So I’ve got some sorta-big news that I’m not sure how much I can talk about. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not even very big news, but it’s big to me because it lets me check something off of the list of things I’ve been wanting to accomplish with my life. Can’t tell anybody much more than that, because I don’t know exactly how much I’m allowed to say at this point, and I don’t want to screw this up.

One thing I can tell you is that there are going to be some changes in the site and my Twitter feed. Nothing major, mind you, but a few things will be shuffled around, a few things will be added, and some stuff may be removed. Engaging in some good old-fashioned Soviet-style revisionism, you might say.  This isn’t so much because I’m ashamed to have anything on here associated with me (believe me, I have no shame, no dignity, no remorse, and no pants on as I type this), but because this site’s role is going to be shifting just a mite, and some things might not fit in any more.

While I’m hanging this tantalizing nugget of bullshit out there, I may as well tell you, dear reader, why I haven’t been posting much here or on Chainsaw Buffet the last few months. One reason is the aforementioned not-very-secret and not-really-that-big project I mentioned above.  The rest of the reasons…well, read on.

First, I’ve started back to school to get an associate’s degree in networking and information technology. This is a step away from my former life as a teacher and a step back toward a previous life wasted fixing computers for a local repair shop. A good deal of this process is learning how much I don’t know. So for the next several months, I’ll be going to class and doing on homework and all those other things that go with going back to school, instead of things like writing, going to conventions, and posting inane shit here to annoy people.

Secondly, back in November, my father was run over by a tractor (no, really). He got lucky and came out of the ordeal with nothing more than a few broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder (compared to my father, Chuck Norris is a fucking pansy). Since then, I’ve been doing some work around the farm, since he was laid up for a while. Let me tell you, this section of my resume keeps getting more and more interesting.

Speaking of November, you might have seen me mention that I was doing NaNoWriMo. That was, of course, a bust. My first year attempting NaNo, and I failed (not entirely due to reasons outside of my control). For the moment, I’ve shelved that project (The Red Witch, a novel about airship pirates set in the world of Autumn) to give myself time to figure out what to do with it. Reading back over what I wrote, it’s a lot better than I remembered, so I’ll probably get around to finishing it sooner or later.

Still on the subject of Autumn, I’m also pulling together ideas for a direct sequel to Iron Heart, sussing out exactly what’s happened in the five years between that book and the next. Many things have changed for the characters as the war winds down. Things aren’t going well in Poziel, and there is a growing discontent with the ruling class. If, when, and how that powder keg blows is going to shape the future, not just of that little nation but of the rest of the world.

Finally, I’m not sure whether I’m going to be posting the rest of Revolution here or not. I’ve come to the decision that it’s probably going to remain unfinished. Speaking frankly, it’s too unwieldy for its own good. The plot has gotten more and more complicated and taken itself away from the street-level goings-on that made the first few chapters so good. Add to that the fact that I really have no clue what the main characters’ stake is going to be in the big showdown (as time went on, Meathook took more and more of the stage and had less and less reason to be involved – those chapters haven’t been posted yet). If you want to try to talk me into posting the rest, go right ahead.

So that’s the state of my world as of late January 2012. Now where’s my flying car?