Writer Ramblings: Inspiring Celebrities

Have you ever been truly inspired by anyone in your life? I have. I have several role models, some you might question as to why. I spent some time thinking about who really has influenced me in life the last few years. Well we all love lists, so here are four of my favorites and why. They are not all perfect people, some have been involved in domestic violence, some have said questionable things, but they all did something that inspired me to strive to be a better and stronger person.

King-Ali-Bradshaw-Dillon

#1 Stephen King: It's pretty obvious, since I consider him to be the best writer of the last 50 years, and not because he tells amazing and original stories, but because his stories are just the backdrop of the real story that he's writing. Stephen King doesn’t write horrors and thrillers, he writes about human nature and that no matter what is going on around us, we still act like stupid, greedy, selfish humans. There are lessons to be learned from our greed, desperation, loneliness, hate, love, fear, apathy, etc. When you read Stephen King you experience something terrifying and emotional. It’s like a real experience, even when it’s a possessed car that crushes people in the driver seat or a creepy fear eating clown hiding in the sewer, you experience the fear and anger just as King intended you to. He brings his nightmares to life like nobody else in the business. Now if only Hollywood could ever capture the true essence of his novels on the big screen. I can only dream that someday I can get close to what he has accomplished as a writer. Success aside, I want to write on that level in my own voice.

Writer Ramblings: What Fantasy Football Taught Me About Writing

Let me explain how I’ve learned a few things, after you’re done laughing at the concept of learning anything about writing from a game that completely revolves around numbers, watching grown men wrestle for a ball, and showboat like eight year olds after scoring a touchdown. I really have learned a few things. I didn’t post a weapons post last week because I’ve had my head buried in the new outline for Devil Dog and studying football players for the NFL, lots and lots and lots and lots of studying stats, history, updates on injuries, etc. This Friday I’ll have a weapons post up for sure.

So what does Fantasy Football have to do with writing? Something that I feel writers should take very seriously. RESEARCH. Success in fantasy football is not all luck. There is some luck, but in the leagues I play in, you can tell who is researching thorough enough. By researching everything you can and staying on top of all the latest developments, you give yourself an edge that allows you to open up the opportunity to win despite luck. The same goes for writing, even in fiction. If the writer researches to make the details he includes in the book to be accurate, then people who are familiar with whatever it is, will feel it’s authentic and respect the writer.

Still Kicking It (Life and Blog Update)

Me sitting on a gold nugget.

I’m still here, despite appearances, the blog is still alive. I’ve been focusing a lot on the co-writing gig “Welcome To My Imagination” lately. I’ve been drawing weapons for the posts already out there, but I’m really slow at art. I don’t mean to neglect the blog; it’s just been extra crazy. Even my day job has gone nuts. It’s work, what can I do? I’m stuck with it at least until I’m a New York bestseller, then maybe I can move on from working for someone besides my readers. The goal is to someday match my income and benefits with my writing before I resign from the day job, unless I retire first. Retirement is 16 years away, so I’m hoping I don’t have to wait that long.

I am working on a new Weapons and Warriors article. It’s a vicious weapon that was pretty common in Medieval Europe. I can’t wait to share that. Later on I’m going to do a post or two, maybe more, about the Sikhs of India. I’ve been talking with a person who is from India and at the moment I’m reading and watching videos to get a grasp of what the Sikh is about. I’m not sure if I’ll focus on weapons as much, but I am looking forward to writing about the culture. India has always fascinated me. Someday I will have to visit there.

Terminator: Back to the Fan Fiction

It’s been a year and still there is no real progress on this awesome Fan Fiction idea. I started plotting out a story to match the video and was eventually overwhelmed by the complexity of my story and then by other projects throughout the year.

This is still a project I really want to write up, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot. So I decided this year, I will set goals for it, like I am doing for all my other projects. I spent the second half of 2012 rewiring my writing brain to work more strategically and still retain my creativity. Most of that will probably rarely reflect in my blog posts, outside of the Weapons & Warriors posts,  because I usually just ramble a lot.

I skipped Nanowrimo (National November Writing Month) in 2012 because I was neck deep in edits for Devil Dog and Welcome to My Imagination, I still am. I spent a lot of 2012 in the editing phase because I was learning new techniques for writing to help me complete a book without having to rewrite it ten times. While I’m mastering these new techniques I am going to use them to set up a schedule to write out the Terminator vs. Back to the Future story.

Looking Back on 2012

The Chinese New Year is drawing to a close, and the time of the Water Dragons will soon be over on Feb 9^th. This year was the time for taking chances. The economy was struggling for many, but hording your money and trying to save isn’t going to put that back on track.

Took this pic from the boat, while passing an island of trees.

