We awaken
With the faintest trace
Of a thought
That entertained our sleep
The dream lingers
But only in emotion
And peripheral senses
Never stepping into view
A desperate push
To strike life into the wisps
Painting the full picture
That tortures our conscious minds
All we desire
The only thing we want
Is to get more than touch
Of the elusive dream
That returns whenever we slumber
Honestly, I was surprised how most of the Father’s Day images that came up were crude and even insulting to fathers. The ones that dealt with a divorced dad were downright mean. So, I went with the best ones I could find. Yeah, the Samuel L. Jackson one might be a bit crude, but it was tame compared to others.
When this goes live, I’ll still be in the big day of training for my summer job. I’m writing this Friday night, so I don’t know what I’ve done or about to do. This is actually the first day of training and I have something nearly every night this coming week. I managed to avoid Friday night getting booked in order to recover and enjoy a weekend with my son that will include an autism-friendly showing of ‘Frozen’ on Broadway. All of this is on top of tests at school. Needless to say, I’m a little frazzled.
I haven’t had much time or energy to reduce my stress this week, so I’ve been really worn out. I wanted to start another puzzle, but I ran out of glue and couldn’t find any more to clear the finished one from the table. The new stuff didn’t arrive until Thursday night, so I went the whole week without that and writing to help me out. Managed to do a few August blog posts to help clear the deck for the summer. I know it’s really far in advance, but I’ll be much happier if I only have to worry about the weekend posts. I think Derailing Bedlam will carry me through the summer. If not then I might do something else to pass the time.
Something to keep in mind is that I won’t be able to use my phone at camp. Actually, I think I mentioned this last weekend. A small part of me is okay with this, but only because I’m not doing anything on Facebook and a disturbing thing happened on Twitter that has me thinking of leaving. Some random freak tagged me or whatever on something that ended up in my notifications. It was a collection of three pictures with an old fat man naked in a bathtub brandishing his penis. I was scrolling through my notifications and there it was. I’d be fucked if that happened during work hours. So, I’m starting to wonder if Twitter has finally outlived its usefulness. At the very least, it’s down to a final strike and then I’m gone. Hopefully, that isn’t the place that has been netting me a few daily sales over the last week.
Can’t think of anything else to talk about here. School year is winding down, so there was a lot of review, movies, and final projects. I’ll be spending the next two weeks doing a bunch of rushes from school to camp for training, set up, and the first two days. My next day to relax with nothing planned is June 29th. I want to write during that day, but I might just collapse for a day and save writing for the 30th. Then again, I think the last time I touched War of Nytefall: Eradication was June 5th. I don’t know if I want to go much longer without putting in at least a section. If I have the energy then I might do one tomorrow night after training, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Really hoping I can get some semblance of time management because I can’t even get my biking in any more.
What else happened this week? My local library is going to close for 4 weeks during the summer, which will make it difficult to get more books. The plus side is probably that I won’t have much reading time anyway. I’ve got 10 volumes of ‘Black Butler’ that might get me through some of it. After that, I could just make life easy for myself and focus on ‘My Hero Academia’ and ‘Seven Deadly Sins’. I own a lot of those, but have put more attention on the library books. ‘Inuyasha’ might have to be on pause until August, but we’ll see what happens. I’m sure jumping around a lot, but I don’t want to get burnt out on one series and sometimes I have to wait for a volume to come back.
This coming week is going to be the toughest, so I might not be around that much. Early mornings and evenings may be it. Not that I have much time to wander WordPress lately anyway. I’m still seeing that I’m unable to comment on most blogs. Some I reappeared on and then disappeared again, which is getting frustrating. I’m reaching the point where I want to be launched into space and do a few orbits just to get a little peace. Well, I’d take my son too because I’m sure he’d love the zero gravity. Keep in mind that this scenario is one where there is no risk of danger and entirely safe.
Anyway, what are weekly goals?
It’s going to be one of those weeks.
The more observant among you may have noticed that I have been quietly experimenting with the cover of A Heaven for Toasters. I removed the kissing couple and used a single man, curious to see if that would make any difference to sales. To my surprise, it did, albeit a small one. When coupled with a promo, however, it led to some 30 sales last months.
So, I considered the experiment a success and commissioned a proper cover with a man in the style of Vaant, one of the best-sellers in the book’s genre. Will this lead to increased sales? Perhaps. The experiment continues.
I will also leave the book at $0.99 until mid-June, when I’ll raise the price back to $2.99.
Also, and to celebrate the relaunch, I decided to publish it on my blog in its entirety, along with my short stories! Here is Chapter 1…
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Be Merry!
Here we are and I’ve run into a bit of a quandary. Also, I’m not sure I spelled that work correctly. I’ve been sitting here wondering how to tackle this topic. I know what makes me happy outside of writing. Spending time with my son, jigsaw puzzles, zoos, manga, anime, Legos, tickle fights, and pizza. Tried diving into each one to explain why, but that fell flat. Took me a while, but now I know why:
“Every person has different things that make them happy and they can’t always explain why.”
Seriously, these are things that help us relax and shrug off the tension that has built up over time. Maybe it’s a reward for a good job or just powering down before bed. Maybe it’s something you saved your energy up for because it’s exciting. What attracts you to these things might not be easily explained since it’s so emotional? I’ve tried to explain my love of jigsaw puzzles to people and they don’t always get it. I find them relaxing, but other people thing they’re childish. Same with Legos, manga, anime . . . I think spending time with my son is the only activity that is treated with any respect there. People are just so judge-y.
Now, I could keep rambling or I could open the floor. What makes you happy and draws you into a sense of merriment? No need to explain if you don’t want to. Just declare your love of whatever.
Villains don’t really get enough mechanic posts. This covers a lot of useful ground.
Hi Gang, Craig with you again. Time for another Expansion Pack that ties in with The Hero’s Journey, also known as the Writing Monomyth.
This time we’re dealing with our villains. Before you go all feral on me, there are some stories where the antagonist isn’t a human. Man vs Nature, Man vs Self, that kind of thing. This probably won’t help with those stories.
This Expansion Pack is more about what you need to know, not what you must put on the page. You’ll pick and choose what to include, but if your main character is the villain, you’ll include more.
I’ve researched all this stuff, and am trying to condense it for you guys. One of the things I find myself hating is the section names I’ve been running across. Therefore; I’m renaming all of them.
The Hero of His Own Story: The villain perceives himself as…
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As usual, here is your warning that this story has cursing, sex (not graphic), innuendo, and violence. It’s my Rated-R action adventure called Derailing Bedlam. This is the fourth outing (third official) for Cassidy and Lloyd, so feel free to click on one of the two covers to see how it started. Each one is 99 cents!
Cover by Jon Hunsinger
Cover Art by Jon Hunsinger
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