Daily Journal 2/7/26

Typing this from my in-laws’ dining room table while the soft strains of Willie Nelson drift from the kitchen, where Mary’s mother is ensconced with her daily crossword puzzle and first cup of coffee. Like myself, she likes to wake up and be left the hell alone for a bit while she caffeinates and flexes her brain. This is why we get along so well, I suspect.

Tonight, we’re taking Mary out to her favorite restaurant for a belated birthday celebration. In between now and then, my plan is to finish short story "In the Dark", and finalizing the AuthorCon VI programming schedule, so that on Monday I can focus on "Forty Miles West of Sidewinder, Right Next Door To Hell" and FINALLY start packing up the next Lifetime Subscriber Shipments (with a new process that should make it much easier and faster in the future, although not any cheaper).

In conjunction with that latter task, something else that will be going out early this year is a new zine I'm starting -- as sort of a full circle, back to my roots, totally analog and not at all online, underground type thing. It will feature articles and fiction by myself and others, and will be 100% free. All you have to do is provide your mailing address. To do that, go here and fill out the form, which you can do in 30 seconds. It's that easy.

I’ve meant what I said about unplugging from social media. You’ve no doubt noticed I’m using it less and less. That will continue going forward. What would you rather have from me — a post that you may or may not see depending on the whims of the algorithm, or a free semi-regular 8-page zine full of articles and stories by myself and others that you can hold in your hand and keep reading even if the battery in your phone dies?

if that sounds like something you’d enjoy, take 30 seconds and enter your mailing address here.