Happy guy  ¶ 5/12/2008 09:47:00 PM 0 comments

  Hello!

So, what have I been doing?

Pretty much the same as I always do, but lately with a lot of moans and gasps. I hurt my back. I'm coming out of it now, but it as been a horrid week as I stumbled through the house. I couldn't even make most of the food I have since it has to be baked and I couldn't lean over.

But I have survived it so far. It's better today.

Even sitting at the computer has been difficult, so my writing took a hit. I need to concentrate on it again, but I'm still not quite up to it.

Russ is supposed to come home over Memorial Day weekend. I hope he makes it this time. He hasn't been back since February, and three months is just a bit too long. Neither of us are happy about it. He hopes he can start making it once a month after this, but we'll see.

I did write four short stories at the start of the month. I have a fifth one started, but haven't been able to get back to it. The time on the computer has been limited to what absolutely has to get done in most cases. I'm getting past that, though! I have been a bit more active over at ArtZone lately -- it was kind of distracting, to be honest, and I needed that. I admit that I've been doing more art than I probably should -- but it's been a great way to take my mind off of everything. Writing does that too, of course -- but the art stuff works better sometimes because I have to learn how some things work. That takes more attention for longer periods of time. It helps.

My major writing work, other than the short stories, was a complete rewrite of No Beast So Fierce, which took it from somewhere around 23,000 words down to 7500 words. Not to say that I tend to be wordy or anything, but it turned into a nice little short story. I have a specific market in mind for it, so after I go over it one more time, off it goes.

I'm also working a little bit on the notes and worldbuilding for Draw the Line. I need to get the rest of my notes typed in (maybe tonight), and see where I need to go from here. It's looking like a very complex story, and I really can't wait to work on it -- though I am going to try and work out everything I can ahead of time. At the rate I'm going, this may turn out to be the NaNo novel this year.

So that's what has been happening with me. Not enough to really blog more often. I lead a boring life!  ¶ 5/11/2008 11:27:00 PM 1 comments

  Silky -- Coming Soon

"Exciting, complex and richly textured, with a world you'll believe and a
protagonist you have to cheer for -- Silky is wonderful." Holly
Lisle (Quote from original 1998 Embiid Publishing release.)

Ah. Here's another picture for you. The Boys on their second birthday.

There. That's better.

  ¶ 4/23/2008 12:10:00 AM 0 comments

 

Silky is off to Holly. Again. It's been off to her at least once before, and then I realized I had to make some changes, and then....
I've had a problem lately with letting go. I don't know why. However, I have been lingering over edits of books and art work. It's not even real work -- just messing around with things. But Silky is now out of my hands and I told Holly not to give it back to me unless I really have to correct something.

So, the new version of Silky is done. Book 2 is going along very well, and I'll be getting back to Book 3 as soon as I get some other things cleared away. I have a few outline notes for it, too -- just to make certain I keep moving along on it. I like the story so far. I'm up to almost 17,000 words on it.

I have a couple questions into the British publisher for the nonfiction book, mostly having to do with the contract. I am working on the book, though, and it's moving forward -- just not very quickly. I need to be able to focus on it, and that hasn't really happened yet.
But I am still getting work done, so I can't complain. It may be a bit slower than usual, but it's still going along pretty well. Since I often go through slow downs, I'm not too surprised. Things will pick back up again soon. I can feel little ideas starting to work their way back into my brain, and I'm starting to sort through story notes again. There are two novels I would really like to get to -- Draw the Line and In the Shadow of Giants -- but both require considerable background work. I'll probably be doing more of that over the next few months.

I would also like to do more short story writing. May is the Story-A-Day dare at FM, so I should really try to focus on the idea of writing some material for it this year. Maybe if I think about it enough before hand, I'll be ready to leap in this time!

Oh yes, I can feel that urge to start writing lots of things again.

I think I better go rest before it takes me over. (laughs)  ¶ 4/16/2008 02:47:00 AM 0 comments

 

I put bird food out today. Now, for most people this would be a nice little afternoon task, no big deal. Not for me, of course. I'm allergic to sunflower seeds and this food is mostly just that. We bought it when Russ was here and he would put it out. I love getting bird pictures through my office window, and I've missed that this year. (Among so many other things I've missed, but I'm trying not to get depressed.)

