Time Is Faster in the Past

Posted on June 14, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

This is going to be a rant, but I don’t know how long how it will be.  It comes from hearing so many people talk about the passage of time.  Specifically, in relation to teenagers while the speakers are adults.  I’ll admit that I’m guilty of thinking this way in the past, but I’m trying to change my perspective.

So, the statements that triggers this thought revolve around teenagers dealing with hard situations.  It can range from minor to major, but I’ve found most adults talk about how their teen years will go faster.  When you look back, it does feel like they were gone in the blink of an eye.  Maybe this is to say that there are greater challenges when you become an adult, which could be true.  Yet, this really minimizes whatever a teenager is handling at the time.  I’m sure all of us didn’t ace those years and ran into situations that stressed us out.

The sense of time passing caught my attention more than anything else.  I decided to ask my son if it felt like his teen years were going quickly.  He said that was crazy because all of the stuff he’s been facing make it feel like every day takes forever.  Even if he wasn’t dealing with hardships, the time he exists in isn’t going by as quick as us adults seem to think it does.  A blink to him is just a second and not 4-6 years.  This makes the suggestion that things will be done and over before you know it rather cruel.  It may even come off as telling teenagers that they have to grow up quickly, which I know some people will support because they have an issue with childhood.

In some situations, I feel like this is used to be dismissive towards the feelings and stress of teenagers.  By believing they are living through a time that goes fast, you think their trials and hardships are minor.  It can’t be major if it’s happening in such a short, simple period of their lives.  Why take them seriously if that’s the case?  This can lead to people ignoring pleas for help until the teenager is at a dangerous point, which can include drugs, alcohol, unprotected sex, criminal activity, and suicide.  When a teen comes to you for help, the suggestion that they have to bear it for a few years is a massive slap in the face to them.

Part of me wonders if this is because so many adults hit a point in their lives when they don’t feel like they can change their situations.  Bad job, bad marriage, bad health, or whatever is taken as things one can no longer escape.  Not without major sacrifice and risk, which many adults won’t attempt.  The only option is to push on and hope an outside force, like time, changes things.  So, they handle the hardships of teenagers with the same fatalistic mentality.  Unfortunately, teenagers don’t realize this and it comes off as minimizing or dismissing their pain.

My suggestion for anyone faced with a teenager asking for help is to listen.  Don’t try to tell them to grin and bear it.  Try to help them find an action they can take to ease their stress, which doesn’t depend on waiting.  While you feel that their teen years will go quickly, they are living them at this moment.  Every day is an actual day to them and not part of a fractured memory that doesn’t contain every minute of activity.  Understand that they have a sense of urgency because they are in whatever situation has them stressed.  You may have been in the same one, which took years to get out of since nobody helped you when you needed it.  Be the person your teenage self needed to get them through the rough patches.

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Goal Post: I Should Have Kept My Mouth Shut

Posted on June 13, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

Last weekend, I told a friend that I had a rough school year.  There’s been the health issues due what put me in the hospital and a few other maladies.  I’m dealing with legal stuff, which will be in the spotlight next week.  Been trying to help my son navigate some rough emotional and mental waters.  Still, I said at least nothing was going wrong with my car . . . You think I’d know better.

I brought my car in because it was making ‘ufo’ noises when it accelerated.  Joke was on me because the real problem was in the rear suspension.  Not enough to make the car undrivable, but it’s too expensive to repair on such an old machine.  It won’t make it for long distance trips or out of the month, so I had to spend the last few days of the week dealing with this crisis.  Getting a new used car next week after I do the DMV shuffle and I’m getting cheaper, better insurance too.  So, I’m kind of coming out ahead on this fiasco in that respect.

Unfortunately, I can’t take the 6-CD changer with me, which makes my collection moot.  I can only find external machines that hold a single CD and it’s too expensive to install a new one.  So, I’m going to turn my phone into the sound system.  Already set up Spotify and got the premium to make a huge playlist.  So far, I’ve added rock, hip hop, metal, cartoon themes, movie themes, anime music, instrumental, and video game music.  I can add 10,000 songs, so I’m going to put my entire CD collection on it and more.  Hard to remember all of the songs I want on there though.  It’s a small project for the weekend that I’ll do when I’m not walking or writing.

