Resuming Posts

Hello all!

I just wanted to let you know that new blog posts will be written beginning next week.

Thanks or your patience.

Bye!

NaNoWriMo ends!

All good things must come to and end.

The National Novel Writing Month is almost over, and it saddens me deeply, because, in all honesty, it has changed my writing life.

Aspiring writers go through many challenges, most of us hold regular jobs and have to juggle between work, family and friends and the sacred little time we have left to write. We all have to go through the deep valleys of self-doubt, of over editing and the darkest place of them all: procrastination. We have to forego family outing (especially during the week) or leave our favorite games, movies, and TV series behind. Why? Well, in my case, because I have to. Writing is as essential to my life and eating and breathing, it has become an intrinsically part of my life that without it, a dull, cold and empty void would form at the very heart of my soul. Writing is an extension of who I am and who I want to be, it is to experience, through the eyes and voice of my characters, stories that simply need to burst out of my head.

As an aspiring writer, I made a conscious decision to commit to my writing in the beginning of the year, to forget about being published, or to publish myself, because I have NOTHING to publish. NaNoWriMo has changed my pre-conceived notions of what I am capable of doing and of my own resolve to, well, simply write.

For the past 20 years, an idea evolved into a story, a story evolved into a novel and now, finally, I am seeing the possibility of finishing it, of having a beginning and an end. That has become the most important aspect of my writing right now, and I intend to keep on rolling words, of creating the zero draft, the whole story from scratch, and then edit the heck out of it.

I wanted to write 90k words this month, I am 20k short, and will probably not get there; however, I am not worried about that anymore. This month I have written through blinding migraines and lackluster effort. I have written after long, tiresome days and even longer, restless nights. And I have done so being faithful to what I expect me to be in terms of being an employee, a business owner, a friend, a parent and a husband. I can't ask more out my tired soul.

So, I will keep on writing, I will keep on grinding and eventually, the results will be there, and they will be worth the wait.

Edit: I have changed the layout of the site, I hope you all like it. I will be removing links to some of my outdated work, and will remove the links to the Druid's Grove. I feel that I posted the latter with no editing or revision whatsoever, and will not post until it is fit to be up.

Thanks again!

NaNoWriMo week 4

So much to do and so little time! This phrase has been stuck in my brain the while week, because I have not been able to find time to do everything that I want to do.

NaNoWriMo continued, and is entering its final week. I have been a somewhat lazy once I passed the 50k word mark, and I am still gunning for the 90k, but, I don't think I can get there this week. Regardless of my own goal, I do feel proud that I was able to muster up 50k coherent words (at least at first glance, the editing will commence in January.) about a story I love, with characters that feel like part of a dysfunctional family living inside my head. It has been rewarding and exhausting, but now I know that I am able to write a zero draft in a month or two, instead of years. (I began to write this novel when I was 16, and even though everything has changed since then- it was initially written in Spanish and the protagonist had a strong resemblance to yours truly- the overall story has remained the same since 2002.

Even though I had already loads of pages written, I decided not to use them, because I wanted to start fresh, my writing, for better or worse, has changed in these past nine years, so I wanted to read new words, fresh ideas, and I have been able to do so.

Even though I won't have it ready by the end of the month, I am well on my way of finishing the novel this year, an event that will undoubtedly have me celebrating rowdily by consuming alarming amounts of spirits.

That said, I am looking to finish the month strong and to build on the momentum.

The week is almost over, so there is nothing more to say!

Have a great week and keep on writing!

NaNoWriMo week 2

Oh boy, this last two week have been interesting indeed. Not only because I accepted the challenge of NaNoWriMo, but because so much has happened that I don't know where to begin! I guess I will start, at the beginning then...

This past Saturday, we were finally able to celebrate my boy's birthday party, albeit it was a very small family gathering, my wife and I felt that we owed the little guy his party and I have been really struggling letting go of what happened to him a couple of months back. His was born on September 10, three years ago. This time around, everything was ready for his party, but he fell ill, and I mean, really, really ill. He contracted a nasty bacteria that destroyed his stomach and intestines. I don't know if I have ever been more afraid in my life, than when I got to the emergency room and saw my little boy, pale (he had lost a lot blood via his stool), dark rings around his eyes and the uneasy gaze of not knowing what is happening. I hugged him and tried to tell him that everything would be all right, but I did not know for sure, we had no idea what was going on. Just writing about it is hard...

