When I first started working on the Internet, back in the mid-90s, we had to code everything by hand. And I mean, everything. You couldn’t even write a simple “Hello World” without a dozen lines of code.
Fast-forward to today’s WordPress-powered blogs and websites and the difference couldn’t be starker. Even though my coding experience has proven invaluable time and again, it’s now possible to develop in a single day a website that would have taken me at least a week back then. Months, if I wanted to use some of the fancier elements that are now available at the click of a button!
And it still amazes me that it’s all free! So, this is my way of saying “thank-you” to Automattic and the WordPress team for making my life so much easier–and productive. Many thanks to Hosting Tribunalfor the excellent infographic!
There was a time when self-publishing your book through a vanity press was the kiss of death for any hope of a writing career. It was considered tacky and desperate, and not something any worthwhile author would ever consider. Then, with the self-publishing and digital publishing revolution, the notion of having more control over your work trumped much of the negativity surrounding the air of “desperation.”
Eventually, self-publishing gained even more respect. Going indie for one title was a good way to earn some income while querying your other works; but that notion evolved even further to self-publishing your books only to have their sales figures and reader response prompt a traditional publisher to make an offer.
That idea has been received two different ways. Amanda Hocking, one of the first authors to sell a million self-published copies of her ebooks…
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how people and society tend to declare what is normal. Part of this has probably stemmed from my son being special needs and seeing how the world responds to him. We seem to take ‘normal’ for granted even though I can’t even truly define it for this post. You hear people point out oddities more than normalcy, which makes it feel like being odd is the only way to be an individual. Yet, we’ve also stigmatized many differences including those that require special attention or medical help. Overall, I have the opinion that most humans cannot exist without seeing something ‘beneath’ them. That flawed person to make you feel superior because then you’d be the one at the bottom. It’s fairly sickening.
Yeah, this is a pretty heavy post for a Sunday, which is usually light here. I just couldn’t get this topic out of my mind. Especially considering many of my ‘abnormalities’ that people have picked on:
I watch and enjoy anime.
I wear glasses.
There are patches on my legs due to being allergic to my own sweat.
I’m a fantasy author.
I walk on my toes.
Short and fat go on the list.
Sleep apnea.
Naturally anxious.
Many of those are physical issues and I don’t even have control over some of them. Others are choices, but they are things that make me happy. So, the judging of society covers things that are both beyond our control or within our control. Isn’t it strange to genuinely bash someone for getting happiness out of something that isn’t hurting anyone? Yet, we see it happen all the time because it might not be a ‘normal’ interest. My list is actually pretty mild compared to others who are marked as ‘abnormal’ simply because of who they are. Why do we have to define a normal anyway? Is it really that important to have this label that is used more to ostracize than include? Been thinking about this for a long time and I can’t figure it out. In fact, it tends to make me tired and want to spend more time in Windemere.
I will say that one thing I enjoy at my job is seeing how the students interact. Every week, I see or hear at least one encounter where someone who would be an outcast during my school days be included in something. Not because a teacher told them to, but because they wanted that person there. Gives me some hope for the future.
Anyway, what does everyone else think about this topic? I know it’s rather touchy and I’m not asking anyone to declare their oddness. Just let me know what you think about normal and abnormal. Maybe you can figure out and explain this to me, especially since everyone has has one thing that makes them ‘odd’. I mean, how can you have normalcy without people being identical? It just doesn’t really make sense to me.
This was Winter Break for my son and myself, which meant it was time to set up daily adventures. Preferably those that don’t require waking up before the sun. The weather was chilly at parts . . . warm enough to skip gloves at other parts . . . snowing . . . raining . . . How many seasons did this week have? Anyway, I figure I’ll make a fun post today by separating by days. Especially since tomorrow is going to have a fairly heavy post in terms of topic.
First, I do want to mention that I managed to write 1 2/3 chapters of War of Nytefall: Eradication by using nights. Hoping to get another 1 1/3 done over the weekend since I have the time. So, what adventures did my son and I have?
