Category Archives: Daily Update
Daily Update: Now where was I?
Between not sleeping well, sinus trouble, and a general brain cloud running between the hemispheres of my brain causing thoughts to to be muddled and difficult to handle, I’ve not been getting on well with the craft of writing. I’ve written far fewer words than I am capable of. I don’t like that and I need to change it. I need to change it right now. After this post I’m jumping in feet first and not looking back until I’ve done all I can.
That’s my plan at any rate. Next weekend is Easter and if I’m to hit my Lent goal I need a lot of words to make it. I’m way behind, but I still think I can pull this one out. Just need to put my mind to it. That’s what I plan on doing each night this week and next. Putting my mind to it and seeing where I am at the end.
The weather is looking clearer and so are my thoughts. I’m thankful for this. Ever since I posted about doing Of Gnomes and Dwarves my brain has been on fire! I don’t mean the oh I’m thinking happy thoughts and I have a general plot in mind. I mean ON FIRE! I’m remembering all those old ideas I had with some vague direction. I’m remembering everything about each character with plots, subplots, interwoven story lines. I mean everything! I had never forgotten about the story and I certainly never forgot about the characters.
Back in high school I played D&D. Now don’t roll your eyes that this is just another D&D story with random encounters and the like. I never lumped my story in with anything like that. I had a greater plan. I really did. Yes, I had dragons, yes, I had dungeons, and dwarven depths, and elves, and half-elves, and thieves, and a band of adventurers. I had all that, but I also had more than just that.
The first book is the story of how all the characters met. Chance Encounters (guess where I came up with the short story Kance Encounter). Each character also had a background story. Those are revealed in conversation but in the original writing it’s done in data dumps. I never liked them. I also didn’t like that nearly every character in my books was male. A lot of that will be changing with the re-writes and this is making the story have a totally different dimension.
The first character is Maus.
Yes, German for mouse. This is why the title of the series is Of Gnomes and Dwarves. A play on words. I used a lot of German words in the books whenever I had something Gnomish or Dwarvish to name. It helped during the writing and didn’t slow me down grasping for a name.
He’s a male dwarf that’s been horribly burned and scarred. The common folk don’t care for gnomes as it is, and this hideously ugly specimen gets a lot of unwanted attention.
He runs into Willie. Willie is an amnesiac dwarf. He loves a good fight. He loves to get the group into trouble and his memory is a constant distraction when he remembers something.
Slick is a half-elf thief. He’s never known his father and his mother abandoned him in the city when he was quite young.
This is the first key change in the original story. Slick is going to become a female helf-elf. When I first though about the party I knew I needed to change the dynamic and this was the first. When Maus and Willie run into slick, you’ll understand.
Reeg is a Paladin. Well, I don’t call him that in the story. He was annoying, pompous, and tried very hard to keep the party on the straight and narrow. Yeah, that happened a lot. Reeg will change only slightly, but he’ll still have his shiny armor and do-good attitude, but he’s going to have a very different past. This will be revealed in the short stories I’ll be putting out this year.
Dorg is Reeg’s brother and a mute healer. Having a mute healer was always funny to us, and he’ll remain that way. What’s changing about Dorg? His background. First he will become a she, and one of only a few female healers. During the finding (that’s what I’m going to call it) females have their tongues cut out so they may only heal and not perform spells that could harm a man. This will add a dimmension to Dorg that never existed before. The name will likely change as well. I haven’t put enough thought into that.
Finally there is Herminn. Ever party needs a wizard, right? The only trouble with Herminn is that in book two, when they meet him, he’s a great wizard. Okay, when you meet him you’ll know he’s more than just that. But a spell backfires and his mind is literally blown. The party, because of Reeg, can’t leave him behind so they pack up what they can and drag this wizard along.
I’ve written four books in this series and all of them are going to be 100% rewritten. I’ve got plot outlines for the books and I WILL have a great time revisiting this world and these characters.
