Category Archives: Personal

Tuesday Roundup – New Interview!!

Happy Tuesday!
How is it going!
 Watched a fascinating video on the Apollo Mission computer they took on it and the problems they had during Apollo 11’s historic landing on the moon!
Writing on Sands of Loss is kicking some butt. That break I took to work on some ghost writing seemed to knock me out of my funk. Of course, I forgot all about Nettles, the thorny cat pet of Vounee, so need to slip her into the previous eleven chapters…
Whoops. Sorry for forgetting about you!
Enjoying how the rewrites on Shattered Soul is going. Great stuff.
  • ManyBooks has interviewed me about my Jewels of Illumination Box Set! Want to learn more about me and the Jewels of Illumination series, check it out! And click here to check out ManyBooks’s promos!
  • Check out this great review on my latest collaboration with Michael Evan, The Adventures of Max and the Captain! EG Stone wrote a great review! Check it out!
  • Episode 82 of my Authors in Focus Podcast! Today, I chatted with romance author Dana Littlejohn! Listen to it now!
  • I have finished the next reread of The Judging Eye, just doing some proofreading of it. Should be up in a few days.

D&D Saturday!

Hello!

Off to play D&D here in a half-hour! Me and the boys are in jail. Turns out, burning down half the town is a bad idea.

Release of Jewels of Illumination Box Set has been doing great. Thanks to all who bought or borrowed it!

I finished editing on Fractured Soul and now Poppy has her hands on it to clean up all my dumb mistakes. I’m looking forward to her comments questioning why I wrote that nonsensical sentence, and I won’t have a good answer for her.

Also got back to Sands of Loss. For once, I didn’t feel like it was terrible.

So what are you doing?

It’s Friday!

Happy Friday!

Woot! Woot!

I am hoping to finish the editing draft for Fractured Soul (Assassins of Illumination Book 1) today! Just a few more chapters!

Even more exciting, tonight at 9 PM EST I’ll be hosting a talk on Worldbuilding. My take on it. Why it’s important, where to start, and how to think about building your world! I hope you’ll join me at 9 PM EST in the Fantasy/SciFocus Group!

 What are you getting up to?

  • I have finished writing my reread of the next chapter of The Judging Eye, just need to get the time to edit it. Been busy this week.
  • Covers for Assassins of Illumination are complete! Stay tune for cover reveal!
  • Look at this supernal fellow! Who? What? When? Let’s caption!

It’s Thursday and Episode 81 of Authors in Focus Podcast!

It’s Friday Eve!

Woot!

I mailed off my taxes for the year! Boo!

Writing those checks hurt, but at least I don’t have to remember to pay them over the year!

I am 75% done with Fractured Soul’s editing draft. I should be done by tomorrow and will send it off to Poppy Kuroki by Sunday. Yay!

What are you getting up to?

  • My Author in Focus Podcast Episode 81 is out! I had a great chat with bestselling fantasy author Nicholas Eames! Give it a listen here!
  • Check out my post on how to start your worldbuilding!
  • Look at this pic. I saw it and just thought, “There’s going to be some awesome captions!”

Monday Update and $5 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!

Monday has come again… Sigh!
 
But that’s fine. It’s a new month. March. Winter’s end is in sight. The sun is up so much earlier!
 
Always busy on the first of the month. Haven’t had a chance to write on Sands of Loss, but hoping to get to it next. I have an interview to record with Tom Lloyd. It’ll be fun.
 
Congrats to Emily Wiebe! She won last weeks $5 Amazon Gift Card.
 
Michael Evan is getting ARCs ready for Max and the Captain today, so stand by!
 
If you want an ARC of Mask of Guilt coming out on May 12, let me know.
 
What are you getting up to today?
  • Want to win this week’s $5 Amazon Gift Card, comment blow on what your favorite Fantasy Couple is! Mine is Liam and Karan from The View from the Glass Quarter by Ian Irvine!
  • Let’s caption! Who is this big boy? A corrupted knight? A demon marauder? Best Halloween costume?

Happy Friday!

Friday is upon us!
WOOT! WOOT!
Writing felt off today. It might have to be that I’m cutting back on how much food I’m eating. I need to lose weight and, frankly, that means eating less. So my body is not happy.
So hungry…
But I’ve done this once. If I can just get over the hump and adapt, it’ll work! So fingers crossed!
At 9 PM in the Fantasy/Sci FI Focus Blog I’ll be doing a live read from my novella Time’s Prison! I hope you’ll check it out!
How’s your day going!
  • Check out my interview from Adam Gaffen!
  • Who’s this bad mother fer? Let’s caption!

