Writing Troubles

Sometimes you come across a problem you cannot think through, a question in the current project you simply can't answer and move beyond. I was attempting to start a serial novel as I've stated before, something I would continue weekly hopefully drawing some interested readers. I had settled on an idea I've talked about before. My science fiction substitute idea, where somehow the main character's profession was 'substituting' not for teachers but for people themselves. Somehow, he would look and sound exactly like the subject, able to fool anyone and everyone. My idea morphed. I thought to myself, if the technology existed where someone could look and sound exactly like someone else, what would they use it for? Obviously, the government would highly regulate it, indeed would likely keep the whole thing top-secret, allowing perhaps some agency to use it. It could be used to set up criminals, protect witnesses or even espionage. I liked the idea of witness protection, where the protagonist has to become the subject while the subject hides. Say a corrupt politician wants to give information about a crime boss, boss finds out, agency sends in the protagonist who has to deal with attempted assassinations, meanwhile handling a body that he is not used to. Or maybe the agency finds out someone is about to be assassinated and they have no idea why. Send in the protagonist whose mission would be to survive the attempt and capture one of the assassins so as to interrogate them.

This sounds pretty cool, doesn't it? I know it did to me. But then I hit the wall. After writing about 500 words or so, I had to deal with the thing I was dreading. Just how in the hell would someone look and sound exactly like someone else. My first foolish idea was a suit of some kind. A suit where you entered in a persons specific statistics and it could change to look exactly like that person. But that was silly. How would the protagonist ever look like someone smaller than himself? Then I thought perhaps there was some type of machine the protagonist stepped in that somehow altered his entire body. The problem was I just can't figure out how that would happen, even in some crazy future. Bombarding dna with radiation? I don't know. Seems silly, even for science fiction. My last crazy idea was maybe the protagonist was some alien shapeshifter found by a government agency and put to use but that would add in a whole ton of other crazyness that I just hadn't thought about putting into my story.

So it's on hold, for now. Just going to let it fester around in my mind while I work on other things. The world I started to create in those 500 words do interest me. I had come up with sort of a blade-runner-esque dark neon setting, with home computers that responded to trigger words to carry out simple daily routines such as making coffee, toasting bread, locking doors, etc. Cars that drove themselves and well, that's about as far as I got, but the small part of that world that I revealed interested me so I may return to that setting for a slightly different story, maybea sci-fi detective mystery or something along those lines.

So sometimes ideas don't work out the way you thought they might. Maybe you don't come up with the ideal solution at the right time but that doesn't mean you failed. Even as you hit a wall, you may find doorways into other ideas, settings, characters that you may use elsewhere. Even if I never return to this "sci-fi substitute" story, that doesn't mean my time writing those 500 words was wasted, for I found the beginnings of a setting and a character that I can return to at any time. No time spent writing is wasted even when it feels like it.

In other news...there is no other news. This is all the news.

I'm going to edit the second half of my fantasy novel in the month of April and then send out the entire thing to friends and family for their editing thoughts and then over the summer figure out just what I'm going to do with it.

I also want to put more writing on my blog since this blog is supposedly about writing and all. Putting up more writing might make it more interesting to folks rather than me just talking about random things and such. That is something I will try to do more. Maybe I'll pick up that writing book again and start doing more exercises. It's a decent way to get me writing more and also put up interesting things on my blog. It's a win-win.

I've been reading more of Orson Scott Card's The Speaker of the Dead and Shadow series, both of which I find interesting. Many say these series fall in quality the more you read and I guess I can see that but I'm still interested in seeing how they turn out. I guess I'm still interested in the characters and wanting to see how their stories end up. I've heard Card is terrible at finishing up series' though, so we will see how that goes.

I watched Hunger Games. Basically there was too much shaky-cam, too little characterization for some characters but all in all, I enjoyed it. I wouldn't say it's great nor would I say it's terrible. If you enjoyed the book you will probably enjoy the movie. It is entertaining.

That's all folks, see you on the flip-side.


P.S. -Follow me on Twitter. https://twitter.com/#!/ben_cheese

So I Wrote A Blogpost

I survived being a bouncer on St. Patrick's Day. Actually, it really wasn't that exciting and nothing crazy happened. There were just many more drunk people than usual. It was a long night and I'm glad it's over. There's also an FNG working the door so I'm going to be getting off the top of the stairs. That makes me happy.

