Switching Gears

It's been awhile since I've discussed my novel plans. I think the last estimated release date for Phidelphius (the second book in the Sunborn triology) was in early 2016, so that would be now. But until recently I was going to settle for a summer release (the data shows this is the worst time to release a new book...and my own data shows this as well) and the reason I was going to wait was because it was looking like it was going to take my writing group at least a couple more months to finish editing the first draft, then I'd have to write the second draft, then have it be edited again and then approve the edits. So that would put me releasing it sometime this summer. But I decided that I can't wait that long to complete this story. I need to finish it. So I'm going through, carving out my second draft, polishing the writing and strengthening the story and the character motivations (I think you guys are going to like where Daniels ends up in this one). Spoke with my writing group, and they're all for finishing up the manuscripts faster. Quinn's actually already finished his edit on the first draft of Phidelphius and will be sending it to me soon, I'll go back over my second draft with his notes, and the notes of the other group members (author Sasha Abernathy being one).

I've been on a long path here, learning as I've been going along. My first four releases I invested a lot of money into professional services, some of those investments were worth the expense, others were not. The editing for my first novel was below par, and was not cheap. I've had it re-edited since, and the response from readers has been noticeable in the reviews. It's because of these experiences that I've been trying to minimize my expenses, adjusting them to the sales I project to make (though, these projections are based off past sales, and it's impossible to predict how readers will react to a given title).

It feels good to be getting closer to my next release. I have several other finished drafts, and a couple of beginnings for others, but Phidelphius has always been the title I wanted to release next. It's a sequel that I think my readers will really love. I've always said there's no point in a sequel if it has nowhere to go, if it doesn't have its own story to tell. And Phidelphius is its own story. I can't wait for you guys to read it.

Returning Home

So I haven't really talked much about this. I updated my author bio, but I never made a post talking about my move. It was a pretty big deal. My wife and I were working, making the most we've ever made at a jobs that we loved, living in a town we'd lived in for ten years. We had lots of friends, and we felt like we were an important part of the community. In retrospect it seems odd that we moved, but my wife and I were inflicted with something I like to call "the grass is always greener syndrome." We had this idea of what our lives should be like, and it was always something different than what it was, even though what we had was pretty great.

I think the reason I haven't talked about it was because it was pretty hard. Even in the beginning it was hard, but as time went on it only got tougher. Being away from everything and everyone I know. Don't get me wrong, Colorado is beautiful. It's very dry, but it's beautiful (never thought I'd say this, but I miss humidity...itchy dry skin is not for me). It's also incredibly expensive, and can be pretentious at times. But more than anything it doesn't feel like home. It's not an unwelcoming place, but at the same time it's not welcoming either. Where when I first moved to Oklahoma 10 years ago I felt very much welcomed. The southern hospitality thing, it's real, and I think I'm now old enough to admit I'm partial to it. Growing up in Kansas, I've always considered myself a northerner (hey, we fought for the Union), but I don't know if I can truly call myself a Kansan any longer. Few of my coworkers here would be able to tell you that I'm from Kansas originally, but most could tell you I'm from Oklahoma. I guess that makes me an honorary Okie, and at this point I feel I've earned it. Sure, there are things I'm not proud of about Oklahoma. Our education system (like many states who align themselves culturally with the South) needs a face lift, but I am proud to say I taught in one of the best districts in the state and am very proud of the work we do in Stillwater. We also have a dark past with race relations with Native Americans and black Americans (The Trail of Tears, The Tulsa Race Riots), much like our nation as a whole has. But home is home. It's made by the people who live in it, and the relationships formed there.

That's why my wife and I have decided that when her master's program is complete, we're returning home. We can see now what we've left behind, and where we truly want to take our future. Can't wait to be home.

Why Trump Is Winning

"New York. My City."--Donald Trump.

Trump is winning. That's undeniable at this point. The debate for most people (especially the Republican party) has become, "Why?" Poor Jeb couldn't figured it out, and always seemed bitter about that on the stage. The initial response (after ignoring him didn't work) by most of the candidates was to emulate Trump, to out "Trump" him. This is where Cruz' "targeting carpet bombing" came from, and his "I don't know if sand can glow in the dark, but we're going to find out" stances came from. Rubio backed Trump's "there's going be a wall" stance by saying "First, we must secure our border, the physical border, with a wall, absolutely." 

Since then the candidates have switched to taking a condemning approach, simply saying he's not qualified, but of course they'll support him if he's the nominee. There's been talk by the Republican party elites of a brokered convention, where the party elites would pick the nominee, but that's unlikely. In all likelihood, Trump is going to be the Republican nominee. There's quite a few reasons why he's popular (he plays to bigoted fantasies in a way that no Republican candidate has done before: racism, xenophobia, etc.), and I don't think the Republicans are confused by why those things are working, they know those tactics work because they use them themselves, just not to the extremity that Trump is using them. What they're confused about is why none of their attacks are working. No matter what they say about him, whether it's about Trump University, or the size of his hands (the candidates never go into detail about Donald's racism because they've been guilty of the same crimes, only to a lesser degree) none of it sticks. And I think I know the reason why. It's his "toughness."

