Updates and an Apology...

 

Hello everyone. The image above, basically says it all about how I feel for being away from this blog for so long. And I wish to apologize to all for being MIA all this time. But this year has been... eventful to say the least for me. I'll give you a quick summary.

Now, I last posted here in March and spent the next few months leading into June by researching, viewing, studying how to prepare for my SSDI hearing before a judge. And believe me when I say, I RESEARCHED like crazy. Plus, there were a number of forms and documentation I had to get taken care of to strengthen my case. So, my brain was pretty much stuck in 'Prep-Mode' for that phone hearing, up to and even a bit beyond the date of that appointment. 

And, as hoped, I received notice in the mail in August that I had won. However, during that waiting period I was still mentally stuck in SSDI Limbo. Questions filled my head constantly like "What if I lose?", "Where do I go from there?", "How long would it take to appeal?" or "Will I land up back at square one?" So, no creativity was happening on just about any front.

But, as I said, I did win and got some serious back pay of SSDI which allowed me to pay off my student loans and get some delayed projects taken care of. Such as replacing two toilets here at our home. Both had been acting up, but mostly we needed taller toilets (especially me due to my leg and back problems). 

However, there were other issues in play that I had not been talking about as much. Pain in my back and legs had reached new highs, plus my ability to walk or even stand without risking a fall had become even more severely impaired. And it got to the point that I was referred to a Surgical Spine Specialist for further evaluation and possible surgery. 

Long story short, surgery became a necessity and I underwent a procedure late last month. And I've been spending the last weeks recovering. I'll be seeing my surgeon again for a follow-up this coming Thursday. 

I was unable to drive anywhere for a several weeks and could only tolerate short drives as a passenger. I also was spending a lot more time in my wheelchair or lying down during my recovery.  Again, not exactly conducive to creative productivity.

However, I'm more on my feet again. I'm still unsteady at times and while a good portion of the back pain has been diminished, there are other areas of pain and 'control' of my legs that are still heavily in question. In other words, I'm still heavily disabled in a number of ways.

Which led me to looking into possibly getting not one, but 2 stairlifts installed in our home. The longer of the 2 will lead down to the basement and our garage. The shorter lift will go from the ground level into the 2nd floor. We live in a tri-level home, and even though that one is only 5-6 steps, it's enough of a struggle for me some days that it would make my life a lot easier some days.

But... (drumroll please)

Um... that's good.

Uh, you can stop now... 

Yo! We get the idea...

ALRIGHT ALREADY! THAT'S ENOUGH! GET A GRIP!

Right! Getting back to investing in a couple of stairlifts. I had the folks from the stairlift company come and check out our layout, to see if this was even a viable option. Well, it was, so great news right? Well, sort of. 

Yes, they could install both stairlifts... PROVIDED, we had a couple of power outlets installed into the wall where we needed the stairlifts to be put. 

This brings us up to today! Sometime this week, electricians will come to take care of the outlet situation. Then in another week or so, I'll hear back from the stairlift people regarding their efforts to get the permits taken care of to do the installation. Which will take another couple of weeks to happen, depending on their schedule.

With all that said, I can tell you there will not be a new Halloween story for this blog this year sadly. Mind you, I had actually started, not just one but 2 new tales involving Nathan for Halloween. Unfortunately, both are growing well beyond a simple short story. Each may reach novella length at this rate, so all of us will have to wait and see how it goes. 

I have also been working on a new book cover for Helen's latest installment of her solo series, "The Forever Detective". For those new to this blog, that series revolves around a detective in 1940'a New York City. His first case winds up running him afoul of a nest of vampires, and his becoming one himself. However, he has managed to hold onto his soul and his humanity, and with the help of a select few friends, continues to take new cases for both regular folks, and the occasional supernatural beings. 

The upcoming novel in question is titled "Forever on Broadway" and will take her vampire detective (Rafael Jones) to the lights and stage boards of Broadway. There, an upcoming show "A Midsummer's Nightclub", strange disappearances have been happening with alarming regularity. 

Here's a glimpse at the cover I've been working on. It's still in the process of being finished but should be completed by the end of the month if not sooner. Hope you like what you see:

Now, given the time of year, and the urgency of getting Helen's book cover finished, as well as dealing with the electricians and stairlifts, a lot is going on. Which of course, also means my time and energies will be getting stretched and become more limited. So, I fear there will not be much new coming from me for the coming months (especially with the holidays practically upon us).  

Mind you, I will do what I can to keep things fresh and updated here and on our other blogs. I haven't had much time or energies to work on any new voiceover projects, much less the Library of the Obscure. But we will see what happens on those fronts. 

I do have several audios finished and can release them with limited accompanying imagery over at the Library of the Obscure, or as a podcast (something I've been considering as another outlet for my voicework projects). But we will see what happens. 

Right now, it's a case of taking each day as it comes for me. And we shall see how things play out. I still have a lot of desire for each of these projects; it's just a case of how much energy and time I have available to do any of them. 

