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Updated January 2023

Back on active duty

I'm only two years shy of being eligible to retire. And the amount of active duty I've done has brought my pension age (the age at which I start receiving my retirement pay) down to 53. In another couple of years I'll be 50 and if I can stay on active duty until then, I can take off the uniform forever and start getting paid immediately (the Marines will reduce your retirement age by 90 days for every 90 days you serve on active duty, with a cap at 50 years old). That's the plan, anyway.

Writing

Being back in the Marines has slowed my writing down a lot. I'm working to get my published works into paperback and hardcover versions this summer. Otherwise, I'm writing two sequels (Space Force Recondo series and PARC series) as well as developing a Kindle Vella military romance series. I have a new home for my newsletter and podcast at Substack. I've also peeped behind the curtain at tumblr and might do something there.

House concerts

I’m working on new songs, thinking about recording some new music (and maybe try to sell songs), and experimenting with house concerts. Small, intimate concerts in people's homes can be great. I can interact with people on a very personal level. We'll see how it turns out.

Reading

I keep reading in fits and starts. I just don't have the free time (and what free time I do make or find I use for writing). I'm enjoying reading Orca by John Pennington at the moment. It's an amusing book about sailing. And I'll read anything new that Hugh Howey or Chuck Wendig put out.

Looking for a sailboat

I'm pretty dead set on a Cape Dory 28 (although my dream boat is the more expensive Hans Christian 33). I want a boat I can squeeze my little family into for weekends gunkholing in Tampa Bay or venturing south to the Keys, Dry Tortugas, and into the Caribbean. If you know anyone who wants to get rid of one for cheap (free?), let me know. Of course, the ultimate goal is something like a Lagoon 380 that we can live on full-time and explore the world while I write.

Asking Neptune to spread the word and grant me good karma!