Today's Writing Update 12/19

Yesterday, I re-started writing Darkness by throwing out 9/10 of it and starting over.  I think the new beginning is much better and flows smoother.  I saved some from the 'middle' just to see if it'll still fit.  It probably will, but will also probably be re-written, too.  Darkness is also the starting point for my zombie story too.  A few paragraphs in the second section will be the opening part of the zombie story.  I think it's a neat idea that the same scene starts two different horror genre stories.  Now, I just have to write them,  If I finish Darkness before I publish my still untitled compilation book, I think it'll be included and will also be the title of the compilation (though I still want something to do with Mary's Painting to be the book cover picture (darkness lays a role in it and most of the other stories as they're all related to dark topics).  If the book gets above 20,000 words, the book will be $2.99.  If it's less but still more than 15,000 I'll price it at $1.99, any less will be $0.99.  Those seem to be the accepted guidelines from what I can tell for self-publishing electronically.  I also think I need to edit Cat's Eye View and Un-Separation to refine them before publishing them in it.  They're still rough around the edges, and I'd hate to put out something I felt was not finished.  My goal is to get it published some time next calendar year.

Yesterday, I also discovered that I was grandfathered in to 750words.com with a free membership.  I had stopped using it because I joined less than a week after what was supposed to be the cutoff without knowing there was going to be a cutoff.  Before my 30 day trial was to be over, I stopped using it because I didn't think I could afford it (though it doesn't cost much of anything).  On a whim after Candice asked if the words I was typing for Darkness last night were for my "500 words", I went back to the website and found out that they'd moved the date to a week or so after I had joined.  So, I'll try using the site again to keep my writing momentum going.

I added a Goodreads widget to the side of my blog, but from what I can tell, I have to update the code myself to get the books in it to change.  I marked a couple more books as finished today and it still showed the old list until I copied and pasted the new code in.  If anyone knows how to modify it to be dynamically updated, let me know!

We're all ready for Christmas (though we still haven't mailed out stuff to my family back east - we'll do that tomorrow most likely).  The only shopping we still have left to do is to buy a few more groceries for the Christmas meal, and some boxes for the aforementioned stuff that needs shipped.

That's about all for this blog entry.  Thanks for reading.

Getting on the Publishing Trail

When I originally started writing, I never intended to have it published.  I was writing for me, to release emotions, since I didn't (and if I'm honest with myself I still don't) know how to deal with most emotions.  Then, I felt brave enough to let a few friends read a couple of my stories.  That was a pretty big breakthrough for me.  But still, I never really had any desire to sell any of my stuff.

Then I married an artist.  And she started selling some of her stuff (Granted, she produces much more than she lists and the sales aren't burning any barns.  Yet.), and this crazy notion got into my head that maybe I should sell some of my art, too.  Then came the "now what" phase.  I didn't have enough for a full book, and wasn't producing anything except a multitude of ideas (many of which I forget by the time I can write them down - or I lose the slip of paper I write them on), so I kept pushing it off.

Then I found that I can publish on my own through Amazon for the Kindle for free, so I started thinking of the basic concept I'd publish with.  Since the vast majority of my stories and story ideas are all short or ultra short, I should focus on short story compilation books.  I don't concentrate on any single genre, so maybe I should split the stories into categories and concentrate on a compilation story for each genre.  Horror, Science Fiction, Mystery, Drama (basic fiction that doesn't fit into the other three genres).  I then set about doling out stories to each book and had a pretty good idea of what goes where.

But still, I didn't do any work on anything new.

Then I found out about Smashwords, which will publish to just about every other electronic book medium except Amazon and also for free.  So, I could have my books for sale for the Kindle, and also for Nook, Apple Itunes, and a couple dozen other places.  Then I started reading in forums about pricing books and approximate number of words for each pricing scheme and I realized that I could put six of my stories that are already completed in the same short compilation novel and price it at about $0.99 or $1.99.  If I get good results, I'm pretty sure that will get me motivated to start putting my pencil to paper again (yes, I do all my first drafts the old fashioned way).

