Update On This Thing Called Life

It's been exactly twelve days since my last blog post. What have I been doing? Writing and reading.

I recently finished the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I'm not doing a formal review because it really isn't needed. I'll just say I enjoyed reading it until the end. Why? Because I felt cheated. I wasn't properly distraught enough with the tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth. I should have been crying harder than I was during the dog fight scene in Bait Dog. Instead, I felt disconnected. A lot of her decisions seem to be shooting for the dramatic more than the story called for. Oh well. I would still recommend it as a YA novel for young women over anything involving vampires or werewolves. The Hunger Games is a solid sci-fi dystopia.

As for my novel, I'm chugging along. I'm currently working on chapter 32, which leaves me with three more chapters to crank out when I'm finally finished with it. I'm enjoying writing them because they're so exciting. My little Skyriter is getting a serious work out, but I need to take a gum eraser to the typeface again. Smacking into an ink covered ribbon has a tendency to get them all clogged up. Go figure.

By the way. When the end our your first novel is in sight, it teases you. This is the second time I felt this. The first time I thought I was done, and then had to add fifteen more chapters to round it out. It's a much better novel now, but I'm going to have to do some serious word chopping at the front end. Cutting out all "had" and "that" should cover a good couple thousand.

I also had the luck of recently reading a self-published short story by and internet acquaintance of mine. It's a genuinely good story with good writing. I can't wait for the his first novel. Check out the link:



For those who wonder if I have any other kind of life outside of the Word World, I have taken up bowling. I guess it was only natural since I work in a bowling alley, but I've joined the league team. I suck, but I'm getting better through practice, a concept that is not foreign to me. (See writing.)

I have also discovered that my dog is terrified of the rain. Not thunder storms. The rain. I know there has to be a story in their somewhere. Too bad Dan isn't a girl dog, or I would name her Wicked, short for Wicked Witch of the West. It's the water thing. You would think he was freaking out because he's melting. My dog is special.

Enough rambling. Time for me to go back to Typo. I think my cramp is gone for now.

Sketching Again: Shaking Off the Rust

I know, it's been two months since I blogged, but here I am.


Okay, I'm going to brave for a few seconds and post up the first sketches I've done in... well... forever.  I haven't drawn anything since I moved out to California over a year ago. While I was smashing out Chapter 29 I got the hankering to sketch, and I mean serious sketch. Not sit down with mechanical pencil and doodle something. I got my art box out and dug a drawing pad from the depth of my office closet. The end result is a graphite stained right hand, and these:

Tao

Melody

I know they aren't the greatest. Like I said, it's been a while. I was mostly trying to work on my values. I really need work. If I behave myself, I'll work on my drawing everyday along with my writing, but that'll be a long shot. Everyone I know wants me to do artwork again, so I'm going to try.


In case you were wondering who they are, the girl on the left is Exorcist Tao foul mouthed chain smoker from my novel Hands of Ash, and the girl on the right is my main character Melody. I placed thim in the order that I drew them. Feel free to leave comments below.