That's a huge part of the Trump brand. The take-no-shit attitude that the base he's pandering to love. But it's not simply that he acts tough, it's that he never, ever, let's himself appear weak. On Thursday night's debate it was obvious that both the Fox News moderators, and the other candidates (especially Rubio and Cruz) were going on the offense on Trump. The goal was to weaken Trump, but looking weak goes against the Trump brand. That's why that with every attack someone throws at him, he has an answer, whether it's true or not doesn't matter in a televised political debate, not as far as "winning" is concerned. And if he didn't have a response right away, he'd throw out an insult or an attack of his own. He even goes as far as to deflect attacks about him that happened outside of the debate, as when he assured the American people that his hands are in fact quite large despite Rubio's claim otherwise, and that they needn't worry about the size of his penis, it is in fact huge, and probably terrific. Now, as ridiculous as Trump may seem to someone who cares about facts (and if we're going there, the other Republican candidates only fair slightly better), when you just look at his body language, and his confidence, he appears quite strong. Cruz came off whiny at Thursday's debate, if you were just looking at his tone and the phrases he started his responses with (often with a complaint about Trump, not an attack). Trump also sounded more hopeful this debate, when he wasn't fending off attacks he was talking about being someone who "brings people together," which is probably foreshadowing to the type of candidacy he'll be pivoting to as the general gets closer.

The inspiration for this realization came from an NPR story, where they played a clip of the Apprentice. Trump's about to fire someone, he says, "I didn't like what she was doing, and it was repulsive to me, but worse was the way you took it. I have no choice, and I have to say, that you're fired." This perfectly sums up the Trump brand, and once you know what the corner stone of it is, you can see it everywhere in his candidacy, and you can see that it's working, and at this point, there's probably nothing that can stop it from winning him the nomination.

The First Edit of Dick And Henry

It's done. The first step, or I guess second step (had to write it before I could edit it) toward Dick and Henry the novel (still working on that title). I've finished typing up my hand written edits, and I think I'm ready for a nap. Which means I'm going to drink some tea and edit my writing group's pages (hey, it's only 7 pm).

It feels good staying busy. It leaves me with little time to worry and keeps me moving in the direction I want to be going, which is forward. I'm already working over in my head how I'll improve Phidelphius, the sequel to Sunborn. There are some issues with Daniels' motives for entering into a new adventure that my writing buddies have brought up, and I think they're right. And boy, do I have a good motive that I'm excited to thread through the whole novel. It's going to add a lot of depth to the book, while also answering some of those longing questions some readers have had. Well, if that's piqued you're interest, you should join my mailing list. When the book is completely finished I'll send out an email asking for interested reviewers. You'll get a free copy in exchange for an honest review on Amazon and Goodreads.

Well, that's all for now. See you next post.

I'm A Mentor

I've been assigned a mentee through my work. An 8th grader who wants to be a writer. I sent my first email to her today. It was pretty fun. Gave a little background info on who I am, explained my writing habits and my ten year writing plan. As part of the formats required by the program, I had to mention a problem I think that the younger generation will have to address in the field. I said that half the market still only shops in Barnes and Noble. Which really isn't a problem that should be addressed, in my opinion. In time B&B will simply go the way of Borders, along with crumby traditional publishing deals, agents, and the big five publishing companies. I guess a more accurate problem would be trying to set yourself apart in a crowded market place, but even that, to me, is not a problem. If your work is good, then it's good, if people haven't found it yet, just keep writing. Get a day job that you enjoy and write until your hands fall off. If your goal is to get rich quick, then you should find a different career. If you enjoy writing, and the idea of making a little extra money on the side is intriguing to you, then you're living in the perfect time in history, because that is now easy to do. There's also the small chance that you'll have a break out hit somewhere in there (an incredibly small chance), and there's a guarantee that if you keep up with it for a decade, releasing at least two books a year, that you will gain a real supplemental income from your writing, and probably be able to retire from your day job if you're able to live frugally. 

So, basically I want to tell this kid there aren't any real problems with writing, not if you love working hard, but I haven't gotten there yet. Also haven't mentioned yet that you'll need a second job, or that college isn't even required for this gig, just a few good craft books and a writing group, but the whole point of this mentor thing is to push the kid into college, so I'll try not to bring that up if asked. I will however point her into real things that help. A few blog posts by the man, Hugh Howey, and a couple craft books that really set me straight on the craft that is required for good writing.

