#ROW80 Update from a #Warzone!

Everyone smile for the camera! 
Oh, wait, Marines don't smile...

A quiet week in some ways here, a very busy one in others!

Writing awards and orders, finishing up one International Relations class, and preparing to teach another, and taking a 3-day-a-week French class via online video-linked classroom (thanks, Special Operations Command!) so as is often the case, I’m struggling to make time to write, let alone publish or promote!

That said, I have gotten a little bit more done on Steven Pressfield’s “The Warrior Ethos”: One Marine Officer’s Critique & Counterpoint. Shooting for publication before the end of the month, so lots to do with that! And I have to finish the final proofs for my interview in Laurence Raw and Robert G. Dryden’s upcoming book Global Jane Austen: Pleasure, Passion, and Possessiveness in the Jane Austen Community.

So, I trust you’ll pardon the very brief goals update:

WRITING

- Posted Chapter 29 of The Perfidious Mister Wickham…

- Wrote 1500 words on my critique of Pressfield’s The Warrior Ethos.

PUBLISHING
- Put out the 16th issue of the Squadron newsletter – Mother’s Day edition!

FITNESS
- Added 10 lbs to my Bench Press…

- Bodyfat down to 13.4% - next stop, 12%

- Scored 284 (out of 300) on my latest Physical Fitness Test!

LANGUAGE
- Got in 5 solid hours of French study this week, 4 of those in a class taught all in French… Je suis un bien eleve!

NETWORKING
- Found a couple of people interested in my Core Group! Still looking for more, though – anyone joins will get free books and advance copies of new material in exchange for reviews and critique… Are you interested? If so, leave a note here, or drop me a line directly to ehcarpenter@gmail.com

So, that’s it for my goals! How did you do with yours?

I hope everyone has had a great weekend, and is all set for another productive week!

A la prochaine! 
Edward

Busy Week in Afghanistan... a #ROW80 Update!



Sometimes it gets noisy here...

Well, the Spring Fighting Season has arrived, so this has been a very busy week.

Had to fill in for the Commanding Officer for a few days, and had the unexpected pleasure of a visit from an old friend who was touring Afghanistan with a General – on top of that, I’m preparing to shepherd my International Relations class through their final exam, so not a lot of time left for writing, publishing, or promoting, I’m afraid!

I ran a few free days on KDP Select for Happily Ever After and the German translation, Und Wenn Sie Nicht Gestorben Sind, giving away about two hundred copies that will, with a bit of luck, result in a few more reviews and some sales of my other stories… If anyone reads German and would be interested in a free reviewer's copy, let me know!

A quick review of my goals from the start of ROW80 reveals that I’m doing fine with the fitness, language study, and am actually ahead on The Perfidious Mister Wickham project, but am falling behind on the writing and publication of my stock in trade, short stories. I will make an effort to get back into the saddle on short stories this coming week – we shall see if that works!

So, here’s a brief goals update:

WRITING

- Posted Chapter 28 of The Perfidious Mister Wickham… A wedding in St. Clements!

- Finished and sent in to the editor my review of Torture and State Violence in the United States for the Air Force Research Institute.

PUBLISHING
- Put out the 15th issue of the Squadron newsletter – 11 pages of print & pictures!

FITNESS
- Added 10 lbs to my Bench Press…

- Bodyfat down to 14% - eating really healthy, not as much cardio this week as I’d like, but shooting for 13% next week!

- Did 20 pull-ups (max score!) and feeling good for an upcoming Physical Fitness test next Saturday

LANGUAGE
- Only a few solid hours of French study this week… Je ne pas bien eleve!

NETWORKING
- Still looking for 2 people to join my “Core Group” this week – anyone who does will get free books and advance copies of new material in exchange for reviews and critique… Are you interested? If so, leave a note here, or drop me a line directly to ehcarpenter@gmail.com...

So, that’s it for my goals! How did you do with yours?

I hope everyone has had a great weekend, and is all set for another productive week!

A bientot!

Edward

Rainy Sunday #ROW80 Update from Afghanistan

The weather forecast here calls for “lightning, hail, torrential rain, and localized flooding. Severe downbursts and sudden wind shifts with heavy dust fronts may exist in the vicinity of thunderstorms.”

Ahh, the joys of life in the Afghan desert. But as long as rain and hail are the only things falling from the sky, I’m quite content here! Another busy week, and again, I’ve missed the Wednesday update, but shall endeavor to make up for it here.

The Wi-Fi provided by the base has been almost non-functioning this week, but my Marines are working to put up a satellite connection that will be under our control, and not only much more reliable, but also located closer to where we spend most of our time. Once that’s up and running, I should be able to do a better job of social networking – in the meantime, what little free time I have is devoted to writing.

My military duties keep me quite busy, but I’ve been managing to eat healthy, drink my 3 liters of water per day, and logged 9 miles of running this week. I also read a few rather interesting books – Steven Pressfield’s The Warrior Ethos and Joshua Ramos’ The Age of the Unthinkable. In fact, my reading led directly to another writing project – I was so annoyed by the questionable logic and conclusions found in Pressfield’s book that I felt obliged to write a book-length critique and counterpoint – so the majority of my non-fiction writing this week has gone into that endeavour, which has yielded 16,000 words so far, and encouraged literary expeditions into the works of Herodotus and the epic Indian saga the Bhagavad-Gita.

For that reason, no progress to report on Learning Indonesian or the Parasol Books imprint, but I did manage to get a little networking done! Final edits on the book review for the Air Force Research Institute got moved to the back burner as well, but hopefully I’ll knock those out next week.

WRITING
- Posted a new chapter of The Perfidious Mister Wickham…
- Wrote 16,000 words of Stephen Pressfield’s “The Warrior Ethos”: One Marine Officer’s Critique and Counterpoint…

PUBLISHING
- Put out the 13th issue of the Squadron newsletter – 9 pages of print & pictures!

FITNESS
- Added 5 lbs to my Bench Press… - Bodyfat back to 16% - this is a bit annoying, but I’ll continue once-a-week measurements and see what happens…

LANGUAGE
- Completed my requisite 5 hours of language study, mais, je suis encore un idiote!

NETWORKING
- Visited my friend Nicole Basaraba’s new webpage – it’s lovely, do check it out!
- Still looking for 2 people to join my “Core Group” this week – anyone who does will get free books and advance copies of new material in exchange for reviews and critique… Are you interested? If so, leave a note here, or drop me a line directly to ehcarpenter@gmail.com

So, that’s it for my goals! How did you do with yours? I hope everyone has had a great weekend, and is all set for another productive week!

Bonne chance!
Edward