Olan Thorensen
Author of science fiction, action, crime, apocalyptic fiction
Carnigan and I hope everyone will be having, and will have, a great holiday season. This year’s story is slow coming. Some year it is due to my tardiness in starting the story, but this year it’s more the story running off on it’s own. This year’s is not holiday themed, and reader’s might review the 2021 story (Januspuvako) before reading this year’s story – whenever I finish.
Also, if you’re wondering about the posting image, you might review the 2018 story – St. Nicholas Day.
OIan
Ah…Derek has pointed out problems with the web page (olanthorensen.com). That’s because I’m in the middle of transferring to a different server and maintenance company. The previous one suddenly quit communicating. When I wanted updates, about six months ago, I only got messages about “not available” and “getting back to me.” Which never happened. I finally gave up and contracted with another company and the site is in process of switching. I just checked, the it’s active…sort of. Still links not working and some formatting problems, but it should work out in the next few days.
Just a sidebar. This kind of diversion from writing takes up far too much time. When added together with seemingly at times endless details, I find a third of the time related to books is not writing.
On a happier note, I hope, is right now I’m working on the year’s short story. It’s not a “holiday” story, but I’d recommend reading the 2021 short story, “Januspuvako” first, or review it if you already read it. It’s available at the web site (olanthorensen.com). I just checked, and download is working.
Olan
December 1, 2024
Wow! Last month of the year. For good or ill, 2025 looks like it’s going to be “interesting.”
Had a cool happening today. Suddenly began to snow – unexpectantly. First snowfall of the year. I ran out to the hot tub. One of favorite things is soaking during weather with just head sticking out – snow, rain, sleet, wind. Today started with small flakes falling straight down. After a bit, changed to a hard sleet. Not as much fun, but then changed back to snowflakes, but BIG ones this time. The view out to the scenery was beautiful and I’d occasionally look straight up to see the big flakes falling at me, blinking only when hit an eye. A good thing it let up because I was seriously wrinkling.
Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I did my best on the meal, though not as good as I could have done forty years ago.
While I was writing this, Kathleen surprised me in my upper story room. Why was it a surprise? She had knee replacement surgery ten days ago and it was her first try at stairs. She’s a trooper but had some rough days after the operation.
Working on Harbinger 2. Have two sections left to finish a first rough draft. After that, it’s revise and revise, tie sections together, check to errors (over and over and over) in the futile attempt to have none. Also gearing up for the annual holiday short story. Several ideas but none yet gelled.
And, of course, writing down thought/ideas/etc for book 10 of Destiny’s Crucible.
Olan
November 12, 2024
Fall is drawing to a close, as seen by leaf fall. It was a good color year where we are and clothes are getting heavier each week as winter approaches. The latest books news is that with the release of audios for A Many-Threaded Tapestry and Appointment at Nowhere, all published books are now out in all forms. Moving forward, the current project is book 2 of the Harbinger trilogy. Tentative title is something like The Harbinger Dilemma. At about 70,000 words I took a bit longer time out than planned—a combination of other duties and some evidently needed time off from working on a project. I’m back in action and the count is running just short of 100,000 words. I fantasize I’ll finish the first complete draft by the end of the year. There’s actually an incentive. After putting it off, looks like the time is coming for cataract surgery likely around February, which is bound to disrupt writing to some degree.
As for what’s in the queue, after book 2 of Harbinger will come book 10 of Destiny’s Crucible. Still looking like the series will conclude with book 11. Why book 11 and not 10 or 9, which seem like more suited for a long series. Well . . . that’s just the way the story goes.
After book 10, nothing is scheduled. I’ve a folder with more story ideas that I’ll ever get to, so I’ll never run out. As it happened, during the hiatus with Harbinger 2, the mind was still working and making notes. Expected was notes for book 10, but unexpected was spending time, and many pages of notes, outlining a trilogy for Martha Whitworth, the 80 year old retired surgeon who was also on a certain United Airlines flight, San Francisco to Chicago. Martha, also known as Marta Witwurt, appeared in Tales of Anyar and 2023’s holiday short story for mail list members (Greensleeves—available now at olanthorensen.com). Readers/listeners of An Ancient Enemy and on the mail list will also recognize that Marta is on the same planet as Dan and Liza Oglethorpe. The next question when I might get to Marta’s expanded story. The answer . . . Some day?
Speaking of the web site (olanthorensen.com), it may have been noticed it’s been quite a while since the last update. The reason is the people/company doing the maintenance and updates essentially up and disappeared on me—never answering emails, phone calls, or completing the last update. I finally contracted another company and am working with them to recreate the old site including updates. Hopefully that will be finished in the next couple of weeks.
Olan
August 27, 2024
Yes, it’s been quite a while since the last posting. I have many excuses and I’ll stick by them all. There’s usually dead time after getting a book out, i.e., relax a bit before starting a new project. With A Many-Threaded Tapestry, that time seemed longer than usual. One factor is that just because I’ve submitted a book to Amazon does not mean the work is finished. There are still things to deal with, things I tend to forget about until the next book. Then there were tasks related to Appointment at Nowhere, book 3 of the Paladins series. The audio of both books is up for pre-order. The releases are October 29 and September 3, respectively.
Summer also is a busy time. I’m an avid gardener, plus there were several projects on the property that can only be done in summer. All that is winding down to only needing my attention an hour or so a day. Then there are the typical summer activities which this year included by 80th birthday. I continue to insist there must be a clerical error. Maybe 60.
On top of those items, it’s been a real slog with computer-related issues. Someone hacked (or whatever) into the Facebook page and was posting stuff, some odd, some weird, and some worse. I changed passwords, permissions, and attempted blocks—seems to be okay now.
At the same time, my personal email account went bananas. Keep telling me my password didn’t work even though it was right. Then I’d reset to the same old password and it worked for days before failing again.
Had other problems with emails vanishing, not being sent, etc, etc. Then tried locking me out. When that settled, now almost all new email goes directly trash. I could probably work this out, but I’m switching to a different personal email…slowly since so may people/places have the old address.
As if that was not enough, I tried contacting the company managing the olanthorensen.com web site to get updates—something well overdue. Emails got no response. Multiple phone numbers got messages they would call back and never did, or one number was out of service. Tried tracking down the actual humans involved and didn’t get far. Finally found a notice from the Better Business Bureau that the company was supposedly out of business. The web site is still active, though out of date, somewhere on the web. I’m just starting to search for a new service and hoping the existing pages don’t also disappear like the company did.
All those IT/etc problems took far more hours/days than I like to think about.
On the plus side, I’ve slowly got back to writing. I’m 40,000 words into the sequel to Harbinger. And, as usual, I’m making notes and giving thought to book 10 of Destiny’s Crucible—adding on to many pages of notes already collected. I’ll fantasize and estimate book 10 around June 2025. And who knows? Maybe the horse will learn to sing.
I’ll also try to update more often and deal with emails/postings I haven’t responded to by now.
Olan