I’ve looked over a character list for the entire series and wow have I got a lot of characters. I don’t have a cast of thousands like some stories do, but I have a lot of characters. Doing the re-write I’m sure that each book will grow and expand far beyond what they’re currently at. My writing has gotten better over the years and now I can finally tell the story I always intended to tell all along.
I hear you saying in the back of your mind “yeah yeah, it’s a D&D story. Nothing good ever comes from a gaming story.”
I give you V&A Shipping. I you haven’t yet listened, it’s there on the right or up top. This story was based on a game we played call Bulldogs and one of the inventors of the game sold the idea to a gaming company. It was a blast to play and nearly all of the characters you’ll run into were from the game we played. I only took the characters. I didn’t bring along character sheets, or inventories, or anything like that. I took the concept and ran with it.
That’s what I plan on doing with Of Gnomes and Dwarves. Have fun with it. Make it my own. Build the world to suit my needs, not borrow from D&D and use a pre-made world.
I’m getting more and more worked up just talking about it. There’ll be more to come. I can assure you of that. I’d better get started. I’ve got a lot to do!
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: A Great weekend.
During the week I spend a great deal of time sitting in front of the computer. I work all day on my laptop, and I’ll write during the evening on either the laptop, netbook, tablet, heck, sometimes even on my phone.
This weekend I wrote very little. Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day. I slept in a little bit and finally got off my behind and took a surfboard over to The Millican’s house. Let me explain what’s up with the surf board as I’m not a surfer, you might wonder what the heck I was doing with a board.
Last year My daughter, The Millican’s son and daughter, all graduated (okay, okay, progressed) from 8th to 9th grade. They completed middle-school. So there was a ceremony. The wife and I were on the committee for all the events leading up to the completion including setting up for the ceremony. As a group we had decided to do a Hawaiian theme. We had a cool backdrop for the stage, fake plants, tiki torches, a grass skirt for the the stage and finally surf boards.
The Millican and I (on his suggestion I might add) decided to look for used boards. They didn’t need to be in great shape because we were going to cut, sand, prime, and paint them. Once all that had been completed, stands were build and each of the three ‘teams’ at the school had their own board. One for UCLA, Excel, and Dream Team. The boards were painted by one of the other moms in the group and they looked awesome. I know I have a picture somewhere and I’ll point them at some point.
So all that was last year. Back in October, I think, one of the teachers at the middle school contacted the ‘other’ mom and I about doing another board. One of the teams had changed their name (Dream Team went back to the Aztecs) and they were wondering if we could make them a board.
*note: We had donated everything to the school so they could be re-used.
Of course the task was accepted. Sadly with everything in my life in flux, and the holidays, much time had passed and I’d almost forgotten about the surf board living in my garage. So with such a great day yesterday I hauled the board over to the Millican’s house and we cut off the fins and tow cord, scrapped off the old wax (Not sure if it was Mr. Zogg’s or not) and sanded it to rough it up. Them a couple coats of primer and it was over to the ‘other’ mom’s house for painting. Once she’s done I’ll pick it up, I’ll go to the middle-school to fetch the Dream Team stand, and I’ll (with the Millican’s help) mount the new board. I will post pictures. 🙂
After this one hour job was completed (in about 3-4 hours) I was pooped. I headed home, took a shower, and the wife and the Millican’s wife made some awesome fish tacos. With a full belly and the need to do something that wasn’t sitting in a movie theater, the Millican and I headed off to a local casino and played in the poker tournament. I busted out when the shoved all in from the small blind with Q 10 diamonds on a flop of J 9 7 (two diamonds). The big blind called with A 7 and the race was on. I had an open-ended straight draw and flush draw plus two over cards to his pair. I hit my 10 on the turn. It was looking good. I didn’t have to dodge much. The 7 on the river sucked big time.
There was some slot play. The wife and the Millican’s wife dropped off the girls at the movies and joined us for slots of fun. I headed back in to play some $1/$2 No Limit Hold ’em. I was up, I was down, I hit a few good hands, and after about 3 hours of play I was up around $20. Heck, I was happy I didn’t bust out. I took no bad beats, but I did make some bad chases that didn’t pan out and cost me more than they should have. I haven’t played in a long time and it was nice to see some action. I saw a few people at my table get felted and I managed to nearly felt one person (Felt: To take the last of a players chips leaving him nothing but the felt of the table under his/her hands).
