I don’t think that I am going to hit my end of August deadline, nor am I going to keep it to under 70,000 words. Am I worried? Not any more. Since Nancy reads a couple of chapters at a time, I am getting some editing done, I might still hit my Election Day deadline. I just thought of a couple of other things to torment poor Edgar with, that’s all. Still don’t have the punchy ending I want, yet. I guess Stephen King and I have something in common, after all.

I don’t have any good ideas for next year beyond Marvelous and Malefic Doomsday Medicine Show, The Changeling’s Crusade and Unbound. All of these are epic fantasy ideas, so they should carry me through next year easily, but I don’t like it when I open my idea notebook and I have nothing to put into it. The last decent I idea I had was for a Gothic Horror/Romance and I know I’m not going to get to that for a year at least (the fantasy novels I am going to work on have been bouncing around in my head for too long a time).

On a bit of a personal note, I am beginning to get over my hang-up of typing with glasses on…not by choice mind you. Take my advice – getting old sucks. Don’t do it.

I think for November I am going to re-do Agonizing Alibi Day. There are some mistakes I made in writing that I can’t really undo without scrapping the whole thing. I also need a novel to work on for Nanowrimo, so why not throw something up that I can have self-published by later December? I should come up with something, right? It’s been way too long since I published anything, much less something that’s supposed to be a continuing series. To quote Jim Butcher: “I don’t have a muse, I have a mortgage.” I need to get back on that stick if I want to get some sort of progress done.

There’s little else going on writing wise – just me tap dancing as fast as I can. Check out the books to the right – written by me and some good friends. I should get back to work. Ta-ta for now.

Well, having braved both con crud and con drop – I am here to say that GenCon was a partial success? Wyrmwood Gaming was not selling dice at the location on the merchant’s floor. That was one of the big reasons I went to GenCon in the first place! I did get to play some great games. I finally got to try my hand at both the new iterations of Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf the Apocalypse. I love them both! I am going to see if there are any games for them in my area. The day did not go without some shopping, either. I did get some very nice-looking glass dice from Norse Foundry and got the latest edition of Call of Cthulu which I might run at my local game shop once I get the rules down. Overall – it was a good experience for everyone involved.

Now that vacation is out of the way, I have to get back to work and work quickly. The end of the month is fast approaching, and I need to have this rough draft done. Nancy has been good enough to read each chapter as it’s finished, so I am getting some light editing done. I’m at another set piece – the invasion of the gang strong hold, but I’m fuzzy on what should happen there and what the aftermath should be. I might have to consult my writer’s block cards for that.

Well, sadly – my laptop is dying in a dramatic fashion, so I will have to cut this very short.

*cough* *cough*

Go to GenCon if you have the chance while I deliberate on how to get through the climax of my werewolf political allegory horror novel.

Have Fun!

I am not here. I am at Gencon getting my gaming geek on for this week. Promise I’ll relate anything interesting and even upload a few pics.

Until then — have fun and stay safe!

Well, I made it through another Imaginarium convention. I learned quite a bit about writing and it can be summed up in one brief sentence: I ain’t done crap.

I think the person with the lowest book count on any of the panels I listened to was thirty. Thirty! I’ve written… six? Five? Either way, I am nowhere near the double digits I apparently have to be to be considered successful. So many of them were USA Today Bestsellers. I’m giddy if my one of porn piece gets a sale.

I am way behind on this sort of thing. I’ve got to get cracking on finishing up a couple more things. Seriously.

But all was not me wringing my hands and screaming ‘I AM WOEFULLY UNDERPREPARED!’ – I talk to a pulisher who is hold open submissions next month, I have two stories that can be ready in that amount of time: The Show Must Go On and Alien Voices. They just need a little bit of polish, maybe another run through and I can submit them (if they’re looking for horror).

Going to Imaginarium has whetted my appetite for getting stuff done. I might even take my laptop to GenCon and write after I get back from the daily events. I know that GenCon is supposed to be a vacation, but I also got to get this done by the end of August and that’s not very far away. When I was at Imaginarium, I did manage to get some writing done, but it was an hour at the most because I was stacked from open to close with panels. I’m surprised I ate anything at all to be hinest. People who have attended conventions can testify to this.

Well – that’s it really. I spent a lot of time sitting in metal chairs, taking notes. I get to see a couple of writing friends that I hadn’t seen in a while, so that was nice. I even made myself a QR business card, but never got a chance to use it. Next year – I’ll put it on a t-shirt and wear it all three days. Hopefully, by next year, I’ll be in the lower double digits enough to justify putting up a table and trying to sell some books.

Stay safe, everyone.

