Two Thirds Done

Still editing earthbound. I'm 2/3 of the way done. I had to shrink it to size 10 font to get it under 700 pages. It was near a thousand at size 12. I also shrank a few things down and cut down some of the appendices and other junk I wanted to add. They didn't add much to it.

I'm 400 of 600 pages done, and moving fairly quickly. I work on it for 30-45 minutes perhaps 3-5 times a week. I'm trying to move it along, but there's not always a lot of time.

After that's done, I might work on The Emperor's Dogs, a new book I have an idea for. The Sworn Lands Vol 2 is still in the works, and I have about a third of In Roam 2 done, too. Not sure if I'm going back to that.

Closing in on an end

I've been busy doing this and that lately, but I'm finally knocking out the last few chapters. A skirmish that is prelude to the final fight and then some concluding chapters that may end up in Sera's world... I don't want to give too much away.

It's odd how writing can be kind of a chore, but then when I sit down to do it, I enjoy it. I think if I like writing the chapters, then readers should enjoy reading them. If I struggle to write them, they'll come out awkward and unreal. Not every chapter can be easy though.

Trying to decide whether to go on with In-Roam 2 after this, picking up where it was left off, or go on to newer projects. I still think a combined Pancake & Hen volume (new content?), and perhaps an expanded Afterlives book are in the works. Let's not forget Legends of the Sworn Lands Volume 2, probably the second half of the story. I don't really see a third book there.

New Layout

I've been working off and on on Earthbound. It's hard to really decide how far to go with this. I could go all out and really write a massive novel, basically finishing the story in one go, or I could break it into pieces. I'm over 100,000 words now, so that's about 300 pages. I tend to add a lot of detail and the 1st and 2nd edits, as well, so it would lengthen as I reworked parts of it. The idea of revisiting a story always gives me mixed feelings. Sometimes there is a lot of things left undone, often purposely, but with so many prospective projects on my hands, it can be hard to put in the effort to return and finish a story versus beginning a new one.

That said, I still have a partially started In-Roam Part II to consider. I don't like tossing stuff out or stopping partway, but there is a lot of work left to be done. I'll see where I'm at after finishing Earthbound, which will likely take me the rest of the summer.

Things just take longer than they used to, and I blame games. Dawn Of War, based off of Warhammer 40K, has really killed my free time the last few months. :(

In other news, I found reviews for Afterlives and Pancake & Hen floating around on the Internet. It's nice to be noticed!

Been awhile

With the holidays, family visits, and the like, I've been working at a snail's pace. I got a chapter done last week, two actually, and I thought things were moving again. Been busy with just random this and that, though. Also, helping my wife start a business on etsy.com. Check her out in the coming weeks at www.etsy.com/shop/wuju/

I plan on pushing through with Earthbound in the coming weeks or months. I expect to finish that one in the next three months. After that, I may consider part 2 of the sworn lands.

If you hadn't noticed, I'm not talking much about In-Roam 2. It's sort of on indefinite hold. I may be writing it alone, so I'll have to rethink my involvement. There's some good stuff in the planned plot, but I'm just not certain it's worth it to me.

Also, want to start marketing my books more. Tired of writing so much for so little recognition. I need to get the word out there more, for my science now book as well...

Earthbound updates

Since my co-writer for In-Roam 2 is busy working through the holidays, I've decided to focus my efforts over my vacation break on Earthbound. On one other note for I-R, I've been discussing taking another of the setting's original player's character and placing her into the story. In-Roam was originally a role-playing environment I designed, and as such, some of the player characters have been inserted into the stories. It would be nice to add this character into the 2nd story, but it'd have to be handled right. It could, however, be interesting.

As far as Earthbound goes, things progress fairly quickly, I suppose. I just knocked out another 6000 words in the last two evenings. Those two chapters were pretty fun to write, the one about Robert's friend, Phil, especially. Phil is a scheming nerd that feels very protective of Serafina, and it might make things interesting in the next few chapters. He's sort of a comic relief character, as well. It's nice to maintain a balance between drama and action, between serious plot development and comedy.

Anyway, I may not post too often over the holidays, but I'll try to get another one in before the new year. Have a good one!

1 vs the other

Kind of interesting writing two books at once. On one hand, I have In-Roam 2, a story about a brooding badass with a foul mouth, a strong desire to whoop some ass, and some bizarre world-hopping adventure. On the other, I have a dramatic tale of 20-somethings with sexual tension, action, and some fantasy/sci-fi tones to it.

They're totally different veins, but both pretty fun. For the most part, I'm alternating weeks on each book, but Earthbound is coming more quickly, because I'm writing it by myself. In-Roam 2, I'm collaborating on with Levi Justice, so I wait for input and suggestions from him after each chapter or two.

I'll post something from In-Roam or Earthbound in my next post this week. Until next time...

New Chapters Always Free

Just went for a couple more chapters in IR2. As always, it's available online at my homepage. Check the links to the right.

