Monday Doesn't Have To Be Bad

Just when you think it's going to be another Monday, you get cheered up by something unexpected.  Thanks to Glynis Smy, I'm the recipient of:

Glynis even went through the extra effort of making the badge more masculine for us guys.  How cool is that?  This was just the thing I needed to pick me up, pull me out of my sick and tired life.  Since I believe in passing on my good fortune, I'll pick a few people to share this badge with.

Michelle Hickman - Your continued support and encouragement keeps me going.  Thanks a ton, crit partner.  I gotta link to your Surly Writer blog too, since both of your blogs are awesome.

Abby Annis - In addition to being my crit partner, your blog is a must-read.  I constantly learn so much from you, so thanks.

PK Hrezo - A new addition to our Blog Chain, I'm glad I've learned about your blog.  You have a unique perspective on this writing game that I enjoy reading.

Amparo Ortiz - Another new member of our Blog Chain, I find your blog fresh and invigorating.  You've got an exciting energy to your posts that's infectious.

Cole Gibsen - What can I say about the Ninja of the writing world?  Cole is awesome ninja mystique and spunky attitude, all wrapped in awesome comic book hero spandex.

Sorry ladies, but I won't attempt to butcher the nice job Glynis did on the badge in order to make it more feminine.  I hope you understand.

On another note, I'm about done with Travis' book The Feedstore Chronicles.  I am simply amazed at his storytelling ability.  Reading through the pages, I envision all of us sitting around a campfire as Travis spins out this tale.  Great stuff!

What good things have improved your mood today?

I'm Getting Too Old For This *$#@)!

If anyone's been wondering where I've been over the last week, I'll clue you in.  Between a severe cold my son shared with me (thanks, ya punk) and an email disaster at work, I've been sick AND working 70+ hours over the past week.  In fact, last night was the first night I got more than 2 hours of sleep in about 3 days (I think.  Times and events are really hazy at this point).  As I look over the past two weeks, I've put in about 125+ hours at work (something my wife and kids are not real happy about either).

Needless to say, today is the first time I've been able to formulate anything close to a creative thought outside of email server troubleshooting.  And even that is difficult at best.   So since I cannot be truly eloquent, I will only say that I haven't fallen off the planet and am still here.

One thing I do need to mention though is that I'm tentatively scheduled to go visit an actual genetics lab as part of research for my WiP.  I had it planned for this week, but...well, you can see why that didn't work out.   Next week though I should be able to get up there and check things out.  A very kind geneticist has offered to give me a tour and help me with whatever research assistance I need.  I'm very excited about this, as this is a first for me (going somewhere to do research).  If I can, I'll even see about snapping a photo or two, which I will gladly share with all of you.

Have a great weekend everyone.  I'll try to be more coherent and put up a longer post on Monday.

Blog Chain - Great Accomplishments

I'm severely late in posting this, but it's Blog Chain time and my awesome crit partner Michelle Hickman has asked this round's question:


This is the month in creating writing goals and big accomplishments.  What is your greatest accomplishment - in writing, your life, or perhaps something incidental that that had a big effect on you?


When I thought about this question, the first thing that comes to mind is being a father.  While I can't claim to be a genius or astoundingly rich (or even drop-dead handsome), the one thing I've done right in my life is raise my sons.  And now that I have an 18 year old, I find myself proud of both the young man he has become as well as the fact that I had a great deal to do with it.  Okay, my wonderful wife deserves a great deal of credit as well.  I do smile though, thinking over how great a job I've done.


In my writing life, I consider taking the step towards critique partners my greatest accomplishment.  It's a sign of my iron-clad commitment to learning the craft and becoming a talented writer.  That in itself is a decent enough accomlishment for me.  I haven't quit and that's a great thing.


I'm a father first and a writer second.  And I'm enjoying my successes in both.  If you haven't had a chance to read Michelle's post, go check it out.  And though I'm out of order, head over to PK's place to continue along the chain.


Before you go, what do you consider your greatest accomplishments?

Ten Word Tuesday - Raising Up

Just one good event can raise you above the  bad.

Building Worlds And Getting Things Right

As I indicated in my last post, I'm still learning how hard writing can be.  And while I still consider myself a dedicated pantster (which is an oxymoron of sorts), I'm finding out how bass-ackwards I've done things in some respects.  Yep, in some ways my WiP is begging for a little structure.

