We shot the new AFF As For Lifestyle show last night. Given that training camp starts in less than a week, this will probably be the last one of these we do before we swing back to actual Army and/or College Football coverage.
We called last night's show Telling Your Story.
We're headed out this morning after what now feels like a long, fun roadtrip.
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| On the bike path with Mount Mansfield behind us |
As promised, we climbed Mount Mansfield yesterday. Mansfield is the highest peak in Vermont, rising almost 4400 feet above sea level. We didn't start at sea level, thankfully, but this was still the hardest hike we've done in years. We wound up hiking a little more than six miles up and back, gaining almost 2600 vertical feet along the way.
Well friends, yesterday turned out a lot less exciting than the previous days of our trip. We thought the drive from the Borscht Belt, the Hasidic part of the Catskills, to Waitsfield, VT, just down the mountain from Sugarbush, would take maybe a bit more than four hours.
In fact, it took damn-near five. The drive wasn't bad, per se, but it went over quite a long, winding road.
Incredibly, the second day of our Catskills adventure was almost as surreally strange as our first day. It wasn’t bad, and indeed, a lot of it was awesome, but at every turn, we’ve been confronted by the weirdness that I suppose constitutes normalcy in rural America.
Yesterday proved to be an interesting day.
We're staying at the Domes at Catskills for a couple of nights. It's a kind of high-end glamping place. They set you up in these geodesic, safari-style domes. It feels very much like the kind of place Lord and Lady Greystoke might've lived during their African adventure, right before they were slaughtered and their son taken to be raised by apes in the jungle.
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| Sally overlooking the view from our dome. |
Sally and I went out for drinks at Riley's last night. We got a really nice night for it, and I think half of Stratford wound up down there with us.
We mugged a bit for selfies and then went home and grilled turkey burgers.
I also stuck these on my Instagram account if you're interested.
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| The view from the seawall |
I'm desperately concerned that this book's central concept isn't working.
I don't know who cares about this, but I renamed the third Necropolis book again today.
For those keeping score, we started with the working title Surf Girl Keeva, then tried The Centurion Murders, and now we're onto The Necropolis Legacy. Aside from the fact that I don't think a book called Surf Girl Keeva can follow a book called Gun Girl Gracie, I've also gotten to the point where I've now written enough to have a sense for the new book's themes. The Necropolis Legacy fits those themes way better than The Centurion Murders ever did, and here we are.
Friends,
If you follow this blog, you already know I've been working on an audiobook version of The Return of Dr. Necropolis. I've actually been working on it for a few months now. This is the third or fourth rendition, and I think I'm finally happy with the way it sounds.
I'll put some thoughts after the jump, but if you're interested, you can listen to this initial section right now, either via the embedded GoogleDrive player below or using this link.
It's a 32MB audiofile, so if you go to download it, just know what you're getting yourself into. The reading itself runs just under half an hour. Lengthwise, that's exactly what I wanted.
Are there people who follow me here who don't follow AFF? I've wondered for awhile. Granted, I don't necessarily post a lot here anymore.
Anyway, the new show is up. We wound up doing about half of it on off-season Army Football news, schedule analysis, and Mailbag questions. For the rest, we talked about AI!
I'm still wondering if we're eventually gonna get cancelled because of this show, but I was really happy with it, so I'm sharing it.
Friends, I got a rejection letter today, and I'm ludicrously happy about it. I mean, I get that the book's not for everyone, and in this case, I think I might've accidentally sent it to their YA Department... which was really dumb if that's what happened.
The book is about middle age, and it's a hard-R. It's definitely not YA.
Oops.
Anyway. Craig got back to me from Dreamsphere Books, and he said No, which was fine. I really, really appreciate that he got back to me at all. I've been expecting nothing but silence from here until I give up in December. A straightforward rejection absolutely okay.
Kind of an odd, frustrating day at the pool this morning. It was a shame, too, because I had good stuff in the water.
I get there, and a guy is swimming, and thinking nothing of it, I start to jump into the lane with him. But while I'm still stretching, that guy gets out and another guy jumps in. Dude gives me a hard look and says, "I'm not a good swimmer, so I prefer not to share a lane."
Friends, this is not a thing at your local YMCA. We all have to share. That's just simple reality.
