Adventures in Bat Country

This is the last month for my current contract and thus I have been very busy at work. I am looking forward to my time off between contracts.

Editing on the Highway West goes really well. I am roughly a little under half-way through. My editor and beta readers have been very awesome.

I finished out some pitches and sent them off for Secret Media Jon #1.

A new media project has presented itself and I am looking forward to seeing if I can manage it.

I've discovered that I really, really like writing novels. Sadly, I just don't think I am going to be able to mess with any short stories until the Highway West is complete.

I've started outlining and even wrote bits and piece of the sequel titled Along the Watchtower.

My face feels pretty much completely healed now, but I'm dealing with the remains of the nerve pain. It is lessening each day.

I'm still in the Camarilla. That's a Live Action Role Playing game. I enjoy my silly pretendy fun time.

I might not be the King of the Nerds, but I am, at the least, a minor Duke.

I've never actually been in long term pain before.

I've been sick and thrown-up, but never really in pain. I broke my arm when I was around nine or so and I remember thinking this should hurt more.

I accidently cut my leg when taking out the garabage and didn't feel it properly until I noticed the blood.

The worst thing that ever happened to be was when I had a long term ear infection about 10 years ago that made me dizzy.

The Bell's Palsy didn't really hurt that much. It was numb. Ironically, the quicker I heal, the more pain I feel in my face. I've started incorporating a little bit of it into Book II with the Marty character.

It is a drain on your nerves to dread being in pain. I had a bad week, but today I feel better and have been relaxing.

I've missed out on weeks of writing. Sadly, it means that I missed a couple of deadlines of anthologies I wanted to submit to, but I've managed to cover all of my commitments.

I've been a bit cranky to my wife and friends and to them I apologize for being crotchy old man. It has given me time to think.

I recieved a good portion of feedback from my 2.0 beta readers for the Highway West. My friends have been very kind of me and for that I'll always be grateful.

I've been so silly that watching kitten videos have been cheering me up. Like this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw4KVoEVcr0&sns=fb

I plan to start my serious editing tomorrow morning based on the feedback.

That statement pretty much describes my weekend.

I went to a party at Dave's Murder Palace on Friday. Yes, you read that correctly. It was a wild party. Like any party, it was equal parts awesome bonding and getting cornered by that one annoying person. This time around it was an entity renamed The Space Cowboy.

Saturday, insatia and I took her nieces around town and I told them stories. I think I bored them to sleep.

Sunday, I met up with the awesome Kara and ran through some writing exercises.

This week, I've been running through all of the short stories I want to write by July 1st and it is a long list. Why couldn't these deadlines be August 1st since I will likely have July off due to the crazy Microsoft schedule.

It means that I have decided to put down new novel, no matter how awesome the idea is, until August when I will have the deadlines completed and the Highway West off into the ether.

It is a rare and special day when your voice returns.

I awoke this morning to discover that my control of my face is almost completely back. My voice sounds much more normal and less like Richard Nixon. My left eye is still a little sore.

I watched a little televison, write a little more on some stories, and spent two hours working on Camarilla business.

And then I went to the Wing Dome for lunch. I love that place. Sounds like they are doing excellent business as the Food Network was there filming for a show. Sadly, it took 1.5 hours for us to get our awesome food. The film crew slowed everything down to a crawl, but the meal was free.

I was late with my meeting with the sheerly awesome Jason Carl, but it was a good time. I think friendships are important to maintain and as we get older, it becomes more difficult. This was the first time I felt like I could completely engage in a conversation and I think I talked his ear off. ;)

All in all an excellent day.

Today has been a good day. When I awoke, I was a little sad that I was not at the Yummy Gras Party. I've missed two fun things two weeks in a row, but it was for the good of my health.

My face is healing quickly. I no longer look like Two-Face and I can talk fairly normally. People can still tell that something happened to make me talk a little weird, but nothing too bad.

I slept a very solid sleep until about 11 in the morning. I rarely sleep so long as a single time. It felt like heaven.

I added about 500 words or so on a Heller Mystery story titled "A Simple Job" and then I decided to play for a bit. Writers need to play with words.

I started a personal essay titled "Midnight in the Heart of New Orleans Near the Statue of Ignatius" about my own personal visit to NOLA last year.

