Look, it’s a flower!
This post includes a little about life, more about REAM (and a new tier I made for it), and some other stuff.
We’ll start with life, because it’s been a while since I’ve posted about the nitty gritty. Please note I am not asking for any medical advice in this post. I’m sharing. That’s it, that’s all. I’m sharing because I want to. I don’t need (or want) assistance with what I’m doing, because what I’m doing is working at a healthy pace for me. I’m sure you’re super smart and have all the wisdom of the world, but let’s leave this dead horse alone.
After some really shit advice from my doctor, I ballooned up to about 200 pounds. This did not make me happy for a variety of reasons, including the fact I knew what would happen when he wanted me to try the diet. But, because doctors like him won’t listen until they see the consequences, I did what he wanted.
I’m now back down to 186.4 pounds (as of this morning) and slowly chipping away at the unwanted weight. I’m also working on rebuilding my endurance and getting into better physical condition so I can do things like hike in a pretty park without wanting to die because I dared to walk farther than… ten feet. (Yes, it is that bad right now.)
But, progress is being made! This makes me very happy. I’m taking the time to fix my health, because if my health is garbage, y’all don’t get books.
Which leads me onto the next little tidbit about my life.
I am, by nature, rather ambitious. I always want to do better. Failure was basically punished in school, and if you didn’t perform well, you knew it. I had to break a lot of bad habits.
Failing is how you know you’re trying and learning. If you don’t do something perfectly out of the gate, this should be okay. You can’t… learn…. unless you fuck some shit up.
Parents do a LOT of harm to their children expecting them to do all these things right the first time. This failure to healthily parent their children has life-long consequences.
Praise your kids when they fuck up because they tried something new. Encourage them. Don’t punish them for trying. “Do better next time” just says YOU DISAPPOINTED THEM. “This was a great start!” Find something to praise. Praise the improvement without punishing the attempt.
Society expects perfection… and society is fucked up and wrong.
Time perfection is required: brain surgery.
Time perfection is not required: any form of art.
Driving a car? You might want to encourage perfection. Cars are dangerous. Painting a picture? Hell no, stop the bullshit perfectionary garbage.
I have battled this all of my life, because being anything other than perfect was essentially punished in some fashion or another. (Often with disappointment I didn’t do things perfectly.)
A LOT of my friends struggle with this to the point they will not try anything new because of it.
It is a struggle with my books because I absolutely CAN edit a book to death.
Accepting imperfections is important. It’s also the ultimate show of kindness.
So, I’m chugging along at the REAM backlist catalogue. There are now two tiers, which go as follows:
$5: R.J. Blain backlist
$10: R.J Blain and All Pen Names backlist.
Everyone who has signed up so far for $5 is in the R.J. Blain backlist.
I am currently in progress of getting the R.J. Blain backlist done. The $10+ tier will be started soon. There are currently 11ish books available for the $5+ tiers. (I recommend staying on the $5 tier until January 1, 2024, which is when the $10 tier will start getting its backlist thing really rolling.)
I’ll post again when the $10 backlist tier is on the road.
So, why the split in the tiers?
Eventually, the pen name books will outnumber the R.J. Blain books. That was part of my plan the entire time. The second tier makes the library pricing fair to me (especially since it includes all of the R.J. Blain books.) This is me thinking forward about how I want REAM to work.
It’s much easier to set it up at the start rather than try to fix everything later. So, that’s what I’m doing.
January 1, 2024 will see the Royal States series start publishing in current series order. Vampire of Montana will be inserted into the appropriate timeline.
All Bernadette Franklin novels will be uploaded and published on January 1, 2024.
6-12 months after retail release, new books will be serialized into REAM based on pen name.
Phew.
So, that leads to the actual behind-the-scenes stuff.
I have a list of 24 books (It’s actually 30 books, but I suspect 24 would be the absolute maximum I can realistically write/produce when just on a drafting/writing bender) that I will be working on as soon as A Light in the Dark (Audrey Greene) is finished. In reality, I’m working on a bunch of books right now, I’m just making sure my primary focus is on things that have set release dates. While I’ve mentioned, in a previous post, I have some ‘Hoped for’ dates, there are zero guarantees those dates will be used. In reality, I’ll play it by ear.
I’m trying to enjoy my work for 2024-2025, and if I only write ten books… so be it. Even if I only write three books, so be it. It’s a whatever goes. I LIKE being productive. I LIKE writing books, so I don’t see myself only writing three. (I would become SO terribly bored.) But if I need the time off, I’m going to take the time off.
That’s just how this cookie crumbles.
December involves the frantic preparation of Whiskers on Kittens. I’m trying to meet Apple’s ridiculous deadline for the book, but if Apple doesn’t launch on time, I’m not going to beat myself up over it. (Spoiler alert: Apple wants 20 days compared to everyone else’s 3 days to process.) So, if Whiskers doesn’t land on time at Apple, you can point the blame at them.
Everywhere else should be fine.
Tomorrow, I have to write the bonus material for Whiskers. That way, when my proofer gets back with notes, I will have the first version of the final ready for vendors. Wheeee~
I’ll be done Trickster King in the next week or two. I’m quite close to the end, I just need to have some more fun, games, and shenanigans first. It wouldn’t be a Royal States novel if there wasn’t something societally questionable going on in the book somewhere, and I just finished handling that bit of nasty business.
