2 novels-Seanan McGuire and Lisa Shearin-with NYC and myth beasties.

     This post has a longer title but I didn’t want to make it  too long up there. But it’s “Two novels that use a New York full of mythological creatures-some friendly some not-for a setting--oh yes there is a dragon in both.”

    I happened to be reading both at the same time it it struck me that it was as if someone told each writer to use the same premise. As the title says A New York City with the usual people but added on are creatures of various types that are mythological. The female hero who works for someone has to fight the bad ones and befriend the good ones. Oh yes and add a dragon. I haven’t finished either yet but I know I will be reading the next one. 

    Next I want to say that none of this is a criticism. Both stories are different: heroes, backgrounds, bad guys, event that is bad, dragons too but that is all I will say about that now. And even though the first one I will discuss was done first, months ago, I am not saying it’s bad that they are similar. We writers do get ideas from other writers and use basically the same plot but with our imprint on it. I do that in my upcoming Indie novel. Second, I want to say that I will be attempting to not put in any spoilers, except for a couple of small ones that don’t amount to much.  

So now to the books:

“Discount Armageddon” by Seanan McGuire.

It its the first in the InCryptid series. The second one is out and if it is not out now the third one will be soon. Two small spoilers here. The girl on the cover is wearing that outfit because she is a dancer. And McGuire has an unique take on talking mice. Fun stuff there. Which is all I will say about that. 

Not at all like the October Daya books also by McGuire. If you haven’t read them--do it--great stuff there. But these are more light hearted but yet serious. The writing is good--keeps me reading beyond the time I wanted to read. The good guy “InCryptids” are sometimes hard to tell but that is how McGuire wanted it. I say good guy but actually they are neither. All they want is to be left alone to live their lives; they wouldn’t attack humans so are not danger. 

The illustrations she uses are good, the action scenes could be used as a model, the type of danger can be unpredictable. Sometimes you know something is going to happen but it’s not what you expect. McGuire does well with placing the background of Verity (the hero).  There is a touch of romance--maybe more than a touch--in this one which isn’t in the other. At least so far. Verity doesn’t have any special powers--not a wizard either--but has been trained all her life to fight the dangerous InCryptids. 

I could say more but I would have to use examples from the book and as I said I don’t want to do spoilers. 

Now to “The Grendel Affair” by Lisa Shearin. It’s the first in a series that just came out Jan 1. Or maybe Dec 30 but close enough for here. If she got the idea for this book from the Incrypid series I think it’s good. She put her own stamp on the idea with no need to borrow from McGuire except for perhaps the premise. 

Lisa has one other series out-no single books-and again if you have not read her other one . The fantasy “Raine Benares series” do so. She knows how to write; maybe not quite as good as McGuire but not far behind. It is worth reading.

Grendel, as I mentioned, takes place in New York City. The female hero doesn’t dance though and hasn’t been trained to fight creatures and she has one power. She is a seer-not a predictor of the future but she can see through glamours so no creature can hide from her. And this one isn’t lighthearted. But as it with McGuire’s some creatures are very bad while others just want to live their lives and aren’t dangerous, however some are good guys in this one. 

As with McGuire Shearin knows how to write: she is great at putting her characters in danger and getting them out, her fight scenes are good, she describes things and events well. Today I kept reading longer than I had planned. I needed to know how that scene ended.  A tractor in NYC? It had already been set up that Makenna comes from a back ground that it is not surprising that she knows how to drive one. Shearin keeps her characters reacting and talking as she set them up in the beginning. 

Again I could say more but would need to use examples. Shearin has an interesting reason that Makenna uses stairs not elevators--yecch even if it didn’t happen to her. Shearin comes up with some interesting comments for her hero to make which I believe add to the story. Something in the Raine books. This book is worth reading and as I said  I will read the next one. 

Feb 9th Writing update

Okay, another new writing update-this includes my Indie stuff too:

I finished my themed story set for the Urban Fantasy series of short stories even though one isn’t all that short. My MC is a painter who makes a living selling his paintings and writing books for Mid Grade readers. I have included that now and then in his various adventures but I think I may add one scene with him delivering a painting and/or doing a show at a gallery. I’m not sure where I will place that but I need to go back over my stories--half of them need revising and the other half need minor changes like names and how something works--anyway, so it wouldn’t be hard to add that scene. 