So, I'm putting the following stories in a short compilation book for less than a dollar:  Mary's Painting, Sins of the Father, The Fall, Cat's Eye View, The Viewing, and The Journey.  The only thing they have in common is that they're all darker stories.  I still need a title for the compilation, but as soon as I get that and artwork to design the cover with, I plan to publish straight away.  Who knows, if I get another story finished before then, I might include it also.

Better Late Than Never

Here's the promised pictures of the Halloween decorations.  I plan to have a writing related post soon.  Seems fitting, since that's supposed to be what this blog is for.

Thanks for reading.

We need more RIP signs

We've put out the bulk of the Halloween decorations already (I'll put the pictures up on or after Halloween of the full look of the place with all the stuff out including what we haven't put out yet).  This year, we're adding a grave mourner, a remote controlled zombie crawler, a lined coffin, and the beginnings of a homemade zombie to the "production".  We've also added some red Christmas lights inside some of the coffins that have "risen" from the ground to give them an "inner glow."

I've made some more shelves.  Here's the ones I mentioned that I made for Donna's room, we hung them asymmetrically:

I also made some for Gabe's room.  We stained them since it went better with his room colors (and we hung them differently):

I just finished some for Megi's room.  We made one a rectangle instead of two squares, and we painted them diagonally (The two colors are dragon fruit and a sort of teal variation).  I haven't hung them yet, because we still need to finish painting her room:

Speaking of painting Megi's room, she gave us an "ultimatum" recently to get it done.  She, on the first attempt we know of, managed to climb out of her crib and fell to the floor, so we need to finish her room soon.  Here's the colors from the beginning of it, they're a plum color for most of the walls and a light blue for the accent color:

We like the dragon fruit color from the shelves I built so much, we plan to buy more and paint the closet doors that color.

I still haven't followed my own advice on writing, and as such, I haven't done any writing.  I'm taking the week off for Halloween, maybe I can at least get some progress made on something.

If you're wondering about the blog title, "RIP signs" is what Gabe called headstones the other day, and yes, we do need to make some more for our cemetery this next off season (just like I need to work on the hearse, etc)

Also on the list of projects we need to do is to go through the kids' toys and eliminate some that they never play with by either throwing them away or giving them to charity.  Gotta make room for the next cycle of toys and get rid of some of the clutter.

The furniture savings is coming along nicely, though we keep vacillating between which project to approach first:  a new desk for the office, a new bed/mattress for our bedroom, or hardwood floors for the whole house.  The first two cost about the same (about $2400 each), and the flooring will probably cost about ten times as much for as much space as we need done.

 That's all I have right now.  Thanks for reading.











And send happy thoughts to my wife.  Just because.  She's wonderful and all that, and I love her.

Weathering the Storms

Sorry I haven't posted a blog in a while, it's just not been in my "line of sight" to do so.  But gentle prodding by my #1 reader has gotten me to put out a new post.

We seem to have survived the Colorado flood storms relatively unscathed other than getting stir crazy.  But it will extend the timeline for moving the "travel missile" (our luggage holder) into the basement.  I had it in the back yard ready to move into the basement when the almost-tornado hit a month ago that destroyed part of the velodrome under development in Erie and had us sheltering in the basement for an hour or so.  It got blown into our "circle of doom" (where previous residents dug out a spot to put a trampoline and where we eventually hope to build a gazebo) that was filled with water at the time.  So, I waited to get it out rather than trek into the clay-mud to pull it out.  Then, out of sight, out of mind, I forgot about it until the other day and had planned to bring it in this past weekend.  Then the flood rains came mid-week and that didn't happen.  Now the circle of doom is a small pond, and I'll again be waiting for it to dry out enough to retrieve it (and likely rinse it out inside and out) and bring it inside.

