New Approaches

First, if you haven't read my post on how to best support your favorite independent author, do so now.  Then go support them as best you can.  I'll wait.

OK, thanks.  They'll appreciate it (BTW, the advice will also work for new/lesser known authors with mainstream publishers, too.

So what's happening in the writing world of T. Allan Bishop lately?  Well, the muse story stepped back and hasn't cried out for more to be written lately, so I have it set slightly aside.  The zombie story has reshaped itself, and I've written several sections for it over the past week.  It looks now like it'll be formed mostly of "newspaper articles," "police report" excerpts, "medical and lab report" excerpts, personal letters, etc.  I don't know if that will be just one section that talks about the outbreak and part II might change POV to be first or third person yet or not.  the story hasn't revealed details from that far ahead yet.  I do know that some of the personal notes will be from at least one zombie.  I know that this isn't the first time an approach like this has been used (Stephen King's Carrie comes to mind), but it's a new approach for me.

The Josef Mengele vampire story has been popping into my head a little lately, too.  So, it might just turn out that I start juggling stories based on which one is yelling at me the loudest that day.

I got tired of having to constantly reboot my phone, have apps stop responding, the previously awesome battery life suddenly being non-existent, and the phone not even give me the option to answer it.  I was planning on buying it later this summer when I hoped a sale would be happening (though it was going to be painful waiting that long when it was basically a paper weight).  When I did a search for rumored sales of the phone I had decided I wanted, I found that it was $130 cheaper from Amazon than from Verizon, so I went ahead and got it and will be putting the money I was going to be setting aside for it to the credit card bill to pay for it.  We'll keep the Amazon route in mind when we go to upgrade Candice's phone eventually, too.  If it saves us $$, why not?

I got the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.  The primary reason was because I have large clumsy fingers and figured (correctly) that it would be easier for me to type, etc on it.  The secondary reasons was that it has handwriting recognition and I figured that could help me as a writer, and that it has good battery life.  It turns out the handwriting recognition is AMAZING (but slow).  It recognized my handwriting even when I wrote in my crappiest form and EVEN when I wrote in cursive.  I have to write a little slower to get the handwriting recognition to work and convert to typed text, but I'll be able to use it when waiting in waiting rooms, or lying in bed and getting inspired, etc.  So, as a writer, this is the first time that writing using technology has excited me instead of simply handwriting on paper with a pencil, this is another new approach for me to writing.  Granted, when I really get in the groove, I will still probably use a pad and pencil for now, but eventually this might be the way I go.  (This phone will also allow me to change the battery if/when this one starts to die, too).

That's all I have for this post.  Thanks for reading.

Recent Progress and Other Random Bits of Information

I did, in fact, manage to write some this past Sunday (640 words it seems after typing it up) on Forbidden Knowledge.  It's up to over 3200 words so far.  I don't know how close to the end it is though, it hasn't told me how it'll end yet.  I haven't written any since then towards it, but that's because a) it hasn't called to me to write on it, and b) I really haven't had the opportunity to write since Sunday.

I'm hoping it'll tell me the rest of the story soon, and then let one of the other stories start revealing themselves.  Maybe the zombie story, maybe the vampire one, maybe the werewolf one, maybe Red at Night (the companion story to Mary's Painting), maybe the time travel one, maybe the murder mystery, or maybe one of the other fifty or so stories that I've jotted down at least a kernel about...

That's it for the writing front, on to some of the "life" topics:

Donna's hand has mostly healed from her burn.  The skin is still a darker red than the surrounding skin, but other than that, it looks great and is pain free (unless she's trying for sympathy, then she can't use it for anything).  She started back to Day Care/Preschool today (she goes two days a week).  This fall, she'll be starting all day Kindergarten and Megi will be taking her slot (we assume/hope) at the daycare/preschool.  We really need to ask to make sure that plan will work out, but the lady in charge is never there when I remember (she's practically never there in the afternoons it seems).

Last night, Gabe had the annual class concert.  He did awesome.  Usually, he loses focus and stops singing along about 2/3 of the way through, and he never does any of the hand motions/signing that might go along with them.  but last night, he sang along for the entire show, and he did most of the motions, too.  You could tell that he really enjoyed the Star Spangled Banner performance where they beat some colored plates together and made several different sounds with them.  I'm not sure if Candice saw how much his face seemed to light up when they were doing this performance, she thought using the plates was hilarious and was trying to control her laughter the entire time.  :-)  I was especially impressed with Gabe performing the entire show because they did a lot of "rounds" and "complementary songs" which made it more difficult for him to concentrate.  We took him out for ice cream afterwards.

On my To Do list in the coming weeks/this weekend is:

1)  Finally put the new year sticker on my license plate.  I've had them for nearly a month now, I really need to put them on.  It's just been mostly too cold lately.

2)  Make some time to write.  I need to figure out a way to write at home where I don't feel like I'm ignoring my family.  Perhaps at the kids' nap time and Candice can work on her dollhouses at the same time so she won't feel the same about me.  We'll both be accomplishing something we want to do, and we shouldn't feel bad about doing it, because otherwise we'd likely just be doing nothing really.

3)  Try to get Gabe's name changed with the Social Security Administration.  It's been changed nearly four years now, we might as well let the Feds know about it...  This will probably be more likely a task for within the next couple of months, but it's officially on my actual To Do list, and not just my "I should do this" list.

4)  Help Candice wiring her dollhouses when she's ready for that and has bought the wiring kits she needs (assuming she wants me to help her).

5)  Clean the garage.  

6)  Carry trash and recycling out of our bedroom (I really should have done that before this morning since today was trash/recycling day).

I'm sure there's more for the To Do List, and I'll add to it as I remember it.

That's all I have for this blog, thanks for reading.

Lalochezia

Lalochezia is the use of vulgar or foul language to relieve stress or pain.  What do you utter when you stub your toe or smash a finger?  For me it's S.O.B.  (not just the letters, but the whole phrase).

There's your bit of knowledge for the day.

My vampire story is fleshing itself out in my head.  The protagonist will be Josef Mengele.  The challenge for me will be to make him sympathetic while still making him a deplorable human being.  I think I know how I plan to do it, but I've been playing out the different ideas in my head along with the basics of the plot before I write any more on the issue.  This is also the same story where I break most of the rules of vampire lore, but with a logical explanation as to why/how.

I'm also kicking around a zombie story where the protagonist is a zombie.  Still working through the concept of how that can happen in my mind.  I do know that it will start from the same beginning as the story Darkness that I'm writing where Itzpopalotl attacks a group of cmapers in the jungles of Mexico.  My zombie epidemic will stem from the dead of the attack that opens the other story.  Their bodies aren't found in the other story, and this gives the explanation as to why.  My zombie outbreak will not be a global one quite yet, at least I don't think so.

Anyway, I promised an update to my blog on what is happening in my writing world when I posted the link to my last blog post on Facebook, so here it is.  Thanks for reading.