I need to finish the story at work on my Steampunk themed story set. I may this week but probably about halfway through next week. 

I need to restart one of the final stories in my Alchemy story set. It may not be as long as I thought it would be but I have more stories in that world so I may still have 50,000 words. If not I will have to do another story. 

The other day I was thinking about the covers for these sets because it hit me all of a sudden. I could go through CreateSpace to do a Print On Demand paper book. Wow, I had forgotten about that as I had forgotten that was one reason why I started putting seven stories in my story sets instead of five. I checked CreateSpace and found that only one placed only five stories in his CreateSpace anthologies. All others with few  stories do seven. Anyway, my 50,000+ story sets should be good no matter how many stories I have in them. So back to the covers.

The Steampunk cover would be the easiest. All I need is a small streamlined airship for the upper half of the cover. Maybe a border and from one to ten people dressed in all black including their faces on the bottom half. Maybe blowguns in the border or as the border. On the side would be a smaller pic of the blowguns or airship if I don’t have blowguns. On the top of the back would be the airship. Under it would be a blurb. Oh, on the cover would be the title and my name. I’m not sure what colors but I assume darker ones would be a good fit, not sure about the color of the title and/or my name though. 

For the UF set I wondered about making the cover various objects from the stories: a griffin, a man made of super hot plasma, a horse drown carriage, a giant horse shaped golem, Tinker Bell type fairies, Hell hounds. But all of those would be way too much and I’m not sure if I could settle for just a couple.---well, maybe the Hell hounds and golem. But I decide on something simple-easier to do too. A fancy stand alone coat rack with a full length brown leather jacket on it, an easel with a canvas on it and a staff.  One object will be on the side, the back will have a smaller pic of the whole cover with blurb under it. 

The Alchemy cover would be simple too. The top half would be a Transit--the Ford mini delivery truck--possibly with some decorations on the side. Bottom half would be various bowls and jars made from various materials and plastic containers. Not sure what would be on the side, maybe a few of the jars and such. The Transit would be on the back with blurb.

But first of all I need to revise the stories I have and finish one maybe two more. And finish the Alchemy tales. I think I will work on getting the other two ready even before I finish the Alchemy stories. And I need someone to go over all of them...maybe more than one person since I have so many stories. Speaking of that this leads to my second point in this update.

My Novel. A very nice person volunteered to go over the novel for me. She has had some experience with editing and she happened to be free at the moment. I sent her the first five chapters. If two through five aren’t enough to send her screaming down the street I will send the rest. But it will take a while to fix what she finds in. But with that done I only need a cover. Thinking of the story sets inspires me to come up with a easier cover for this novel. $520 is more affordable but it’s still a lot for something that might take five years to bring in that much. Maybe...hmm I don’t know something that shows she is a Mage. She doesn’t use a staff or anything else. Maybe I could find a pic of the back head of someone with short purple hair. And/or a Griffin maybe? (Shoulder shrug) I still have to think on that cover.  

I haven’t put down any goals for ’14 yet but getting at least two story sets and the Novel ready to sale would be included. As would stories for each quarter of the WotF contest. Speaking of that:

I have finished 2,200 + words on a story for this quarter at WotF. Finished the first section. The second section is the section I haven’t figured out yet. I know the basics but I need more than that. But it will come as I write, the problem is how long that section will be. I could make it fairly short or find something to make it around 2,200 words. I know the ending mostly, just need a couple of small details. This is a type of story I haven’t done for a while and really may have done only a couple of. But I like the story. I will say it has two points of tension all of which I will say is that one is personal and the other is life and death. 

I missed the online workshop I wanted to take from Dean Wesley Smith but found that Dave Farland has some too and Cat Rambo has been having one session online workshops. I wanted to take one-the time of day was right- but it looks like I got the date wrong and it was not will be. I say to any writer reading this check them out. $300 for Dean’s. I think Dave’s are less and the one session classes are under fifty. 

Another goal would be to take at least one more online workshop--maybe two.

Seems like there was something else I wanted to mention but can’t think of it right now, so unless I do think of it before I post this, expect a PS. I carried out that threat last update so I might again--one never knows about me.