Speaking of Coven of the Gray, I didn’t get to touch it like I had hoped.  Two half-days at work were taken up with talking about work or just chilling.  There’s no place at the school I can go to for solitude, so I doubt I’ll get any done with half-days start up next week.  My hope is to finish the chapter ‘outline’ this weekend when I’m not walking or running errands.  My mind hasn’t been on point lately and several ideas have been ephemeral.  Part of it is trouble sleeping due to my cortisol levels being high.  Thank you, stress.

My summer plan is still to start writing Darwin & the Deadlands Queen.  I’ve gone over the outline a few times, but I’m worried about my mental state.  Keep thinking I screwed up Darwin & the Joy Path.  Don’t know how, but a voice is telling me I made some mistakes.  I feel like I forgot some of Darwin’s habits like toe-walking and arm flapping.  At the very least, they weren’t as common.  I can fix that in edits though.  It could also be the usual ‘imposter syndrome’ that has gotten worse over the last few years for some reason.  I’ll get to editing once I write the last half of the series though.  There are two more after Deadlands Queen.  I don’t know exactly about the final one, which was originally a spin-off trilogy.  Don’t want to give spoilers, but it revolves around a problem that comes from facing off with the Big Bad in the penultimate.  It almost feels like an epilogue.  Maybe I’ll check out the outlines and see if I can combine them into one story, but I doubt it will work due to the timeline

Aside from car and court stuff, my son had the SAT last Saturday and two regents tests (English and Algebra 2) this week.  So, a lot of studying and resting were required.  We went to see ‘He-Man’ after the SAT, which I loved.  My son never saw He-Man before and wasn’t sure about the campiness.  The fight scenes were cool, which he begrudgingly admitted to me.  I think he was mentally burnt out from the test too.  At least, that and the other tests are over.  He only has a history regents and a few extra helps for that left of 11th grade.  Then, it’s a summer of . . . Not sure yet.

With so much going on next week, I don’t really know if I should get my hopes up.  Every day has a major event either at work or home.  The court situation has me stressed the most because I don’t know how things will go.  Can’t talk about it in public in any detail beyond that.  Be nice to make some progress and gain some closure.  Don’t mean for myself, but for others involved.  The car situation isn’t any better, but I think that’s getting fixed enough.  Need to find a phone holder for my car too.

Goals of the week?

  1. Get a new car and insurance.
  2. Get through court.
  3. Help son study if he lets me.
  4. Set up Spotify playlist.
  5. Try to rest.
  6. Stay cool and hydrate.
  7. Finish watching ‘Resident Alien’ Season 4.
  8. Work on Coven of the Gray, which really should be higher on the list.
  9. Figure out where I can put Lego Minas Tirith.  No space in my room and it’s basically 2 foot x 2 foot x 1 foot.  It’s the width and depth that gives me trouble.
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Individual or Personal Setting

Posted on June 12, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

The final layer of setting is smaller and personal.  It is about the individual as well as the aspects of the world that are neither physical nor temporal.  I really found two explanations for this layer, which makes it a bit confusing.

Personal Setting

This version of the layer involves the direct vicinity of the character.  It’s the room, house, and anything short of the a large city.  It is where they would have intimate knowledge and interactions with objects.  It is where action happens instead of the when and general world.  One could say this is the more specific aspects of setting instead of the overall environment.  For example, a city would be environmental while the inside of a bar where the characters meet would be personal.

It is important to pay attention to this layer because it is where most of your descriptions would be found after starting.  As the action happens, the personal setting will change and shift.  This is either due to objects and people being moved around or a new location being introduced.  It can be as minor as a chair being broken or major like a wrecking ball taking out a wall.  Maybe it can help to consider each personal setting a tree and the environment is the forest.

Cultural Setting

While this isn’t the term, I couldn’t think of another way to explain the variation.  You can probably tell what this means too.  An aspect of setting is the morals, rules, and laws of the overall society the story takes place in.  So, a character’s culture would be a factor into their personal setting.  This could determine decor of their dwelling and how they interact with others.  It really does sound like more character than setting, which is true.  Yet, it does have an influence over the latter.

I feel the cultural aspect also makes this layer bleed into environmental.  While it isn’t a physical aspect of the world, it does determine such things.  The types of food, religious centers, clothing, and social group interactions are bound to cultures as well as the environment.  Think about how our own world works.  Many cultural groups will gather amongst themselves with minimal interactions with outsiders.  This is how countries and certain neighborhoods are born.

