Mortal Kombat's Kitana Drawing.

Today I’m just popping in for a short progress report. I have been squeezing in a few minutes here and there to draw a few lines, or erase and draw them differently. I tried modeling the picture after the picture I had originally posted for the Tessen, but my skills are lacking in a great way in comparison. I think I have all my lines drawn now, so looks like all I have left is some coloring and then I will attempt to do some shading to give it a more three dimensional look.

Once I finish this picture, I am pretty sure I'll be able to crank out a bunch of weapons pictures a lot faster. I'm really getting a hang of the software and this is so much better than my free hand drawings. I will have to go back and replace some of those ugly free hand pictures someday. Like the Hwacha. That is a horrible drawing that mixed my initial freehand sketch with some digital editing. I had no idea what I was doing with this software at that time and I know I can make that picture a hundred times better. I'm very excited that I am developing a new skill alongside my writing. I can't wait to start sketching my characters one of these days.
 
I posted my progress so far down below. It's not perfect, but it's a huge improvement over my last attempt at drawing people. I'll have to go back and tinker with the Terminator: Back to the Future Cover after I'm done with this.

Dare to Dream

Some people don’t dream. They believe that a dream is something unattainable. If you dream you will get your hopes up and life will just let you down. Why would you want to chase after something that will always be just out of your reach? Life is not a dream. It’s dirty and it’s hard. There is no place in the world for dreams. I've heard all these before.

It’s hard for me to understand that way of thinking. I dream, I dream big. I don’t mean I dream that someday I’ll publish a book that I can show to my friends and family and say "I finally did it." No. That’s not a dream, that’s just too easy these days. Anyone could publish a book with just the click of a button, even terribly written ones. My dream is that one day, after I have about 40 books published, people will know who I am like they do King, Rowling or Rice. If you’re a reader, you know these names as well as their faces gracing the back inside cover of their books. I want that. To be known as a writer without being asked.

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.

New Year, But Same Old Resolutions

Courtesy of WANA Commons (via Cole Vassiliou)

Welcome to 2013! We have survived the zombie and alien apocalypse for yet another year and the Mayans calendar ending really turned out to be nothing other than them running out of paper. The year of the dragon is almost over. Everyone is thinking up their New Year Resolutions except me. I’m pretty much sticking the goals I had last year. Finish a book or two, publish them, exercise more, eat less, and get back on track with the Weapons Weekly (which I’m renaming Weapons and Warriors). Since nobody ever succeeds with resolutions, including me, I’m just going to call them goals and keep trucking along.

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.

Hey You! I'm Still Here, Don't Give Up On Me Yet

Pic by Cellar Door Films via Flickr: WANA Commons

It’s been too long since I’ve posted a blog. I just wanted to let everyone know, I’m still alive. I’ve been writing/editing, and I didn’t want to bore everyone with the little details of my editing adventures every week. You can’t really call them adventures, more like exercises and self-discovery. I’ve been learning a lot more about writing than I ever knew. I’ve learned more the last 6 months editing than I ever did the 20+ years I wrote and rewrote stories without ever really taking it serious. I have a point, but if you have read this blog, you know I like to ramble randomly sometimes. It’s how my mind works, just random thoughts firing every direction. See, I keep getting off the subject.

*Spanks brain for misbehaving.

Now, back to what I was trying to talk about. I’m still alive. I’ve been a little out of touch lately, and I apologize for that. I’m thinking of starting up the Weapons Weekly in January 2013. By then I should have some more artwork to work with, too. I am hoping to be done with Devil Dog as well by then.

For those of you waiting on Devil Dog, it’s still in the editing phase. I’ve been reorganizing the finale to be more adrenaline pumping than before and I’ve started reworking the beginning under the advice of Kristen Lamb’s blogs on structure. Here they are if you don’t know what I mean by structure.

Anatomy of a Best-Selling Novel—Structure Part One

StructurePart 2–Plot Problems–Falcor the Luck Dragon & the Purple Tornado

StructurePart 3—Introducing the Opposition

StructurePart 4–Testing Your Idea–Is it Strong Enough to Make an Interesting Novel?

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!

100th Blog Post! & Lucky 7 Challenge

I’ve been challenged by Lani Wendt Young to reveal a little about myself and a little about Devil Dog. Something called the Lucky 7 MEME, and since I’m not one to pass a chance to write about myself I accepted.

The rules as I understand it are:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS.

2. Go to line 7.

3. Copy down the next 7 lines (sentences or paragraphs) and post them as they're written.

4. Tag 7 writers and let them know.

Now for the excerpt of Devil Dog on page 77. Unfortunately it's not one of my favorite scenes or one of the most exciting, but it is a turning point in the novel where the reader realizes how the main character is about to have his whole world crash around him.