I wasn't sure what to put in this blog post, but I felt like I needed to write something, as lately I've only put up some book reviews, nothing very exciting. I don't really have anything exciting to write about, but that's how it is sometimes, you just gotta write anyways.

I have a job for the summer. Special Needs Counselor at a summer camp. I think it will be fun, and I'll be working with different kids every week. It will be nice being outside every day, enjoying the hot sun and beautiful weather. The tough part will be working 5 days a week, 8-5 and then bouncing Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10-2. I won't be able to hang out with my girlfriend as much, which sucks, and I won't be able to go on a trip with her at the end of the summer, which sucks major balls. I apologize for my language. Right now I can hear my mother in my head reading that and saying Ben...you could've put that in a nicer way... But oh well. It does suck, but I needed a summer job that paid and included experience working with children, which I found, so that's good.

I've been writing, short little stuff to keep my creative edge sharpened. There are two ideas in my head that have been percolating for a long time and I've finally managed to start typing them. One is about a detective who gets shot and dies, then wakes up in a hospital. Everyone around him says the bullet went through his shoulder and he's lucky to be alive but he knows the truth. He died. Now he's got to figure out how/why he's alive and chase down his killer. Man, that sounds like a pitch for a television show or something. The other idea is less formed, I basically just have the beginning scene set in my mind. Robots have taken control of the government and rule over human's lives "for their own good". Humans generally are okay with it, despite the many laws regarding drugs, alcohol, or other extreme human actions. Some want to rebel, supporters say there is virtually no crime and no war. The robots, at first were all logical rational beings, but through long interactions with the irrationality of humans, a few act strange, illogical. The main character is a robot who was created to interact with humans and attempt to understand their emotions and in doing so has caused this particular one to create feelings of it's own. The first scene is this robot walking into an illegal pub and sitting down. It sounds cool when I talk about it, but when I go to write it, it becomes vastly more difficult. I guess that's how it is though.

I've also been thinking about starting a serial novel. Basically, it would be a story I would add to once a week, unsure of how many words or so at the moment. I'm going to use my science fiction substitute idea, basically there is a guy who needs to substitute for people in life. I've figured out that he's a special kind of cop, who has to wear a suit and 'sub' for informants, or witnesses in danger, stuff like that. This obviously puts him in alot of dangerous situations. I feel like I'm not communicating my idea that well...but it sounds really cool in my head! The hard part about science fiction is similar to the hard part about fantasy, you've got to decide what the world is like, how far into the future it is, how futuristic is it, what technology do they have, etc.

So yeah, that's what's happening in my world. Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

How do you spell Ya'll? Is that right? Is it Y'all? Ya'all? You all?

More Reviews, Because Of Some Reason (Ender's Shadow, Speaker For The Dead)

I've decided reviews will become a thing on my blog. I mean, why not? I like writing about books that I read. What I like even more is talking about books with others who've read them, so hopefully, this will lead to that, perhaps in comments or in simple discussions with people I know.

Anyways, I've read two more books in the Ender's Game universe. First is Ender's Shadow and the second is Speaker for the Dead. I feel like these other Ender's books have garnered quite a bit of criticism or people just don't like them as much as the original. I've found that I've enjoyed reading both quite a bit.

Many people might not like that Ender's Shadow because they feel it follows the same story as EG, though this is completely false. Yes, it follows the same timeline, you see certain events from the first, but it is all from the view of a different child, Bean, who is awesome. You see everything as it happens to him, rather than Ender, and what's amazing is Card manages to make it interesting and engaging even though you're rereading familiar events. Bean is a fantastic little character who faces his own troubles and tribulations, who thinks through events in a different way from Ender, and I ended up really enjoying the novel. You really look forward to seeing events you know are coming and want to know how Bean is going to perceive them. It ultimately tells a different story than EG, and it is a good one. It begins an entire series about the genius children other than Ender.

The next novel that I am nearly finished with is Speaker For The Dead. This could be called the sequel to Ender's Game as it is the next novel with Ender as the main character, though to be honest, it seems to be the start of it's own series. EG was to set up Ender as a character, set up his past, this book deals with an adult Ender facing challenges. I think many disliked Speaker because it is very different from EG. It is slower paced, with less action, tactics, and battles. It is more of a space-drama than an action-filled thriller. This may turn you off from it but I really love it. Ender takes his ingenious tactical mind and instead of using it for combat strategies, he uses it to figure out people which he obviously is very good at. SFTD is about a planet where humans find a sentient alien race on another planet. They put a colony on it, put up fences, and try to study these aliens while also attempting not to interact with them or become too involved. This becomes difficult and impossible. The aliens end up killing someone and someone on the colony calls for a Speaker for the Dead. Ender comes. The interactions and situations feel realistic, the aliens are genuinely alien, not simply humans that look different. They are really freaking weird, which is great.