My current goal is 150 pounds. Once I hit 150 pounds, I get to plan a trip to Yosemite. Hopefully, by then… I will be physically capable of handling something other than the easiest paved trail.
Time will tell. Wish me luck, as I’m going to need it.
I’m taller than you, and I remember what I looked like and how I felt at 200 lbs. It’s been a long journey, but I’m down to a reasonable weight for my age and height. A good portion of those years, I wasn’t even attempting to lose weight. I would like to weigh less, but I’m not stressing out about it.
As for doctors, they’re taught diseases rather than true health management. I had an odd childhood and grew up knowing that doctors do not walk on water or raise the dead. And I’ve been lucky in having doctors who expected me to be an active participant in my health care. Of course, I have some weird drug allergies; so I have to be on top of things. And I’m horrified for those unfortunate to be stuck with doctors who have a God complex and never listen to their patients until absolutely forced to.
I wish you could get more caring doctors who actually listened to the person who lives in the body they’re supposed to be treating.
You know yourself and your body better than anyone else including the doctors. Take care and enjoy the holidays.
Wishing you all the best and happy holidays!
Keep up the good work- health first and then books.
Thanks for the info. Couldn’t agree with you more on all of it.
Good doctors are hard to find now a days. They seem to only want to cover the issues not find out what is going on.
Wish you good health, good weight-loss, and happy holidays.
You GO, Girl!
Good luck – losing weight is so hard. You’ve made a really good start. While recognizing it is impossible, zi’m love Trickster King episodes to go on and on! Thank you for your work. All of your books are fun and relaxing.
I remember a time when I was traveling on a bus. Two adults had a small kid – at guess about 2 years. Kid was climbing up, around, and over the seats. One of the adults was hovering very close – close enough to literally catch the kid if they fell. But NOT limiting where the kid could explore.
I thought that was an excellect model, both literally and figuratively, for raising a kid.
Limits are a good thing, though, especially in a shared public setting. Take that, but put it on a plane. Or in a restaurant. There is a time and a place for every behavior, but on a bus (especially a moving vehicle) is probably not the time nor the place. Now, had the parents been teaching appropriate limits for respecting the space of other people, I’d be far more impressed.
Here’s wishing you lots n lots of LUCK!!
I like you picture 😍. The pink is just beautiful! How are your duck? Any babies?
We aren’t in baby season quite yet, but 7 of 8 of the last nest’s babies all survived. The one was a boy duck and was murdered by the other ducks. The rest were all female, and they all made it. Momma duck did SO GOOD with her babies. They have since left to go do new duck things, and they’ll start nesting again in late winter.
Congratulations on improving your health, we want you around for a looong time! Merry Christmas.
Congratulations on your progress so far. It’s hard work and you’ve already made a lot of progress to be proud of.
Good luck!
This is not medical advice, but share my own experience with the medical issues. I remember going to see my doctor and discussing my issues with him(her). We would work out what worked and if I didn’t feel that he listened to me as much as he expected me to me as much as I listened to him, I would find another doctor. Now instead, I need a “primary care” physician who acts more like a clearing house to send me to a sackfull of specialists for each individual scratch and good luck if nothing slips through the cracks. More than that, I have been living with diabetes for more than 40 years, I have some idea of how my metabolism works. So,with each new “specialist”, I have to go through the same old shit again. I am tired of training brand new doctors.
Let me say this for ANY that this might: Pay attention. The map is not the terrain. The real world may often vary.
Yeah, I’ve never had a doctor that has actually ever listened to me. Ever. This one I’m trying to train, but the doctor shortage is so bad that at least I *have* a doctor. Right now, it’s like 6 months to get an appointment with anyone in person. 😐
Congratulations on your weight loss! How are you doing it?? I confess, I am in my late 50s and terribly overweight. I cannot lose it. I am doing things wrong, I know, but I don’t know how to do it right. If you have any tips or advice, would you be willing to share? I find it very encouraging that you are losing weight and have full expectation of losing still more. Add to this that you are keeping a full life of writing multiple books and being a partner in marriage and I think that you are to be greatly admired! I hope that you are able to ignore the unkind, grumpy, and downright mean people who keep inserting themselves into your life. I will wait for your next book and be happy whenever it arrives. Good luck!
I will make a post on my method, tools I’m using, etc. 🙂
Have a look at Slimpod, after 40 years of yo-yo dieting it’s really helping me. It’s NOT a diet as such nor meal replacements, but lots of science backed info in small does, and you can try it free. Finally someone said willpower alone won’t help, instead of medics chiding me when the weight goes back on. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9YBD42WlSKI
Congrats on fighting the medics! I like the sound of REAM but I already bought the back catalogue, across all names, I think. I have no regrets about that because I know I’ll re-read them in a few years. TY for your absorbing tales.
Do you have lists of you books under you different pen names you could share for us to see ?
Select “The Pen Names of R.J. Blain” from the menu.
Best of luck to you on the weight loss. It’s hard!! It took me a long while to go from 150 to 140. My next goal is 130. Then I’ll see where I want to go from there, hopefully down to 120. At 5′ nothing, I look and feel TERRIBLE at any weight over 130. I feel your struggle, and am sending you virtual hugs and encouragement. You CAN do it!
Please forgive the copyright infringement, and I know this makes me a “thief of joy” but Sammie called and is wondering if you need an elf personal trainer :p. Ah that we could all have elf nutritionists and personal trainers…
I would just be asking which dipping sauce she’d prefer and how she’d like to cook me XD