Halloween season is upon us soon.  We didn't get the hearse built (again), but I hope to start making small bits of progress on it slowly over the next year.  It would be easier if there were a little more space for it and my car in the garage at the same time, but I have a few ideas about how to do work on it in the mean-time.  I'll probably put the cemetary fencing up about 2-3 weeks out, and the rest of it up the week of Halloween (which I'm taking off work).

We're starting the process of having our awful windows replaced.  We couldn't afford to do them all at once, so we chose the biggest needed ones first.  We're doing 8 windows.  3 are difficult to see through because of shoddy construction/installation, and the others are in our bedroom to hopefully keep the temperatures bearable in the summer months (it currently gets above 80 most days in our bedroom despite the A/C running non-stop).  The new windows are triple paned, and have technology built-in that is at an angle to reflect heat away when the sun is at a high angle (summer months) and allow it in when it is at a low angle (winter months and evenings), which should save tremendously on energy costs.  When the car is paid off, we'll get the rest of them done.  We are also waiting to finish painting Megi's room until they replace the big window in her room.

I haven't been doing very good about writing, and I think a big part of it is I'm not following the advice I give Candice all the time:  just make time everyday and do it.  So, I plan to try and write for a minimum of 30 minutes each day, even if it's crap.  Maybe she can take some of that same time to do some clay work, etc. and we can both be productive.  I've had plenty of ideas coming (many of which I've also not followed my own advice on and haven't written them down), but none of the "meat" of the ideas has been there yet.  Maybe if I start writing on the ideas, even if I know it's not what I intend, the "meat" will reveal itself to me and I can then write in earnest on each project.

I really need some ideas on how to make Gabe CARE about doing his schoolwork.  Even the promise of getting to go play, etc. doesn't entice him enough to want to do anything when he is at home towards doing a few minutes of homework (which as a result, turns into hours of homework).  So, if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

I have done some work on a few of my woodwork projects.  I've cut out the kid's names for door plates.  I need to decide how thick a back to put them on and how I want to mount them to the doors.  I also made some box shelves, which we hung in an asymmetrical manner in Donna's room for books, etc.  I'll probably build some more for Megi's room, too, and maybe a couple for Gabe's room (though figring out where to put them in his room might prove the only obstacle there...

That's all I have for this post (I probably had more, but had to completely re-type it from scratch when my browser crapped out on me), thanks for reading.

Irreversible Momentum

Even before you consciously ever find direction in your life, your life is following a path.  That path has irreversible momentum.  The path can alter a little to one side or the other based on how it deals with pits and bumps in its way.  Does it bounce over them, skew off to the right, or vault over to the left?

Before I met Candice, my life was shit.  Most people (probably) couldn't tell, but I felt it and hated every bit of it.  I drank heavily, not because of a compelling need to drink, but because I wanted to fog it out so I wouldn't experience it.  I stayed home for the majority of my non-work time.  I was lonely, but I feared rejection so bad that I was frozen with fear to try and overcome this phobia-like fear and find someone to help me along the path of life.  The few times I'd managed to crawl out from my phobia of rejection, I would slap me in the face with a two by four and I'd go running back into my wall of protection vowing never to try again.

But my life was firmly rolling down the hill of life and wasn't about to roll back up to find a different path I'd missed out on.  What I didn't realize was that my life was only temporarily shit, likely because that was the path I needed to take to get where I am today.

After going to a period of basic training at Parris Island (Marine Basic Training) while I was in ROTC at Parker High School, I swore I'd never join the military.

But apathy when I was going to Clemson led me to not go to classes as often as I should, so many semesters, I'd have practically no GPA to speak of to offset those semesters when I'd have close to a 4.0.  I realized that there was no way in hell I could maintain that rollercoaster ride, so I decided to drop out of college before they kicked me out.  (It would at least give me the option to return.)

