I'm Writing a Fantasy Novel

First, let's address the bold claim I made in the title. I had this book in me since my early twenties. I have a few characters, the world mostly fleshed out, and a vague sense of the story I want to tell.

So why now? Because in less than two months I will turn 39. My forties are closing in, and I still carry this world. It's an open loop in my mind that I must close or give up on. And I don't see myself giving up on that story. This morning I posted on Threads asking for advice from authors with full time jobs, and they told me wild stories about how they wrote their books during drives, in the night, or even by dictating while breastfeeding. Authors around the world have lives much more stressful than mine and they still published multiple books. It's like I'm not even trying compared to these people.

More to come about the book in later emails. I'll create a separate newsletter for the book updates that you can opt into and write alongside me if you want. If you also have a book in you and you were waiting for the right time, this is my formal invitation to write that book this year. There's no better time coming.

In addition to the book, I also had a good breakthrough Fitness-wise this week.

I'm Adding a Workout to My Week

Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday. I used to do only two workouts a week. And in a way I felt like I wasn't progressing fast enough. So I started adding another workout and I'm sore, but not that sore. It feels doable.

I'm approaching 18 months of working out with gym weights. It's time I progressed further.

This week I did both shoulders and chest in every workout instead of separating them. I feel the difference in my arms because each muscle used to get one session a week - now it gets three. The biggest change was waking up at 6 am for gym days and going before work. Those are office days so I'm limited in my time and that makes me more effective.

One more thing I did this week was finish Mistborn which I'll talk about next.

Mistborn Just Turned Twenty

In truth, when I started re-reading Mistborn last week, I didn't realize its 20th anniversary was coming up. So when I was done, I only discovered it while working on the article and video. Thankfully, I didn't miss the opportunity to include it in my content so it feels a little bit more celebratory.

Here's the Mistborn review:

There’s Always Another Secret: What Mistborn Teaches About Heroic Death

A reread of Mistborn: The Final Empire to celebrate 20 years of the series.

Oren CohenOren Cohen

That's all I have for you today. Thanks for being here!

Talk soon,
Oren