Well, I'm back. Like a bad penny, I suppose. :-D
I'm a CNA -- Certified Nurse's Assistant, and I care for two people in my own home, which means, I don't get time off. The only time I'm off duty is when my clients go to bed, or I do, and even then, I'm not really off duty. So the beginning of this year I reached total burn out. In early April, I took a week away, just me and my Emotional Support Dog, Mya, in a motel.
While there, I was able to settle down and as I was dosing while watching the History Channel, I could have sworn I heard them mention an Archaeological Lobotomist. I wasn't quite sure what that would be, but it sounded fascinating. I talked to ChatGPT about it, and we came up with a definition that would fit into one of my stories. That will be the second part of Disasters and World Prunification, but that story is still only in outline form -- yes, that's the whole point of those stories, but it's a very vague outline.
Another story, I had been thinking about started to take form while I was away, and it got a lot farther along while I was away for two full weeks (Yay!!!) in July and August. Its hard for me to say just what percentage of the way this book is done to. It was originally going to be a fanfiction, based on The Cat Who series by Lillian Jackson Braun, but as they often do, my characters took over and that idea disappeared. Then, it was going to be book 4 of the Arctic Fox. That wasn't to be either. It is WAY too dark for that.
It is still a murder mystery. I have had to resist posting it as I go along. That simply doesn't work for a murder mystery. You end up putting things into print, and then, when you realize something doesn't work for the mystery, how do you change it?
I've come to the conclusion that I CAN put out a teaser for this new book, however. The final few chapters aren't in their final form, but I can say the first few are, thus I'm going to post the prologue. I'm hoping to have it finished completely in a few weeks.