            Colonel Ramos stops walking and turns towards the pesky woman and her cameraman. He says nothing so the reporter continues on, “The Iranians are claiming he crossed their border with a squad of marines and attacked a military outpost. Destroying two attack choppers and killing close to three dozen men, some were reported as civilians. What do you say in response to that?”

            He starts to turn away again, then pauses and replies, “I believe the President is the man you want to talk to about international relations, even greatly exaggerated stories like that one. Like I said before, his mission was classified, and I will handle it as the investigation unfolds. Good day, Miss?” He waits for her to introduce herself, but she hands the microphone to the cameraman and marches back to her van without so much as a smile.

Now for the questions about me…

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.

Writer Ramblings: Why Should I Not Publish Traditionally?

I don’t believe I’m the next Stephen King, that’s every writers dream, but few of us can grasp the depth and complexity of Stephen King's abilities to ever compare ourselves to him and not feel ashamed. He’s a prodigy. What makes him even more awesome is that he knows this, but does not flaunt it, although he has no problems at all speaking his mind. Most often in the context of writing and writers, he’s absolutely right (Sorry Twihards).

This is not a King worshipping post. I do have a real point here. What is it? Ok, My point is, I am not Stephen King, I just aspire to be like him. I don’t want to be exactly like him. I am my own person with my own stories and none of them are like King’s stories. About the only thing I know my editor has said to me that King’s has probably said to him was, “Tone down the gore a little. Any more brain matter on a wall and it’s going to be too much to stomach.” Okay, maybe my descriptive voice was better than I had expected, in that someone would actually get sick reading about a bullet wound to the head. I got it, no problem. I aspire to make a living writing, just like Stephen King does. Writing stories and doing all the things that come with writing a book and publishing it.

Wrtier Ramblings: Nanawrimo!

Believe it or not, that title is not a typo.

I’ve gone and done it! I signed up for the Nanawrimo for 2011. I have no idea really what that all is other than a writing marathon, but I figure it’s a great excuse to knock out the first half of another book. Since I can’t start the writing for it till November, that rules out the horror I was going to work on, I’m still in research phase for the Back to the Future Terminator crossover fan fiction I’m planning and I’m already 12,000 words into the fantasy. So I don’t feel comfortable writing any of those for my Nanowrimo.

Lucky for me, I already have an outline set up for another project. I’ll be done with my polishing on Devil Dog pretty soon and it will be sent out to editors and beta readers this month. I’m very excited and nervous at the same time. My baby is growing up already.

So the big question is what am I going to write if I’m already going to be pretty deep into the co-written horror, the fantasy is already started and Devil Dog will be in the hands of strangers? The only real solution is Devil Dog 2! Why not, the outline is written and I have concepts and plots designed for a full seven book series. I might as well start getting the sequel drafted.

50,000 words in a month! I am very excited to attempt this and somehow my wife is ok with it. So here I come. Bring it on November because I will write you down.

Writer Ramblings: Limitless

Limitless

This movie is about a pill that opens your mind to limitless possibilities. Can you imagine the ability to see the patterns of the things around us that normally we all see as nothing but chaos? With the ability to see every pattern in every aspect of life, you could literally predict the future.

Well, yes and no. The movie takes it to a whole new level, but in reality, we can all achieve this on our own. The only limits in life are what we set for ourselves. Obviously there are still some kinds of limits. Someone paralyzed from the waist down won’t ever be able to run a marathon right? Maybe they can’t, but if they really want to, they can find a way to roll in one. No dream is unachievable, except immortality. That is even questionable depending on what you believe immortality would require. Me? Two things make me believe in immortality. The afterlife, because I believe there is one, and my writing. Long after I’m dead, someone will still be purchasing and buying my novels. Let’s hope that is still very far off though.

Weapons & Warriors: Spartan Phalanx, The War Machine

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

Part 2 of the double header finale for the Spartans. The conclusion to yesterdays post about the warrior culture that made the Spartan Phalanx the most elite hoplite formation in history.

If you read some of the previous posts on Sparta, you’ve already got a grasp on what a phalanx is. Simply put, it’s a rectangular formation of heavily armed infantry. They move as one and fight as one. The key item of the phalanx was the Aspis. This large round shield was large enough to protect a man fully if he crouched behind it. The trick to using it with a unit of men is by holding it slightly to their left so the wielder could see around the edge of the right and stab his Dory spear at anything that crossed his vision. Not only the Spartan holding the shield in the front was wielding a spear through the opening. The rows of soldiers behind the front row would stick their spears out as well, creating a layered porcupine effect. The shield would protect the entire left side of the Spartan and offer some protection to the right side of the Spartan on his left.This allowed the men in front to focus on killing what was directly in front of them, and the fewer angles you had to worry about, the more focused you could be on what was in your path.

