Goal Post: Freezing And Frantic

Posted on January 31, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

Okay, not really frantic, but I am stressed.  We had a snow day on Monday due to Sunday’s blizzard.  Lots of shoveling and resultant aching of the body.  Nothing says fun like clearing the driveway and then a plow comes through to plug it.  At this time, we have huge piles of snow everywhere and the temps aren’t rising enough for much of it to evaporate.  Whatever melts gets on the road and sidewalks to become ice overnight.  I hate driving to work and having my car try out for the Olympic ice-skating team.  Guess there is some franticness.

The snow day through everyone off, especially those who don’t handle sudden schedule changes well.  So, there were increased tensions in various areas.  Didn’t help that I ended up in several locations where the heating system was barely functional.  Also places that were practically saunas.  Surprised I didn’t get a cold, but it did add to my irritability when I dealt with certain eldritch horrors.  My apologies to any eldritch horrors for comparing them to certain individuals.  I’m sure they would agree and understand though.

Writing-wise, I made a few characters for ‘Phi Beta Files’ while I hung around the library to warm up.  Managed to finish chapter 14 of Darwin & the Joy Path too.  It was looking iffy on that project because of the shoveling demands and me having a lot of doubts about things.  I keep second-guessing myself on these things.  Part of it might be that I’m coming up with these complicated puzzles and challenges, but then I shift to Darwin’s mindset.  His way of looking at things is fairly blunt and out of left field, so he finds quick answers.  That or his instincts cause the situations to fall into chaos, which results in eventual success.  He’s not like any of my previous protagonists who use clear logic, monstrous strength, vast experience, or other more common traits to win.  Darwin is purely ‘chaotic’ instinct and impulses in the face of an orderly challenge.  This means the problems either end swiftly or take a wild turn, which requires a day of figuring things out.  I’m noticing the general plots are going more pantser than plotter too, which isn’t my comfort zone.

I got thrown off earlier this week when my son asked me why I still write books or even plan them when I never sell anything.  Won’t deny that the question hurt.  I didn’t have a good answer either.  I said I keep writing in case there’s a day where I have money for cover art and advertising.  Then, I hope to get back to selling some books.  Having trouble believing that though because I haven’t sold a book in months.  I know everyone is having this issue, but it still stings.  Makes me wonder if the days of having books outside of the big names is coming to an end.  At least with certain genres.

The coming week isn’t going to be that different from the previous one, but only because it’s going to be cold.  Looking at negatives and single digit temps tomorrow, which means going out will only be to the mall.  If I can maintain my energy throughout the day then I might be able to get some extra writing done leading into the weekend.  The Super Bowl is next Sunday, which means cleaning and guests will take over that day.  Getting time during the week can mean I’ll finish chapter 15 of Darwin & the Joy Path.  Overall, I have 11 sections left before I’m done, which means I can feasibly finish by the end of February.  This week will be the real test, especially since I’ll be writing in the evening when temps and energy are low.

I’m starting to wonder about what I should tackle after I finish this book too.  I can outline the next one and dive into it, but I might take a few weeks to get ahead in blogging prep and other projects.  March is always a slog due to no holidays, so I might not have the mindset to start Darwin & the Hejinn Queen.  Maybe it’ll be a good idea to start the actual writing during Spring Break?  Better weather, the school year slog is over, and I’ll be wanting to rest up for a father/son trip.  Yeah, that sounds like the best plan, which also means I can finish up ‘Phi Beta Files’.

So, what are the goals of the week?

  1. STAY WARM!
  2. Help son pack for school trip.
  3. Write more Darwin & the Joy Path.
  4. Tinker with ‘Phi Beta Files’.
  5. Make silly faces at niece when she visits.
  6. Bike to get exercise in since I can’t walk around the park.
  7. Contend with my usual self-proclaimed adversary.  (The person claims to be my enemy and now I’m just giving them what they want.)
  8. Work on the April blog posts.  Still not sure if I want to use the old ones for that month or another.  Anybody know of some good writing topics?
  9. Finish watching ‘Fallout’.
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#1 of 2025: The Baiji or Yangtze River Dolphin

Posted on January 30, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

(Originally posted on January 12, 2025.)

I don’t remember what I searched up to find the baiji, which is a freshwater dolphin once found in China.  It is the first dolphin species driven to extinction by human actions.  Yet, it is still listed as ‘critically endangered, possibly extinct’ since sightings turn up from time to time.  Surveys never seem to find the baiji, but some people say that there might still be a chance of a few survivors.  In fact, the World Wildlife Federation pushes for their habitats to be preserved in case some remain in hiding.