Sorry I haven’t been on here in any substantial way for a while. To be honest – there hasn’t been any news worth reporting. I upgraded the word count on Tribal from 60K to 80K because I was two thirds of the way through, and I realized I had more story to tell. I also changed the deadline to August 31^st just to keep the daily work count in the realm of the obtainable. Fortunately, my wife has been reading the first eight chapters and has given me notes to act on. I’m going to give her two or three chapters when they get finished so I can try to hit the ground running when it comes to editing.

The only other thing going on for me is the laborious countdown to GenCon. We’re in the final month and I am getting everything in place. We bought a wagon to carry all the loot I am going to buy, and I am still saving up money to buy all the loot. This is going to be my last GenCon for a while, as I am saving up for something big. I’m not going to say anything major right now, but I am going to say this: it’s big.

I am currently reading Ann McMann’s The Blackbird of Chernobyl. A nice little romance for a change from all the true crime and writer’s guides I’ve been reading as of late. This is seriously a book I can’t put down. I recommend it highly.

Tribal is still coming along. Ot quite done with Edgar and the pack, but the story continues to pluck along. After this, I’m going to get seriously into Serve Me Now, even though my wife is slightly turned off by oversexualization of the main character – especially in the beginning pages. When it’s finished, I might get a second opinion. I think this is the one I should try to get some mainstream action on.

Other than all of this – things continue to go along swimmingly. Still feeling good about writing, still attracting projects and ideas like honey to flies. Also got to remember that I have a chance to listen to my baseball team tomorrow as they play the Mets. Hopefully, my listening to them won’t jinx them too much.

Until later – ta-ta for now.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth! Next week, I’ll try to scrape something together for y’all.

I really want to write an epic fantasy novel. I want something that is as sweeping as Lord of the Rings, and I got a really good idea a couple of weeks ago and I am lightly outlining it. I think next year I am only going to work on epic fantasy – Tyro’s Unbroken, The Marvelous and Malefic Doomsday Medicine Show and this newest one called The Changeling’s Crusade.

Mostly I am on this bend because I am stalling out with the two horror stories I am working on right now. I can get back to Tribal now that I have an idea for the motivation in a scene with the pack leader James. Serve Me Now is dragging in its first two chapters, and I don’t know what to do with it. I know that (through my beat reader and loving wife) I could cut a lot of dressing scenes, and scenes of the main character buying something at a lingerie store and it would pick up the pace, but I also want the reader to know what kind of person we’re dealing with. She’s not a very deep person, and she shows off her body for cash. My wife is a rather conservative sort when it comes to things like this. Maybe I can find another female opinion from my writing group.

I hope to get back on track with everything. I know the deadline for Tribalis coming up very soon, and I want to have it done before GenCon, because I am doing nothing but gaming there. To be honest, I’ve been doing nothing but gaming here for the past couple of days, so I should get back to work today, after I am done with this entry.

Beyond gaming and waiting for August, there has been nothing else happening. There’s a new car for me to chase, so I’m taking off after that.

Yes, I still have points on my license. Thank you for asking.

I am going to finish at least Tribal soon because I am a little over half way through it, so Edgar gets to learn some more unsavory facts about his werewolf tribe. Serve Me Now is problematic, but I am going to try to finish it by the end of the year. Next year – nothing but fantasy from me!

I love a story that has deep lore behind it. I love how the backstory unfolds in a particular universe. Halo, Warhammer 40,000 and the old World of Darkness are games that have entertained me – some enough to actually play them. There is a new game I am fixed on.

Trench Crusades combines the dirt, muck and mire of World War One with the religious fantasy that permeates Warhammer 40,000. The official game is not out yet. The Kickstarter is getting organized, and I hope it doesn’t start up after GenCon just because I want to throw some money down on it. I just signed onto the mailing list and have been devouring the lore as often as I can.

Apparently, during the last Crusades, a group of templars apparently opened a gate to Hell – destroying Jerusalem in the process. The War between Heaven and Hell is now fought on the earth, overtaking parts of Europe and North Africa. Now, in 1914, the trenches of the Apocalypse have stabilized into several no-man’s lands near the new axis mundi of New Antioch. I am condensing a lot, just because I am new to the lore and there is not much out there. It’s like Warhammer 40,000 in scale – everything is big. The war has been raging for eight hundred years. People listen to the voice of God for tactical advice. I don’t mean they praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. There are people whose job is to listen to the constant and eternal voice of God, not go insane from lack of sleep and listening to the voice of God tell them the past, present and future, and figure out tactics from the constant barrage. If H. P. Lovecraft were more fervent in his religion, this might be the product.

