tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19608642935119081102024-10-25T04:47:27.735-04:00Constantly spewing ridiculous amounts of information about my life and my work as a science fiction and fantasy writer. Keep up with my new novels, what I've been reading, and more!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-67733399972154826952013-03-03T21:06:00.002-05:002013-03-03T21:06:12.951-05:00

There comes a time in every Blogger user's life when he or she decides to switch to Wordpress. I already talked about doing this once, but I was kind of promising more than I could handle at the time. A lot has changed since then. I've learned a lot, and my priorities have changed. At this point, I've started to see this blog as a big mess. There are tons of entries that are kind of junky and

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-38179799759903210942013-03-02T21:17:00.001-05:002013-03-02T21:17:13.696-05:00

Continuing from my last look at a few books about writing, I wanted to give you a peek at the latest one I've finished. Your Path to Publication by Kim Wright is a little book that gives you a truly realistic view of what to expect if you want your book traditionally published. It's a tough world out there, and this isn't going to kid you about that. It's just going to give you all the tips you

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-49990566183107381562013-02-25T21:28:00.001-05:002013-02-25T21:28:35.446-05:00

As The Third Face's publication date draws ever closer, I'd like to announce a very special video event, coming March 28th--one week before the book comes out. One of the most pivotal, and well-liked, characters in The Third Face is Eibmoz. Eibmoz is a dead guy who's made his way from the Underworld back to the realm of the living. He's really out of his mind, and he loves being silly and making

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-34875382675149206342013-02-23T18:51:00.003-05:002013-02-23T18:51:46.983-05:00

There have been times when I had so many things to say that sometimes I had to hold back, so I wouldn't overwhelm everyone. Things probably got lost at those points as I waited for the right time to bring up a new subject. In all that, I've said my piece over and over again, and probably some other people's pieces too. And today, since it's been a few days since I last did so, I wanted to say

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-54434431914234169752013-02-20T19:22:00.000-05:002013-02-20T19:22:34.410-05:00

I spend a lot of time looking for more tips about writing. In fact, out of the books I've read each week this year, three of them were just that. Of course, not everything you read is worthwhile. The three books I bought caught my eye because of their descriptions on Amazon, and I looked through the reviews to see if they were actually as good as they were played up to be. It turned out that

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-45982095596862039162013-02-17T11:59:00.000-05:002013-02-17T11:59:31.453-05:00

Lately, I've been talking a lot about the ebb and tide of emotions--the ability to keep moving. I've risen past both doubts and exhaustion, so now it's about time that I really got to work. That's why I'm getting started on my final offensive, as it were, on The Third Face. After this work, there shouldn't be much left to do on it. I'm not rewriting it again (thank goodness), but some scenes

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-26559880631228981942013-02-13T19:14:00.001-05:002013-02-13T19:15:39.110-05:00

When you meet resistance, you can either force your way through, or back off until you get your energy back. If you're the type of person that pays close attention, you might have noticed that even though I've been pretty consistent about posting a lot lately, this is the first one I put up since last Friday. Why is that? Well, it has to do with vacations. Actually, having three days off in a

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-32226131752942686662013-02-08T19:13:00.000-05:002013-02-08T19:13:01.887-05:00

Strength is in conquering things that have brought you down. In a recent post I talked a lot about having doubts as an author. But like many other negative things in the world, as long as you don't give in to them, doubts clear up before too long. The phoenix has always been a bit of a personal symbol of mine. If you don't believe me, look at the address of the page you're on right now--it

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-79137385008610239172013-02-06T21:17:00.002-05:002013-02-06T21:17:41.416-05:00

I think every author that wants to have success with his or her work will have to get feedback at some point. In the face of the many drafts it can take to get a real, publishable winner, everyone needs a little help. Some people go to their friends for advice, and inevitably get flowery words of kindness that don't really help improve anything. Others look up professional editors, forking

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-65526430717241536142013-02-03T20:50:00.001-05:002013-02-06T19:16:53.440-05:00

Let me put this up front: The Third Face might not be coming April 5th. Now I know what you're thinking. I just spent the last two months rabidly rewriting it to make it great, then I released a portion of that to the general public. And I still have two more months to polish it. How can I be unsure that I'll be done with it in time? Second-guessing. Doubt. That which afflicts every writer at

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-63287387462436507562013-01-30T18:59:00.000-05:002013-01-30T18:59:38.326-05:00

Writers read. Or at least, we're supposed to. For a long time, I wasn't reading all that much at all. I probably got through a book once every couple of months. Of course, as you all know, I've resolved to read a book every week this year. My recent slew of orders from both Barnes & Noble and Amazon is going to, at the very least, get me started on that goal. The books are pictured above,

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-45866985346783435012013-01-27T21:08:00.001-05:002013-01-27T21:08:18.089-05:00

Also known as Advanced Reading Copies, except they're PDF files and anyone can see them. Yes, I've decided to release Parts 1 and 2 of The Third Face to everyone. This is a free opportunity for everyone to see if the story interests them, and to give me feedback before I revise it one last time and release it to the world on April 5th. Of course, you don't need to comment at all if you don't

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-21731097785460125992013-01-24T19:51:00.000-05:002013-01-24T19:51:42.032-05:00

