Life Update (part 23??)

Hi everybody,

Alright, it's been a crazy few weeks. My baby is 22 days old. My wife is recovering well from her C-Section. Life has begun to shuffle forward whether I'm ready for it or not. I'm feeling positive, but it's impossible to describe the busy/exhausted/adrenaline filled craziness of having a preemie in the NICU. I won't even try. Those who have been where we are no it already and despite the fact that it's my job to relate experiences to my readers this is beyond my ability. So I'm going to save time and say what must be said and then get back to important things like holding my baby.

That's the theme of my life right now--do the "urgent" as best you can and defer anything that you can while counting on those who love us to come through in ways we could never normally ask them to come through. We've been hugely blessed by folks at our church and my wife's work, as well as friends and family. I owe them a thanks that can't be put into words. I am committed to helping others out when life goes sideways in honor of those who've come through for us in this time.

So, along that theme, I have updates to share with my friends and fans.

On the personal front, my wife is on maternity leave. We don't know exactly when Olivia Grace will be coming home but she's passed most of her milestones. The numbers all lean on each other now, she has to continue to put on weight while taking over more and more developments for herself that require her to burn calories. For example: she's now regulating her own temperature and that can't eat up all the energy she absorbs. There's some other protocols along the way, like transitioning from stomach sleeping to back sleeping. Stomach is better for digestion but worse chance of SIDs. So before she goes home we need her sleeping on her back without needing her vitals monitored and still digesting. She'll also have a car seat challenge where she spends 90 minutes in a seated position. If she doesn't hold her chin up when she's moderately reclined then we can't be sure she won't stop breathing at some random time in a car ride.

So there's reasons for it all and they just check each thing as her weight and gestational age indicate she's a candidate for it. So far she's not failing any test. For a time she was trending up on weight but at the smallest possible increment. They told us that its normal for her to add slowly at first and to anticipate a day when she starts getting it all down. We're kinda seeing that now, as Olivia has put on about 2 oz a day for 3 straight days. They already disconnected her oxygen monitor since she's not struggled with apnea at all. No one will say when she's coming home for sure but realistically it's between a week and 10 days, perhaps less.

Bottom line is that this is dominating my time and impacting every area of my life--but I feel tremendously blessed. If anyone is waiting on me for anything feel free to remind me, as I can get a few things done here and there.

My Writing Life, is crazy too. Thanks to my amazing wife and some great friends willing to edit for free, I'm back on schedule with my Anthology--Diner Tales: A Contemporary Canterbury Anthology.

In talking it over with my wife, we feel that I need to return to publishing my novels in the fastest order. That means I need to put the projects forward that are closest to completion. Sadly, the sequel to Suffering Rancor is not next on the list. Given how little time I'll have once the baby comes home, if I want to get a second book out this year it'll have to be my mystery thriller: Vancouver Scooter Club Mysteries. Sorry to disappoint. I'm looking at the order of completeness of my other projects and I hope to get to the Rancor Sequel in 2015.

Thanks everyone!

PS I'll be reading from Diner Tales at the Bards and Brews Event in Hillsboro the last Friday of this month. See post below. If you can't wait to get a copy of this masterpiece follow this link and buy the first edition (somewhat flawed), which is just around while I iron the publishing kinks out. I've personally worked with Brad Cameron and Amanda Washington before so I can tell you that this is the reading to get to. Minds will be blown!