J.R. Murdock

Hey Crew,

I didn’t even watch TV today except when I was working out. GAR! I swear life likes to eat away little by little at the free time I do have. I did, however, still get a few hundred words done and I plan on getting that as close to 1000 as I can as soon as I post this.

Whole lotta litle things just ate into my afternoon. Little carry over from work, did my workout, helped the Mrs. with a couple of tasks for work and we did a couple things for our Favorite Daughter. I just sat down to write about 15 minutes ago and still trying to clear my head. Thought I’d write this and get back at it.

NO EXCUSES! I’m not asleep yet, therefore there is still time to write.

Speaking of writing, I’m going to do that. Jaspy needs to face off with Loki. So much fun. Time for a fight scene, methinks.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Brain is totally fried today. If you read yesterday’s post, you saw we had coyotes in the area. Because of that, I locked the doggie door. Because of that, the dogs, who can normally let themselves in and out and don’t usually go out in the middle of the night, decided they needed to eat at midnight, cry at the back door at 1am, 2am, 3:30am, and 4am. So, needless to say, the dogs slept all day while I had to work.

I did, however, workout, met with my weekly writing group, watched Big Brother with the Mrs., Beta read a novella for a close, personal friend of mine, and wrote a few hundred words. I didn’t write early in the morning as I’d intended due to the fact I could barely keep my eyes open.

Tomorrow is another day. I will give the early morning writing another go tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll have better luck tomorrow.

Words are still words. I’ll take any day I get words down over any day I don’t. I’m off to get a full night’s sleep.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Weird day today.

I took a partial day off from work to spend time at the Grossmont School DisctictAdvisory Board meeting. I’m invited every year since I work in a technical field and My Favorite Daugther went to a school in the Grossmont district. It’s a fun time and I learn a lot about what’s happening in the district and get to offer feedback and advice.

My plan, when I got home, was to practice a little bass, and write. First, though, I was hungry and decided to make some food. I ate, watched a little news. I have no idea how much because I promptly fell asleep.

When I woke up, I didn’t feel right, so I did a little cleaning around the house, picked up after the dogs, watered the plants.

The Mrs. got home and we talked for a bit. Then I plugged in and practiced for a little bit. Learning a couple new songs and trying to increase the complexity of the songs I’m playing. You can only play The Ramones and the Misfits for so long 🙂

After that, there was a pack of coyotes in the neighborhood so I went outside to make sure all was alright. They were over the hill, but close enough to the house to make me nervous for the puppies. So I walked them and closed the doggie door.

Then my favorite daughter finally got home. We talked with her for a bit. I shared with her some news from her teacher from High School. Walked the dogs again, and realized I’d let the day get away from me.

I did write! I wrote a few hundred words, but I did write.

I know, I know. Writers write. Write, write, write, read, read, read. I did my reading in the morning and I might be shifting to doing my writing in the morning since the evenings seem to get away from me.

I’m working on it and keeping mental notes of what’s distracting me. I will give it a go with writing first thing in the morning and we’ll see what happens. I’ve got characters rolling around in my head demanding to get out. I need to do that.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Happy Monday.

As Monday’s go, this one wasn’t so bad. Did the day job, ran a few errands including grabbing some groceries. Dinner and then I was going to do some writing.

Let me just say this. Bad habits are easy to form and difficult to break. Good habits are hard to form and easy to break.

Eating dinner, I got sucked into watching the news. I’ve become a news junkie. With what’s happening in the world, it’s easy to fall into this trap and get sucked in. I was going to watch something I had recorded as to limit my TV viewing time, but I didn’t have anything recorded. <sigh>

So I watched far more TV than intended. I’m working on it, though. Why?

Cuz I sat down and bashed out 1000 words in about 20 minutes. That’s why. The story is starting to flow again. I knew it’d take a couple of days for the dam to break and tonight, it did.

Now I’m upset with myself for sitting in front of the idiot box for as long as I did. <grumble>.

I’m working on it. I know that sitting in front of the TV is easy. Requires no effort. It’s good to stay informed, but it is far too easy to just stay put and not get anything done.

To that point, getting myself to start writing again, I can come up with 1000 excuses not to write. Not to do this blog every day. Not to get things accomplished I want to accomplish. Sitting and writing will become a habit once more. I know the more time I spend sitting in this chair and typing words, the more I’ll write and the more I’ll want to write. I totally get that.

It’s just so easy to sit and not do that.

As I said, I’m working on it. More words will happen tomorrow. I’m going to peck away at the keyboard for a bit longer and finish the scene I’m currently working on. I’ve already got this cliffhanger planned. Can’t wait to dip into the next chapter. <grin>

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Sundays are family day. We usually head over to my Father-In-Law’s house and much of my wife’s family will go there as well. On hotter days, we’ll end up in the pool. On regular days, like today, I’ll watch sports with my father-in-law. He’s very into Baseball and Football. Thanks to him, I’ve learned a lot about the sports over the years. He’s a wealth of knowledge and any time I’ve got a question, he’s there to answer.

