A Massive Effect On Things

While I will be talking about the video game, that isn’t what the whole post is about. But if that is all you want to read about, skip to the last paragraph.

Since the transplant, it seems like every few months I do one of these posts where I’m all “Hey, here is what I’m doing now–my big plan for myself–and disregard that other one I wrote, or the ones before that.” It’s a crappy feeling, because I’m not one to stop on a goal. But things have been harder since the operation. And a lot of it is from a feeling of just drifting. Most of that is cause I’ve never been able to really start a new living pattern.

Doctors aren’t helping with the mysterious problems with my legs, because of that I don’t feel comfortable driving the car and know that I couldn’t even handle even a desk job. Simple things that everyone takes for granted, but are the crux of living, socializing, and figuring out how you will go about your day. I’ve been filling my time with Eldritch Thoughts and The Non-Horror Reader Survey. But I’m not getting much out of it. It is just a form of productive time wasting. I’ve tried to get back to my writing, but I think I can understand how any writer has something traumatic happen and then they can’t write afterwards.

The best way to think of it is that before the event, you are driving along a flat road, then the engine fails. After that you have to shift into neutral and push till you get to the nearest mechanic or leave it on the side of the road and walk to get a tow. I tried pushing for a while, but the past two years there have been so many things, mostly medically related, that have made that road harder to navigate. So I’ve decided to pull over to the shoulder and walk my way to the mechanic.

By mechanic, I’m talking about going back to Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction program and, as they most of us M.A. alums are calling it, get the “F.” What I’m hoping is that an imposed structure will kickstart my writing again. When I was in the program before, it did that for me. I never thought I would write a novel and I did. Granted, it is not a great one, but half the battle is getting to that end point in a rough draft, most people never make it that far. This time, since I already have the M.A., it will be only a short time in the program, so I’ll be working on either a collection of stories or a novella. I really want to use the time to work on Lucin City and build it up more before I finish Scavenger. If I go with the story collection, it will also be an experiment related to my “Project 10″ idea. If I do the novella, it will most likely be the story I started back at Simon’s Rock that is set before Scavenger. But I have a back up, if that doesn’t fly, of returning to Nostrildamus. I had wanted something ready to capitalize on 2012, but when you think about it, either the doomsayers are right and it would be pointless to publish it now or they are wrong and they will find some other obscure prophesy I can make fun of them for.

But I will have time on my walk to the mechanic–I’m going to beat this metaphor to death, just so you know–but Eldritch Thoughts and Non-Horror Reader Survey aren’t major parts of what I have planned. I’m not going to put them on hold, but at the end of the month they will be more things I do if the inspiration hits. I’m doing this now because I know by the time  I start back at Seton Hill, they just can’t get the same attention I would need to give them. Also, because I have another project that I was asked to participate in that will be less time consuming, but equally fun, coming up. If you have been watching my Twitter feed lately, there has been a lot more talk of TV there. I’m not going to give out too much now except that it will involve television. So keep an eye out here. Most of the details are set, a few things are still being discussed, but hopefully it will start in early March.

March is also the month that Mass Effect 3 is released. For those that either know me of have followed my site for a while know, I’m a huge Star Wars fan. Mass Effect is possible one of the best examples of multi-media storytelling that Star Wars really pioneered over they years. Mass Effect in not just the video games, but books and comics and who knows what the future will hold. But more importantly, it is an amazing story. And since it is a great story, I’ve decided that as soon as my Women In Horror Month posts over at NHRS are finished, I’m going to go through the whole story–books, comics, and games–before I start on Mass Effect 3 when it releases. I haven’t decided if there will be posts related to it on here. But I wanted to forewarn of a potential massive geek-plosion soon here.

Scheduled Nosebleeds

It’s a busy time here. My niece and nephew are visiting for the week. In the small moments of quiet, I’ve been looking more at the iPad as a work platform then just a fun entertainment portal. In fact, this post is being written on it.

I’ve also been trying to get back into reading blogs of fellow writers. One I read was talking about trying to come up with a schedule for writing. Between that and also going through old Livejournal entries when I was working on my M.A. It reminded me at how productive I used to be that I just haven’ been able to get back to since the operation. Well that is all going to change…probably. I mean, that is a big prognostication right there and I nowhere in predictive ability as Harold Camping.

I’ll be setting a goal of at least 250 words a day, starting with Nostrildamus. If I keep up with minimum, the rough draft will be done by the end of September. I hope to have it done sooner than that so I can get to you all ASAP. After that I’ll start working on my sci-fi project. I’m also hoping that this will also lead to the reinvigoration of Scattered Tales: Characters and History of Lucin City.

Now I know some are thinking, “But, do you think LASER technology is the future of space fight?” that is a hard one and I would have to get back on you. The rest are wondering why I settled on 250 words. Well, writing is not the only thing. I’ve got Non-Horror Reader Survey and Eldritch Thoughts to work on. So, it’s a balancing act on all projects. I think I’ve come up with a good schedule and will put it to the test next week.

So let’s see if I can get this ball rolling again.

