94: Gone Fishing & Ignoring Loose Ends
9/13/2015
I finished Makoa’s Sacred Ground chapter two days ago. It became the new Chapter Nine, and the butterfly swarm approaching Makoa and Banda at the end is a nice lead-in to Alena’s Wings of Light chapter that follows. It also serves to substantiate Wanyana’s comment in Signs and Omens about having seen a chronicle of the comet. Sacred Ground might be a little weak on the characterizations of Makoa and Banda, but I still like the chapter for the rich visuals of the mangroves, the cave, and cave paintings.
I only have two more short chapters to create in order to complete Part One: The Children of Batu. First, I have to write Chapter 15, where Makoa and Bulala establish their new family dynamic with Tamal and his two brothers. Then Chapter 20: Friends, where Alena, Joyul, Tamal, Dougga, and Bakar all gather in Overlook Hill’s ceremonial pit, and the three boys solidify their friendship.
I took yesterday off from writing to focus on organizing, updating, and finishing up odd tasks and details. Needed a little break from creative work and pressures by catching up on more mundane stuff. I’m hoping to at least get an outline and lead-in on Chapter 15 today though. I’m considering a Bulala POV for it, and I need an interesting angle to approach the chapter from that I hadn’t thought of yet.
I’m thinking about going back and redoing The Yara (prologue), bringing it up to date with my new format and plotting before moving on to Part Two. I don’t really want to, but I hate leaving unfinished business behind before moving on. Loose ends bother me. I’d like to have everything up to speed and ship-shape as I progress. And it’s only 35 pages.
Present-Day Reflection
8/27/2026
I’ve been experiencing similar things these last couple weeks – shifting gears away from my work as technical details stall my momentum. I’ve turned toward more mundane activities to avoid working on getting my print-on-demand infrastructure up and running. I’m not sure why, because the hardest part is already behind me. I probably just feel like a break and need to reconnect with life beyond Batu. The urgency to get things done is still there, but beyond these daily journal entries, I’ve been ignoring it.
Yesterday, the only thing I did beyond my Author’s Journal was to fill out and submit the online application for my Washington State business license. I then got stuck on the Seattle-level application (I need to be licensed through the city as well) because it requires the UBI number issued with the state’s license. And since it can take up to 10 days to get that, I gave up and went fishing – spending the rest of the day shopping online.
I still have faith I’ll meet my self-imposed deadlines, but I hate leaving unfinished business behind before moving on. Loose ends still bother me. It’s as if part of me is screaming to just get things done, while the rest of me is out to lunch.
