Not doing too well on getting back to contributing here... that last few days have been absolutely horrible.  But thanks to Flagyl and a dosage the equivalent of a thermal nuclear explosion's worth of Prednisone, I'm starting to feel better.

I've been feeling pretty low down lately.  I haven't been working as much as I want or should, thanks to being super sick.  It always leaves me feeling depressed.  Today, though, was good.  I mapped out a short story that I plan on starting tomorrow and I started the process of converting my first novel into third person as I revise it--not an easy undertaking by any means, though not as monumental as it initially sounds.

I got my first official rejection "form" letter and I have two manuscripts out the door tomorrow with at least one, and hopefully one or two more, to be sent out early next week.

Where to start...  I've been away for some time, this is obvious, so let me just kind of hit things in a list.

I'll start off with my health, something important only because it has to be.  In general it is still relatively poor.  I've been really sick the last month.  Also, I've started a new treatment, so far I've noticed no positive response and maybe some negative.  The medication has some serious risks involved (an untreatable brain infection, PML) but there are rigorous checks in place and the chance of contracting PML is very low.  I'm on a three month evaluation period; if there are no (significant) positive results by the end of that period the medication will be discontinued.  Wish me luck.

Back in the beginning of June I started writing my first novel about an antique device known as a mutoscope that is possessed by a starlett of the risque, "flip book" shorts.  I finished the first draft at the end of August and it rounded out at around 230 pages.  Not too bad.  Honestly, the manuscript is in a bit of a mess; there are details that don't match up and enough issues needing resolution to keep me busy for quite some time.  I had started revision and got about 50 pages (plus the prologue) in but, after finishing a book on characters (creation and development, POV) I've decided to start again in order to address some more issues--it's not like I'm not going to have to go through it a half dozen more times anyway...  The prologue is extremely too graphic, just ask my flabbergasted mother--she kept thinking to herself as she read, "this is my son."  The rest of the story never nears it in overtly gory detail; it really is disconnected from the rest of the story (as Rhi pointed out so astutely).  I'm going to significantly tone it down.  I won't say it is any good, but I will say that my writing skill definitely improved over the course of writing it; I noticed that by how the number of revisions decreased the farther I got into the story.  At the beginning whole pages needed rewriting and toward the 50 page mark, that lessened considerably.  Regardless of how it ultimately turns out, I am still proud of the fact that I committed to such a long and involved writing project, stuck through it even when it got hard and the initial excited burst of story gave way to the grind of day in and day out writing even the lesser, but still important, parts of the story.  You can't always be writing the scene when the protagonist fights the monster; that would be like putting the roof on a house without first erecting the walls.  ...so I keep plugging away with it.  Hopefully it turns into something competent if nothing else.

Like before, I also continued to write short stories, though not very many, while I worked on writing the novel.  I put aside the George series of stories (I was flirting with the idea of turning that into a novel but I was going at it in an awkward way) for the time being and wrote a handful of stories since the last time I posted seriously, the most recent being: Tennerbrauer Terror, about a werewolf that prays on homeless people and the older, chronically ill man who makes a stand; 17, a story about a teen's last day before mandatory armed service in a future interplanetary war; Night Person, explores fear of darkness and the terrible secret it contains; Food Fight (working title), a suicide bomber strikes out the sound of people eating; and Already Dead (horrible working title) a story about a man who must come to grips with his looming death in the midst of a botched jewel heist with a twist.  If anyone is interested in reading any let me know and I'll almost certainly send it to you.

Right now I'm trying to decide whether I want to stick with writing short stories for a while or if I want to start another novel, while I continue to revise my other novel of course.  Any suggestions?

Painting in the new place is done, except for touch-ups as we find them.  I'm sorry; I still don't have any pictures taken.  I'll be back down there on Saturday so I will try to take some then.  It all looks great; not perfect but good for the first time masking off and painting on such a scale.  Rhiannon did a great job picking out the colors.  The office looks especially cool with its vertical trim pieces and horizontal, ceiling trim painted a slightly darker green than the room.