Personal Note on my family

                 This post will be different: subject and the emotions behind it. I just wanted to express myself I don’t think venting is the right word here. This is a personal note but I didn’t want to just say, ”My Mother-In-Law died and I couldn’t write as much”. Too cold and too barren. Or might invite heavy condolences when we weren’t close even though I saw her a lot. I would add that a few lighter condolences wouldn’t be bad though.  I should add that I don't mind the sentiment behind any condolences. Just make them lighter. 

This is where the really personal comments come into play:

 I am emotionally conflicted.

        She died last Thursday night. It wasn’t unexpected since she had been slipping for way over a year. Her body started to get weak sometime ago kinda of suddenly. She did suffer for Alzheimer's disease or another type of dementia but she also suffered at least two strokes. No one knew about the first one because she didn’t mention the symptoms until later. Somewhere around six-eight months ago she was placed in a care facility and around two months ago officially placed on hospice. It all took a bit longer than every one seemed to think. Because of all that wife thinks her mom’s death was something of relief, she has already done her grieving as she watched her mother go down hill.        

      We were not close even though she had been in our lives(Mine, my wife and later my daughter)for over 30 years. So in that sense I will miss her being around.  I thought it sad that her mind went like it did. She was intelligent and educated but she could hardly put two sentences together. At times she would rally for a day or so and say something that made sense but most of the time her words didn’t make sense even though she still talked a lot. I don’t think she suffered that much because her awareness deteriorated also. 

  This part might be too much info but it's here anyway and does not include everything I could have shared:
 I said I was conflicted because when alive and fully functioning she was bossy and stubborn. Since she babysat for us and later home-schooled our daughter she insisted on what we could feed our daughter, that we had to use her as babysitter. Our daughter is autistic and her help was appreciated but she also took over.  Not only with food but she insisted that we-especially my wife-listen though her talking for hours even as later she started to repeat herself. It wasn’t as if we were the only people she could talk to. She would talk to a sister or friend on the phone and tell them what she had just told someone else and later us. Not because she forgot but because she liked to talk. 

I won’t go into more detail but there is more, this should be enough to explain why I said what I said at the beginning. My mother-in-law was helpful not only to us but to other people but to us she was also demanding and thought she knew it all. But, as I said already, seeing her mind go was sad and her death while peaceful-she just kinda of continually slipped away until she stopped breathing-and expected was not good. 

     Of course looking back some her attitudes, demanding and kooky ideas may have been the Alzheimer's coming on. But it all still made things conflicting.  

1st update PS with more writing advice

So here’s a PS that I threatened everyone with. Finally decided I did have something extra to say. A couple of things actually

One:

This one is kinda of obvious. If I did put each of those three theme e-story sets together as a novel--that would be one novel for each set--I would have to divide it up into chapters. But speaking of that maybe I should do that for the 20,000 + word stories anyway. Each story set has one; two at least have tales over 25,000 not sure about the third one yet. And I could make chapters in the 10,000 word stories too if I did the longer ones. In other words which ever way I go--a set of stories or a novel I would have more work to do. That includes finding someone to check the spelling, grammar, etc. And I have to decide which order to place the stories. I have thought about it already and it may not be as easy as I thought. 

Second:

  Finished my UF very looong story. 31,600 and some words. When I go back over the story it’s possible that I could add 400+ words to make it over 32,000. One more shorter story and maybe another and that is it for this series. At the moment. I hope readers will like these and want more. 

Now to get back to the alchemist story. Hmm, thought it was over 10,000 already but it’s under 5. I doubt very seriously that it will be close to 20,000 but it might be around 10. 

Third:

  

Hmm, in my head I may have added a story to the UF theme story set that doesn’t exist.  I was thinking that with this story the total word count would be over 55,000 but so far I have 47,458. Most of the stories are under or just over 5,000 words but I thought I had one other closer to 10. I may have getting it mixed up with one of the alchemist stories that is over 10,000 words. I may also be thinking of one story in which my MC has a cameo but I won’t be including it in the set. That story will hopefully have its own set one day. I will look again to make sure but it looks like I was one story off. I will be writing another one as I said already so the total count will be over 50,000 and maybe a second shorter one but as it looks now I will have around 56,000 words, which would be okay but I really thought I had one more. 

Fourth:

I want to finish all three of my story sets now but I also have a couple or four stories that need revising that I need to send out. I guess we shall see what I decide.