So I understand why some people may not have liked SFTD as much as EG, but I almost enjoyed it more. The way Ender handles people is fascinating, the characters are all fleshed out and interesting and there is enough action to keep it going. I am pulled along by my need to see how Ender is going to handle the next problem, how he's going to figure out the next complicated situation. Instead of Ender facing enemy battleships in space, he has to face something far more complicated, tricky and difficult, human and alien minds and emotions, perhaps an even more difficult task, a battleground filled with it's own traps and pitfalls.

So I would recommend both. Ender's Shadow if you just want some more of Ender's Game, and Speaker for the Dead if you want something similar, but a little more dramatic, less action-packed and slower paced. If you want to see Ender handle humans rather than ships in combat. Both are pretty great and I intend to continue reading more in both series.

Ender's Game: A Book Review

So I'm going to try an actual review of a book instead if simply saying I like it in a few throwaway sentences. You might be asking yourself "why should I care about your thoughts on a particular book? What makes you so special?" The answer is nothing, really. To be honest, for most books out there, you will find half of them praising the book and half hating it.

I do have one or two credentials, though. For one, I have read many books. I consume two novels a week or so. I have read westerns and sci fi and fantasy and crime and literary and pulp and suspense and horror and more. From Shakespeare to Chandler, Rowlings to McCarthy. I believe I can say I am an experienced reader without my nose growing an inch. I am also an English major, so I have some experience in close reading, in examining themes, style and more.

I must admit right now that I am probably a terrible critic. I think this is because I like things. I enjoy things. Even such things that are perhaps universally bad, I can usually find something to like, I can usually find a way to enjoy the experience. I try to never focus on the negative aspects of an experience I have. Why would you want to? It simply irritates you, makes you angry or sad. There's no point to it. I'd rather take whatever positives I can away from it and feel happy. Most critics focus on the bad, focus on critiquing and criticizing, or saying how it could have been better. So don't expect any scathing reviews about terrible books. The most you're likely to get is a "meh, it was okay, some things could have been better, I guess." I know I won't be writing reviews for any major magazines any time soon.

But enough of that, let's get on with the review!

Ender's Game is about smart kids. Really smart kids. Geniuses, essentially. One in particular, more than others. His name is Andrew, but everyone calls him by his nickname, Ender, which is highly appropriate as he is very good at 'ending' things, permanently. He's a smartie pants and also an outcast, a 'Third' child, sponsored by the government to be born. He passes the tests and is sent to Battle School (I may very well be getting various specific names of things wrong. Who cares?) to train to be a commander as there is an invasion of 'buggers' coming to kill everyone. That's enough about the plot. I don't want to talk about plot, or summarize the story. I will simply say the plot is fine, with questions, twists, and action aplenty. It works very well.

I guess the one great thing about Ender's Game is the one thing that all science fiction should strive to do. It's science-y enough to be believable to the reader but doesn't get bogged down with too much detail about how the sci-fi stuff works, which I really like. I don't need to hear all the technical specifics about this futuristic technology, I just want to know that it works and it's cool and get on with the story. That's one thing Orson Scott Card does really well in this novel.

Second thing, the characters are really great. They are believable not only as children but as really intelligent children. In ways they act like adults, thinking through problems and strategies, but in other ways, they are very much undeveloped children trying to act older than they are. I can see why so many kids read this book in high school and loved it. It's violent and portrays the realities of what children go through growing up, especially in the crazy Battle School where they are pitted against each other constantly.

Battle School is essentially recess, though instead of an open play field with various things to do, there is one single 'game' they play, team against team. The children are shaped by this game, are pushed and pressured and formed into the best they can be, most especially Ender, on who all the hopes of the human race are essentially placed. The teachers constantly push and dig at him, doing everything they can to break him down, forcing him to adapt and think, to literally be the best he can be.

