2017: A Year in Review: The Reading

Well, 2017 was an amazing reading year for me. I cranked out book after book this year and I have a lot to talk about. I planned on reading 70 books in 2017. I read 154. No, seriously. 154 books. Pretty amazing, huh? Of the 8 books that I really wanted to read this year, I read 4 of the 8. One wasn't released and the other I got out of the library multiple times, but never got around to reading it. I've been doing microreviews of everything I read over on Twitter if you want a full recap using the hashtag: 150in31. I'll be done with them tomorrow.

So, let's talk some data first. (Hey, I'm a teacher, we need data, right?) Here's a breakdown of what I read:

• Novels: 65
• Graphic Novels: 58
• Writing Books: 14
• Nonfiction: 8
• Art/Design Books: 4
• Biographies/Autobiographies/Memoirs: 2
• Plays: 2
• Picture Books: 1

Phew. That was a lot of reading. And it felt like it. So, here's what you really read this edition of the blog for: my year end best of list. 

• ROYAL BASTARDS by Andrew Shvarts: Probably my favorite read of the year mostly because I tried to write something just like it and can see all my mistakes because Shvarts does everything nearly flawlessly from characters to the world building to the all important voice. It's brilliant and earned the top spot of 2017. On a side note, this book got me through a very tough time in my life since I started reading it right after our house fire, so thanks Andrew for giving me a needed distraction as I dealt with my entire life crumbled around me. (Or singed around me.)
• RIVER OF TEETH by Sarah Gailey: The only competition that ROYAL BASTARDS had for top read of 2017 was this book. Hippo riding cowboys, riverboat casinos and a thrilling caper...excuse me...operation make this book an instant classic. 
• MARCH: BOOK ONE by John Lewis: Moving and appropriate at this time in our history as Congressman John Lewis looks back at his involvement in the Civil Rights movement. We are a better place because of men like Mr. Lewis. 
• LUSTLOCKED and PRIDE'S SPELL by Matt Wallace: I love this series. It's flawless. Utterly perfect. Great characters, fascinating world, terrific plots and amazing voice. I'm going to finish this series this year. 
• WHITE TRASH by Nancy Isenberg: Put a terrific spin on this last election: the promise to "white, working class voters" of taking back a country that was never theirs to begin with. Fascinating and enlightening. 
• THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE by Patrick Ness: A few years old, but just the brilliant execution of a brilliant concept with the right amount of emotional moments. What happens to the kids in the background of the YA fantasy/dystopia novels and movies we know and love? Their lives are just as epic. 
• THE IMPOSSIBLE FORTRESS by Jason Rekulak: An fun YA book loaded with tons of nostalgia for someone like me. Part romance, part coming of age, part heist novel, it does things you don't expect it to at all the right spots. 
• THE DUKE OF BANNERMAN PREP by Katie A Nelson: A great retelling of THE GREAT GATSBY with enough of it's own to not make it a straight retelling of THE GREAT GATSBY. 
• SEARCHING FOR JOHN HUGHES by Jason Diamond: Remember when we could love what we love and not just defend what we love? That's this book. The things we love are important to us and they drive us.
• A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT by Sabaa Tahir: Everything that is good and right in YA fantasy. Great execution of a great idea with great characters and interesting world building. 
• SOUTHERN BASTARDS by Jason Aaron: Blew me away. Just an amazing, moving story about the deep south. Just unputdownable. 
• BULL by David Elliott: The story of Theseus told in rhyme. Reminded me of HAMILTON in its presentation. Loved it. 
• THE LEGEND OF ROCK PAPER SCISSORS by Drew Daywalt: An instant classic that takes the simple game of Rock, Paper, Scissors and turns it into an epic tale of champions seeking to prove themselves. Just delightful!
• MYSTIC RIVER by Dennis Lehane: An older book that just shook me to the core. Amazing, brilliant and a study in 3rd person omniscient among other things. 

Honorable Mentions: RETURN OF THE JEDI: BEWARE THE POWER OF THE DARK SIDE by Tom Angleberger, FORGET ME by KA Harrington, THE GRENDEL'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND WAR by AE Kaplan, ASTROPHYSICS FOR PEOPLE IN A HURRY by Neil deGrasse Tyson, THE LEGEND OF LUKE SKYWALKER by Ken Liu.

I'm not doing disappointments this year. We need more positivity and I'm not going to do that.

So, what about 2018? I know I'd like to read more. Well, if you read my writing post...and why wouldn't you have...you'll know that I'm not setting specific number goals this year, so maybe I only set a vague number that I can adjust. Here's some random musings:

• Read some more epic fantasy and study what makes it work. I say this every year and fail at it. Maybe this year is the year that I finally do it. I'm going to set a goal of 25 total epic fantasy books in 2018.
• I want to read more middle grade. I'm going to set a goal of 2 MG books a month, so 24 MG books by year's end. 
• Read more nonfiction with a goal of one NF book a month, so 12 NF books this year. 

So, by those raw numbers alone, I'm looking at 61 books. I tend to read a ton of graphic novels each year and also find other YA books that pique my interest while getting the occasional ARC to read along the way, plus I listen to a ton of books during my commute, so I'm going to set a goal of 90 books this year. As I read, I'll adjust accordingly. 

What did you read? What was your best of 2017? What are you looking forward to in 2018?

2017: A Year In Review: The Writing

This was a weird year writing. The best word I could come up with to describe it was impotent. I just never felt like I could get moving on something and at times I was completely schizo in deciding what I was going to do. My buddy Mike, always the port in my writing storms, can usually talk me down and get me in the right state of mind with sound, practical advice. But even then I struggled in focusing on one thing as my mind raced from here to there. It's really got me thinking about my approach and the way that I do things. Or it could be that I've been reading a lot of books on writing lately. So, let's look at 2017 as far as writing is concerned.

I set out to accomplish the following:

• Finish THE PENSIONER'S BROOCH
• Write the first draft of MAGICAL GATSBY
• Finish CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD
• Write the GENDER SWAPPED ARAGORN epic fantasy
• Write 360k total words.

What I did accomplish:

• Finish first draft of THE PENSIONER'S BROOCH (34k)
• Started FRESH TRACKS (7k)
• Rewrite of WINTER'S DISCORD (135k)
• Started GIRL IN THE PICTURE (55k)
• Started a rewrite of LOST SCIONS (24k)
• Started CHLOE (3k)

So, as you can see, schizo. Too many plates. I fell well short of my 1k a day word count goal. Rather than lament about my lack of discipline or need for a routine, I'm looking at each of these projects and what to do with them. I need to make a run at finishing something again, so, what are these projects?

BROOCH: Prequel to SCIONS. It needs another pass and it may be what I need to fix what I see as the issues with SCIONS.

TRACKS: I was just rereading what I wrote of this while writing this blog and I like it a lot. It's kind of voice-y (something I desperately need to work on) and I think there's something there, I just have to find it.

DISCORD: Done. Forever and ever. Until someone buys it, I'm not doing any more with that-at least for a while.

