You ever heard dubstep violin? Didn’t think so.  Check this out.  A friend linked it to me this morning. What I think is interesting here is not that there’s someone that’s successful doing “indie stuff, and fuck the man,” but rather that there are two things missing from the conversation. Publishers provide a useful service — marking, production, etc.  The problem is, they think they are gatekeepers.  This is one of the reasons driving the schism between the two — but I don’t think it has to be that way.  I think there’s room in the conversation for people who want to buy or produce indie and publishers both, if only both sides mature a little. These success stories are non-repeatable.  If they were, then everyone would have a #1 seller on Amazon.  There isn’t a programmatical way to attack Read More …

Danny jumped out of a helicopter today. Without a parachute. Night’s Fall is making its slow sprint (?) to the end.  All houses are in order.  The opponents are lined up.  It is time for the final showdown. Knowing me, this will still take 30,000 words, but it’ll be a lot of fun, because, you know, werewolves.

I’m upgrading Scrivener. This could be a beautiful thing, or it could eat my manuscript. And on that note, I’m off to make backups of my backups.

I don’t think Night’s Fall has enough villains. So: today, I made some more.  I’m having fun with this, it’s not every day you get to exercise your supervillain fantasies. Book’s about 72,000 words long now, and I figure I’m … about 2/3 the way there.  Nothing like the last third being stocked with epic boss fights and witty dialogue.

I’ve got a new villain. One of the tricks with making these damn things is they cutter up your mind, getting under your mental feet.  I don’t naturally think in evil ways — although I’m sure Hitler thought much the same thing — so trying to come up with vile, insideous things is not a natural act for me. Still, I’m getting with the programme. I spent today writing a scene with the villain of Night’s Fall, and it gets under my skin a little.  I hope you enjoy his end as much as I will.

How goes progress on Night’s Fall? Well.  I guess we’re about half way?  Just thought I’d keep you updated — stuff is happening.  I’d like to get it done before Christmas, but I suspect that’s not a realistic goal, because my salaried work sucks my time out through my eyeballs.

Wow, man, starting a new job takes some time out of your life. Still, the training wheels are off: I started with Microsoft in late January, and I’ve been parachuted onto a client site already.  It’s pretty spectacular – lots to do and learn, for what feels like the first time in a long time.  Getting my writing thing back in gear has been tricky.  Mostly, time.  Good news: I’ve started to master that which means you’re going to see Night’s Fall at some point.  End of the year, maybe? Wait, what?  WTF is Night’s Fall? Sure.  I started writing Boundless last year, but it wasn’t working quite right for me.  A bunch of problems with the way I write and what I want to write like meant that shifting from a world with pop culture hooks to a new Read More …