wednesday afternoon barbecue pork spectacular

hello all!

so i finished the first draft of the second story today, which i'm sure you're aware of if you're following me on twitter. if you're not following me on twitter, you should do so. go here.

now, i know that the two stories i have finished so far are only rough drafts. it still counts!

this second one, without giving too much away, turned out a lot more visceral than i originally intended, what with exploding testicles and all, but you can't be afraid to put what's in your head down on paper. you're only going to let yourself down if you hold back.

so far the stories have a common theme, if only in title, The Red Left Hand and Dead Man's Hand. Ok, so maybe there are hands in both of them, too. I guess they have a couple of things in common. Oh, and they're both about revenge, to a certain degree. Not "Revenge" starring Kevin Costner, either. There are no Kevin Costners present in my book so far.

i'd like to get three more stories done before i move forward with my self-publishing plans. looking for someone to do me a kick-ass cover, as well as some sketches to go along with the stories. money? maybe/probably not. credit for work? yes.

in other news, my plans to inundate myself with all things fantasy and sci-fi are moving along nicely. slowly, but nicely. my son and i have begun learning to play Warhammer Fantasy Battles, which is taking some time. he seems interested so far, and i even have another buddy interested, who went halvsies with me for the Battle for Skull Pass starter set. Painting the little figures is definitely going to take some practice. when i get my card-reader back i can post some pics of my painting attempts thus far.

let me take a moment to introduce you to a few of the blogs i've recently added to the "blogs i follow" section over there to the right.

garagehammer.net is a bimonthly podcast dedicated to all things Warhammer. they talk about all sorts of other stuff, too.

passageways appears to be a blog by a friend of mine relating to what his company, passageways does, along with media-related social commentary.

kitchen hooligan is a blog by another friend of mine relating his culinary adventures. also, recipes!

sexygamer is lisa foiles' blog. if you're a gamer you want to check it out! game reviews and industry commentary with a comical/sarcastic spin. also, she's super hot.

Giada's blog: Giada de Laurentiis is the hot little italian lady on Food Network. as my wife says, every guy knows who she is, but nobody knows "Barefoot Contessa" who is on right after her. actually the link is to her website, where there are pics of her.

on walkabout: another friend's site, seems to be a spot for him to drop his words and images for us to see. good stuff. he's a smart guy.

face of the cookie is Kiala Kazebee's blog. She writes for the Portland Mercury. She funny lady.

William Gibson is one of my favorite writers. in my opinion, he is one of the biggest impacters on "science fiction" and "cyberpunk" of the twentieth/twenty-first century.

my fingers hurt from all that hyperlinking. are you still with me? if so, here's a quick video of giada in a bikini:

i know. i know.

thanks to all of my friends and followers. let me know what you're thinking.

goodbye old friend, hello new hobby, back to business

hello dear friends and followers!

well, i think it is happening. can't deny it any longer. my xbox 360 is dying. she's already been repaired for red-ring syndrome once, her warranty is up, she freezes up whenever i touch her. i downloaded the crackdown 2 demo and it ran for fifteen seconds. i can't even play red dead redemption , it just freezes. it works fine for netflix, and that's about it. hopefully i can replace it someday soon with the new-and-improved version.

so i've taken my hiatus from writing. examined my options, briefly decided it was all a farce, a ruse, i was fooling myself. well, that was a rough few days. there was some cheap vodka involved. now, i'm going to jump back into it with both arms flailing, hoping to grow wings of words and soar through the literary sky.

i've got something big planned for next week. stay tuned to find out what that is.

in other game-related news, i've decided to take up warhammer fantasy. i know, let me just tattoo "geek" on my forehead, so that the three people that didn't already know could be informed of my status. i've got a lot of friends who play it, and i've got a few around here willing to learn. i think my son would enjoy it also, if i could just get him to sit still for a little while. more on that, and my new levels of dorkness, to follow when the stuff arrives.

don't forget, you can follow me on twitter @redlefthand

don't forget to check out some of the blogs i follow, over there in that column to the right.

don't forget, comments and criticisms are welcome, feel free to leave it below.

don't forget, i love you all.

i leave you with this, which i found to be genius and would like to share with you all:

our schoolteacher friend

oh, things are starting to really heat up for our schoolteacher friend.

if you haven't been following thus far, Luke is the schoolteacher protagonist from my short story, tentatively titled "magehunter", due to him hunting down a mage. i'm nearing the climax of the story, just taking a quick break to see how my daughter is feeling (she is playing on the xbox and talking to herself, so it seems she is feeling somewhat better), and update this blog here.
the story is moving right along, the words finding their place on the page with ever more regularity. as soon as it's done i'll let everyone know, and then we'll see where we go from there. i want to submit it as a short story to various places, but i want to keep the rights so i can put it in my own book when the rest of those stories are done... i've been a casual writer for most of my life, always taking a lot of joy from creating my own worlds, characters and situations. now, with position in life being what it is, i feel i have an opportunity to do something more than just enjoy or obsess over what i've created, i have the chance to let others enjoy it as well.

until something changes, i remain grim.

01.14.10

good evening everyone! welcome to red left hand, my first blog. exciting, i know. let me tell you a few things before we get started.
if you read the about me blurb, you know i am a professional gamer. i work for a company that tells other people what's wrong with their games. hopefully, they take what i (and my team) tell them and use that information to make their game better so that we all will want to play it forever.
also in the blurb, something about me wanting to be a writer. well, i guess i am a writer, because i do actively write on a regular basis. published writer? not yet. paid writer? certainly not. my very first book is in it's very first pages of creation, so i promise to keep you posted. chances are, if you're following this blog, it has something to do with the book that you've already heard me talking about.
also, from blurb, i have a family. one wife, four children, and three cats. two of the cats are inconsequential at this point, and the other, consequential one, is jeph. my cat jeph is one of my best friends. more on him later, i'm sure.
so this is how it starts. hopefully every few days, i'll give my faithful readers a little glimpse into what makes me tick, where the ideas come from, what i'm into, and what i am not into. if you think that's too much about me, well, then why the hell are you reading this, anyway?
i'm off to put the kids to bed, and wait for wife to get home from work.

until something changes, i remain grim.