Every once in a while, a news item comes through about “a massive pileup” on a highway somewhere. Conditions turned bad, there was too much congestion on the roadway, and a chain-reaction wreck resulted. Usually the item goes on to describe death, disruption, and/or injuries. Certainly, there are lots of mangled cars and trucks. It’s a bad scene for all involved.

No, I wasn’t in a wreck like that (at least no so far, thank God!). But events over the last few months have figuratively resulted in a massive pileup for my blog posts.

Conditions turned bad – If one can count being very, very busy as “bad.”

There was definitely too much congestion in my pipeline of things to do.

And the result has been a chain reaction collision of things I had intended to blog about since early February – that I still have not addressed in this space. Instead, there’s been “radio silence.” Not the best of outcomes for a formerly-regular blogger!

A Massive Pileup of Events in February

Like most massive pileups, this one caught me unexpectedly. I actually believed I could manage all of the events and also blog about them in a timely way.

First came a Lunar New Year art extravaganza (for the Year of the Horse, I enlisted the aid of two fantasy artists, Diana Vargas-Sampieri, professionally “Dianita.” and Lucy A. Synk, who have wonderful equine-painting skills). At the same time I was wrapping up production on a pair of new books – The Complete XK9 “Bones” Trilogy Omnibus Edition and The XK9 “Bones” Trilogy Companion. All of those things merit their own separate blog posts. Don’t hold your breath, unfortunately.

Also in February, I attended a science fiction convention, FenCon XXI (which also deserves its own blog post), which then kicked off the start of a multi-week trip to Texas. I have needed to return to Texas repeatedly since my sister’s unexpected death in September 2024. Ty and I have a lot left to do, as we repair and clean her house, plus dig through her and her late husband’s literary papers. This continues to be my definition of a massive pileup.

Yes, I truly do hope to blog about all of it, but they’ll be blogs out of season if I ever manage to do them.

March and April Were No Less Busy

By the time we got home from Texas in March I’d begun to obsessively check the shipping progress of my books that I needed for Planet Comicon Kansas City at the end of the month (Comicon also deserves its own blog post). I had started working on The Complete XK9 “Bones” Trilogy Omnibus Edition last summer.

Anyone who tries to tell you that putting a book together is easy is lying to you (either that, or they’re doing a slapdash job, or they’re trying to sell you something). But eventually I got final files uploaded – and after several tries they were accepted.

Tracking information told me when they’d been labeled. Then when they were shipped. They arrived at the US Postal Service Distribution Center in Kansas City, Kansas (a few miles north of my house) on the Saturday before Comicon. This was going to be a nail-biter, but it looked as if they’d arrive.

Um, okay. Still in KCK on Monday. Well, Comicon load-in didn’t happen till Thursday, so . . .

Augh! By Tuesday I was on the phone. Still in KCK.

Wednesday? Still in KCK.

Thursday?? Still in KCK. This was excruciating!!!

Yeah, they didn’t arrive. They sat around in KCK for more than a week. I finally got them during the middle of the week after Comicon. When I’d already left for Texas – another example of a massive pileup in my life. But I did have the books (and sold some) for Midwest GameFest and DemiCon 37 (each of which also deserves a separate, dedicated blog post).

The Coolest Library in Texas

During our Texas trip in April, we finally had enough materials for a first trip with Warren and Gigi’s literary papers to the University of North Texas. We took five boxes for the Warren C. Norwood Collection over to the UNT Library Collections facility.

It’s a marvelous archive of Texas (and regional) history. Head of Special Collections Morgan Geiringer and her team graciously opened their archive to us and allowed me to take pictures.

The facility that houses the collection is wonderful for anyone who has even a scintilla of interest in the historical, the curious, and the delightful artifacts of the past. It is a treasure house full of amazing things. Built in 2012 (“they’d never fund something like this today”), it isn’t quite as vast as Warehouse 13 or the scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but we were impressed.

The Research Collections Library totally deserves a blog post. But with my ongoing massive pileup of things to do, will I ever get to write one? Um . . . maybe?

Here’s the Hard Part: It’s Not Over

All through the spring, I’ve clung to the illusion that once we get into the summer months I’ll have more time. That my massive pileup will sort itself out. Surely I’ll finally get back to writing blog posts then. I’ll be able to get back to sending out monthly newsletters (for the past year they’ve been bi-monthly). And writing book reviews (I have a two-year backlog!).

Now I’ve plunged into summer, here in North America. Have I made it? Am I finally at more leisure to do all those things?

Well, maybe. But the projects and opportunities have kept coming. I’m deep into revisions on Bones for the Children, the next book in the XK9s Saga. I still have things to wrap up in Texas. My son / business partner and I are in development on book trailers and audiobooks.

Stand by for further updates. I hope I’m not headed for another massive pileup. Maybe I’ll even manage to publish some more blog posts!

Previous Musings on Time Management

And speaking of “more blog posts,” this massive pileup problem has happened to me before. If you’re interested in quotes and other thoughts on this topic, you might enjoy these posts: Using Time Well and Taking a Sick Day both date to 2022, another year when I appear to have had time management challenges. There also are Call Me Irresponsible from 2021, and 2020’s Time to Re-Pack the Load, when Gigi and I were trying to shoulder the work from our newly-started Weird Sisters Publishing project!

About the Author

Jan S. Gephardt is the author of the science fiction mystery “XK9s saga.” These books tell the stories of a pack of uplifted police dogs who live on a space station and solve crimes (among other things). Her most recent new published novel in the series is Bone of Contention, published in 2024. But this year she also released The Complete XK9 “Bones” Trilogy Omnibus Edition and The XK9 “Bones” Trilogy Companion.

She’s now revising another new XK9s novel, Bones for the Children. She also is the Chief Cat-Herder and Art Director for Weird Sisters Publishing, and a creator of fine art paper sculpture (when things are less busy).

IMAGE CREDITS

For the first montage, “Massive Pileups of the Traffic Kind”: Many thanks to The Drive for the photo showing of the fog-induced 200-car pileup on the Zhengzin Huanghe Bridge in Zhengzhou, China. We also thank Fox Weather for the phot showing a blizzard-driven crash January 14, 2026 in Elkhart County, Indiana that included at least 30 vehicles, including 10 semis.

For the second montage, “February’s Massive Pileup”: We need to thank Dianita and Lucy for their artwork. The two paintings are “Why do We Feel Broken if We’re Made of Stars?” by Dianita and “The Rescue of Faramir,” by Lucy A. Synk. Map design in the FenCon announcement by AnonMoos, based on a design by Darwinek, under a Creative Commons license, via Wikimedia. The FenCon logo is courtesy of the convention’s social media. Finally, Jan S. Gephardt took Gigi and Warren’s wedding dance photo on 1/11/1988 (with questionable focus).

For the third montage, “Comicon, Midwest GameFest, and Comicon”: Many thanks to Jon Cleaves for the photo of K. R. Gastreich at our shared sales table (photo taken in 2025). The Comicon logo is courtesy of Planet Comicon KC. The photo of the 2025 Comicon crowd is courtesy of the Kansas City Business Journal. The Midwest GameFest and DemiCon logos are courtesy of those conventions via publicity on their respective social media outlets.

And for the fourth montage, “Views from the University of North Texas Research Collections Library”: Many thanks to Morgan Geiringer, Head of Special Collections, for permission to take photos. Jan S. Gephardt took all of those photos.