8:36am

July did not end like I would have preferred. Not at all.

On Tuesday, July 23rd, I started feeling a tingling sensation in the vicinity of my left sinus cavity. Years ago, this would’ve heraled the onset of a sinus infection. Nowadays, it heralds the onset of COVID.

I resisted going to a medical professional until Thursday, whereupon I did indeed test positive for COVID. Not really a surprise, though; I felt like a lump of semi-liquid shit that had been stomped on by an elephant.

The fever broke somewhen between mid-Friday and early Saturday, and I’m working getting rid of the congestion. The cough has lessened considerably, to the point what coughing I actually do feels like it did prior to this adventure.

Unfortunately, the congestion is such that I still sound like I’m talking through a foghorn.

Needless to say, my awesome writing semi-trend went up in smoke.

COVID cost me an estimated 40,248 words and absolutely shredded the awesome sleep schedule I’d been enjoying.

I do feel like I’m kind of getting back to that sleep schedule, though. I woke up today around 5am and finally managed to care enough to get out of bed by 6am.

I haven’t started writing yet, but that’s only because I’m awake enough now to want food. I expect that I will be putting words on pages by 10am.

I got the flu and COVID vaccines back in October, timed for the COVID one to reach peak effectiveness right as I was arriving in Vegas for the final 20Books conference. I feel that vaccine did a lot to keep the two bouts of COVID I’ve had since from being worse than they were.

Yes… I know. Vaccines seem to be a rather divisive topic these days. Frankly, I don’t understand why. Medical science has done a lot for humanity, and I would rather avail myself of its benefits than not. I have my own theories as to why vaccines are so divisive, but honestly, discussing that is not why I’m here.

I will confess to still feeling a tad worn down. I attribute that about 50/50 to COVID fallout and not having the best sleep schedule for the past week-ish.

But it is what it is.

As soon as I eat, I’m going to work up the back cover copy (sometimes called the sales description or blurb) for Tempus. That copy is the only reason Tempus isn’t published yet, and I want to get it out in the world sooner rather than later.

After that, I will resume writing Denver Devastation, which is the series starter for Draco Investigations and the inspiration for my first shared world… the Draco-Verse.

Alrighty. I think my food is cool enough to eat without liquifying the roof of my mouth, and it’s looking a damn sight tastier than this computer screen.

Hope the days treat you and yours well.

Stay safe out there.