 

-o-

 

The theme for the office is lighthouses (the kitchen is sun flowers).  I'm excited at putting up the lighthouse stuff I already have and getting of decorations and furnishings to give the room a maritime feel.  Something I think would be really cool is to find an old anchor that could be displayed and/or used as a door stop.

 

I also can't wait to get the office up and running so I can move all my stuff back, since I'll have a couch to work on in there.  I'm planning on making at least one end table for it and repainting another.  We'll see how it goes.

 

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I've begun the arduous process of compiling a list of periodicals, websites, journals, etc. that accept the kind of short stories (and novels) that I write.  Using the Novel & Short Story Writer's Market I have highlighted all those that meet my needs.  Now I need to take that disorganized, page markers everywhere, mess and make an alphabetically arranged list in my planner.  Within the planner, I will also be able to document and track my submissions and my experience with publishers, editors, etc.

 

-o-

 

The George stories are now beginning to become one unified work.  I took the eight separate short stories and made them chapters that I am tying together as I go through them.  Additionally, I mapped out what is left to write (the gaps that need filling in) and even sketched outlines for some of the additional chapters.  As it is mapped this moment, I have written about half of the chapters, most at the beginning of the book but two at the end as well.  My plan, before I begin adding any more chapters, is to go through and make the first six chapters a cohesive unit that I can go start from.  Plus, as Rhi pointed out, I don't have to finish the book before I can pitch it.  Getting the first part done will allow me to solicit publishers even while I'm still constructing the work.  That is the idea anyway.

 

-o-

 

One of the great things about writing is that you get to read what you want in the name of research.  For my George story I have been reading books on serial offenders and the guys who profile them.  I'm on my third book with several to go.  By the time I get done writing the story I should be an amateur expert on serial killers and profiling them.  Now that is pretty cool, don’t you think?

 

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As soon as we have money again, I'm going to get the new Red Faction game, Guerilla, and Rhi is getting Infamous.  Both games look awesome.

 

-o-

 

I'm still making my way through Chronicles of Riddick.  I still haven't beat the first campaign, Escape from Butcher Bay.  The game is okay, a little on the hard side and, at times, lacking that feeling that you get that won't let you set the controller down because you have to know what happens next.  After about an hour of playing I'm done; it is just not that excited about it.  But I hate starting something new without finishing up what I've started, so I just haven't been playing.  Not that I've had much time to play anyway, what with going to Jefferson City every day.  I suppose I could start bringing the PSP along with me to play… I think I will do that.  I could play Silent Hill Origins, Crisis Core, or the Sega Collection or Syphon Filter, which I'm not to crazy about.

Wow, this thing has gotten away from me again.  We've been so busy working on the new place that I really haven't had any time to update.

 

The new house is well on its way to being repainted.  As of right now we have the kitchen primed and ready for paint, well after we go over one area one or two more times with kilz.  The living room has been primed and painted a light, pale green, all that is left is to mask off the chair rail and paint it a darker green to accentuate it.  We also have to prime and paint the office as well, but that shouldn't take too long since there is very little masking… until I mask off the trim and paint it a darker green (this room is the same green color as the living room).  I think it's looking pretty damn good so far, especially considering that this is the first time Rhi and I have really done something like this on our own.

 

All the supplies we've needed to buy have been super fucking expensive.  We've spent around $400 just paint, primer, paint stickes (2), rollers (3), rolling pans (3), paint cups (3), drop cloths (2), paint brushes, masking tape…  The shit really adds up.  Luckily, I think we are done buying supplies.  But there is still some furniture that we need to purchase (though that is only if Rhi gets the job she's been promised).  We are planning on getting a the TV stand that matches our audio pier and a small dining room table that is part of the same collection.  Also we will be getting a microwave shelf that matches the other furniture.  It will free up a lot of counter space since it will hold our microwave, toaster oven, and George Foreman grill when not in use. 

