Category Archives: Recap

Of Sickness and Live News

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Over the past three to four weeks, I have been struggling with my perceived place in the writing world. The core question bothering me was, “Am I good enough to be doing this?” Self-doubt, self loathing and depression were once again kicking my ass and I lashed out at all of you in “Fame.”

I seem to go through this every so often, but I’ve never gone so far at to lash out like that. As with all of my creative non-fiction, it was based in truth and only embellished enough to be an interesting read. I realize that it was incredibly stupid and unfair of me to do so, and I apologize to all of you.

Writing that piece also scared the crap out of me. It was a sure sign of self-destructive behavior (in the sense that “writing” was what was destructing) and I don’t really want to stop writing. Ever.

So, I made the solid choice to organize my writing lifestyle and this past Monday, I launched a second blog that I intend to use as a focus for my novel writing and publishing endeavors called, In Other Worlds.

And then I didn’t write all week.

Because things happened.

The afternoon following my blog launch, the city of Boston was subject to an act of terror. I remained glued to my television like I haven’t been since Sept 11, 2001, watching the horror unfold in a city I used to call home. I decided not to write about that event or my thoughts and feelings about it because others would and they would do a much better job at it than I.

On Tuesday, I woke up with the plague.

For the next three days, I fought a fever that almost hit 102, headache, bodyaches, cough, soreness, congestion, weakness – you name it. I don’t know what exactly the disease was, but my wife had it too and we were a miserable pair.

On Friday, I woke up at 6am, feeling pretty good, and turned the local news on to check the weather, as I always do. Gotta make sure the kids are dressed properly for the day at school, right?

I watched the news for sixteen hours. Between NECN, WMUR and the local feed direct from Boston, I had continuous live coverage of events – by local reporters. (By the way NECN, you better give Scott Yount a raise at the very least. Being the ONLY reporter on the scene of the house where that asshole was caught with nothing but a cell phone and a webcam, put NECN miles ahead of any other station reporting at the time. I found it amusing that the major networks were getting information almost a half hour later than Scott was reporting it.)

I watched with shock and awe as they searched for what’s-his-face in neighborhoods I knew! I used to walk along Norfolk St in Somerville and Cambridge. I knew someone who lived on Mt Auburn Street in Watertown. I’ve been to the Arsenal Mall. It was quite surreal to be seeing this on my television.

Throughout the day, my wife and I played detective and speculated about the fate of what’s-his-name. In the end, we figured he had been injured in the firefight the night before and was hiding somewhere in Watertown. We smiled in satisfaction when we found out we were right.

So, yeah. Been a pretty shitty week all around.

Next week will be better.

Right?

State of the Scribble – Holiday Edition

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comicholidaysI just want to give all of you a quick update on what’s been happening here in Sinistral Scribblings land and apologize to the few of you who may have been expecting some new short fiction this past week.

Hannah Anne Novel

Serious work has begun on the Hannah Anne novel finally, thanks to a Scriptic prompt I received last week. As I’ve been writing, all of the nit-picky details of the book that were fuzzy or non-existent have been coming into focus and falling into place. It’s been a fulfilling experience. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’ve slowed down on the flash fiction stuff.

Hannah has a last name now – “Ennis.” No one who participated in the Name Contest chose this name, but I’ll find some way to honor all those who chose Irish names because, for some reason, Hannah had to be of Irish ancestry. No other country fit her.

HANNAH ANNE ENNIS

I chose Ennis for a number of reasons. First, I love alliteration, and now all of her names are structured, “vowel/NN/vowel.” Second, Ennis is an old Irish name – an anglicized version of ó hAonghuis which may mean “unique choice” – a meaning that fits her character. I’m very big on giving characters and places meaningful names that says something about them, but I try not to make it obvious.

Speaking of characters, everybody’s favorite creepy mortician is now part of the Hannah book. Yep, Mr. Lux has been integrated into Hannah’s world. Like most of you, I like Mr. Lux and have been wanting to give him a decent story of his own. However, I don’t think he’s a strong enough character to carry his own novel – maybe a short story. In the meantime, he’s been added a minor character in this book.