The Art Of Staring At Numbers

I love to read things that inspire me. Blog posts, craft books, a good novel. They help keep me going when I'm wondering what the hell I'm doing with so many first draft unpublished novels (just finished my third). Lately I've been reading over some of Hugh Howey's old blog posts (I've been reading his blog for a little over a year, every since I first started self-publishing), ran out of new ones so I've been digging into his archived posts. It's good stuff. The funnest ones for me to read (other than his awesome posts over publishing—of which there are many—or life in general, you should really read his post False Summits if you aren't familiar with Howey) have been his posts he made before he made it big, back when he was just a regular old joe with no idea that his little short story WOOL was going to explode into a self-publishing phenomenon. The funnest posts to read during this time period are the ones he writes while WOOL is taking off. He talks about yelling at his wife from the other room about his sales ranking going up by X number. She screams back, "what was it before?" His response is, "I can't remember." Which then leads to a discussion that he needs to write down the rankings if he's going to obsess over them.This is fun for me to read, because it sound so much like what I did (and sometimes still do) my first year of publishing. "Honey, I sold another book today," was said (and texted) a lot during my first year. And I too was an addict (and sometimes, still am) to the refresh button at the top of my browser, as I stared at the ranking numbers of my titles, or the red jagged line that was hopefully going up, and not crashing down. This is something that I'm convinced all self-published authors go through at some point, and it's just nice to see that it happened to the guy who's often considered the first major success in indy publishing (and by major, we're talking Stephen Kind numbers here. Or as Bernie Sanders would say, "Yuuuge!" numbers).

The Fifth One

Well, it's done. Well, the first draft anyway. My fifth novel, Dick and Henry The Novel (official title still pending) has just had it's first draft completed. You'd think I'd be running laps around my living room, and maybe I should. The current draft clocks in at 57,800 words, which is 7,800 more than I planned for, which is good. It's nice to have extra fat to trim off when editing time comes. But who knows, the final book might be 60,000 words. I might go through and see holes that need plugged, or character development or plot development that needs to happen, and I'll squeeze it in, and then sand it down until it fits in like it were a natural part of the table, like it just grew that way all by itself.

But back to why I might be less excited than I should be. I don't know, maybe it's that I know I still have so much more work to put into it. Or maybe it's that this is my fifth book, but I only have two in print (I'm not counting Skeletons or Dick and Henry: The Space Saga—both are short story collections). It could be that I'm just really busy right now, or that I feel like I am. I'm reading and editing the three books by the other authors in my writing group (Quinn Baldwin and Sasha Abernathy both have books up on Amazon, you should go check them out, it's good stuff), working (of course, right?), writing at night, and then (and I think this one is the one that is actually making me feel the most pressure) I'm planning out the changes I'm going to make in my next drafts of both the first draft I just finished of Dick and Henry The Novel, and Phidelphius (the sequel to Sunborn). Phidelphius will be what I tackle next, after I go through and do a clean up of Dick and Henry. I'm getting comments now of things the group has suggested I work on for Phidelphius. I'll look at those, take my own opinions into account, and make the changes that are necessary to improve the book.

I think that's sort of the draining aspect for me, is not being able to share the work right away. Now, I have no desire to publish a book as soon as I've finished typing "The End" (just so you know, I don't actually type "The End," not much point, I'll just end up deleting it later), that would lead to nothing but embarrassment. That would be like filming a movie, and then taking the video without editing it and putting it in a theater. That's going to get you a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. Those are the movies no one wants to see. When it's a book, their the ones that no one reads. Those aren't the books I want to write. Just wish I could get through the process faster, simply because I'm impatient, not because I detest the process of editing, I actually really enjoy it. Perhaps I should look at it as more of an opportunity to exercise my love of editing, but that phrasing just makes me feel like a manager giving an evaluation.

But anyway, yeah, I finished the first draft of my fifth book, and I think it's going to be pretty good. It's fast paced, fun like the short stories it came from, but has more depth than it's predecessors (or so I hope). 

Editing: Respecting The Process

It’s taken time for me to accept that once I’ve finished writing a book that it’s not fully complete. I’ve of course always recognized editing as important, no one likes a book with typos, but there’s more to polishing a story than just catching miss-spelled words, and that’s what’s taking me a year to become fully comfortable with and even finally enjoy, that thing I’m talking about my friends is revisions. It’s what makes a story really become a story worth reading.  I’ve seen it in my own works and in my friends'. I think it’s just almost impossible to really nail the story you’re trying to tell in the first draft, and even if you do get that story out you were trying to tell, you can still add layers to it with a revision that would elevate your work that much more.

It’s taken me time to realize this. To see that it’s not an insult to my abilities or to my work to run through it again, chopping out the sentences that don’t add to the development of the story or characters, and adding ones that do. I’ve found that once I get going with the process it’s actually quite liberating, because I know that the story is improving. I can feel it in the tone of the book as it just starts to come together and make sense thematically. Every book is different for me, each one needs a different kind of 2nd draft love, but now I know that I need to give it that love, and I do so without any qualms, because I know my work deserves it, and that my readers will appreciate a quality read when it finally becomes available in the Kindle store a year after it’s inception.

Those are the reasons I’m currently sitting on two finished first-draft novels and I’m halfway through my fifth. The process of editing for me is now a long one, but it is a quality one. I’ve found a great group of writers who I trade pages with, we give comments on plot, characters, theme, the whole shebang. It’s because of this group that Sunborn became the novel that it is, a story of a tortured hero who wants to save lives in a world that no longer values life. My group is great, but it’s slow moving since most of us are teachers, so our time is limited. Page swapping happens every two weeks and it takes a lot of swapping before a book is done. But once it is, I revise the book based off of their suggestions and my own thoughts I’ve had after discussing my book with the group, and then after that I send it to my editor, and then from there I take his comments and suggestions and create the final draft.