I went on that vacation out of the country, although our ship was rained out of the harbor in Canada, so I never set foot on foreign soil. I still got to see Alaska from the mountain tops and a glacier. It was beautiful and inspiring to see. Not even the pictures I took can really express the majestic beauty of those mountains coming right out of the water.

I began the work on starting that publishing company I always wanted and I’ve been helping writers as much as I can, but I never did file the paperwork to make it official. For two reasons, I was worried I’d have to pay some kind of tax after the year was up and I didn’t have anything prepared to publish to pay that tax. That, I’ll get into in a minute.

Netflix, Azeroth and Other Distractions

Well it has happened and just in time for Nanowrimo. The dreaded Writer’s Block has come to visit me. It seems that lately, if I’m actually trying to write anything new, my mind goes completely blank. I ask myself what’s wrong, but deep down I know the answer. I just have trouble accepting it.

Pic by Blizzard Entertainment

“Writer's Block: Situation when writer cannot write: an inability on the part of a writer to start a new piece of writing or continue an existing one” – Bing Dictionary

I don’t really have writer’s block in the sense that I can’t write because I’ve lost my creativity. I do have writer’s block because I’m blocking my own creativity. I’ve filled my head with distractions. Fantasy Football, Mists of Pandaria (the awesome new World of Warcraft expansion), and the worst of all… Netflix.

The title of this post was going to be Sex, Love and Other Drugs because I finally got around to seeing that movie. I absolutely loved it, but those things fuel my writing, unlike the stuff in the title I went with.

Writing Time

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

I have decided to take some time off from blogging. Not for an immense amount of time, but long enough to focus more on the editing for “Welcome To My Imagination” and “Devil Dog” sooner rather than next year. “Devil Dog” will need to go through another round of content editing before it goes to a copy-editor for proofreading. Since I’m scrapping the current ending and rewriting it, I want to make sure it gets as much attention as the rest of the novel.

I will be writing up another Weapons series, but for now, it has overwhelmed my writing time with research, writing and editing blogs. Once the books are done with their editing I will resume writing more weapons and warrior posts. I’ll organize it into sets so that I can continue writing more novels in between weapons series. I have about five different novel series I want to pursue, and I spend 75% of my writing time on this blog. Without sacrificing my time with children and work, there just isn’t much left to get those books done.

I hope everyone understands. It’s been 12 months since I began Weapons Weekly and I think it’s time to give it a short break. Hopefully the editing goes well and I’ll be back to weapons chat soon. This doesn’t mean this blog is dead until then. Since I’ll be editing, I’ll probably have a few random Writers Rambling posts popping up as I either learn new things or just feel inspired to speak up about something.

Thank you for following the blog, and I’ll see you soon!

Writers Ramblings: Reconstruction

Took this pic while sailing past Canada with my Sanyo. Your welcome.

You have probably noticed something missing from my blog today. Last night I went through the entire thing and pulled down all the pictures I had linked. I redid the “About TL Jeffcoat” page and put up new pictures that I have either made or paid for.

I happened to run across a blog post by Roni Loren yesterday that scared me. Not just a little bit either. I’m not a wealthy man, and I always thought I was safe, but after what happened to Roni, I realize some people aren’t satisfied with an apology. Although it seemed a little heartless over something that Roni had no idea she was doing illegally, the person who sued her was completely within their rights.

Many artists and photographers have expressed through Roni Loren’s blog comments that they are often more than willing to share if they are simply asked. All of that makes perfect sense. You don’t just take someone’s car to the store without asking first. I disagree with the hostility she met after she promptly complied with their demand to remove the picture, but I’m not going to rage about it. Getting mad and ranting about it wouldn’t make anything better for anyone and that’s not what my blog is about.

Weapons & Warriors: Update on Future Plans

For those of you looking for this week’s “Weapons Weekly” post, I just want to say thanks for the support and blog traffic. Weapons Weekly has really taken off since January and I am a little stunned and overwhelmed by the number of views the Weapons Weekly page itself has received. This week, however I am still researching 3 warrior cultures that I plan to post about over the next couple months. I don’t want to publish anything that is not fully explored or edited. I have had to correct a couple of my former posts because I found out after publishing that my research was not thorough enough. One I caught myself; another was pointed out to me. I find that embarrassing. I never claim to be an expert on anything, but I do have some pride. Research is vital.

INHALE Flash Mob

INHALE, an urban fantasy romance by Kendall Grey, is now available in paperback and e-book for Kindle (MOBI) and Nook (EPUB). INHALE is the first book in the JUST BREATHE trilogy. Kendall is donating all profits from the sale of the trilogy to programs that educate people about whales and the challenges they face. Watch the video to find out why.

Kendall encourages interested readers to consider purchasing an e-book instead of a paperback. E-books save trees, cost considerably less, and bring in much more money for the whales.