Writing a novel is very different than writing very short flash fiction pieces. As many loyal readers have commented, much of my short work seems to come from something larger, or could be made larger, or something-that-means-holy-shit-where’s-the-rest? I must confess, I find writing fiction to fit into one blog post very difficult. I leave out much of what I see and hear in my mind while writing so that I can produce the short work that fits the blog format. Now, writing the book, I am free to dive into those details, descriptions and conversations that may not necessarily move the story forward, but do create a rich atmosphere.

One last thing regarding Hannah. A number of people have expressed an interest in being a “beta reader” for the book. WHICH IS AWESOME! I seriously love you guys and all the support and encouragement has been humbling. Thank you so much. I’ll be sending out the first few chapters after the holidays to those who requested them. If you’d like to beta read, just drop me a line.

As a Holiday Gift to all of you awesome people, here’s an excerpt from the first draft:

Hannah kicked the stand down and swung off the old Schwinn. Jack stood by, half-heartedly wagging his tail, watching with his rheumy eyes. The dog looked much like his master: old, thin and dried out. Clumps of hair were missing here and there and he smelled of an ammonia-formaldehyde cocktail.

Straightening her denim skirt, Hannah reached out a hand to scratch Jack’s ear when a voice like dried leather said behind her, “Hrm, he bites.”

“Jack doesn’t bite and you know it, Mr. Lux,” Hannah said to the voice behind her amiably.

“Well, hrm,” a skeletal hand the color of death grabbed Jack’s collar. “That may be, hrm, Miss Ennis, but Jack doesn’t like people.” The hand jerked and Jack was pulled away from Hannah.

Turning, Hannah confronted the mortician. Nearly a foot and a half taller than she, Mr. Lux was a personification of Death. Tall and thin, his joints showed as points through his black suit. A weak scruff of white hair wrapped his head from ear to ear, carefully combed back with Brill Creem. He bared his teeth at Hannah, which she knew to be his attempt at a smile.

“I think it’s Jack’s master who doesn’t like people,” Hannah told him firmly.

Mr. Lux’s grin grew wider, revealing an impossible amount of teeth. “The dead, hrm,” he jerked on Jack’s collar once again, though the dog hadn’t moved, “The dead have more interesting things to talk about.” He placed a hand over his breast and sketched a brief bow. “Good day, Miss Ennis.”

“Good morning, Mr. Lux,” Hannah smiled as friendly as she could. The mortician always made her skin crawl.

“Hrm, come Jack,” Mr. Lux jerked the collar once more, turned, and led the dog back the way Hannah had come.

Happy Holidays!

Can’t Fool the Blues

Work on “Can’t Fool the Blues,” my five part story being hosted by The Scholarly Scribe, was halted this week in my mad rush to get the first few scenes of the Hannah book down. I plan to return to writing part three very soon, but in the meantime, if you haven’t already, please visit David and read Part One – 1996 and Part Two – 1974. It’s some of my best work, I think.

The Master Class/Fab Four Fables

The Master Class will return for the Spring Semester sometime in January. Until then, Shannon of The Squeaky Wheel Blog, David of The Scholarly Scribe, SAM of My Write Side and myself have created a round robin style story thing called Fab Four Fables. You can read the first and second parts of our current story at my blog with In the Way of Dreams and SAM’s blog with Sinister Shadows. David will follow with part three and Shannon will close the deal. If you haven’t yet, please go read some of these fabulous writer’s work. They are all very good.

In Closing

There are a couple of other projects happening, but I can’t talk about them now. So, go read, go write and have a safe and happy holiday season!

The State of the Scribble

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As hurricane Sandy approaches, I find myself reflecting on life and what it means.

No, not really. (Well, I am worried for my parents who live in NY, but I think we’ll be okay here in NH.)

But I am reflecting on what’s going on in my writing world.

There are no pictures in this post. I apologize to the visually stimulated.

Some of you may recall that I announced I would be writing a Hannah Anne novel for NaNoWriMo. A few weeks ago, I was taking stock of unfinished as well as upcoming projects, and came to the conclusion that if I wanted to drive myself into the nuthouse then I should absolutlely, 100 percent, participate in NaNo.

So, yeah. Not gonna to NaNo.