I like the interplay of religion in games like this. Old World of Darkness had this balanced perfectly, if you ask me. Trench Warfare goes a little overboard for my tastes, but given that this took place a little over one hundred and ten years ago that can be forgiven. I am looking forward to seeing how they treat the rest of the world. Around this time, Russia and Japan were going to war. How would that have turned out differently? America, as well – we were just stepping onto the world stage at this point. Do the Marines earn their stripes in Belleau Woods? I can’t wait to see.

This game might be like Warhammer 40,000 for me in that I don’t play it, but I am interested in the lore. Also, this might be a good opportunity for me to get in on the ground floor with it as far as fiction goes. If it takes off…who knows?

Well, I am still working on my werewolf fiction, and I might make the deadline. I will keep you up to date on that. There’s nothing else really going on here. So…ta-ta for now.

I love writing Tribal. I’m finally getting to the good parts, and writing a couple of stalking scenes is just the icing on the cake. Also, we have a bit of a slow down here at the day job, so I get to forge ahead a little more than usual. I’m glad for that because I had to bump the due date up a month. I’d gotten so caught up in the sexiness of Serve Me Now I neglected this work. I know I should let Tribal get the lion’s share of my attention, but… how can werewolves compete with hot women strutting around nearly naked and going insane? I’m only human.

I think I have found my groove in horror. Fantasy is still good for me, but I find that I have less ‘down time’ with horror. I am on task a lot more with it than other genres. I don’t know if that is going to hurt me in the long run because I enjoy fantasy. Can I make my mark in two genres, or am I going to have to sacrifice one for the other? Of course, it’s really pointless to contemplate this right now, when no one knows I’m alive in a literary sense.

The thing that really cheeses me about that is that I’m not one of these extroverted sorts that can whip up a YouTube video on writing, or do a Book-Tok (or whatever the kids are calling it nowadays). I know this is hampering me as a writer, but I’m really not a big people person. I get all of these offers to help market my book…for a modest fee. I’ve paid them once, or twice, and I don’t really see any return. Is it that my catalogue is getting stale? Well, I’m working on that. Should I work faster? Right now, I am working as fast as I can. I’m not a fan of this part of the writing process. I miss the good old days when the publisher handled such things. Of course, then my gripe would be that I can’t find an agent or publisher and I would have no books out.

I’m sorry if I sound gripey.

On the upside, GenCon is only seventy-one days away. It’s going to be a fun vacation for me. I got some good games and saved up enough money to really splurge on some stuff. It’s going to be my last one for a while. I’m not a fan of the lottery system they use to determine where you can stay, or what games are available to sign up for. I know it’s the fairest system to use, but there were several games I missed out on playing because I was number 9110. Oh, well. I’m going to have fun regardless.

I think that’s it for now. I am almost done with Consider This and I recommend it highly. As highly as On Writing, if not maybe a little higher. Both of these books should be on your shelf if you’re looking to get serious about writing.

Okay, that’s it for now. Be safe out there.

I’ve been reading a couple of books about writing that I have to recommend.

The first one is Consider This by Chuck Palaniuk. This boo has really made me reconsider my wiritng style, and I certain will incorporate what I have learned. This is one of three books I highly recommend – the other two being On Writing by Stephen King and the one I am going to list below.

The Art Of Fiction by John Gardner is the book they hand you at your first MFA class. This one is dense. Where Chuck Palaniuk’s book is done like a couple of people sitting at a coffee table dispensing advice, this book is a classroom with chalk covered blackboards and tweed jackets. I’m not trying to take anything away from this book, but the tone is far different than the other two books I’ve mentioned. I think that anyone looking to seriously improve his writing game should have all three in their library shelves.

I’ve been subsumed with Serve Me Now. I haven’t written anything on Tribal in a couple of weeks – I’ve just written myself into a corner with the reveal that there are other werewolves in the city. I don’t want to end the chapter there because that’s too short of a chapter, but I’m not sure where to go after that. I think I’ll just let it marinade and see what happens on the weekend. I am loving writing the former, but the later has a hard deadline that I need to be cognizant of. They’re not going to delay Election Day because I have writer’s block. It would be nice, but that ain’t gonna happen.

On a personal note, I’ve been seriously considering monetizing another hobby of mine and become a paid DM. I found that there is a game shop close to where I live that I can run some one-shots at for practice on Friday evenings, and on Saturdays keep it clear for paid gigs. I might even branch out into Pathfinder 2.0, since that doesn’t seem too hard to pick up. I know I am not going to get a lot, but it will nice to get a little cash every once and a while.

That’s all that’s happening with me. I know this is a little late, but I still hit the Thursday mark. My stuff is still out there: The Dreaded Day Job, The Catastrophic Christmas Party and others. Give a look or listen, and see what you think. Ta-ta for now.