  Some more advice:

While writing the end battle scene  for the UF story I made sure I thought of how I was doing it. I kept in mind some of the best writers-at least the ones I consider the best for this-at expressing what the hero is going through during the battle. What they emotionally feel, think, see, hear, physically feel, smell and even taste. I worked on this while I wrote it but in this tale and the last few stories I’ve gone back to see what I could do to add to that. For me all of this adds to the battle and is one of the details that make each of these writers So Good. I’ve noticed that just a few senses are not enough. A writer needs to get into the battle him or herself. Especially if we are doing First Person as I am.  

I don't know how well I am doing, or if perchance I go too far with it but it does seem important to get into the mind of the hero, even in part to get into his-her-its body, as I stated already.  

A couple of the writers in my mind are Benedict Jacka, Seanan McGuire and C. E. Murphy. 

This is true for not just battles. If your MC walks into a bar--what does he smell? Hear? See? Taste? Fell?  See and hear are easy even though adding something that goes beyond the usual, what a reader may not expect is good too.  Smell can be easy too in a bar but does he get a whiff of werewolf? Or some special Hydraulic fluid so he knows space ship mechanics come to this bar? 

Well, that is all for this PS but I think there was something else I wanted to say so there could be another one soon.

First writing update '14 with a bit of advice

 Okay my first writing update in 2014.

First of all:

My Indie book is still stalled. I decided to go ahead and politely decline the offer to help from the one party who has the first few chapters of my novel and was supposed to help with the real city setting. They are so busy they didn’t have time during Christmas New Years to send a note saying they would be busy for a while or am almost done with the overtime. So I can try to work on the city stuff-I do have a web site to help with that. But As I sat and thought about the novel I didn’t know what to do next. I would assume check with the guy who said he would edit it and see if he still could for the same price. If so then try kickstarter without a video. The book can use the copy editing but should I go over it one more time? Redo the first ten pages that have been copy edited then try again with people who would look it over for free? Decisions..... 

For Dave's Kicks Right here

Second of all:

Just sent another story to Writers of the Future contest. 

I had this series of thoughts the other day

Hmmm, catching up on some of Dave's Daily Kicks In the Pants-where he advises writers-he’s the first judge on all WotF entries...some very interesting advice (said in the accent of the short guy in the WW11 German helmet peeking around a tree) 

Some questions I asked myself.

Did I do any misdirection? Hmm, a tad maybe??? I mean it might have been just a tad. 

Were the characters the way he likes them? Hmmm? Maybe, 

I was reminded about originality. Again Hmmm(I do seem say that a lot) Yes, no, maybe, sort of. (Yes, all of the above) 

There were more but those are the ones that caught my attention for my Q1 tale. 

I know shouldn't do too much over thinking but we can do some. 

With what I learned with those two crits I've mentioned a time or three, I don't feel much faith in my ability to tell how well I did on any of that. I think my writing was significantly better and I feel like it better be after all the work I put in working on improving it. But I have a poor record of thinking and feeling about the level of my writing. 

As I also say a lot, though, "We shall see."

I worked on two of the larger problems with my last two entries--at least according to two previous winners who were in agreement on certain points. A third problem I worked on too but not so much on purpose, it just kinda of happened as I was working on the story.

Speaking of that for the next quarter, I thought about redoing one of those rejected entries using the two crits but I finally want to write a story that has been in my mind for three quarters.  

Third of all:

 Almost finished with two themed story sets I want to India publish. In this case by theme I mean the stories are about the same person. I think I have mentioned these before but here they are again. One them is about a Lieutenant of a steampunk Special Ops team. I have three stories done and started a fourth that is more about his personal life. Hopefully that one will be short. I want to do a second personal tale too. All of those stories will come out to be 54,000 to 56,000 words. That world is set in an alt universe. Instead of a large US there are six or so countries that take up all of the US, some parts of Canada and maybe a touch of Mexico. I would have to have a special preface that explained it all and probably a map. 

  For the second theme I am almost finished with a sixth, or was it seventh, story about a Modern day Mage. Urban Fantasy in other words. I would like to do one more shorter one with just him and his girl friend and maybe a couple of gnomes or Tinkerbell type of fairies he has to deal without letting her know what he is doing. Could be humorous if I can pull that off. 

