I'm not that old yet!! Keep the archaologists away from me and my pen for a while. Also- 'Echeoes of Erebus' excerpt.

I contributed to an article about annoyances with loud TV ads, and in my submission, I referred to myself as a "Cranky old man in training". Because of this, I might sound like an old man. Hey, just an Old man In training! I have the cranky pretty much nailed down, but I'm only a third of a century old! I need to be about twice as old before I legally qualify as 'old'.

It's not a big deal, I guess. When I'm rich and famous, it will just be a bit of amusing trivia for the entertainment TV when they do stories on me, and my vast harem. Archaeologists will be confounded at the inconsistency, then move on to examining how the ink I used to sign books changed when my OFFICIAL SIGNING PEN runs out of ink.

This is a really darn good pen for a disposable mind you. It's been chugging for years. I only use it for signing though. Why have I declared such a pen? Just to give archaeologists something to talk about.

Time for another Echoes of Erebus excerpt- roll the tape! (for the record, the first editing pass is half done)

---

“:::Yeah, well... I still don't know that Doug has smartened up at all. A broken wrist doesn't grow more brain cells. In fact, screw the whole job thing. First, I want to leave Doug a message.”
“:::W- what kind of message?” Jon asked.
“:::Nothing harmful. Maybe a short note carved in his front door. I don't know, I'll think of something on the way.”

Sarah changed direction. She didn't dare use her transit pass. They probably had tracking data on them, and the stations had a ton of cameras. Her hair and clothes were different, but her face was still the same.

At least for now. That was something definitely worth thinking about.

Walking past a bank machine, she grabbed a deposit slip and chained pen, and began jotting down a note.
“:::Sarah, you realize the bank machine has a camera staring at you right now.”
“:::Aw, damn. I guess it's kind of inescapable. The rural option is starting to sound better and better. I'll leave Doug's note, then we're off to the hills, I guess.”


Dear Douglas Villa,

I do hope you're healing well. I just wanted to say hi, and that yes, I am watching over Dan, and all her friends. Please play nice. Repeated breakage of the same bones can have long term effects.


“:::Alright, how should I sign it?”
“:::How about FISH GIRL!”
“:::Yeah, no.”

She simply signed it 'Sarah', put the pen back in its little cubby, and continued on her way.
“:::No Fish Girl?” Jon asked.
“:::No Fish Girl.”
“:::How about 'The Defender of the Sea!'”
“:::No. It's done, moving on.”
“:::How about 'The Holy Mackerel?”
“:::Am I going to have to send you to your room?”
Jon rallied his whiniest remorseful voice. “:::I'll be good.”

Editing of Echoes of Erebus is underway....!

Writing the first draft of Echoes of Erebus was fun. READING IT (first editing pass) at a more "readerly" pace is a blast. I get to see the events unfold in 'real time'. It's a fun story. Y'all gonna love it.

Happily, I'm nicely on pace for release in time for this October's VCON (Vancouver sci fi convention)... DESPITE not rushing. If you count the 2d edition of Lifehack that came out 3 years ago, this October will mark a 'hat-trick' of releases at VCON.

My volunteer editing team has grown, from 4 on Watching Yute, to 7, one of which is the blessedly brutal Julie Anne Dawson. I didn't agree with all of the points she made about Watching Yute... some I did, some I didn't, some I sat some0hwere in the middle on after much deliberation.

Oh, also, one of the new editors, my cousin, Jacqueline 'Jackie' Shaben has kind of become a model for the cover. Her hand did, anyway. The outline of her hand. Glam? Youbetcha.

Any way, my plan is to finish the 2nd half of my first editing pass, tweak the start and the epilogue, do another editing pass, then hand if off to the editors while I finalize the cover. Simple, yes? Yes.

People have been asking for another excerpt, and as I've been doing this editing pass, I've been keeping my eyes out for an candidate. Soon. -ish.

Echoes of Erebus - light at the end. Of the first draft...

Quttin time. I reached my target for today of 5 pages. (being a lower target than yesterday's 10 due to other things that needed to be done)

I'm solid into the mop-up/epilogue section now. I'm at 225 pages right now, and expect another 10 to reach the end, I guess. When page breaks and other formatting are put in, I'll probably be around the size of Watching Yute, which finalized at 256.

Man, 3 am gets pretty hot with a laptop on your chest and a cuddly cat around your ankles. I could write a little more, but I think I'll chill a bit, pass out and wake up fresh to attack tomorrow's target. I'd be happy with 7, but I'm hoping for ten. Or the end of the story, whichever comes first.

I worked in another cameo...! A logical one too, right near the end.. not some "LOL HI! I'M FROM A PREVIOUS BOOK, HI HI HI, OK THX BAI!"

Ok. Thx. Gnite.

Echoes of Erebus first draft nearing completion

I'm roughly forty pages away, and with no toddler around in the next week or so, I have a lot of opportunity to do it. I'm not saying it WILL be done in the next week, but it's very possible.

I have recently threatened to drop Sarah 17 stories, and chop her roughly in half. I'm not sure how she'd deal with those situations, and neither is she. Thankfully she managed to think her way out of both threats in fun ways. Right now I have her deep underground. She just dealt with a boobytrap and some Erebus-grade opponents,all while struggling with visibility issues. Light amplification won't help much when there's no light to amplify.

An 'Erebus-grade' creation comes in two varieties depending on the mood of the creator at the time. Effective, or 'unique'. Those two categorizations sometimes overlap, but an effective design will be re-used, making the creature much less unique. Case in point being the common zombie. Sure, you can do artistic things WITH zombies, but this often reduces their effectiveness.

The cover I posted last time has been changed... at least there's another draft in the mix now. Same general idea, but somewhat darker blues.

In other news, I ran into a review of Lifehack that I wasn't aware of before. It was pretty darn complimentary, and illustrates how I need to stop chasing after reviewers who I know to be tough as nails, and let some gentler readers have a crack at it now and then.

I've also been interviewed for another website, thought I'm not sure when it will be posted. You can bet I'll pop the link up when it happens!

I've gotten 'clearance' to do a signing event in a local coffee shop. I just need to pick my saturday, do a little promo work, and it'll be done. The manager was quite open to the idea... it makes me think I should try some other coffee shops, and do these kinds of things until I need to reorder for my personal stock.



In other other news, I just had a sneezing fit so violent, I now smell blood.
In other other other news, my cat is going bat-poopie insane, and just clobbered herself by running into a doorframe at mach 47.