For example, I'm working through my WiP and I've realized (thanks to an awesome crit partner) how little  I've done to truly build my world.  I know in my head what the world looks like, but I haven't done enough on the written page to properly draw my reader into that world.  So many of you are probably out there shaking your head at my duh moment.  Yeah, I deserve it.

In some ways, the sheer volume of potential work I see looming before me is daunting.  I've got the basic gist of the story down, but it's a skeleton in ragged clothes.  Luckily I'm still very dedicated to bringing this story to life or I'd run and hide in a hole.  I believe in this story, and I'm going to get it finished.

One way I intend to add some structure to my process is the tool I use to write.  No, I'm not changing from typing on my laptop to some other form of writing.  But as of today, a useful tool has become available for Windoze users everywhere (and thankfully us Linux users can use it too).  That's right, I'm talking about the awesome writer's tool known as Scrivener.  It may have started out as a Mac OS tool, but now it's been ported to Windows.  I've already played with it a bit and I'm liking the possibilities.  One cool thing about Scrivener (other than all the ways it can help organize my WiP) is it is documented pretty well and has a vibrant user community.  I'd rather not have to go through the pains of re-inventing the wheel, so I'm glad they've pretty much invented all the wheels at this point.

I'm off to learn more about Scrivener and continue improving my WiP.  One question I'd like to pose to everyone however, is what steps you take or tools you use in order to flesh out your world?  As always, I appreciate any advice you may have on the subject.

How Hard Can It Be?

If I've ever questioned how hard writing is, this latest phase of editing and improving my WiP has convinced me conclusively.  It cracks me up then, when I watch movies like Romancing The Stone.

If you've never seen this movie from the mid-80's, it's not bad in a general sense.  There's one part however, that cracks me up now that I've become a writer.  Near the end of the movie, the main character (who is a writer) comes home and writes a bestseller based on her adventures. 

As long as you're assuming that the main man disappeared for two or more years while she wrote her masterpiece, the ending makes sense.  Oh wait, I forgot the other steps she goes through like re-writing, anguishing over terrible wording, weeks of insecurity, stealing Halloween chocolate from the neighbor's kid, and drinking a few bottles of wine at particularly low moments. 

During all this, the leading man is taking his time killing an escaping alligator and buying a boat.  Yeah, that's a great way to keep the romantic fires smouldering.

Or we can assume that she magically whipped out a masterpiece in a couple of weeks.  That's probably what they intend for us to believe, but those of us deep in the trenches know how far from the truth that is.  There's no such thing as "cranking out a story overnight."  It'd be nice, but probably we wouldn't appreciate it as much if it were that easy.

Have you had a moment recently that reminded you just how hard writing is?

Insecure Writers - Overcoming Insecurity Through Critiques

I joined the Insecure Writers Support Group recently and today is our scheduled post.  Insecurity is something I'm facing big time lately, though I don't have a really good reason why.  It started as an indescribeable funk and spiraled down from there.  I've tried reading blogs by all my fav authors and aspiring authors, but although I love reading it all, I don't feel less insecure.

Not too long ago I declared my intention to find crit partners.  Surprisingly, this has had an affect on my mental state.  Despite the fact that critiques can be hard to swallow sometimes, I'm actually more positive and optimistic.  I have two people so far who have offered to help critique my WiP and I'm looking forward to their perspectives.  I guess the reason why is because after I read their critiques (and take a deep breath acknowledging that the world is not ending), I hope to have some solutions.  I am hoping I'll find some good stuff to take away from the critiques and push through that last wall, finishing my story.

I guess my point is that for me, critiques provide answers as opposed to the vague questions of "what if" floating around so often in my head.  Like "what if my writing really does suck" or "what if all this editing isn't really helping improve things".  I don't mind difficulty but I hate being in a vague state where I have no idea whats wrong or what to do about it.  So while I remain insecure, I'm slowly becoming less so (maybe).

Feeling insecure today?  Maybe you just need a good critique to discover what you're doing right and how to fix what's wrong?

Blog Chain - Monster Hunting

This round of the blog chain is awesome because it's just the right topic at just the right time.  That ever-talented Matt has challenged us with this fun question:

What is your all-time favorite monster? You can take this in any direction you'd like. For example: my most bad-ass monster would easily be a dragon, and it is my favorite in some ways, but you don't have to go with that kind of measurement. Like me, you could go with the most ridiculously hilarious monster you ever heard of, or, like Stephanie Meyer, you could go with the most romantic creature to ever grace the pages of mythology. Or like Carrie Ryan, you could choose the old standby: Zombies. One alone might not be much to handle, but the horde is probably the single most powerful monster force ever invented in gaming, film, literature, or legend. It's up to you: what's your favorite monster?


