Ok, so it’s been a while. A loooong while. I could probably come up with a list of excuses, but that would just be yet another writing project I’d need to put on the back burner of an already crowded stove.

I am going to say it here (because it is often said that if you say it in public, you’ll follow through with it): My goal is to write a blog entry once a month. Let’s say I’ll start on the first of the month. Figure out what I want to say to you and give myself a week to polish and publish. Of course, there’s a good chance this will change with time. Like a special announcement or something. But a once a month update. And with that, this late month’s entry.

I have been writing. All manner of things, and a lot has nothing to do with one another (or they might later). But one thing I did do recently was sign up for the Fredericksburg Independent Book Festival since the last blog entry. I ran into James Noll at the Great Philadelphia Comic Con. We of course talked for a good while and he turned me to the fest.

Originally I was just going to bring QR codes to Broken Road, but decided to do a print instead with an epilogue exclusive to the print. I’ll be selling these at the Festival. Not sure if I have a reader who lives down that way, but I’ll be there. Come visit if you can. It would be nice to meet you.

So What’s Next

Currently I am working with the lore writing team of a Minecraft game Legends of Valeros. I am just diving in there as a new member of the team. Just started with some back story ideas, but I am really looking forward to playing it. The designers have put in so much work, and if you have ever sat for hours playing Minecraft, these guys have been working on this for years. It’ll be interesting to see any idea I have come to life on screen like this.

And not to tease too much this early, but I do have some more Maezhiir stories. A lot of random notes and ideas, some characters, just not sure when, where, or how they’ll start to fit together. Marc and I have some sketching of characters and stories to do since Broken Road has been out for a few months now. And stay tuned for updates on The Shagal.

Not sure how this RSS feed thing works, but subscribe if you can. One thing I really have not done, is look more into this web design stuff and how it works. I do know about Mail Chimp, just not sure how to implement it yet. But with my new blog publishing plan, I need you to please check back at the end of the first week of every month for some updates.

So until the next one (geez, it’s only two weeks away), keep reading, cause I’m going to keep writing.

I’ve not always been a writer, but I have told stories in one way or another. And up until now, I’ve never really had the courage to share them.

Now Broken Road is a newer story. It was written during NaNoWriMo 2016 in collaboration with my friend Marc, as a side story to The Shagal, when I was looking for inspiration to sit down and write.

I wasn't trying to write a novel though. I simply wanted to write. And so I challenged myself to write everyday. Weekends included. Family was coming second until they couldn’t. I was trying to create, not just a story, but a habit… to write. Some days it was a sentence. Other days were details about characters that never made it into the story. And I drafted it out from beginning to end. It was my outline. My initial vision was definitely a bit different than what turned out, but the story was complete. It was a short bordering on novelette or novella. What lacked was personality and some detail. So next came some character study.

Not to get too deep into this, but I did take a good amount of time on each character trying to really discover each personality and putting it on paper. Elias was a family man, a farmer, a father, and a friend. He had the life that was mapped out from point A to point B. Got married, had a son, and maybe his only ambition was to expand his farm. The same sort of details went into Willem, Gernant, Hammund, and Elias. I also sketched some other characters that weren’t in the story, but made the world feel more real to me just knowing they were there, going through something of their own.

Without a doubt, the experience was a challenge I’m happy to have undergone. I truly believe it has made me a bit more fearless about sharing what I am writing. And by the end of the story, I hope I have created something that fit nicely into the world that Marc has created with The Shagal.