C. S. Thurman

What a Year 2022 was. So many things happened that have changed my life and I can’t say that I was the same person a year ago.

Bookwyrm by Milica Čeliković

So often we come to December 31 and say “Whelp, its a new year, time to dredge up last years new years resolutions and try again.” But what is wrong with taking a minute to sit back, and look retrospectively at the previous year? So many times we look forward to what we will accomplish in the year to come, rather than taking a minute to reflect on what we have done in the last 12 months.

One of my smaller accomplishments this last year was that I took my family on a trip to Disneyland. Now you may think that this isn’t something to list as an accomplishment, but let me lay the record straight. We live in Utah Valley, and from here it is about a 10 hour drive to Anaheim California. Not too bad right? It didn’t seem so at first. Things were going smoothly as we made it down to St. George for lunch and then as we made our way through Las Vegas shortly after. But as we passed Vegas and were heading out, Traffic suddenly came almost to a standstill. Sometimes we were moving, other times we were only going 20-40 mph if that! From Vegas to the California border, it took us over 2 hours to cross. Our 10 hour trip was quickly becoming a long expedition of expecting ourselves to arrive later and later. Overall what should have been a 10 hour drive had turned into a 13-14 hour drive.

And that wasn’t even the end of it. On our first day there we were expecting to be picked up by a shuttle since Disneyland has their own service of bus’s that make routine rounds through the nearby hotels to pick up guests. We waited for a good 30 minutes before realizing that something was up. Upon further research we discovered that we had to download an app and request a bus to come and pick us up at our hotel. It was infuriating to have to wait an additional 30 plus more minutes to install, create an account and then request a bus to come and pick us up. What further stoked our ire was that people were getting picked up by bus’s going to Disneyland, but could not take us because we had not officially requested a ride, or, had not been put on their list of people to pick up at that hotel. Overall our first day was frustrating more than it needed to be.

So perhaps to some a trip to Disneyland is a small accomplishment, but for me and my wife it is a big deal to have done it. There were other hiccups along the way that could’ve soured the whole thing for us, but looking back I have fond memories that I can share with my family and I’m looking forward to the next time we return.

Works in Progress

As far as my writing goes it is very slow going. I feel like I am just barely getting back into my groove until something else throws me off balance again. Everyday, I tell myself “Today I get more done. Today I’ll write for this long.” This usually ends with me opening up my laptop to then stare at the screen, hoping that something will spill out of my brain and onto the keyboard. It’s not a matter of being stuck with where to take the story next, so much as just sitting down and doing it. At least, that is where I am at with Muldrix.

For my other works in progress, the only other one that I am going to commit to is my novel “March of the Necromancer.” As I have mentioned in the past I have been given feedback and so I am trying to edit it as quickly as I can start submitting it to publishers and Agents. I know that this is a long process so I am getting anxious to get things going. I will try to keep things posted on here for where I am at.

I am sorry this post is coming over a week late. Life is hard, it has ups and downs but that never means we should give up. For a minute, I thought about posting this next month, but I knew if I gave myself that much leeway then it could trickle into the other things I am doing. Next month will be better, and on time!