Good morning, Readers!

I'm labouring a bit under burnout.  And by a bit, I mean a lot.  Today is not a great day.  I vote we dedicate one week a month as a mandatory mental health week, where we all just goof off, sleep, or otherwise do very little.

I would like that very much.

Not least of all because my computer has crashed twice this morning already, and I'm too exhausted for this kind of frustration.  I think I'm going to disappear into musical YouTube for a bid.

See you on the other side!

Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

I can finally announce it!

*clears throat*

I am writing for Black Gate Magazine, an online e-zine specialising in SFF topics.  I'm posting there once a fortnight, and I'm kinda excited about it.  My first ever post went live yesterday afternoon, and so it's going to also be this morning's blog post.  In fact, because I'm lazy AF, every time I post to Black Gate, that will be the following day's post.

Anyway, this fortnight, I talked about escapism and how it is valid, even if it doesn't engage the most intellectual part of ourselves.  Read it here.

I'm off to contemplate the next blog post.  I think I have it.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Yesterday was not as productive as I liked.  The computer just would not function, and had to be restarted twice.  Luckily, the Amazing Flatmate was working nearby yesterday, so I was able to stay later and try to catch up.  I didn't manage to do that, but I did get more work done than if I had signed off on time, so it's not all a loss.

I also started a new module for guitar.  Module six, open and suspended chords, and I started working on Scarborough Fair.  It was then that I discovered how utterly impossible it is to play one note and sing another, and how even more impossible it is to strum one rhythm while trying to sing another.  I am in awe of folks who have managed to do that.  I just... can't.  I shall continue to try, however.

Today will be spent diving back into Outcast, which should be, hopefully, be nothing like pulling teeth.

Hah!

Honestly, I think I have the rest of the story lined up, but I've thought that before.  No other tale has given me this much trouble.  Not even Human, which I hated writing, was this difficult.  Maybe my recollection is faulty on that, but I've stopped, rearranged and restarted this project more times than any others.

It better be worth it, damn it.

Right, I have to get working.  This book isn't going to write itself.  Unfortunately.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Last week, I used my bumper Tuesday writing session as a buffer to do some other writing-related work.  So while I did write four thousands words last week, I only actually wrote two days.  The rest was spent in world-building, and fleshing out, or writing down all the stuff that actually resides in my head.  It pays to have a back up, let's be honest, and the way I'm doing it will make it easy for me to locate and also find all the periphery stuff related to it.  Cataloguing everything is actually pretty fun for me.  Perhaps I should just have gotten a job in some museum basement somewhere...

I'm now trapped between more cataloguing, which I'm really enjoying, and writing the actual damned story, which I'm enjoying when it goes well... and it so rarely goes well these days.  Both are work and, I would argue, necessary work, but I need to get the book written.

Though, I'm awaiting comments for the wonderful writers who agreed to tear my first book to shreds, it might be worth holding off on writing book two in case super major changes need to be made.... Hmm...

Maybe I'll parcel it out.  Do the cataloguing Mondays, write Tues-Thurs, and do my video editing Fridays.  Maybe I'll do that.  I think I'll do that.  Yeah.  I'll do that.

My brain, ladles and jellyspoons.

Things are otherwise well for me.  I'm moving onto the next module for guitar lessons.  I was supposed to do that last week, but I didn't feel like I was good enough to then.  I'm happy with where I'm at now, so I shall be moving to the next lesson tonight.  I'm excited, because this lesson has one of my favourite folk songs (Scarborough Fair), and for the first time has a strum rhythm that is different from the notes, so that's going to screw my brain up for a while.  I enjoy it when my brain struggles with something new in this way, mostly for how good it feels when it finally gets it.  Like, for example, I was having issues with America the Beautiful, and it was driving me nuts.  Yesterday I managed it to my satisfaction at long last.  It felt great.

I'm also planning a series of paintings.  I'm going to take a couple of online classes to learn how to paint with oils this summer, and then set about getting those paintings done.  Due to the nature of oil painting, and the fact that I don't have a room just for art (waiting on those magic lotto tickets so I can get a house with all the fixin's (basement home gym, gaming room for my live streams, music room, and art room... also a shed for leather and wood working... and a lakeside piece of land so I can build a replica of a Skyrim manor for my cottage.  Oh, if only I was joking)), and I don't want those fumes poisoning the air, I can only paint outside.  No painting in the winter, in other words.  Though that would make a hilarious extreme sport.  Cana painting be completed before your fingers freeze off?

