08/31/2012 Fantastic Friday!

Hello everyone and welcome back on this Friday at the end of the month. I can't believe August is already over; it just seemed to blast by. My mom was talking to me about Christmas presents last night, and I'm just not ready for that conversation. My general rule is that if it's not past either my birthday or Halloween, Christmas doesn't exist yet for me no matter what the store say. Anyway, let's get to something more important, shall we?

Today I bring you 'Destiny Can Be a Real Pain In the Ass' by William Hrdina. It's a short story with a kind of long title about a man who's supposed to be the savior of humanity, but he just isn't good at doing that. It's not that he's a supervillain or a bad person, he just isn't very good at being the magnificent person all the prophecies say he'll be.

Have you ever wondered how you'll make the world better? What if you were born and that's what you were told you'd do: Make the world better. This is the story about a man who was told just that, and he was raised to be all kinds of great, but no matter what he did nothing worked. He was just an average person to the chagrin of everyone who was trying to teach him the highest forms of education, and also teach him to perform miracles. Now as an old man, he wonders what he can actually do to save humanity.

I like this story because it shows what happens when a person is brought up being told they will do great things and the frustration that comes when they can't live up to those expectations. At the very least in their own mind. It also gives insight to the pressures someone goes through when that is the world they are raised in; they don't have a choice, it's just their life and their life is supposed to be special.

 'Destiny Can Be a Real Pain In theAss' is available for FREE on Smashwords, and is relatively short, so I recommend picking it up and reading it during a break or lunch. It's incredibly interesting and while I'm not 100% sure what's going on at the top of the cover, it's a good story that I think you would all enjoy.

Thanks everyone for stopping by again. I am tired, but I'll live. I'm still in the process to adjusting to my schedule, and while part of me isn't sure it'll ever happen, I will persevere. Luckily I have a three day weekend to recover, so with that being said there will not be a post on Monday. I will be back Wednesday, so please check in at that time for the latest post. Until then I hope everyone has a great and fun weekend!

08/29/2012 Writing Wednesday!

Hello everyone! I hope the week has been trying you well. I firmly believe that August went by too bloody quick, mostly because every time I look at a calendar I am convinced that the date it still like a week away, but nope, it's not! It's not that there's anything wrong with September (there's not, and I would like to believe it's the best month EVER) I just wasn't quite ready for it.

With 'The Light Rises' officially at the halfway point of Phase 1 Reread, I have been thinking a lot about editing lately. Especially since one it is done I have another story I have to dive into, and 'Rending the Seal' is longer. Editing is a time consuming process that everyone must do no matter how much they wish it would magically do itself. The problem is figuring out when your story is done being editing and ready for the world. I am learning now this is possibly something only robots know the answer to.

Going back through something I've already published is a humbling experience to say the least. It helps me see just how much I've grown as a writer, and since I published it myself I have the chance to make it better. I think this is a blessing that not all authors get, since if they want to do a new edition that isn't necessarily something they get to decide. Right now I'm just hoping that once Phase 1 is complete (which I'm hoping will be next week, maybe, we'll see) that Phase 2 goes quickly and smoothly. That's the thing with editing though; it never takes as long as you want it to, so I have to factor in NANOWRIMO into my plans just to be safe.

I know I've said it before, but I do recommend having a printed copy of your work to read from when editing. Especially if it's a longer story. I know that with the magic of technology you can use the Editing Tool in Word or whatever the Mac equivalent is, but it is seriously helpful to have a copy you can carry around with you (not in a laptop) that you can work from, and not just because a lot of jobs don't necessarily like you having your computer open all day while at work. Maybe part of it is the tactile sensation of working with your hands, or it could be because everything you've done is right in front of you (not that it isn't with a computer), I honestly don't know, but it makes everything so much easier. Maybe you forget to hit save on your document, or your computer decides it needs to update without your permission and now you need to figure out where you were before. There's no searching and possibly accidental page skipping when you are doing it by hand. That could just be me though, and everyone here knows that there are certain things I'm bias toward.

Right now though I am working on editing one story and preparing to jump into another. Sure it's tough, and I wish I was rich enough to have someone do it for me, but it will be incredibly satisfying once it's all done. I'm sorry to have done two things on editing in a row, but it has been what I've been focusing on for the last several weeks. I'm not sure how helpful it's been, but at the very least I hope you are all seeing how the process works.

Thanks for stopping by again. I'll like always be back on Friday with the weekly review. After that it will be off to enjoy my long weekend. Until then I hope everyone has a great rest of their week and I'll see you back here soon.