The decline of the baiji started in the late 1950’s during China’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ where the importance of the animal was denounced.  So, they were hunted, caught in fishing nets, hit by boats, killed by electric fishing, killed by pollution, and lost much of their habitat.  The industrial revolution that happened in China did a lot of damage, but the baiji was hurt most by getting caught up in the increased fishing industry.  Not enough was done to protect them in time, so the last confirmed baiji died in 2002.

Some baiji facts:

  • The last suspected sighting was in May of 2024.  Two baiji were supposed seen in the Yangtze River.
  • Due to their poor eyesight, they depend primarily on their sonar to locate food and obstacles.
  • Females are a little larger than the males.
  • Its name means ‘white fin’.
  • Females breed once every two years with the season being between February and April.
  • The baiji is regarded as a symbol of peace and prosperity.
  • A mythical origin says that a beautiful girl had an evil father who took her out on the river to sell her for money.  Before he could do so, he saw how beautiful she was and tried to have his way with her.  She dove into the river before a storm took out the boat and her father.  Later, the locals saw a beautiful dolphin, which was the girl reborn in a new body.

There are pictures, so let’s take a look:

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Poetry Day: That The Best You Can Do?

Posted on January 29, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

(A poem about bullying.)

Tubby and four-eyes
Beanpole and shrimp
So many insults
From our battered youth
Taken from the obvious
Before we grew our sass
And learned to sling true barbs

 

Yet many stay behind
Retaining lamest arrows
To hurl without a care
Ignorant of their immaturity
Within the realm of diss
Thinking themselves smart
As they insult their newest prey

 

Fools that aim for pain
Getting frustrated at their failure
When the fat know what they are
And the four-eyed make no tears
Maybe they will step down
Realizing their lacking skills
And never throw barbs again

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Bad Advice from AI: Crappy First Drafts

Posted on January 29, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

New writers receive so much advice early in their journey, the last thing they need is inaccurate advice from a bot. If you missed the first post in …

Bad Advice from AI: Crappy First Drafts
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7 Tips to Mirror Matches

Posted on January 28, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

Street Fighter

Mirror matches can be fun and you don’t have to be too complicated.  Then again, making things very simple can have the whole thing fall flat.  What are some ways to make the mirror match more effective?

  1. Put some thought into how the characters are the opposite of each other.  It can’t be solely cosmetic if you want it to last longer than a single fight.  Do they have powers and skills that negate each other?  Are their personalities polar opposites?  This is supposed to the hero facing a dark version of themselves, which requires clarity of differences.
  2. Mirror match villains are not obligated to make the ‘I am your reflection’ speech.  I see this a lot in fiction.  It comes off as corny.  The better way to do this is the have their actions and words make this clear.  They should be doing the opposite of each other at most points.
  3. A way to make the mirror situation more obvious is to have the hero and villain be placed in matching situations.  It doesn’t have to be together.  All they need to do is face the same challenge and solve it in opposing ways.  For example, they can run into people feuding.  The hero diffuses the situation before violence starts.  The villain chooses a side and make sure violence happens.
  4. When in battle, these characters need to be able to land some blows.  While they are perfect reflections of each other, a fight where they are repeatedly negating each other can get boring.  This can happen on some level like with superpowers and magic.  I did this with Nyx and Trinity in Tribe of the Snow Tiger.  Once they negated each other’s magic, it became a fist fight where contact was made.
  5. If you want these characters to be in a story for the long haul, you may want to slowly pull them away from the mirror concept.  They can still be opposites on some level, but an author may want them to develop some individuality.  Otherwise, the rivalry can get stale and predictable.
  6. Supporting characters can be the ones to note the mirror situation.  The hero and villain aren’t always aware of the situation.  They have senses of self and even ego, which means they can’t themselves in each other.  It’s especially true of personality types because there’s a lot of nuance to such things.  They can recognize opposing powers, skills, and even clothing.  Yet, pointing out that their personalities are total opposites might come off better from a third party.
  7. If the mirror match concept isn’t working out for the story, you can easily move away from it.  Change powers, skills, and whatever else over the course of the adventure to make them more distant.  This is probably one of the easiest ‘failed’ concepts to undo in a story.
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Heroes of Windemere Profile: Timoran Wrath

Posted on January 27, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

(Good old Timoran.  This is when the covers changed a bit too.  Learned that many readers will think a change of cover still signifies a new series.  Didn’t matter that the series title was the same.  Weird.)