That’s not to say I won’t be writing a Hannah book. I am! I’ve been brainstorming ideas and putting together a loose structure for the book with my editor, best friend and wife (all the same person). And, the Hannah Anne Name Contest still closes on Wednesday. Yes, that’s still happening.

Hannah is taking a temporary backseat to other things. She’s also not going to appear on the blog for the time being – not even to finish the “people in the mist” story-line. I’m afraid I may give too much away about the book AND there would be continuity errors between the blog stories and the book. Don’t want to confuse anyone, y’know.

What’s Hannah being pushed aside for? Glad you asked.

There hasn’t been much news with the Easy Money digital comic lately, so I’m happy to say that after being put on hiatus for a month (both Rob and I had other things happening), it’s back on track. As of yesterday, Rob received from me a write up of the history of the Easy Money setting as well as a revised version of the issue one script. There weren’t many changes to the script, just a few things to add detail and flavor based on the history. Going forward though, that history will allow me to draw upon it for future stories.

Once Rob shows me layouts for the first issue, I’ll have a better understanding of how he’s interpreting the script, which will allow me to write better scripts for him. What’s that mean? It means I won’t be writing issue two until I get to see layouts for issue one. Once that happens, I can pump out issues as fast as I want.

The best thing about the Easy Money project is that it’s a labor of love. There are no deadlines, no one standing over our shoulders telling us to work faster. We’re doing this for fun. So we take our time. Do it right and do it good.

What else is Hannah taking a backseat to?

My first “commissioned” story.

Zoinks!

Yep, someone asked me to write a story for them.

David Wiley, who runs the blog Scholarly Scribe, is a pretty good poet and fantasy writer. We share a common interest in comic books and have been talking about superheroes off and on for a few months. David asked me to write a superhero story for his blog, which he would publish as a guest post. I happily agreed and set to work.

The result of my labor was a nearly 6,000 word unfinished story that I hated. It was too long for a blog post and it was dull, boring and poorly written. I loved the concept of the story – the main character is a regular guy trying to get by in a world of superheroes. A major rewrite was in order.

I kept the premise of the main character being normal, but I gave him a new job, a new girl and a new purpose. I then decided to tell the story out-of-time, not linear, in other words. The story is also broken into five parts (which makes it much easier to call them “blog posts”) that each center around a few days of the main character’s life. Each part also represents a decade starting in the 60′s and running into the 00′s. But, like I said, the parts are being told out of order.

Look for Part One, “1996,” sometime this week. Next week will be the release of Part Two, “1974.” All five parts will publish exclusively on Scholarly Scribe.

The last thing I’ve got going on is The Master Class. It’s a new writing prompt meme-thing that I started two weeks ago. It’s generated some interest and has produced some very good writing from the likes of David Wiley, Shannon Potts, Christine of Trudging Through Fog and SAM. A new prompt goes up every Tuesday morning.

Wowzers! Lot’s of big stuff going on and big stuff on the horizon.

Thank you all for reading and all your support!

 

Scribbles

Summarizing Scribbles

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Hey everyone, welcome back to the “whenever-I-feel-like-it” weekly wrap-up.

First, an announcement: I will no longer be participating in Lance and Leeroy‘s 100 Word Song writing prompt. It’s been a fun few weeks, but I just don’t feel like I fit in with the kids, y’know what I mean? All of the participants churn out some fantastic writing each week, but many of them use the 100 Word Song prompt as tidbits to larger stories on a consistent basis and I just don’t have the time to hop around to so many blogs throughout the week reading them all so that the prompt posts make sense to me. Reading a bit of fiction out of context doesn’t allow me to comment fairly and I don’t want to write some variation of “Good post” because I don’t want people doing that on my blog. It may sound elitist but it’s simply not fair of me to expect them to visit Sinistral Scribblings when I can’t visit them, right? Well, I know what I mean, but writing it out makes me sound like an asshole.

The other thing about this prompt is that the songs chosen tend to take me to dark places I’d rather not visit. “Of Blood and Paint” is my last entry to this meme and a good example of a dark place.

Now I feel like crap and don’t even want to finish with this post.

Ok, refilled my coffee, had a smoke and put on my Jam Bands Mix in iTunes. Feeling a little better.