The odd thing is that this can be global, which puts it on the level of environmental setting.  Yet, it’s not entirely physical and can be in a limited area.  That makes me feel like it’s closer to individual, especially with cultures typically only being introduced through characters.  In other words, this layer might be a half one that sits between the two bigger ones.  That or the allergy medication I’m taking as I write this is making me more confused than usual.  You know, my point still stands because cultural setting can be both localized and global.

So, how do you add individual setting to your stories?  As a reader, what would you put under these categories?

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Poetry Day: The Names I Choose

Posted on June 11, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

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(A poem about choosing names for characters.  It’s either easy or hard.  Naming these people is never in-between.)

They are my mental children
These characters that play
Among the worlds within my mind
I watch their birth with care
Knowing I must make them grow
So I take my first choice seriously
And grant them the perfect name

I look at who they are
And who they will become
For clues to their true name
Examining all angles
From skills to loves to fates
I pour over sites and books
Or grab letters from the air

For some I choose in minutes
While others take me days
Because the name is power
It is what gives them life
Without a solid name they fall
Swallowed by the shadow
Who searches my mind for food

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Environmental or Physical Setting

Posted on June 10, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

The second layer we are going to look at is probably the most obvious.  It isn’t also the second most important or the second one you work on.  That’s just the order I’m going in at this time.  So, let’s look at:

Environmental or Physical Setting

This level of setting is what the characters can interact with.  It can include the terrain, weather, and the overall world.  In other words, this layer is what most people consciously think of when they hear the word ‘setting’.  It is the tangible world the characters live in as they go through their adventures.  You’re bound to create some of this as you go along because you can’t have them travel through a void.

One of the pieces of advice I would give to someone in terms of setting is to touch on all five senses.  Don’t only talk about what people see.  There should sounds, smells, and tastes to the world as well.  When I write a descriptive paragraph to set the stage, I try to hit as many senses as I can.  Touch is a difficult one, but you can do that by talking about the wind and climate.  If you can hit all 5 senses, you can pull an invested reader into the world and lock them into what is about to happen.  Of course, you have to remember to keep moving away from sight and maintaining this, which is the bigger challenge.

Even dialog can be used to enhance environmental setting by having characters point things out.  They can discuss regions that are far away to increase the size of the world and maybe foreshadowing a future adventure.  It isn’t the cleanest way to do it, but it can create an attachment between the world and the character.  They are no longer a fictional figure passing through a fictional world, but an inhabitant of a vast, thriving dimension. This is why an author might have to consciously avoid adding to this setting, which would be weird.  Why would someone want to write a story with nothing for the characters to interact with?

Another aspect of the environmental setting is that it changes as the characters move to other locations.  Similar to time passing, the physical setting has to change.  There is an evolution occurring within the setting to make it a bigger, deeper world.  For years, I’ve called the setting another character because it changes and influences the story and vice versa.  So, you need to consider such changes as you progress through the timeline or you’ll end up with a hodgepodge world.

While this aspect of setting tends to be a ‘given’, we still make mistakes.  What suggestions would you give a new author when it comes to physical setting? As a reader, what have you run into with physical setting that jerks you out of the story?

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Teaser Tuesday: Inner Conference

Posted on June 9, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

(I have to be honest.  It took me a few minutes to remember where this showed up in the series.  Back when I first posted this teaser, I put up a different cover than what should have been there.  I’m fairly certain it came from Ritual of the Lost Lamb.  To be sure, people should read the whole series and correct me later.)

Continue reading →

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Temporal Setting

Posted on June 8, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

I went looking for author subjects and found this on the three layers of setting.  I always enjoy world-building, so I wanted to look into this.  Now, I think most authors do this without meaning to, but it’s good to see the pieces.  So, let’s start with:

Temporal Setting

This is exactly what it sounds like.  Not the physical setting, but everything dealing with the time.  This can cover:

  • Historical era
  • Time that it takes the story to come to conclusion
  • Season
  • Time of day for each scene
  • Anything that happens at a specific time

I want to touch on that last one to clarify because it can be the hardest one for us to remember.  Anything that happens at a specific time is basically a routine such as eating a meal, showering, or exercising.  This aspect of setting determines a character’s life pattern and will help lock in the time of day.  We all have these routines, so it is relatable, especially if it’s a fairly common activity.  For example, instead of saying that it is morning, you can have the protagonist eat breakfast or wake up from bed.

Temporal setting also seems to be the most fluid once you move out of the historical era category.  While the world might not change much over the course of a certain story, time will continue moving on.  Whether it be minutes, hours, or years, the characters are going to pass through time.  So, you need to keep track of the season, time of day, and other ‘invisible’ aspects of a setting.  If you cram too much into a small timeframe then you can lose the audience because they’ll be overwhelmed.  That means pacing of the story depends on your temporal setting.