PICTURE: This was a story I fell in love with out the gate and threw out all my normal practices as I wrote this. And that became part of the problem. I didn't know what I was writing and tried pantsing the book. It didn't exactly work. It turned into two different books fighting one another. On one hand it wanted to be a procedural-esque mystery like MYSTIC RIVER (which I was reading at the time) or a supernatural thriller. I feel like I have to decide on one and pull the trigger on it.

SCIONS: I still believe in this project. I'm working on paring it down into something less meandering and tighter.

CHLOE: A working title. A MG/chap book idea that I'm writing for my daughter. Very early in this project and I need to study a bit as I plan this. 

The aim for 2018 is focus. Focus on skill, focus on execution. Mike preaches these things and I need to listen to him. He's not just saying these things because he likes hearing them, he's being the good teacher that he is. So, goals? I don't know. I don't know if I want to set goals for myself in terms of what I intend to write. I've never achieved them. Not even close. My tastes and moods change. My interest in projects wane. Inspiration comes from strange places (see PICTURE) and I have to learn to run with it.

So, maybe be a little less word county and concentrate more on my skill as a writer. What does that mean? Write every day. No matter what. At least an hour. As my friend Brian Fay does: 3 pages a day. It's not so ambitious. I can do this. And then at the end of year I can take an inventory of what I accomplished. I'm a planner as far as my work is concerned, but I'm not going to lock myself down to any plan. I'm going to write what comes to me as it comes.

Also, unrelated to my writing (or maybe related to my writing), I'm going to work on being healthy and happy, two things I've neglected frequently in my life. It's come to a head recently. I'm a lucky man and sometimes I forget to enjoy that happiness. And I need to take care of myself. I have too much good in my life not to. 

Partying Like It's 1994? (Updated 2019)

Tonight is the night before Thanksgiving. Every year I put up a post on Facebook asking who wants to go to Chuck's tonight. [2019 Edit: I'm doing a Faux Chucks From Home Night!] A little background. In my (and many of my friend's) salad days, we went to a bar on the SU campus called Hungry Charley's. We called it Chuck's. Wednesday nights were buy one get one pitchers and we'd go. But the night before Thanksgiving was a special night. People returned from college or visit from out of town and we'd wind up at Chuck's. (I've written about Chuck's before.)

It was a dive, in the basement. It had a horrible ventilation system, only served shitty beers on tap along with a few bottle choices and had assholes for bouncers (I know, I got my ass kicked by one). It also had decent prices, pretty good sangria and a Star Trek: The Next Generation pinball machine that ate almost as much money as the beer. (I also liked their chicken fingers, but maybe that had more to do with the beer than the chicken.) My beverage of choice was either Killian's Red or Honey Brown with Honey Brown being my favorite. I was reminded of that tonight.

Like just about everyone else in the free world, I had to go to Wegmans this afternoon. I had some errands to run, including picking up my dog's ashes (I'll write about that another time...I can't now, I've tried and I just can't) but I was going to try to avoid a trip to Wegmans. But my wife, who works at Wegmans, slipped and fell at work, hurting her surgically repaired knee. I brought her to the doctor and she got a thumbs up to go back to work, so I took her back. And she gave me a list of things I needed to get. No problem. I made good time and, having joked about Chuck's, perused the beer corner at the big W.

Now, something you need to know about me, I am not a big drinker. I put my time in during the early to mid-90s and that was enough. I'll crack open an occasional hard soda or a beer once in an almost literal blue moon. Honestly, in 11 months of 2017, I've had maybe 5 beers. Tonight I decided to make six. I walked by the craft beers, the hard sodas (which I love) and the ciders, finding a sixer of Honey Brown. But I was worried. I was worried about my daughter.

She seems very aware of when I drink and, for some reason, it bothers her. A few weeks back, we went to a family birthday party and I ordered a beer. My daughter was very upset and I have no idea why. I don't drink very often and I don't drink enough to alter my behavior. Okay, there is only one time I can think of where I drank more than usual (limoncello and something called Strega was involved, it was as fun as it sounds) [2019 Edit: I have three jars of homemade limoncello doing their business in my basement as I write this!] and I don't remember her being upset about it. So I wondered. My daughter and I talk, so I asked her about it during the week and she said she just didn't like me drinking alcohol, though she was still evasive. This is a continuing conversation between us and I'll get to the bottom of it.

I waited until well after dinner was digested and cracked open a Honey Brown. And the first sip transported me back to 1994. No, really. (The good 1994, not the bad one I've blogged about before.) Now, Honey Brown isn't "great" beer. Hell, it's not even "good" beer, but Christ, it was delicious. It has been literally 20-something years since the last time I drank a Honey Brown. It was everything I remembered and more. I've had some good beers over the years. High quality stuff. But they couldn't hold a candle to the Honey Brown I drank tonight. Maybe it's the nostalgia of one too many nights in a dive of a bar filled with too much smoke and floor muck. Maybe it's the memory of having over 30 people show up, unannounced or uninvited, at my house some summer nights back then. Who knows? But it was the best beer I've had in years. And like I said, I was 21 again. And it was glorious.

[2019 Edit: I bought another sixer tonight and I'm waiting for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving to come on at 8pm to crack one open.]

My daughter noticed the bottle. She was okay with it, but did ask if it was the only one I was going to have. (I haven't had more than one beer in one day in easily over ten years!) When I assured her that it was, she didn't bother me again. But my son on the other hand, was despondent, but not for the reasons you think.

"Daddy, my gosh, why does your breath smell like that? What did you eat?"
"What does my breath smell like?"
"Garbage," he says, "like you're eating garbage."
"I'm drinking a beer, buddy."
"Well, I want you to stop, your breath smells like poop."

So, at least we know why my son doesn't like me nursing a beer.

Swoon Reads: WINTER'S DISCORD, The Character List

I took the plunge a few weeks back and submitted my "YA Game of Thrones" novel WINTER'S DISCORD to Swoon Reads. I'm keeping an eye on how it's doing and reading comments being left by readers. One was that there are a lot of characters (true) and it is hard to keep track of them. There is a Character List at the end of the book, but it's a nightmare to toggle back and forth between it and the pages readers are on. So, I decided to post it here. It has to be easier to move back and forth between browser pages or apps on a phone. So, here you go. And if you're not reading it yet, click on the link, register for the site and give it a whirl. Thanks.