This was such a fun question to think about.  Picking your favorite monster is no easy task, nor should it be.   Monsters are the things we cringe from as children, the hidden breathing entity in the dark.  They challenge us to face them, to face ourselves and deal with our own irrational fears.  Picking the one monster however, that gives me goosebumps while making me wish I could meet it in person is difficult.  There can be only one though.

Strahd.  For those unfamiliar with Dungeons and Dragons, Count Strahd von Zarovich was the most powerful of vampires.  Now before everyone starts whining, understand that Strahd was no Twilight-esqe vampire.  He was more akin to the evil entity Bram Stoker wrote about, though slightly different and infinitely more powerful.  Should you enter Strahd's realm, you would soon find yourself his prisoner, his slave, or his latest victim.  Strahd was master and lord, understandably arrogant, and lacking any mercy for those he used or destroyed.  Strahd was also a warrior and a powerful necromancer, using magic to rule and protect his realm effortlessly.

Every time we played Dungeons and Dragons, I hoped and feared we would go to Ravenloft (Strahd's domain).  And though he almost never made a personal appearance (after all, how often does the king deign to visit the "little people"), you could feel his presence everywhere and in everything.  Strahd embodies everything we love, respect, and fear about vampires.

That's my take on the subject.  If you haven't had a chance to read Michelle H's excellent post, head on over and check it out.  Tomorrow you can look forward to PK's favorite monster.

What is your favorite monster and why?

Searching For Zombies

I'm sure everyone is tired of this genre, but I need some assistance from all you well-read writers.  My son's 18th birthday is tomorrow and I would like to get him a book to read in addition to all the other non-literary stuff he wants.

Since he is a huge fan of zombies and the grim reaper, I was hoping one of you would know a decent book (that isn't a comic book) involving this subject matter.  He is already reading through The Walking Dead series of books, but I was hoping to provide him with something a little different.

If you know a great book involving either zombies or the grim reaper, please let me know in the comments.  I don't mind if it will be late getting here as it'll be a surprise for him anyway.

A New Writing Toy

My loving wife and kids bought me a Galaxy Tab for Father's Day and I initially had thought it would make a convenient way to write in bed (as opposed to lugging my laptop up here).  I picked up a bluetooth keyboard, but unfortunately it didn't work out too well.  Because it had to transmit the data wirelessly between keyboard and device, there was a huge slowdown in performance.  Since I'm not the most patient person in the world, that just wasn't going to work.

Today I received a new toy - a keyboard dock.  My Tab is now docked in this almost-full-size keyboard and I'm sitting here in bed typing this post.  No latency, no issues, just writing posts with ease.  It's not perfect of course, because I have to get used to the keyboard size.  But it's better than the alternative - not writing at all.

I plan on using this thing as often as possible.  In fact, after this post I will open up my WiP and get to work.  I can't tell everyone just how much fun it is to type on this thing.  And I get to sit here next to my wife as opposed to being down in the office.  Sure, there might be times when I need the distance to concentrate, but most of the time this will work.

At this point I'm going to get busy writing.  But what's the latest thing that's got you writing?

Facing My Fear

Despite my reservations at the latest Blog Chain post, I found I had a lot to think about.  One thing I've always tried to teach my sons is to not allow fear to paralyze them from doing anything.  And here I am being hypocritical about my own fear.  Specifically, my fear of putting my work out there (my real work, not the off-the-cuff stuff I toss up on this blog).

After all the advice in the comments (which I'm very thankful for everyone) from the last post, I gave it some serious thought.  I can't say I'm not afraid to take the plunge, but I need to get off the bench so-to-speak and get in the game.  I'm writing my stuff, but I do believe I'm at the point where an outside perspective can help me out.  So begins my search for some crit partners.

Goodbye fear.  I'm done listening to you.

Anyone else overcoming their fears lately?

Blog Chain - Let's Get Critical

It's time for another round of the Blog Chain, brought to you by the talented Sarah Bromley who asks:

Do you work with critique partners? How did you find your crit pals and what influence have they had on your work?

