Blog Archives
Daily Update: Some actual updates
Shin Splints: The front of my legs still hurts after I exert myself doing activities such as helping out at volleyball, wandering around the grocery store, helping out at volleyball, walking to my truck too quickly (I park in the street away from the living quarters), helping out at volleyball, going up and down the stairs too many times, helping out at volleyball. The plus side is it only hurts for a short time afterwards and not into the day after like it had been. This is making me happy though I’m not ready to try out my ‘land legs’ any time soon. I still have yet to get up to the gym at our complex, but I intend to start going very soon. Hopefully this weekend.
Sputtery Truck: The check engine light is still on. The registration is due, but I don’t have to smog it this year. I know why the light is on and it’s nothing critical that cannot wait at this point. I’m happy that each time I go out I can start it up and it doesn’t look like Spy Hunter with a billowing cloud of smoke pouring out the back end. This was usually followed up with it overheating and that hasn’t happened either. I’ve kept an eye on the fluid levels and all looks good. It’s on the road to recovery.
Action Pack: Currently I have Mike Plested’s audio. I’m waiting on Scott Roche’s and I need to record my own. I’ll be recording the promo as soon as I get the audio from Mike. We have the cover art for the ebook edition of the stories that will be available at Flying Island Press. I’m waiting on my friend who shall be known as Mike Lafayette to produce music for me. He will be out after the 25th and assures me that I’ll have music before then. This will be just in time to drop the first episode on the 29th. Nothing like cutting it close, eh?
Writing: I’ve been going at it slower than I’d like, but I am catching up to my annual goal. At one point I was 5000 words behind. I’m now less than 3000 and gaining ground with every word I type. I’m having fun with both my research and my writing. If I wasn’t having fun, I’d be putting projects aside. It’s great to see my word counts going up.
Getting Caught up with Friends: I hadn’t spoken with Kimi Alexandre or Jack Mangan in some time. Sure we’ve exchanged emails, but it’s nice to get on skype and just chat with online friends that you don’t get face time with. Online chatting will keep you caught up with some goings on, but there’s nothing like hearing another person’s voice to get caught up on everything.
My Favorite Daughter: If you haven’t guessed, it’s been a lot of volleyball. I’ve been helping out at practices and it’s really great to see how the team is starting to really mesh and play as a unit as opposed to individuals. All I can say is my kid rocks 🙂 but I may be biased.
Jack Kane: Edits are progressing on book 1 and plotting is progressing on book 2. Mike and I have been using Google Docs crazy and the more I use it, the more I like it. I’m sure there are a lot more features in there that we aren’t using, and as we find them, we’ll use them.
Scriviner: I’ve been using scriviner to edit Jack Kane. I’m really liking the interface and I can see now why so many writers rave about it. As soon as I’m able I’ll be buying a license for it and I’ll be moving all my works into the tools. I’ll also use any notes I put into scriviner up onto the wiki page I created and am currently not using. I do have every intention of getting everything up and in there.
MixZing: I’m still liking this music app on my tablet. I haven’t run into any issues and the ads only come up when I open the app and I can live with that. I have the widget on my homescreen and it works great for a shuffle and for playing entire albums. So far, no complaints other than the EQ will cause the tablet to lock up so I just don’t use it.
Work: Work is going GREAT! Frickin love my job. I’ve been doing a big mix of paperwork and documentation and a little bit of coding and I think this is what’s been slowing down my daily writing output, but the job does come first. It’s been a great start to the year with only a couple of unexpected bumps along the way, but nothing we can’t get past.
Sorry this is such a long post today.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Oscliations
So I’ve gone back and forth on a number of issues, but first.
I want to welcome all the new readers to the blog. I know you’re out there. I’ve seen the increase in traffic and thank you for the comments. I think you’re all awesome and I love each and every one of you. I mean, really, you’re great.
