Sunday, December 1, 2013

The Path to Loss: Progress Report 11

Approaching Infinity: Book Four
81,200 words

Okay, in the middle of the big finish now! There's still hope for this to be done and out by the new year. Cover by Chris Seaman as good as done. Thanks Chris!

Friday, November 1, 2013

The Path to Loss: Progress Report 10

Approaching Infinity: Book Four
76,300 words

Working up to the big finish and then will have a little wrap-up to do. So far so good!

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The Path to Loss: Progress Report 9

Approaching Infinity: Book Four
69,300 words

On track and nearing the end! Things are about to get messy(er)...

Monday, September 23, 2013

Tron: Uprising

I've been a fan of Tron since I saw it in the theater as a kid in 1982. Besides the novelty of life and death inside the computer, the look of the environment alone blew me away and sparked my imagination. I was never able to play Tron 2.0, but it was cool enough for me that the franchise still lived. Then Tron: Legacy comes out in 2010 and it's like I'm 10 years old all over again: the music (!), the visuals, the promise of yet another sequel—all to the good!

No third movie yet, but a prequel to the sequel has provided just the right combination of backlit goodness. I'd been putting off watching Tron: Uprising because I didn't want to jinx it or get my hopes up, but so far, I'm really enjoying it. The voice talent and animation (amazing atmosphere!) are excellent. The stories, for the most part, have been good, too. Hard to cram a perfect product into twenty-some odd minutes, but I'm liking it so far. It's a shame that the series wasn't renewed, but maybe that third movie will be forthcoming.

Tron lives!

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Hmm...

In addition to life not being a constant vacation here in Hawaii when you're a resident, it really sucks to be burglarized.

Oh well. At least we're all safe. It could have been a lot worse.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

The Path to Loss: Progress Report 8

Approaching Infinity: Book Four
64,200 words

Still trucking (in the slow lane)! My plan was and is to have this book finished and out before year's end, but you know how logistics can sometimes thwart you, and by you I mean me.

Fight the power!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

The Path to Loss: Progress Report 7

Approaching Infinity: Book Four
59,700 words

There have been some adjustments; maintaining my previous schedule is no longer possible, but book four moves forward and I am committed to finishing it this year.

I wish I had more interesting things to report for this go (and more regularly) but time is elusive and I usually find my self-discipline failing me at the end of the day. I'm trying to change that. I'm now trying to write at least a little every night after putting my daughter to bed. Before, I was waiting to write on the weekends, but that, for various reasons, proved to be fruitless and so disappointing. For the last couple of days, though, I've managed to get to my desk and spit out at least a few hundred words before getting to bed with enough sleep to be able to function at work the next day. Routines are good until they aren't. Some are forever. Let's hope this one sticks.

Monday, July 1, 2013

The Path to Loss: Progress Report 6

Approaching Infinity: Book Four
57,200 Words

With my family here and settled in Honolulu, the hiatus is over. It'll be bit of a challenge now to find time to write, but it certainly beats the alternative. Part 3 of Book 4 is underway and I'm pleased with the (limited) progress I've made so far. I don't plan on missing another progress report so stay tuned!

I don't want to jinx anything... but the audiobook version of The Artifact Competition is currently in production! Updates to follow.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

The Path to Loss: Progress Report 5

Approaching Infinity: Book Four
54,400 words

Less productive this month, but I wanted to spend more time moving into the final of the three sections. I’ve mentioned to some that this is going to be a slightly different read than the previous volumes in the series. I can only hope that I’m successful in pulling it off. It does bring us to the very threshold of The Place with Many Doors, so requires some delicate handling and a degree of finesse. Stay tuned!

Monday, April 29, 2013

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Finally!

A mere 51 weeks (to the day) after my arrival in Honolulu and we've finally gotten word of my wife's interview date at the US Embassy in Tokyo. May 13th is the magical day.

I say "mere" both honestly and sarcastically: I'm sure many have had this process take much longer (though the NVC processing mail from the US to Japan through France is probably not an expedience for anyone—what was that about?!). But being apart from my wife and daughter for a year now, with another month to go, has been, not surprisingly, very, very difficult.

Anyway, expensive and time-consuming redundancies and poor customer service aside, the process is nearly complete and I can't really express how happy that makes me.

Monday, April 1, 2013

The Path to Loss: Progress Report 4

Approaching Infinity: Book Four
49,300 words

I was hoping to hit a round 50k, but the above number will do—and is not too shabby. Part 2 is coming along nicely, but it's possible that none of the characters see it that way. Pain and suffering all around. Things have to get worse before they can get better. That's just the way of things.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Print Version on the Way!

I usually try to spend my weekends writing and end up with varying degrees of success. I've been doing a better job this time out of writing during the week as well which has pushed the word count along at a nice pace.

This last weekend, however, was spent prepping The Blood Solution for its paperback release through CreateSpace. I will admit to putting this off since the vast majority of my sales have been from the digital format, but I'd always planned to produce a print copy and am excited about being able to hold the thing in my hands. I cannot explain what it felt like to get the proofs back for the first two books, but maybe some of you can relate.

The proof for The Blood Solution is on its way. Once I get that and give a good once over it'll be available through Amazon.

Updates to follow.

Friday, March 1, 2013

The Path to Loss: Progress Report 3

Approaching Infinity: Book Four
35,400 Words

Still moving along nicely. Part 1 of 3 is complete; part 2 is well under way.

To celebrate, The Artifact Competition will be free for download from March 1st (today!) through  March 4th.

Download it! Read it! Review it! Love it or hate it, I want to hear what you have to say!

I feel kind of guilty for not posting anything besides progress reports these days, but progress is good, right?

Friday, February 1, 2013

The Path to Loss: Progress Report 2

Approaching Infinity: Book Four
20,700 words

Off to an exceptionally good start. I've been working on some other projects as well, so this has been a very productive month for me. Hopefully I'll be able to maintain a similar pace for the duration. Keep your fingers crossed.

Anyone who's interested, find me and friend me on Goodreads!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

All But The Most Important...

Thirty-five boxes, very nearly the sum total of all we had in Japan, have now arrived safely in Honolulu. I will be spending the next I-don't-know-how-long going through them and finding out what made it and what didn't. So everything is here now, with the painful exception of my wife and daughter.

I am mystified by the visa process, how backward it seems. There are income requirements, and yet it seems you're forced to maintain two households (?!). Everything moves at a literal snail's pace and it seems that there is an aversion to computers, or at least to using them effectively and efficiently. There's a giant purgatorial gap between when USCIS is finished and when the NVC gets started. It's all working towards driving me a little crazy. But I suppose instead I should just be ashamed of my naivete.

Anyway, boxes, boxes, boxes...

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

The Path to Loss: Progress Report 1

Approaching Infinity: Book Four
4,300 words

I thought I would need more of a break between finishing the last book and starting the new, but I was wrong, thankfully. I did realize, though, that the Approaching Infinity series, originally planned to be six books, would need to grow by one book. The Loss Queen, which would have been book 4, becomes book 5, and now we have The Path to Loss squeezing in between. It all works out nicely, I think, but I promise not to keep adding books in the middle to forever put off the ending. We are moving towards a climax and a conclusion (of sorts).

I was going to use some of the time between books to work on Expeditionary Squad, but as I have started on the next Approaching Infinity volume already, I'll try to work on both simultaneously. I haven't been very successful working on multiple projects at the same time in the past so keep your fingers crossed.