 

I have to say, I am a little excited to get everything together and start putting our house in order.  For the first time our living room and dining room furniture will match and have a consistent theme, not just a collection of different random pieces.  The living room with be a pale, light green with a darker green chair rail stripe and in it will be a dark green couch, either our futon or we'll buy a love seat, a new coffee table that has a pretty medium to dark wood finish, the end table I redid in green and medium to dark wood table top, the medium wood finished audio pier and entertainment stand.  There will also be some lighter wood finished tables set out as decoration.  I think once it is all together it will look really neat.

 

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Though I haven't been writing on here I have still been writing… quite a bit, I might add.  I have completed seven short stories in the Deadlight Scripture series.  I haven't decided if they are good enough as is to be chapters or if I need to rework them when putting them together.  The overall plan for this series is a novella (maybe novel if it is long enough).  Between the six shorts I have around 50 pages, not bad.

 

I've also started writing short stories about Crohn's and ill health.  They have been written as fiction but it would take very little work to make them true (mainly I would just have to change the names from fictitious ones to mine and my families).  I will probably use them in my memoir whenever I get around to starting that.

 

What do you get when you mix a guy with Autoimmune Pancreatitis and a werewolf-like monster?  Give up?  A story I wrote last week that still doesn't have a title.  I haven't read through it since I wrote it (I plan on working on it today) so I'm not sure how good it is; but, it was a blast to write.  I knocked out the whole story in a day, all 15 pages.  I think there is room for more description so the number of pages may go up.  It's writing those kind of stories, the one's that are just itching to burst out of you and you can't type fast enough, that really reminds me why I want to be a writer.  I love it.

Rhi got me two new natural light lamps for the studio.  Both were got for around $45.00 while one retailed for over $200.00 and the other over $100.00.  We got a hell of a deal.  Now that I have these lamps I don't have to rig up the shop lights that I am using now in the studio; they would have been a pain in the ass to make stands for (since I wouldn't be able to mount them to the ceiling).  With my two lamps and a high wattage equivalent compact florescent in the light fixture (say 150W or so) I should have plenty of light.

 

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I'm so tired, mostly thanks to my (lack of) blood.

 

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I started Chronicle of Riddick Assualt on Dark Athena so far it is really cool.  The graphics and lighting effects are really impressive.  As is Vin Diesel's voice acting, he has such a cool voice.  Riddick is one of my favorite sci-fi characters. 

 

So far the game has been focused on stealth tactics for disposing of enemies.  I especially love sneeking up behind a guy and silently snapping his neck.  Well, stabbing a shiv into his eye socket is right up there too. 

 

The game is actually two-in-one, the first one being Escape from Butcher's Bay, which was released on the Xbox back in 2004.  They have completely remade it for the PS3 and that is what I am using to evaluate the graphical niceties since I haven't progressed to the second campaign (Assault on Dark Athena) yet. 

 

The voice acting is top notch with lots of little nuances coming out in each characters voice; everyone has their own unique little quirks in voice and behavior. 

 

The game is decidedly violent, but if you've seen the movies you already knew that.  It isn't for the

young ones, but adults… come on in, the water's nice.

 

I am thoroughly enjoying it.

 

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I hate when I have days where I feel unproductive.  Yesterday all I did was sleep when what I wanted to be doing was reading and writing.  I feel like I'm falling behind on my fiction writing, though it is not like I have some sort of quota I need to maintain.  I'm torn between staying with my Deadlight Scripture story or writing something entirely new and different.  It might not be a bad idea to take a break from George for the time being.  That would give me some time to read up more on serial killers so I can write the segments involving Special Agent Parker, the FBI's top profiler called in to find George, nicknamed The Christ Killer, which he absolutely loathes.  I love the story so much I don't want to leave it, but I also don't want to force anything and add material that isn't as high of quality as the story deserves.  Ah, what a conundrum. 

 

I think I will read most of today and if I do write, write something new and different.  I've been wanting to write a horror story anyway.  I guess that decides it.