Thank you for supporting INHALE, and most importantly, the whales that need our help.

Book Recommendation: Inhale

I wanted to recommend a book that is coming out in a month. May 1st the first book in the Just Breathe trilogy will be released on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and other sources I'm guessing. I don't do a lot of book recommendations, and I keep wanting to do more, but I always end up researching weapons instead. But here is one today. Add it to your wishlists or whatever you have (To-Read List on Goodreads) and enjoy!

Inhale by Kendall Grey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I’m floored. I am not a big fan of romances but I am really getting into urban fantasies. This book was more than I expected it to be, and believe it or not, I had high expectations. That said, no book is for everyone, and Inhale was not my usual taste, but I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It flowed smoothly, was written very beautifully and it was obviously edited professionally. This book isn’t just a well put together novel by an Indie writer; it was well put together for a traditionally published novel. If you’ve read my reviews in the past, I don’t knock the rating down for editing, but I’ll always point it out. I had no complaints whatsoever with the editing in Inhale.

Weapons & Warriors Update

Things have been very sporadic in the early parts of the week lately and that has delayed my Monday blog two weeks in a row, so I'm going to officially announce the Weapons Weekly will now be posted every Wednesday instead.

This week I'll be returning to the Samurai. After a couple weeks of fulfilling requests for weapons I am looking into a warrior tribe in Africa where they wield some really crazy looking weapons. They have an unusual and spectacular method of executing enemies, that is flashy and bloody. Of course I will want to share that.

I have a special treat for the fantasy lovers this summer. I am planning a special series of Weapons Weekly for mythical or fantasy weapons. I am still debating whether it should be run along with the standard Weapons Weekly or if I should run it in place of it. Plenty of time to decide. Either way, it will be fun, and I'll probably look for more obscure weapons in mythology. Some are too well known, such as Excalibur, so I might not be able to tell you anything you don't already know about that. I am definitely going to do a special on Mjölnir, otherwise known as Thor's Hammer. Everyone knows the hammer by now, but most people have no idea how it came about. It is truly a unique weapon.


Alright, that's all I have for the update. Have a great week everyone and I'll have that new Weapons Weekly up Wednesday morning. 

Book Recommendation: Shift

I absolutely love this series and I'm very excited that Matt Merrick takes himself seriously as a writer. After publishing Exiled and then seeing the critiques about a couple of typos, he gave Shift double the attention. Replacing his original editor and then adding a second copy editor, along with an army of beta readers, Merrick has outdone himself. Not only is the writing improved but the advanced editing is obvious and has made Shift one of the few books I would place out there as a must read for anyone who loves action and adventure fantasies. Here is my review for Goodreads, that will soon be on Amazon. Happy reading everyone. I'll be back Monday with a new weapons weekly about the Aztec culture. Have a great weekend.

Shift by M.R. Merrick

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


If you loved Exiled, you'll absolutely love Shift. This sequel to the action packed adventure Exiled takes you on another journey through dimensions and battling demons. Chase and company try to not only save the universe, but find out the truth about themselves. Merrick's writing has improved a great deal since Exiled, it's phenomenal actually. Not only has he improved his editing by far, and Exiled wasn't that badly done, but his ability to make the characters even more real has grown. The self searching and character development in this story was very well done. As expected, the story is stuffed cover to cover with adventure, drama, action, a little romance and comedy tossed in to leave no dull moments anywhere. I can't wait for the next in the series. As all serial endings, it leaves it open for another face off another day, but at the same time closes the chapter on the events of the plot. I loved this book. Someday someone in Hollywood needs to see this series, it would make awesome action movies.



View all my reviews

Write to the Death!

Some of you may know already, but for those who have not heard, my computer was attacked yesterday by a virus. It was a nasty one, real nasty, like the little growly ankle biter dog that gets your calf as soon as you laugh at its diminutive size and turn your back on it. The kind you want to take a shower after dealing with. Or stab yourself in the face for not backing up your work more frequently. Ok, so I don’t really want to stab myself in the face, not only would that hurt, but it would make it difficult to write with my brain pain split open. Don’t worry, my calf will heal, I have thick skin.

Long story short, I spent hours battling the virus to save all of my work, which included the Weapons Weekly blogs I had written for the next few weeks. So this week, I will be very late, if I post a Weapons Weekly at all. I did not win the battle and in the end, I killed the virus, but he took every one of my documents with him. All of the blogs will have to be rewritten and researched.

If not for having two flash drives that I stored a few things on previously, it would have been a total loss. The last thing I want to do is go back to square one on writing Devil Dog. It was 348 pages before today. The backed up copy is only 311, but that not too bad. I’ll have that fixed in no time. The biggest loss was losing all of my work on Devil Dog 2 and mostly everything on the Warlord.