Both will be long enough where I thought about joining all the individual stories to make them one novel. That might be a bit short for a novel 50,000 to 60,000 words but it would be okay for Indie.  

And there’s a third theme set about an alchemist I need to finish. Six to eight stories in that set but they might be shorter than the two others.

Fourth of all:

I’ve already said this but I need to start sending out stories on a regular bases again. I was going to start doing one per day but didn’t continue after three. Got too carried away writing and forgot. I need to slap myself or some such to remember. One will go out later tonight for a magazine that had been closed to submissions is now reopen for that. The editor is a fellow who has read most of my stories I want to see if I can impress him now. 

Fifth of all:

I have at least three stories I need to finish--not counting the ones for the theme story sets. And another three that need revising. Not sure when I will get to them though since I’m working on the theme story sets, not to mention two contests. But I need to get to them.

Sixth of all:

For quite a while for some strange unknown reason I kept typing out streampunk for steampunk. After a while I decided why not go for it but I had no idea how. But a basic idea popped into my head so I will be writing a streampunk tale. Hmm, come to think of it streampunk could go in two completely different directions but the second way would be related to cyberpunk which would be fun to write. Maybe I will go both ways. But I will see how it goes with the first way because I may do a story for WotF. Dave likes original settings and plots. 

That’s it for me with this one but as usual there is a warning. I can’t think of anything I’ve forgotten but it’s possible I could do one or three PS-s.  

Happy New Year you all-----Do good writing stuff which includes practice and learning. 

New Year 2014--Joy, Hope, New Start

Now a few words about the New Year.

As the title of this says this post is about new beginnings along with Joy and Hope. Not everyone needs this but it’s still something I wanted to say.

Jesus Christ offers us all three of those things and more. God doesn’t hate any of use nor is He waiting to bash us over the head when we do wrong. My last post talks about how Christmas shows His love, followed by what we call Easter. His death and resurrection shows us His love and that He can be counted on.  And that He is the supplier of the fresh start many of us need.  

That is what the term Born Again is about. Starting new, starting fresh with right standing with God the Creator and with inner Joy and Hope. 

Here are links to three songs that share this idea in different ways. There are some ads either at the beginning or at the bottom, but you can ignore them and turn them off. 

Third Day  NewsBoys  Leon Patillo

There are many fine songs that explain this event but I didn’t want to get too carried away with song links so these three and this one that talks about how nothing can separate us from the love of God are ones that I thought would add to what I wanted to say here.

Chris Tomlin

God gives us all a second and even third and fourth chances. Failure isn’t good-it’s down right rotten-but it’s not the end either. God-Jesus-won’t stop loving us, won’t abandoned us, won’t turn His back, is there to help and save us. He wants to fill us with enough Joy to start dancing and Hope to know we can do it--we can live our lives with Him who saved us from sin and who we need to serve. 

Hope is there because God can not fail, turn from who He is and nothing can separate us from His love. Not death, angels, demons, or anything we do, or anything done to us. And He will be there for us. A big part of Christmas was God is with us. He is with us to help us change from the inside out, to guide us and to help Joy and Hope grow in us. Tell Him what you want and need, ask Him to be that for you to save you and to be with you. 

There is much more I could say but I hope this all gives you something to think about. 

One more link to a message by the pastor of my church Bill Chaney. It’s Rekindling the Radical Spirit of Foursquare part ten- it should be highlighted. The message if 49 minutes long but he talks about Joy what produces it and how to keep it among other stuff. 

About Joy

Short Message on what Christmas is all about.

I'm a bit late with this but at least it's not the 25th yet.  :)

 Christmas is a time to celebrate the Love of God. 

He sent Jesus to be born and to live as a man for us because we needed it. His love transforms us. Parephrasing a certain song we are special in the arms of Jesus. No matter who are, have done, have not done or what people have done to us.

I believe the main reason Jesus went through all this: living and dying as a man, the teachings and miracles, physically raising from the dead, was so we can be right with God and go to heaven. We can’t be good enough we have to do it His Way. On top of that there are good things that come along with His Forgiveness. Like His Love and acceptance of us no matter what, as I referenced a moment ago. There’s also Peace that passes all understanding and Joy so great you can’t explain it. And Hope that is great because it’s based on what the Creator promised and is able to fulfill. All that is embodied in Christmas. 

