Good morning, Readers!

I have nothing to report. I'm busy working.

I don't even have a great video to share with you to help you waste time.  Sorry!

Comments are open, though, so feel free to spend you time telling stories there.

I have to get back to work.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

I'm unwell today. I'm still at work, because I have no food at home and the cafeteria here let's me run a tab.

Still, I'm well enough to do work, so I was all prepared to get stuck back into beta reading for my friend Evan, whose most excellent book is drawing me right in.

HAH! quoth the universe.

Beta reader comments for the Manuscript that Needs a Better Title arrived in my inbox this morning.  I've been warned that they're quite extensive, so it's going to take me a bit to get through.  I'll be starting that this morning.  I expect it will take me a couple of weeks.

So, Evan, once again, I have to put your book down and work on my own stuff.  I'M SORRY!  I hope you read this an know that I am utterly enthralled with what I've read so far, and I am actually keen on getting to the end.

But duty calls... or something.

Another short blog post, as I have a shite tonne of work to be doing.  I hope you have a fantastic day.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

So, I now have the manuscript for Soldier. This is the last round of edits before I begin the submission process.  I'm really frakkin' nervous about submitting once again.  It's a roller coaster of emotions, with the greatest portion of emotion dedicated to disappointment.

Still, I need to start the submission process.

Everything is once again on hold as I edit this manuscript.  Hopefully it won't take me longer than the rest of this week.  Once that's done, I will file away the manuscript while I finish up the other stuff (Evan, I swear I will get to beta reading your most excellent book... soon (ish)).  Then it'll be one last edit before I start submitting.

And then... Hell.

Submitting is hell.

I have a publisher I would love to get an acceptance from.  They'll be the first publisher I submit to, but likely not the last.  Still, I have them in mind for this, and I'm hopeful, but not stupidly so.

In other news, I just saw the full spread of the book cover for Skylark and OMFG! I've never been this excited for a book cover reveal, ever.  I'm vibrating with excitement... which is weird, 'cause I don't normally like my own artwork.  But this looks pretty awesome.

Right, I haven't much time to continue writing this blog.  I really want to get the edits frinish so I can go back to beta reading Evan's book.

Off to work now.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Things are moving along too damned fast for me to keep up.

The last official women's kickboxing and self-defence classes have been taught.  I have a week break, which I'm using to sit with my tattoo artist to discuss the first part of my extensive tattoo plans.  Then it's onto having training sessions in the park.  Two hours every Saturday morning, weather permitting.

Tonight I'm teaching the last co-ed kickboxing class.  After that, I will have my Monday nights free until next spring.  And by having Monday nights free, I mean, I'm already booked for Monday nights for pretty much the rest of the summer.  It's just not teaching, that's all.

Oh, and I've gotten word from my third beta reader for Soldier that he's finished the corrections.  I should be receiving the manuscript back any day now.

The third editor now has Skylark in their very capable hands, and I should be getting those edits back in a month or so.  About Skylark, I've seen a mock-up of the cover done with the artwork I drew up, and OMG IT LOOKS AMAZING!  I wasn't all that sure about the cover art (I am really my own worst critic), but I saw it with my name and the title, and I'm a really thrilled with how it looks, and AH! I can't wait to share it with you!

Soon.  Promise.

I shouldn't promise.

Soon.  I hope.

There.  That's better.

Still on Skylark, I have confirmed with Renaissance Press that it will be available for pre-order.  I've offered to sign all the pre-orders to sweeten the pot.  That said, there is no release date for the book yet.  I was given an "either this year or next."  If the third round of edits happens quickly, maybe, maybe Skylark will be available this year.

Maybe.

Don't quote me on that.

But fingers crossed all the same.

The manuscript that needs a better title is still with beta reader one, and I am so fucking glad I don't have to worry about it for a little bit.  I've got too much on my plate as it is.

I also have to finish beta reading my friend's manuscript (which I'm loving, by the way), edit lots of videos (now trying to catch up on my Nights at the Round Table episodes), and get started writing one or both of the sequels to the manuscripts that are currently in the beta reading phase.

GAH!

Right, I have a tonne of work to do, so I'm off to do it.  I hope you all had a lovely weekend.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

I received the second round of edits for Skylark last night, along with a really lovely note from the editor.  With her permission, I've quoted some of her kind words:​

I was in a really low place yesterday, hitting the second day of a numbing depressive episode.  These remarks didn't cure it.  I'm still feeling that emptiness like a lead blanket.  But it did put a smile on my face, and for a little bit, I did feel a little lighter.

Also, yes, I was happy that I made the editor cry.  It's not that I'm an awful human.  I mean, I am, but that's not why I was happy.  It made me happy because it means that I hit the right emotional resonances.  I wrote well.  An emotional response to the work is a writer's dream.  I'm really pleased that I did it right.

