As I wrap up my post-surgical convalescence, I've been fortunate to find my name out there in a few places recently.
First my dear friend and fellow author Janine Spendlove posted my guest post on the levels of accuracy over at her blog. Hop over there to give it a read, then come back here and leave a comment. Or leave one both places.
Second, the wonderful blog The Kill Zone has a critique of the first page of Bastion: The Last Hope posted. It's a great read with many excellent points raised. I'm happy with the response and plan to take it all into consideration moving forward. Of course if you'd like to read the entire first chapter, just hop over to Bastion itself and have a look.
And lastly, I had my interview for the Local Author's program for our area cable channel. It will be airing in July so stay tuned for more!
Oh, by the by, I came through surgery quite well, and have all four of my wisdom teeth safely removed. Of course I scheduled an appointment only to remove two so there is still some story to be had here. I get the stitches out tomorrow and I'll be probably telling the full tale sometime next week.
The following is Cross Posted across all of my blogs: Fictional Omens, Mind the Thorns, and Bastion: The Last Hope.
So much to talk about and so much to write and to do and honestly no time for it all.
This is the end I want to make a public explanation of what's going on. As many of you know, my day job is teaching. This time of year is always incredibly challenging as the school year comes to a close, students seek extra last minute help, papers need to be graded, and life just has to wrap up. To this end I've just been unable to keep up with much of my writing.
Mind the Thorns has suffered a great deal from neglect of late, partly from timing, partly because of the nature of writing something reader-directed. Bastion has completely eaten up its buffer and while I love my blog, and I have plenty to comment on, there isn't time.
Officially, all web novels will return to regular posting on or around July 1.
Now, why the wait?
For Mind the Thorns, posting will resume much sooner than later. I just need time to sit down and write. Thankfully there's a plan in place I just need to keep pushing on.
For Bastion, I really need time to rebuild that buffer, collect videos from my cast, plan the next dozen chapters, and then be ready to write so that if I am forced to fall a little behind your regular updates aren't disrupted.
I appreciate the patience of all my readers as I push through this period and hope you all return at the beginning of July to engage in these projects.
You're sitting in the cafeteria when you see that one of the popular girls of the school is looking at you. She gets up and starts to walk towards you. She knows you exist. She is coming to say something to you. You are someone she has something to say to. Finally, the moment has come and you have a chance to tell her how beautiful she is, how much you love her laugh, and her smile and her hair and how she smells, and how she writes her sevens on the board in Algebra and how she crosses her T's in her poetry in English. Finally, you get to tell her everything because she's coming.
To. Talk. To. YOU.
Then she's there and she leans in close. She's going to whisper to you. OhGodsofKobal. She has a secret. You tense. You close your eyes.
"Your fly is open."
Yep. That was how my Saturday started when I got a lovely comment from the ever amazing Mary Janice Davidson pointing out that I'd mistyped the title of her novel Undead and Unwed. I saw that I had gotten a comment on the blog post a few weeks back about Charlaine Harris and Vampires and I had referenced a lovely blog entry that Davidson had posted on that topic.
And blown the title.
Which still upsets me because the Queen Betsy stories are such inspirations for my own writing, that bend of quirky characters, fish out of water themes, vampires, etc. Of course Regan didn't become obsessed with shoes until after she was a vampire but let's not quibble, shall we?
So... what's been up the last two weeks?
On Mind the Thorns
As I slide into my Summer hiatus, there has not been an update. See below for comments.
On Bastion: The Last Hope
Owing to the Memorial Day holiday there was no update but we did all contribute to a special thank you to our veterans, those lost in military service and their families.
At Home:
Well, it's that time of year. As I mentioned above, all of my writing properties are going on a short Summer Hiatus. Why is this, you ask, dear reader? Because final exams are the toughest time of the year for me. I'm absolutely swamped with papers, grading, finals, students asking for late work, extra credit, and a million other things. I just don't have the time to sit and write in the way I write best. So rather than kick out something half assed, I'm officially declaring all properties on hiatus until the first week of July. Then they'll return with their usual weekly or bi-weekly updates.
Also at home, Xander has completed his first year of Kindergarten (or nearly has). And that brings us to ...
The Weekly Video
This is a compilation of images and videos for my son over the last year as he finishes up his first year of school. It's amazing how fast the time goes.