This second row held their shield up overhead and angled to where it added a higher barrier to the one in the very front row to block arrows, spears or other projectiles from penetrating into the phalanx. Therefore protecting the men not involved in the combat yet. The rows behind these other rows would also hold their shields high, to protect themselves from any projectiles from above. Their shields were made so thick and solid, that no matter how many arrows an enemy could fire, the shield would never be rendered useless.

From a distance, the phalanx would appear as a bronze wall with many spears protruding from the front, either slowly marching toward the enemy or digging into a defensive position. They could literally wait all day when they were defending their place. For example, the Spartans at Thermopylae defended a narrow valley against a tremendous land army. It only took three hundred to defend the pass.

At that time, most nations bowed to Xerxes without even putting up a fight, in fear of being crushed by his massive army. It could possibly be the biggest army to ever be assembled in those times. Yet, despite their numbers, they still had inferior training, and relied more on their ability to overwhelm opponents facing them in open ground. When they came upon the single phalanx in the valley, they assumed they would just crush it with numbers. What a surprise it must have been to Xerxes when not only did they fail to crush it on the first push, but they were repelled. They continued to repel the Persians until scouts found a secret path through the mountains to allow them to flank the Spartans. The seven to eight hundred Greeks protecting the Spartans flanks never stood a chance, because they were not raised like Spartans. They were from places like Athens, and had come to help King Leonidas, but they were nothing but farmers and blacksmiths. None of them were soldiers.

Moving and fighting in unison is not easy, especially without radios or bullhorns to shout over all the screaming in mid combat. The Spartans spent time every day by lining up in their formation and practicing marching and fighting as a unit. Each was trained to fight the correct way no matter where they stood in their formation. This way, if someone fell in front of them, they could immediately close the gap and the phalanx would hold tight. Whenever an order was given by the commander of the phalanx, it was passed on by those around him so that all of the phalanx would know their plans. The video in yesterday’s post about Spartan Culture also shows great examples of the Spartan war machine in action.

The Dory was the main weapon used by the Spartans as the enemy stepped into range. The spear tips would spring out from the small gaps between shields with deadly accuracy and then retract as fast. The double tipped Dory was designed exactly for this purpose. When the tip was broken on one end of the Dory, the Spartan would flip it and use the bladed rear. If both ends were broken, the Spartan drew his Kopis. This meat cleaver usually meant more motion and closer enemies, but this is what the Spartan lived for. Even down to their swords, the Spartans would hold the phalanx and rarely break formation, hacking away their enemies from behind their impenetrable shields.

The secret to the Spartan’s phalanx that allowed this temporary victory against such impossible odds was more than the formation of the bronze wall. It was the Spartan culture, their military training from youth. The entire nation was built for war, and as the war raged on after the battle at Thermopylae was over, the Spartans took command of the united Greek nations to stand against the Persians and not only expel them once and for all, but then advanced into the Persian borders and claimed several key areas that made sure that the Persians would never return. They invaded their invaders. I bet Xerxes never expected a tiny blip on the map to ever do that to his vast empire.


Next week I will start an in-depth look at the ingenious and rare weapons of the Rajput.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Weapons and Warriors, click here to view the entire catalog of weapons and cultures. Thank you, see you next week.

Weapons & Warriors: The Kopis of Sparta

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

Some may remember this widely feared sword in the hands of Gerard Butler as he hacked legs and arms off Persians in slow motion. For those who haven’t seen the movie 300, if you love ancient warfare movies or artsy storytelling, you should check it out. It is bloody and full of mythically exaggerated Persians, but it's a very well done story, based on a true battle that altered the path of the world conquering Persians who were lead by the legendary Xerxes. If you have a weak stomach for blood, it's very bloody and violent.

The Kopis should have been more related to the axe than the sword. This was the scariest sword of ancient Greece. The blade is about three feet long and curves forward, making it perfect for thrusting around a shield. The end of the blade is wider than a normal sword and heavier by design. The added weight allows this sword to be used like an axe, efficiently hacking through bone with a single swipe. This blade was often used for cutting meat or slaughtering animals for sacrifices.

Unbreakable Dreams

For some reason the world is full of negativity. I will never understand why someone would try to push someone down a path that would make them miserable and then pretend to care that the person they pushed is now struggling and miserable. Like many writers, I have been tested repeatedly and in the past I gave in to those fears of “responsibility” and walked away from my dreams.