Eldritch Thoughts Hits 100

Monday was a good day for me. I logged onto Eldritch Thoughts and saw I hit the 100 follower mark. At the time, I had 102 posts. Take out all the none quote posts out and I have had roughly a new follower for every post since I restarted the project. I’m absolutely amazed! Add to that the people following on the Facebook page and the Twitter account, and there were 193. All I can say is thank you to all of you reading.

The project started as just a way to get my mind back into writing and creating ideas after my transplant. The first version was crazy as I tried to build a storyline under the humor. Bad idea. It quickly got to the point when I was more concerned about mapping out plot points that the humor fizzled. The few that read it then were there for the humor and nothing else. Why mess with a good thing?

After a break, I came back to it. I moved it to Tumblr and kept the twitter and face book accounts open as feeds. I didn’t want to alienate that already enjoyed it. I wanted to give them better content. But I had learned something from my blog here. It is also something that I have been lacking the last few months.

Consistency.

Back before the transplant, I did my best to have two posts a week. Tuesdays and Fridays new there was going to be something here for them. After I started doing that, I saw the hits climb to my best so far. When I decided to re-start Eldritch Thoughts, I wanted to see if could make it “Appointment Blogging,” for lack of a better term. One post a day, at a time during the day when I thought most people I know would catch it. So I set a schedule and I stuck to it. Since then, people keep finding it and many of the re-blogs, re-tweets, and likes are around the time it posts. Is it working? I can’t say except anecdotally.

I’m at a point now, though, where I’m thinking of the future of Eldritch Thoughts. When I started it, I had the thought of creating small humor books a lot like the Deep Thoughts books that inspired the project. Technically, I could compile what I’ve done so far and have enough for a similar book. Of course I wouldn’t do that. I’d add new stuff that no ones seen as well. Anyways, I really thought if I did, I would have to do it myself. I can’t think of a publisher that would do a humorous horror coffee-table book. Unfortunately, I can’t find a service that does the small books. So I have a feeling, I’m going to have to start looking for an actual publisher to print this book. It may be a while until the book comes, but it is next big goal for Eldritch Thoughts.

And again, thank you to all that have been reading. You all keep me going to give you more of what you love.

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An Unplanned Hiatus

Found at http://wesleyandlaura.com/lebuc/Rapture

I know it has been a while since I’ve posted anything. Lets me say the last month and change has been tumultuous.

The day after my last post, I get a phone call from my best friend. He called to tell me that another friend of ours house caught on fire during the night and his mother and younger sister were missing. It was a shock, to say the least. I knew his family really well, since the 5^th grade. He was one of the guys in the band I had up until I moved from NH. The days following was mostly spent trying to get what news I could about the situation from here. Unfortunately, his mom and sister were lost to the fire and both him, his wife, his daughter, and his father were lucky to get out in time.

That weekend, we get news that my grandmother was getting worse, doctors were saying it was no more than days. She passed early that following Monday. It’s hard to even begin to talk about my grandma because through a long part of my growing years she was a part of it. Too much to shrink down into a paragraph of a blog post. But for those that know me, I wouldn’t be who I am without her. The rest of that week was filled with funeral arrangements, time with family, the funeral and Easter.

I started to get back work on all the projects I have on the plate. Thursday I woke with what I thought was gas pain. The reason I thought it was that was that I was in pain and seemed to be burping continuously through out the day. Friday the gas kinda left and the pain was a different more constant pain. Long story short, it was appendicitis. So I had to have an emergency appendectomy. Normally they do it laperscopicly, but my body never does anything easy and my appendix was so inflamed it was attaching to my colon and was impossible to do it that way. So, they cut me open, took out the offending organ, and stapled me shut. Since then I have been just resting. Until today, it hurt a lot to stand or sit. Still isn’t comfortable for too long. But I’m going to slowly getting back to things.

Monday I’ll get back to posting Eldritch Thoughts daily. If you are on Tumblr, follow it! I may have something special for the 100^th follower!

The next big thing coming up here and Non-Horror Reader Survey is going to involve the book, Many Genres, One Craft. I’ll be reviewing the book here and having a series of interviews and other posts relate to it over at NHRS. Keep an eye out for all of it. If you are a writer, do check it out. One of the better books out there on craft.

Then again, this entire post will be pointless if today is the Rapture. Wonder if anyone is going to have wacked out Rapture parties like the scene from Independence Day.

Blog Vs. Twitter: An Email Turned Rant

At the end of last week, I got into a discussion with the man behind The Worm That Walks. He is where I was back in October with Eldritch Thoughts. What started out as just a quick rundown about what I experienced slowly became a rant that I tried to stop prematurely for the sake of brevity and not to come off like a loon. But I will now go into full rant overdrive and let effluence of the subject do its job.

To Twitter, or to blog, that is the question. Whenever technology brings writers a new way to give stories to people, you will rarely see any of them not think, “How can I use this?” Granted, some are pragmatists and some dive right in, but they all have that thought because new forms always gives us writers new challenges to embark on. In part, that is what I was, and still am, doing with Eldritch Thoughts.