It’s a process that now makes so much sense to me, and I wouldn’t want to do it any other way, but it’s a process I’ve had to come by from trial and error. I tried the route that some indie authors have suggested, writing fast and hiring an editor who will quickly look it over and get back to you within a week or two. Readers told me how they felt about that type of editing with Bad Dreams (they loved the story, but did not appreciate the poor edit). I had that book re-edited by my current editor, and the final product is now something I’m very proud of having created. But knowing how much better my work is by going through this process, it helps calm me when I stare at my KDP dashboard panicking that I don’t have the Dick and Henry sequel out yet, or the Sunborn sequel (which is written, but has not been revised or had it’s final edit yet), it calms me because I know these books will be so much better because I’m taking the time to really polish them, to make them the best stories they can be by putting in the time to sand off the rough edges and adding another coating of polyurethane. Only in this situation the rough edges are poor words, and the polyurethane are good ones. I swear I’m better at writing fiction than I am self-reflections.

The Force Awakens: Star Wars Episode VII--Review

Thirty-two years after the last Star Wars film, Return of The Jedi, and Lucasfilm has finally given us a sequel. Most of the original cast is back (Billy D. William's Lando is not present, but everyone else is), along with composer John Williams and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan. But the big question is: is it worth seeing? If you like adventure films, then yes. If you're expecting one of the greatest cinematic experiences of all time, maybe not.

I think it's safe to say that The Force Awakens had a lot of weight on its shoulders. It had to bridge the gap between the old films, paving way for the new trilogy, and do it in a satisfying way while also completely ignoring the prequels. I think in those regards the film is a success. Above all else, this feels like what a Return of The Jedi sequel should feel like. The actors are on sets, the creatures on screen actually exist (they're almost always human actors in prosthetics or they're puppets rather than CGI), lightsabers are hard to come by, and they're is a very clear villain (even if he's somewhat under whelming). It also helps that Harrison Ford is back on screen, giving one of his best performances in recent memory (he's pretty great in Age of Adeline, but it's hard to forget The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull), and Carrie Fisher, C3-P0, and R2-D2 all make appearances, and the best part of their appearances is that they're not milked, they're there to say hello, add something to the forward movement of the plot, and then the new characters (along with Han Solo) continue on with their adventure. It's done well, and mostly feels natural.

Now, onto the nitpicks. The film, while being a pretty decent adventure film and a not bad-at-all Star Wars sequel, is not without its flaws. The first thing that has to be mentioned is the never ending coincidences. The new main character, Rey, just happens to live on the planet the Millennium Falcon has been sitting in a junkyard for ages, she starts it up, flies it into space, and a few minutes later Han Solo and Chewbacca capture the ship, which they have of course been searching for for years. This happens over and over again. Laya shows up out of nowhere when the story needs a new direction to go. R2-D2, who sits dormant for most of the film that he appears in, comes back to life at the end of the film to reveal the location of Luke Skywalker. And the coincidences aren't the only problems with the film. There's also some issues with the hero being over powered and the villain being a huge let down when compared to Darth Vader (or any other villain). There are several scenes in the third acts where Rey and Kylo Ren (what's up with the heroes having one syllable names? Fin, Rey, Poe, Ben? Come on!) go head-to-head, and Rey over powers him, completely negating any reasons there may have been to have a sequel. Because now we know she’s more powerful than the main villain, so what’s the point of having her train with Luke Skywalker? There’s no reason, other than to have the audience relive the training scenes of The Empire Strikes Back. That’s another problem The Force Awakens has: mistaking audience’s desire for a sequel as a call for a remake of Star Wars (A New Hope). The Death Star plot is completely rehashed for this film, along with the Vader Emperor storyline, the Luke and Han relationship (with Fin and Poe), the R2-D2 Luke relationship (with Rey and BB-8) and various others.

Despite these noticeable flaws, the film’s dedication to practical effects and location shooting, along with Harrison Ford’s spot on performance as Han Solo, keep this film from being just another cash-cow remake, and turn it into a genuinely entertaining film.   

Dick and Henry: Themes

Themes are important to me when I'm writing a story. They're basically the heart of whatever it is your writing. When I write a story I usually have an idea of what the theme is going to be when I go into it, but sometimes that evolves. When I was writing Bad Dreams I knew the theme was going to be redemption, and as I wrote it different subplots kept popping up that highlighted this theme in different ways that I hadn't planned on. When I wrote Sunborn I knew the main theme was going to be loneliness, but other themes popped up as I wrote it (greed, self-destruction, etc.). Now that I'm writing Dick and Henry I'm trying to thicken up the story-telling a bit by making sure my themes are present, and that I'm not just creating a longer short story. This is really one of the most challenging novels I've written because the characters are already established, so now my job is to expand on those characters while staying true to their personalities, while also providing an intriguing story with lots of twists and turns that are true to the sci-fi and mystery genres, as well as making sure I have a unique and interesting antagonist.