It's very interesting, how doing these terrible things to these children form them into incredible beings, forcing them to achieve their highest potential. The teachers have this down almost to a science, and they do it. They throw everything they can at the kid, letting him fend for himself and he becomes all the better for it. Well, I guess you could argue whether he really becomes 'better' for it. He becomes smarter, though, stronger. He realizes his full potential. It's very interesting, in this day and age where so much emphasis is placed on the safety of children, where they rarely face danger or hardship. Are they fulfilling their potential? Are we keeping them too safe, to the point where they are not adapting or having to think, or react to any danger?

There is a cost, of course. Ender's childhood is not a happy one, and a couple kids die or break down from this 'perform or lose' mentality, this teaching method. It's tough, to toe the line between wanting a child to be happy, but also wanting them to experience some difficulties so they can learn and live and grow.

It's also very interesting that the war between the humans and the buggers is a simple result from miscommunication. The buggers and humans cannot communicate and because of this, along with assumptions made on both sides, a vicious war has broken out. Such a simple thing, a misunderstanding, and an entire race may be wiped out as a result. It's crazy, right?

So I've talked about this book some. Have I said enough? Have I gone over all the points? The plot: Good, The characters: Great, the style: Fine. I guess I didn't really say anything about the style. You follow the characters, see into their heads as they go along through the events of the plot. It is perfectly fine, no extraneous detail, no lack of action, it keeps you invested and interested all along the way.

I also love the title. Ender's Game. You might think it's referring to the game that all the boys play in Battle School but it also refers to Ender's life, to the 'game' he plays constantly in his life, against his brother, the other boys, and the teachers. It also references a twist at the end which is done very well. The book shows the game all children play as they grow up, learning to manipulate others and survive the various aspects of school, schoolmates and everything else. It is a perfect title.

I think it is a book anyone could enjoy, even those who prefer not to read science fiction.

So that's my review. Like it? Don't like it? Does it work/make sense? Does it make you want to read it? Should I do more like this? Let me know, somehow.

"With Ender, we have to strike a delicate balance. Isolate him enough that he remains creative--otherwise he'll adopt the systems here and we'll lose him. At the same time, we need to make sure he keeps a strong ability to lead."
- Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game, Ch. 4

Why I Write (A Guest-Blog-Post)

Nate is a programmer (computer scientist?) working for Microsoft in Seattle and a long-time friend of mine. I've never known him to write very much, though he is a very clever, smart and creative person, so I was delightfully surprised to find out he was participating in Nanowrimo with me this year. We're both continuing to work on fantasy novels and continuing to write as much as we can be motivated to do so. I suggested a guest blogpost to spice things up a bit, and this is what he sent me. It is really quite good. Enjoy. 
-Ben

Hello, readers! It's time for a guest post. I'm Nate, the one who beat (trounced, even!) Ben in the February word writing race.

That story goes like this: We were neck and neck for the majority of the race. Due to unforeseen circumstances I couldn't participate in the last two days. On the final weekend I resolved to stock up on food, lock my doors, turn off my phone, disconnect the internet, and build up as much of a lead as possible before going dark. I managed to write 10,000 words. Ben was unable to catch up. The rest, as they say, is "Ben owes me a steak dinner."

But enough gloating. Today we will discuss the question of "why do you write?"

The flippant answer is "I write all the time. Most of it is computer code." I'm a computer scientist, you see, and I've been programming since roughly forever. You might think that I write as a creative outlet in response to my soul-crushingly corporate job where I sit in a chair and mash keyboards all day.

I'd like to dispel that notion on two grounds.

Firstly, "real" writing entails sitting in a chair and mashing a keyboard. Secondly, programming is my creative outlet. Or, at least, it has been for ages.

People who aren't familiar with programing (or mathematics, or other analytical fields) often think they aren't creative. Pop culture says that "math nerds" are "left brain", "analytical" people, while "creative", "right-brain" folks are the artsy type. That's the second notion I'd like to dispel. (It's wrong, by the way.)

Programming computers is like painting. At work, I paint houses. I apply white paint on the cold walls of an enormous corporate concrete jungle. At home, I paint landscapes, including intricate sunsets that follow my whim and fancy. Code, like paint, is a medium, and code, like paint, can span the entire spectrum from droll to artistic. Programming is no more (or less) creative than painting.