And then, I had an idea burst into my little brain about Doctor Who. As many of you know the fine actress Elisabeth Sladen that played Sarah Jane Smith died recently. I had an idea burning inside of my eyeballs wanting to get out and so I played for a couple of hours and I wrote a story involving the Eleventh Doctor saying goodbye to Sarah Jane.

A lot of writers harsh on fanfiction, but I think it can awesome and I would die of sheer delight if someday people are loving my stories so much that they write fanfiction.

I am off to dinner with an old friend and then I will settle into watching the next Doctor Who. I am trying to be spoiler free and it is very difficult.

One thing that I've learned is that routine is very important to a writer.

I think I have finally settled into one that really, really works for me.

During Monday through Friday, I make the effort to put at least 500 words to paper. Metaphorically, that is, as I usually use my laptop for my writing assignments. My typical word count is about 750 to 1000 words, except for the nights that I take my weekly Camarilla break. I usually manage to hit 500 words a day. Not bad considering that I do have a day job.

Sunday is my workhorse day. I usually wake and watching something on Netflix and then put in a couple of hours into writing.

Saturday is my adventure day. I typically wake early and watch a movie. I'm trying to also do a bit of walking since it helps me think. By lunch time, insatia and I go to lunch somewhere fun and then so something fun for a while. I take a nap and then I'm ready for whatever fun thing I have planned for the evening.

Today I want a sticker to decorate my laptop. I just rewatched the new Sherlock Holmes series from BBC. It is simply brilliant. I love that show.

I think this was a much better year than the last one.

insatia and I situated our finances this year in a very big way. We took a lot of steps forward. I don't want to go into details here in public, but I was very proud of both of us.

This was also the year that I really stepped up on the business and responsibility side of writing.

I did an experiment with crowd-funding with Dylan and the Dream Pirates. I think it was a qualified success. I made a solid amount of money from the crowd-funding. It was almost enough to be considered a professional advance. However, I have a lot I need to learn marketing.

I managed to sell a number of new short stories and reprints. I joined the SFWA.

The biggest leap for me is tackling the story that has always been the weird short of personal Vietnam for me. I've tried writing it twice before and failed. I tried again and this time put myself really into it and it has been scary.

insatia and I had a very quiet weekend, mostly by design.

Friday, I visited Magical Rob's party, but I ducked out after about an hour into it. I was very tired and my Xbox misses me when I am at work and writing.

Fallout: New Vegas is very awesome. I enjoy the details and the world. I'm a little burned out after playing it for several days.

Saturday, insatia and I hiberated, cleaned the house, and each of us played more video games. Sadly, we missed the Sabbat game, but alas my character was still in proxy. I had several people call me tempting to lure me out of my apartment this weekend and I am very grateful to have friends interested in spending time with me. I think I just needed a weekend to recharge my batteries.

Sunday, I met with the writer's group. I spent some time free writing and editing with Kathy. I always enjoy those meetings. It keeps me excited about writing.

This week, I've been preparing for my NaNoWriMo project.

I have a couple of stories that I need to finish out here soon. I've been chipping away at them and now I need to finished the little bastards and sent them out.

Fallout New Vegas is awesome and almost ate my soul. I survived and escaped. And now it is the reward after achieving a solid word count.

This week was a week of frustration. I had some errands and business that ate up a portion of my time.

The Camarilla required a bit more attention than normal and that also ate up my time.

I spent a good portion of the week researching, plotting, and outlining my new fictional universe titled the Ouroboros Project. This is a science fiction setting mystery about a motley group of characters thrown together. I'm testing it out as a role-playing game. You can look at it here: http://jasonbandrew.wikidot.com/the-ouroboros-project

I had the first game this Tuesday and I think I can properly say that it scared the Bejesus out of people. I am glad I spent the time on this as it will make the writing much easier.

I am wildly behind in my short fiction projects. I wanted to make a lot of progress this week and I didn't. I have one more week off before my next contract at the Evil Empire. I shall have to resist the temptation to devote my life to Fallout: Los Vegas and made sure I spend my time getting the work done.

That is the hardest part of being a writer. There is so much I want to do and sometimes it is hard to find the discipline to sit in the seat. You have to build up to that discipline and make it work. I will defeat Fallout by using it as a reward for when I get my work done!