preview is up

hello friends!

my wife comes back today. i am pleased. i fixed my dishwasher, all by myself (well, Tom did let me borrow his shop-vac). i am actually surprised that i was able to do it alone.

first story, done. quite pleased with it.

the preview for my first story has been posted up on createspace, who i am planning on self-publishing with. you can check it out here:

https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1069056

i hope everyone else is having as good of a weekend as i am having so far.

criticisms

so my wife is out of town, on her first business trip. away in another state. three of the children are with their biological father, leaving mimsy and i to fend for ourselves.

after haranguing my wife since the initial draft was done, she began reading the story last night. she made a point to call me up, late (when she should have been sleeping), with criticism.

"it was like someone was telling a story," she said over the phone, "and then, right in the middle of it, you cut in." i know the scene she's talking about, and after hearing her say that, it makes a lot of sense. "this story is told from someone else's point of view, except for this one section, where it just sounds like you, at home, talking to me or the kids." what she was telling me was "very sarcastic".

she's got a good point. that scene is a bit sarcastic. only a few lines, but enough that it broke the flow of the story, the suspension of disbelief that i'm working toward. looks like i'll be going back to those lines, giving them a bit of a shake-up.

another good friend was kind enough to give me a few tips that have made me think twice about my writing style. not a complete overhaul, by any means, but a few pointers to keep the story from being too personal or too internal.

and then another friend has given me some insight into the bigger picture. world-building exercises. religion, politics, history. i'm hoping to flesh some of that out in the first stories, and then have points to expand on from there.

what i'm getting at is that i am a bit self-conscious having too many people read my work before it is "done". if i don't keep it somewhat secret, than am i really taking it seriously? isn't it an intellectual property that i would like to maintain? possibly profit from at some point? least of all, let someone else take the credit? the few people that i have given my manuscript to were selected because i know they are honest people, good friends as well, who will give me their opinions and criticisms to help me craft a better story, and in turn, a better world.

so thank you to my friends, for all of your input. it is very much appreciated.

oh my twitter

yes, i know. i am now on twitter. don't do too much with it, really. it has just been added to the list of sites that i check on a regular basis to indulge the fantasy that people want to hear what i have to say...

i do follow an interesting group of people, though, which you can see if you go see my page here. clive barker and rob zombie usually have a lot to say, as well as brian crecente from kotaku.

so if you can't get enough of me on this blog, or on facebook, or in person, now you can see me on twitter, rambling away. or, you can check the little window to the side there. it usually has my latest babble. and if you twitter, let me know. i'll follow you if i like you...

hope all is well. second story is in full swing. i'll keep you posted.

broken

so, my network is broken. i'm writing this from work on my lunch break. i hope everyone is well.

update! i've begun work on the second draft of the first story, if i didn't tell you yet. thanks for the support. keep your comments coming.

until next time.

outside

so, it is the age old question. well, maybe not age old. it is the desert island question. what album would you keep? given, you would have access to a device, a plugin, what have you... what piece of music would you grab a hold of, knowing the plane was going to crash, knowing the ship was going to run ashore, knowing your spaceship was going to land on a forbidden planet. i know my answer. i have always known it. well, since 1994, at least.

outside, david bowie

it has everything a listener could ask for. david tells a great story, in varying musical forms. no, he doesn't end it, and if i had a complaint, that would be it, but it leaves me leave to let my imagination keep going.
supposedly based on a short story, i would love to do some research and come back here in more depth, discuss the history and future and secrets of Nathan Adler and the people he encounters along the way during his investigation of the murder of Baby Grace. if you can, i welcome insight. from what i can tell, david bowie had much more to tell, but he got side-tracked. haven't we all?

next!

so, it is mother's day. a hallmark holiday if ever there was one. even so, i'm happy that i get to spend the day with my wife, who is a mother, and my mom, who is also a mother.

so, for those that have been keeping up, i finished the first draft of the first story for the book of stories that i hope to finish this year. not sure of the title, but i have a few floating around in my head. the second story has been started, and it is a short little number about hunting monsters in the swamps. the outline for the third is done, but i don't want to say anything about that yet...

so happy mother's day to all you mothers out there.

holy cow, that took a lot longer than i thought.

and so the first draft of the first story is done. 25 pages, 17,000 words. longer than i thought it would be. but you can't just stop when it's pouring out of you.

that reminds me of a scene from grandma's boy. you know the one i'm talking about.

so i'm off to the park with my little girl, and then back here to do laundry. and celebrate with a martini. anyone want to join me?

so we are saaaaaacred....

so me and some friends are playing sacred 2 tonight... it is not the greatest of games, but it is a nice healthy dungeon crawler to tide us all over while we wait for diablo 3.

other, more relevant news. i am about two pages awy from finishing the first story of my book of short stories. it will run about 16,000 words all told, at least for the first rough draft. seems a bit long for a short story, but i guess if it is included in a book full of other, shorter stories, it may just be all right. i am very pleased with how this rough draft is turning out, and have called in the big guns (a published friend) to go over it for me. here's to hoping he does.

so, tomorrow night, if all goes according to plan, i will be celebrating. join me, won't you? raise a glass, or whatever it is you do, and celebrate what you've accomplished lately. setting goals is easy. achieving those goals takes some work. so don't just toast me, toast yourself. for whatever you've done lately, i applaud you. for your attempt and for your success.

until something changes... well you know the rest by now.

edit- router was being a dick. wouldn't let me hook up with my buddies. damn you router. why must you always be so strict?