Winter’s Discord

Dramatis Personae

The Grange Family

Duke Thomas Grange, Duke Paramount of the Heartlands

[Duchess Rebecca (Gander) Grange, first wife of the Duke]

            Samuel Grange, their Blessed son

Duchess Emma (Ellerton) Grange, second wife of the Duke

                        Kirsten Bartlett, a lady-in-waiting

                        Saundra Blane, a lady-in-waiting

                        Serena Heath, a lady-in-waiting

            Harold Grange, his heir

                        Matthew Stumps, his crony

                        Eric Cross, his crony

            Benjamin Grange

                        Marcus Green, an outrider and companion

                        Johnny Mules, his companion

                        Charlie Duster, his companion

                        Vester Duster, his companion

                        Mikey Duster, his companion

                        Egan Norlander, his companion

            Jessica Grange

                        Elizabeth Dowdell, a lady-in-waiting

                        Kathleen Endicott, a lady-in-waiting

                        Nell Cole, a lady-in-waiting

            Household:

                        Elario Venette, the Duke’s Advisor and rumored sorcerer

                        Sir Adam Wyndham, captain of the guard

                        Serjeant Roarke, a guard

                        Murielle Cook, a cook

                        Edwyn, a guard

                        Kelene, a servant

                        Brody, Master of the Horse

                        Oscar Blane, the Duke’s valet

The Fields Family

Sir William Fields, master-at arms for Grange Manor

[Mina (Farthing) Fields]

            Jeremy Fields

            Alicia Fields, Jessica’s lady-in-waiting

The Meadows Family

Lord Paul Meadows, Duke of the Westmarch

Lady Marielle (Stanfield) Meadows, 41, his wife

            Sir Theo and Sir Thom Meadows, twins

            Peter Meadows

            Amelia Meadows

The Graydon Family

Lord Hallam Graydon, Baron of Wolf Hollow

Lady Kendra (Irons) Graydon, his wife

            Lewis Graydon

            Victoria Graydon

The Chase Family

Lord Eldon Chase, Earl of Teasedown

Lady Benethea (Oakley) Chase, his wife

            Sir Walton Chase, his heir and eldest son, friend of Harold’s

The Gaines Family

Lord Francis Gaines, Earl of Renfield

Lady Joanne (Gill) Gaines, his wife  

            Sir Lukas Gaines

            Colton Gaines

            Kimberly Gaines, a lady-in-waiting to Jessica Grange

The Rhodes Family

Lord Lleyton Rhodes, the earl of Westfield

            Deron Rhodes

            Adam Rhodes

Heartland Vassals: Graydon, Royce, Bannock, Vinland, Wheaton, Prior, Cotton, Rhodes, Chase, Blane, Cornwall, Crossley, Mead, Heath, Still, Gaines, Grass, Ellings

The Drake Dynasty

King Vitor Drake, King of Galidan

Queen Thalia, his wife, a Thalassan

Princess Isabella Drake, the Crown Princess

            Mistress Miranda Fitts, her governess

                        Christine Stockley, a lady-in-waiting

Hailey Anstanando, a lady-in-waiting

Gianna Fortia, a lady-in-waiting

           

Household:

            Denholm Marron, the King’s secretary

            Mistress Adele Bunn, the Queen’s secretary

Prince Vincent Drake, Disposed Crown Prince, known as “The Bachelor Prince”

            Household:

            Yvan Sorretto, the spymaster

                        Tybalt and Dennis, soldiers in Yvan’s service

            Sarita, a watcher and later Jessica Grange’s governess

            Garrett Dalibar, his swordmaster

            Marco Apareaz, his physician

                        Reynold Apareaz, his son and knight candidate

The Maglore Family

Duke Jurrell Maglore, Lord High Steward, Duke of the Black Capes

            Sir Owyn Maglore, his son

            Veronica Maglore, his daughter

            Household:

Marlon Gorash, a page

The Burleigh Family

Lord Carlton Burleigh, Duke of the Gates

            Household:

            [Sir Francis Wayman, a knight]

                        Elliot Wayman, his son

The Snowdale Family

Lady Alice Snowdale, Baroness of the

            Elise Snowdale, her niece

                        Arrosa, her maid’s daughter

The Vanaccio Family

Lord Alonso Venaccio, the Earl of Cape Paranccio

            Rodrigo Venaccio

            Tyla Venaccio

            Household

            Sir Oliver Gallins, master at arms

The Ellestare Family

Lord Niles Ellestare, the Count of Gabbins Downs

            Brent Ellestare

                        Hugh Beaumont, his companion

                        Will Oarster, his companion

The Drummond Family

Duke Timothy Drummond, Duke of Welford

            Household

            Sir Malcolm Worley, master at arms

Crownland Vassals: Fulbright, Shalesworth, Brighton, Graves, Stepford, Stockley, Burleigh, Gloriarra, Ellers, Snowdale, Caspari, Delia, Brand, Cromwell, Sofre, Neeves, Fulbright, Cowan, Angier, Calvencho, Rogoux, Collinsworth, Jonio

Nahrish Vassals: Volstaad, Meldore, Balgore, Evgoth, Garum, Gorash, Sothosh, Skalus, Adeleh, Vainglore, Nallone, Dulmash

Western Vassals: Worley, Bullock, Varens, Whalen, Gannon, Sweeney, Wast, Zellers, Beverly, Weston, Hagen

Orchardland Vassals: Bartlett, Braeburn, Grover, Hazelton, Hamlin

Atlasian Vassals: Oarster, Dunn, Gilbride, Gavanaugh, Dacey, Farthing, Bollingsworth

Vehrish Vassals:  Hanover, Lange

Knights of the Golden Rose (Unoathed)