So I literally took my life into my hands and dragged the stuff into the backyard and started filling feeders and the birdbath. I spent most of the time telling myself not to breathe. And then I would at the worst time, of course. I got them filled and my hand started to itch like mad and I had little bumps all over it and my arm -- but as soon as I got into the house I washed up and took allergy medication. For the most part, it worked. Except that the allergy stuff made me too tired and I slept for about an hour and a half. There were probably birds all over the feeders, gorging themselves while I was asleep and not taking pictures, right?

If I eat anything with sunflower seeds (or oil) I break out in huge hives and can't breathe real well. So this really was quite daring of me. And maybe tomorrow I'll get some good pictures, too. And maybe the food will last for a few days and the horde of squirrels won't get to it before I can get a few pictures.

Writing is going well. I'm close to 30,000 words on the new version of Silky 2, about 15,000 on Silky 3 and over 8,000 on the nonfiction book. I am, quite obviously, on a Silky kick and it looks as though I'll have at least two of them completely done in the next few months. I think I have the cover for the first one finished as well. I'm not certain why Silky has taken over my life, but I'm enjoying it for the moment.

I've also been having a lot of fun with the art stuff. Have I posted a link to my ArtZone Gallery here? I don't know. Here it is: http://artzone.daz3d.com/index.php?mode=photo_album&p_id=885 I have really enjoyed learning how to work with some of these programs. It's a wonderful new world of creativity for me, and there's still so much more to learn that I don't think I'm ever going to be bored with it.

And you know, that's pretty wonderful -- to have two things (writing and art) that never bores you. Even when I'm annoyed or depressed about the rest of the world, I can always sit down and write something or open one of the programs and work on it.

Sometimes it's a good idea to remind myself that I'm really very lucky. Even when things were looking bad, I was still making a bit of money and able to help keep us going while Russ took a job -- a job he really didn't want to take, but one that allowed me to still be here, in my lovely little office with the kitty guys.

I'm really very lucky. It's a good thing to remind myself of that sometimes.  ¶ 4/08/2008 01:43:00 AM 2 comments

 

I am determined to get back to this blog!
Okay, I have been busy, so there is some excuse for not posting here as often as I would like. And I was ill for about a week -- still suffering from mind-numbing headaches, but everything seems to be easing. I had a depressing March, but it's almost really spring (no snow on the ground at the moment, though it does keep showing up!), and I think that's put me in a better mood. That and the fact that I've actually gotten some work done. The last two books of the Dark Staff series are finally published and available at Double Dragon!

Book Seven: Gathering http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/single.php?ISBN=1-55404-559-2
Book Eight: Hope in Hell http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/single.php?ISBN=1-55404-560-6

Done! Really done this time! I did the cover art for the last two books, too. You can see the original work here:

http://artzone.daz3d.com/index.php?mode=photo_album&act=view&pho_id=140256&p_id=885

I received a contract from a British publisher, Studymates, to do a print book on writing science fiction for them. I hope to be able to do it well. I do seem to have a knack for writing books about writing, so I have hopes for this one!

I'm working on various other things, of course. The third Silky book is moving along at a sedate, but fun, 500 words a day. It's my 'first thing' exercise each day. Then I'm on to whatever has to be done. The rewrite of Silky 2 is going well, also. It's a major reworking but I've really enjoyed it.

Back at the end of February at The Plot Bunny Farm (I LOVE that name!), I saw a post about first lines. I went and pulled up some of my own, and then promptly forgot to do anything with them. So here they are -- a month later, but at least I got to them!