 

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Hair– Red
Eyes– Blue
Race– Human Barbarian
Hometown– Stonehelm
Career– Barbarian
Weapon(s) of Choice– Great Axe
Debut Book– Legends of Windemere: Family of the Tri-Rune

Unlike his companions, Timoran Wrath is not a complicated man.  He is an exile from the Snow Tiger Tribe, but he has retained his sense of honor and loyalty.  While he is an experienced and capable warrior, Timoran is also wise enough to know when to talk or intimidate his way out of trouble.  Like most of his tribe, he has complete control over his primal rage and only unleashes it when necessary.

Being older and more mild-mannered than the other champions, Timoran is a source of stability.  No matter the situation, he stands by his friends and makes sure to keep a level head.  He rarely takes the lead and will patiently wait for an opportunity to interject his opinions and insights to a conversation.  This quiet demeanor causes their enemies to mistake him for nothing more than muscle, which is a mistake.  While Timoran follows orders most of the time, he is skilled at one-on-one tactics and defending others with a focus on adjusting to battlefield situations.

For all of his strength and experience as a warrior, Timoran is a kind man and always there to talk over a drink.  It is difficult to push is buttons, which makes him an excellent foil against Nyx’s temper, Luke’s recklessness, and Sari’s love of mischief.  Even so, his younger ‘siblings’ have filled a void in his life that was created when he was forced to leave his tribe.  For the first time in years, Timoran Wrath feels like he has a place that he can call home.

While Timoran debuts in Family of the Tri-Rune, his greatest adventure and the secrets of his past takes place in:

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

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How to Pitch a non-fiction book to a publisher

Posted on January 27, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

In my last post, Writing for Magazines, I discussed how writers could branch out into non-fiction, even if they usually write fiction. Many of us …

How to Pitch a non-fiction book to a publisher
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The Mirror Match

Posted on January 26, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

Futurama

Now, this is different from a character fighting their evil twin or a clone.  In that scenario, the combatants are identical in most, if not every, way.  A mirror match differs in that they characters are opposites in some fashion.  Could be appearance, but usually includes powers and behavior as well.  So, how does this work in fiction?

This tends to be found primarily in fantasy and science-fiction, but it can pop up in other genres.  The concept revolves around the character facing their dark side.  It touches on the idea of a person facing their inner demons, but giving them a more corporeal form.  I find this to be rather blunt and on the nose, which works out for some readers.  After all, you can get overwhelmed by the general concept and miss the meaning.  Not that you have to make is so obvious.

I’ve found that this is done in one of two ways:

  1. The mirror character is created somehow over the course of the story and turns into a challenge for the original.  It can either be the main villain or a short-term enemy designed to make them face some weaknesses.  This mirror character can be lacking in personality and urgency since they are used almost entirely as a plot device instead of a three dimensional entity.
  2. An individual character appears or is around from the beginning.  They just happen to be the opposite of the hero in powers and personality.  I see this a lot in comics as far as personality goes.  Makes for a great archenemy.  They can be seen as their own person as well since they weren’t ‘born’ from the hero.  You can add more nuance to their behavior as well without losing the general connections.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the mirror match doesn’t always go with different powers and abilities.  I know I said this is an aspect, but you can run into an issue.  For example, if the hero is super strong and durable, you can’t have a villain who is super weak and fragile.  I mean, you kind of get that in ‘Unbreakable’ where Bruce Willis is indestructible and Samuel L. Jackson is easily hurt.  Still, this is a rare situation since most authors try to avoid such wide power gaps.  People go more for secondary powers or personalities, which still gets the job done.

In fact, I would say that the characters having opposite personalities is more important than the powers.  This is where the mirror match has its strengths.  You can see how a person with the same abilities, skills, and powers would operate if they had the opposite personality.  For the characters themselves, the hero can get a glimpse of how they would be if they fall from grace.  The villain can actually develop a sense of jealousy since they are mostly the same, but the hero is beloved.  It creates so much emotional and psychological turmoil that you can have a lot of fun with the concept.

For myself, I kind of did this in War of Nytefall: Savagery where Alastyre and Clyde faced off.  Both are incredibly powerful and violent, but Alastyre is more of an open monster than Clyde.  This was done primarily to create a big challenge for our heroes, but it also showed what Clyde could become if he lost all of his humanity.  This didn’t always come off as clear during the story, which is my own fault.  I tried to leave it up to the reader to notice.  I’m going to have a similar situation with Sin when I get to his series, so I plan on making the emotional side of things more overt.