Sir Kevin Southerly, Order of the Horned Boar

Sir Roland Durgo,

Sir George Venner

Sir John Farthing

Sir Michael Correy

Sirs Talbot and Trent Ironwood

Knight Candidates at the Summerhurst

See tourney rosters

Knight Instructors at the Summerhurst

Sir Nathaniel Bullock, Knight Commandant of Summerhurst

Sir Dwight “Dewey” Zellers, Earl of Amdel

Lord Frederico Arizzio, Count of Estwyk

Sir Rickard Dacey

Sir Abner Bollingsworth

The King’s Heavy Cavalry at Grange Manor

Sir Douglas Moore, Captain of the Expedition

                        George Umber, a corporal and his valet

            Sir Keith Evgoth

From Naobi

Omazo Swelzod, a prince and cadet

            Amo and Lessolo Birenty, his cousins

From the Seldish Republic

Donnal Loyngran, an ambassador

From Anakhabar

Prince Abulkazhir, the crown prince

From Sethic Duchies

Myron Kuttle

The Challenge Cup Tourney Rosters

Team	Sword	Lance	Bow	Melee
The Prince’s Men (mixed)	Brannen Worley, Omazo Swelzod	Phillip Varens, Greg Weaver	Hal Coventry, Robin Terrell	Jeremy Fields, Charles Swift
The Third Sons (Nahrish/ Crownland)	Ben Grange, Evan Brecker	Stephon Meldore, Julien Brendell	Lloyd Yost, Adam Vanders	Craig Belgore, Jeff Cooley
The Angry Cocks (mixed)	Silas Garrow, Benton Vedder	Donnell Avery, Louis Vanard	Jack Post, Henry Vale	Barrett Vogel, Erik Bent
The Mad Bullmen (Veihish)	Conrad Veilt, Edward Ragan	Herest Kilen, Gunter Vagler	Gerald Vokk, Karl Brandt	Hugo Larget, Ian Ehrends
The Stone Dragons (Stonemen)	Alexander Jasper, Vincent Cork	Winston Brass, James Welt	Aaron Bender, Michael Fenton	John Pinchbeck, Jeff Forrest
The Bloody Barbers (mixed)	Radley Simcoe, Edison Winslow	Vito Corso, John Wylie	Vance Amando, Edward Teake	Massimo Ogato, Benito Delsoro
The Wild Ponies (Veishish)	John Hastic, Terrence Dahl	Derek Brill, Norman Zucker	Henry Tock, Garrett Belt	David Boyer, William Heck
The Green Griffins (Woods/ Heartlands)	George Chase, David Meade	Winton Faile, Benson Oakley	Kevin Noomes, Nathan Currell	Felton Woodale, Bryan Chestnut
The Red Shepherds (Veihish)	William Huft, Wendel Murst	Ned Salz, Myron Faltzen	Erik Dabin, Kelvin Frontel	Braden Fotz, Peter Ochs
The Night Watch (West/ Crownlands)	Chris Heath, Michael Sapp	Brett Cobb, Dennis Wystin	Matthias Bale, Lleyton Renton	Ned Winstrom, Phillip Vernon
The Border Reavers (East)	Brandon Weller, Simon Merridew	Brian Ghant, Jack Sydell	Bryan Bowyer, Wesley Venter	Harold Worrell, Reginald Pyke
Diamonds in the Rough (Stonemen)	Adam Fetters, Corey Toledo	Nathan Rockwell, Joseph Bessemer	Edward Gold, Seth Coldiron	Peter Furrey, Ralph Silver
The Craftsmen (Crownlands)	Phillip Dauson, William Fox	Jack Snow, Patrick Debbons	Thomas Ash, Louis Debbinia	John Wenners, William Breyers
The Terrible Titans (Atlas)	William Cordovan, Casey Sutcliff	Chris Mims, Walter Janett	Thomas Farwell, Steven Brisby	Joshua Helton, Jarod Nokes
The Iron Redoubts (Stonemen)	Fredrick Copper, Selwyn Irons	Kevin Jordan, Ezekiel Nickelworth	Tucker Ore, Mark Cliffton	Ronnell Invar, Thad Tungsten
The Lions of Atlas (Atlas)	Rhett Upton, Harris Farley	Brenden Poulter, Dennis Perman	Corey Wells, Ryan Mayhew	Dean Bryce, Roger Waylan

Marvel Cinematic Universe Redux

Back in June 2015 I did a ranking of all the Marvel movies. I'm now caught up all the way through GOTG Vol 2, so I thought that I'd update my list since I moved some around and ranked the new ones. So, in reverse order:

15. IRON MAN 2: The movie is a mess. It has moments but it's the weakest MCU movie.

14. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON: Another mess of a movie. How can one movie (Winter Soldier) get Black Widow so right while this one gets her so wrong? I mean the Hulkbuster was awesome, the party scene was fun and Ultron was a worthy opponent, but the character stuff fell short when it was good and was offensive when it was bad. It feels like some of the worthy human opponents of the Avengers got cast aside in favor of the big baddies.

13. THE INCREDIBLE HULK: See my previous post.

Again, if this were a race, these would be way behind.

12. THOR
11. IRON MAN 3
10. THE AVENGERS
9. IRON MAN
 (See previous post, but IRON MAN and THE AVENGERS both moved down a slot.)

8. ANT-MAN: Marvel's attempt to do a heist movie with a lighter tone...and it works in spades. It helps that Paul Rudd is charming as hell and the rest of the cast is pitch perfect, which is something you could say about every one of these movies. The movie balances the comedy perfectly with the action of a Marvel movie while building on the mythology of the universe, which is important at this point in the MCU. And yes, I think it's a better movie than all those other one, mostly because I think that Marvel's really good at doing these films at this point, so it's a sharper product this time around.

7. DOCTOR STRANGE: A terrific and exciting introduction of the mystic side of the MCU. Benedict Cumberbatch oozes charm and brings a character I knew very little about to the forefront, instantly making him a major player in the MCU. His mention in Winter Soldier helped, which makes me want to look up a MCU timeline to see where these movies take place in relation to one another. But that's a question for another time. I liked Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One a lot. I know that's an unpopular opinion, but the hand waved explanation worked for me and it fit the story. The supporting cast was terrific as well, which is just as important as anything else in the MCU. My only gripe with the movie is that they completely wasted Rachel McAdams.

Back to the race analogy: movies 7-12 would be in a pack, close together and sometimes switching order, depending on my mood at the time. The next set is a little bit ahead but in a close pack as well.

6. THOR: THE DARK WORLD: See my original post, but this one dropped a bit because of some additions and a promotion of another.

5. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER: See original post, but I moved this up substantially because, really, the Captain America movies are so much better than the rest and this one really is well done, so I felt it deserved the promotion.

4. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2: I really, really liked this movie. I don't know why people didn't like this movie. I thought it was a great continuation of the first movie that expanded on the idea of family in so many ways while adding depth. I love the whole father/son theme that ran through the entire film and the terrific shout outs (as a film buff, English teacher and 80s nostalgia buff) that the movie makes. The continuing fleshing out of the galactic side of the MCU is important to the upcoming Infinity Wars while giving inspiration for the forthcoming THOR: RAGNAROK. It also kept the same tone as the first movie, which I thought was incredibly important, while upping the stakes, another incredibly important part of this universe.

3.CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR: Really the best Avengers movie made. It had everything you'd want and built on everything that happened in WINTER SOLDIER while effectively poaching what actually worked in AGE OF ULTRON. The movie had me on the edge of my seat for almost the entire movie and the quiet moments were just as good as the loud moments. And the loud moments were amazing, visually, story wise and emotionally. Every aspect of it was damn near perfect but it's only 3 because while I think it's a better movie than my number 2, I thought number 2 was even more entertaining and did more.

2. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: See my original post. If I was ranking these movies as the BEST, this would slide down to 3, but it's so entertaining that it's still my 2.

Okay, the race analogy still stands. 2-6 are a close cluster, but number 1 is far and away ahead. The right balance of a great movie and an entertaining movie. I just rewatched it this weekend and man, it was amazing, so number one:

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER.

Missing the Sense of Awe

I had a thought last week while writing. It was sort of out of the blue and it brought my writing to a screeching halt. It's not a bad thing. I was at the end of a chapter and really happy with the progress I. I made. I still don't know exactly what this book is, but I'm very happy with it and I'm already thinking of ways to fix it in the next draft. It needs a heavy rewrite and is definitely not ready for eyes other than my own. It's very much a zero draft.

When I write, I usually multitask, so I had a couple of browser windows open and was moving back and forth between school stuff, my writing and some good old fashioned book browsing over on Goodreads, seeing if there was any good epic fantasies I was missing. I'm thinking a little bit ahead and have some ideas of what I want to write in the coming months. One of the things I want to do is go back to my roots and write a new spin on an old school epic fantasy. I want to sort of go back to school and study some of those kinds of books to see how I can spin them. As I was looking at some of the Goodreads lists and I was overcome with a sense of melancholy about some of the books I was seeing. Let me explain.

I cut my teeth on LORD OF THE RINGS, DRAGONLANCE and DRIZZT. That was my early education in fantasy. It's a pretty good list, nothing to shake a stick at. I learned a lot from them and they are formative parts of who I am as a person and a writer. But as I was looking at these lists that people made or added to, I was overcome with a degree of sadness at all the things that I missed as a young reader. I didn't read Lloyd Alexander, Terry Brooks, David Eddings, Tamora Pierce, Robert Jordan, Tad Williams, Robin McKinley, Guy Gavriel Kay, Diana Wynne Jones, David Gemmel or Melanie Rawn as a teen, and I can't help but feel like I missed out on something.