On New Year's Day, many people make their resolutions. Some are more serious about it than others, but in the end, what you plan to do is usually not exactly what you end up doing. Some people give up before long, but others find themselves having to make adjustments after a little while. Today, I'm starting to see what those adjustments look like. In Endings, 2012, posted on the last day of

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-43675223391330641322013-01-21T14:36:00.004-05:002013-01-21T14:36:52.623-05:00

Well, I've been talking about it for a while, and I finally did it. I've created a home for authors who are really struggling, who fight tooth and nail for every friend, follower, and book sale they make. I'm here to pool my resources with every other author I can find, whether they want to contribute posts, join in discussions, or just call themselves a proud member of this group. The

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-91481994644677620112013-01-18T19:19:00.003-05:002013-01-18T19:42:13.875-05:00

The blogging world has been a tough one for me. I'll save you the story of my failure to get into a "blogging tribe" (a small group of bloggers) since I don't care to badmouth other people in the community, with or without mentioning names. Today, though, I saw a post about the "Liebster Award," where the writers of "small" blogs promote one another. Thing is, apparently their definition of "

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-63984913075105303332013-01-17T17:24:00.001-05:002013-01-21T21:02:08.014-05:00

Only six drabbles this week--I had a lazy day Wednesday. DISCLAIMER: Drabbles may suck. 01/10/2013 What kinds of classes are “Metalworking” and “Eyes and Vision?” Samuel scratched his head as he walked around the university, staring at his schedule. He didn't even know how he got these classes. Somehow, though, he found “Eyes and Vision” in a huge room full of chairs. Each student was

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-80318720717735795752013-01-13T23:25:00.000-05:002013-01-13T23:25:20.321-05:00

What is marketing about? What is it that writers are trying to do when we set out to find readers for our work? I used to think it was about flat attention. The idea was to tell everyone I could think of, and ask them to tell everyone they knew, in order to appear in as many places as I could. Yeah, I wanted to be liked, too, so people would actually bother with that, but overall it was a pretty

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-36694049684168586062013-01-10T20:23:00.000-05:002013-01-21T21:01:50.052-05:00

Finally back on board with this. DISCLAIMER: Drabbles may suck. 01/03/2013 The thief was nervous today. It was time for something that he had never really done before: buying things with a stolen credit card, rather than just stealing them himself. He came up to the checkout line with a few pieces of food, just to see if he could do it. The cashier, a young woman, smiled as she rang

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-48938302078980134432013-01-08T22:09:00.002-05:002013-01-08T22:09:47.767-05:00

Yes, I am now officially two thirds of the way through rewriting The Third Face. Edition 2. Pun aside, I just wanted to say that I'm proud of myself for this. What I have down is already 5,000 words longer than the first edition ever was. It's amazing how much real work I can get out in a couple of months if I just push myself all the time. Some of you will think my progress is insanely fast,

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-32380197915250062212013-01-06T16:53:00.002-05:002013-01-06T17:19:50.642-05:00

Vacations are weird. I'm sure most people had at least a little one somewhere around New Year's. For me, the vacation was a couple days off work and not writing any drabbles for a couple of weeks starting around Christmas. You probably noticed that I haven't blogged so much lately, either. There's an element of vacation to that, too, but the fact is that I've just been plain busy. I find that

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-19330600609034206122012-12-31T22:30:00.000-05:002012-12-31T22:30:02.038-05:00

I may be guilty of following blog trends too closely. For example, today I'm going to go along with the "Word of the Year" thing. First I get to decide what 2012's word was. I suppose "Transformation" would be the most fitting one. This gets into a bit more of the personal stuff, but at the beginning of the year I was content with who I was and hoping that some miracle would help me make a giant

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-31604804782447659322012-12-30T21:51:00.004-05:002012-12-30T22:05:02.381-05:00

Every adventure can use a bit of comedy, some silly moments. It pops up more in movies than in books, though there are some exceptions. In Leven Thumps, silly moments are the mainstay of the story. Although Leven, the titular character, starts off with a tragic cookie-cutter backstory (an orphan that lives with mean relatives), the laughs are quickly forthcoming. The jokes start with a simple

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-78003423716317938632012-12-23T13:27:00.003-05:002012-12-23T13:46:31.327-05:00

Wow. Where can I possibly begin with a book like this one? Ender is chosen, or perhaps created, by the international government's search for a fleet commander. Even in normal school, they single him out until he has to get in fights with other kids in order to make it. But the real test comes when he's only six years old, when they send him out into space to join Battle School. There, Ender

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-91840186935701997002012-12-20T18:46:00.000-05:002013-01-21T21:01:33.948-05:00

Wow, this week's stories are overwhelmingly dark. Maybe next week I'll have some happier ones. DISCLAIMER: Drabbles may suck. 12/13/2012 The girl climbed up to the chair, and sat with the large man that was there. He was clothed entirely in red, very old with a ragged white beard. His face was screwed up in a malevolent sneer. “What do you want for Christmas, kid?” he said. “I don't

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960864293511908110.post-74935651468969823332012-12-19T15:52:00.000-05:002012-12-23T13:36:04.481-05:00

I've been kind of talking about doing a cover art contest for The Third Face for a while now. While I originally mentioned that I might have it right after the actual novel is finished, I decided that I want to start much sooner, to give artists more time to discover the contest and work on entries. So, the contest officially begins today, and will last until February 24th, 2013. That's just

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13824295841328123968noreply@blogger.com0