The good news is that he obviously recovered; he spent 11 days in the hospital, enduring a grueling battle with his IV medicine and the tedium of feeling better but not being able to go anywhere. My wife and I had to split the time between the hospital and home, and I did not want my 5-year-old girl to spend too much time in the pediatric ward of the hospital for obvious reasons. So we never really had time to stop what we were doing and to analyze what has happening, heck, like I wrote above, I have just begun sorting through all the feeling and emotions.

Being able to see him this last Saturday, happy, playing with his toys and with his cousins, it just made my year. A smile from one of my kids wipes all the worries away, that's for sure.

I got sick on Thursday (My wife was the culprit for this one, her new nickname shall be the Petri Dish) and could not get much done in terms of my writing. Friday I was slowly dying (at least I felt that way) and Saturday I had the party and on Sunday I rested, still not feeling 100%. So, now I am 9k words behind on what I want to accomplish from NaNoWriMo. Yesterday I was able to get around 600 words back, and I am determined to write at least 25k words this week. I know that word counts are not that important in the grand scheme of things, but for a professional procrastinator, it has been a life changer. I now have a measurable goal; before NaNoWriMo, I wrote roughly 2k words a day, but now I see that I am perfectly able to write 3k+ daily, in the same amount of time and I owe the knowledge to the Challenge.

Hope you all have a great week and keep on writing!

NaNoWriMo Week 1

Week one of NaNoWriMo has been quite uplifting and good. The hours put into the writing have, in my opinion, been productive and the positives surely outweigh the negatives so far.

I am blessed to be able to work from home in the afternoons (at least for now, if a change needs to made, well, then it will be made) so I can spend those writing hours at home. I am only a closed door away from my wife and kids, so whenever I feel like it, I can take a small break and see what the family is up to (or my kids can barge into my study and ask what I am doing, which I love) or just go say hi and play for a few minutes with them. This month has been no different, even though I am spending more time writing (Our manufacturing keep working until 5:30 pm, sometimes 7 pm, so during those hours I am writing and working) my work and family are not neglected.

Now, my goals were pretty clear when I began: write 3,000 words every day and reach the 90,000 word count at the end of the month.

So far, I am sitting at 14,000 words, I am about 4,000 short of the weekly goal. However, I am certain that I can make up for it in the coming week.

The experiment of writing a novel in a month (well, a draft of a novel actually, at least that is what I believe I am writing) has been good in so many ways that it is difficult to describe them, mainly because those positive changes are mostly about the way I feel about my writing, about the discipline I am learning to dispense on my day to day life; it has spilled over my work ethic, my other goals (losing weight, smoking less or quit smoking altogether, exercising, getting to work on time, not procrastinating, etc.) so I really do recommend this experience to anyone that wants to write anything.

I know that the novel won’t be ready for a long time, but the foundations are going to be written this month and I aim that these words can be a good building block.

Let’s see how this week goes.

I will post some of what I have written later on in the week.

Have a great one!

NaNoWriMo begins!

Well, finally, November is here and with it comes NaNoWriMo, one of the most challenging events I have ever been a part of.

The ominous 50,000 words in one month sounds scary enough (it comes out to roughly 1,600 words per day) but the fact of finishing the novel, be it 50k or more or less words is the real deal for me. I have not finished a novel, EVER. I have only finished 3 short stories, but no novels, so this is a big deal for me, and one of the main reasons I signed up. I fell that is it time that I up the ante on my writing and begin to take it more seriously, or at least be more responsible in terms of discipline.

Like I have stated before in this blog, I want to finish a novel first, then day dream of what I am going to do with it (either self-publishing or sending it around).

I found some very interesting tips around the web, and I will share with you the best list of tips, for me at least, that will help you, if you are signed up for NaNoWriMo.

There is not much else to say this week, I have been preparing my outline and I am ready to go.

I will let you know how I am doing next week.

See you and happy writing!