Got home and to bed around midnight. Got up at 4:45am because my favorite daughter had a volleyball tournament. The girls didn’t wake up for the first games and lost the match by making a few too many mistakes. They redeemed themselves by showing up for the second match and winning 2 of three. The final match they played well. They lost the first game, won the second game, and had an 8 point lead on the final game at 12 – 13. They managed to lose 15-13. It was quite depressing, but they did play well for the most part.
My favorite daughter is sitting next to me working on a couple of assignments for school. I typed up a great essay for her (she wrote it, I just typed it) and now she’s working on props for a report on Artemis. The wife is helping a little with the artwork (painting what my favorite daughter drew) and my favorite daughter is working on the bow.
Me? I’m writing up about this great weekend and the moment I’m doing I’m going to jump back into My Teacher is a Werewolf. Yes, I’m way behind on my Lent goal, but hey, I really enjoyed my weekend. I’ve still got the poker bug, but I have a lot of writing I want to get done this year. So if I’m going to get it done, I’d better say…
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Bet you thought I forgot about you
Today was a long day spent out if the house. I slept in. Haven’t done that in a while. I also sanded down and primed a surfboard for painting. I will post more on that tomorrow.
I also went to the casino to play some poker. Lost a little in the slots after I busted out of the tournament. But I held my own during 1 / 2 no limit. I was up at one point but I will , again, post more details tomorrow.
I didn’t get any writing done today. Obviously. Next week will be a good week with some high numbers. I can feel it. Heck. Tomorrow might even be a high number day.
I’ve been meaning to record. I might do that tomorrow. I have three things I need to get done. I haven’t been slacking off. My sinuses had clogged up my head and ruined my melodious voice. Darn it.
Tomorrow I will also be getting up crazy early. My favorite daughter has a volleyball tournament tomorrow. One of these days I need to figure out this whole club thing. I am not sure of the team’s standings or even their record. I feel like a bad dad. I will let you know what I find out.
I had better get some sleep. Tomorrow’s post will also be a late one. Hopefully not as late as this one though.
Until Tomorrow!
Woo Woo!
Daily Update: Today is a good day.
Initially I was Sneezy and Grumpy. I took my Doc’s advice and was Dopey and Sleepy. What I really want it to be Happy. Heck, I’d even been glad to be Bashful.
Today is a good day. My sinuses are feeling a little relief. It’s dark, it’s a little chilly (I’m still wearing shorts and a t-shirt) and it looks like rain is on the horizon once again.
My nose, on the other hand (or would it be other face, hmm) is red, raw, and sore. My ears hurt from all the nose blowing. The residual headache is a bother, but hey, I’ll get over that. At least I don’t have a leaky nose. Well, not as much as it was.
Yesterday I wanted to go see my best friend’s daughter run track. She’s really good at the hurdles even though she’s only just begun. She’s got those crazy long legs. Being that I used to run track, I miss watching all the events. I will make it to at least one of her meets this season.
I also missed my favorite daughter’s volleyball practice. Hearing her talk about it, I missed a good practice. I will be practicing with her later today and a little tomorrow. She’s got a tournament on Sunday and I want her to be prepared. From what she told me, she will be.
I’ve wanted to record. I think I’ll do that tonight or perhaps tomorrow. I need to record the latest episode of Golden West for the Action Pack Podcast. I need to record my story for Tee and Pip. I need to record the promo for the Action Pack. Unfortunately with my head as congested as it is (was) it just wasn’t going to happen. Even though I had an awesomely low voice because of all the snoring I’ve done the past couple of days, I couldn’t make it though more than a few words without coughing. That would have been an editing nightmare.