It's so weird.  Normally, it takes me anywhere between three months to a couple of years to write a book.  Skylark took me a month.  This book poured out of me.  I skipped training and stayed up late to get the words that were flooding out onto the page to prevent their loss.  It was the easiest write I've ever had.

Because of that, I was worried that it was utter shit, and my friends were just being nice when they were being complimentary about it.

Every bit of praise helps my crippling insecurities.

As I've been given the manuscript back with editing notes, I'm off to do that for the next little bit.  Everything else is on hold as I work.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

So... people are ragging on video games again.  It must be a day ending in y.  There are currently a slew of uninformed thoughts and opinions about video games and the people who play them.  The one that jumped out at me last night was that playing video games screws around with one's sense of empathy.

Wut?

So, Laura Shortridge put out a call on Twitter asking for examples of video games that made you have all the feels.  I listed two, with another I've heard great things about.

Just spotted the typo there.  I meant #DetroitBecomeHuman.  Meh.  I'll chalk that down to my fat fingers typing on my phone.

The point is, most video games have stories that are incredibly deep, that explore difficult issues, and display characters that manage to pull the player in and give them all the feels.  That is the technical term.  They contain stories that are just as good (and sometimes better) than novels.  They're deeply affecting.  And it's true.  I cried when (spoilers) Joel lost his daughter in The Last of Us.  Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice had me sobbing on my live stream (just as the viewers of that particular let's play), and I ugly cried off stream for twenty minutes afterwards.  It hit me so hard.  I've been desperately avoiding spoilers for Detroit: Become Human, but I am hearing a constant stream of gushing over a character called Connor.

"Video games encourage lack of empathy."

I would argue the exact opposite is true.

Of course there are violent video games, shoot 'em ups and the like, yet even these tend to have something behind them.  The motivation is often something along the lines of saving loved ones, or the world.  Yes, they're violent and gory and the player is challenged to kill people by the score, but player motivation is often quite noble.  If you only see the action sequences of the game, you've missed the biggest part of it.

Not all violent games have that player motivation, of course.  Some really are just kill as many people as possible, but there are fewer of those games than most people unfamiliar with gaming assume.

Now, they've added gaming as a disorder.  I disagree with that too.

Adults watch, on average, five hours of television a day.  A day.  No one bats an eyelid at this statistic.  No one calls that a 'television disorder.'  Binge watching entire television shows is accepted and normal.  Playing a game straight through from start to finish is "excessive."

Gaming is my television.  People ask me if I've seen such and such a show?  I tell them I'm in ancient Egypt, too busy defending freedom from The Order to bother with that show.  Or any show.  And, for my entertainment value, I much prefer gaming to television.  Gaming is active.  My brain is working when I game.  Often, it's working really hard, processing data, making decisions, getting quick time events all wrong...

I find I cannot stand letting my brain do nothing while I'm awake.  If that happens, I get twitchy.  My legs starts going, or I'll rock myself a little, or I'll get distracted and start looking at my phone, or picking at my nails.  My brain needs to be active while I'm awake.  And so when I need some downtime, I game, rather than watch television.

Sometimes I watch YouTube, because those are short videos, and I'm less likely to get twitchy.
  
If someone is gaming so much that it is negatively impacting their life, the gaming is not the problem.  It is a symptom.  Like watching too much television.  Or eating too much (or too little).  Or staying in bed too long.  Gaming is a crutch people may use to escape their problems.  It is not the problem itself.

So, people who don't game, stop trying to pathologise gaming.  Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's wrong or evil.  Stop pretending it is to make yourself feel better about your ignorance.  You're dead fucking wrong.

This has been a public service announcement.

Now get off my lawn.

Good morning, Readers!

I am at last all caught up on my game play video editing, and can now turn back to more literary pursuits.  First on the list, Beta Reading for a friend, who is off in Edinburgh right now, having a delightful time and making me incredibly jealous with his gorgeous photos of the city.

I would like to win the lottery now, so that I too, may go travelling.

The point is, I'm back to the whole reading and writing thing, and I'm pleased.  I'm really excited to get stuck into Evan's book.  I've had the pleasure of hearing him read sections from it, and I'm already in love with it.  He has a masterful way with words, and the beauty of language is something I really appreciate when I'm reading.

And then I have to do the sketchiest outlines ever for the next books in the two series I'm currently writing.  By sketchiest outlines, I mean, basically, just write down how they end so I have an end goal.  How the characters get there is entirely up to them.

Totally unrelated, I have been watching everything outside of actual game play of Detroit: Become Human, and I need this game.  I mean, it's more like an interactive film, but still, I need it.

Parents, get your kids into video games.  There'll be no money for drugs or alcohol.  Or food.  Or rent.

Right.  I have to get on with it.

What are you up to today?