Growing up, my brother did the same with our grandfather. I wasn’t into sports in any way. My brother would spend hours watching any sport with my grandfather. It’s nice, now that we’re grown, that we have something in common to talk about, both of us having learned from another generation.

Not that I need something to talk to my brother about, but it’s fun to talk with him about something he’s passionate about. Having conversations with him has given me another perspective to talk with my father-in-law. So, I cherish both relationships and use them to enhance my relationship with the other.

I do the same with my writing. I’ve learned a lot over the years. Regardless of how much I’ve learned, I have so much more to learn. I value every relationship with any writer I know. It doesn’t matter if they’re starting out and asking me for advice or if they’ve been writing for decades. Both have a lot. It’s a matter of perspective. Any conversation is a chance to learn.

Simply to say, the day was lazy, relaxing, and I didn’t spend much time in the chair. I did, however, get roughly another 1000 words knocked out. Tomorrow is another day to get my speed up. I’m happy with the words I got down today. I’m happy with any day I get words written. For now, it’s time to go to bed.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Overcoming inertia is difficult. I know it’s all in my head, but it’s a lot like exercising again after a long time. A little effort is stressful.

That said, I spent about an hour writing today, though I had wanted to spend far longer. I got just over 1000 words knocked out and I’m happy with how it’s flowing. I’m still having to refer to my character list to make sure I’m not leaving anyone behind. I’d hate for someone to disappear mid-book. 🙂

That said, the best-laid plans are usually doomed. As it was today. I had planned to spend as much time as possible sitting and writing. The Mrs and I, instead, did a number of things around the house and I helped her with some of the studying she needs to do to prepare for her job. That ate into the day and into the night.

Tomorrow is another day. I’m not going to beat myself up. Progress is progress and I now have 1000 more words than I did yesterday. I can feel the dam starting to break. The words want to come out. I’m excited about this book. I know, in general, where it’s headed, but I still have many twists and turns coming.

That said, I love leaving chapter endings as cliffhangers. I do this for two reasons. One is to suck the reader into reading another chapter. But the main reason is for me. I like to have a stopping point, but a good starting point is after dropping that cliffhanger. Tomorrow, when I cycle back through what I wrote tonight, I’ll hit that same cliffhanger and it’s a great jumping off point to start my writing.

So many words ahead of me. I’m setting goals in my mind for the remainder of the year. Once I have those firm in my head, I’ll let you know what they are. yes, it’ll be a challenge, but what’s the fun if you’re not pushing yourself? The biggest one will be not only doing this blog every single day. The other will be putting words down in a book every single day. The question I need to ask is, how many do I think I can do every day? I’ve a lot of books I want to write and they ain’t going to write themselves. If my goal is too light, I fear they won’t get done as quickly as I would like.

We shall see. At the moment, I’m just getting going again. 1000 words is a good start, but I’m capable of so much more. Last year I wrote nearly 3000 words a day for an entire month. Honestly, it didn’t feel that difficult. Might be a good goal to see if I can do that through the rest of this year. We shall see. We shall see.

Before I run, I wanted to say ‘thank you’ to all those who’ve kept up with the blog and have stopped by to say ‘hi’ and ‘welcome back’ and encourage me onward. You words mean a lot to me and your encouragement does wonders for my self-confidence.

I’m off to get some rest because a tired brain makes for a weary writer.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

I won’t lie. It feels strange to be typing words once again. After a little more than a year, it’s difficult. Much like doing anything else; once you stop, it’s a challenge to overcome that initial inertia. I’m confident these writing sessions will become easier in the coming days and I’ll be up to much faster speeds.

Will I be writing at the pace I was before I stopped? We shall see.

Right now I’m suffering from a bit of imposter syndrome. I’ve read through 6 books (mostly skimming 5 and an intense reading of the last work I did before stopping). It’s strange to intimidate myself. I have a slight disconnect with these words. So I almost feel as if I’m getting back into someone else’s book and adding words to their novel, not my own.

Silly, I know. Again, this will fade as I get deeper into this book and get it completed. I need the characters to talk to me once more and they’re being resistant. Slackers. I need to give them a little nudge.

There’s also the fact that I did a critical read-through and looked for any point I needed going forward. I saw all the warts and cleaned them up as I came across them. Now I’m trying to shift my brain into writer mode and just let my fingers do the work instead of my brain. It’s not an easy shift.

Again, time is all I need.