First issue that’s gone back and forth in my head is regarding sputtery truck. It’s pretty much dead at this point. Well, it’ll start, but only under duress. I’ve not turned it on for over a week and a half. The choice isn’t an easy one. Replace the head gasket and hope that nothing else has gone wrong that I’ll be replacing at a later time or replace the engine. Obviously one is more expensive than the other. After weighing all the options the wife and I decided that it’d be best to go ahead and spend the extra money to get a new engine. Head Gasket jobs cost around $1500. A good friend of mine found a person willing to do the entire engine job for $1900 (that includes the engine). With over 110,000 miles on the vehicle and overheating problems, it just seems like the best option at this time. It’ll hurt, but it’s needed.
The other thing I’ve been going back and forth with is getting back to walking. The pain in my lower legs has gone from annoying to excruciating. I’ve felt good one day, can’t walk down the stairs the next. It’s highly distracting. Suffice to say, I’ve not walked and the good thing is it’s bothering me not to walk. I know once this pain is gone (likely with the rain) I’ll be back out there, just slower. I’ve been doing weight workouts, but I know I need to do some cardio as well.
Writing has been going well. I’m still ahead of schedule with my word count for the year. That makes me happy. I should be ready to toss out the first short story in the Of Gnomes and Dwarves universe by the end of the week. I’m really excited about that. Dan Dan sent me the cover image. I’m SUPER excited about that, but you’ll have to wait a few more days before you get to see it. It’s awesome!
I keep listening to my music for the Action Pack podcast. I still love it. It’ll fit perfectly with the tone of the story.
Speaking of story, I’ve been going back and forth writing on To Fall From the Sky and Gold Rush (still a tentative title). I’m having a blast writing each.
Speaking of writing, tonight I meet with Mike Plested (and maybe Scott Roche) to talk Jack Kane (edits and sequel) and the Action Pack. Life is busy, exciting, and awesome! It takes a lot to get me down. I’ve been a little down, but watch out once I get this sputtery truck issue behind me.
Until tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Plowing through.
With the news of having a blown head gasket on sputtering truck and the expense of having to get it repaired coupled with the amount of money I’ve already put into the truck just to keep it going was a one-two I wasn’t prepared for. I let it get the better of me, but I let go long enough last night to knock out about 1500 words. It was difficult with everything gnawing away on my brain, but I wrote. I feel good about what I did write and I’m thinking I need to make some modifications. Not quite sure just yet.
To go along with sputter truck, I have pain in my legs I had through I was past. It took a few days, but shin splints are what I have now. What I had experienced before wasn’t like this. that pain was muscle pain from not working my legs in some time. The pain I have now is deep intense pain in the bone. It hurts to go up and down the stairs and I need to take a break from my walking until this pain subsides. I’ll also stop jogging until I get my legs in better shape to handle the stress. This was a case of too fast too soon. This is a little frustrating as I was so excited about jogging. Everything else about it felt good and I enjoyed getting out there. But for now, it’s resting my lower legs until the pain subsides.
I do still have my free weights so I’ll be doing something about my overall fitness. I also plan on starting 100 push-up and 200 sit-ups once again. I know I can’t just sit still anymore and expect my body to be alright.
Plotting for the Jack Kane sequel has begun. My writing partner, Mike Plested, and I plotted not only one, but three subsequent novels to take place in the Jack Kane universe. We could probably plan out a dozen, so for now 3 and 4 are just notations whereas we began delving deeper into what book 2 will be about. I can tell you this, I think 2 will be even more fun than 1. Speaking of book 1, I have it assembled in Scriviner for Windows. Hopefully this makes editing easier.
Mike and I also net with Scott Roche so I could give the two of them a hard time about not having their Action Pack works ready for next month. Of course they still have a lot of time, I just feel the need to give them crap about not being further along. Artwork and music are being prepared. The website is live, but in dire need of modifications. Hopefully in the next week or two that will happen. Excitement levels are still high for all of us, so look for good things.