All of us need His love and Forgiveness.

Even if you one of the few who really have it all together with very little if any emotional baggage and everything you do succeeds, you still need his forgiveness--at some time or another you will need his Peace even if it’s only when you die. 

The rest of us need His Love, acceptance, Mercy-Grace. 

So that is a short synopses of what Christmas is all about. A day to show God’s special unconditional Love for us all. And to show That God IS With US. He doesn’t hate us or turn his back on us. He sent Jesus as a baby to show us what He thinks of us.

New book by Lisa Shearin almost out

The Grendel Affair

New Urban Fantasy series by a great Fantasy writer. Her Raine Benares Books are well written, and Lisa invented an excited world to have her MC live in. Raine belongs to a well known pirate family yet has a magic ability so she uses it instead of swashbuckling. She has all types of unique adventures, some romance later. Lisa know well how to put her Main Character is types of danger and how to get her out again.  So read the series if you like Fantasy.

But her new book is different. As I said it's UF and this is a guy who works for an organization that protects ordinary folks of bad things that go bump in the night. I cant wit to get it in January.

Barnes and Noble link

Her Page about the book

Right Here

laura anne gilman--new shorter writings

Been meaning to post this for awhile but you can now buy two of Laura Anne Gilman's shorter stories in a new Cosa Nostradamus series. 

If you like her writing these are better than ever. 

I have stated for years that she might be the queen of Urban Fantasy. In this round of UF Jim Butcher is the King. He didn't invent it, that was decades ago, but I believe he is responsible for the popularity of as I said this round. Laura's first Cosa book Staying Dead about Wen, came out about the same time as Storm Front. I believe that her storyteller skills along with the character of Wren Valera also played a big part in the explosive growth of UF this time around. She has a second Cosa series about a very minor character in the Wren books. That one is very well done too even for reasons I'm not sure of, but one of which might be more personal, I don't think it's as well done as the Wren books. Still good and still very much worth reading but not quite the same.  

Which brings to these two stories. Novelettes actually. I was able to get copies-through a kickstarter deal-before they went on sale to the general public. I recently started the second one. They are about another minor character in the Wren books, and he made a guest appearance or two in the other series. And a relatively new character. These two deal with a detective agency so they might be considered part Noir. They involve mysteries, action, and a race against time.  

I believe these two could very well be her best writing yet. The detail, the descriptions, scenes and the characters, all combine with an excellent story To make a very entertaining tale--two tales that is. And hopefully soon a third and fourth etc.

She has written a other books in other worlds, include a new series about a cat and dog that evidently solve crimes. And edited a steampunk book. And one I just discovered with five stories set in the Cosa Nostradamus world. I couldn't find a table of contents so I don't know if the two stories I'm talking about are included or not. 

In either case get these stories they are Uber good, cool and any other pop statements for good.  One word of warning though. Some readers do not like more than one POV. These have two. But still very good writing.

Nook Books
One Story:
Miles To Go
Second story:
Promises To Keep
 Amazon:
Miles To Go
Promises To Keep

Writing update Nov 24

Okay, finally time for another writing update. Nov. 24 to be exact. 

First a word on my Indie project. Still stalled-probably stale too for that matter. The person who is suppose to be double checking it for Boulder Co stuff decided to check it for more--I may have said that last time--and now she has overtime and doesn’t have the time to work on it. (Rolls eyes heavenward) that makes the fourth or fifth person to have that problem. I may decide to cancel her work on it. And I may have changed my mind on spending the money on getting a pro cover drawn the way I want it. Dean Wesley Smith is holding an Online workshop on how to do pro covers. $300. That’s in Jan. If I can take it, it will save tons of money and maybe time, even if the cover isn’t quite what I want. Plus I can use that knowledge on the covers for my story sets. 

I have been writing a lot. One looong story at work. That one will be over 22,000 words. I haven’t done one even close to that long for a long time. Kinda of ironic with this one. It’s the sequel to a previous story. That story is just under 3,000 words. I believe I will write on more about this team of Steampunk Special Ops agents--maybe two--so I can get a word count of at least 33,000. I will then design a story set to sell all of them. I know what the third story will be about but I don’t think it will be enough to reach 33,000 words total. So one more very short story, probably between 1200 and 2200 words. 

