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Mega Update

Okay, so I suppose it’s time for one of those I’m still alive posts again. I’ll try to keep it short and sweet but there is quite a lot going on these days. (New book here if you want to skip this post!)

The last years have been hard on everyone, and that includes me. At first, the forced isolation seemed like a dream for us writer-types; just being locked in with nothing to do aside from writing. Well, for me that wasn’t the case at all. Not only did I bring a lot of baggage with me into the quarantine, but being holed up inside didn’t give me much in the way of inspiration. Me and my family already felt kind of dead in the water before the lockdown, and basically being stuck together for a year didn’t help matters much. So we got the hell out of dodge and moved halfway across the country, yay! I now reside just outside of Oslo, the capital of Norway, which after a year of isolation was a colossal system shock. Compared to any other town in the world it’s really not that big, but when comparing it to my hometown I might’ve just as well moved to Tokyo or New York. There’s people everywhere! And I love it! I think . . .

It’s gonna be fine . . .

'The barcode' in Oslo

So that’s the boring personal stuff out of the way: New place, new town, new job and new clothes. Same family, same stupid face and same imagination. (And lack thereof, occasionally.) I can’t guarantee anything when it comes to my writing, but I haven’t been completely out of it the past five years either, just way too lazy to post updates about it. So for the three or four people reading this, here’s a three-pronged update on my current projects! I shall call it Bishop’s Trident! Or not . . .

New book

This should’ve been its own post a million years ago! The book was more or less written in 2016 and 2017 I got it printed in 2018 but there were some issues with the cover and some scathing but very welcome feedback from a couple of early readers. I finally got around to editing everything and fixing it up in 2019 and then I just kind of released it into the wild without promoting it at all.

If you’re one of those promotional/self-publish/indie/marketing channels on social media you’re probably choking on your lunch right now. I got . . . sidetracked, okay?

Anyway, the book is called Empress, and is dedicated to an old colleague of mine. (It’s a little different than my other stuff, while still taking place in Noman.) It’s a great first foray into the Noman universe if you find Awakenings to be a little too massive. It’s on Amazon now both as paperback and on Kindle.

S’ilvia has given up hope long ago, certain her disease will be the end of her. She sets out to strike a final deal before that happens, to make sure her empire will survive. Her legate, however, still clings to the faint hope a cure can be procured. Rumor has it there’s one among the ancient ruins and choking humidity of Phran; a secluded H’arian city deep in the mystical jungles of Noman. But the shadows are long in The Wet, and according to the locals, they come alive at night. S’ilvia has to count on a lot more than words if she wants to earn their trust. She might even have to call on something from her dark past.

Robert Bishop – Empress

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I’m not dead!

Just wanted to let you know I’m still alive and hard at work! Most of you probably won’t care all that much, but as long as no one is downright disappointed, I’ll take it as a win! Most ‘writer’ sites will have you believe that you need to blog at least once a week if you’re going to succeed in this line of work, which makes me about 59 weeks overdue. Oh well.

I don’t mean to sound sour or anything; they might be right for all I know. I’m planning to post more in the future, but for the time being I have my hands pretty god damn full with other things.

This post/update/newsflash/whatever serves three purposes (purposi?): It helps me get my affairs in order before the new year hits; it gives you all an update on what I’ve been doing and where Frostbites is; and it serves as a kind of ‘new beginning’ for myself and this site. (Did I really just write that? Ugh!)

That’s write (harr, harr, harr) folks! Robert is going to try something he’s never tried before: He’s going to work harder and be more structured when it comes to his writing! (He’s also going to stop addressing himself in the third person.) I have like, two or three readers now, as well as a writing gig on the side, so I need to step up my game. As many of you know, something strange and wonderful happened right around my previous blog post, and that is my sole excuse for delaying Frostbites and everything else:

Scary, wonderful, breath taking and time consuming!

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Is it worth it?

Relationships. How much should you really invest in them? Are all of them worth it?

No, I’m not getting divorced or anything, but there are some burning bridges behind me. I’ve lived a mostly sheltered life free of conflict, but there’s been a few incidents and confrontations over the years that really, really put me off people and much of their bullshit in general . . . No, I’m not trying to do the cool introvert-y thing where I ‘hate’ people because I’m so much better than them. I just genuinely can’t seem to invest in people I don’t care about. Subsequently, the list of people I care about is short and growing shorter.

To a degree, people! Do a degree!

To a degree, people! Do a degree!

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Concerning experience

Everyone has experience in some way, shape or form; it’s what life is comprised of. Mostly, these will not the same experiences as yours – even far from it, sometimes – but that doesn’t negate the whole thing. If people were to only give advice if they’d had a 99% similar experience – not to mention with the same approximate impact – no one would ever give advice.

I’m actually a perpetrator myself this time, so I suppose that for me this sounds a little bit like a perfect world scenario. I often find myself struggling to take advice from others. Not so much because their experiences don’t match mine, but because I’d rather work through shit my own way. I understand that most advice comes from a well-meaning standpoint, but getting advice when you haven’t asked for it?no_u_for_knowyourmeme

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They don’t care about you

This one is kinda bleak, but it’s also true. I’ll admit that the title is a little over the top, but hear me out: People mostly talk to throw their own voice into the mix. Maybe they just love the sound of it, maybe they have something important to tell (according to themselves), maybe something really funny happened or maybe they just need to get something off their chest. Either way, they aren’t doing for your benefit; they’re doing it for their own.

    

We all know the old adage, and like many, I’ve grown sick and tired of having conversations where people just talk to hear their own voice. Couldn’t we rather enjoy the silence for once, huh? On certain days, this gets so bad that I just decide to keep my mouth shut. And people don’t really seem to notice it, because they’re all busy talking about their own things. But then suddenly someone sees me, and feel the need to tell me that I’ve been quiet lately. ‘Well, you know what? It sounds like you people pretty much got this covered. I’ll be over here with my thoughts . . . they ones you just interrupted to tell me that I’m being quiet.’ I’ll admit once again that I’m being bit of a negative Nelly here. People talk to one another (or past one another); it’s how we pass the time. If the conversations are boring, I can either try to contribute or I can leave. Sometimes, I kinda feel like the angsty teenager that wants to get invited to the party just so he can decline the invitation. But there is more to this. I can endure boring small-talk as well as the next person, but when people make the conversation about me when I’m not participating, I get pissy! And you wouldn’t find me nearly as complacent and non-threatening when I’m pissy! (Working on a punchline for a superhero . . . how’s that one?) I’ll try to explain:

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