Links:

http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/2009/11/nano-tip-1-dialog-spine/

http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2009/11/02/nano-tip-no-2-the-zen-of-first-zero-drafts/

NaNoWriMo is approaching!

Hello all! It has been a long time since I missed an update completely, but again I had some health issues, (minor stuff really, but annoying as hell) and work has taken over my life, and I would not have it any other way.

Bu I am glad to be back!

On to this week’s post!!

Books

Well, yesterday I finished Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn: The Final Empire, book one of the famed Mistborn trilogy. This is the second Sanderson book I have read, the Way of Kings was the first one, (not counting the Wheel of time books, which I have also read), and I have to say that I am now, a true Sanderson fan. I like how he writes, which is important, I like how he constructs the world around his characters, I love the way he throws us into his world head first, with no noob manual about his cities, its costumes, folklore, legends, fetishes and more importantly, its inhabitants. Also, and I believe this is what I like the most, the books have depth. I live in Mexico City, a third world country, where the wealth is distributed unevenly, to say the least. In his books, Sanderson always tackles the inequalities in his world, harshly and dramatically, but in a sense that one can relate or at least understand to how the wealth of the world is distributed, and I truly like that. I love to feel a connection with the story per se, not only the characters, and The Final Empire gave me that opportunity.

The amazing use of metals (Allomancy) integrated into the story is the icing in the cake, a great use of magic in world devoid of hope.

Sanderson is a brilliant story teller but he also makes me think, and I do value that from my fantasy.

I did not have much time to read the last couple of weeks, The Final Empire is a large book, but yesterday I began this books: (Some were already started :D )

Shadow Games

The Hand of Oberon

The Well of Ascension

Writing

Phew! It has been a very good two weeks for me in terms of writing. I finally have found a way to write 2,000 words per day, but I have not been able to discipline myself into writing on Saturday’s and Sunday’s, it is as if on the weekends, the portion of my brain that allows me to write is turned off. However, I am getting somewhere and I am enjoying the process immensely.

The Druid’s Grove

Is coming along nicely, the Elven story is done and the Human Story is flowing quite nicely. I have been able to write some acts, just random scenes that pop into my head every now and then, for when the three stories merge into one, and being able to write them, and then move on to the chapters has been quite satisfying.

X

I will be working on the story for the remainder of the month, aiming at having an actual first draft done by Oct 31^st. I am in no rush of getting this story done, because I feel that it is good, so I will take my time to edit and rewrite it.

NaNoWriMo

I am excited and, to be honest, afraid, of what I have signed up to do. Beginning on November 1^st, I will have 30 days to finish a novel. :D The goal is to write 50,000 words in a month, and I don’t know if will be able to do so, but I will certainly try. I am going to write a novel that has been inside my head for more than half my life now, Children of Sea, and I cant wait to see what I have done a month from now. This is an excellent tool to get my lazy butt off and running, and will be a great exercise as well. I am confident that I will be able to write the 50,000 words, but I do not know if I will be disciplined enough to do so, if that makes sense.

So, all of November, in terms of time and resources, I will spend them writing the novel I have wanted to write all of my life.

Games

With me being under the weather, again, I decided to relax and to revisit one of the games that I believe to be one of the greatest RPG’s ever made: Dragon Age: Origins.

It still is.

The music is just one of the many details that create a whole that is better than its counterparts, it elevates you when you need a boost, it brings you down when you are talking to your companions, and it urges you to go in the missions and makes you peek around corners looking for enemies. The voice acting is exceptional; each character is played with care and knowledge.

The story, much like the world, is enormous and generous, and it actually feels like you are part of the story, rather than only an spectator.

The graphics are good and the overall quality of the game is superb. I don’t think we will ever see another RPG quite as complete and beautiful than this one.

I will see you all next week!

Guns of Avalon

Good Tuesday to all! This has been a fun week for me, and I hope it was a good for you too. On to this week’s post!

Books

I am still well into my romance with The 1^st Chronicles of Amber. I read book 2 and 3, Guns of Avalon and Sign of the Unicorn.