Some people find it odd that I just offer free chapters of books that are still in development. You get to see things as they progress, naturally, rather than waiting forever and seeing only carefully edited selections. I rarely delete chapters entirely, and even when I decide to rework something, I try not to do it from the ground up. Although, rewriting the first 8 or so chapters of the Sworn Lands to change the perspective from 1st person to 3rd person was a chore.

Anyway, I've always put all of my stuff up online. Hopefully, people like it enough to buy a book eventually. If not, there are no hard feelings about wasted time and money, right?

So, please keep checking out new chapters for Earthbound and In-Roam 2. They come out a few times a week, though lately I've been alternating weeks for which book I work on.

Merchandising Extravaganza

I spent the better part of the morning and afternoon designing some pretty neat logos and such for some apparel on cafepress. I know they're not always the cheapest, but they do good work, and some of the options they have are pretty darn spiffy.

So i've got clothes, stationery, bags, clocks, doggie t's, magnets, buttons, calendars, and a pile of other stuff on there (including those really nice maps to accompany my Perennials and Sworn Lands books). There's a lot of stuff for In-Roam, Equinox, and Earthbound, but a few from Pancake & Hen, Afterlives, and a few other series, too.

Take a peek over at: http://www.cafepress.com/underspace/

Been a couple days...

I've been keeping busy at work, also with coming up with ways to revamp my existing writing site, so I don't have to rebuild from the ground up. Looking at it seriously, I didn't like the hard-to-read menu bar, and the oversized banner bar, all with too little screen getting used up. I reshaped and resized, then cleaned up the graphics, redid some bland spots, and added a few little things here and there. Also, added a sharethis button to both of my main sites (this one already has one). In general, it should just be a little more interactive and cleaner, which is always nice.

In non site-related news, working on both Earthbound and In-Roam 2 right now. It's the first time I've ever tried writing 2 novels simultaneously, though I will admit that Earthbound has more of my attention. In-Roam 2 will be worked on with less focus, but not because of a lower importance, but rather to encourage my cowriter, who goes by Justice now, to offer his input more often.

I'll try to put up a post about either or both of the projects soon, with a couple short samples...

In-Roam 2: Alive & Still Kickin'

Hudson Stiles is back. Yes, the brash, crude, foul-mouthed anti-hero returns for his second major foray into the universe of In-Roam. If you haven't read the 1st book, the biker from Chicago was dumped into a strange universe and woke up with a device known as a key tool strapped to his arm. The tool helped guide him through some of the universe's 500 worlds, where he met several other people that he tried to get back home with. There were gunfights, aliens, creatures, portal jumping, swearing, attempts at revenge, god-like beings, betrayals, and all manners of things between him and his destiny, but he took it all in stride, because that's who Hudson Stiles is.

In the lastest installment, he runs across a geeky kid who thinks the whole thing is a game. That's nothing Stiles and a very cruel look at reality won't cure him of. Problem is, the kid probably won't have what it takes to cut it in a place like In-Roam. What will Stiles have to say about that? I'm posting a sample for you, though I must warn it has been edited for language. The actual volume is quite a bit more graphic. It's teen and up audience.

"A sawed-off shotgun, two 8-bullet clips, a bionic hand, a big freaking knife, two tires on my bike in need of changing, enough spare change for a cheeseburger, and millions of lunatics who don’t know when to leave well enough alone. Oh, and did I forget a walking mushroom, a crazed scientist dwarf, and a dumbass kid who thinks this is a video game? That about sums it up. My life sucks right about now, and it’s going to get worse..."
Hope you enjoyed that little bit. It's the working intro to the book.

In other news, still working on Earthbound. I'm writing both books at the same time, but with the co-author having to edit or comment on every chapter between writings, I'm going to have to work on 2 projects to keep busy.

Earthbound

I'm still waiting on my evaluation copies of Science Now to arrive from lulu's printing presses, so I've continued work on Earthbound. It's pretty fun so far, because it doesn't really matter where it goes. A lot of times, it's when you force a story to have drama and work toward an end that it gets dull to write. Right now, I'm just having a good time imagining the interactions between the two main characters, Robert & Serafina. It should be pretty exciting for quite awhile (at least until editing).

In-Roam 2 is still continuing through development, too. I'm reading the 1st volume and surprising myself with how good it is. It's entertaining, exciting, and vulgar in just the right places. It's great. I'm getting all kinds of new ideas for the 2nd book just by reading the 1st again. More on that later.

Finally, Science Now should be launched on the new website by the end of the month. Keep an eye out for it...

Almost Done!

I've been working pretty hard on this science book project lately. I'm trying to get it done before I really dedicate myself to another novel. I have one more short story to complete today, along with some educational activities to accompany it. Then, I'll work on the cover design and layout. I need to proofread the stories, as well. I expect to order the rough draft copy this week. It should be in full swing by the end of the month, along with a website launch to accompany it.

Once that is out of the way, I may have to spend time promoting the science book. It's going to be most useful before the statewide science test in March, so hopefully I can move a few units. Some parents might even want to use the book as a review and study piece over christmas break. Only time will tell how successful it is...

After the science book, it's back to sci-fi though. Promise you that.

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.