1. The first rat tumbled down the hillside, slid across the mud at the edge of the pond and then scrambled to his feet. -- A Plague of Rats (Fantasy)

2. A damp morning breeze blew through streets already slick with mud and muck. Silky (Fantasy)

3. A roaring fire warmed the waiting room outside the Queen's Suite, a welcome sight for anyone who had braved the chill spring morning to come to the palace. Silky 2 (Fantasy)


4. I tried desperately to block out the world -- both worlds -- while my fingers brushed across the ancient harp's strings. I played Carolan's Ramble to Cashel, the bright tune momentarily lifting the gloom that had haunted me for the last few days. -- Mirrors (Contemporary Fantasy)

5. Lightning flashed so brightly that for one heart-pounding second I thought a bomb had gone off over the city. -- Summer Storm (Contemporary Fantasy)

6. The first leap into the stars had not been the high point of Earth's already sordid history. Oh, the ships were fast -- but then humans had always favored speed over sense: How far are we going and how soon will we get there? -- Farstep Station (Science Fiction)

7. Hot white lights picked him out on the stage, blinding him to the crowd again. -- Serendipity Blues (Mystery/Adventure)


8. Faith didn't know how much her life had already changed when she slid into the house and out of the winter storm. -- Differential Equations (YA Adventure)


9. The night came, a cold black Tasal night in the depths of the endless winter, where the sun slept beyond the edge of the world, and never showed himself. --Peri's Gift (Fantasy)

10. From the crest of the high mountain pass, Katashan stared all the way to the golden shore and sapphire sea far below. -- Paid in Gold and Blood (Fantasy)

11. Marcus tapped his fingers across the board, righting the pole-ward drift of his little fighter as he headed for the curve of the horizon. -- Ada Nish Pura (Science Fiction)

12. A dirty crust of snow and ice crunched loudly beneath Devlin's boots, the sounds picked up by the array of sensors throughout the loose, white safety suit that hung over her, a seemingly insubstantial protection from...Devlin didn't know what was out there. -- Medusan Mutation (Science Fiction)

13. If Devlin had paid any attention to the news, she would have noticed the pattern, and she would have seen the trouble long before she was so deeply involved that there was neither an easy, nor honorable, way out. -- Honor Among Thieves (Science Fiction)

14. Release from prison didn't end the nightmare. -- Ruins (Mystery)

15. There weren't supposed to be any hills in Nebraska. -- Muse (Mystery)



So there. A full entry from me, and I hope to keep at it at least once a week for a while. I don't know where the time goes sometimes, though!  ¶ 3/31/2008 10:10:00 PM 1 comments

  What I gave myself for my birthday

Last weekend I turned a year older. Russ could not make it home, so I spent much of the day doing just what I would have been doing if it hadn't been my birthday. No presents or anything like that, so I decided to give myself an odd little gift: Less stress.

For the last several months, I've been half-panicked and stressed about everything. This isn't a surprise since I have never done well with big, unexpected changes in my life. Russ going to New York for work is the worst of that type of change that I've faced since my father walked out on his family and two years later, when I found myself supporting my mother and sister at the age of 15.

I like comfort, calm and quiet. I haven't had that for a while, but I came to realize that much of it was based on my own state of mind. So I decided it was time to settle down and just accept that things are as they are and make the best of it.

Since that day I've written more and done more art than I usually do in a week since Russ took the job.

Can I keep it up? I don't know. I am skirting around things I really do need to get done. I have things I've been planning for Forward Motion that I wanted up long before now, but I'm still toying with them. I will get it done, but it may not be until April or later. I am not going to rush ahead and feel like I need to put my writing and art aside in order to get everything else done.

The writing is going well. I am doing some major work on Silky, though it may not be really apparent since the story is the same. I think it will read a lot better, though! I have started the third book as well, and I'm using it as a sort of morning exercise -- I write about 500 words on it before I go do anything else. It will move slowly this way, but I'll likely start writing more after I get a few other things cleared up. Or maybe not. It's kind of fun to pull it open first thing and just move the story forward a little.

There is a second book between the two, and I'll be rewriting it after I get Silky done.

It's fun to fall into stories like this again.

So maybe now that I feel like I'm really back into writing for the first time this year, I might actually have something to write about here again! Oh, it's not like I haven't been writing -- I've done over 100k so far -- but it was just adding to my stress level, since I kept feeling like I had to work harder on it, do something more, etc. Now that I'm back to the 'this is fun!' stage, I'm ready to write about it more as well.

Or at least that's how I fell tonight!  ¶ 3/12/2008 02:52:00 AM 2 comments