That said, my code is motivated by utility. I write code first and foremost for the sake of tools. After making something functional I spend a lot of time making it general, making it easy to use, documenting it, making it efficient, making it pretty, et cetera. All together, I spend far more time making cool tools than I save by using them. That's what I mean when I say that programming is my creative outlet: I'm driven by the need for tools, but I keep coding long after the tools are done. In that sense, I code for the sake of code. Because it's fun. Because I love finding elegant solutions to hard problems.

Perfecting and generalizing tools is my preferred form of escapism. Some people play video games. I write code.

My second favorite form of escapism is reading books.

Which brings us back to writing.

Why do I write? I already have a creative outlet, a (useful, lucrative) form of escapism. So why write?

I'm not really sure. I think that there are a lot of motivating factors.

I can remember the day that I first decided to (or, rather, realized that I could) write a fantasy story. I was fourteen years old. I found a story online, a webcomic told through pictures of legos with captions. It told a story about dragons. The lego dragons in it were really cool. I eventually learned that it was created by a fellow fourteen year old.

It was at that moment that I realized that I didn't just have to read stories, I could also tell my own. I always had ideas kicking around, but it wasn't until then that I thought maybe I should share them.

I wondered. "If I were to tell a story, what story would I tell?"

Eight years later, I'm finally beginning to find out.

But _why_ do I write? Just because I can? Just because I'm curious? There's more to it than that.

To me, deep down, stories are essential. Stories are intrinsic. Making  stories with friends, hearing the stories of others, telling stories to family: I cant express quite what it is, but it's something like this. Life is all about the experience. In fact, life is the experience. It is no more, it is no less. Stories are a means of conveying experience.

They're something fundamental.

But it's more than that, too.

Writing is a direct window to the soul. Everything that I put into a character I must first find in myself. As a reader, you may simply think that I'm writing a good villain. You may be able to empathize with my character's unease. You may feel my character's fears. When you're reading my story, to you, none of that reflects on me. I'm just writing characters.

But to me, it's all intensely personal. I can't write a villain without finding the villain within. I can't write fears without exposing my own. Writing is, in essence, a confession: if not to my readers, then to myself.

And there is still more to it.

Writing is a clarifying process. In writing my ideas, they cease to be ideas and become a story. There's an vast ocean of difference between the two. The ideas in my head are vast and broad. They contain a multitude. They are a nebulous cloud of powerful moments and compelling characters. When I write the ideas, they become a story. One single story. One path through that nebulous cloud. The story becomes at once less, in that I can never express all the emotions in my head, and more, in that the story becomes real.

The ideas in my head aren't fleshed out. The details aren't there. Sometimes when I'm writing I find that my ideas are insufficient, contradictory, or unbelievable. The ideas are forced to change.

Yet they also grow considerably in the telling. Characters constantly outgrow the ideas that spawned them. Whole new worlds become available where details and ideas intersect.

We're getting closer to the reason that I write.

To you, the reader, writing is about the finished product. It's about the story you read, about the characters and the interactions and the emotions that the story makes you feel.

To me, it's about something else entirely. It's a means of expression. It's a process of discovery. Intense discovery, given that it's a confession through and through. It's about the difference between the story and the idea. It's about all the things that it could have been but wasn't. It's about all the things that fall to the wayside as I'm writing, and it's about all the things that spring up and surprise me along the way. It's about what my ideas became.

It's about the journey. It's about the experience.

Why do I write? Because I can. Because I've always wondered what story would come out. Because I grow whenever I look into myself. Because there's no feeling like seeing my ideas come to fruition, like seeing my story come together, like writing a moment that is just as powerful and emotional as I always imagined it.

I can't say exactly why I started writing. I can't pinpoint one specific reason. But I can tell you this: I like it, and I'm not going to stop.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

In case you didn't know, the title to this blog is a grammatically correct sentence in the English language. Don't believe me? Check wikipedia.( wiki:buffalo ) Cool, right? Don't ask me how it works. I don't know.

Anyways, it's super fun sunny-side up Sunday and instead of resting like I'm supposed to be doing, I'm writing. I figure I should probably try to make up for my super late last blogpost, so here I am, chugging coffee and watching Nicolas Cage on the television. (The Rock and National Treasure, if you're curious, both fantastic movies displaying Nic Cage's amazing acting talent.) Let's get to it.