Right, I'm just blathering in about goals right now, and I have some cataloguing to do.  Have a great day.  I'm off to work.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Writing didn't go nearly as well yesterday as I wanted it to, but I did manage two thousand words​, so it wasn't nothing.

Also, streaming last night was heaps of fun.  The Witcher 3 is a fun game, and now that I'm a certain level, it's easier to, you know, kill things.  Which makes it less frustrating and much more fun.

I haven't heard back on the post I wrote for the other site.  It's an opinion piece, because of course it fucking is.  I have opinions.  A lot of opinions.  Loud, opinion-y opinions.  This should surprise absolutely no one.  Hopefully the post is fine, and I'll be able to share it soon.

There honestly isn't all that much to report.  Life carries on as it usually does.  I am quite boring, really.  I wake, work, write, train, sleep, with some time for eating in there somewhere, and then wake up and do it all again.  It's fearfully dull.

Listen, as I haven't much to report, I'm more than happy to answer questions.  You all know I'm pretty much an open book, so let's have a blog AMA (ask me anything).  It can be any topic, from demisexuality to gaming to writing to my favourite bands... or something.  If a question is out of bounds, I'll just leave it at a simple 'not going to answer that.'  If that sounds like something you'd like, feel free to ask me a question on any of my platforms, and I'll pick my favourites to answer in my blog.  It may be one question a post or several, depending on the questions asked and how deep I feel I want to dive into a topic.

Right,  I have a lot of work to... by which I mean more writing to try and muddle my way through.

​Ciao! 

Good morning, Readers!

Holy hell was yesterday ever productive!

I managed to strike a number of things off my list.  I wrote the blog post for my site, a blog post for another site, signed up and created a team for the Ottawa Foam Fest for myself and my martial arts students, sent a bunch of emails that needed following up on, and wrote just a titch over three thousand words of Outcast.  Then I went to martial arts training and kicked and punched things... and had my arse handed to me repeatedly in sparring.

Not to toot my own horn, but go me!  It was insane yesterday.

I'm particularly pleased with my three thousand words.  I was in the zone yesterday.  The words just tumbled out.  It feels so damned good to have that happen.  I haven't had a writing session like that in such a long time,.  I had forgotten how pleasurable a really good writing session can be.  I would liken it to waltzing with someone who really knows how to waltz.  That feeling of floating, of your feet not touching the ground, of effortless elegance.  That's what it felt like writing yesterday.

Needless to say, I'm hoping for much the same today, though I'm not especially attached to the idea.  I'll be thrilled if I manage a thousand words.  I do want the zone back.  I'm hoping I'll be able to slip into it again.  It might not come to pass.  I'll have to live with that.  It is, after all, marathon, not a sprint.

Still, having the words flow like that is the closest thing to actual magic I will ever know.

*happy sigh*

Also today, I will be streaming Witcher 3, starting at my usual time of 7:00pm.  I'm really enjoying this game for its story and characters, but I do have my issues with it.

Anyway, I have some stuff I need to get done before I settle in to start writing this afternoon.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

I did not post yesterday.  It was a holiday here in Ontario, and I took full advantage of that fact.  I spent most of the day gaming, while waiting for a video to export.  I didn't export.  I'm annoyed.  I had done all of my adulting in the morning, and spent the rest of my time in the world of Witcher 3.  Some people binge television shows for hours and hours.  I slay digital monsters.  It was entirely needed.  I needed that break from the real world and from life.  I'm so relaxed today... or would be, if my computer would start working properly.

​That said, there are a few things that I need to catch up on, so today's post is a little bit of house-keeping.

First, the talk I was supposed to give on fighting in fiction a couple of weeks ago was cancelled due to the weather.  It has been rescheduled for April 10th.  Mark your calendars, if you're interested.

Secondly, I've taken on two new volunteer positions, making my already hectic life even more hectic, but that's alright.  I'll figure out a way to make it work.  The first will probably be public early next month.  The second... I don't know that I'm expected not to announce, but I won't for now.  Which reminds me, if you're an artist, and you don't your art (with credit and links) to be used on a site, email me or leave a comment, and we can work something out.

Third, I will be at ComicCon this year.  It is likely to be my last year, as rising prices for tables at the event are forcing me out.  It sucks that the tables have become so entirely unaffordable.  I really like having the opportunity to chat with readers, and I've seen so many of you return each year.  It was really wonderful.  Unfortunately, I've been priced out.  So, if you're going to Ottawa ComicCon, do come see me.  It will likely be the last time I shall be there.

I honestly think I had more, but that's all my coffee-deprived brain can conjure.  I have several things to take care of today, so I really need to get going on that.  Have a great day!

Ciao!