08/27/2012 Magnificent Monday!

Greetings everyone and happy Monday! I am on my 'normal' schedule this week, so I am slightly more awake than I was last week. Let's see how long that lasts, shall we? With my schedules flipping every week, I'm not sure how I'll be able to actually get my sleep schedule adjusted, but we'll see what happens I suppose.

I am almost to the halfway point of going over 'The Light Rises' for inconsistencies. I will say that reading through the story again after so long does help me appreciate it a bit more, though I can honestly say that I can tell it was written over a year ago. I'm sure a lot of authors go through this too, but being able to drastically tell the difference between your own styles is interesting if not a bit frustrating. Especially since you can look at something and want to go back in time and tell the past version of you not to do that because it either makes no sense, or you've figured out a better way to handle it. I won't do that though, because everyone knows my stance on time travel.

Another word to the wise; if anyone told transposing from a notebook to a computer was going to be a fast process, they were lying to you! Maybe it's because the notebook pages, my handwriting, and the font size 12 don't fit together perfectly, but I am constantly convinced I should be further along than I am, but then I look at the page number and have the urge to throw it across the room. This is not a process that happens overnight, as much as I think that would be awesome and some kind of witchcraft. I mean yes, I am a little happy that I get the chance to go into more specific detail about some things, and for all I know that's my downfall, but I seriously feel like I should be almost done with that notebook and about ready to jump into the next one. It's also kind of weird not having the slightest idea of how long something is going to be, even though it's finished in one medium. My currently guess is around 180, but we'll see what the future holds!

I appreciate everyone stopping by today. I wish there was more to report in the area of progress, but unfortunately I had to work this past Saturday and that brought a lot of work to a screeching halt. I'm not sure how I feel about having only one day in a weekend, but this weekend is sure to make up for it. (Yay! Three day weekend!) I will see everyone back here on Wednesday! As always if there are any topic suggestions, comments, questions, and/or emotional outbursts, please put them in the comments section below and I will address them as promptly as I can. Have a good week!

08/24/2012 Fantastic Friday

Hello everyone and welcome back for another Friday! I hope this week has seen everyone well! Though I'm tired, I'm looking forward to the weekend, even if it is kind of short for me. Let's get to work for today though, shall we?

Today I bring you 'Fool's Gold' by Angela Black. It's about the story of Raymond, a bard who finds himself one night in a tavern. In order to entertain them, he tells a fantastic story about hunting for a treasure beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Though the question everyone asks him, is if it's too fantastic to actually be as true as the man claims.

Sometimes everyone needs to learn a lesson, even if they don't know they need it, or even want it. The best way to teach them is by a cautionary tale, no matter what the cost may be. Raymond knows this all too well, and the last thing he wants is for people to repeat the mistakes he made all those years ago. So he tells them of the time he went hunting for treasure, and what that experience meant for him.

I picked this story today because frankly it's true. Everyone needs to take a step back sometimes and think about what they're doing. Something can seem lavish and only about what it's going to mean for them in the future, putting the well-being of others to the side-line. The story doesn't so much to hide what happens in the end, but it's getting there that's the adventure, and how Raymond decides to handle it that makes the story interesting.

'Fool's Gold' is available for FREE on Smashwords, so I suggest you take a bit of time to check it out. It hasn't been up for very long, but I'm sure it'll go into the Premium Catalog soon, so you'll be able to get it through other retailers as well at that point. It's also relatively short, so if you need something to read on your break or lunch, this is a good choice to pick up.

Thanks everyone for stopping by today! With my new schedule sometimes it's hard to be awake enough to get the posts taken care of, so I appreciate you all coming back while I work that out. I will be back on Monday, hopefully well-rested with a progress report regarding my transposing and re-reading. Until then, I hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

08/22/2012 Writing Wednesday!

Hello everyone! Sorry that the post is later than it has been. My schedule is a bit different every other week, so I have today off. I plan on spending part of my day relaxing and getting some necessary things done (like shopping so I can have lunch tomorrow) but I also plan on writing something. I haven't completely come up with what, but will happen. I also hope to play some video games, because Atlus owns my soul.

I would like to talk about motivation today. This is something that every writer has, and sometimes needs to do a bit of searching to find. Sometimes it had be harder than others, especially at times when it's hard to get yourself to do anything, but if you can find what motivates you to write, hold onto it as tightly as you can. It can be something as simple as you like the way it makes you feel, and you should use that to help you focus on writing. This is a bigger-picture sort of thing when it comes to motivation, which is awesome. I hope everyone has something that makes them feel that way.