Monday: Build-A-Bear Part 1
Now, several activities were being done in preparation of seeing How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World on Friday. So, I decided it would be a great idea to go to Build-A-Bear. My soon made a Toothless when the 2nd movie came out and now they had a Light Fury. Figured his Toothless could use a girlfriend. First, we stopped at Barnes & Noble for me to pick up 2 books. Then, we arrived to find that a lot of people decided to get a Light Fury over the previous weekend. None in the store until Thursday. Of course, my son understood after all my hype and we went home. Nope. He noticed the deal of get one full price and another for $10. We made a Bowser from Super Mario Bros. complete with sounds and a Piplup (Penguin-looking Pokemon) with a pink backpack to sit in. I’ll admit now that I spent more this week than I planned, but it had been a really long time since my son and I had such a long amount of time to have adventures. We watched the first How to Train Your Dragon movie while eating lunch and then it was playing with his new friends until dinner.
Tuesday: To the Arcade
The morning was a late starter because we were both tired from a long night that I can’t talk about. Actually, I had to visit the sleep apnea doctor to make sure the device was still working. That was quick and I got lunch for us on the way home. We ate and then it was off to a big arcade that they have nearby. I thought we would do bowling there too, but this was different than the smaller arcades he’s been to. It wasn’t a birthday event, so the limit was my wallet. There were a lot more games too. We tried out a bunch with him leaving a game as soon as he’d be done with one play. This included him demanding that we play a game from Japan that wasn’t in English. There were two guns, but it turned out to be one-player with an insanely long tutorial.
The real event was when we went back near the front and we played the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game. We played with what we had left on the cards to beat 2 of the 4 levels, but he wanted more. I had enough to put more points on a card, which we shared while trying again. Unfortunately, we made it to the last level and I died just after he used the last of the card. You have to battle through the 6 previous bosses while Shredder watches from his throne. My son managed to beat the third one on his own, but didn’t get through the fourth. Needless to say, he was bawling and he wanted me to get more points since we had 2 minutes to continue. The machines were busy, so I was using that to get out of spending more money. One opened up and I figured I would try because I wanted to win too. A technical error got in the way and the timer ended. I had to calm him down since this was his first time dealing with the pain of losing an arcade game and not having enough money to continue. He did leave with me without throwing a real tantrum. Pretty sure every parent there understands a kid begging to try again since they came so close to winning. Still, no tantrum and it’s on the books for a mid-March return, which gives me time to save up money.
Wednesday: The Delayed Bowling Game
We had snow coming in the afternoon, so How to Train Your Dragon 2 was being used as the indoor activity. For the morning, we headed out to go bowling, which we didn’t get to do on Tuesday. There’s a place nearby and it has a small arcade, so he got to play a few games too. It was half-price video games too. He even made it onto the Top 12 player list for one of the Jurassic Park levels. My son didn’t understand why I was so proud that I needed to wait for the list to come back and get a picture. Anyway, bowling was a lot of fun. We played two games and he used a ramp. I won both, but he gave me a run for my money. Only beat him by 3 points on the second one and he was the first to get a strike. We each got one. To be fair, he had bad luck in the first game where he kept creating these horrible splits. Still, he had a lot of fun and it was snowing by the time we got out, so he enjoyed walking through that to get lunch to go from next door. He wasn’t so happy later when we had to walk agaisnt the wind.
I will put the one piece of bad news here since I had a really bad night with those itching allergies. Not sure what set me off, but it seems to be stress. The medication I took might have given me a reaction too. Strangest thing is that I haven’t had any attacks since that really bad night. Not sure what happened unless my body just found a new level of dealing with the stress.
Thursday: Build-A-Bear Part 2
This was slated to be a recovery day because of that rough night, but my son had an appointment in the morning. We were near Build-A-Bear, so I figured we would try to get the Light Fury afterwards. They hadn’t unpacked them yet. My son kind of took that as them not receiving them, so I had to explain inventory and shipping while we walked back to the car. I was running out of energy too, but I mustered the strength to get us to McDonalds as an apology. The rest of the day was him playing with his toys and me trying to snooze on the couch. Didn’t really work since he would get me to play too. Eventually, he got tired and used me as a mattress to take a nap. I tried to sleep too, but he didn’t like my snoring.