Guns of Avalon is a great sequel to Nine Princes in Amber, it has so much depth and the descriptions of the places the Princes call Shadows reach epic and oneiric proportions. Corwin’s quest of conquering Amber is derailed, but his determination to sit on the throne rivals only that of his brother Eric, who is the actual ruler of Amber. This is a book that allows us to get closer to Corwin, thus revealing some of the truth hidden inside his imperfect memories.

Sign of the Unicorn is a faster book; it has a relentless pace that will navigate us through the political turmoil and family conspiracies brewing in Amber. The Shadow Road might be explained, the curse Corwin launched might come back to haunt him, brothers lost might be found and allies might become traitors. The key word here is might :P

The books were written in the early seventies, and it shows. This is a brand of fantasy that has a message behind it, not hidden, but subtle in its presence. This is a series about family, about loss, power, politics, treason and Shadows, the latter are wondrous worlds created and inhabited by the Princes, or their own shadows. I had wanted to read a fantasy series that evoked the sort of epic world where I could visit and relax, and rest my mind, and Amber is such a place.

I am already reading book 4, The Hand of Oberon.

I still managed to squeak by a few more chapters of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn: The Final Empire, Volume 1 of the Mistborn trilogy (or quartet, since a new book of the series is due to be released a month from now). Like much of what I have read from him, the book is just massive, the people that inhabit his worlds are rich and colorful and interesting, customs and folklore and magic are well balanced and make for a great read. I will post more of this book next week, but again, what I have read is really good.

The Dresden Files are still on hold; I did not manage to read a single page of the first book, Storm Front, but will try to get a few chapters under my belt this week.

The Black Company is no longer on hiatus! I did manage to read quite a few chapters of the fourth book, Shadow Games, but wont comment on the book until I am done, hopefully next week. Croaker, I still love you!

Games

I am playing Dragon Age again; in between session of Final Fantasy VII of course (I am in Disc three, so I will take it easy and milk it as much as I can). Dragon Age: Origins is one of the greatest games I have ever played in my life. The scale of the world, the voice acting, the animations, the cut scenes, the story and the characters that will accompany you throughout makes this one the best RPG’s ever made. I have played this game twice already, both times (go figure) I played following the Human Noble origin story and because I bought the Digital Deluxe edition, I had a couple of quests that added a very good ally in Shale and gave me a place to keep my stuff (Storage space is a bitch in this game) in Warden’s Keep.

I usually like to play characters (in games where choices do have some sort of impact on the development of the story), tending to be more on the good side. With the two human characters I managed to fall in love with Morrigan, the sexy witch everybody hates to love or loves to hate.

For this go around though, I created a City Elf and will try to be more on the neutral side. I will let you now how I am doing.

Still waiting for SWOTOR to be launched!

Writing

Well, on Friday my two writing buddies and I discussed and dissected my short story, X’s Game, so that now I can edit and rewrite it at will, for the second and third drafts. The good news it that the story is a go, they liked it, the bad news, well, there are no real bad news. It still has a long way to go and I need to work on it still. But, we are getting there!

The Druid’s Grove is coming along fine, today I hope to finish Chapter 20 and will be a couple of chapters shy of finishing the Elven part of the story, which is the real meat and potatoes of the story. The Human and Dwarven part are going to be smaller. I love to write!

I have laid my goals for the final weeks of the year. I want to be writing 10,000 words per week, 2,000 words per day (I won’t write on Saturdays and Sundays, not yet anyway) and last week I fell short 3,000, but I am getting there.

The Druid’s Grove word count: 36,811

See you all next week.

Nine Princes in Amber

Hello all! Hope you are having a good start of the week. The past few weeks I have been unable to update the blog on Mondays, for some strange reason I am now too busy on Mondays to do a decent update, so from now on, Tuesdays will be chosen day for updates. On to this week’s post!

Life went back to normal last week, well, as normal as it can get, and this is what I have been up to:

Books

Well, I think I have discovered another great fantasy series: The Chronicles of Amber. The Nine Princes in Amber is not your cookie cutter fantasy novel, and you might have a bit trouble at first of understanding what the book is about, but once you do, you will not want to stop reading.

The book follows the adventures of a mysterious man who was involved in an accident, and has partial amnesia, as he discovers his place in a world that seems a bit strange to him. He will be surrounded by people he identifies as being important, but that he cannot identify as friend, or foe. He will discover a deck of cards that will jar his memories and will incite the adventure to regain his life.

