Things are a bit weird right now. I’m writing this post from work while most businesses are shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As I’m considered an essential employee, not much has changed for me. There are some posters around the lab telling us to wash our hands, and certain hallways/locations are off limits to us now, but otherwise it’s business as usual. It’s weird to feel “normal” at a time like this, but I’ve barely noticed the effects of the pandemic if I’m being totally honest. Aside from a brief period of bare shelves at my local supermarket, my usual routine is unchanged; I’ve always been a homebody, and I get most of my social time via my computer, so both my work and downtime rituals are intact.
This also means my writing routines are unchanged as well. It would be nice to be working from home with the ability to pick away at new chapters all day, but I’m fortunate enough to have a steady job without the threat of being unemployed lurking around the corner, so I certainly won’t complain. Progress continues as always: at the time of this post, I have just passed the 87,000 word mark, officially making Volume 2 longer than Volume 1. Based on where I think the story is going, I probably have two or three chapters left, so it looks like that 100k mark is more likely than ever. My writing process changed slightly between books, and chapters run much longer in Volume 2 than they did before; I haven’t measured this, but I think that the longest chapter from Volume 1 would equal the shortest chapter from Volume 2 at this point. Maybe I’ll have the rough draft wrapped up by the end of April! I’m certainly not holding myself to any sort of schedule, apart from ensuring I write something every day, but that outlook seems reasonable. Definitely by the end of May. Probably.
Switching gears a bit, I’m considering making a social media presence for myself as the author of this series. I have my personal accounts, obviously, but if the book continues to grow at the rate it is now (which has amplified quite a bit since I started a few Amazon ad campaigns, go figure!), I thought it might be a good to have a place where people could get in touch with me more easily. If you’ve managed to find this post, it most likely means you bought a paperback copy of my book; I’m pretty sure the QR code from the back cover doesn’t exist in the eBook copy, and I did a terrible job of making this site known apart from that. If people try to find me to get updates, or share any feedback about the book (positive or negative, lay it on me fam), it might be a bit of a struggle without traditional social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc. I don’t really plan on using the accounts to seek out new readers, because I’m not really in this game to make money, and I have my own personal accounts for daily use, so don’t expect to follow them for my day-to-day or any hilarious memes. If it ever comes to pass, I’m sure I’ll make another post about it here with links to whatever sites I pick.
I’m not sure how I always end up rambling so long in these. I never intend for them to be this long. To anybody who actually follows this page, keep your eyes peeled for some official Restart Again social media channels, maybe coming soon to an internet near you. I’ll always keep this spot updated as my number one source of information, mostly because it’s the only source officially listed on my physical media. That will probably change with Volume 2. Anyways, thanks for all of the (completely unexpected) support on the project, and as always, thanks for reading!
~Adam