The fact that I'm posting this late in the evening should give some indication of just how hesitant I am to answer.  Honestly, I've really had to give this one some thought because I just wasn't sure what I'd put down.  Like everything else in my writing career however, I'm just going to work my way through the answer so bear with me.

Critique partners is an area where I am truly lacking.  In all honesty, I've only had my stuff critiqued twice (and one of those times was for a writing class).  So at this point, I really don't have critique partners.  And while it might be hard for me to admit it, a lot of it revolves around fear.  I know we all feel that fear at one point or another, but I guess I haven't conquered that particular mountain just yet.  This is probably why I'm still editing, still trying to find those golden nuggets in my story that will make it shine brightly enough so I can share it with someone else.

Having said all this, I know how valuable having a critique partner is.  The two times I did have my stuff critiqued, I learned a lot (both about my own writing as well as other ideas for where to go with things).  Intellectually I realize that having a critique partner is what I need to get to that "next level", to truly advance my writing ability, to keep myself motivated, and to eventually get to the end goal - completing a whole book.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I am not ruled completely by the intellectual side of my brain, hence the reason I'm not there yet.

One looming question I have (and anyone can feel free to offer advice if they like) is how the heck I'll ever find a critique partner.  I did join a critique site and tried doing critiques that way, but honestly it just feels too disconnected.  While I don't mind reading and critiquing anyone else's work, I don't know that I could just toss it out there for anybody to critique.  I guess if I had my way, my crit partners would definitely be somebody whose writing skill I respect greatly.  It would also have to be somebody that really "gets me", if that makes any sense.  I tend to pour a lot of myself into what I write, because I believe writing from the heart is the best way.  So that kind of connection is probably helpful.

Since I don't have a crit partner however, I could just be spouting nonsense (feel free to call me on it, anyone).  As far as influence, I can tell you that my reasons for joining the blog chain fall along that path.  Every member on this chain is extremely talented, and I grab whatever I can from each of their posts.  They influence me because I learn new ideas, techniques, and habits from them all the time.  I read their books because I know there's good stuff there that I can learn from.

If you didn't get a chance to read what Michelle Hickman had to say yesterday, get on over there.  Yes Michelle, I do know I need to get my first one done.  I hear you loud and clear (grin).  Tomorrow everyone can look forward to PK's answer.

How about the rest of you?  Do you have crit partners?  And how do they influence your writing world?

I Think It's Over...Please Be Over...

Yeah, my last post was a mistake.  Not two days after that, we had ANOTHER issue with email and I worked hard to get it resolved.  To say this has been a hellish couple of weeks is an understatement.  Last night I had to work until midnight writing a Root Cause Analysis document, knowing all the time that the true root cause is not one my management wants to admit to.  After all, it was truly their constraints on us as email administrators that put our agency in a position to fail.  The answer wasn't one they wanted to hear, so I spent 18 hours total trying to creatively word it in a manner they could accept (without lying of course).

Today however, is the first day I've been able to go to work and come home without being completely stressed about whether our email environment is going to fall to pieces.  It's not Gmail-status, mind you.  But at least it's stable for the moment.

I'm still enjoying my way through Elana's book Possession.  I can't seem to hear any other voice from the main character than Elana's.  I don't know if she intended that, but it is what it is.  I think Elana just has such a strong and unique style with her writing that it's impossible to read her book without hearing it in my mind.  Thankfully, I really enjoy her style so it's been a pleasurable read.

Shaun Hutchinson recently asked the blog chain to name three books we had refused to put down despite the fact that they started out slowly or didn't grab us from the get-go.  I had mentioned that there have been instances where I've definitely put a book down and Shaun wanted to know some examples.

The most recent example is when I tried to read Black Hills by Dan Simmons.  The premise sounded great.  It was supposed to be about this Native American who absorbed Custer's spirit accidentally.  The book skipped back and forth between this Native American's story (including a plan to blow up Mount Rushmore) and Custer's ghost reminiscing over his life before death.  Sounds great right?  Yeah, not really.

I have no idea whether it's true or fiction, but Dan Simmons was hell-bent on depicting Custer (and his wife) as an incredibly sexual person who's thoughts after death centered on all the ways he and his former spouse enjoyed each other.  And just as I was getting into the story about the Native American, Simmons would jolt me back to this psycho-sexual Custer world.  I'm not a prude, but it was just so idiotic (not to mention having no point in the context of the larger story) that it ruined the story before I could even get halfway through.  And believe me, I struggled to even get to that point.