That being said, I'm really enjoying writing this. It definitely is challenging, but in more of a fun way than a frustrating one. The fun is in taking already established character traits and expanding them, and sometimes turning them on their head. I think this is going to be one of people's favorite stories that I've written, or at least I hope so, only time will tell.

Well, back to themes. There's definitely more than one in Dick and Henry, some are more important than others, but like Bad Dreams and Sunborn, I want one theme to stand above the others as the clear takeaway of the book. I want readers to feel like the story has something to say about the human condition, and that it says it well. I guess for that to happen I need to get back to work. See you guys later.

Ash vs Evil Dead

I'm not a huge TV person. It's really the structure of how TV shows work that gets me. The fact that the story never truly concludes, and as soon as any given story arc is completed another one pops up in its place, detracting from any significance the first arc we were following may have had. That being said, I do occasionally get drawn into a show with an interesting premise or set of characters. Breaking Brad was one of the few new TV series that I completed in its entirety (it was a relatively short series, 5 seasons, and the growth of the character and series was obviously building toward a true ending, not being dragged out until the ratings finally tanked), Mad Men also had me for awhile, along with Walking Dead until I couldn't take any more of the contrived drama and lack of real tension. Well, it's happened again, a show's come out with a premise that's persuaded me to take a chance on it, and that show is Ash vs Evil Dead. Well, you're probably wondering if it's worth watching or not, and honestly, I think it's mostly not, not if it continues with the rut of poor quality episodes we've had for the last three episodes.

Now let me start by saying that I’m a big fan of the Evil Dead series, and that the thought of watching Bruce Campbell reprise his role of Ash, a man who runs around with a chainsaw-limb and a sawed-off shotgun dismembering his possessed friends and family and buries them out in the desolate woods—well, it’s a lot more fun to watch than it sounds. And that’s largely due to the over the top one liners delivered without missing a beat by the series star, Bruce Campbell. The buckets of blood and shit-just-keeps-getting-worse plot of the movies also added to their charm, but it was Campbell’s embracement of the bumbling chainsaw wielding smartass that made the movies worth it. Now, lucky for viewers, Ash vs. Evil Dead has brought Campbell back to the title role where he’s chopping up demons and blowing their limbs off, or at least he is in the first two episodes. After that the show falls into a strange going-no-where pattern, where it feels like the episodes are just trying to kill time until the series can (hopefully) pick back up with some sort of awesome battle, where Ash does what he’s supposed to do, chop up zombies and say cool one-liners. Instead he’s been put into situations that feel unnatural and given lines that come off hollow.

I think part of the problem is that the show is written by at least five different people. I’m not sure how usual or unusual this is for a television show, but the tonal shift from episode two to three is pretty big, and from there it just gets worse, each episode drifting further and further away from the promise of the Evil Dead premise, which is seeing Ash say cool shit and slicing up zombies. Instead we’re given poorly generated CGI demon exorcisms (Since when does Ash take part in exorcisms? This is a dude who chopped up his sister, all of his best friends, and his own hand when they were possessed), speeches that don’t make any sense or carry any weight, acid trips, and really sad attempts at character development in characters that we don’t really care about.

Another problem I think is simply the format. The show was given a contract for 10 episodes, and instead of writing 10 bloody-ass-kicking episodes (I’ve seen 1 and a half of these types of episodes so far, episode 2 being the only one that was balls to the wall good, and episode 1 being a good start) we’ve been given a mish-mash vision of what the Evil Dead world should be. If this were a movie, this three episode lull we’ve been in would last 10 minutes, tops, and we’d be getting some character development, or at least some buildup of tension for the next baddie that would pop up next, instead we get cringe worthy dialogue, that’s neither scary, sexy, or anything else. It’s really just embarrassing, which is especially sad when every fan of the series has waited so long for Campbell to step back into the role.

Now, all that being said, episode two had me believing that this series knew what it was doing, fully embracing the over the top violence and self-obsessed humor of the original films, while also doing something new—that dinner scene with the parents, talk about tension. Where has that been these last three weeks?—and I’m hoping the series takes a turn back that direction. Until then, I can’t really recommend anyone else taking the plunge on the show, unless you’re a die hard Evil Dead fan, and even then, prepare for disappointment around episode 4–5. I hope the series can revive itself mid season, other wise there really won’t be any point checking back with it for the already green lit season two.

Dick and Henry: Update

So I'm a little over 10 percent done with the Dick and Henry novel, and I'm really liking what I've got so far. I've suffered from almost every fear you could have when writing a sequel to something you've written before. I've thought: I won't be able to get the characters right again, I won't be able to come up with a story that does the characters justice, the story will be too short, and the villain will probably suck. I'm happy to report that so far, I think all of my worries were pretty unfounded. I might change my mind later, but for right now this is the happiest I've been with a work pre-edit in a very long time.

Here's a brief excerpt from the in-progress novel:

And if you're hungry for more than that, you can always re-read the original stories for free by downloading the book off of Amazon, or you can read Robot's Bluff for free on my site, it's under the "Free Samples" tab, or you can just click HERE.

