The #5RTs Project is out of “beta”
Since November(ish) I’ve been doing something called #5RTs on Twitter. Every Sunday through Thursday night, I retweet five tweets, usually links or pictures, but not always. I will often add a word or two of commentary in front of it, even if it’s just a LOL. Sometimes there’s a theme, sometimes not. They’re numbered too. Before them, I usually announce that they are coming (although since it’s a needless tweet, I have often made that announcement bombastic or silly). After the tweets, I sometimes add another tweet or two of commentary about them that didn’t fit into the RT. For Read more…
The Legacy of Technology
As I continue to work on Book II of The Lattice Trilogy, I am writing more and more about the legacy of old technology. Writing about “old” technology in 2081 means writing a lot about current times (and the next few decades). But there are so many examples of legacy technology today. We are surrounded by it. We often think of technology as this march of progress, but a better image would be of geologic strata. New technology is layered over older technology, but the old technology doesn’t go away. It’s just not as visible. It’s a much more accurate Read more…
More Games
My plan to play more games in 2014 has gone quiet well so far. In addition to the chess tournament in January, I’ve been able to play a lot of friendly games with folks around Tacoma. Ticket to Ride A few weeks ago I went to Tacoma Games, where I played Ticket To Ride with some local fans of the game, (game pictured above). Tacoma Games sells board games, and also has board game nights, where you can go in to try out new games. This is a really fun game. I have the “Europe” map, but have also now played Read more…
My first chess tournament
The best chess player in the world right now is a 23-year-old Norwegian guy named Magnus Carlsen. Actually, he’s the best chess player ever–he has a higher chess ranking than any chess player has ever earned. I am not Magnus Carlsen. The degrees of separation between me and him are extreme. This writer at last year’s World Chess Championships puts it well: The skill gap in chess is remarkable: these Grandmasters would demolish someone who would easily beat someone who would wipe me off the board. And I’m guessing that this writer would crush me. Chess is one of those things that Read more…
A $0.99 sale on The Lead Cloak!
All this week, ebook editions of The Lead Cloak are on sale for $0.99. If you’ve been putting off buying your copy, this would be a great time to pick it up. Here’s a link to all the online stores carrying the book. A recent blog post about it called it, “One of the best for the new year!” I hope you’ll check it out!
Four Tacoma Authors Take Publishing Into Their Own Hands
Well, there are actually a lot more than four local authors doing it. But it’s great to see independent publishing getting some coverage as a trend. It’s certainly changed my life–finding readers has been incredibly motivational and my writing has picked up substantially. It’s just hard to believe that if three years ago when I was ready to publish The Saint Go Dying that if I’d spent all the time trying to find an agent, and then an editor, that that book would even be out right now. Let alone another five. That said, I’m not a die-hard about self-publishing. I Read more…
11 Years in Downtown Tacoma
I moved to downtown Tacoma in August of 2002, living in the awesomely located and beautiful Bostwick Building. A year later I moved up the hill a couple blocks, and I’ve lived here ever since! There’s a lot to like about living downtown. The easy proximity to so many cool restaurants, coffee shops, and stores. How easy it made it for us to go to one car. This video has a little bit of us in, as we talk about what it’s like to live downtown with a young kid, but also the experiences of other people downtown as well. Read more…
First Week of Sales, Ranked
I have a pretty good running tally of my weekly sales between all my books. I’m sure there are some that I missed here and there, but in terms of trends, it’s pretty helpful. I was interested to see how my first week of The Lead Cloak stacked up to some of my other releases. Here are all six books and their first week of sales, in chronological order. Personally, I was glad to see that The Lead Cloak was better than the rest. I put a lot of work into it! But what did strike me is the falling Read more…
To Title or Not to Title
It’s hard to title a book or a movie. I’ve written hundreds of thousands of words, but it’s usually those first couple of words that are the hardest. Truth be told, I’m still not 100% happy with The Lead Cloak‘s title. It has just the slightest tinge of fantasy, when it’s really a pretty straight sci-fi adventure. One of the most common things people try with titles is to adapt a famous quote or line from the Bible or Shakespeare. Sometimes this can be devastatingly effective. Other times, pointless or pretentious. After seeing numerous titles adapted from Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, Read more…
How I Wrote It: The Lead Cloak
The Lead Cloak is now available! Click through for links to find links to your favorite online bookstore. This book was a long time coming. For years I’d been tossing around an idea for a science fiction novel, but I never did anything with it. That was until April 24, 2011, the date I decided to sit down and start writing, just to see if there was something there. How do I know the exact date? Because I charted it. That’s right, I charted my novel. Words on the Y Axis, Time on the X Axis. It’s probably the single nerdiest Read more…
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