Last week, David Wiley, the Scholarly Scribe, invited his readers to create their own superhero. After I posted about what I think makes a good superhero, David showed us Clarent, a sword-wielding, energy shield creating bad-ass. My “superhero” is Aratrix. Not a hero in the traditional sense (she does possess a unique ability that would fit right in with SyFy‘s “Alphas“), I think Aratrix would be better suited to a mystery/thriller. It was a fun exercise and I just may visit Aratrix at a later date and see what stories she has to tell.

In novel writing news, I was having a crisis during the week. I began doubting my ability to write something on such a large scale when I realized that my chapters were all over the place. The book had no direction or flow – I was writing things as they came to mind. I got such a huge influx of positive thoughts and suggestions from a great many of you (some surprise people too!) and most of you told me something I should have known right from the start – plan it out. I have put the nasty business of writing a manuscript on hold for now in order to plan, outline, develop characters and just generally figure it all out and started brainstorming ideas.

At this point, the main character is clear, the first chapter I wrote (based on the original idea) has been scrapped completely (because the original idea is no longer valid), the remaining chapters will stay but will be altered a bit, a map is drawn and an outline has become clear. I should be ready to get back to writing by the end of this coming week. Here is a “backcover” synopsis of the book:

Bhen Graniteflow is just a humble dwarven merchant in the frontier town of Black Fork with a secret past that he thought was behind him. But when he receives news that his father has disappeared, Bhen is forced to return home and take up the mantle of his House.

In a time when teknology is fast out-pacing people’s ability to understand it, Bhen is plunged into political intrigues he doesn’t know how to handle, and must navigate the machinations of scheming humans, dwarvs and aelfs all while making sure House Graniteflow doesn’t lose favor with the Royals.

To make it all worse, Bhen uncovers a secret his father kept – a secret which could change the world – and Bhen isn’t sure if it’s for good or bad.

Back in mid-June when I blamed you all for making me write a book, I stated that I was giving myself 120 days to produce a first draft. That no longer holds. Obviously. I don’t think I’m going to set myself a deadline. This story is knocking around my head too hard for me to ignore or procrastinate about. Besides, too many of you will be kicking me in the ass if I stop producing.

Coming up this week, look for a special and exciting announcement on Wednesday, and also look for a new episode of The Linden Tree! Yes, there will be one. That’s a promise.

Scribbles

Summarizing Scribbles

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A day late and many dollars short, but a weekly review is here!

So, I have a new TV love. It’s about an alien invasion, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone why I like Falling Skies.

I finished the first book of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, The Eye of World, and wrote about it a bit. It was a slow day.

The third story of Courage, Woe and Truth, The Wench’s Tale, was published.

I finally acknowledged a bunch of awards and accolades I have been gathering and put badges in the left sidebar.

I was the Featured Writer at Studio30 Plus with an article about how epic it is to be writing fantasy fiction.

Speaking of fantasy fiction, here’s a progress update on the novel(s): Total word count is 4,200. Last week’s update listed total word count at 2,900, so I produced only 1,300 words. I just wasn’t feeling it much last week. Here’s a sample of some of the new stuff:

The sun was setting in the west amid a purpling sky. Hinhiel quickly made his way along the courtyard of Ost-halion, narrowly avoiding those gathered there. He was going to be late for watch outside the Lord’s private chambers and if he didn’t hurry he would be late for the third time this week. It was an honor to be one of the Tiraran, the King’s Guard, the highest position anyone in his family had ever held and he was in danger of losing it.

He wasn’t sure how the barrel suddenly appeared before him; he was sure his way was clear, but he hit it full on and fell to the ground. Cursing, he stood up while those around him merely glanced in his direction: it was forbidden to talk to one of the Tiraran. As Hinhiel stood, he looked to the setting sun, gauging how much time he had before his watch started. It seemed to him that a giant bird, much like Soron of legend, was gliding out of the setting sun. He glimpsed it for just an instant and then it was gone. Thinking he had perhaps bumped his head on his fall, he gathered his things and ran for the fortress proper.

