Prelude: Done

So I'm writing a book. I've said it before. No. I won't tell you what it's about. I still don't have a concrete elevator pitch to feed people, but it's in progress. I've written words, many words. I shed The Bearded Gamer Show, Motaku, and a few other things in order to focus better on said book.

Yesterday, I wrote around 3300 words, but that's not the most exciting news.

I have this prelude section of the book. Whether it will go up front is still undecided, but probably not. There's a concept called "get in late, get out early" in writing a story. It means start the story as late as you possibly can in order for it to still make sense. Then, leave your story once it's done. Long expositions at the beginnings and ends of stories are for writers, not readers. Get rid of them.

Therefore, the prelude probably won't go at the beginning. It's a really cool story, though, and give much-needed backstory on my male protagonists motivations. So it'll either go later in the book or intersperse throughout.

Big pat on the back: I finished the prelude yesterday. A little over 9100 words in length, it's a fairly sizable short story all by itself, which is perfectly fine. Keep in mind this is the first draft, the draft no mortal eyes shall see but mine own, I'm just not that cruel. I did read the last paragraph to Christy, though. I'm particularly proud of it and she really liked it. We writers need that justification that we're not just wasting our time, especially in the first draft phase.

Now, just two other storylines to finish up, each working in counterpoint with each other. Not much more to go, aiming to finish the first draft before Christmas!

What I'm listening to: The World That He Sees by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
What I'm reading: Seeker by Jack McDervitt and WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer
What I'm playing: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Birthdays and Black Fridays

The Thanksgiving holiday is over and it's onwards and upwards to my birthday. Goodbye, 31. Hello, 32! New pants, a Batman Christmas ornament, a sweet tie with rhinestones and an old-time radio on it, and lastly (so far) the hardcover remastered edition of House of Leaves. Freakin' sweet.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I've said that before. This year, we had my mom's side of the family and Christy's mom over to our house. The feast was tremendous! Food, football, and family. What's not to love?

Then Black Friday arrived. I'm a Black Friday shopper, though I dread those gawdawful doorbusters. For instance, we went to JC Penney's at 6am. They had some $8 appliances we had our eyes on. After standing out in the cold for about 15 minutes, they opened the doors. People jumped out of their cars and started rushing in, regardless of the line of people. Once inside, people could have cared less about their fellow human beings, so long as they loaded up with as many cheap appliances as they could carry. Seriously, people. People walked out with three or four toaster ovens, blenders, and waffle irons. We hung back, grabbed a couple griddles, and left with our souls. Karma, bitches, karma. That shit is going to come back around and bite you in the asses.

Other than that insanity and witnessing some bad parenting standing in line at Wal-Mart, Black Friday went well and my Christmas shopping is done!

Thanksgiving - check!
Christmas decorating - check!
Christmas shopping - check!
Birthday - in-progress-check!

What I'm reading: Seeker by Jack McDevitt, WWW Wake by Robert J. Sawyer
What I'm listening to: Christmas Canon Rock by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
What I'm playing: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

The Day of the Turkey

Have I mentioned Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday?

I'm a turkey baby, what can I say. Roughly every six years, my birthday actually lands on Thanksgiving, so I have a certain personal attachment to it. No amount of pilgrims vs. Native Americans reality can abate my Thanksgiving excitement. No twisting, turbulent tales of the plights of turkeys can sour the fourth Thursday in November for me, no sir.

That said, I take issue with you, Christmas. Yeah. You. What do you think you're doing, sneaking into November? October, even! Not cool, Christmas. You've got your own songs. Your own ornaments. You've got stuff no other holiday has. That's doesn't mean you get to steal the thunder from Halloween or Thanksgiving. Back off, yuletide cheer! Stay thy hand, three wisemen! Your myrrh and frankensence are not welcome here! At least, not until the day after Thanksgiving.

Come November 23, I shall welcome thee with open and joyous arms. If I see you creeping around even one minute early though, I will kick you squarely in the junk. Seriously. You've been warned.

Sincerely,
A madman with a turkey.

