraine almost exactly 24 hours later? School book example, according to him.) So basically this week, I have napped. A lot.

The end result is that I am not as far into the worldbuilding of the next book as I would like. I am reading non-fic books and thinking about the realm and who rules it and what is allowed, and what isn’t (hint: slavery, among other things.)

It feels nice to take it easy, and don’t rush, to be honest. I mean, I am hoping to start writing it in November, and be done before Easter. But you never know.

Soon…

I will be finished with this book. Which I have been saying since July, but I mean it this time.

Now, it depends on how you define soon. Will it be this weekend? Errm. Probably not.

Will it be next weekend? Maybe.

Will it be before October? Definitely.