So today turned out quite a bit different than I’d planned, or wanted. I’ll just press pause on (almost) everything until tomorrow, and enjoy the crisp cold excuse of snow that arrived in Stockholm overnight, with Paazu.

I’m wrapping up the day and workweek with plans for the weekend. They involve – gasp! – a lot of work, most of the writing kind, but also some design that I didn’t get around to finishing this so very broken week. I’ve got Paazu to distract me, with walks and impromptu play sessions, and I picked up a bottle of bourbon to go with that. It’ll be fine. You’re fine. We’re all fine.

Oh, and there might just be an issue of my newsletter too. Fancy that.

I’ll continue to take it easy today. It seems it’s working for me, because I managed to tick off a lot of things yesterday. Granted, I worked until late in the evening, but at a reasonable pace, with plenty of breaks. Normally I’d advice against such behavior, but I don’t want to fall behind now that the studio’s down and out. It’s a balancing act, one that can easily get out of control. Don’t be like me, kids.

The Divide & Conquer studio is down and out with whatever bug it is that’s going around in Stockholm at the moment. I’m doing my best to stay afloat in this, but the work overload this brings isn’t helping. I’ve got Paazu for the next couple of days too, over the weekend actually, so I’m mixing in dog walks in my days. It’s nice, but also another thing that has to be done. One thing at a time is key, as always.

I’m drinking a lot of coffee at the moment. It’s gotten to the point where I can feel my belly grumbling, obviously wanting food, but I’ll make me a cup of coffee instead. That’s not to say that I don’t eat, I’m well aware that my body needs fuel, it’s just that it wants coffee too. This sudden increase in drinking coffee surprises me, because I don’t have any of the symptoms of actual need (of caffeine). When I was younger, I got headaches if I didn’t drink coffee in the morning, going through withdrawal if I went without the drink for longer periods of time. I had a stint where I wasn’t allowed to drink coffee for health reasons, and suffice to say, that just didn’t work, and I chose coffee. But now? I like coffee, I drink plenty of it, as noted, but it’s not a need. It’s a want, and right now I want more.

I’m sitting in my apartment, waiting for the janitor to show up. There’s noise in the pipes, they sound like someone’s strangling a cat while eating a parrot. I have my tricks to shut the pipes up, but obviously I can’t employ them now, since I want it fixed, and I can’t use noise cancellation headphones to block out the infernal noise because then I won’t hear if someone’s at the door. All this means that I’m going slightly mad, while drawing pixelated circles for a client.

So yeah, that’s how I’m starting my week. How’s your Monday coming along?

I’m back in Stockholm, and the house is as packed up as it’s gonna get. The movers are picking up everything in a couple of days, and then it’s off to storage for a week or so, before it gets shipped out to my new apartment, and another truck. The logistics of this is scary, and ripe for failure. Fingers crossed and all that.

Had time to squeeze in some drinking, and to beat my brother in pool. Good times.

We’re packing up the last stuff in the house today. It’s a lot, it always is. The worst part is the logistics around things that need to be sold or given away. It’s not really adding up yet, but it will, one way or the other. I’m so fed up with boxes now…

It never ceases to amaze me how airports can be so disorganized. Or rather, the airport itself, and its cogs, more or less does what it should. Airlines, and their inability to inform or adhere to rules they’ve set themselves, that’s a different matter. And yet I managed to go from A to B without falling out of the sky, so I guess it’s working after all.

I’m balancing a lot of different things at the moment, and lagging behind on just about all of them. Funny thing is, they all need to be completed today, or tomorrow morning at the latest, because after that I’m flying to the house to pack up everything for the movers. Not much time nor room for dawdling then, so better get to it.

Enjoy your Wednesday. Hopefully I’ll have a celebratory drink tonight. If not, have one for me, please.

Sad to hear about Stan Lee’s passing. He certainly accomplished a lot. Stan Lee is an inspiration to anyone thinking they’re too old to break into their dream industry. He was 39 years old when he created the breakthrough comic Fantastic Four.

I’ll leave you with this quote today, one of his most famous, I believe.

I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: entertainment is one of the most important things in people’s lives. Without it, they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you’re able to entertain, you’re doing a good thing.

1922–2018. You will be missed.

It’s cold in the studio today, the internet connection is flaky, and I wonder if Emma isn’t suffering from a concussion… Not an ideal start of the week. We’re hanging in there, as best we can.

Went into town to pick up some glamorous equipment to take care of the bathroom drain. Yeah, it’s that kind of Sunday here. I did manage to find some nice little pouches for adapters, cables, and the like, at the Muji store. More on that when I figure out what to actually use, and how. Thus my setup page will see an update soon, which sounds a lot more fun than tackling a clogged pipe. Oh well, here we go…

The best thing about weekends is drinking coffee and catching up on some reading. Anyone that follow me on Twitter probably notices the influx of (scheduled) tweets linking to various stories during – and after – weekends. Today is no different, except for the fact that I’ve got Paazu, and laundry, so there’s that too. All in all, a nice way to start the weekend.

I’ve been meaning to write a more extended update on the progress during Ignored Manuscripts Month, which was October, but time keep slipping away. It’s because of said ignored manuscripts, actually, so I guess my plan worked. Yay?

Project MobNov is moving along nicely. You might actually read it before the year is over. Dare I hope? Yes, I dare.

Project WPmWP (which I guess I just committed to by typing that, and knowing that some will know what that means) has made progress too. I hope to wrap it next week, and pass it on to editors.

Project Lynn (yay, another one you can throw in my face) is neglected, but there’s interest from a publisher so I really need to brush up that synopsis. The manuscript is in pretty good shape, though.