Thankful

Thanksgiving approaches. My favorite holiday. Don't get me wrong, I have an affinity for Christmas too, but my birthday lands right around Thanksgiving, lending it that extra something special. This year, the families are gathering at our place for Thanksgiving. My world is a big helping of excitement, a dash of stress, and a dollop of melancholy. We lost my Grandpa earlier this year and we're heading into the holidays, never an easy thing. Every year for the last few years, Grandpa would come in and make fun of my turkey. He was an Army cook and his idea of cooking a turkey was all salt, pepper, onion, and throw it in the oven until the meat pulled away from the breastbone. Dry turkey. I brine and use a meat thermometer for a perfectly moist and done turkey, so Grandpa would give me a hard time. As much as I despised that, I'll be missing it this year, that's for sure.

On the bright side, a chunk of Christy's family will also be coming, so we'll have a wonderful and warm family gathering of food, football, and love.

Haven't written on my book in a couple days, but the wheels are turning. I've been outlining the sequence of events that are all colliding my head that lead into the finale. A few paths colliding. Funny thing about writing stream-of-consciousness style: when you get near the end, logistics start playing in heavily. Maybe that's just me. I also think I'll be changing the name of one of the main characters. It happens.

What I'm listening to: Watch Over You by Alter Bridge
What I'm reading: Seeker by Jack McDevitt and WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer
What I'm playing: Forza Horizon

Downtown Lees Summit

No writing done yesterday. Sad, I know.

Yesterday evening, Christy and I made a sojourn to downtown Lees Summit, Missouri. Why? A wedding venue. We went to visit the historic Stanley. Truly, though, we mostly looked over floorplans, pictures, and sketches. Given how many people we'll be inviting, their existing space is too small. They're currently constructing a larger space that will accommodate us (and other people, it's not just for us). Before we arrived, I didn't have the most positive vibe, but we liked it more than we thought we would. So The Stanley is definitely a contender. Add it to the list with The Bingham-Waggoner Estate.

This weekend we'll be hitting up some spots in downtown KCMO, oh yeah.

Incidentally, we arrived at The Stanley twenty minutes early and discovered a coffee and ice cream shop called Poppy's right across the street. I had the Kitchen Sink ice cream and Christy had the Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream. We both had coffee. Ice cream and coffee, two of our favorite things. Poppy's does both right. Made for a wonderful little evening.

I'm still playing through Forza Horizon. It's okay. Like a seven out of ten. I have the feeling I'll like Need for Speed: Most Wanted more when I get around to it.

What I'm listening to: Goodnight, Fair Lady by Coheed and Cambria
What I'm reading: Seeker by Jack McDevitt and WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer

So I'm Blogging Now...

So here we are in a post-Bearded Gamer Show world. That's right, I'm also known as The Bearded Gamer. Just before embarking for Seattle on vacation, I decided to give up the ghost on this webshow and move on to bigger and better things. It was a fun ride for over a year, but it cost money every month to produce and I really was spending a lot of time on the show. Now I'm still getting my legs underneath this new reality in which I don't have to pay attention to every minute detail about the video game industry and where I'm not in a studio filming twice a week. The Bearded Gamer will be back in December, still hosting Blizzplanet's videos, but my workload for filming will be greatly reduced.

I'm writing a book. A work of fiction. While in Seattle, I wrote 14,000 words, which was astounding considering the pace I'd had before. I've written about 6,000 since Seattle, which isn't too bad, but I need to pick up the pace. Closing in on 70,000 words total. So I'm in the novel ballpark. I can even see the climax and end coming, there's just a big chunk of words to write between now and then. This project is the main reason I decided to let go of The Bearded Gamer Show. I have a bestseller in me. I know I do. Now I'm focused on making that magic happen.

I also booked my first emceeing gig. January 18, 2013. The where, when, and why are still under wraps a bit, but I'll be donning my first kilt and getting my bearded emcee thing going soon enough.

Restarted P90X with my honey yesterday. Good stuff. I have, indeed, lost a step since the last time I completed that beast of a workout program. Feels good to get back on the horse, though.

What I'm reading: Seeker by Jack McDevitt and WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer
What I'm listening to: The Human Instrument by Volbeat