The book is veiled in mystery and in intrigue, enveloping Corwin, the main character, in a web of frail and hostile family relationships, of not knowing who to trust among his various siblings. I won’t write more of the book because I don’t want to spoil the story for those who want to read it, but I highly recommend you give this book a try.

I am reading book two, Guns of Avalon and will finish it during the week.

I am also reading, well, trying to finish anyway, Pattern Recognition, but the reading has been slow and treacherous. I.have.to.finish.it.

I am a big fan of mystery novels as well. My dad bought, a long time ago, the whole Agatha Christie bibliography, and I since I was about 12, I have read most of them. So I got hooked on the genre, and again thanks to my dad, I discovered novelists like Leslie Charteris (the creator of The Saint), Harold Robbins, Robert Ludlum and Patricia Highsmith. The latter became one of my favorite authors, and one of her characters, Thomas Ripley, is as dear to me as Huma, or Raistlin, or Gandalf are.

So, I am going to dive right into Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files this week, and see how it goes, hoping that a good mystery set in a world where magic and vampire and monster are real, will entertaining and good.

I am also craving for a good historical novel. I am a HUGE fan of Wilbur Smith’s work, and River God remains on top of my all time favorite books, along with the Sun Bird. He manages to combine good stories, romance, adventure and magic (Taita anyone?) with a historical backdrop that just make his books irresistible. I think I will give Smith’s Courtney series a look.

Another writer that I like in this same genre is Judith Tarr, and her stand alone books like The White Mare’s Daughter or The Shepherd Kings are also among my favorites. She has some fantasy novels out there, and will try to give those a look as well.

The Black Company is on vacation until I finish some of the books listed above :D

Writing

Well, it has been a good week for me. I have begun to understand my own writing process and I am proud of being to stick to my own daily word count goals and to advance at the rate I want to do so. Writing 2,000 words might not seem like a lot, but 10,000 words a week, at least, begins to unveil the clear destination of finishing my first draft of the novel. For the Druid’s grove, I am about 30,000 words into the first draft, and I want the novel to be finished in December. Again, this will de the first draft and it will still a lot of work, but the first step is actually writing it and I am well underway.

The short story for the contest is now being edited and reviewed, I think I need to rewrite very few scenes, because the story flows, well, at least I liked it :D.  The story should be ready and sent before the October 31^st deadline I set last month.

Also, I am writing a small horror story for another contest, as well as a small short sci-fi/fantasy story. Both should be under 4,000 words, but the ideas that I have should make my stories shorter. Those will be written and edited within the next two weeks, all the while I will still be working on the Grove.

I know that is a lot on my writing plate, but I need this, I need to write as much as possible.

Well, I will see you all next week!

The Legend of Huma

Hello all! Last week, me and my wife just about recovered from a very strenuous week and half, and the weekend was not much better. On Saturday we got to go out with some good news and on Sunday I got to enjoy a quiet, NFL Sunday. So, on to this week’s post.

Books

I managed to finish The Legend of Huma, and I was reminded why I loved this book so much. From all of the Dragonlance series books I have read, I like this one better because it is darker, it has an air of despair, of hopelessness that the other books do not have. It also has well rounded characters and interesting plot points, giving us a glimpse into the Knights of Solamnia’s world, before the change of Age, filled with political intrigue and their fair share of backstabbing. But, most of all, the book describes the relationship between Huma, Kaz and Magius, an eclectic trio of heroes that for one reason or another, found themselves thrown head first into the battle against Takhisis.
Other Dragonlance novels are not quite up to par to Knaak’s superb narrative and it makes Huma stand out from the rest of the Heroes books.

Ugh, I need to give Pattern Recognition another shot because the book club is going to meet soon. I have never left a book I started and I won't start now.

I am halfway through the Black Company’s fourth book and I am still quite engrossed in the history and in the characters. I am one of those readers that truly identifies or antagonizes with the characters I am reading, thus I get truly involved in the whole reading experience. Croaker and Raven are the types of characters that I root for and that I am not likely to forget any day soon. Enjoying the book so far.