Friday: DRAGONS! (Build-A-Bear Part 3 and 4)
We saw How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World in the morning and the theater is in the mall. I might write a review for next Sunday since I don’t want to accidentaly mention any spoilers. We both loved it, but I do recommend bringing tissues if you’ve gone through the whole journey. Yeah, I do a ‘review’ next weekend. Anyway, we went right to Build-A-Bear, which was busy. They kept the Light Fury and Toothless stuff behind the counter, but we got a Light Fury and a little dragon you can put on your wrist or shoulder. They had sounds too. So, why am I saying Part 3 and 4? Well, they said that they could put one of the sound devices into my son’s old Toothless. I was going to wait for the weekend, but we didn’t get a certificate for the Light Fury. He really wanted that, so I drove right back with only a few sweet potato chips for lunch in my belly. Took Toothless with me, which meant he had his talking dragon couple within an hour. It was exhausting, but totally worth the smile on his face. He got a poster too, which is now on his wall. Ended the week of adventures with pizzza.
This is a really long post because a lot happened. I didn’t want to skimp on anything because it has been months since I got to spend this kind of time with my son. He has school and appointments while I have work. His Holiday Break was filled with appointments too, so I was happy to get a straight run here. That’s really all I can say about things. Dang. Anyway, here are the goals for the week:
Goals of the week:
Back to school!
Back to waking up early!
Get references for summer job.
Try to do some writing at night if I have the energy.
If no book time then blog posts for April.
Read more Naruto.
Continue doing biking since I seem to have lost a few pounds. (Lunches of fruits and veggies probably help too.)
Look forward to seeing Aladdin on Broadway next weekend.
Hope everyone has a fun weekend. Feels weird having a 95% positive post after so long, but it was bound to happen eventually.
I’m getting ready to release my second collection of short stories soon. As a way to familiarize myself with Amazon’s publishing process my first work that I ever published way back in 2014 was a short story,Heal Thyself.
It was a story that came from a local news story that I enhanced to become an interesting paranormal tale of power and how that power is handled.
I thought it would be fun to revisit that first work and share it with you here. It comes from my short story collection Random Tales which is a collection of unrelated stories. My next collection will have four related stories that are essentially novellas. It’s been a long journey in four years.
I hope you enjoyHeal Thyself, posted here as it exists in the book along with a prelude explaining the origins of the story.
In April 2018, I posted my thousandth post on this blog. To celebrate, I started sharing here all my short stories. Every couple of weeks, I’ll be posting one story from my celebrated Exciting Destinies series for you to enjoy. With over 30 stories so far, I hope you’ll have lots of fun in the coming months!
This week, it’s “James’ Story,” a flash fiction story from Infinite Waters.
James was not a happy man. He had lost much in his life, and then some. Lost his parents as a child, then ran into troubles with the law. His personal life was even worse; one bad, ephemeral relationship after another. Trouble seemed to follow him everywhere, like a stray dog you once fed that won’t go away no…
Magic is an important part of fantasy writing. Some would say it’s one of the defining traits of the genre. Not every story has magic, but those that do might want to consider including it with their military forces. This is where you get battle casters, combat mages, or whatever you want to call them. Their role is to hurl spells around a battlefield to create an even bigger scene. So, what are some things to consider when designing or using a character like this?
(Yes, I know it’s another list, but I’ve tried to make it a non-list post and it wasn’t working. Sorry about the repetition.)
Consider giving the casters a specialty, but don’t make it a requirement. This usually boils down to Fire Caster, Lightning Caster, Ice Caster, or some kind of element because they won’t require much flexibility. They’re really here to make the battlefield more dangerous and act like living mortars and cannons. So, you can decide how deep you go here.
Uniforms have two paths here: One is that the casters are dressed like average soldiers to hide among them. This gives the element of surprise, but it is hard to cast magic in armor because it typically requires precise arm movements. The other is to give them their own uniform, which makes them stand out. It puts a target on them, but it allows them to have gear that works with their magical ability.
Always remember that most attack spells have an area of effect. Lightning can jump among armored enemies, fireballs explode, and the list keeps going. There are ways to make them more precise, but then you have to factor in that the caster is aiming. So, you have to find a way around the problem of them blowing up their own people. It’s easier than you think if they focus on the rear of the enemy forces and then switch to support magic.
Do NOT ignore the existence of support magic. This is more than healing, which can be done by fantasy priests. I’m talking about physical enhancement and defensive spells, which can turn a battle more than explosions. Soldiers can always handle the fighting while the casters can gradually fall back into more of a support role. This can always be the standard tactic while you have a handful of more aggressive casters. Of course, this is only one possibility and it depends on the author.