On the plus side, I knocked out 2500 words yesterday. Most of that in My Teacher is a Werewolf. This will be the next story in the Teacher series. I need to come up with a good title for the series. Something like Unnatural Teachings or something like that. I’ll give it more thought. I plan on doing more of these stories. Why? Because they’re fun to write and I can get into the story quickly. This one might be a little longer than the first, but hey, I’m good with longer. I already like where the story is going and I’m confident I’ll plow through the first draft quickly.
If I’m lucky, I’m past that little sticking point. I didn’t like struggling to write words. I still wrote every day and I know why some people might not write while sick or when they don’t feel well. But I’m happy I did it. I worked through a difficult time and I have more words. Even if some days it was only a slight amount, it was still words I didn’t have before.
Speaking of words, I’ll be doing NaNoWriMo. That should be no surprise. But I found something called JuNoWriMo. It’s basically NaNoWriMo in June. I’ll do both this year. My goal right now is to work on Of Gnomes and Dwarves book 1 in June, edit it in July, and work on Book 2 in November, and edit it in December. Then I’ll release those in 2013. Possibly sooner depending on how I feel about where the stories are at. Each book currently is at around 60,000 words. Both I wrote very quickly on the first draft so I’ll use those plot outlines as a guide, but I’m going to completely re-write them both.
These were the first two books I’d ever written and they’re rough. Very rough. But when I’d written them I had a vision of where I wanted to go and I did just that. I will revisit the universe and this time I’ll keep a character list as I go as those books have a lot of characters and I’m sure I’ll get lost if I don’t keep track. Even typing up this paragraph I’m remembering how much fun it was to write those stories. Maybe I won’t wait for June. J
There’s a lot of writing still to come this year. I’d better get on it. So…
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Will it just rain already?
Sinus medication, nasal spray, rolls of toilet paper, boxes of tissue paper, paper towels, difficulty waking up.
Yes, these are things I’m struggling though right now. There’s a storm system trying to roll in and it’s really taking its time. With each passing day I just wish I could easily drain my head, but it’s not happening. The only thing that’s working for me is to take the serious medication which knocks me out and helps me sleep, but I have a hard time waking up. <grumble> So far I’ve gone through a roll of TP, a box of tissues, and a roll of paper towels. I’m a mess.
I have been writing, though. With My Teacher is a Zombie out there and doing well, I’ve gotten to work on the next in the series. My Teacher is a Werewolf. I sat down and banged out a good number of words last night. I had to help my favorite daughter with an essay that she mostly wrote on her own, but I was next to her for moral support. Until my meds kicked in and started nodding off.
Hopefully today will see some more words getting banged out. I’m tired and my brain isn’t firing on all cylinders. It’s part pressure from the fluid in my head and part medication for sinuses. But you can’t edit what you don’t write so no matter how awful the writing, I will continue to write through the suffering .It’s not easy and I think I’d rather be pulling my own teeth at times, but I’m getting words out. We’ll see how it goes.
Work, on the other hand, is going great. Even with limited focus I’m still getting further along with the project I’m working on. It’s nice to be ahead of schedule and be able to muddle through a day with limited success knowing that better days are ahead. I’m happy with the progress and even though I’ve a lot to do, I’m happy with what’s done already.
I wish I had more to say. I probably do but my brain won’t let me do any more. So…
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Where’s my head at?
I wish someone would answer that one for me. My brain has been all over the place. I’ve had restless nights’ sleep. I’ve woken up the past couple of nights with the blanket wrapped around my legs and pillows on the floor. Despite waking up several times my dreams have obviously been tormenting me. Oddly I can’t even recall these dreams apart from trying to escape from something or someone. I wish I knew why.
I used to be able to blame my odd dreams on eating right before bed. Or perhaps my musical selection (I like to fall asleep with headphones on).
Speaking of which, MixZing has a cool sleep timer that turns off after a set amount of time. I usually set it for 30 minutes.
I wonder if my weird dreams have to with with switching from Metallica as my bedtime music to Joe Satriani. Hmmm. I’ll have to try something else tonight and see what happens.