A book I read all the way through (and then regretted reading once I got to the end) was Under The Dome by Stephen King.  The premise was awesome.  A town in MA gets surrounded by an invisible, impenetrable bubble.  This was one massive tome, and I loved every bit of the story...until I reached the end.  The bubble was put into place by the equivalent of technologically superior alien children who wanted to watch how the humans reacted, much like shaking an ant farm.  So how did the characters get the aliens to remove the barrier (moments before everyone died, no less)?  The used the magic word (aka please).  Really?  It was so implausible and stupid that I actually hate the fact that I wasted my time reading the damn thing.  And I REALLY like King.  Not on that day, however.

So there ya go, Shaun.  There's a couple examples of books I either put down or regretted picking up in the first place.  How about the rest of you?  Have you ever put down a book, for whatever reason?

Raising My Head To Look Around

Two days after my last post, we had a hard drive fill up on one of our email servers.  Although it was preventable through the careful use of mailbox limits, appropriate mail server usage, and limits on attachment sizes, our wonderful executive management doesn't believe in such silly notions.

Needless to say, after working 75 hours over the last two weeks, I can finally raise my head and say the crisis is over.  Yep, that's the life of an email administrator.  At one point I struggled my way through 32 hours straight, not even sure if we would ever fix things.

Where does that leave me?   Well, there's a few things we still have to clean up tomorrow morning, but now I get to catch up on all the rest of the work that piled up while I was firefighting.  As they say, that's why I get paid the big bucks.  Or something like that.

Anyway, I hope everyone's weekend is better than mine have been of late.  Oh, and I'm LOVING the book, Elana.  Possession is an awesome read.  What cracks me up though is how clearly I hear your voice telling the tale.  Since you're such a crack up anyway.

See ya'll next week.

Stephen King And Vampire Pirates

Did that title catch your attention? In case you haven't heard, evidently Stephen King has been working on a sequel to The Shining. He's taking the little boy and telling the tale of where this guy is at age 40. And for some reason, he's decided the story includes vampire pirates who live together in a group called The Tribe, led by a woman named Rose The Hat. I'm not making this stuff up people.

Y'know, I'm one of the biggest fans of Stephen King's work. I've read just about everything he's ever put out (including all the Richard Bachman tales). One thing I noticed with his novel Under The Dome however, is that King seems to be tired of writing. The completely implausible ending to that book left me with that impression, that he'd written a long story and got tired of writing it so he just ended things. It was really a tragedy, considering how well developed the story was up to that point.

News like this continues to support the idea that King is bored. He's just throwing out whatever will stick to the wall at this point, knowing that so many people will buy it because that's what we do with Stephen King's works. That might sound terrible perhaps (especially considering that he's the multi-million bestselling author and I'm unpublished LOL), but it's because I'm trying to wrap my head around why a guy that has given us The Stand would ruin what is arguably one of his best books with a vampire pirate-filled sequel.

Am I being overly critical here? Or am I misreading this as some profound joke King is playing on us all?

Blog Chain - Do I Dare Continue?

We're back for another round of the blog chain and today's question is brought to you by the letter S...er...okay, by that ever-amazing Shaun Hutchinson, who asks:

What are three books you would tell people that they need to keep reading even if they aren't immediately sucked in by the first page?

This has been truly difficult for me to answer.  I mean I really agonized over coming up with an answer.  The biggest reason is because I am the least patient (and probably pickiest) reader on the planet.  If the blurb on the back cover or the excerpt I find online doesn't draw me in immediately, I'm not likely to give it a try.  And if I read through the first few pages and get bored, I'm probably not going to keep reading.  Yeah, I have no problem whatsoever with tossing a book to the side (which is probably why I'm so picky about picking it up in the first place).  So trying to remember three books that I actually did keep reading (even though every fiber of my gut was yelling "Abandon Ship") and found to be enjoyable later on in the story has been incredibly hard.

The first book I came up with is one I believe I've talked about before - Russka by Edward Rutherford.  I absolutely love this book and have ever since I first read it.  I did not however, love it immediately.  See, my parents handed me a copy while I was home on leave and I cringed.  I had really never been a fan of historical fiction (or even non-fiction for that matter) and yet they were so eager for me to read it that I relented.  I agonized through the first few chapters, not really getting into it but going through the motions nonetheless.  Then somehow it just clicked.  And I raced to the end with a grin.  Oh, and it is because of this book that I now enjoy most historical fiction.