It’s Thursday! Captain and the Max is Finished!

Hello! It’s Thursday!

Great day today.

I finished off Max and the Captain, so Michael is going to get that edited up. Stay tuned for ARC copies and it’ll also be an Audiobook!

Going to get more writing on Sands of Loss today. I’m so excited for this book. Got a new character in the group, leading to some great stuff!

What are you up to today?

  • Author in Focus Podcast: Episode # is out of my podcast. Today I chatted with ! You have to check it out!
  • Great Music: The 8 Bit Band is something I’ve been grooving to. They do big band covers of video game music! Check it out!
  • Today’s quote: “The writer must wade into life as into the sea, but only up to the navel.” –Gustave Flaubert
  • Look at this pic! Evocative, isn’t it! Let’s caption!

It’s Humpday!

Good day! Happy Wednesday!

We made it to the middle of the week!

I’m almost done writing the ending of Max and the Captain! Will get that done tomorrow! I wrote some real surreal stuff (and, boy, is real surreal not terrible writing)?

How is your day going? Great? Awesome? Blegh?

The other week, I was reading a Japanese Light Novel called Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me Into a Top-Tier Party! That is a mouthful of a name,  I know. It’s a weird trend in Japanese fiction. Anyways, most light novels are fluff. Power fantasy, strange ideas, comedies. If you watched Anime, a lot of them are based off light novels.

Anyways, this one wasn’t fluff. On the surface, sure. It has many of the hallmarks of those. The comedy. The fan service. But it also has a really great message.

In this world, people are born with 3 skill slots. This is what is called gamelit. The world works like it’s a video game though to the people in it, this is just how the world works. Everyone gets this skill slots and around 16. Some skills are rare than others and some take up more than 1 slot. They can make you an amazing swordsmen, an awesome mage, or the best carpenter around. They determine what you’ll be good at. Where you should focus your abilities.

But some are not seen as useful.

Our main character gets Mapping. It’s an Ultra-rare ability that takes up all three of his slots. All it does is let him have a map in his head in a 1 kilometer ring. He remembers the maps of every place he’s been. It’s not even the only skill like this. There are two others that are similar, one is even more useful, and they don’t take up all three skill slots.

Our main character dream of going on an adventure with the his childhood friend are dashed. How can he keep up with her when she got three god-tier abilities that have made her into the one of the best adventurers around.

He believes he has been dealt a flaw. That it’s worthless. And that is his mindsight. Six months later, his best friend can’t handle his negativity, his unwillingness to try. She tried to make it work, but he didn’t.

He fulfilled his own prophecy.

He falls into depression. Drink. He’s worthless. So he acts it. Then one day, a member of one of the best adventuring parties in the world shows up and says they need him.

That he has seen his ability the wrong way. His Mapping skill is what they need to conquer a dungeon. A feat no other group has managed.

With a change of his mindset, our main character takes what he saw as a negative into a positive. He changed how he viewed it. No longer a victim of circumstance, he is making his own fate. It transforms him. He won’t be a powerful fighter, a grand mage, or an inspiring priest, but that doesn’t mean he has no value.

It’s a beautiful idea, isn’t it? We make our own luck. Our own fate. We fulfill our own prophecies. Believe you’ll fail. You will.

  • Quote of the day: “If the writer were more like a reader, he’d be a reader, not a writer. It’s as uncomplicated as that.” –Julian Barnes
  • Here’s a great article on building an audience as a writer!
  • Never too late to enter in the weekly $5 Amazon Gift Card! Click here to enter! No purchase necessary!
  • Let’s caption an awesome pic!

Tuesday Round Up! Podcasts and More!

Good Tuesday to you all!

I’ve started writing the second half of Max and the Captain, the series of books I’m cowriting with Michael Evan! It’s been an interesting experience.

I’m chipping away at Sands of Loss (Shadow of the Dragons Book 4). I’m into Chapter 3. Getting about 3000 words a day. It’s going to be amazing!

What awesome things are you up to?

  • Episode 78 of my Authors in Focus Podcast is out! Check out my conversation with Holly Bargo! You have to give this a listen!
  • I’m nearly done with the next chapter of The Judging Eye Reread. Everyone is running in terror from the Wight-in-the-Mountain!
  • Want to win a $5 Amazon Gift Card, click here!
  • Let’s play a fun game! What is your fantasy villain title! I’m The Red Prince of the Seas!