So that's where things stand and I will keep you all abreast of how things go. But know that I will not be giving up on any of them, any time soon. 

In the meantime, I'll try and do better to post more often here and do take are of yourselves. Enjoy the holidays and please keep popping in to see what's what here. 

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men... Then There's Me and My Hopes for 2022!

 A whole year of planning, working, sweating, and it still wasn't enough. 

For those who are wondering, I'm referring to my unabridged dramatic reading of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol". My plan was to unveil the finished project as a picture book on YouTube. Besides spending hours recording voices, some sound effects, finding music in public domain, as well as dozens of images (also in the public domain) created over the last 150 years since the book's creation... and I still couldn't quite get it across the Finish Line. At least not in time for this Christmas. 

All I have left to do is film an opening and closing to the project, but between work and other audio and writing projects, I just couldn't do it justice this year. 

Now some of you might be asking yourselves, why? Why was this so important to you?  After all, there are so many versions available of the story available on YouTube, streaming services, Blue-Ray, DVD, etc. 

Well the answer is, none of them are 'complete'. There are a number of powerful speeches and even scenes that more often than not, wind up on the cutting room floor. There have also been new scenes created and added to the films that cannot be found in the original story at all. After having read the book cover to cover myself a few years back, I started finding myself reading certain scenes with a variety of different voices for each character. And yes, this is when I really started taking the idea of doing voice over work more seriously. I was having so much fun with these characters and that it took me a while to realize I was drawing upon techniques and skills I learned in my l theater class during my last year of high school. I learned so much in that one year, and I have often found myself regretting I hadn't taken the class sooner and then taken one of the more advanced classes afterwards. Still, I thank my lucky stars and my teacher Mrs. Nina Pfeffer for all her patience and guidance. I learned so much from her.

So after Helen convinced me to bring her books to life in audio, I went back to the idea of doing the same for Mr. Scrooge and company. Helen often refers to me as her "Voice Time Machine", since I can do so many voices of actors who are no longer with us, which allows her to 'cast' the characters from her books and helps her in turn bring them more to life in her writing. And believe me I drew upon a lot of voices of actors both living and dead, to my project. 

And in spite of having a whole year to work on "A Christmas Carol" I could not anticipate back and hip problems which kept me from my 'recording studio' and sitting at the desk to edit either images/audio recordings for weeks at a time. 

Then of course there were other projects that needed my attention as well. I'm wrapping up my 3rd audiobook narration as I write. I also created a couple of book covers over the last 12 months, as well as feeding 3 blogs with material as well. 

With so much going on, I can't feel too bad about not finishing my "A Christmas Carol" project. There's only so many hours in the day, and only so much of me...

Therefore my New Year's Resolution will be to keep being ambitious, but give myself leeway to scale back and not be too hard on myself if I can't get all that I want to done. 

And I do have plans for this coming year, oh yes indeed. Here's a little list:

- Re-work, re-edit, and re-release "The Bridge" in a special 10th Anniversary version.

- Get a complete 1st draft of "The Vampyre Blogs - Family Ties" which takes up mere weeks after      the end of  "The Vampyre Blogs - Coming Home".

- Release the first volume of "The Pass" trilogy, which I wrote with my old high school friend Rich      Caminiti, with some fantastic illustrations by the talented Gabrielle Callan. We will be releasing this book in hardback (yes, your read that right) and e-book formats. 

    

      NOTE: This one is a definite. The book is already written Gabrielle just getting the last of the

     artwork completed along with the cover.

      

- Rich and I will be working on the 2nd and 3rd drafts of the second installment of "The Pass" trilogy   with hopes of releasing that book in 2023.

    

     *The 1st draft is already completed so we have high hopes of getting this to happen*

- Record and release Helen's 1st solo anthology "Forever W. I. T. C. H. Hunting", which is actually      actually a spinoff from her Forever Detective Series and will feature characters from that series as well as a few new faces who will be appearing in future installments of The Forever Detective books.

- I hope to begin recording "The Vampyre Blogs - Coming Home" with the help of Helen to bring more variety of voices for your listening pleasure.

- We may start adding some podcasts occasionally to this blog and maybe even to YouTube. We have     the equipment and the ability to do it, so you may actually get to see and hear us once in a while.

- Finally, I'm starting to look into voiceover work opportunities for myself this coming year. I'm      already on LinkedIn and have seen opportunities becoming more numerous, as well as over on      Audible. There are apparently opportunities here in and around Santa Cruz, so I may be trying out for a few here and there. It all depends on time and how many spoons I can spare without burning myself out.

So there you have it everyone. We'll see how much I actually accomplish, but time and life will tell. I'm not sure how easy the new year will be starting out with our regular jobs as we're having labor issues with management this time around. So there's a strong possibility of disruptions in our lives in the coming month. So if I go quiet for a while, you'll know why.

We'll see what happens. But in the meantime, we hope the holiday season has been treating you well and that you all have a joyful and wondrous New Year come the end of this week.

Stay safe, and keep writing and recording dear friends.