So, what do people think of this mirror match concept?

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Happy . . . Unhappy Opposite Day?

Posted on January 25, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

It’s Not Opposite Day.  Don’t enjoy it.  I have not been waiting years for this to land on a Sunday.

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Goal Post: Cold Before The Storm

Posted on January 24, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

Today, the temps are around the negatives and single digits due to the wind.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a blizzard, which will leave 8-15 inches.  It’s been a long time since a winter storm hit us that hard, so people are getting jumpy.  Honestly, I don’t think Long Island is very good at dealing with snow.  The roads here are narrow because of all the cars parked on the side.  Many of those won’t be moved, so things will be messy for a few days.  There might even be a snow day on Monday.  Won’t be able to go out for anything other than shoveling, which sucks because it means no Pokemon and I’ll be aching when I take a break to write.

Speaking of writing, I only got a paragraph done this week even though mid-terms meant half-days for my students.  I wasn’t able to go home early and I can’t access my books when at work.  It was all field trips too, so I was exhausted by the time I got home.  I tried to write some of Darwin & the Joy Path on Wednesday, but I kept dozing off in my chair.  Ironic considering I would go on to have a massive panic attack that night, which wrecked me for Thursday.  My hope is to finish chapter 14 this weekend, which leaves me with three chapters left.

I’m a little torn on the progress in this adventure.  I don’t know if it’s a good idea for the latest challenge to go right into the final one.  There really isn’t anything I can put between them without it feeling like a stalling tactic.  So, I guess this will work, but it creates a 3 chapter ‘rush’ of action with small downtimes.  Can’t be certain if I’m simply having imposter syndrome doubts or this is a real problem.  Some of my notes also mention a gem that wasn’t supposed to reveal something that’s already been revealed, so I have to repurpose that item.  Probably won’t get to that issue until mid-February when I definitely get more time to write.

In non-author news, my son had his mid-terms this week and had to figure out his schedule for senior year.  Both have been wild.  He worked really hard and we know he passed 2 of the 3.  One was barely, but it was his weakest subject and our goal is simply to pass.  As I said, he studied really hard, especially for that one, over the MLK Day weekend, so nobody can say he didn’t give it his all.  It meant limited video games, which was a small argument, but a snow day tomorrow might make up for lost time there.

The only thing I’ve really had the time for this week is to collapse on my bed and slowly make my way through episodes of ‘Fallout’.  I got on the bike at one point, but that exertion resulted in me doing the same at a later time.  That seems to be how the winter typically goes for me.  The cold is draining even when I’m not running around.  The house is staying as warm as it can, but the wind and plunging temps are giving the heating system a run for its money.  Today and tomorrow are really taxing, which is why writing will be going slow.  Hard to type when I getting drowsy from a combo of cool temps and mainlining hot chocolate.

I’m going to try to use some of the weekend to finish up the March blog posts.  I have a few ideas for the April Sunday ones, but I think I might just repost stuff from long ago.  Most of my readers haven’t seen those or it’s been a while.  Sounds really lazy though, so I’ll see if I stick with that plan.  Simply running out of writing-based subjects.  The animal stuff is going to stay on Sundays and I’m going to try to limit the ‘weird holiday’ posts.  Trying to gather more future ideas from what I’m watching, but ‘Fallout’ isn’t giving me anything I didn’t touch on when I was promoting Crossing Bedlam.  Seems I’m touching a lot more on character types and actions than other aspects of writing.  Wish I knew of other fun topics.

Next week is in the air because of the weather.  I’m sure it will be more of the same, but with having to drive around large piles of snow.  Have a few appointments and meetings as well, so I probably won’t get back to my book unless I get lucky.  Yeah, I think Wednesday is the only time I have a fighting chance and it’s slim.  Oh well, that’s how things go some weeks.  It’s all about my son, so I’m fine with it.  Not other people creating appointments and situations on my time without talking to me first.  That’s a fairly common issue in my life.

So, what are my goals this time?

  1. Shovel and deal with snow tomorrow.
  2. Write chapter 14 of Darwin & the Joy Path.
  3. Finish March blog posts.
  4. Sleep more.
  5. Drive carefully.
  6. Lego time if possible.
  7. At least look at ‘Phi Beta Files’ even if I can’t tinker with it.
  8. Try to use exercise bike a few times.
  9. Wear layers.
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