Now, don't get me wrong, I've read many of these authors and their work over the years, but I think there is something that I'm missing by reading them as an adult. And that something keeps getting more and more distant the older I get. When I read LOTR or DRAGONLANCE as a middle schooler, there was a sense of whimsy, of awe at the work I was reading. The characters. The world. The intricate plots. There was something to that feeling. There was some weight to it that has stuck with me all these years later. And as I've gotten older, that feeling isn't there as much anymore. And that struck me with a deep sense of sadness.

There are still books that move me, don't get me wrong. There are books that as soon as I start reading them put me in that right state of mind that is close to that feeling. A GAME OF THRONES did it when I first read it in December of 2000 in Oswego, That one changed my life. NY. SHIP BREAKER did it when I read it a few years back. Most recently MYSTIC RIVER really wowed me. But it's not the same as the sense of wonder and awe I got as I read about Boromir's death or the Battle of Helm's Deep or the Ride of the Rorhirrim. I know this is fact because I recently reread the DRAGONLANCE books and the Battle of the High Clerist's Tower fell flat. And that made me sad. The wonder was gone.

Was it me? Or was it the work? Or was it a combination?

Had I become so angry, so jaded that these things of wonder didn't register with me anymore? The HARRY POTTER books came close, but not nearly close to the memory of the way I felt reading LOTR or DRAGONLANCE.

Was it the romance of the experience? The days of bookstores is nearly over. I can remember vividly buying the DRAGONLANCE books at an independent bookstore in the local mall. I remember obsessing over them and devouring them. The entire experience was romantic, I suppose. I can remember the cold and snow as I bought them. I remember what they meant to a giant, awkward me in the halls of Soule Road Middle School. I remember being more comfortable with those worlds than my own.

And maybe that's enough. Maybe that memory is enough. But there's still an underlying sadness in that I'll never experience that again.

A Romantic Notion

Thursday night, I did something I view as "romantic." I wrote by candlelight.

We had a power outage. A big storm came blowing through (a motif this Summer) and after a few hiccups with the power, it eventually decided to crap out on us, leaving us without lights, television and the blessed Internet. It was just about dusk, so there was still some light out but it was just dark enough to not be completely comfortable. Both of my kids were a little freaked out about it, especially my son Cooper.

Cooper can be skittish when presented with things that aren't routine or normal. A power outage at dusk is something that clearly falls into those parameters. He curled up on to my lap only the way a tiny skittish boy of four can, begging me to turn the lights back on. I often say that if I could I would move Heaven and Earth for my children but the laws of physics dictate that I can't. (Reason 437 why my wife things I'm annoying.) I soothed him as best I could, assuring him that everything was alright and I was right there with him (albeit playing a rousing game of Candy Crush on my phone) as I held him.

Cooper is a cuddler and has a thing for ears (that's going to be a fun middle school phone call, isn't it?), so as we sat curled into a ball of Zeleznik crammed into an oversized leather chair, he rubbed my ear like a well worn worry stone. Luckily, Cooper has been attending a summer camp at his daycare and was particularly tired. I also took him swimming at my in-laws, so with no electronics to overstimulate him, sleep came quickly in the dark. It was a relief.

Across the room, my wife Kim complained that she was going to have to sit in her car to charge her phone because she was under 10 %. My phone wasn't much better at just south of 30%. (Admittedly, Candy Crush wasn't helping.) We are staying in a rental place while repairs are taking place at the house, so we do not have a land line. Our cell phones are necessities, so keeping them charged is a must. Kim suggested taking a ride to see how many people didn't have power. I was all for it except for the bundle of nervous four year old curled beside me. I suggested that she, Natalie and my mother take a ride and leave me at home. I was afraid that if Cooper woke up and I wasn't there, he'd be even more skittish than usual. So they left, taking my phone (now under 20%) with them to charge and leaving me with my mother's phone, just in case.

As the sun waned, I noticed some candles on the hutch in the dining room. I also had my trusty writer's notebook. I could write. I might as well right since I had nothing going on, so I set Coop down on the chair and set about hunting for a lighter or match or something. It took about fifteen minutes to find a match and it took two matches to light the candle. (I am not a smoker and my pyromania ended in my mid-twenties.) It created a lot more light than I expected and I set about working. I wrote most of this in that time period and also worked on a section of THE GIRL IN THE PICTURE, which I started to feel like I was stalling and decided to charge through it and fix what I'm seeing as glaring issues in the rewrite. It was the right decision.

As I was writing, I began to wonder if this is what writing was like for the writers of yore. There was a notion of romanticism in it, like I was somehow writing something of great importance. Something that had some weight to it. (It's neither of those things.) I liked the way it felt. I mean, sure, I was using a Pilot G2 pen, not a fountain pen or a quill. I was writing in an old school composition notebook, not on parchment or in some fancy notebook. (I still hold out hope that one day I will upgrade myself to a fancy notebook though I'm still a fan of the durability and versatility of the composition notebook.) I don't know how long I wrote for, but the session ended when I got a text message from Kim that she wanted me to open the garage door. And like a dope, I tried to do it, forgetting there was no power. As the girls entered the house, Kim and I laughing about how we were both idiots about the garage door. the power popped on. Just in time for Natalie and I to catch our Thursday night tradition of watching the Gong Show together.

Maybe I'll write by candlelight some more in the future. Maybe not.

So That Was July

Whenever I make ambitious plans for my life, I find that they almost always collapse under the weight of my expectation and reality. And that'exactly what happened in July. I had ambitious plans and just couldn't exactly hit the marks I wanted to hit. I still did okay, but not as well as I'd wished. But I'm actually okay with it and that's as important as part of the process as doing the writing sometimes.

I didn't blog as much as I'd liked. Summer school has kept me busier than I thought as I work at making sure the kids have enough work to do...not that they are doing it, but I want to make sure there isn't idle time beyond when they decide they aren't doing the work. It's kind of a wasted expenditure of energy but a necessary one. It's mildly soul crushing because most of these kids just don't care but are showing up every day to just hang out in my room, watch videos and shoot the shit. And comically I think most of them think they are passing....but I promised that I wasn't going to spend a lot of space talking about my job on this blog so I won't. I still blogged more than I have at other times. I blogged more than I have since I first came over to Blogger from LiveJournal.

I've got some ideas for blogs I want to write, including one on how the quality of the Vacation movies are entirely dependent on the quality of the Audrey and Rusty.

Life has been busy, as it usually is. Between what I'll call "fire business" to general tiredness from school, I've found myself back into a cycle of doing mindless stuff when I've gone home when I'm not busy with actual things to do like doctor's appointments, stuff with the kids and other errands that need to be done. It always disappoints me that I fall into this cycle but I have to learn to stop beating myself up over this. I'm learning but it's hard.

My Harry Potter read is moving along, slower than I want. I'm on Prisoner of Azkaban and I have some thoughts about how it might've been the one that "grew the beard" for the HP series. I'm going to add that to the blog idea list as well, plus an explanation of that specific trope. I'm itching for some big book epic fantasy and plan on using the later Potter books as a primer for that.