But before I dropped out, I needed a plan for how to get my life straightened out.  My life bouned over to the side as I quickly realized what I needed was a life that forced me into structure.  So getting a typical job paying a high school graduate but not a college graduate in South Carolina was not a viable option.  Que up the job I swore I'd never do, the military.

Now, I wasn't naive enough to think that the Army or the Marines were going to be what was right for me.  I wanted to guide myself down a more technical path and give me some valuable experience towards getting a better life once I got out in four years.  That left the Navy and the Air Force.  The Navy had some highly publicized issues with people dying in several different incidents around that time, so I called the Air Force recruiter.  I took the ASVAB test and the results came back that virtually any career field was open to me.

I wanted to be a computer programmer, but they currently didn't have any openings in that career field, so I came in "open electronics" meaning I'd go into an electronics based career field (that includes computer programming, etc).

But when I graduated from basic training, there still wasn't any openings in that career field, so I chose and rank-ordered 10 career fields that did have openings from the available list.  I got the third (or really fourth since computer programming wasn't open) choice on my list and became a "Space Systems Operator."  (It sounds way cooler than it really is.)

That career field pretty much shielded me from anything even close to combat or danger related.  And it also "tethered" my career to Colorado.  But also, I was given an opportunity to do some computer programming, which ironically I later learned, I'd almost certainly have never done had I gotten into the actual computer programming career field.

When my four years were up and I could move on back to civilian life, I decided to stay in just a little longer, my life bumped over the next bump of life and kept rolling forward.

I was "rewarded" for that decision by getting an assignment 80 miles south of Fairbanks AK.  Look at your map of Alaska, and you'll find there isn't anything to speak of 80 miles south of Fairbanks.  When I got that assignement, I was quite upset, mostly because I had been working an assignment (that I was probably going to get) in southern California.

But it turned out to be a great assignment, and I had fun - yes fun - there.  My follow-on assignement listed three places I could go.  Buckley, Buckley, or Buckley.  So I chose the lesser of three evils and went to Buckley.  While there, I did more computer programming.  My enlistment time was coming to a close on this enlistment, so I had a serious decision to make.  I had a job opportunity in Colorado Springs making way more than I was currently making in the Air Force or I could stay in.  If I decided to stay in, I was staying until I retired.  After looking at it objectively from every angle I could think of, I decided to stay in and not get the job on the outside.  I viewed it as an 11 year investment in my life to never have to worry about job security for the rest of my life.

As it turns out, the job I was to be hired for never would have materialized as that company didn't get awarded the contract they were bidding to get. So yay for making decisions with my head instead of my wallet.

Then I got a new assignment to England that I had sought after.  I got to "see" the world, even if it was only a whirlwind one day one city type.  So, yeah, I've seen Paris, Brugge, Barcellona, etc, but I was rushing through them so fast with only a day to spend in each, that I didn't really get to experience them.  I plan to rectify that in the future if my irreversible momentum allows me to.

My follow-on assignment was suppossed to be in Colorado Springs, and it was, just not the same one I was promised.  The new job was overseeing configuration management of the Air Force's space-based missile warning systems.  That, in turn, led to my job being moved back to Denver when the Space Wing I was in split into two Wings and my part moved.

So I moved back to Denver.  My tether was keeping a firm grip on me.  Then in a forum I visited regularly, someone posted a link to a website in a thread about interesting things on the web.  It was Where's George and being a nerdy guy, I thought this was a cool little project.  So I started tracking where my money went.  Then I found that there were forums for that hobby and I started frequenting them.

I met someone who flirted with me online and once she realized we were basically in the same city, she demanded we meet.  So in mid-January we did.  I, of course, being naive, though it was just another "georgers meet."  But once we met, something else happened.  We didn't talk at all about the hobby until several hours into the meal, and then it was only an afterthought when we went to pay.

We went out to walk around in downtown Denver for several hours, I wierded her out by offering to hold her coat that she wasn't wearing (I've always been a chivalric person), and she shoved me around.  When I mentioned it, she had to point out to me that she was flirting with me.  Yeah, I can be that oblivious to signs, especially when I'm not looking for them.

