Yesterday, it was in the mid-60s and I got a winter storm advisory. I looked at it, and the promise of snow, and outside at the warm weather. Overnight, the temperature dropped 30 degrees. Then it snowed.

By morning, the Hill of Doom was eating cars. By late morning, it ate a bus. By early afternoon, a snowplow bit the dust. The pedestrians came out to watch the cars get stuck. The bus was stuck there for nearly six hours. The spot where the snowplow is sitting is where every car got stuck all morning.

On a snowy day, people in black come out to watch a snow plow a bus and an SUV get stuck on the road.

I spent New Year’s Day getting Superhero Portal ready for preorder. It always feels like it shouldn’t take as long as it does–about half a morning–if all goes well. One of the tasks I’m struggling to remember is to make sure I update the inventory list.

The inventory list includes:

  • The template I used. Superhero Portal was ST01. Once I have sample chapters for the next book (of which the initials are ST), I’ll insert that in the back. But it’ll help Future Me manage template changes as information changes.
  • When I last updated the book. Not important for this one, but is for other ones.
  • Where I published it, For the refreshes, I’m physically checking that, to make sure I haven’t missed anything.

And right after I pulled the trigger on the second aggregator (I use 3, plus 2 vendors), inner critic surfaced, convinced I’d introduced a continuity error into the blurb. To the story bible! Nope. I was good.

I have the idea for the next one in the series, which is just the start of the story. Being a panster, I have no idea how it would end. In fact, it would be very bad for me if I tried to figure out anything more than “main character succeeds.”

Past experience has told me that if I figure out the ending, the inner critic will grab the reins and air straight at it. It’ll leave most of the story, the plot (which is different from the story; they are not interchangeable); the characters. You know, all that stuff the readers like.

And I’m also having first pageitis. I’m a little afraid of starting. Superhero Portal was a milestone book for me because I finally accomplished something I’d never been able to do before. The story weighed it at 50K. I’ve never been able to hit that high before.

Inner critic is poking at me, doubtful if I can repeat it. And I just need to dive in and start.