This works for a series too, especially the seasons.  One of the things I do before I start writing the next book in a series is determine how much time has passed.  That way, I can figure out the season and that determines the weather pattern.  Can’t have Darwin traveling through bright, warm days for all 9-10 books.  He has to hit winter at some point during his adventures.  That doesn’t mean this is ‘essential’ to the plot, but it helps me create the correct atmosphere.

Time passing during an action and between scenes is also important.  Temporal setting can determine how long candles last in stories without electricity.  They show if a character who sets out at breakfast will arrive for dinner or the following morning.  It’s very important that you consider this to help give this essential layer of depth to your overall setting.  As I said at the beginning, I think many experienced authors do a lot of this without focusing on it.  Maybe they take a few seconds to decide on if there is a sun or moon, but it is one of the quickest decisions one can make.

So, why do you think temporal setting is so important?  Both as an author and as a reader.

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The Frigatebirds: The Ones With the Red Balloons

Posted on June 7, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

What is a frigatebird?  You may have seen pictures of these tropical birds.  They are black with forked tails and long, hooked beaks.  The females have white underbellies while the males have red ‘gular pouch’.  This pouch is what they inflate during breeding season to attract mates.  So, what are some facts?

  • Their wings can span up to 7.5 feet long, which gives it the largest wing area to body mass of all birds.
  • They can remain in constant flight for up to two months.
  • Frigatebirds primarily eat fish and squid by skimming the surface.  They work with larger water predators such as tuna.
  • They can be known as kleptoparasites because they steal food from other birds.  This also earns them the nickname ‘pirates of the air’.  They are also called ‘man o war birds’.
  • They will also take seabird chicks from the nest.
  • Frigatebirds can only breed every other year.
  • They lay one egg, which makes it difficult to maintain populations in the face of disaster.
  • Parents will feed their children for 14-18 months.  The male takes turns with the female for the first 3 months then becomes less involved.
  • They nest in large colonies and remain monogamous for a season.
  • Frigatebirds cannot swim because their feathers aren’t waterproof.
  • They can do unihemispheric sleep, which means they shut down half their brain at a time.  This allows them to sleep while flying.
  • Their flight pattern is described as a roller coaster since they rise to 3,000-4,000 meters and then glide down.  This conserves energy.
  • Two of the five species are at risk:
    • The Christmas Frigatebird is critically endangered due to loss of breeding habitat during WWII and dust pollution from phosphate mining.
    • The Ascension Frigatebird no longer breeds on the main island due to the introduction of feral cats.  The removal of the cats in the early 2000’s has led to some of the birds returning
  • Male breeding displays involve pointing their beaks to the sky, inflating their pouch, and vibrating their stretched wings.  They will make a drumming sound and occasional whistles.
  • Frigatebirds can take years to reach sexual maturity.  Females took 8-9 years while males took 10-11 years.
  • The magnificent frigatebird is the largest of the species.  The males have a purple sheen to their feathers, which helps distinguish them from the slightly smaller and similar great frigatebird

Pics and videos time:

Ascension Frigatebird

Christmas Frigatebird

Great Frigatebird

Lesser Frigatebird

Magnificent Frigatebird

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Goal Post: Progress Through Endurance

Posted on June 6, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

So, I kind of made progress with Coven of the Gray.  Did I fully design any of the 13 members?  No.  I did choose their biome, role, and a few powers.  I managed to create an idea of the first 2 chapters as well.  Thought about going for 13 short stories, but I saw some of the coven members will be together.  So, I just put down 15 and will see what I can fill in.  Might end up being less or more.  In my mind, I’m seeing this being done similar to ‘Bedlam’ where I title each chapter and do 3-5 sections to tell part of the journey.  This allows me to create some events that don’t have a coven member involved.  So, I got somewhere with the project.

To be honest, it wasn’t as far as I thought I would get, but I also worked on aspects that I didn’t plan on.  The issue was that I was in so much pain last weekend that it was difficult to picture anything solid.  My ear infection got worse Saturday and I found out that the swelling had gone behind the eardrum.  So, the drops weren’t able to get out or something like that.  Couldn’t hear the doctor very well, but he gave me meds.  I was able to get some fresh air, which helped and pain meds got me through that.  Still, most of the weekend and early week was spent doing daily functions while in pain.  The ear is still a bit clogged and off now too.

