Rainy July with Fountain Pens

It’s almost the end of July, and I’ve been busy writing and editing. I’ve finished my initial edit passes of the first series of books, and they're now with my beta readers. I still hope to have the books out by the end of the year, and the Wife and I are also looking into audiobook options. Watch this space!

The other thing about having the first four books out with my beta readers is that now I can start writing the next series of books I have in my head! I started making notes today and some lists about what’s going to be in each of the books and about characters. I’m excited for this series, since I get to go even more in-depth with some of my world’s culture that I couldn’t fit into the first four books.

In other words, I have a whole new set of characters to torture! Poor things…

I'm not sure if it's good or bad, but the weather in Zurich has been conducive to hunkering in my little bat cave while doing lots of writing and editing. Either it's thunder storming and flooding, or it's too hot leave my air conditioned room for long periods of time. (Long story short: I take SSRIs which cause me problems with regulating body temperature in the heat.) The thunderstorms are pretty dramatic here, but a couple of weeks ago we had a storm that reminded me of the times I'd been through a hurricane! The Wife and I had to run around closing windows and picking up hailstones the size of ping pong balls from the floor! It was a bit scary.

I haven’t been really reading much lately so I don't have any books to recommend at the moment, but I do have a lot of new fountain pen things to show off!

This month's pen haul is 5 pens and some more Pilot Iroshizuku ink! The black pen is my first Montegrappa pen, the Zero Gold, and it's rather lovely. Nice weighty pen with a nib that has nice bit of feedback. Still trying to find the best ink for it, though, and may have to get some Montegrappa cartridges.

The three TWSBIs are the mini versions of the Eco, Diamond 580, and Vac 700. I now own all versions of TWSBI pens. The topmost pen with the cap off is actually my first broad nib. I filled it with the shin-ryoku ink, and it writes beautifully! I've always been a staunch fine nib person, but I think the larger nibs are starting to grow on me.

The green-ish pen on the right is my first Visconti pen, and it's the "Iris" pen from their Van Gogh collection. First, I LOVE Van Gogh! He's my favorite impressionist painter. Second, this pen really captures the colors from his Iris painting perfectly. I have no idea how they did that, but it's spectacular! And third, the pen has a lovely magnetic cap that is just so satisfying to take on and off. It writes like a dream and feels really amazing in the hand.

And look at the box it comes in! I mean, really:

I'm in love.

I also got yet another awesome thing from Galen Leather:

This is a wallet that fits the passport sized Traveler's Notebook. It's really lovely, like all things from Galen Leather. The pen loop holds my Kaweco Liliput quite nicely! And the leather smell...oMG!

I also recently got these:

These are called EarHugz, and they work a treat! See, my only gripe about the Bose QuietComfort headphones was that the leather would get hot and sweaty, then stick to my ears (yuck). I tried to find some cloth earcup replacements, but couldn't find them. Then the Wife suggested finding some sort of cover (like pilots do with their headphones), and I found these! They have a lot of cute designs. The donut ones are called "The Homer" (of course). Definitely recommend! Bonus: for each one you buy, they give money to a mental health charity. Win!

Well, it's time for bed. Or to watch some Olympic coverage. Or both. Tomorrow, I start more novels!

Released

The Four Keys - Download or get a paperback version from Amazon: US Link - German Link

I write fanfiction, too (all PG/PG-13): AO3 Fanfiction

In Progress

Survey: In the far future, on a globally sponsored science station, a woman discovers the key to making a functional AGI work in the midst of political unrest. (First Draft Complete -  162K words - editing)

Unity: A military chaplain and her bodyguard get embroiled in a major conspiracy that threatens the humans colonies of Unity and the AI Nation of Survey. (First Edit Pass Complete - 137K words - editing )

Colony: After the events of Unity, Jenny returns to her home colony where she, Lulu and another agent realize that someone else was behind the New Harmonists pulling strings. (First Draft Complete! -- 133K words --editing)

Consortium: After the events of Unity, Jack and Marsha get assigned by Survey to help an AI who had been exiled and has asked for help. (First Draft Complete - 143K words - editing)

Mercury: Beginning of sequel series to Survey Intragalactic series. (Planning and beginning of first draft.)