Following on the coattails of that is Hawaii by James Michener.  Okay, I can hear everyone getting ready to throw things at me.  Yes, the guy was a great (awesome stupendous incredible) writer.  But Hawaii was the first time I became exposed to him (once again thanks to my parents) and the sheer level of detail he poured into the book put even Tolkien to shame.  It bored me to tears.  Once again however, I trudged through and in the end found myself loving the book.

My last choice is kind of a cheat, considering Michelle H. beat me to it but my reasons are different than hers.  The book is none other than The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien.  I had already read The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, so I was prepared for Sir Tolkien's avalanche of description (nor did I realize The Silmarillion was a prequel story).  What I struggled with in this particular tome was the concepts he was trying to introduce us to.  I read and re-read and re-re-read passage after passage in this book.  I honestly can't say at what point I began enjoying it either.  I just know that by the end I was loving it and truly appreciating all the work he had put into building his world.

Beyond these three, I can't really think of too many books I've suffered through. The list of books I've put down due to boredom however, would undoubtedly be longer.  If you didn't have a chance to read what Michelle H. had to say, head on over there.  And tomorrow you can look forward to Michelle Mclean's answer.

What books have you almost put down that eventually redeemed themselves?

Oops, I Did It Again

No, you don't have to watch a bad Britney Spears video.  But in case you're wondering why I've been absent so long, it's because I did what ever respectable IT guy does to their own laptop - I hosed it up so good that it wouldn't boot up.

I've been meaning to put Linux on my laptop for some time now since so many of the security tools I use in school rely on that operating system.  Unfortunately, when I had initially installed Windows 7, I used up all the hard drive space which left no room available for Linux.  No problem.  I attempted to shrink the partition that Windows 7 was installed on, which normally would work.  Unfortunately I shrunk the partition too much and bada boom bada bing - No Bootable Windows 7 laptop.

Many troubleshooting hours/days later, I decided to just start from scratch.  Luckily, none of my data is ever saved on my laptop (that's what I have a server for), so I didn't lose anything.  Many more hours/days later, I'm finally back up and running with a newly installed dual-boot Linux/Windows 7 laptop and learning all I can about Linux.  It's like being a newbie all over again.  I do have to admit I like the Linux operating system more than I thought I would.  It's definitely different, but useful nonetheless.

Now if I can just learn how to work it without totally screwing it all up again  :)

Being True To Oneself - Imperative

My oldest son is taking a creative writing class during his last year in high school and the teacher gave them an interesting assignment.  They were instructed to write a small snippet. a poem, or something similar that described who they are inside.  Sort of opening the window into their mind, letting their peers have a peek.  My son is more reclusive than most and he also has quite different interests than a lot of kids, so he decided he would just borrow lyrics from a song or something like that (which the teacher did allow, of course).  When I found out however, I put down my foot and made him write something of his own.

You see, he is really interested in dark, grim visuals and imagery.  He likes zombies, blood and guts, and all the things that make up great B horror movies.  He's all about the Grim Reaper, and don't let him see anything with skulls on it unless you're prepared to buy it.  He worries all the time that his thoughts are too dark, too weird for most people to accept.  He isn't into really hurting people of course (trust me, we had that conversation.  I had to make sure he wasn't into self-mutilation or something similar), but he does like some pretty dark things.

He tried to tell me that he's Goth.  This began a conversation on the evils of labeling and how none of us are single faceted like that.  What I ended up telling him is that there's no sense pretending to be something other than who he is.  We've had a number of conversations about embracing who he wants to be and being okay with whatever that is.

These continued conversations intrigue me because it's neat to observe my son discover who he is and where he fits in with the rest of the world.  I'm doing my best to guide him, but a part of me knows he has to figure this all out on his own.  Since I didn't have this kind of relationship with my own Dad, I'm ecstatic that I have managed to do a little better in this regard.  The other thing I notice is that observing both my boys makes me re-evaluate myself from time to time.  If I'm expecting them to know and accept themselves, I have to be prepared to do that myself.

Know Thyself.  Great advice.

On the writing front, I have good news and bad news.  The good news is that I was lucky enough to win a copy of the talented Michelle Davidson Argyle's new book Monarch.  That is so awesome.  Having read her self-published title Cinders, I am really looking forward to this book as well.  Thank you Michelle.  I am so looking forward to receiving my copy.