Writer Ramblings: I Love Haterz

Hate is a strong word, but it has become extremely common and sociably acceptable on the internet today. You can argue that it’s not, but you’ve seen them and their little following. I’m not talking about the internet bully or the trolls. I’m talking about the guy who never has anything good to say. He reviews books or whatever and he really breaks them down and tells everyone who will listen how much he hates your work and will never read your books again.

                       

Ouch a little.

I love that guy. I am not that guy, I can’t relate to that guy. I’ve given tough reviews and most of my toughest were on traditionally published authors, but that is because I expect a lot more from them. I pay a hell of lot more of those books. I am a tightwad. I’m so cheap I squeak when I walk. It’s true; I can’t sneak up on anyone. If it’s not a bargain, I don’t want it anyway. I actually have bought books by an author after not liking his first. I wanted to see if he improved, or maybe the first story just wasn’t my thing and I saw some potential.

Fan-Fiction Terminator vs Back to the Future

The time is drawing near. I’m still fixing some plot holes and organizing the story, but the “Terminator vs. Back to the Future” fan-fiction project is getting closer to being written. I’m going to aim for starting the first chapter this summer, so it’s still a ways out. The video that was done up by How It Should Have Ended Team is pretty much what the story is about. John Connor wants to kill Doc Emmit Brown so that the machines can never uncover and use his time traveling technology. I’ll go into more detail on the basic storyline at the end of this post.

Weapons & Warriors: The Bushidō of the Samurai

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

Way of the Warrior Knight. That is what Bushidō means. It is the code that a Samurai lived by, and if he was honorable, he died by it as well. Some could say it was a form of chivalry, and there are quite a few similarities. Like the Knights of Europe, the Samurai were extensions of the government, nobles in their own right, allowed to deal justice when necessary and known to command troops when capable. Unlike the Knight of Europe, where title and victory in battle were often sought after, the Samurai balanced his violent lifestyle with wisdom and extreme discipline. Riches and status were not his goal.

Bushidō requires that all Samurai must be loyal to the death to whoever they serve. They must remain honorable even when they are about to die. Don’t bother interrogating a Samurai because he would rather die a horrible painful death than dishonor himself. They were trained at birth to be loyal, deadly and practical. They would shed their own blood if they dishonored themselves.

 
Surprisingly, there was no written or spoken code for Bushidō. It was more of a creation of beliefs that evolved over generations of military families. As the child was born, he was destined to be Samurai, and started training as soon as he could walk and understand his lessons. After centuries of families training children in this manner, there was never a need to create a written reference to what the code actually was, it was just naturally accepted and known. It wasn’t until later when historians tried to search out its roots that Bushidō was even named.

The Year of the Water Dragon!

2012 is marked the year of the Water Dragon according to the Chinese Zodiac calendar. Are you ready for it? I know I am. This is the year for the free spirits to prosper and shine. The dragon is wise and a sign of good luck so 2012 should be a great year to take a chance and do something to improve your life. Whatever that may be, whether it’s starting a new business or career, or taking that vacation you’ve always wanted, this will be the year to do it. The New Year begins on January 23^rd and ends on February 9^th in 2013. That is how awesome the Year of the Dragon it, it’s almost 13 months!

Funny thing for me is, before I even realized this was the Year of the Dragon I had already set into motion the process to start a new publishing company to assist technologically challenged Indie writers get published and publish myself through the same company. I also have a vacation planned this summer in which I will leave the USA for the first time in my life.

Writer Ramblings: The Heart Knows Your Muse

The heart is a finicky thing. It’s strong and at the same time fragile. It works all day pumping blood but a few words from someone you're close to can make it feel like it wants to stop. It may even feel like it’s bleeding or broken, and yet, it continues on until that day comes where it finally does give out or the brain stops telling it to keep going.

I was a sophomore in high school. I had written several things, a short sci-fi and started a fantasy adventure. I had written a couple poems, but I hated them. I hated all of it. I loved writing but I despised what I wrote. It was raw, untrained and hard to read, probably something like this blog. Anyway, I had spoken to this girl in one of my geometry classes several times. She was smart, had a unique style that made her stand out in the crowd, and she was beautiful. The beauty thing intimidated me greatly. I didn’t know what I felt when she was around, but one day I realized I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Welcome To My Imagination (Cover Re-Reveal)

Illustration by Steven D Jones

Just a quick recoloring of the wording. Threw in a little light on the lettering so it doesn't blend into the rest of the darkness too much, but still looks bloody. Increased the size of my name as well so it didn't just look like crimson scribble. It's no longer a crimson I don't think, but that was probably too dark of a red for the darkness of the rest of the cover. This stands out a bit more I think.

Ok, back to revisions for this book, have a great weekend everyone! Don't hesitate to let me know if you see anything that could still use improving.