So my productivity has been way off these past couple of days. Putting down 1000 words has been a struggle (except for these blog posts which just seem to fall out of my head). I’m not stuck in my story. Quite the opposite. I’m having a blast getting my characters into position to be threatened with death and dismemberment. But once I put my hands on the keyboard all I can think about it anything other than the story.
So I type anyway. I usually get moving and get distracted and then have to sit down and try again. There’s been a lot going on since I got back from Up North. This weekend my favorite daughter has a volleyball tournament. I should still be able to get myself into flow and knock out a good amount of words. Tonight she doesn’t have practice, but we’ve got our tax appointment. I guess I should get my documents together.
I’ve also got a lot going on. Many projects in fact. I need to record my story for Tee and Pip. I need to record my episode for the Action Pack. I need to get recordings from Mike and Scott so I can start piecing it all together. There’s plotting on Jack Kane I need to get on. Editing of Jack Kane that’s going well, but slower than I’d like. And of course I’ve got my writing goal that I’m watching slip further and further behind each day.
I feel like I should take a day off and just pound away on the keyboard and see where I end up at the end of the day.Hmm. Maybe, maybe not.
So yeah, there’s a lot going on. I need to get my head straight. Write down a priority list, and start knocking things off that list.
On the happier side, I’ve gotten a couple of stories out there. I got a review for My Teacher is a Zombie. The person wasn’t able to download straight to the kindle so I’m not sure why they commented about that rather than ask for help. Heck, I would have emailed it to the person if they’d asked. I’ve got all my contact info there. I am happy that I’ve had several free downloads and several people have bought a copy. I set the option for ‘set your own price’ so people can pay what they like (even get it for free). It just makes me happy to see people download it.
I’ve got a few more stories in the wings. I’m waiting on either editing or covers. As soon as I get those two I’ll put those stories together and get them up on smashwords and everywhere else. It’s been fun getting them out. I was planning on one per month, but I think I’ll just get them out as I get them out and see where we sit at the end of the year.
I’ve got many words I need to write. I guess I should get back at doing that. First I need to finish out the day job, then I’ll write, do my taxes, and write some more.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Let’s get serious for a minute
There comes a time in every person’s life where they must begin to understand their limitations. A time for reflection and deeper understand of one’s self. A time when…
Wait, where was I?
Oh yeah, so I mentioned the other day I was helping my favorite daughter and her friends shoot a video. The video was for a project. I helped with the acting by dying twice, getting dipped in ketchup, and rolling in the wet grass more times than I would have liked. I was also the only one to do a ‘costume change’ because of the aforementioned ketchup dipping. Want to see what the final product looked like?
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
In happier news, Kance Encounter is available everywhere. You can name your own price over at smashwords (even if you want it for free). It’s .99 everywhere else. Same goes for My Teacher is a Zombie! That’s right, Dan Dan the Art man did an awesome cover for me and I’m all kinda excited about getting that one out there. Check either of them out, let me know what you think. Here’s the link to my author page where you can see all my smashwords titles.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jrmurdock
You can also pick up the titles from Amazon or B&N.
If you hit the Amazon of B&N link look for me as some of the titles in the search aren’t me. It’s funny some of the titles that actually show up.
My Teacher is a Zombie is getting a lot of hits, very few sales. I’ll let you know if that picks up. I’m just excited to get that one out there. I’ll be doing more in the series so let me know what you think.
You’re still thinking about that video, aren’t you?
Work has been crazy busy. Taking lunch to type this up. Things won’t be slowing down any time soon either. Ah well.
Writing has been difficult. I’ve got a scratchy throat. Not sure where it came from but I hope it goes back there. It’s made breathing painful and swallowing unbearable. It’s an annoyance that I don’t need and it’s kept me from getting down as many words as I’d like. That combined with many personal things to deal with (shooting the video, the editing, special effects, sound, etc) and getting my favorite daughter registered early for her classes next year. There have been a lot of distractions. I’ve still managed to get a good number of words down, but far less than I’d hoped. I’m falling further and further behind on my Lent goal. I think I’m at 82% of my goal to date. I’ll have to work on getting that number back up.