Finished 11 books for the month including a fun book about Godzilla and a few YA books that really surprised me. I'm listening to The Well's End by Seth Fishman (a literary agent that I would love to work with) in the car (it's a little tropey but really, really good) and still plodding through Alexander Hamilton. I'm well on my way to finishing 120 books for the year.

As for the reason you all came here, the writing. I only got about 10,000 words, which is way below what I was hoping for. However, I'm very happy with those words. This story is really something and it's moving along nicely. The issue I'm having with it is that I've been pantsing it, so the narrative can me a little muddled and I'm letting things surprise me as I find them in the writing. I've been tempted to do what I call half-drafting it. What that means in terms of me is stopping the draft where it is and starting over, cleaning up what I already wrote to get the ending right. I call it halving because I create a new file and give it a .5 designation. That means this would be saved as Picture1.5. I'm not sure if I'm there yet, but I know there's things I want to add to the story from where I am now, but part of me wants to just get through it and then fix it later. I will let you all know. The word count stands at just north of 45k. I'd like to make a run at finishing it this month and that's very doable.

My other works kind of fizzled. I did some stuff on the next epic fantasy I want to write and messed around with my Instagram fiction idea a little, but I'm not locked into it yet.

I'm not making plans for August. Maybe that'll help me actually do all the things that I want to do.

Despite All My Rage

I have an anger problem. If you've spent any time with me outside of the digital world, you know this already. Maybe you don't. But I do and I was thinking about this a lot this week. But to tell you this story, I have to tell you a story first.

The other day I was driving around doing errands. I canceled my satellite radio recently and I am stuck with local radio again. So as I'm scanning the channels, I find myself completely alarmed at the number of Inspirational music channels there are in the Syracuse area. Seriously. Something you need to know about me is that I have an almost perverse, obsessive, intense disdain for the music. So this means that I actively listen to it just to be angry at it. This is a sickness.

Now I'm not going to go into my own issues with faith and religion. If you didn't know, I am a practicing Catholic. But I have questions and issues with the Church that I'm going to leave between me, the Church and the Almighty, So I have a hard time in believing that someone believes in something that much that they sing about it. It's unreasonable for me to feel this way. It could come to my own issues with faith, it could come from the hypocrisy I see in Christianity as a whole, I'm not quite sure. If someone believes in something and it makes them feel good, good for them. But it seems that I draw the line at Inspirational music. I find it false, sappy and disingenuous. Are people in such a need to be told they are special and they are loved that they find solace in this garbage? And I am (probably wrongfully) judging you for listening to it.

So I'm hate listening to one of the numerous stations broadcasting this crap and flipping between the station (that I do not remember) and KROCK Syracuse (one of two "modern" rock stations in town, though modern rock now is more like classic rock when I was a kid...but this is a discussion for another post). On the inspirational channel was a song called "Live Like You Are Loved." That I remember the song bothers me so much. It's sung by a group called Hawk Nelson. No, seriously. That's their name. I was relieved when I found out it was a band not a single singer. According to Wikipedia (dubious, I know) they are a "pop punk" band. I'm sorry, excuse me while I pee my pants laughing. They were nominated in the Alternative Rock category for some Christian music award show. Oops, sorry I peed my pants.

There is NOTHING "alternative" about these guys. Anyway, back to my story....KROCK on the other hand was playing "The Vengeful One" by Disturbed. I was obviously drawn to this. Then I began to question why. What was it about the Disturbed song that drew me where the Hawk Nel....I almost made it through that without laughing....son song didn't. What about one made sense to me and the other didn't? I'm not a dark guy. I'm not drawn to darkness. But if you listen to Disturbed there is a rage there...and I can relate to that. I can access rage and work with it. I feel it almost constantly, just under the surface of my being, like a coiled spring. And sometimes I let it get the better of me. And when it's over, I feel small and empty. Until it builds back up in me. It's one of the reasons the Hulk has always been one of my favorite superheroes. And people that know me a little can see it in me I think. It's probably the reason that I hate listen to inspirational music. I need something to focus my rage on and it's as good a place as any.

I don't have an ending for this. Some wise comment, some connection to my writing. I think if I wrote angry it would be very Overlook Hotel-ish, but I've discussed how writing makes me feel when I'm doing it. So know that if you see me, much like the Hulk, I am always angry.

About The Ed Sheeran Thing

If you're living under a rock somewhere and didn't realize it, Sunday night was the season premier of Game of Thrones. Now I could do an entire episode rundown discussing how I thought it was damn near perfect. I could talk about that great opening (which despite being completely telegraphed was awesome), Cersei's descent into insanity, the Euron/Jaime snark fight, Jon/Sansa, Lyanna Mormont (do we not all love her?) or the gorgeous shots of the castles and keeps of Westeros. But I'm not going to do that

I love a good table setting and seeing the pieces being moved into place. This episode did that just brilliantly. My former agent used to say the opening chapter of the "next" book always should have some summary to catch the reader up. Well D&D did that perfectly, giving us tastes of what was going to happen. There were some great moments in the episode, including a few that I seemed to like more than a lot of people on the interwebs. No, I'm not going to talk about Sam's shit duty (see what I did there), though technically it was a brilliant piece of technical film making. I'm talking about a certain cameo.

The interwebs went crazy at the inclusion of pop/rock star Ed Sheeran. People really seem to hate Ed. I don't. I kind of dig his music. I've reached that age where I'm kind of stuck in the loop of the same music over and over and Ed kind of fits in there. And the producers put him in what I thought was a great scene, one that did so much (besides featuring him singing) to make Arya's murder tour that much more difficult as we met what appeared to be a decent bunch of Lannister soldiers sharing a meal and offering Arya a seat and the first bite. You can see the doubt in Arya that the ideas of good and evil aren't do simple. But people didn't seem to notice that. They noticed poor Ed Sheeran. I guess that the heat got so bad, he had to delete his Twitter account.

I don't understand the hate for this. If you don't like his music or whatever, then good for you. But to hate him for doing a cameo on your favorite show then you are a petty, jealous little troll. I'm serious. We all wish that we had that level of fame where we could appear on our favorite shows or movies. Who cares that he did this? I've also heard that Mets pitcher Noah "Thor" Syndergaard  put in a cameo this season as well. How is this a big deal when it's been going on forever?

Star Trek has done celebrity cameos for years and years. And I'm not talking about guest stars...I'm talking background cameos. Freaking Iggy Pop, one of the coolest humans of all time, got put in make up to play a Vorta on DS9. (Okay, maybe that was an extended cameo, but you get my meaning.) There are whole websites dedicated to famous cameos in Star Trek shows and movies (not to mention the "before they were famous" appearances). Star Wars has done the same thing. There was a similar outcry when there was a rumor that George Lucas put N*Sync in Star Wars and even then I felt it was much ado about nothing. There have been senators in Batman movies, athletes in comedies (and tons of scifi) and even royalty playing starship crewmen.

We've become a society that does nothing but hate. We take our personal bitterness, anger and jealousy and blast it out into the ether. We aren't allowed to love the things we love anymore, just defend them. We want to tell people that they aren't allowed to love what we love because they aren't "real" fans. And I'm growing tired of it.

