Life and other craziness (Patreon)

So, life is going. I won't say it's going well, but it's going.  This time of year (when school is winding down) is always crazy.  Kids who I couldn't beg or threaten into caring about their grades two months ago are suddenly crying.  Kids who have always cared about their grade but who can't do the AP level coursework they signed up for are crying.  Parents are crying (not kidding).  Excuses are coming out of the woodwork and stress is piling on stress.

Some days I love teaching.  Others... not so much.  I have a girl who insists on coming into AP World History--one of the hardest classes out there--when she has a chronic illness that means she is gone one or two days every week for treatment.  I have explained the difficulty. I have talked to her father.  She is barely passing honors classes with Cs, and now she's coming into a college-level course.

Yeah.  I don't get it.  Smart kids who can do the work get signed out by parents because cheerleading is more important.  Kids who legitimately don't have the time because of serious obligations set themselves up to fail.  Maybe I'm just getting too old for this.  That's possible.

On the good side, Earth Fathers is doing great.  Whoo hoo!!  It's such an oddball book that I'm glad it has found its audience. I do plan Earth Husbands are Odd and the communication will be better, but I want to clean up the plate a little.  

Ends, Means, Laws is trotting along.  Writing this makes me want to do the Tap Dancing sequel, but the book didn't sell well, and I doubt Dreamspinner would pick up a sequel.  The owner put out an email and they are financially fine, but getting into brick and mortar stores has required them to go with mass produced paperbacks, so they have to invest in printing hundreds (or thousands) up front and pay for all that before distributing.  That and their expansion into foreign markets will require them to tighten belts for a while.

But that does mean Tap Dancing is going to come out in French through MxM Bookmark. Maybe it will find a good audience there.  Maybe more people will buy it when they realize it's from the Claimings universe.  I have reached a point where I try to disconnect from the business end and focus on the writing because that's what keeps me sane.

This summer I am going to rip through that ending on the latest Aberrant Magic.  I lost the plot somewhere and started just writing to get through the writing.  That's never good.  After this one, I think I'm going to switch to following a new pair as my main pairing.  Kavon and Darren are tapped out for now. They'll still be in the books, but not center stage.  But I also don't want to give up the universe.  I also want to finish the Puppy book this summer.  I wonder if MLR will take that one despite the lack of actual sex? It's more kink than sex.  I'll think about it.

I'm also thinking of reviving an old LiveJournal tradition here.  There was a meme where people wrote one sentence about a story I never wrote:

kaleecat asked for:  The one where Daniel doesn't care what Jack or the IOA or Weir wants. He wants Atlantis and he damn well deserves it. 

slvrbird747 asked for:  The SGC does a lineage chart on John Sheppard trying to find more of that super gene of his, and discover to their horror, amazement, and befuddlement that he is related to the infamous Winchester brothers 

Someone who didn't want to be named asked:  For a farmer and trader, Teyla is really kick ass. What if she’s more dangerous than the others know? What if the Athosians, like the Genii, have more going than just farming?
 

The meme would be open for original universes as well as fanfic--they could be missing scenes or alternative "what ifs."  And I doubt any of them would get big follow ups. The meme was about quick, short pieces. And I thought this summer I could do a quick piece a day, like a writing exercise, before setting into the real writing.  I could put it under the one dollar level so I didn't have to feel bad about the lack of polish.  So, what do you think?