Even with being down on my Lent goal, I’m still 10 days ahead of my annual goal. Perhaps I’ll get a big block of time to really knock some words out, now that I’ve got that video edited and all.
Ok, ok, you keep bringing up that video. Here it is.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: More Rain
I actually enjoy gray days and a good strong rain. Yesterday it was hail, today it’s just a steady drizzle. Last night we did have a couple blasts that work me up. My throat is killing me so I must’ve rolled onto my back and been the old man snoring. I’d say get off my lawn but there’s no one out and about (at least not walking) in this rain.
I’m not sure why, but the mood to write (fiction) hasn’t struck me. I did force myself to sit down and write and got out a good 800 words. It’s hard to write when you just aren’t feeling it and by golly last night I wasn’t feeling it. Those 800 words happened around 9:30PM and I was pretty much done by 10PM. I had intended to write much longer, but it just didn’t happen.
I did, however, go into twitter and clear out some people I was following. Most hadn’t posted in twitter for over a year (if at all) and quite a number weren’t following me back. Some were celebs who had millions of followers, but did very little posting. They just don’t get this social media thing so why follow them? It was pretty cool to look back through my list and I’m guessing it was listed in the order I began following people. I cleared out about 200 people and promptly found another 100 or so to follow. I’m nearly back up to my limit.
Going through all those followers/following in twitter reminded me that I’ve all but abandoned FaceBook. It still appears to be as busy as it ever was, just without me. I’ve missed it a little bit, but I’ve been crazy busy with writing. I haven’t even thought about FamrVille until I started writing about facebook. Kinda funny. Perhaps I’ll get back over there sooner or later.
Even though I’ve not been writing I’ve been busy with other things. I’ve gotten Kance Encounter up and available on Smashwords. Head on over there if you need a does of fantasy. I WILL be writing other stories in this same universe so be on the lookout for those.
Oh, speaking of works, Don’t Eat the Bread has a cover and will be available soon. I’m working on the edits for that and hopefully it’ll be out next week. Dan Dan the Art Man is also busy working on the cover for My Teacher is a Zombie. It’ll be fun to get that one out there as well. I have many more stories to tell and that I want to get out there. I’ve gotten some great reviews on the ones I’ve put up so far, so I don’t see myself stopping any time soon.
I’ve been having a blast using Scrivener. So much in fact that at first I was a writing fiend with it, now I’m a little distracted by it. It’s not that it’s a bad tool. Quite the opposite. I’m busy looking at all the bells and whistles and having a blast organizing all my works. Between spending a little time on learning Scrivener and a little time messing around with my word count spread sheet, I’ve gotten less writing done than I should. That all should change tonight. I just need to sit down and get cracking!
Speaking about getting cracking!
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: This weather is trying to kill me
It rained on and off all night. Not just a light little rain like we normally get. This was LOUD pounding rain. We don’t normally get that. We usually get this long drizzle that goes on for days with spurts of more intense rain. It woke me up several times. By 6am the sun had started to come out, so I woke up and read for a little while.
Then it decided to start raining again. I had to go pick up my favorite daughter from her friend’s house. As soon as I stepped outside it started to rain. <sigh>. I picked her up and got her home so she could get ready for practice. Today she had a 1 hour private lesson before the 2 hour practice. I like to stay at her practice and watch and help out where I can.
Of course as soon as we stepped outside it decided to hail, again. As soon as we got into the car, it stopped. As soon as we got to the school and out of the car, it started raining, then hailing. <sigh>
Yes, it’s been on and off all day. Lots of little hail that’s melted almost as soon as it hit the ground. It did stop for a while, but I’m sure it’ll start again. Thankfully I’ve stayed well medicated and it hasn’t attacked my sinuses to the degree it normally does.
