I’m alive and kicking, I just have RSV, and I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.
In good news, I should no longer be shedding virus. (I’ve been sick for faaarrr longer than eight days at this stage.) In bad news, it looks like I’m a long hauler. Hooray!
RSV is NOT COVID, but RSV is also no joke. RSV is NOT limited to children, but in adults, it is commonly mistaken to be a common cold, which is why it tends to hit kids hard and adults remain clueless.
This year’s RSV, after being quiet to quarantine periods, is having its way with adults and kiddos alike.
As such, while I’m over the worst of the illness and am recovering, I will not be doing any work stuff until January 3rd. At very most, I’ll post chapters if needed to Patreon, but that’s it.
I have no brain, only mucus.
(Let’s just rephrase it this way… if I’m too sick to play World of Warcraft, I’m too sick to deal with work. As a general rule, I’ve been too sick to play World of Warcraft.)
If an adult friend tells you they have RSV… check on them. It’s just as rough a ride as COVID… (We interrupt this broadcast for a coughing fit… and what the HELL did I just hack out? uuuggh.)
If you need me until January 3, 2023… the answer is probably “no.”
But since I’m here anyway, I’ll answer this week’s random questions.
1: No, I don’t know when that book you want me to write will be out… unless it is Vampire of Montana, Doggone Mess, or Dead Weight. Vampire of Montana and Doggone Mess release on May 16. Dead Weight releases in July. Dead Weight is going to be epic. If you like the Mag Rom Com series when the focus is on the cops, you will love this series.
So, if you enjoyed the following titles, you’ll love Dead Weight: The Flame Game, Cheetahs Never Win, Hypnos, 101 Ways to Die. Maybe others? Probably definitely others. But those are the ones that definitely translate very well into “you will like that book.” Dead Weight is under my G.P. Robbins pen name.
Yes, the G.P. stands for something, and I will have a form near release for people to submit guesses.
Yes, Dead Weight costs $7.99. Dead Weight is currently over 80k words long and I feel I’m at the halfway point. As such, it far exceeds my 80-120k word count grouping for 6.99 novels. (And yes, shorter books are cheaper to produce than longer books, so longer books are priced higher. You can tell the length of my books roughly by their sales price for them.)
2: Price points for stuff, because people ask.
In 2023, as I do editing passes again on older stuff I will be adjusting prices. (I take a bath with my phone or kindle and mark typos to be corrected, over several weeks at a time, when I want to read an old book. The typos irritate me, so I flag them as I find them, and then I correct them after I read. I read slowly, so it takes timmmeee.)
(But being totally serious, 200-300 hours per novel to write is a solid average, and I no longer work seven days a week at fifteen hours a day… so yeah. That’s life.)
I haven’t done the price adjustments on older material yet, but this is generally what you can expect moving forward.
$2.99 is novella length works, between 20,000 to 35,000 words. I don’t tend to release anything shorter than that as a solo release; you will find the shorter works in anthologies.
$3.99 is 35,001 through 45-50k, roughly. (Variances here, because it depends on how much of a dick the book was for me to write, tbh.)
$4.99 is the 45k-60k crowd.
$5.99 will be for the 60k-80k crowd, once again with some variances depending on how much of a dick the book was to be written. 75k books might end up in the $6.99 crowd if he had a great deal of research required to write, extra editorial, etc.
$6.99 is the 80-120k books.
$7.99 is if I expect the book to exceed 120k.
$9.99 is for anthologies/collections, which generally have more words than I care to think about. hahah….
The per novel patreon is meant for novels, so the $5.99/$6.99/$7.99 price points. Everything else is excluded for obvious reasons. (The short story patreon gets the shorter works, and the $4.99 works are almost *always* done under contract nowadays, and doesn’t show up at ANY patreon.)
3: As I am definitely uninterested in getting snot all over the kickstarter books, the books are currently in a room I do not go into at all, to keep me safely away from contributing germs to the general packages. The general mid January timeline to ship the next wave is intact.
4: No, I haven’t written the kickstarter specific short story yet. I have short story paralysis right now.
5: The Requiem for the Rift King rewrite is not going well, as in I have to completely rethink/redo my kingdom maps. Mistakes were made.
Those mistakes will be corrected, although it means some hefty adjustments to various timelines.
6: I’m tired, so I’m going away now.
Have a happy holidays, folks.
Happy holidays!!
I’m in VT, and almost everyone is down with something! I’m 65 and have had more shots than a rifle range, and I’ve been ill for 3 days. Believe me, I Grok your pain .
Hope you feel better soon, and please keep talking care of yourself. (I admit to a lot of selfishness as I’ve read many of your books.)
Gratefully,
Randy LaPlante
I have flu, covid, and pneumonia vaccines, and I’m being whooped this round! (I also just got my tetanus / whooping cough / diptheria booster, so that’s a load off, and my measles vaccine is still good… lol) My husband and I joke that I hoard vaccines… and I STILL get stupidly sick.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Sending you a virtual hug and well wishes. A friend of mine got RSV from her grandkids – as you say, NOT a joke or easy to recover from. Be kind to yourself and take the time to recover, we will just be that much more eager to read your work when you’re back.