So, Ed Sheeran, if you read this. Welcome to the fandom. I'd suggest checking out Ran's board, creating an account and joining the conversation, we'd love to hear your insights, even if you're just a TV watcher. And if you'll indulge me...was the Lannister armor as uncomfortable as it looked? Thanks.

Thoughts On Harry Potter, Part 2: The Sorcerer's Stone

Man, I forgot how great a book that The Sorcerer's Stone was. Every choice that Rowling makes is the right one, even the one at the beginning I disagree with. She's truly a master and I can't figure out what the editors that passed on it were thinking. I'm sure many of them are thinking the same thing. 

The first book was a study in economy. Both of words and plot points. Rowling doesn't waste a single thing. They all serve some purpose to the story and she doesn't waste them. She includes the things that are important to the story and doesn't belabor it. It's refreshing that every minute detail isn't described in every minute detail. We don't need to see example after example of how Snape hates Harry, she establishes it, revisits it only when it's absolutely necessary. It's really brilliant. 

The book is filled with terrific whimsy too and moments that just reverberate when they happen, especially on the reread. When Harry, Ron and Hermione become the Harry, Ron and Hermione we all know and love, it's magical. (It's always three isn't it?) Neville is so much more special than I remember him and feel there's a terrific sidestory there. I had forgotten about the fight they get into with Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle during the Quidditch match (that wasn't in the movie). It's a pivotal moment, because Ron wades in because Ron is Ron, but terminal coward Neville adopts an "ahh, f-it" attitude and charges into battle. No questions. No prodding. Just a straight up "these are my boys." It's terrific foreshadowing of the hero Neville becomes. 

We get more of the world and it's wonderful, but you can tell there's a curtain to pull back and that's just what makes it so special. Rowling's tone is terrific and it still feels appropriately middle reader, but the books grew up with the readers and I'm looking forward to see how the tone changes as Rowling recognizes her audience. 

Now, on to The Chamber of Secrets.

Thoughts On Harry Potter, Part 1

Well, this whole blogging every day had fizzled for a bit but I am still writing. Not exactly the pace I want, but I've been expending a lot of energy on summer school. I'm disappointed in myself, but here I go dipping my toe back into the blogging water.

I began my reread of Harry Potter yesterday obviously starting with Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone. I forgot how genuinely genius these books were and Rowling's mastery. I had the book on my nightstand for a few weeks and I picked it up just to peruse the opening, then I looked up and it was 20 minutes later, so I had to force myself to put it aside, I had to bring my daughter to lacrosse practice. It's really amazing and draws you right in. You are transported to that alternate 1991. I'm about a third of the way through and love being fully immersed in the world for the first time in many, many years.

Rowling is a master worldbuilder and probably doesn't get the credit in the fantasy lit world for being so. Her magical world is just so well thought out. And she doles it out in nice bite sized portions for us to learn about without it being overbearing. The interesting part is that, as I remember them, the early books are very middle reader and as they go on they become very young adult then transfigures into something that borders on epic fantasy. And all along, she follows the rules she establishes early on with just the right amount of wiggle room where it doesn't matter.

Anyway, there's something I do want to address that was pointed out a few weeks back in a Twitter discussion I was having with Brianna Shrum. She had postulated that Dumbledore was a selfish dick for what he did. At first when she put this out on social media, I argued against it. But as I'm rereading it now, I kind of agree with her.

Dumbledore dropped Harry with his only blood relatives. Relatives that aren't wizards. I know that's what Campbell says is supposed to happen and it's handwaved away by Dumbledore with some excuse of him being raised an ego maniac or something to that effect. The only reason he would choose to do this was so that he could show up and be the big hero to Harry and therefore the world since Harry is literally a living weapon since he is the only thing that was able to stop Voldemort, a Voldemort that was banished (or something) but not gone. How Dumbledore, a schoolmaster, managed to smuggle away the only weapon they had against the Dark Lord for some ego trip is quite fascinating on some level.

Now the story teller in me instantly started assembling the story of the time period. The war is over thanks to an improbable victory that no one witnessed. They've figured out that Harry is the key, yet somehow Dumbledore talks the governing body to hide him with Muggles that have no hope of protecting him. There were other options. Lots of wizards and witches died in the war, there had to be lots of orphans, it would be easy to move him to another family as an orphan. who could abuse him not knowing who he is and you'd still be able to tell the story. (Already my brain is working out the story of a "working class wizard" or something like that.) Or a young, trusted, lesser branch of a powerful wizarding family could've spirited him away far from the wizarding world and raised him as a wizardHagrid. Yes, you'd lose some of the wonder of Harry discovering he's a wizard, but Rowling's talented enough that she could work around that. Or you could ship him off to America with an "uncle." There were options that Dumbledore ignored...cause he was kind of a dick.

A story I want to see/write myself: the post wizards war world. The wizarding world is in tatters. A generation of wizards and witches lost. Shattered families reunite Death Eaters with their Ministry siblings. The Ministry tries to reassemble the world that was destroyed while the specter of the Dark Lord skulks in the shadows of everyone's fragile minds, all while one of the most famous wizards in the world secretly spirits away the only reason the war is over: a living weapon swaddled in a baby's blanket.

The Working Out/ Writing Correlation

I'm obese. A little over five years ago I had weight loss surgery and went from around 360 pounds down to about 275 pounds. I've ballooned up, but I'm still nowhere near as big as I was. I'm working on it and I've lost about 20 of the 30ish I've gained back since, but I still don't feel as good as I did, so I'm making changes and they are going well. I've always wanted to be strong. Like unreasonably strong. It's a character motif in my writing because it's something I'm impressed with, so I've been following a strength training program called StrongLifts and I'm signing up for a beginner strongman class at the end of this month, I'll update the progress as I make it. I've been doing great so far. Almost all my lifts have doubled and I'm very happy with it. As I've been doing this, I've noticed there is a correlation between the two. Let me explain.

It is in my nature to be lazy. Lazy and scatterbrained. Great combination for a writer and a teacher, right? This is why I have four tabs open in Chrome and five documents open in MS Word. My wife is out grocery shopping, my daughter is with her cousins and my son is enraptured by people opening and playing with toys on YouTube. So I have some work time. My notebook open to the page where I've scribbled some plans for the first three days of summer school, an open bottle of Snapple Diet Peach Tea and two printed out Summer School calendars for planning. And I'm kind of happy. At least I'm writing.

Finding excuses not to write is an easier activity than writing. And I noticed the same is true with working out. It's often easier to say, "Oh, I have to do THIS" instead and skip a workout. However, I don't feel better about it. I actually feel better when I decide to workout. And I've noticed the same thing about writing. I feel better when or as I'm doing it than I would otherwise. There's a GAME OF THRONES marathon on HBO right now. Cooper is uninterested in the TV and I could sit down at watch it. Or try to write while it's on...but we all know how that's going to go. I mean WINTER IS COMING and all. (And that makes me think of my epic fantasy project WINTER'S DISCORD and I don't want to be sad, so I'm moving along.)

Maybe that's the lesson I need to learn. I'm happier and in a healthier state of mind when I'm working. They'll be time enough to lay about and do mindless things. You need mindless things sometimes, right now isn't one of those times for me right now. Right now, I've got to write like I'm running out of time.