I would decide on how a military caster is ranked too. They might not have a title, but they need some kind of influence. One could consider them special forces and work from there. Personally, I would put them high up the food chain, but not at the very top. A lot of this depends on how the world sees magic and those who use it. You can’t have a caster call the shots if the world is supposed to fear or hate them. Probably wouldn’t be in the army anyway unless they’ve been enslaved.
So, how would you put casters into a fantasy army? What role would you have them play?
Don Massenzio This installment of my 2019 author interview series features author Richard Dee. Richard selected 10 questions from my list and his responses will tell us a little bit about him. Please enjoy: What is your work schedule like … Continue reading →
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!
You might think it’s easy to simply plop an army into a story and watch the soldiers clash in the background. Well, it can be done that way, but that prevents you from doing some world-building. You can learn a lot about a world and its kingdoms by the military forces that exist in there. So, it’s a good idea to put a little more depth into these creations and here are some semi-serious tips to help.
Uniform uniformity is important. Bandits and a mercenary force can have a variety of looks, but an organized military needs some commonality among its members. This is because your rank and file soldiers have probably been given the same gear with only a few having unique looks. It’s the officers that might stand out with flashier weapons and armor, but even they might have a common theme. This can show the smithing culture and technology that exists in the kingdom as well as direct the tactics that they will use.
Study some real world military systems to get an idea about how such hierarchies work. This really helps with knowing how to use the ranks and lingo. Call an army leader an Admiral instead of a General and you’ll get lectured. Only way out is to make it clear that your world uses the terms in this way. That means you can’t use them interchangeably. A great source for this would be to talk to a veteran or someone who is currently serving. You might get more info than you expected.
It’s always fun to create some unique forces for the army. This can be a humanoid squad of specially trained soldiers or technological wonders. The former can be useful for heroes/villains that are pushed as threats that go beyond your basic enemy. The latter really only comes into play with large scale battles and sieges. Consider the environment that the army operates in for the most part to help. Can’t have war elephants in the arctic, but you can have mammoths.
Remember the size of the army. They can’t march through an area without leaving a sign of their passage. You can see them coming from far away as well because you have hundreds to thousands of soldiers. Stealth is not an army’s strength, so don’t have them suddenly appear. I mean, it could work for humor if a hero wanders out of a tent or hotel to find themselves surrounded. Then again, they still see the army and it was only them being unaware that led to the incident. Doesn’t really work this way without author intervention or magic.
Flags. Can’t have a fantasy army without flags.
People talk about armies in fantasy worlds, so create some rumors or facts to help give the reader a sense of their reputation. This can reveal information about the rulers as well. Maybe people fear the soldiers or think they are champions of peace. Perhaps they are proud of never losing a battle or some other kind of record. It’s your choice on how much you show here, but just consider how we respond to our own military and work from there.
If you put a lot of work into designing your fantasy army, try to use them for more than a quick scene of carnage. As tempting as it is to build up this amazing military force and then have a hero or villain crush it, you might regret making them a throwaway gimmick. First of all, the ‘one destroys many’ thing has been done, so it won’t have the shock value that you expect. Second, you can find more to do with them such as an extended battle or potential allies. In the end, this is the author’s decision, but it’s one that should probably take more thought than is usually given.
The real event was when we went back near the front and we played the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game. We played with what we had left on the cards to beat 2 of the 4 levels, but he wanted more. I had enough to put more points on a card, which we shared while trying again. Unfortunately, we made it to the last level and I died just after he used the last of the card. You have to battle through the 6 previous bosses while Shredder watches from his throne. My son managed to beat the third one on his own, but didn’t get through the fourth. Needless to say, he was bawling and he wanted me to get more points since we had 2 minutes to continue. The machines were busy, so I was using that to get out of spending more money. One opened up and I figured I would try because I wanted to win too. A technical error got in the way and the timer ended. I had to calm him down since this was his first time dealing with the pain of losing an arcade game and not having enough money to continue. He did leave with me without throwing a real tantrum. Pretty sure every parent there understands a kid begging to try again since they came so close to winning. Still, no tantrum and it’s on the books for a mid-March return, which gives me time to save up money.
Legends of Windemere 