Republican Presidential Debate (Number 4): The Highlights

Tonight was the 4th (but not last) republican presidential debate. This time it was hosted by Fox Buisness Network. The previous debates have been hosted by Fox News, CNN, and CNBC. Tonight's debate was without a doubt easier to watch than the CNBC debate, not because CNBC did a poor job as the candidates have said or implied, but because the candidates spent less time talking over one another and attacking the moderators, and more time answering questions.

With that being said, here's a quick list of some of the important things I noticed:

• Rubio's scripted speeches have improved. He's more comfortable speaking now that he's climbed to the number three spot, making the idea that he'll end up being the nominee seem that much more plausible.
• Virtually all the candidates who commented on the Mexico Wall agreed there should be a wall, but they disagreed with Trump on sending back Mexican immigrants to Mexico, showing just how much Trump has taken control of the conversations the republicans are having.
• Again, "Obama" and "Hilary" were the buzzwords of the night, especially if you were Jeb Bush, but they were also the buzzwords that got the least applause because they're used so often they now just sound like white noise. 
• The candidates want to dismantle the government. As Rand Paul said, "I want the government so small I can barely see it." Ben Carson wants to "abolish the IRS."
• Ben Carson agrees with whatever the popular answers are to the questions being asked. When asked if he would break up the big banks, he said he would regulate them, and then went on to say he hates regulations, they're increasing the price of soap and "people notice." When asked by the moderator, "to be clear, you're against breaking up the big banks?" He responded by saying he would regulate them, after just saying the government should get rid of regulations on most things.
• Rand Paul sounded the most human out of the candidates, but he'll be ignored by the news media and therefore gain no traction. Rand Paul's answers (along with John Kasich's) sounded the least scripted out of any candidate's on the stage. I'm not saying I agreed with his statements, simply saying he sounded the most genuine, and in politics that's worth something—unless it's completely ignored by the media ( a la, Bernie Sanders), then it's pretty hard to turn that energy into political traction.
• Bush was once again skittish, he stuttered when he spoke. He seemed like a kid on the debate team who couldn't remember how to spell anything. He spent most of his time saying things like "Hilary Clinton" and "this president" (meaning Obama) rather than detailing his policies on the issues. It didn't play well to the crowd, and it's looking more and more like the Bush 2016 ship has long sailed away.
• Other miscellaneous buzzwords of the night: Dodd Frank, Israel, China, socialism, repeal and replace, loopholes, ext.

Overall the debate was better managed this time around (something Fox didn't let go unnoticed. The last line spoken to the camera's by a moderator was, "This wasn't about us. It was about them"), making for a less annoying debate, but the answers to many of the questions by the candidates were still disturbing, and the fact that the candidates who called out others' crazy assertions will later be entirely ignored is just a little depressing.

NaNoWriMo: Dick and Henry

I don't know if it's that I've been keeping myself primed (writing almost every day), that I've returned to writing some of my favorite characters, or if it's a combination of both, but this new book, Dick and Henry The Novel, it's coming out fast and it feels good. Really good. I'm loving every minute I'm spending writing it, and I haven't felt that in awhile.

My last book (currently untitled) took a lot of work to push out. It's going to need a revision or two before I'll be completely happy with it, but I think it's a good book that people who like moody sci-fi will enjoy. It's a dark dystopian story, about a world that's lost most of it's hope, and about a hero who doesn't have much left either. I don't know if it was the subject matter that made it hard, or if it was something else, but the novel didn't pour out of me the way Dick and Henry is. I guess they can't all be easy, but I'm happy that this one is.

Can't wait to finish the story and add it to the pantheon of my work, and then from there write the next one (this is the first full novel of Dick and Henry in a planned series of three or four books.) I have a broad plan for the series, one that I think is ambitious and meaningful for a sci-fi series, but I won't divulge it here, you'll have to wait for the titles to be written and published. But until then, you can always read the original short stories for free on Amazon.

Good and Bad

Does anyone else out there ever have those string of good incidents in their life, where you feel like everything is just going your way? You get that promotion you've been wanting, you finish that project at home that's been bugging you, and you realize you're surrounded by great family and friends. Life is just good. A week later you might think differently, but right now, everything is great. Funny how that works, huh? Events are really just that, aren't they? They're just things that happen. They're neither good nor bad, it's our perception of them that gives them that attribute. And different perceptions will see things differently. All you have to do is look at politics for an easy example of that. A democrat wins an election the republicans will see this as a bad event, if the republicans win the democrats will see it as a bad event. You can apply that to almost anything in life. Knowing that you could almost strip the significance out of anything if you wanted to, but why would you want to do that? I think it's possible to keep in mind that things that happen to you are just things, and still appreciate the events that you enjoy—the ones that happen the way you want them to. I think keeping that in mind—that nothing is definitively good or bad—can keep a person grounded, stop you from beating yourself up when you don't get that promotion, when you don't finish that project on time, and when you forget that you have any friends at all. And if you forget to keep that in mind, that not getting the things you want (whether those being physical things or abstract things, like a promotion or a finished project) isn't your fault, and that you shouldn't beat yourself up over it, well, in my experience you shouldn't have to wait too long before that next string of "good" incidents comes along.

