September 2026 News
The intent of this blog and these posts is to update readers on the status of forthcoming creative projects. These days that project is V&V2, the sequel and conclusion to V&V. After all, the blog’s namesake - Silexare - is the world wherein my stories take place, those currently being VIOLENCE & VIGILANCE and the lost A SAWMILL'S HOPE.
But Silexare is a well from whence I’d like to produce more than just written stories. And in chronicling my deeds here or nearby for almost two decades I’ve grown to rely on this as a journal so that I might tell you, or at least future me, what I'm up to. For focus and convenience, I will keep the Writing section up top so anyone here for it alone can get updated without having to dig.
Writing
My brain tends to compartmentalize things, focusing on what’s at hand to the neglect of everything else, so in the past few months while our two kayak businesses have imprisoned my attention I’ve written nothing. During that off-time though I did make progress on the story in a drip-feed sorta way. During the day small improvements or additions or plot patches would occur to me. I’d text them to myself then when back at a keyboard I’d file them into notes. In my writerly experience this is how to elevate something good into something great. It wasn’t until late August that I wiped dust off the V&V2 document and cracked its lid like a long-neglected chest. I was pleasantly surprised to learn I still love this story.
a map of Turesia that is dated, inaccurate, and incomplete, but the best I've got
So regarding stats,
*V&V2 draft is at 170k words with an estimated final count of 200k. But the notes file is still almost 70k words so it could be more. (V&V was 285k words total).
*V&V2 consists of 53 chapters / scenes. There may be a few more coming. (V&V was 59 plus a Prologue and Epilogue)
*V&V2 has 24 points of view. Also subject to change in revisions, test reads, and edits. (V&V had 23)
*Kraus is still my favorite character to write. I’m doing what I can to add some competition but as long as he fears nothing, says exactly what he’s thinking regardless of the circumstances, and lumbers grinning toward danger rather than away, the spotlight suits him.
In the last post you mentioned VIOLENCE & VIGILANCE is doing well in a contest of some sort. How’s that going?
I’m so glad you asked, Figment. V&V is still a finalist - one of ten - in SPFBOXI. Three hundred books went in and only ten remain. The best way to keep up with it is Mark Lawrence’s finalists blog post, updated each time there’s a new review.
The day jobs
The Sandbar on the Broad River
In May I mentioned my wife and I were managing the Sandbar - a local kayak outfitter on the Broad River. That has been quite an experience. Too much to sum up quickly and too recent to accurately define. Lots of ups and downs. The short version is that I'll remember the days of working at the Sandbar forever and live the rest of my life trying to recapture them.
Why don't you just manage it again next year?
No. Not to contradict myself, but I never want a job that relies on rain again. Also I've learned that while I consider myself relatively strong and tireless I am not physically cut out for manual labor as a full-time career. Nor am I young enough to quickly bounce back when injured. Nor do I like working a week’s worth of hours in three days.
Then outsource the labor like managers are supposed to do.
That requires outsourcing more of the profit than I want to. It’s seasonal after all, meaning a percentage of the dollars have to go in a vault for the cold months. Maybe when money isn’t an object I can consider it.
Sunday I kayaked down the river solo to deliver a cooler full of water bottles to some guests. This isn’t standard operating practice. I was concerned they didn’t know what they were getting into and had come unprepared. I caught up with them quickly, delivered the package, and paddled alone the rest of the way listening to my snowy videogame music playlist which was strangely fitting. I arrived at the Sandbar, spread all my clothes on a rock to dry in the sun and took a nap in the hammock. When I woke up I rode the four-wheeler through the woods to a vantage point of the river to watch for their return. In all that serenity and nature I lamented I'd never have a job quite like this again.
Lake Hartwell Kayak
Boyo (left) has reached the requisite size and strength to join me on deliveries. Praise be!
We scaled back Lake Hartwell Kayak this year to accommodate the Sandbar but it remains fruitful. Nothing out of the ordinary. The high and tight is: July and August are our busiest months delivering kayaks, paddleboards, and canoes around Lake Hartwell and we survived them. Onward.
Piano
David Tunes Pianos, not unlike writing, had to pause for summer activities. Anyone reaching out has been placed in a queue and I’ll be getting with them soon to tune their ‘yanners. I did make one exception and it turned out to be more than I bargained for.
Beautiful on the outside. The inside was another story.
A pianist at a Catholic church reached out hoping I could improve a couple of issues with her home piano so that she could train her replacement and retire from the position. I arrived with every expectation of the visit being a standard tuning. Far from it. The piano (a 1950s-era Chickering) featured an obscene amount of plastic in its core mechanics which had, lacking a better description, reached their end of life. While trying in vain to improve the functionality of one key, two others experienced unscheduled rapid disassembly.
80ish years after production the plastic in this piano has all the structural integrity of a potato chip
Upon researched we learned the piano that had served her for decades had virtually no value*. Long story short, she and I shopped around marketplace and found a suitable replacement. Moving pianos is not in my job description as a tuner, but I couldn’t leave her in need and so I found help and did what must be done.
*but even a nonfunctioning piano can become more if you harvest it for wood and parts.
Riyan P. posing piano-side for a particularly poignant pic
Other stuff
Podcast
The Four Beardsmen of the Bookpocalypse is running strong and I have not been on an episode in months. I miss the boys and the chats and the guests and will return soon.
Music
Something Once Sacred, like the Beardsmen, has had to operate without me, luckily only for one show wherein a bassist buddy of ours sat in for me. I miss those boys too.
Elsewhere, I’ve upgraded the speakers at my desktop computer, which inspired me to open FL Studio (music production suite) and tinker with tunes again. I missed that and hope to one day have time to do it more often but there are probably five other hobbies that rank higher than it even if said spare time were to magically appear. For a sample of tunes I’ve tinkered up before, check out my online repository over on Soundcloud.
Next Time
November is the next news post. I can’t predict what state the book will be in but I am manifesting that it will be at the very least closer to completion.
see you then
dtl
