Hello, friends! This week, much like last week, kicked my ass. There was supposed to be a meeting that I was not looking forward to that got canceled at the last minute but is still inevitable. Perhaps even this week. I won’t go much into it, and nothing major will be happening, but I suspect the conversation will be uncomfortable and, perhaps, even uncomfortable.
I have a lot of mixed feelings right now about teaching. Things have changed so much and while I still love the positive end results, those results are more difficult to achieve now and I feel like, in a grander scope, there’s less support than ever before. The people I interact with daily and our immediate supervisors are fine and I feel loved and supported, and hope they feel the same from me, but the farther I get from them the worse it gets, particularly in the public consciousness.
Anyway, there are bumps and ebbs and flows. Things are better than they were ten years ago in some ways, and much worse in others. We carry on. And when it’s all done, my writing is still there.
Welcome to the 57th installment of Gauthic Times, the newsletter about my writing, my life, and kvetching.
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Echoes on the Pond is out now! Grab a copy, if you haven’t already. If you have bought it already, books make great gifts! And if you’ve read Echoes on the Pond, I’d also really love (and appreciate) it if you’d leave a nice review on Amazon or Goodreads.
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Anyway, let’s do this!
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About 4,400 words were added to Project: Amusement Park this week, bringing the overall word count to around 167,800 words, or 604 pages in manuscript.
I nearly fell asleep at the keyboard one night, which would’ve been funny. I also wrote a scene that kinda got under my skin and I hope it’s as scary as I felt it was as I wrote it and reread it the following night. The main characters are all getting into their places for the finale, so we’re heading there.
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Another friend recently read the manuscript for The Monster in the Closet in manuscript and really liked it. Here’s what they wrote:
“[The Monster in the Closet] was great! Another solid story with compelling characters and great relationship dynamics.
How you tied the end together was satisfying and just enough.
☺️❤️”
That’s…three? Four? friends who’ve read it and really liked or even loved it. At least one friend thinks it’s the best thing of mine they’ve read, and they’re fans of my writing! So now I’ll continue waiting for word from those whom I’ve submitted it to and maybe start thinking about other new markets.
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Well, I think that’s about what I’ve got in me for today. Thank you for reading!
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Get my collection Catalysts, my novellas Alice on the Shelf and Shadowed, and definitely order Echoes on the Pond, out now!
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Have a great New Year and thank you for subscribing. If you choose to move to my website or my Patreon, let me know. I can always make a free tier at Patreon which could easily replace this newsletter.
Gautham: Bill Gauthier.com 
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