The other thing I need to do is to clear distractions. I spent some time on FaceBook and got distracted by a couple of friends who are still…well, let’s just say I disagree with their rabid views. Sadly, I had to mute them so my feed isn’t cluttered with their borderline hate speech. I won’t get political here. I have friends who have different views than I do and we get along great. But there are others that take it way WAY too far. So far I’ve blocked, unfriended, or muted a dozen people. A thankfully small portion of those I follow. It’s just difficult when you read something hateful, get worked up, and then sit to write.

I’m here to write a story people can escape into. I don’t want hatred to invade my work. I also want to keep out my views on politics and religion. Yes, there are religion and politics in my works, but I don’t get religious or political.

I digress. Needless to say, I need to spend less time on FaceBook and less time watching the news. Those two items are eating up lots of time I could be spending writing. It’ll be a process of cutting back on one and dialing up on the other. I’ll get there. Honest.

At least I did get some new words done tonight and tomorrow, I’ll get more words done. When I actually get up to speed, I’ll start posting word counts. As of now, when I’m just around 500 new words, I don’t feel like posting word counts 🙂 Oops, guess I kinda, sorta did. Ah well. I’m off to bed.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

The read-through of Almost-Super Heroes 2 is done. I’m excited for many reasons. I had added in some twists and turns that I’d somewhat remembered, but not all the details. This is why I needed to re-read the entire thing. I put it down over a year ago. I will be pounding through to the ending now so I can get to work on other books. So very thrilled with where this book is going.

When I had stopped writing on ASH2, I felt a little down about it. Not sure why now that I’ve re-read it. I had thought some characters had fallen through the cracks, but they hadn’t. Lots of foreshadowing in the early parts of the book that will come to light by the end. It’s weird how my brain works.

I’m still tossing back and forth over which book to write next. I had had an idea about how to number these books since they all should be read in a certain order. I’ve been trying to figure out how to number the books, yet have each series numbered. Here’s what I’m thinking.

We’ve got V&A Shipping, Giant Robot Planetary Competition, and Almost-Super Heroes. Finally, there is an, as of now, unnamed Military Sci-Fi Trilogy that will be coming out. All fall into this same universe. What ties them all together?

The Galactic Central Point.

So…each series will have its own numbering sequence. V&A 1-4, GRPC 1-4, ASH 1-4, and the Military Sci-Fi Trilogy. Fifteen books in all for an entire arc. Those books can be read on their own without the other books and you’ll get a complete story within each book and a longer story through that particular series. BUT! Together, they all tell an even bigger story under the GCP banner. So when the entire story arc is complete, we’ll have GCP 1-15  to let the readers know there are other books they might want to look at if they’d like to explore more of the universe.

I’ll be working with my Favorite Daughter to come up with the covers so you’ll know which books are in which series based on the cover, yet have an element and numbering that’ll tell you the preferred reading order for the entire run. Make sense?

Hopefully, it will all make sense when I start dropping books. I’d love to hear what you think. This is a big undertaking, and I’m chomping at the bit to get it all going. Hopefully, you’ll all stick around for the ride. It’s going to go fast for me. A month seems like a long time until you put things on a timetable. Then it gets nerve-wracking.

Until Next Time!

Stray Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Short post tonight. Been a few early mornings and late nights. Jay is pooped. So rather than post anything long, just going to leave this here. Expect much more from me tomorrow.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

So I had one person reach out to me asking why I wasn’t posting anymore and prompting me to keep posting. I let the individual know I was posting daily, I just wasn’t posting to FaceBook because I didn’t want to clutter up people’s feed unless there was a good reason (like I finished a book, or published a book, was putting on a sale, those types of things).

So I am posting these to Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. I’m not overly concerned with cluttering up those feeds. There’s also the fact those all auto-post and FaceBook is manual, but regardless, don’t want people not following me on FB because I’m just noise.

Anyway, progress. That’s where you’re here and why I’m typing these up every day.

Almost! So close! Couple chapters left in the slow, deliberate re-read of Almost-Super Heroes 2. I’m loving Zeuscles and Jaspy again (my two POV characters). Loving the rest of the cast and crew. Things are about to go boom so once I finish this re-read, it’ll be full speed ahead until the end of this book. Yes, I skipped ahead to the last chapter I’d written and there will be one or two more chapters of build-up before things go haywire. Things haven’t been smooth thus far, and they’re only going to get worse. This is the part of the story I love. Painting the characters into a corner and having them figure a way out.

It’ll be a hoot.

So, short post tonight. Let me know if you’d like to see other things in here. I read a lot of blogs, webcomics, books, comics, listen to podcasts, follow multiple authors. I won’t do actual reviews. I got tired of seeing my reviews disappear off Amazon so I rarely review anything anymore, but I can always fill you in on what I’m reading, who I backed on Kickstarter, who I back on Patreon. Those types of things. If you’re curious.

Let me know.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!