A rainy and quiet Christmas morning. Not our first. We swear we came down the stairs and had a movie style flashback of Christmas past. There it was. We could see it.
Like a lot of postwar secular Jewish families, we grew up celebrating Christmas, tree, presents, the whole bit. We spent most of our Christmases in the 80's and 90's with our mother's family in Western Kentuckey. From 2003 till our grandfather's death in 2018 we had lunch at the Algonquin. For the last three Christmases Mrs. Stroock has taken the girls to see her father in Indiana. We had dinner with friends last night and we'll be heading to our sister's later.
It is with astonishment that we feel the march of time. It echoes. Sometimes it seems like that little boy who jumped up and down when he got Colecovision for Christmas in 1982 reaches through time and rings the bell. That 18-year-old who opened Statis Pro Football 30 years ago in Kentucky is winking at us. We're winking right back.
All those years past now and the years that will pass. Why in just another decade (younger reader(s), on the other side of 30 the years just fly buy) we'll be 58 and the girls will be 25, 22 and 19.
[Well, you're just full of cheer-Ed]
On to the things.
We spent the week going over World War 1990: The Weser. The British section looks good and there's little more we can do to the American section. We had to fix a lot of things in the beginning to make a lot of things in the middle and end make sense. There was one idea we wanted to put in there, but it looks like it won't fit. Oh well. All that remains is to write the final chapter.
What we're saying is it'll take us a month or less to get The Weser to the editor. Which is exactly wear The Great Salvation of 1976 stands. The novels go slowly and then happen all at once, don't they. Three novels in 2022, maybe four.
A Confederate commenter said he's really looking forward to The Weser. Well thanks. It'll feel kind of like Polish Storm. Same general concept, anyway.
We pondered, as is our wont, our 2022 plan. We'll write something in the first half of 2022 and then do a 'summer sneak in', which is what The Weser was. Since the summer sneak in was so successful, we'll plan on doing another World War 1990 novel then. But which one? [Dear god, choose something-Ed]. At the moment we feel the juju for World War 1990: GIUK Gap. That would work with our stated goal of one novel forward one back. We'll spend January trying to finish The Final Storm, which comes out before The Weser.
As to what we're starting from scratch...A fellow North American suggested writing The Bastard's Conquest next year. Yeah, why not? Let's do something different. We know how the novel starts. It's the night of the Battle of Hastings. Our protagonist, the knight Robert d'Hautville, leads a group of men to find Harold's body atop Senlac ridge and bring it to William. The novel follows Robert over the next 20 years or so till William's death in 1087. We can spend this week outlining. We have a plan....
We'll spend the last days of 2021 reviewing 2022, which will be this blog's last year.
Anyway, merry Christmas, everyone:
Since my divorce this year I spent a lot on thinking about Christmas past I find myself missing my Chirtmas from the Marines yes we were overseas on some real hell holes but I never felt closer to people than with those guys I miss them all dearly and I found out this week I'm the last one left from our squad the rest have passed on this Christmas just feels so lonely
ReplyDeleteMilitary service does take it's toll, doesn't it.
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