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Author: Jacob Swift
Swift is a US Postman, writer, RPG player, husband, and father, based in a small town in Louisiana. After ten years of not seeking publication, he’s decided to try again. In the meantime, he works a manual labor job and cares for his family.
This blog site is a spot for him to put his notes and thoughts down, as well as brag about his family’s accomplishments.
There aren’t many comfortable sitting positions in a mail truck, with these stork legs.
When on the clock at my day job, I try to be focused on getting finished as quickly as possible. That said, I also pack my tablet with me so I can get notes down or write in my stories during my afternoon (evening, let’s be honest) break.
But then, the truck decides it doesn’t want to run anymore. It dies and coasts to a spot I was aiming for, so I drop off the parcel and try to get it running. No such luck, so it’s a phone call to the office for the maintenance folks and waiting for them to come out and look the truck over.
Which means I can now get paid quite a lot to write more in my books. At least the weather is nice for Louisiana in February.
Say hello to King! He is a Rottweiler pup of almost a year and I will spoil him every time I see him in his back yard.
I don’t think he realizes he can jump the fence. The day that occurs will be interesting. With my luck, I’ll have an observer or trainee walking with me.
He’s a great dog, and always seems to know when we are stressed, since he puts his head right next to our hands for pets.
If only he wasn’t coprophagic (he loves to eat poop, so clearing the yard is a much-required chore), then maybe his surprise farts wouldn’t destroy the room he’s in.
After a couple days at home, the kids are well enough to go back to school, and I’m back to my mail route.
I would have posted my progress yesterday (8 pages in all in 3 different stories) but I had fallen asleep at my desk. This is depressingly common during week nights when I try to cram in my writing time.
Hopefully, the shift will be an easy one and the 12 mile walk will go by quickly.
It’s rare for us to have snow around here, but a morning haze is very common. Also disconcerting, since I’m never sure if that’s the weather or if an idiot neighbor lit something on fire again.
But today is exceptionally fun, as both kids are sick and awaiting test results from the doctor.
They’re pissed off at me for making them see the doctor, but they have their tablets for the visit, so technically they still win?
When we’re home, I’ll attempt to write while they nap. Otherwise, it’s a day of dad doing chores and chasing toddlers around the house. Hope y’all are having a good day, readers.
Normally, the boy is just as introverted as I am. But he and I are free of work and school today, so it’s time to introduce him to the joys of diner breakfast.
Old man is almost 10 years old. His eyesight is going and he suffers from anxiety. He’s a good old man, just needs a minute to process that the door opened.
I’ve had this thing since I was maybe 8 years old, back when it was a dark red. Lost it for a couple years until my in-laws found it on their property, and a piece of my soul has come back to me.
It’s a personal frustration to see the NaNoWrimo (National Novel Writing Month) every time it starts, which is in November. It always looks like a very inviting challenge, and the online writing community is pretty supportive during that month. Every time I check out my various social media platforms during the month, I see updates from other writers about their projects and their successes.
I am happy for them and their successes. But November is a terrible month for me to write. The winter season is a bad time for me to write. In the Post Office, winter is known as the Heavy Months.
It’s always so quiet during the nighttime deliveries
It’s a consequence of how the holidays fall. We have Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and several other holidays following right after. Once they’re over, it’s followed by the USA tax season. This is the season that makes or breaks a new-hire, and if they fall out, the rest of us pick up the slack. From October to about April, my average work shift is between 9 and 14 hours. I barely see my family during these months, and on the off-chance I do see them, it’s for maybe 5 minutes. Trying to write after such a shift is an exercise in futility.
I have been better about the effort this past heavy season than I have in previous years. When I had first started in this career, I didn’t even try to write during those months. I would just come home, shower, and fall asleep (in the bed if I was lucky and remembered to walk in that direction). Now, with a decade under my belt and a family to see to, it’s strangely surprising that I have any energy left to try to whack away at a story.
But I am making progress, just not every day like the NaNoWriMo challenge demands of me. I’m tempted to try the challenge during a different month, like May or July, when the mail is light and all I have to worry about is heat prostration.
With all of that said, I’ve actually made decent progress in some of my stories. I’ve almost finished with the first Star Wars RPG adventure, but I’ve realized a different kind of snag in writing: I wasn’t expecting the story to be a real novella. Almost 40 pages so far and I’m not even to the climactic fight.
I’m going to have to break it down into chapters before I post it.
So, it’s back to the late-night attempts to get another 600 words down before exhaustion knocks me out. I’ll be fighting the temptation to just enjoy the fire and read a book.
When it hits below 30 in Louisiana, the humidity just makes the fire necessary
Swift's Corner 