Bloom of Youth sequel progress slow but steady

Hi all! Hope you are doing well this first month of the new decade. I know I've been a little hit or miss lately with updates so I thought I'd  jump on here to let you all know what the latest is with writing projects and my life in general.

First off, life. As many of you are already aware, I'm currently serving as a need greater in Asia with my wife. I've been here nearly eleven years now, and as you might imagine, life in a foreign country comes with challenges (both expected and unexpected). The standard of living is lower than America (where I am from originally), and with that comes a vast difference in education, cleanliness, and mentality. One way this is most evident is in personal hygeine.

While I tend to think that sometimes in the West we go overboard with our use of antibacterials, which is dangerous in its own right, here in the East, knowledge about bacteria, germs, and the general spread of disease seems, at times, to be almost non-existent.

As an example, where we live it is common to see people emerge from bathrooms without washing their hands. Most worrying, this is even true among employees in schools and restaurants. On top of this, many refuse Western medicine, (and with it, Western standards of hygiene), feeling that their own culture's remedies and herbal concoctions are superior. Of course, there is probably some truth to all of this, and I've learned over the years not to dismiss something merely on the grounds that it is foreign––after all, that's precisely what the locals are doing!

That said, the recent 2019-nCoV outbreak has many on edge here. In the area we are in, the streets, markets, and public squares have all but been deserted due to fears of contracting the disease. Much has been done locally to educate the population on hand washing (for once, an emphasis is being made on using warm water and soap––a novel concept for many here), and today while out buying groceries I was pleasantly surprised to find antibacterial hand washing stations set up at the checkout lines. But whether or not this will be enough to stem the spread of disease... That remains to be seen.

In book-related news, the sequel to The Bloom of Youth is progressing, albeit a bit slowly with everything else going on with life at the moment. The title of the book (which may change), is: The Bloom of Youth 2: Time and Unforeseen. I'm experimenting with some different subject matter in this book, while still trying to maintain Will's comical and semi-neurotic voice. It's a fun little book so far, and I hope you'll all enjoy it.

I've also finally mustered the energy to get back into mastering the audio files for the FLEE audiobook. I know that many of you have asked for this and I'd really love to be able to list the audio version along with the Kindle and paperback versions on Amazon, so hopefully I can get this sorted soon!