Over the years, I’ve grown stronger and realized my dreams are not irresponsible at all. I no longer care if my own friends laugh at me and doubt me. It’s not up to them, and people like that are not really my friends. Luckily for me, my wife is 100% supportive of my choices in life, and she’s never read more than a few pages of anything I’ve written. I’m not here to say I’m the next Stephen King or John Locke. What I am is me, and I’m a writer. I would rather write than do anything else.

Sometimes it seems as if everything is pushing at me again to walk away. What I don’t understand is why my friends would assume I was going to fail, and for some it feels as if they would prefer I do. I’ve never failed anything I’ve tried to do in my entire life. What failures I have had all came because I quit. Well, I’m not quitting this time. I will be published, I will become a bestseller and I will make this a career. It’s not just a dream anymore, it’s my goal. It’s unbreakable. I’m unbreakable. I don’t care what comes against me to try to stop me. I will succeed.

If you have dreams, then wake up! Stop living them in your mind and go out there and pursue those dreams. Life is too short to just watch it go by because of fear of failure. If you fall short, that just means you need to give it a little more. There are two things that can stop you from achieving your life long dreams. One of them you have complete control of, whether you quit or try at all. The other is what happens if you wait too long. We all have to die someday. It’s better to live while you can, rather than waste away your life in safety and “for sure” things.

My day job involves working with car accidents, and it’s taught me a lot about living safely. There is no sure thing in life. It doesn’t matter how good a driver you are, if the other guy doesn’t see you and runs the light, then your life is over. So stop pretending you’re in control, throw away the negativity and live your life! If you’re a writer, then don’t let anyone or anything stop you from writing. You don’t know when someone else is going to run that light and end your dreams before you reach them.

Thought I'd share an awesome song that I love to listen to when those naysayers try to bring me down. Listen to the words, because what she sings is true.

Book Recommendation: A Fistful of Fire

I am not a book reviewer, but I enjoy writing reviews here and there when something actually moves me emotionally either for good or bad. I enjoyed reading this book and I just wanted to share my experience with you guys. This is also one of my earliest Indie book experiences and I have to admit, I actually enjoyed it more than the last couple of big house books I had read before trying Indies.

A Fistful of Fire by Misti Wolanski

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is probably the most different classic fantasy story I've ever read. It has the most unlikely hero and the story keeps on pace and is light hearted and humorous throughout, and at the same time keeps a serious undertone, knowing the protagonist will eventually have to face her past. I was a little confused at the beginning of the story, with the background opening and the references towards the protagonists past, but since reading the book and before writing this review, I have accepted it as something else unique and interesting about how the story unfolds. Confusing as it may be for the reader, imagine how it is for the protagonist, which the story is entirely told in her point of view. The reader just gets to ride the waves of doubts and fears that the poor girl has at what she knows she must eventually do. The only thing that held me back from a five star review is the ending. It wasn’t terrible by any means, but I was a little let down on the way things panned out as the prophecy fulfilled. It wasn’t a bad ending; it’s just that I wanted more out of it (call me greedy). I will be impatiently waiting for the next book of the series. One of the best things of the story is the characters. They are not only all very unique and different from each other; they are colorful mysteries the protagonist must also work out as the story goes.



View all my reviews

Writer Ramblings: A Tip From My Editor

How many writers out there finished a manuscript for the first time or just finished rewriting it for the fifth time and now you’re avoiding the self-edit and polish phase? You read over it about three or four more times to make sure you get all those kinks out and that it flows and so on and so on. You know it needs a real thorough pass through, or maybe you haven’t edited it at all because you hate grinding back through what you’ve written again. A lot of writer’s take a break and come back later. Although that helps, it didn’t make me want to edit any more than I wanted to before.

Long story short, most writers hate editing for one reason or another. I have the story memorized so when I go through it over and over, I generally know what’s going to happen and it becomes monotonous and dull to pick at. When I just read the story I’m excited, but editing is not really reading casually. I’m looking for anything I can do to improve what is already there.

I shared my disdain for such a grueling tedious task with my editor. He decided to share a method with me that could help with editing something that’s been read several times already.
He said, “Read it out of order.”
I was stunned. How you could you do that and keep on top of the story? It would just be confusing. So he explained. And once I put it into practice, I started enjoying the editing. It added a sense of adventure and mystery because I never knew what part of the story I was going to be editing next. So instead of a constant stream of the same story, I saw flashes of it, and I am learning which ones need to be more entertaining as well.