Running Out Of Time: Plans for July

If you follow me in any capacity, you know my unhealthy obsession with HAMILTON. One of my favorite quotes from the musical is from the song "Non-Stop" when Aaron Burr asks in an aside "Write day and night like you're running out of time?" It's become a mantra to me because it's hard to feel like I'm running out of time as a writer. So, I've decided I'm going to work doubly...no triply hard to write more than I usually can in the month of July. It's not going to be easy, but I think I can do it if I set my mind to it. So, as Ben Franklin used to say (who as I'm reading more and more about the founding fathers was kind of a dick), "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." So, I'm thinking about what I have to do. I usually write this in my notebook and leave it at that, but one of the things I'm setting out to do is try and blog every day. (I'm taking requests!) So here goes.

First, what am I working on? Well, here's a list of things I'm working on/ thinking about working on:

1. Writing THE GIRL IN THE PICTURE. Okay, let me talk about this. I have no idea what this project is. I can't exactly describe it but I'm completely in love with the project and it's drawn me in. It's unlike anything I've ever written before. And I think it's pretty decent. It's based on a story in the news a few months back that drew me right in and I just started writing the story on the last day of May. It's a possibly supernatural thriller, though I go back and forth about actually doing that. As of now, it's got supernatural elements in it, but I'm not married to it and some of my closest advisers are suggesting I keep it supernatural, so we'll see. I'm about 34k in (no, seriously) and I'm making a run at finishing it by the end of the month.
2. Blog every day.
3. Planning the next original fiction project: a GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY flavored epic fantasy. I've got some notes on it along with some ideas about the world and plot, but it's early. We'll see. I don't know what it's going to be, audience wise, but we'll see.
4. THE STORY OF AN UNNAMED APOCALYPSE. I came up with this nutty idea for an Instagram account in the same vein as the Bladerunner Reality account. I want to take pictures of things I see in public, interesting Internet pictures or pictures that people send me of images that could be seen as post-apocalyptic in nature with a 250-300 word excerpt from a post-apocalyptic novel I'll probably never write. 

Now, factor in the fact that I have summer school this year starting on July 5th from 8-12 every morning, I think doing this is plausible. So, what's my plan?

1. GIRL: One of the weirder parts of this book is that I'm pantsing it for the most part, though I've been planning more and more now that I'm further in. As I see it, based on an exercise I did using a writing book I was reading, it's going to be anywhere from 75-85k words, meaning I have about 40-50k to write, meaning I'd have to do a NANO. Very doable considering my schedule. 
2. Blog every day: I can manage that, though I'm looking for things my audience wants me to talk about. 
3. GOTG Fantasy: Plan for an hour or so once a week in my notebook. 
4. Instagram Fiction: 2-3 entries a week. 
5. Plan WEEKLY for school. Take one day a week and plan out everything I'm doing with my students so I can maximize writing time. 
6. WAKE UP EARLIER: Ugh, I'm dreading this one, but I need to maximize my writing time. 

I can do this. I just have to write day and night like I'm running out of time.

Wish me luck. (And if you see me in public with a notebook in hand or headphones on and I don't say hi, please understand this is why.)

Half Year Review

Instead of a monthly recap, I decided to do a check in half way through the year. So, here's the what I've been up to in 2017 thus far.

READING
I've killed it in the reading department in 2017. Taking Lent off from social media helped, but I've crushed reading in 2017 and I intend to continue that trend. I've read 84 books so far this year. That's more than I've read in any year in my life. Seriously. And I'm reading more pages per book than I have in years past. Here's the breakdown of what I've read this year so far:

• 40 graphic novel collections
• 28 novels
• 8 writing books
• 3 nonfiction books
• 3 movie/tv show art books
• 2 memoirs/autobiographies/biographies

Sure, you could look at it that I've padded my numbers with graphic novel collections but I do enjoy them. I'm hoping to finish out the year with 120 books. I'm hoping to delve into some of my epic fantasies I've wanted to "study" do a while and I've got a drawer full of potential books. I still want to make a run at finishing WHEEL OF TIME. I want to dip my toe into some Rothfuss and maybe give Tad Williams a run. But I've got about seven books I want to finish first, between ARCs and library books. Now, what you're more interested in. What are the best books I've read so far in 2017 and why. So, here we go:

• ROYAL BASTARDS by Andrew Shvarts: A great example of what a good YA fantasy is and helped see some of the mistakes I made in some of my attempts. 
• THE DUKE OF BANNERMAN PREP by Katie Nelson: A terrific retelling of Gatsby without being just a retelling of Gatsby. 
• THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN MUSICAL by Jack Viertel: An interesting look at the structure of a musical and how to use that as a writing model. 
• THE IMPOSSIBLE FORTRESS by Jason Rekulak: A nostalgic look back at a time when "pornography" came wrapped in cellophane not accessible to anyone with a phone.
• THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE by Patrick Ness: Not from 2017, but a near perfect execution of a perfect premise: what happens in the "Chosen One" stories when the characters aren't the chosen one? 
• WHITE TRASH by Nancy Isenberg: The entire last election cycle explained. 
• LUSTLOCKED by Matt Wallace: The wedding of the year goes awry and only a magical catering company can stop it. 
• MYSTIC RIVER by Dennis Lehane: Another older book that is just a master class in novel writing. 

Honorable mentions: SEARCHING FOR JOHN HUGHES, RETURN OF THE JEDI: BEWARE THE POWER OF THE DARK SIDE, THE SCORPIO RACES, THE STORYTELLER.

Disappointments: THE INDIGO KING, THE OTHER NORMALS, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEDI?

It's been a good year of reading so far. 

WRITING

I've had a decent year writing. Looking at my goals, I scrapped almost all of my writing plans. I hit a wall, unable to decide on a project. I think I became disenchanted with fantasy because I was failing so miserably at finding something that was noteworthy. I think what I wrote was good, but I don't know if it was outstanding. Or at least that it stood out. I set out to write around 350k words for the year. So what have I written so far?

• Finished first draft of THE PENSIONER'S BROOCH (34k)
• Finished a requested rewrite of WINTER'S DISCORD (135k)
• Working on first draft of THE GIRL IN THE PICTURE (34k)

So that puts me at about 203k for the year. Well on pace. Just have to keep it up. I'm really excited about the new project and I'm hoping to finish it before the end of July. I'm intending to work on some planning for the next project after that as well during the month. So, I'm happy in that regard. 

I've gotten some requests from agents to look at some of my work, including a project that I didn't think would get the traction that it's getting but it is. We'll see how that plays out. 

OTHER

School is over, so that's good.

Summer school starts in a week, so that's meh. But there's still time to write.

Still recovering from the fire, which I'll talk about at some point but not now. I'll have time to write, which is good, but I'll have other things to do.

I'm working out again, getting stronger. I'm signing up for a strongman class. I've lamented I don't have a hobby...I'm hoping I can make this my hobby. 

I'm planning on trying to really step up all my writing in the coming months. I'm going to give a run at blogging every day. I'll talk more about it on July 1. 

Alright. Let's roll.