During practice I was ‘shagging’ balls. I stood with two balls in between courts. And what happens? One of the girls from the other court nails me in the side with a ball! So of course I had to dramatically fall to the ground. There was much laughter. I sprang up, said “I’m okay, I’m okay. Who hit that ball?” Again, much laughter and I returned the balls to the bin and continued ‘shagging’
My favorite daughter just interrupted the typing of this post. There’s a place next door to the Rancho Market and Bakery that just opened. It’s called Pistachio Sweets. They’d had a sign up for the last 7 months. We were on our way to get some baklava and what do you know! After 7 months they finally opened Pistachios! WOO WOO!
It’s the same owner as the Rancho Market and Bakery so it has the same awesome baklava, but they’ve also got ice cream, and other baked goods. OMG! Fricken awesome. I couldn’t believe how good everything is. I would have bought a lot more, but hey, I’ll be going back that’s for sure.
Ok, where was I?
Kance Encounter. Remember when I started talking about this title? Well, I finally got it up and online. It’s over at smashwords. Head on over and grab yourself a copy. Dan Dan the Art Man did the great cover for the story. I’ll be doing more in the same universe this year. I had intended to do one per month this year, but I’ve gotten a little sidetracked with other projects. I’m still going to put out more stories in this universe and I’m also going to work on the re-writes for Of Gnomes and Dwarves. More will be coming. Just you wait and see.
Speaking of getting more out, I’d better get on that. I’m behind on my Lent goal and I have a lot of words to write.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: When it rains it pours
It’s a little damp in San Diego today. It rained while I was in San Fracisco, now it’s raining at home. Oddly it rained up North it hit me and hit me HARD. Back home I took the good medicine last night. Sorta wiped me out, made me a little groggy. My head wasn’t in the game. That happens. I’ll get over it.
Unfortunately it’s affected my word count a little bit. I’m falling behind on my Lent goal. Ah well. I will do what I can to catch up. I’m still 11 days ahead of my annual goal so I’m not overly concerned. I’m pounding out words and I will keep at it on a daily basis.
I got approval for my final script for my MoPO story. The next keyword from the Tee and Pip podcast was “Jungles of China”. Oh yeah, I’m a tease. Final approval means I get to record. Being that it’s raining (not just a little rain but HARD rain) means I won’t get that done today. I’d love to record, but the rain would provide way too much background noise. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
I also need to record another Unorthodox Writing Tips for Mike Plested’s Get Published. We talked during the week and there is no hurry for it, but he’d like to have one handy just in case. I’ll keep writing them. Oh yes I will. Someone is getting benefit from them I’m sure. It’d be nice to hear from anyone, but I’ll keep writing them all the same.
My favorite daughter had a volleyball clinic today. This one was with the varisy coach from her school. Many girls showed up to this one unlike the last clinic. They walk through some very basic things which is good for the girls in my daughter’s group who’ve been playing for a while, but haven’t had those simple things explained.
Speaking of my favorite daughter, she convined a couple others in her class to read Astel. Maybe you heard about this book? I self-pubed it last year. It’s still out there and I sell a copy or twoa month. Not a lot, but hey, I’m happy.
Anyway, they had to do a project around the book and they decided to shoot a video. Today. In the rain. <sigh> So at two different points I had ketchup on me (simulated blood) and I got hit by lightning (I’ll have to edit that in) and fell onto the wet ground. So I smelled like a wet dog dipped in ketchup for a short time, but the video came out pretty good. I’ll post it to youtube at some point as they need it online to be able to show the class. We did each scene multiple times and there are some effects I’ll need to figure out how to add. If you’re a wiz with video editing and have a little time and would like to help, I’d love to hear from you 🙂
I may do a segment soon where I review not books, but authors. I’ve had contact with many authors over the years and it’d be nice to put something like that out. Not just reviewing their works, but my overall impression of the person. I started a list and I’m not sure how long it would run, but it could be a fun thing to start. I just don’t want it to come off as me blowing smoke up people’s arses. I’ll have to let that idea stew for a while and see where it goes.
I’m about to head back into the rain. Wish me luck! It’s supposed to keep going into tomorrow and possibly Monday. We needed the rain so I don’t mind. I just don’t like going out into it. Ah well.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
J.R. Murdock 