I also began the first book of the Mistborn Trilogy, Mistborn: The Final Empire, and as usual, the beginning of the book is interesting, enticing and maddening, all at the same time. He always dives into the world with no respite; no explanation, no warning and I just LOVE that! It is still too early to really tell if I ma going to like the book or not, but so far so good.

Also reading book 1 of the Chronicles of Amber series, Nine Princes in Amber and, while I only have a few chapters under my belt, the story flows quickly and I am still at that stage where I have absolutely no idea of what I am reading, but want to know more.

I have been in the mood for a good mystery novel, anyone has any suggestions?

Writing

Well, this past week I finally finished X’s Game, the short story I am going to submit to the contest. It is fairly short, for my standards anyway, a tad over 7,000 words, but I do feel that this one has a real shot being successful.

The Druid’s Grove is next, and I will tackle it this week. The chapters I have posted have been read quite more than I had imagined at first, and the reviews have not been that bad. What is evident is that they need to be proofread more thoroughly before being posted, and I will do a much better job of that from now on. There are a lot of typos and stuff like that that simply will not cut it.
The story of the novel is based on three characters, and we get to see the story told through the eyes of these three characters. The Elven, Human and Dwarven story. I am almost finished with the Elven story, but have not really worked on the Human and Dwarven story. So, I still have a lot of work to do.

The Scribes of Lore is finished, and will be edited and re-written (if needed) so that it will be ready for the contest as well. I found a few interesting websites where I can submit my work for cash prizes, but more importantly, for it to be read, so I will probably will be working in that as well, but the Grove is still the number 1 priority.

Games

Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) has now a definitive launch date: December 20, 2011. I cant tell you how excited I am for the release of this MMO, because, honestly, after World of Warcraft, there is a HUGE void of MMO action in my life.

I am planning on playing a Sith Warrior, more intent in generating threat and receiving damage than inflicting it, that is the original plan anyway. I am also truly excited because most of my real life friends will be playing this game, but we still need to convince a few more.

The site will still be updated on Mondays and if there is anything worth posting during the week, I will do so, but the Thursday update is now gone.

Have a great week guys!!!

Black Company Reloaded

Another week is in the books, and not too soon for me. It has been a pair of challenging weeks for me and my family, but thankfully, everything has been restored back to normal, and I hope that I can get back to updating the blog and posting more of my work on time.

This week I have been reading quite a lot actually, although not only books. For the last month I have experienced my first real attempt at reading comic books.

Comic Books

After talking about it with some of my well-versed friends on the matter, I decided that I was going to begin with Marvel’s Ultimate series, primarily the X-Men, Iron Man and Spider Man and the Avengers Series. I began with the Avengers series and just loved it. Then I began the X-Men series and have really enjoyed it so far. Both series are dark and brutal, there is no tiptoeing around the real issues that surround the characters. I was really surprised at how Xavier and Magneto are depicted, at the hard choices they have to make and the way they don’t flinch when taking said decisions. I hope this week I can read at least another 20 volumes of the series. Spider Man and Iron Man will have to wait.

Books

I just can’t seem to get around finishing Pattern Recognition. We just did not click. I seem to always wander off and I am forced to re-read the same page over, and over again. So, it is safe to say that I did not like it at all and to be honest, I have not enjoyed it one bit. The premise is interesting but I felt the world is too close to mine, if that makes any sense. I will finish it, I promise, I just don’t know when :P

I have a new literary romance: The Black Company. Yes, the Black Company is at it again, and I read books two and three of the series: Shadows Linger and The White Rose. I don’t why, but I have a soft spot in my heart for mercenary bands. The Captain, Elmo, the Lieutenant, Goblin, One-Eye, Raven, Otto and Croaker, who is the medic, and also official annalist of the Company. The second book is just a jewel of dark fantasy, as we follow two different stories: the Company’s passage to the north, filled with danger and doubts about the work they are doing for the Lady and her Taken, the latter also trying to get even with some of the Company’s members, and the one of an innkeeper and his strange guests in a cesspool called Juniper, and how his life will change once he manages to swallow his fears and restraint. The whole book is written under a somber cloak of grayness and despair and the magnificent story will not let you breath, let alone take a break.




