My latest short story "The Night the Lights Came On"

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Getting Back in the Saddle

Life has been nuts around here. Read a couple posts back for details. Since then everyone in my family has been sick including throwing up. Somehow I never threw up but I am still a little sick. I'm getting better.

Now I'm in a position to really crank out the fiction as my wife works her night shift at the hospital downtown. I will be writing like crazy. 

Here's what else I plan to do with my large amount of free time:

  • record episodes of the Pen Fights Gamepad podcast with Donal Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com
  • write short stories
  • write and draw a web comic with a full story arc
  • produce an acoustic album of my songs
  • play some video games
  • Mario Galaxy
  • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
  • Update this blog more often with updates on my projects

So that's where I'm at. Last night I beat the first planet on Mario Galaxy, getting the first 3 stars. It is super fun and I look forward to playing it again tonight. I forgot how great video games are at helping me wind down. I think I'll be able to write much better after turning off the Nintendo than straight after laying the kids down. Down time to take a breather from the busy day with Mario or Link - and then some creative time on my projects. That's my plan. I'm hoping to get a lot done. Like, maybe by this time next month the first draft of my novel will be done! Who knows? Keep an eye on my progress meter for The Truth About Zombies. First I have to finish my chapter by chapter outline. Then it's butt in chair hands on keyboard for me! I can't wait. Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

I'm 30 Years Old

I turned 30 today! This is very hard for me to believe. That said, I'm happy to be 30. I have a beautiful wife, who's also my best friend, and amazing kids! I'm so thankful for my family and my life. I am a blessed man. Let this be the year where I finally publish a novel! And a web comic! And an acoustic music E.P. with songs I wrote. That's the goal. Join me on my journey. Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

I've Been Away, I've Been Busy

Wow. I haven't posted anything in a very long time. I think it has something to do with the insanity that has been our lives the last couple weeks. My family had some friends from out of town stay with us at our house, we took a new foster child placement, and my wife started her new full time job. It has been nuts around here.

It was awesome to get to spend so much time with our friends from out of town. I wish they lived here so we could hang out with them all the time. They have great kids so having six kids in the house wasn't actually as stressful as I thought it would be. It was fun.

We had a little 3 year old foster guy a while ago but had to let him go - and now we have a 4 year old placement. He is a really sweet little boy and we're glad we have him. For more on that, listen to episode 14 of my podcast Fostering With Love. If you just want to listen now, here's the .mp3.

I've been getting in to work late and leaving early with my wife working fulltime during the day. It is only like this during her two week training period, then she'll be working nights after I get home. I'm not looking forward to seeing less of my wife during the week. I'm going to use this huge amount of free time to write a ton. I want to finish writing my current novel The Truth About Zombies, write a bunch of short stories, and draw and publish a web comic, and read a ton of books.

So for the next week things are going to remain pretty low key for me, but after that I'm going to be one productive dude. I'm planning on cranking fiction out like I've never been able to before. It will be an opportunity for me to get a lot of writing done and I plan on using it well. This will be the year I will publish my first full length novel! Oh yeah, in two days I turn 30! Last Friday I went to the shooting range with my dad, brother and a couple friends, then had more friends come over to my house and we played video games until midnight. It was a really fun time.

Now it is time to get to work writing that novel, and many other stories. Seems like a good year to publish my first novel - the year I turn 30. What do you think? Thanks for stopping by.