As far as bad news, I am truly sad to say that tragedy has struck my copy of Elana Johnson's book Possession.  It wasn't my fault though (okay, not completely anyway LOL).  I left the book on my desk at work so I could read during my lunch.  I have a small fridge on my desk that works by cooling the interior 30 degrees below ambient temperature.  I've moved to a new office and unfortunately the ambient temperature at night (in that office anyway) must drop really low because the three Diet Cokes I had inside froze and exploded.  When I walked in the next morning, there was Diet Coke all over the desk.  Yes, it was all over half the pages of Possession too.  And though the pages are still legible of course, it's just not the same.  I will have to purchase a new copy because the one I have right now just breaks my heart.  It hasn't stopped me from reading it of course, but still.  

My most humble apologies, Elana.  I should have treated your book with more reverence.

Blog Chain - Fury Of The Storm

It's time for another edition of the Blog Chain.  Today's prompt is brought to us by the inspiring Christine, who has switched things up a bit.  Knowing how much we enjoy being creative (hopefully this is true of all writers), she asks that we write a snippet based on the following:

Since we are all writer's, I thought it was about time for us to stretch our creative muscles and do a little writing. So, take the following topic and go crazy! Show us what you've got. Your story can be as long or as short as you choice. 

The topic: A dark and stormy night


Here goes my take on this fun prompt, so I hope you enjoy it.


Only banshees rode the wind on a night like this.  Everyone else knew to stay indoors, praying to ancient deities for salvation that would not come.  It had been a year or more since Garoth's last visit.  A year of restlessness and observation as they moved about, scratching and scraping the soil for any sustenance.  The warmth he once felt for these creatures died the same day he did.  He no longer lived among the population, instead burdened with caring for them from above.   Garoth hadn't known when he'd agreed however, that the burden would include an occasional murder.

Lightning exploded from the cloud beneath him, and Garoth glided down the jagged bolt with one hand.  He kept the charge alive, reveling in the struggle of controlled electricity against his sooty palm.  The power was heady, a bonus he enjoyed along with god-like immortality.  As long as he didn't make a mistake, that is.  Even gods could be toppled from their thrones, a fact his predecessor had forgotten.

Long moments later Garoth stood on the ground, his heavy boots sinking into the muddy square.  Releasing his grip, Garoth absorbed the lightning with a gesture.  Tendrils danced across his fingertips for a second before disappearing entirely.  The dark blanket of night fell across the land once more, interrupted here and there by half-hooded lamps at each doorstep.  The flames struggled against his wind, but Garoth decided not to snuff them.  Let them believe light would save them.  Only one would suffer tonight.

Pulling in the damp air through beastly nostrils, Garoth detected a nearby quarry.   The unfortunate soul cowered behind a patchwork door in an abandoned barn, unaware how little time was left them.  Focusing the energy within him, Garoth sent a bolt from one raised palm.  The door exploded, the concussion sending the small pale form flying against the back wall.  With a few quick strides, Garoth grabbed the unconscious child by the throat and held her up.  Long blonde hair cascaded across his arm, clashing with Garoth's blackened flesh.  The image gave him pause, something stirring inside as he considered.  Why did it have to be child?

"Still bothered by conscience, Garoth?  You should have remained among them.  Killing you that way would have been quick and painless."

Garoth didn't turn.  "I'll be with you in a moment, Kevor."  His nails bit into the pale flesh, his grip crushing the windpipe without effort.  Energy infused him as he murmured a few words, completing the ritual.  Distaste warred with glee as he turned to face his nemesis, hopefully for the last time.




That's my take on things.  If you haven't read it yet, you need to visit Michelle H. to see her awesome entry.  Tomorrow you can look forward to something just as extraordinary from one of our new blog chain members, PK.

Fri...er...Thursday Fun

Since this is my Friday (it's a furlough day - thanks a lot, you idiots that couldn't balance the budget properly), I figure I might as well provide everyone with a laugh or two.  The following Weird Al Yankovic video should tickle just about everyone's funny bone - especially all of us that check email throughout the day, only to sigh at the mountain of spam that gets forwarded to us.  Anyway, this is off Al's latest album Alpocalypse.  Oh, and did I mention I'm going to see him in concert on the 20th with my kids?  Woohoo!

Enjoy