It’s hard to believe we’re in October. Sometimes it feels like the spring and summer never happened.

But they most certainly did. Indeed, more than a million people have perished in this global pandemic, including more than 200,000 in my country.

I live in New Jersey, and after a rough start, we have done much better. That’s small consolation for the families who’ve suffered losses both personal and economic. But we persevere.

I’ll be honest: this has not been a good year for Elephant’s Bookshelf Press so far. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve maintained my full-time job, but I’ve lost most of the time I applied to EBP.

People talk about having more time at home, and I’ve certainly been spending more time at home. But time at home typically means focusing on my family, not the books I produce.

In fact, it wasn’t until I received an email recently from a reader that I realized how long it had been since I had posted anything on this site.

Time moves differently during a pandemic.

Like I said, it’s hard to believe we’re in October. Before too long, my kids will be dressed in Halloween costumes and I’ll be traipsing around the neighborhood wearing my mask while the kids have their own creative masks on their faces.

I had such plans for this year. But I’m not giving up. It’s likely one of the books we planned to publish this year will be pushed to next. The author’s had needs to address, as have I.

But at the same time, I’ve secured a new series of thrillers that we’re working to launch in 2021. And I believe I might even be ready to launch one of my own novels in 2021, too.

In the meantime, we’re investing time and resources in developing a better connection with readers. Obviously, as this is the first post in several months, that venture hasn’t quite hit the ground running too well.

But as I like to say, Bionn gach tasu lag, which is Irish for “Every beginning is weak.”

Stick with us, sign onto our email updates, and let us know what you’d like to see more of. We have more science fiction in the offing, a series of thrillers, new short story anthologies, and if all goes as planned, actual author readings and interaction with our readers.

We haven’t given up on 2020, but we have our sights set on the future.