I found some cool things on the internet. One of which is hitrecord.org. It is an Open Collaborative Production Company composed of writers, filmmakers, photographers, photo-shoppers, animators, artists, etc. The website is like a studio where you can put up your "RECords" and anyone else on the site can remix, illustrate, animate or do whatever with it. It was started by Joseph Gordonn-Levitt, whose been in films such as Inception, 500 Days of Summer, 50/50, and more. It is an incredibly cool idea, and one where people actually make money. If something you worked on becomes part of a collaboration which eventually makes money, then the proceeds are split 50/50 between the website and all of the contributors/creators. I cannot describe it anymore than that, really, it took me some time to understand it myself. All I can say is go there and watch the video on the home page. It's pretty much the coolest thing I have seen on the internet. It's a huge open collaborative space where many people work together on just about any artistic/creative project you can think of, with the influence and abilities of someone who has ties in the media industry and Hollywood. It blew my mind.

Know how I found it? Found Joseph Gordonn Levitt on twitter and clicked his website. Twitter has some cool stuff, you can follow people you're interested in. It's not as stupid and useless as it seems to be.

Anyways. I wrote stuff today! Woohoo!( Chasing a Bullet ) Check it out. Add a prequel or a sequel chapter, if you're feeling adventurous.

I've heard some folk like when I review stuff, like books and television and movies and such, so I'll try to do some more of that in the future.

So that's some stuff. Keep on keepin' on. Keep on truckin'. Truck on keepin'. That makes no sense.

I'll leave you on this note. Read, write, watch, listen and create. There's a whole lot of good stuff out there. Find some.

Bloggin' bloggin' bloggin'...

Keep those blog posts comin'...Blog pooooosts!

Yeah. So I'm late. Maybe I'm blognant. Get it! Haha! Bad joke. Yeah, it's going to be one of those blog posts.

I don't know what those blog posts are. Somethin' somethin' somethin'.

I don't think my blog will ever attract many followers. I've looked at the popular blogs. They have BIG HOW-TO TITLES and short paragraphs with punchy underlined sub-titles, telling you how to write or how to get your writing published or what to write or writing prompts or other such things, how to do this or that, how to find peace in your life, achieve happiness, make money, save money, that, this or the other thing.

Popular blogs are focused on single topics, writing, cooking, programming, etc, while mine is all over the place. One post is about writing, one's about cooking, hell, in half of them I talk about three or four things at the same time. It's too random, too loose, disorganized. I write about things that I'm doing and such like that, not what other people should do. I talk about stuff I watch and read and am doing. Brewing, cooking, writing, bouncing, teaching, and whatever else I care to write about that I find interesting. So I don't expect to gather a large following, but oh well, it's something I've accepted. This blog is not going to make me rich and famous. I realized it long ago, cried a little, and have moved on.

Onwards and upwards.

I wrote 48,824 words in February. It's quite an accomplishment, nearly 50k in 29 days. I'm pretty pleased with it though I did lose, quite handily I might add, by my friend Nate who wrote over 52k. He wrote 6k last Saturday, I mean what the heck? Anyways, it was great motivation as my fantasy novel is nearly completed to the point where I'm happy with the ending, rather than after Nano where I was simply finished because I was over 50k. Now, the novel is about 105,000 words or so, which is pretty awesome, as far as I'm concerned. Just a few more pages and then it's back to editing, that act I love so much. After some editing, I'll probably release the full novel to close friends and family for their thoughts, then even more editing and then maybe publishing, the intended goal in the vast horizon.

But it's nice to not have to write every day, to output that much creativity daily is exhausting so it is nice to recharge my mind batteries for a week or so. There are a number of things I'd like to do in March. 1. Start a serial that I write weekly and get it up on Tuesday Serial, 2. Write a chapter on Ficly.com, 3. Write a chapter on Storymash.com, 4.  Participate in Friday Flash Friction, 5. Uhhh, I forget. I'm sure there were more, but at the moment I cannot get ahold of those thoughts. Ah well. Mainly, I want write some different shorter stuff rather than epic fantasy. I also want to get my name out there into the Writer Community...Whatever that is, exactly. I'm not sure. I think it's out there, somewhere, a vast multi-various formless mass of writers writing words and reading eachother's work and such like that. I will venture out in a spaceship of literature and see what I can find.

Anyways, who knows. I'll write some stuff. When I do, I will let you know. Also, I may not continue doing the Weekly Sunday Posts. It's up in the air at the moment. We'll see. I am out like an unlit candle.