Weekly Update - 10/23/24 (Patreon)

I'm in the middle of the New Zealand trip, and so far, barring a few minor mishaps, things have been relatively awesome. I've included a bunch of pictures from Sky Tower and Hobbiton, but I'm nearing the end of the Auckland leg of my trip, and will be moving on to Wellington shortly, before we return back to the States.

There's five of us in this group (including the real-world inspirations for both Phils, Greater and Lesser, and Eric) and while we ended up losing an hour sitting on a freeway just behind a (we suspect) fatal accident that kept us at a standstill for an hour, and we would've been late for our Hobbiton appointment, but a quick phone call and they just moved us to a group about half an hour later, which we were in time for.

It was, of course, my first time driving on the other side of the road in nearly two decades. (I did a little driving in the UK back in '08.) So that made for some fun times. I accidentally turned on the windshield wiper instead of the turn signal at least three times, but, hilariously enough, when it was someone else's turn to drive, they made the same mistake I did.

We also didn't know there was a New Zealand entrance fee (they call it a temporary visa) that you have to apply for before they'll let you on a plane to New Zealand. Thankfully, they process those things within a matter of minutes, so we were able to do it at the ticket desk. It was a bit of panic I didn't need, but I was wearing my t-shirt that says "DON'T PANIC" on it in large, friendly letters, so I just kept looking at that for inspiration, so I didn't lose my mind.

I'm about a third of the way into what's essentially the second-to-last chapter of Morgana's Gift. I couldn't get any writing done on the planes, which was unfortunate, but I sort of suspected that might happen, simply because we were packed in like sardines. It's about an hour before midnight New Zealand local as I type this, so I'm probably going to take another half an hour to keep writing, but after that, I'm going to crash, so we'll get to things when we get to them. What I've written in MG so far I'm very much happy with - I've certainly been recharged by even just the little bit of this trip we're through. There's something wonderful about having a plan coming together, having all the prep work I did paying off.

Everyone who told me to take my vacation and just enjoy it, it means the world to me to have your support, and when I get back, after I've adjusted back to Cali time, I'm planning on hitting the ground running. I was sort of astonished how easily the first couple thousand of words came for MG, simply because I only sort of knew where it was going, or at least, I thought I didn't really know where I was going, but as it turns out, the brain's ready to get back into the game.

And we're still just getting started on charging up the mental batteries. Tomorrow we're at the Glowworm caves, something I've wanted to see for decades, and it's finally happening.

Anyway, I should probably try and get another 500-1000 words into this chapter before I pass out, although even that feels ambitious right now. We've got an early start tomorrow - the caves are a bit of a drive, and after our hour long sitting in a standstill on a freeway today, we're hoping we can't get screwed like that two days in a row.

If you've ever considered going to New Zealand, this place is awesome and you should definitely make the trip. Anyway, back when I can be. Thanks again for your support, and here's some pictures from the trip, including my feet standing on glass looking down at Sky Tower.

The world is my oyster.