The Republican Debate (Number Three): The Highlights

Tonight we saw 10 republican candidates duke it out on CNBC, fighting for attention in an effort to raise those mythical poll numbers. It was a bit curious to see the faces with the most screen time were the ones polling below 10%. Carson and Trump faded into the background for much of the debate, mostly just popping up when asked a direct question (rather than jumping in randomly like Bush or Christy). If there was a star tonight, it was definitely Rubio. The robotic android—who sounds like he has a TelePrompTer behind each eyelid—got a lot of love from the audience, cheering when he said that Hilary Clinton's number one superpac is the media and again when he said the media hate's republicans. Bush tried attacking him for not showing up to his job enough, but it seemed to backfire with Rubio's rebuttal.

Bush came off rattled. He still seems to not be able to shake off Trump's criticism's that have obviously affected him. There was the comment at the second republican debate about his secret president name being "Ever ready" because, as Bush said smiling, "It's high energy, Donald." And then there was this quote he said recently at a campaign event, sounding rather whiney (something you don't want to sound like when you're running for president):

"I got a lot of really cool things I could do other than sit around and be miserable, listening to people demonize me and feeling compelled to demonize me. That is a joke. Elect Trump if you want that." — Jeb Bush at a campaign event in South Carolina

And since then Bush has come off awkward, trying different tactics to connect with the electorate. Telling us he works out, and that he thinks the actress that plays Supergirl on CBS is "Pretty hot." During the debate he told us that his fantasy football team is 7 & 0. It played all right with the audience until Huckabee jumped on the moderators for not having the candidates stick to the issues (attacking the moderators throughout the night was a common theme, it was warranted at times, but over all it felt like a stunt to try to recreate the Bernie Sanders "damn emails" line. It was the most talked about "zinger" from the democratic debate, and it felt like many of the second tier GOP candidates were trying to mimic that strategy of being the guy who wants to "stick to the issues." Chris Christie also tried it, it seemed to work for him pretty well until he faded once again back into the background.) Bush never really recovered from that blow. He looked like a wounded animal for the rest of the debate, trying not to show just how nervous he really was.

The themes were pretty much what would you expect. Big government is bad, we need tax cuts, Barack Obama is bad, guns are good, the media hates republicans (that one, delivered by Rubio, played really well to the crowd), Hillary Clinton is bad, and the moderators don't like us. I was really surprised with how far the candidates went with discussing their distaste for the government. So many of them kept saying "government is the problem" we need "government to stay out." It really made me wonder, if these guys think government isn't the solution to the nations problems, than why are they running to oversee it? Are they implying they want a "political revolution," where they over throw the government (something that's completely implausible, but it works wonders with the right crowd), or are they simply working the crowd? I hope it's the second one (which I think it is for all of them, except maybe Ben Carson), because otherwise they have no business running for the highest level of civic service in our country. If you don't believe in the system, why should I hire you to run it? We don't hire teachers who don't believe in education. Why should we hire presidents who don't believe in government?

Trump got in a few "zingers" here and there, telling a moderator who asked Trump where they got information that Trump said was wrong, "I don't know, you people are the ones who write this." As well as throwing in his now classic line, "We don't win."

Carson jumped on the anti-government bandwagon, saying it should stay out of everything, that it has no business enforcing a minimum wage. He also stated he's against gay marriage, but believes we can treat gays fairly despite this, what his definition of fairly is he did not state.

Overall it was a series of desperate attempts by the 2nd tier candidates to make some noise by inserting as many of their rehearsed talking points in as possible, and being sure to attack the moderators when they felt they were getting in the way of that goal. On the reverse side the moderators didn't seem that interested in pulling meaningful answers out of the candidates, they pretty much let them answer however they wanted, which often led to them drifting into some unrelated talking points. Not much new information was gained from the candidates who are most likely to get the nomination (Trump, Carson, and Rubio). The only meaningful thing that might come out of the debate would be a possible slight bump in the polls for Rubio, but other than that it was pretty much a meaningless wash, much like the previous debates in this election.

Mr. Hadley

I don't have an official title for my fourth book yet. The pending title is Mr. Hadley, but that's just the name of the main character. I'm thinking I might go with The Breachers, but I haven't fully decided yet. I'm very close to finishing it. I'm 1,800 words away from my projected target, but I think it's going to end up being a little longer. That'll put it over my 70,000 word limit I was shooting for, but it will get trimmed down in the editing process, which is fine by me. I like my books (the ones I write and the ones I read) to be tight. Why say something in 5 words when you can say it in 3? It just makes sense to cut the fat, as long as you're not cutting the character of the novel when you're doing it.

I know where the story's going, how I want to end it, I've just got to get it there.