Speaking of good things, I’d better get back at it.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Video Editing
Yesterday was a pretty good day for writing. I mostly did re-writing on a story that I have in the Of Gnomes and Dwarves universe, Kance Encounter. Although Kance isn’t one of the main characters in the series, he fills a needed role to help tell the history of world that leads up to where the rest of the characters will take over. Much of this history will be referenced throughout the series, but the short stories will help better define what has gone on before. I’m really excited to be doing these shots (one per month during 2012) and I’m even more excited to get back into the world that I first created when I decided I wanted to be a writer.
The roots of this story go all the way back to 1985/1986 when I played Dungeons and Dragons and these characters come to life. Actual writing didn’t begin until 1988 and, as I’ve chronicled before, didn’t get completed until 1998. The book suffered from many false starts and too many re-writes. I plan to do another re-write and this time I will be completely redoing the series as I’ve learned so much about writing.
On the walking front, I managed a good time yesterday with the new shoes. Shin splints are still happening, but are getting easier to deal with. I still want to go much faster, but still when I start to get moving a little faster than my legs want, the pain comes back. It’s more of a dull ache instead of a sharp stabbing pain so slowing down with a smaller stride still helps. I know it’ll take a few weeks before I can really move on my walk and if things go right, I’ll be able to start running in a few months. Oddly I’m looking forward to it.
I got my daughter’s video edited for her. The kid wrote the script and decided what needed to be shot. I just added the music and pieced it together. That took up a lot of my writing time over the weekend and I’ll be attacking this week with renewed vigor and a need to get caught up or even ahead of where I feel my writing should be at. I’ll post the video once I get approval from the kid and the parents of the others in the video.
Speaking of video, I learned a lot (well, enough to be dangerous) about video recording and editing. If I get bored I may start posting some video updates in place of blog posts. I had fun editing them and had a thought of recording Unorthodox Writing Tips as videos. Interested? Sound like fun? Leave me a comment. Let me know. I’ll see what I can do.
Time to get at it.
Until tomorrow
WOO WOO!
Ow! Just, ow!
Way back when I was in high school, I did Cross Country in the fall and Long Distance Track running in the summer and one year we even had Cross Country Skiing during the winter. I ran a lot. We usually ran six miles a day plus a hour of sprinting. On my better races I could do the three mile run in just under 18 minutes. I wasn’t the fastest on the team by any stretch, but I was quick enough.
So I went walking again yesterday. As I said before, my old friend shin splints were back in full force. It was incredibly painful. The first part of my walk takes me uphill and when I walk shorter distances I have a long stride. After doing some reading online it seems this is my problem.
I haven’t worked out in a few months and when I was working out before I had an elliptical trainer so I didn’t pick my feet up and put them down. I’m also walking on concrete. After what I read I’m doing a lot of damage to the muscle on the front of my legs. So after my walk and after reading this information I started stretching and doing some simple exercises to hopefully help with the problem. I really do want to walk every day.
Yesterday’s walk I had to stop several times due to the pain. It really was that bad. I tried to push myself forward, but my legs just weren’t having any of it. I turned around and headed back to the house. Even though I had stopped several times and didn’t feel like I had made it that far, I did1.65 miles in just over 24 minutes.
The worst part about that was I didn’t even work up a sweat. My pace was so slow due to the pain in the front of my legs and I stopped so many times that I didn’t feel like I got a good workout. I will, however, try again today.
I’m not a subscriber of the no pain, no gain. I understand weight lifting and know that motto and the stiffness involved with a good workout. This is highly different pain. This pain tells me I’m not doing myself any good. So today I’ll take smaller steps and likely go for a shorter distance. I still need to get better walking shoes. The ones I have are hard and didn’t help much.
On a positive note, I had a great writing day. I went to my daughter’s volleyball practice and stayed to watch her practice and talk with a couple of the other parents. I had brought my netbook and did intend to write, but once it was open the girls either started spike practice or serving practice. Each requires certain evasive skills. It was not an environment conducive to writing. I was still happy with yesterday’s output.
Today I strike out once again.
It felt good getting back to work. Today will see more productivity both at work and on the writing front. Speaking of which, I’d better get at it.
Until tomorrow.
WOO WOO!
J.R. Murdock 