Thank you, Pam! Warm and cozy thoughts to you and R.J. I am especially looking forward to the Vampire of Montana. I hope it’s bloody good and sucks at the same time ?!
Hope u feel better soon! Love all your books, under any pen name.
truly sorry to hear you have RSV (my grandson shared with us, his newborn sis & parents – ugggg). I love your writing, have been following you for years, but I am baffled that I had not known you played WoW. I hope you were able to enjoy & reach 70 in the Dragon Isles. (we were with our newborn granddaughter at drop date, but I finally have 1 toon at 70). hope you feel better soon
I LOVE the Dragon Isles. I’m playing an evoker. I hit 70 like 3 days after launch because I binged. XD Now I’m like just chilling because I don’t raid. Hunting mounts wheee.
Look up Otto the Secret Mount! And Magmasnail I LOVE THEM. And the Sylvern mount out of Azure (that is quested. The Breezebiter mount is on my to-do list…)
Dragon Isles has been SO much fun tho.
Sending healing thoughts your way. Definitely rest up, we readers will wait and the stories will be the better for your full attention. I’m very much looking forward to acquiring and reading all 3 you listed, but meanwhile I’m entertaining myself by rereading everything else of yours.
Oh, and regarding price point? I buy your stuff in both digital and print because my eyes prefer print but I waaaant the preciousss right away, and when traveling it’s easier. I think the cost increase for bigger books is definitely justified!
I hope you’re feeling better soon ? I love your work and will happily pay at least $7.99 for whatever you need to price.
Sincerely,
Erin
Merry Christmas/ Happy Holidays to you most lovely Author person who made me realise this year that it’s ok to be just managing what I can with my special needs Kiddos and the world in general and that I can do what I was expecting you to do which was to do things at your own pace and find JOY in what you love and interest in your life instead of going through it with unnecessary monotony. Your work has made my life more enjoyable when I was struggling and your choice to make your work life balance better for you sparked me to think about what I was doing (not that I have paid work but it certainly is a full time job) and how much time I wasn’t taking to have a physical and mental break. Thank you for posting all the pretty pictures. Thank you for all the great books. I obsessively check when the books are available not to pressure you, but rather because I often get caught up in my own life and forget what day they are released. The most recent one was a huge surprise, which was funny because I had checked it 15 times and then one day there it was when I hadn’t had time to check for 2 weeks. I had just sat down with my phone to open up an old one of yours or Patricia Briggs. I was SO excited and it was AWESOME! Well done, I like your new world!
Please feel better soon so you can enjoy time together with your husband and Kitties! Xx
Sorry about the lack of punctuation in the post. ?
Punctuation is for people not using phones so don’t worry about it hehehee
?
I’m sending well-wishes for a speedy recovery. Definitely take care of yourself! Want you around and writing for a long time to come. ? Happy holidays!
Hope you feel better soon. Take things at your own pace. All of us who really enjoy your books will wait til you can work comfortably. I just want you to know that I love your books.
Happy holidays, get better sooner, take your time especially with thinking so you don’t need to redo stuff. That always sucks! Thank you for the updates, I am happy to wait for whenever because your stories are always worth it.
Hope you feel better soon!
Having spent my share of holidays either sick or in the hospital, you have my deepest sympathy. I hope you feel better soon. Take care and pamper yourself. Thank you for your wonderful books
Glad to see you are taking care of yourself Mrs. Blain! I would recommend no more than 8 hrs a day writing instead of15hrs. You’ll suffer a burn out writing so long! Spend the rest of the day having fun after writing for 8 hrs!
That’s why the line says I *no longer* work those hours…
Hope you’re feeling better real soon.
Have a great Christmas and first and foremost get yourself well.
So sorry to hear that you are not well, hope you feel better soon. Sending hugs to help.
Hope you have a Merry Christmas and that 2023 is much kinder to you on the health front.
Bleh! I’d never heard of RSV before, and it sounds nasty. I’m nearly two weeks into throwing off a cold, and definitely sympathize.
Thanks for the heads-up on what’s coming.
If you are two weeks into that cold, get tested for RSV. It likes to pretend “it is just a cold.”
I almost died of RSV when I was 3. I barely survived!
Get well soon, and may you have Happy Holidays! I enjoy your work considerably and look forward to more – and I am patient, so no worries if deadlines are extended. I love to re-read my favorite books. Take Care.
Get well soon. Happy Holidays!
I’m so sorry you’re ill. You deserve perfect health to go along with your perfect author brain. Best wishes and happy new year. I believe all of us deserve a better year.
We love you and miss you! Get Well Soon! From your fans in Georgia.
You take care of you!
I am sorry to hear you’re sick and I hope you get better soon. Do what you need to do to get better.
Sending hugs & well wishes!
Hope you feel better soon, happy hols!
I’m right there with you and suffering from RSV. But you are the best and shall persevere! Wishing you well and Happy New Year! Thank you for brain you!
Really hoping you start feeling better soon. Take care and heal.