Weekly Omens 4/27/13

It's amazing how fast a week can shoot past you when you're worried about getting everything done by Friday.  You keep thinking "I'll have time tomorrow to get it done" and then all of a sudden you're at the end of the week going "How did I not get time to get that done?"

On Mind the Thorns:

Speaking of getting it done:  A new chapter is posted.

Sadly, the poll seems to be broken and votes appear to be vanishing out of it.  As of Wednesday there were two votes, now there are none.  It's making me wonder what's up there, and if I should be using an external polling plug-in, or requiring votes to be in the comments section.

On Bastion: The Last Hope

To set up the next chapter we get a flash forward and see what Gunny has to say about what it was like to get the first real instructions after the beginning of the end of days.  It was a lot of fun to write and as always my actresses deliver a top performance.

If you're a regular follower (and why wouldn't you be?) please note that we are going on a one week hiatus so my fact checkers have some time to review the chapter for military procedural errors.

On Fictional Omens

I took some time to muse on my role as an author in communicating politics and the like.  I found myself writing my own views on gun control into my characters and I took a few minutes this week to reflect on whether or not that's really fair.

At home:

We wrapped up the Walking Dead and moved on to Mad Men.  It's starting off very dour but maybe that's how the show just is and I let myself forget.  I also put in an order for white hair dye so I can cosplay Hershel at an upcoming Comic-Con.  That should be fun.

And.... your weekly video:

We went bowling.  I took videos.  Wackiness ensues.

Guns, Politics, and Writing

Image Courtesy Raw Data

As much as I have political opinions, I've always been leery of sharing them here because:  A)  I don't want to risk alienating possible fans (customers), B) I've got other venues to share them, and C) I really want to focus on my writing, methods, inside scoops and the like.

Once in a while these paths converge and they do so in an odd way allowing me the excuse to talk a little politics as well as talking about the writing process.

I'd been meaning to post this for a few weeks now, pretty much since I posted Chapter 11 over on Bastion, the one that focuses on the teen-aged daughter of a rugged suburban survivalist.  I did not entirely mean to get preachy in there but I realized that the more I re-read the chapter the more I had essentially worked in my own political views into the character's mind set.

Then this week, I learned of a related tragedy.

Weekly Omens 4/21/13

At work I've started Flipping my classroom.  That means that I send the students home with a list of videos to watch, and then when they walk in the next day we start right in on the "You Try" variety of problems.  It gets rid of the 30 minutes of silent note taking and moves that part of the class home.  That means that I need to plan my work days ahead of time and it's incredibly labor intensive on my end.  I've barely had time to breathe, let alone write and I'm seriously considering some hiatus time until I figure out my personal schedule.


On Mind the Thorns:

When this post is up I'm off to write the next update which will go live tonight.

On Bastion: The Last Hope

A new plot thread is started as we meet members of Action Team Easy, specifically Spice, the demolitions expert, Colt, the hothead, Probie, the rookie, and Sid, the new XO.

On Fictional Omens

I took some time to reflect on the fact that it's a little easier to write for Bastion than it is Mind the Thorns and I was promptly schooled by my fans for not updating Thorns more often.

At home:

Strep Throat for Kaylee and a case of being 5 for Xander.  Yep.  Tons o' fun.

And.... your weekly video:

There is nothing this man can't do.  And what he does do, he does with all his soul:

Bastion vs Thorns: Why Bastion is Winning

Well it finally happened, and I feel like I've somewhat arrived:

I got a complaint that I haven't updated Mind the Thorns.

That tells me a lot of things.  First it says that someone is actually reading it.  That rocks.  Second it says that someone reads it and cares enough to want to know what happens next.  That also rocks.  Lastly it means that not only do they want to know what happens, they also are willing to go out there and ~ask~ for more of it.

I really need to work on it.

However, since the launch of Bastion, it has only missed one update for Spring Break and is currently on pace to keep going without interruption.  The real issue is:  Why?