The idea is to pick a random chapter. Comb through it for all the things you want to improve on. One chapter at a time isn’t so bad and since it’s been ripped out of the middle of your book, you might catch something that doesn’t make a ton of sense or is too vague, because it was continued from a previous chapter. I found this with the first one I pulled. The first word was “She.” Ok, I looked at it and the first paragraph never mentioned a name. I knew who it was because I wrote the scene, but that sure might confuse a reader.

Once you’ve edited that chapter, write out a short summary on what occurred and any key points that were in the chapter. This is important for later. If you can’t really come up with a summary nor have any key points, then this is a good time to think hard about deleting the chapter or rewriting it.

The method I used to randomly select my chapter is index cards. I wrote down the chapter numbers each on separate cards and then shuffled them. Flipped them over and started at the top. So far I’ve increased the speed I’m editing at from one chapter a week to one a day.

Once you have completely gone through your manuscript, go back and read the summaries in the proper order to make sure the story flows at a steady pace and so on. Go back to chapters where the summary feels dull or out of place or maybe just doesn’t fit into or have a true purpose to the plot. Another good use for the summaries is titling your chapters. I enjoy attempting to create titles for my chapters and if I can come up with good titles for every chapter then I’ll keep them, otherwise I toss them all. The summary will absolutely speed up that process.

Thanks for reading. I just couldn’t keep this editing tip to myself. I hope some of you find it useful. Now back to editing.

Terminator and Back to the Future

I saw this the other day and I just couldn’t get it out of my head. I almost immediately wanted to make this into a real full length movie. It would be epic. Instead, since I’m a writer and not Steven Spielberg, I decided to write a fan-fiction piece. It will be a few months out since I’m trying to figure out how to organize my ideas for it and set them up so they aren’t too long for the blog posts. I already have a theme and a list of several concepts. Now that I’ve gotten that far, I’ll begin plotting out a storyline, just as I would any of my novels. In my spare time when I’m not in the mood to read and I’m stuck on something, I’ll start piecing together the story of how John Connor wants to kill Doc Brown and so on when I can.

The fun part will be mixing the stories together. Since the video mashes up parts of the movies, I’m going to pretty much do the same. I’m not sure exactly how yet, but I want it to pretty much follow a time stream that will make sense. Time travel stories get complicated. Every time you do something in the past, you must figure out how it affects the future. Since this might turn out a little campy, I may blow by some minor details and just let the cards lay way they are. “Great Scott!”

Looks like I have to rewatch some movies. I also want to incorporate every scene of this video because I think these scenes would be absolutely hilarious.

Obviously, this is not going to be a priority because I’m juggling three full length novels already, but keep your eyes peeled. I’m going to write this video into a novel eventually. I’ll make it a weekly update, where I actually post what I’ve written for your enjoyment and critiques. It’ll be good practice for me and hopefully entertaining to you. Once it’s complete, I’m going to throw it all into a PDF and put it somewhere for free downloads.

Now, I need to get back to writing, but I couldn’t wait to share this idea. I’m going to make like a tree and get out of here.

WIP Update 8-10-11: Devil Dog and The Warlord

Just a short post this Wednesday on updates is all I have time for and there I’m pretty sure I can stuff it all in pretty quick and painless.

First update: Devil Dog is still in edit mode, but I’ve been trying out some new tricks to make it less painless. One of my editors recommended it after I complained about how much I don’t want to do it after reading the book and rewriting so many times already, but it needs to be done. I’m preparing a blog to discuss his tips as well, for those who might be interested in those. Not only are some of the tips making it easier to go through the manuscript, but they are going to verify the story flows as it should. I’ll be posting some excerpts pre-editor pretty soon on my Facebook fan page.

Second Update: I’m well into the first chapter of The Warlord. It’s been slow going, but I’m very excited about what I’ve got so far. I can already tell this book will be much larger than the Devil Dog. I’ve been building this world for twenty years. Cultures, peoples, religions, languages, history, geography, etc. have all been detailed. I’ve even toyed with an RPG rules game someday. Wrote the first 50 pages of that a few years back and saved it.

Third Update: The sequel to Devil Dog hasn’t been touched too much since I plotted out the scenes and designed the outline and characters. I’m still working on the opening line, but patience is the key and I’m sure it will come to me eventually. I have plenty else to do in the meantime.

I guess a detox update is in order. I discovered I suck at dieting/detoxing. I can’t go more than three days before giving into the call of something sweet. So I’ll just go back to working out and eating in moderation. Hope everyone is having a great week, I’ll get something more interesting up by Friday and I’ll link up another book review tomorrow.

I’m also trying to come up with a weekly special post. Something like Medieval Weaponry Mondays. That’s the front runner on my short list of ideas. Actually, I think I'm going to run with that. It's one of my favorite hobbies along with castle construction and defenses.