Speaking of looong stories I am also working on another one at home. So far 17,000 words. It might reach 20,000 but I would be surprised if it ends up being 22,000 like the other one. This one is the sixth story about a certain Urban Fantasy hero I made up a while back. I changed his name twice but I think I have settled on Simon Sayz. That’s his known name and his painter name. He was born with a much longer one which he rarely uses. He’s kinda of based on Harry Dresden but with lots of changes so no one will think I copied him. And of course my own way of how “Magic” works. One difference is that he doesn’t have a car, second he went to a mage school disguised as a private high school, third is he has a girl friend already-someone who doesn’t know about his abilities. There is a Secondary world with elves, unicorns, dragons, and other fae beings but it’s not the same as never-never. Once I make sure I have seven stories--I still need a short one dealing with a guy Simon has to find and convince to be his apprentice. I introduced that character in a previous story so I would need to not let that just hang there. I have part of an idea for that one and hopefully it will be rather short. More than likely it will be the last story in the story set I plan on doing with these tales. 

  

On top of that I have one more story I started and will finish after I finish the Simon one. It too will be longer, even though maybe just over 10,000 words, and it too is part of a series. I think story six of seven but maybe story five. 

The Friday after Thanksgiving I will be home--maybe most of Thursday too. I hope to get another story set ready for E-publishing.  A series of short quirky tales. I also want to get one story ready to send out--maybe two. And of course write, maybe get a long way into my Q1 WotF story--due the last day of Dec. 

Speaking of that I am also working on that one. It’s one I hand wrote out at work on five by three notepaper pages. I have around 3500 words on it already, while translating it to computer I am changing things and even redoing some of the order of the scenes. I figure I’m maybe one fourth to one third done. 

Not doing good at sending out stories, I just keep forgetting or putting it off to write. Part  of that might be that I am getting tried of complete rejections. I say complete because, as I have mentioned before, some markets have more than one form rejection. F&SF does and Lightspeed does also. They may use pretty much the same forms. Beneath Ceaseless Skies usually gives one to three sentences of personal comments explaining why it was rejected--very rare--sometimes they say something encouraging...I hear. It’s the same with another market but I’m not sure which one that one is at the moment.  WotF gives out Honorable Mentions--Sliver HMs even though Dave Farland doesn’t seem to do them--Semi-finalists, Finalists and winners. So far Dave hasn’t though much of my writing even though I am doing better than the last Executive editor they had. 

Speaking of online Workshops--I was just a few minutes ago. There is another of Dean’s workshops I would love to take in Jan. Dealing with “Character Voice and Setting” . I think I am doing good with setting but I know I could use some help with character voice. I will have the money for one but I may have to convince my wife I have it for the second one too. If they are still both open by the time I do that.

By the time I get done with these three or so stories I am doing I may have like five or six story sets to Indie publish. Three will be stories in a series. 

Oh another thing I want to do with my time off is set up two of those story sets. I mean count the stories to make sure there are seven and decided which stories go where. I will still have to check for typos, misspellings, bad commas etc and revise two to four stories but at least I know what other tales I may need to write. Oh and redo parts of my Simon Sayz tales. For one I changed how the “magic” worked, for second, as I stated, I changed his name. I think there was something else that needed updating but can’t think of it right now. In either case I am getting anxious about getting those stories out there. 

My wife may have me doing things like decorating for Christmas and some shopping so we will see how much of all that I want to do, I will actually get done. 

Well, that’s it for now...unless I can remember what else I wanted to say. I believe last time there was a PS and there could be one or two PS-s again.

Casting Crowns Part Two

I should have thought of this when I did the original post on Casting Crowns but I guy I communicate with on Google + posted a link to a video of a band he loves and it hit me. I could do the same for Casting Crowns. I have a link to a web site that shows CCM videos so I figured it would be easy. They didn't have any CC videos WHAT?  However two steps later and I found this list.

So here are some of their song videos on YouTube on a page that looks to be sponsored by three groups. But there is an ad in the beginning of many of the videos or an ad on the bottom of the screen so you will have to watch them first.

Here is one of their latest:

Already There


One of the first ones that got me hooked on the group.

East To West

Praise You in This Storm

And the first song of theirs that caught my attention

Lifesong

And even though I had original thought four songs were enough I decided this next next one is powerful enough to be listed here.

Just Another Birthday