I started to get a new outlook on life.  My life actually garnered a hopeful attitude.  It had started to roll on out of the shit I saw it as being in.  By April, I knew we were soulmates.  Skeptics would say I was simply love struck and blinded by it, but I'd been there before and this was a different feeling.  The past few relationships where I'd been blinded hadn't left me seeing a hopeful future in my life like this one did. 

So, I bought a promise ring.  Often times, they're considered a way for the guy to "postpone" getting married for a while, by "committing to commit."  But since we hadn't ever discussed it at the time, it was more like the old-fashioned me coming through.  I got a card and had Gabe give the card and ring to her one day.  She was definitely surprised and cried tears of happiness.  That was the exact moment I knew she loved me as much as I loved her, especially given how much she'd shunned marriage in the past.

I then did another old-fashioned thing.  I asked her grandmother for permission to marry her.  Her grandmother (who was essentially her mom), loved it.  I'm pretty sure I was the only boyfriend of Candice's she ever liked, and she liked me from that first date when I insisted on coming inside and meeting her before the date rather than just picking up Candice and taking off.

I proposed and Candice said yes.  We got married a little over two months later, but didn't spend a lot of money or stress on a ceremony.  In some ways I regret that, but in others I don't.  Our finances weren't drained, and we'll always have the memory of the "crackhead county clerk" to laugh at.

Today is our fifth anniversary.  I've retuired from the military since then and gotten that nice paying job on the civilian side.  We have three wonderful kids together (I legally adopted Gabe).  And we have a nice house where we live (and where her grandma lives, too).

My life is not shit and never was, it was just going through a bumpy patch during my irreversible momentum of life.

Life is great, and always will be because I found my soul mate.  And I found my soul mate because I was destined to.  I couldn't have avoided it because of irreversible momentum.

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

Preparations

We leave on Thursday for a much needed vacation.  We're going to South Carolina for two weeks, then driving north to Rochester, New York so Candice can attend a glass art convention.  I'll have the kids in a hotel by myself for several days.  Hopefully, in the week before, Gabe and/or Donna will learn to swim enough that we can go to the hotel pool one of those days for some fun.  We'll probably take Candice to her convention one day, too, so that I can take the kids out somewhere too (Yeah, I'm a glutton, etc)

But aside from the adventure upcoming, we have a list of more than 30 things we need to do before we leave, and we've only done about 5 of them.  Granted, some of them can easily wait until we get back as they aren't "vacation critical" and will probably join an ongiong To Do list for projects that Candice and I need to do.  I need to go back a few blog posts and pull out the project list and add that to the list too.

We started the savings account, and taking away the minimum amount needed to keep the account going, we're about 15% of the way towards the office desk, so Yay!  We also moved a temporary desk into the office (formerly our dining room) and I moved our computers in there.  Now Candice and I are forced to occasionally look at each other!  ;-)

We've also since the last posting discovered that it might have been Ginger bad dog, not Bailey bad dog (though it likely could be both) that has been digging up the sprinkler heads. Mark and Ginny have agreed to help us by watching the dogs while we're gone.  They're getting $100 and some homemade jelly for their kindness.  We're also taking all the dog food and treats the dogs should need while we're gone.  Thanks, Mark and Ginny!

I think we came to the conclusion that we're going to sell the Mercury and when we are ready to actually focus on the car restoration project, we'll but another classic car that is running but still fits the bill for fixing it up the way we want it.  It'll likely be a hearse we fix up, which will also serve double duty for our being Halloween House.

I've sprayed an entire huge pump sprayer cansiter of Round Up in the vegetable garden to kill the thistles, but they are still living.  Granted they are starting to show signs of dying, but most are still alive.  Is there anything stronger out there?

That's about all for this post.  Thanks for reading!  (I expect another one a week from today to get posted also.)