Through the vestibule, along the length of the great hall and through the hidden door behind the dais he ran. He took the stairs behind that door two, sometimes three at a time and reached his lord’s private chambers in no time at all. Cuthalion, whose watch Hinhiel was to relieve, gave a grateful and yet reproachful look.

“You’re on time today, Hinhiel,” Cuthalion uttered disdainfully.

Hinhiel smiled weakly. “Yes, though a barrel in the yard nearly made me late.”

“Blaming barrels now?” Cuthalion sniffed. “What next? I suppose Teknologists will be falling from the sky?” He laughed.

“Teknologists? That’s a good one, Cuthalion.”

“Well,” Cuthalion harrumphed. “See that you stay alert. Our Lord is in quite a temper today.”

“Yes. Yes, of course.”

Cuthalion nodded, did a sharp turn and strode down the hall, leaving Hinhiel to take his post.

Hours passed, the sky darkening with the coming of night. All was quiet in the hall and no noise came from the king’s chamber and yet Hinhiel felt uneasy. He felt as if there was an itch on the inside of his skull and as the night came on, it got worse. Hinhiel sighed and, as he often did during the long, boring hours of night watch, attempted to practice a few basic spells he learned in childhood in order to pass the time.

The moment he started the complicated gestures of producing a ball of light, the itch in his head became searing pain. Breathing heavily, he fell to his knees and clutched his head. What is going on? he thought. The only thing that could cause such a spell failure was the presence of …

“No, it couldn’t be…” Hinhiel was unable to finish his thought as something stung his neck and his world went black.

I’m going to expand this scene with much more detail on the city and it’s people, including some history as well as a basic back story for Hinhiel. One other change I made was to Thorgrim. His new name is Bhen.

That’s it! Look for a new novel update this Sunday!

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What I Couldn’t Brain About Last Week

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Looks like I skipped a review last Sunday. Things have been very busy for me lately. I’ve been working hard with Kelly from Naked Girl in a Dress with tons of behind the scenes changes for Studio 30 Plus – we’ll be making a HUGE announcement later in the week so watch for it! This whole process has made me feel incredibly lucky to be working with Kelly and all of the wonderful opportunities she has been offering me.

I started a second blog last week called NH Grog which is an outlet for my tabletop gaming hobby. At NH Grog, I’ll writing game reviews, talk about upcoming new releases, and I’ll be writing a novel-style recap of my ongoing D&D campaign, The Shackled City. Fun for me, to be sure..

Music Mondays have been fun as usual. The Allman Brothers Band, Miles Davis and Social Distortion have all made appearances over the last 14 days. The Allmans stopped by because one of their songs was stuck in my head and they wanted to reclaim it. Miles dropped in to remind me that things weren’t as bad as I might think when I wrote a post about the difficulties I have writing about my autistic son. Social Distortion rocked the house as part of the 100 Word Song.

I have been collecting funny things I find around the internet for some time now and I put together a post with some of my favorites. Then I posted one more that said very clearly how I feel about the political conservatives and their hypocrisy.

The NFL season may be over and my Patriots lost yet ANOTHER Superbowl, but things have been happening in the off-season with fervor. The New Orleans Saints have fallen from favor with everyone, Payton Manning is now a Bronco and Tim Tebow is a Jet. Holy crap, the draft hasn’t even started yet!

If you haven’t started yet, I highly suggest you get wrapped up in my serial, The Linden Tree. It’s a bit of a departure from how I normally write and I’m posting the raw, unedited first drafts. Go check out the episodes!

Whew! That was a lot to cover! Told ya I’d been busy and it looks as if next week will be just as exciting!

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Weekly Recap 2012 #9

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Well, it was a slow week here. Only three posts and I kinda cheated on Fiction Friday.

The boys had the week off from school. It was nice and quiet though (mostly). The older two spent the week at Universal Studios down in Florida with their grandparents while me, the wife and the youngest stayed here in New Hampshire for two solid days of snowfall.

Because the littlest guy was still home, I couldn’t get much writing done. I spent all kinds of time hanging out with him – playing games, reading books, searching for quarters for his coin collection and going sledding. It was a good time.

But I’m ready for “back to school” tomorrow so I can get back work on my various writing projects.