It also comes in smaller forms, like for instance you can put off working on a particular story for a while either because you need a break or because life got in the way, but one day you hear a song playing and it fills you with memories of that story you had, and when you come home you pull it from the back-burner and get to working again. I call that the 'Theme Song Inspiration' is a little campy, I know, but it's true. That song makes you think about that story, and motivates you to get to work on it again. You remember just how much that story means to you, and suddenly, with that song in your head, you go back to that thing you love so much and work on it with all your heart.

Motivation could some just from having someone want to read something you wrote. It doesn't have to be good, or long, or anything that people would get out of context, but having people who want to read your stories helps you keep doing it. They will be your encouragement, and if they are really awesome will help you work on getting better by pointing out things that work and what doesn't.

Whatever you feel inspired or motivated by, keep it close as much as you possibly can. It will be what helps you get through the day sometimes, just knowing that you can come home to that and work on something that's important to you. After a rough day at work, sometimes all you need is to pull up your story's theme song and start typing.

Thanks everyone for stopping by again today. I'll be back on Friday with my normal review. Hopefully in a couple weeks I will have my re-reading of 'The Light Rises' done and I can get to phase 2, which will be going into the master file and getting that done. Once I'm ready for Phase 3, I will be putting my feelers out there, so stay tuned for that! For now everyone have a great rest of the week!

08/20/2012 Magnificent Monday!

Hello everyone and welcome back. I hope everyone had a good weekend, and had lots of fun! If you were someone that managed to go to Gen-Con....I am narrowing my eyes at you in jealousy, you just can't see it right now. My plans for this year had included going to the gaming convention, but when they announced my work was going to be closing, that plan got thrown out the door. So now I can only watch as pictures of people's swag starts being posted on the internet.

Anyway, enough about my losses, let's talk about other stuff! My reviewing of 'The Light Rises' is going relatively well. Of course it feels like it's going incredibly slow, but when I think about it, I'm on page 50 and it's only been a couple weeks, when I have time at work. That's actually fairly decent progress. I mean, sure I have 150-some pages to go, and that number seems ridiculously daunting, but it's less than before, so that's good! Having not looked at that story for so long though it's strange. Even though I wrote it, and you'd think I'd know every tiny detail about it, I keep finding things that either need more detail, just don't fit, or sentences that feel clunky. In the end I think everything will be even better than before!

I also worked on 'Daughter of the Shackled King' some last night, and I felt like a sad and sorry slacker about that story when I did. I love that story dearly, and I feel like I've been trying to get the transposing done forever, and go to look at it and realize I'm only just now getting to chapter four. This is a process that is must slower than I initially anticipated, and the only thing that's giving me some sort of consolation is that I have other stories that need to get taken care of before it can go into publication. So I still have time!

Thanks everyone for stopping by again today. I have Wednesday off this week, so my post should be at a decent time and length that day. I hope everyone's start to the week is an entertaining one! I'll see you in a couple days!

08/17/2012 Fantastic Friday!

Welcome back everyone! I hope your week saw you all well. I saw the Rifftrax Live: "Manos and the Hands of Fate' last night and let me tell you, that was wonderfully terrible. I can't wait for the next one they do live.

Today I bring you 'The Ghost Writer' by Will Jaeger. When a detective retires and decides to become a novelist it seems only natural they would go into the true crime genre. However, this particular detective has an informant known only as the Ghost Writer. He's helped him in the past, but now it might not be enough as a serial arsonist has shown up, using methods that no one on the force, or the planet, have seen before.

I picked this story because sometimes a crime drama is really what someone needs. I am a huge fan of the ones like Law & Order, CSI, and so forth, and I even failed my way through games like Heavy Rain (quick time events hate me...) and I was quickly drawn to this story because of my crime drama itch. I like the mystery, I like puzzles, and this story handles them very well. Who is this mysterious informant, and why do they keep themselves hidden from the one that's writing these stories? Especially when there is a real danger at hand? It's great!

You can pick up 'The Ghost Writer' for .99 on Smashwords, and I do recommend everyone taking a look and spreading the word. It was just recently published, so I'm sure it'll be on the other stores shortly. I definitely think you should give this a good read.

Thanks everyone for stopping by today. I look forward to seeing you on Monday where hopefully I will be a little more used to my schedule. Hopefully, we'll see. I hope your weekend is full of fun and that if it's stupidly hot where you're at, that you're able to find a place to cool down. Until Monday, have a great weekend!