Projects Abound!

I've started working on the intro chapter or two on Earthbound. A lot is bound to change, but it feels good to be writing again. This is not to say I haven't been writing.

Primarily, I've been working on an educational text. It's a series of short stories and activities for the elementary/middle school science curriculum. Except, rather than having boring nonfiction selections, it's all about super heroes and characters. It uses all the key points and has activities and plots that explains major science concepts. I hope to finish and publish it on lulu around december, if not earlier.

In the meantime, given time, I will work on both In-Roam 2 and Earthbound. More on them, especially IR2, at a later date and post!

What's the News?

So I've been tinkering around with this and that, getting little if anything real done, and I thought I'd post on here to let you know where I'm at.

Levi Justice, my co-writer/assistant for In-Roam, a sci-fi adventure about a crude misogynist, has finally gotten back online. He might want to push forward with our sequel ideas. I've got a stack of ideas, but whether or not we see eye-to-eye on everything, that's just something time will tell. I really hope to see him have an expanded role in this book. He was big in the first one, but not so much the rewrite, and this time I might let him have more say. It could be fun.

Personally, I'm still thinking a lot about earthbound. Maybe it's because young adult romance/action/fantasy is so big right now, or maybe I'm just ready for something new. Whatever I do, I want to make sure it's right. I don't want to waste this idea, because it's pretty decent. It's sort of in the realm of Buffy/Smallville/Witchblade/Twilight, I suppose, but different, as well. Struggling not to make it a mess of cliches, but also to make it interesting and appealing. Some of the old cliches are still fun, no matter how many times we've seen them. Boy meets girl, boy has hidden powers, girl needs protecting though she's actually a badass, otherworldly politics got you down, etc...

Look for something to spawn up soon, even if it's some educational materials. Yes, you heard me right. More on that later, if things pan out.

Perennials Map

I've just finished my map for the Perennials Saga. Originally published and updated with each book of the 5-book series, it is available for the first time in color! Unlike the 11x17 I used for my map of the Sworn Lands, this one is 16x20, still in full color. Because of the added size, it is a bit more expensive, but there was so much detail that it seemed warranted to have a larger poster (and you can only have one item of each sort on a free cafepress site).

Again, that link is http://www.cafepress.com/underspace

Take a peek, and enjoy!

What I'm Doing Now

After a couple weeks on vacation following the finish of Shadowcaster, I've started to work on an upgraded version of the Perennials Map, in full color. I have a few more nights of work to do on it before it is ready for cafepress, but it is looking surprisingly good for something I had never fully intended to colorize.

I'm back to work as well, so this will slow down any upcoming writing projects. It's important to settle in well at my new job, so writing is temporarily on the back burner. Also, I need to spend some time with our exchange student before he heads back in a couple weeks. It should be a really busy August. September might bring something new. Might.

Sworn Lands Map

Just got my copy of the Map of the Sworn Lands from cafepress. The print quality far surpassed my expectations. It's very nice. It's about 11x16 or so, and it's got a nice glossy finish. It's quite nice. I'm considering redoing the Perennial's map and selling that on cafepress, too!

Legends of the Sworn Lands - Shadowcaster

My latest book is finished, finally! This one probably took longer than any previous project I've done, despite not being that long. Life held me back, but it's done now! It's going to be for sale on amazon and lulu, and the map is for sale on cafepress. Also, I have some samples of cards for the game of 5's, which is featured in the book series.

I'm pretty happy with the cover, too. It took two days. If only the PDF creators had been easier. I spent 3-4 hours trying to get things formatted right.

Whew. Done!

Posters and More

For the upcoming release of the Sworn Lands book, I'm putting a color poster up for sale on cafepress, and i'm also going to release a very basic edition of a deck of cards for 5's on my homepage. You would have to print them yourself on card stock and cut them out, but it would still be an option. To see more of the poster, go to: http://www.cafepress.com/underspace

Cover Woes

I've been getting through a few chapters here and there, and I'm about 70% done with the edit, which has me thinking about cover designs for the story. I'm not sure exactly what I'll do yet. I was tempted to wrap the color map around the volume, but I'm not sure I'd like that, unless, perhaps, it was on the dust jacket. I usually don't make hardcovers though. They end up being too pricy. I really would like to see a color version of the map in the book, though.
I'll just have to wait and see what I can come up with after I get through these last twenty chapters or so.

Another Reason to get Nothing Done, but a good one...

On a personal note, this has nothing to do with my writing. Rather, it has to do with why I'm not really doing any right now, though I expect to in the next few weeks still, whenever I can snag an hour or two.

We're hosting a friend's son from overseas for the next 10 weeks. He used to be my student when I taught in South Korea, and his father was a friendly acquaintance. They're a nice family, and it takes a lot to trust people with your 12 yr old son.

He's been here a couple days from South Korea, and he's already practically rode the wheels off my bike and raided our fridge numerous times. He seems hellbent on eating ice cream and soda all day, but we put a limit on those items per day. We also went fishing in the canal and he snagged a fish, while I caught bait and my wife made me take the softshell turtle she caught off of her line.

Our part-time son here is pretty fun so far, if tireless. He'll keep me moving. We're enjoying it.

No More Markup!

Lulu sent an email today saying that their pilot program to sell books on amazon is going well. They're also eliminating the 30% markup they had used when selling books on amazon. Therefore, it's now not cost-prohibitive to sell via amazon. I couldn't be happier. I'm going to print up a whole bunch of business cards with my name, sites, and amazon listings on them, and pepper the neighborhood with them. It'll be great.