It's All About The Ending

Every part of a story's important. First we meet the hero, then he goes on an adventure, and then the adventure ends. Beginning, middle, and end. You cut out any of the three major parts of a story and you don't have a story anymore, so of course they're all important, but I think the ending is especially so. It's the last thing the reader reads. It's the lingering taste that's left once the story is over, and it can either be a sweet after taste, or it can be a dud. We've all read a story, or seen a movie that we loved in the beginning and in the middle, but just didn't care for the ending. That can kill a story, or it can take something that would have been great and turn it into something mediocre. A good ending can have the opposite effect. It can raise an other wise by the numbers story into something memorable. 

That's where I am right now with my new book I'm writing. I'm at the edges of the ending, and I'm trying to paint a picture that will be worth looking at; trying to make it something that ties everything together and makes everything that came before it seem that much more important. It's a tough order, but it's one worth trying to make, because when you get it right, people notice, and that's the funnest part about it really, having people enjoy the thing you've made. 

NaNoWriMo 2015

So we're halfway through October, Halloween's around the corner, and then after that we have November. A time for no shaving, Christmas shopping and turkey eating, but it's also become a time for something else in recent years, it's become a time for writing. It's known as NaNoWriMo to writers, and it's the time of the year when any writer worth their salt will try to pump out 50,000 words of a story in just one month. Last year I started Phidelphius during NaNoWriMo. I didn't finish it, but I wrote everyday, and I knocked out somewhere around 30,000 during that one month, which is really good for me. This year I hope to do better. I plan to start the Dick and Henry novel for NaNoWriMo, and I'd like to get it almost completely finished before the month ends, maybe hit that 50k mark.

There's more than one benefit to writing fast. Obviously you get the book done faster, but I find that it also helps to keep me in the story, and that it makes the world I'm writing about feel that much more real to me. It makes my writing feel like it's hitting harder too, which is really the whole point of writing it, isn't it? 

Moving Forward

I've wanted to create a post about my recent move to Colorado for a while, but I wanted to wait until the moment felt right, until I felt fully moved in. But the longer I'm here the more I think I'm not going to feel fully moved in, maybe not until I've already moved on to my next destination and I'm looking back on it through the rose colored lens of the past. I've realized this by my constant comparisons of my new home to my old. There's a lot that's the same here. I still go to coffee shops to write, I still work in the school systems, I still eat sushi and gelato every chance I get, I still have a balcony in my apartment. Those things are the same, along with many others, but they're also different. Sometimes in the simplest of ways, but when you call a place home for 9 years, it's the simple things that make it yours. It's the way people smile at you and greet you by name at familiar places, the way your students celebrate when they've improved at a skill you've worked with them on for weeks, the way your friends hand stings against yours as you high-five that it's finally Friday, and you get to dig into that chocolate chip scone you've been waiting for.

I keep reminding myself that the life I created  in Oklahoma wasn't waiting for me when I first moved there back in 2006. It took time, and I saw many different versions of my life pass me by over those 9 years as friends moved away and new ones were met, and bonds with those who stayed strengthened. I gained new hobbies, found new stomping grounds, and over all grew into the adult I've come to be. It's a little hard to let those things go. Well, you can't let them go, memories I mean, but it's hard to to admit that those moments are now in the past and it's time for new moments in a new place. A place where I don't yet know anyone I can call up any time for a cup of coffee or a late night movie.

Now, with those things aside, it is also exciting to have a new place to explore. New streets to travel down, some of which lead to snow covered mountains. In some ways it's a different world here, in others it's quite the same.

I think I'd like to end this post with a list of things I've found a little strange since pulling my roots from the quaking red dirt of Oklahoma.

1. The obsession with recycling and conserving energy. I say this as a liberal. A liberal who would prefer to eat with the lights on while in the break room, and not teach with the lights off in his classroom (strange ideas around here).
2. The confusion waiters seem to suffer when asked if they can split the check. Their response is usually "down the middle or by item?" When the waiter returns they bring one black rectangle holding the ticket and only one pen.
3. The little paper lists of sushi your handed at a sushi restaraunt along with the menu (in Oklahoma the sushi is simply on the menu).
4. People actually yield for pedestrians in crosswalks.
5. They're are pedestrians in crosswalks.
6. The expression "you're all set" is the preferred one here by waiters and sales clerks. 
7. There aren't gas stations on every corner, but most people still drive cars despite the City of Boulder's refusal to admit this.
8. No one seems to know how to make a vanilla chai that tastes good. And something called "bhakti chai" is the standard...don't bother trying it.
9. This one's for all you Okies: sweet tea, not a thing here. (I prefer water myself, but many an Okie would wither up and die out here in the Rockies without their favorite beverage).
10. Good barbecue takes more effort to find. 
11. Beer doesn't have a stigma here (weird that it does in Oklahoma despite everyone drinking it). The Left Hand Brewery (a local brewery here in Longmont) has a partnership with a bank in town that is advertised on their walls openly, and the brewery (along with many others) is present at festivals and events in town, and is not roped off from the rest of the festival as it would be in Oklahoma.
12. Recycling is everywhere.
13. There's a distaste for shoes by some subgroups of Coloradans.
14. Everyone seems to have a tattoo. Teachers can teach and have sleeve tattoos here without anyone gossiping about the state of their well being in the break room.