There was a bunch of life stuff as well, which was mostly paperwork needing to be done for my son’s future.  I had waited for a week for certain entities to work with me, but games were being played.  So, I had to figure out how to do a bunch of this on my own and get it handed in.  Without going into details, this is something that will help him in the future and it takes about 1.5-2 years to set up.  The current stage takes 4-6 months once all of the paperwork is in, which is where things are becoming a problem.  I’ve done all I can, so now I have to wait.

Another aspect of the week is that my son takes the SAT this week, which is a big test that can help him with the college he’s looking at.  He’s been practicing and studying for it, so today is the today.  It actually started now, so I’m currently talking a walk in the park while I wait for the time to pick him up.  We’re going to see ‘He-Man and the Masters of the Universe’ this afternoon too.  He’s never seen any of it, but this is one of the first non-educational shows I ever saw.  Was obsessed as a kid.  So, my day is booked with parenting stuff, which means writing will be tomorrow.  I’m fine with that because all of today’s events are important.  I’ll tinker with Coven of the Gray tomorrow.

I’m still trying to figure out the summer too.  I’ll be working a few hours a day at the summer program, but my son might not be a camp counselor.  He’s too old to be a camper and none of the programs around here are affordable.  I found an online ‘do at your own pace’ art program that I could buy and set up on his Chromebook, but he only spends half the week with me.  I don’t think he’d be able to do it when he’s with his mom and the Chromebook can’t travel with him.  There’s also the issue of the schedule, which could be a disaster depending on what goes on.  This means that I don’t know how much work I can do on Darwin & the Deadlands Queen.  I might only be able to do weekends or maybe evenings, but it certainly isn’t what I thought it would be.  The art program would give my son something to do while I work on my own project though, so I’m hoping that I can set it up.

Next week is going to be a wild one.  Tuesday and Wednesday are regents, which my son has to take.  It means my students will only have half-days, but I don’t go home early.  It’s going to be really hot too.  I’m not going to expect much progress because I’m going to be tiring out fairly quickly.  I’ll be happy if I can tinker my way to all of the chapter ideas tomorrow though.  That could open the door for character creation, which then will lead to a quick ‘chapter-by-chapter’ outline.  If I’ll really lucky, I can start writing Darwin & the Deadlands Queen by the end of the month and NOT have Coven of the Gray left in the wings.  Not sure what I’ll tackle after that though as the side project.

Goals of the week?

  1. Support son through SAT today and Regents this week.
  2. Watch ‘He-Man’ with son.
  3. Work on Coven of the Gray.
  4. Stay cool and hydrated.
  5. Pokemon Go and biking to stay active.
  6. Eat smaller portions.
  7. Try to figure out a backup summer plan for my son.
  8. Get a haircut.
  9. Mentally prepare for the next round of the life event.  It’s a court thing.
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Can We Not Use Violence?

Posted on June 5, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

Vigilante 1– “Time for violence.”

Vigilante 2– “I don’t know about that.”

“We always commit violence at this hour.”

“Yes, but I think I’m bored of it.”

“It’s how we stop crime and save the city.”

“But we’re not getting paid for it.”

“Money isn’t our goal.”

“My bank account would agree.”

“We hurt people for justice!”

“That’s another thing I want to bring up. Our motto is kind of . . . messed up.”

“How so?”

“Well, we’re openly admitting to hurting people.  Adding justice makes it sound like we’re justifying illegal actions.”

“That would explain why the cops hate us.”

“Judges aren’t thrilled with us either because they can’t really put our enemies away.”

“At least we make the lawyers happy.”

“That’s not a good thing in this situation.”

“Fine.  How are we supposed to stop criminals without violence?”

“Ask them nicely to surrender.”

“Should I buy them a box of chocolate-covered strawberries too?”

“That’s not in the budget.”

“I was being sarcastic. Words don’t stop these people.”

“What if we scare them away without hitting them?”

“Okay, I’m listening.”

“We dress up as monsters or serial killers then run at them before they can commit their crimes.  Just scream, roar, and be frightening.”

“What if they don’t run away?”

“I guess that would be problem.”

“A lot of criminals we face have guns too.”

“Well, I don’t want to be shot.”

“Then, we have to fight violence with violence.”

“There has to be another way.”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Because nobody would read our story if we didn’t have action scenes.”

“Damn . . . Forgot about audience bloodlust.”

“It’s what keeps our genre going.

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