Hello, friends.
What a crazy week this has been. Four nights of ridiculously tense basketball, my father leaving the care facility and the issues following, and the rest of the dumpster fire this world is becoming. But here we are with another weekly update.
So, let’s go.
Welcome to the 111th installment of Gauthic Times, the newsletter about my writing, my life, and parents in the stands who annoy me.
Supporting creators is so important right now. As such, I would love if you became a paid-Patron on my Patreon.
Paid-Patrons get exclusive details about works-in-progress including the actual names of my works-in-progress and not just codenames. I also show art that I do.
The lowest tier for Patreon right now is $1 but at $5/month, we’re looking at some serious help.
If every subscriber or reader of this newsletter, or every social media follower I have, became a Patron, I could write more and pay my bills better.
The same would happen if they bought copies of my books.
You can also buy me a coffee through Ko-Fi.
Grab Echoes on the Pond if you haven’t already. If you’ve read Echoes on the Pond, please consider reviewing on Amazon or Goodreads, and wherever else books are sold and reviewed.
You can also get my collection Catalysts or my novellas Alice on the Shelf and Shadowed.
Anyway, let’s go!
***
I worked on Project: Amusement Park throughout the week, though not as much as during vacation, in large part because of four nights of basketball. I removed about 900 words (and added some, too) and got through around 100 pages in the revisions.
I posted Daily Progress updates on Patreon, often the day after I did the work because of forgetting to them at night. I’m doing my best.
I recorded a short video today for Patreon with some thoughts. I haven’t posted it as I write this but plan on doing so today/tonight, long before this update goes out.
Finally, Project: Monster was passed on by an agent this week. It’s still out at four other agents. Fingers are still crossed.
***
As my daughter’s basketball season comes to an end, I’ve been thinking a lot about the foolishness I get to witness from the stands. The fact that some of the parents in the stand need to just shut the fuck up.
I’ve seen countless young people distracted by their parents as they shout out instructions that contradict whatever the coach has told them. The parents don’t know what the coaches have told the players because the team is across the court. And then some of these people are calling out to players that aren’t their children.
True story from last night’s game. It’s the first game in the championship series. The number one team in the league against the number two, our team. My 12-year-old daughter, G, is standing there and the game is close, real close. We have not beat this other team in the four games we’ve gone up against them. They’ve only lost one game and the surprise of it to the league is that it wasn’t to us. It’s the second half of the game, I can’t remember if it’s the third or fourth quarter but G is on the court near us and one of the parents calls out to her.
“G!” he says. “Go to the other side! The other side.”
G looked away with a look I’ve seen hundreds of times, usually when I ask her to do something she has no intention of doing, like cleaning her room or something.
And she doesn’t move.
She stays where her coach told her to stand, and it’s a good thing, too, because a moment or two later, the best player on the other team comes storming in her direction and G helps slow her down, which assists her team to get the ball and score.
Not every player was so lucky. At least twice last night, I saw players distracted by their fathers and miss things that could’ve helped their team. And I say “at least twice” because that’s what I can remember right now as I write this on Saturday morning if there were more than two times that this happened but I know it happened twice. This happened throughout the season. How many times did things get fucked up because parents were attempting to coach from the bleachers?
And don’t think for a moment that it’s just fathers. I’ll be hearing the shrill cry of, “DEFENSE!!” in my nightmares for years to come.
Look, I’m for being happy and encouraging. “Yeah, G!” is fine. But the other stuff? Calm the fuck down, it’s just a game. This isn’t even a league that’s anything more than recreational. It’s supposed to be fun.
G has stated that she’ll continue playing basketball in these kinds of leagues but she doesn’t want to play high school basketball when she’s able to in a couple of years. She says it’s too serious. I support her decision, of course.
I feel bad for some of those other players, though, who look so stressed out throughout the games, especially when they glance out to their parents in the stands after a bad play. It certainly makes the word “play” seem a misnomer in sports.
And don’t even get me started with parents’ effects on education.
***
Well, that’s it for this week’s newsletter. Thank you so much for subscribing, reading, and for your support!
If you’d like to see what I could do if I wrote full-time, become a Patron on my Patreon, which has a lot more information about my works-in-progress and the books I’ll be querying, including titles and some simple, non-spoiler details.
Don’t forget to share this newsletter with others and consider a paid subscription.
You can also tip/donate on Ko-Fi.
Get my collection Catalysts, my novellas Alice on the Shelf and Shadowed, and definitely order Echoes on the Pond, out now!
If you haven’t left a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or anyplace else for Echoes on the Pond, please consider doing so. This greatly helps sell copies.
Thank you for subscribing!
Gautham: Bill Gauthier.com 
Leave a comment