Weekly Omens 4/12/13

This week has been a curious one, with some odd bits of closure on certain fronts.  I'll do a dedicated post on it in the near future, but in the short term I'm more or less letting FantastiCon go where it will without a lot more dedicated promotion.  I have a lot of other awesome (and I think better) projects running and the fatigue of putting FantasiCon out there just isn't worth the returns.  Speaking of those other projects....


On Mind the Thorns:

Yes yes... over due.  Yes yes... we want to see that dress.

On Bastion: The Last Hope

Bastion returns from Spring Break with this video clip showing the mission briefing for Action Team Easy.  We haven't met the team yet, but we do know that they are shipping out to some point we've seen before.

On Fictional Omens

Things have been nutty crazy at work so I went to the archives again to pull out a post on what the world might be like once we get rid of the Terms "gay" and "lesbian" and we simply treat all relationships as just "relationships".

At home:

Redwings game.  Overtime.  Shoot out!  ANNNNNNNDDDDD...... we lost.

Then, because we didn't get into the stadium garage and I didn't know where else to park, we walked about a mile along the Detroit River, in the rain, back to the car.  Cold.  It was a rough way to end the night.  Sure I felt invigorated by the time we reached the car, but after the hour drive home, we were all ready to crash, and crash hard.

And.... your weekly video:

This is just a haunting rendition, and personally I like the lady's voices.

Repost: These are Terms that Do Not Exist

This is a repost from last year.  After watching the dust up over Gay Marriage in the Supreme Court and having read more than a few blogs discussing it, I thought it was worth sharing again:

Lately I've been playing a lot of Star Wars: The Old Republic.  It's scratching a lot of itches for me.  It's a solid WoW-Clone MMO with all the features you'd expect and a solid, reliable, and recognizable interface.  The story is top notch and if you play a Sith you get to have a rocking British Accent.  Unless you're undercover in which case you're supposed to sound like you're from the American Midwest.  Personally, I'd like to find that planet where you sound like you're from Boston*.

At any rate, I was looking up stuff on line related to a recent twist with my newbie operative when I came across a fascinating quote:

After a user expressed concern that Bioware had "disallowed" the use of the terms "gay" and "lesbian" on the boards in a thread titled "GLBT discrimination in forums?" a Bioware forum moderator dropped in and posted this: 

As I have stated before, these are terms that do not exist in Star Wars. 

Thread closed.

Weekly Omens 4/5/13

I really should get used to rejection by now.  Only I haven't.  And it still stinks.  A lot.  But I'm managing, I guess, to shoulder on.  As such this week has been a horribly boring week with it being spring break and things being quiet and non-action-y and I've been totally taking a break from everything.  So....


On Mind the Thorns:

Spring Break!

On Bastion: The Last Hope

More Spring Break!

On Fictional Omens

I did actually comment on the whole Adria Richards "thing" aka Dongle-gate.  Can I say that attaching the word "Gate" to things to make them controversies is one of the lamest yet most convenient things I've seen in a while?

The hard part about blogging about Dongle Gate is that so many people have already done it.  Like a lot.  It was kind of a trick to bring something new to the table.

At home:

Hmm.... yes.  Did I mention Spring break?

And.... your weekly video:

I forgot how much I miss going to Dragon Con and how much I wish I could actually make my own costumes for CosPlay....

Doing Something - The Twitter Option

I've found that the moment you realize that you "just have to do something" that rational thought seems to take a back seat equally as fast. When you see someone in the path of a car, you don't think "can I get to them in time?" That would be a rational thought. And it would involve doing a risk assessment, taking time, and possibly even finding yourself unable to act because of the delay.

No, we cast caution to the wind and we do something.

A few weeks ago a woman at a convention found herself in the exact same position. She had to Do Something and she had to Do It Now. And what she did had the kind of ripple effect of consequence that a fair comparison would be that of a nuclear bomb going off. First one atom splits, then those fragments strike two more, and then four, and then eight until you've burned off all of your fissible material and leveled a city.

In fact I've taken to calling what happened the "Nuclear Option" for that very reason.