*Enters blog space, collapses into comfy chair*

Well, we’re home. Just two weeks after I first posted about our basement flooding, we’re pretty well back in business. The problems with the septic system were far more extensive than anyone suspected at first, including a bad installation 12 years ago and collapsed pipes under a neighbour’s yard. The guys fixing it had to dig a trench across the yard next door… and the house beyond that (and their driveway)… and across Main Street before the problem was totally fixed, but they did it.

We have working toilets. We have hot water. Our washer and dryer survived. The flood waters have left us, the guys cut out the bottom section of drywall everywhere to prevent mold, the floors are reasonably cleaned and disinfected.

And best of all, we don’t own this house. I think seeing the bill for all of this would be the end of me.

I think the only one who’s sad to see the end of the water is this guy:

He made me laugh when I found him swimming around the basement like he owned the place. Gotta laugh when you can, right?

We spent a few nights with AJ’s parents, then a few with mine, then another with AJ’s parents before we got the all clear to move home. But it was good timing, really. Not only had I just finished my “no heavy lifting for a week” rule after surgery when it came time to hoist appliances, but the kids had last week off of school. At least all of this kept them busy.

So now I need to get back to work. I’ve edited a few chapters in recent nights after the kids have gone to bed, sitting at the dining room table and trying to concentrate. I’m finding that it’s hard to get started every time*, but once I get the document opened and start, things are going well.

No promises on release dates or anything right now, but right now it’s still looking like June or early July. Thank you to everyone who has offered to help with cover reveal/release/ARC stuff already. Youse all is the metaphorical bomb.

I can’t really set my office up the way it used to be, what with the guys coming back some time in the next month to finish the walls. Still, I worked hard yesterday to set up a place to work, and since the kids aren’t allowed to play in the basement right now, I kind of have privacy. I miss my bookshelves, but at least the desk survived.

Check out the bottom– you can see exactly how deep the water got in my office (the high spot in the basement) after I took the drawers and fled.

So that’s my update.

Oh, and I didn’t set reading goals this round, but last week I read “Write, Publish, Repeat” by Johnny B. Truant and Sean Platt. It was an excellent read with very non-gimmicky advice on indie publishing, and was entertaining and encouraging without promising the moon. Sometimes it’s incredibly comforting to hear, “yes, you have to work like a dog, but you can do this” instead of “FOLLOW THESE TIPS AND RAKE IN THE DOUGH” (which is always BS, in my experience). I like their ideas on product funnels and on balancing the art and business aspects of writing. Definitely worth the $5 price tag.

There we go. Updated. Now that I have my space back (sort of), I just need to find the time to work in it.

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*This has nothing to do with the situation… this is just how I am. I sit down to work, and my brain starts searching for distractions. They make a pill for that, don’t they?