Here’s what happened last week:

For Music Monday I wrote a tribute to Pink Floyd by choosing one song from each of their studio albums that I liked the most. Last week was the anniversary of Floyd recording their first song back in 1967.

By Wednesday night I was in a panic because I hadn’t posted anything since Monday morning. Luckily, the new trailer for the Avengers movie was released online and I went nuts over it being the Marvel geek that I am. I quickly threw together a post linking to the trailer so I could share my joy. What’s really awesome is that the Avengers trailer was viewed 13.7 million times in the 24 hours after its release on iTunes – setting a new record.

My article for Borderless News and Views was published – right on time – Thursday morning. Called “Understanding the Separation of Church and State,” I talk about what the concept actually means and why many politicians and pundits are misleading you. Go have a look.

For Fiction Friday I kinda cheated and didn’t post any original fiction. Instead, I wrote about why choosing the correct setting for your story is important and how it can help open avenues of exploration in your story. Of course, I tied it in to Star Trek – so …

Coming up this week – the songs that made me want to learn guitar, for the rich by the rich, and the start of a novel I’ll be serializing right here on the blog.

See ya then!

Weekly Recap 2012 #8

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The eighth week of 2012 had a few milestones.

Music Monday was my 41st birthday and my 50th post at I Can’t Brain. I celebrated by stopping to enjoy the beauty we can see all around us with a moving story about violinist Joshua Bell.

On Thursday, I shared a few things I’ve heard here and there. All true, actual conversations. I also had a new article publish at Borderless News and Views. It’s called “Hot for Teacher.” You should go check it out.

For Fiction Friday, I sent out a request for help as to where you might think my story should be headed. I received two responses.

And Saturday, I Can’t Brain got an interactive facelift. Check out the Home Page to see how it looks and works.

That’s it! I’ve got a few cool things lined up for the coming week, so stay tuned!

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Weekly Recap 2012 #7

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Only three posts this last week, so let’s jump right to it!

On Music Monday, I introduced one of my favorite guitarists, Antoine Dufour. Chock full of videos, that post was a multi-media experience!

Wednesday I got a bit whiny about not having time to write all I want to write.

I posted a short piece for Fiction Friday.

That’s all for I Can’t Brain, but it’s not all I did this past week. On Thursday, my debut article for Borderless News and Views was published. Called Normalizing Mormon or Marketing Mitt?, I explore the possibility that the recent Mormon Church ad campaign was started to help Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

Tune in to BNV every Thursday at 9AM EST for a new article by yours truly.

Tomorrow is a big day. Music Monday will be my 50th post for I Can’t Brain!! It’ll be a special day.

Oh, it’s also my birthday, so I guess there’s that, too.

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2012 Weekly Recap #6

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Week six is in the books and it was a stinker – but there’s a ray of hope.

My team lost the big game due to some horrific plays on their last drive. Oh well, there’s always next season.

This past Monday, I played WAFFS for Music Monday. In just five songs, I showed how eclectic my music collection is. I also included a Spotify playlist so you could groove along.

For Tuesday, I wrote a post specifically for participants in Yeah Write #43. It was the 11 question tag post, but I had been tagged 3 times so I answered all 33 questions. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to join in with Yeah Write, so I withdrew my submission of this post. It’s still up and you can read it if you like.

Thursday I made a major blunder and posted something that was much too personal and revealing. I removed the post but I saved the text and may edit down at some point in the future. I’m still undecided.

Fiction Friday revealed a very short piece I wrote as an exercise in order to try out a writing style that’s a bit uncommon. Called The Thirteenth Day, it’s a fictional conversation between J.F.K. and his wife on the last day of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is nothing but dialogue – no exposition whatsoever.

On Saturday I sent out a plea to fans of the NFL to cool their jets. It seemed the backlash of the Superbowl was getting out of hand.

Here’s the ray of hope. I was offered a position to be a regular contributor to the website Borderless News and Views. I’ll be writing 1 to 2 articles a week for them, and I’ll have a regular weekly series of historical articles that have relevance to current events. I’ve added a link button to BNV over in the right nav.

Valentine’s Day is this coming week, my birthday is the week after, I’m quickly approaching the 50 post mark and I’ve got a regular professional writing gig. Life’s gotten a lot better since this post, don’t you think?