The third book, The White Rose, is a bit less dark, and a bit more fantasy oriented. We still follow the Company as they make their way through the Desert of Fear and the Barrowlands. I don’t want to spoil the book if you are interested, so I will stop here with the review. However, I do encourage reading this fine series ASAP!




I also finished Hit List, the latest Anita Blake Novel. My wife, a complete Blake freak, er, I mean, fan, did not like it and now I can see why: It is not that good. I have felt that most of the elements that made this series as successful as it is, are missing. Anita is no longer Anita, not in the good way. I get that characters evolve, I did not know they devolved as well. She is careless doing her job, taking her care of her body and her needs. The story is convoluted and to be honest with you all, right at the end it makes no sense at all, and well, it is just not good. The book is filled with situations that are worn and tired, with moments that we have read before, over and over again. There is nothing new, and whatever novelty is offered it is bland, sexual and/or simply lacking. Let’s see if the next book is better and if not, well, I have enjoyed 19 books of the series, so it is not that much of a big deal.

I began two more books, The Legend of Huma, because frankly I need some epic fantasy and the first book of the Mistborn Trilogy. I hope I will have finished at least one of those books, because I am also reading book four of the Black Company series.


Games

It has been a while since I sat down and played a game. I am almost done with my play through of Final Fantasy VII, and because I know it by heart, it is not difficult to leave the game for a couple of months before continuing.

Guild Wars is on hiatus again, but I really like the subtle, and no so subtle differences between expansion packs. In fact, even though the setting is in the same world, the game playing changes and the distinct themes of each expansion makes you fell that you are playing a completely new game, and that is hard to do. The Prophecies campaign, the original, is great, but it requires a lot more of grinding to level up, while the Nightfall and Factions expansions do not. All in all, I think it is a beautiful game and I hope to have at least three toons level 20 before Guild Wars 2 hits the shelves. I am also intrigued at what I am going to do about GW 2, I don’t know if I want to buy it or not, because I know I want to play it! The problem is that with Star Wars coming out at the end of the year, and I have already pre-ordered the Collector’s Edition, I won't have much time to spare. I am excited about SW because most of my friends are going to play it as well, and that makes all the difference in the world, and because the game looks great. Still, GW 2 will not have a monthly fee, so that makes it also very attractive.

Fallout 3 is also on hiatus, the world is simply too big for me to really compromise and finish it off, although it is really good and lots of fun. Someday I will get this one done!

Final Fantasy XIII is also on hold, although I do expect to finish it before the year is done. It is too linear for my taste, but the graphics, music and story are very good and I am enjoying the game when I do sit and play it. Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be out around January of next year, so yeah, I want to play that one also :D

This week, I played Mass Effect again, for the first time in two years. I really liked the game a lot but for some reason, I just did not finish it. I spent most of the weekend with my daughter, both of us confined to our home because she had a cold, so I decided to give it another go, to at least finish it before any more Mass Effects games are produced. Mind you, I am talking about the first one, and it is really good, but also, it is HUGE! The problem that I have with these games, the problem I currently have with Fallout 3, is that I will play it and complete everything there is to complete, I will chase down any side quest available, and complete it before moving on with the main quest. If I don’t do that, then I can’t play it, which is why it takes me so long to finish these types of games.

Writing

It has completely stopped. Real life is sometimes too hard for me to have time to do anything at all, and the past few weeks have not been fun at all. However, I did manage to write a poem to my son and also, I think that my X story is almost done as well. Yes, really, it is almost done. I swear. Ok, this time it is, almost done. :D
The Druid’s Grove is the one suffering the most with my time problems, but I intend to get back on track this week.
I will post link to a Druid’s Chapter I had not posted before, and I think that one goes well as Chapter 2.

See you all on Thursday, I am sure I will have something for the update. Really.

I would like to thank each and every one of you that supported me and my wife during our boy’s illness. You know who you are so big hugs going all around!

Emergency

This was a very crazy week for me guys, that is why the update is late, again.
Life is on hold for me right now, a family emergency has put every little thing I complain about in perspective.
A real update will hopefully be up next week, and today I will post a new link to Chapter 3, maybe.
Thank you for your understanding!

Poetry!

Hiya all.

I hope you enjoy this little update. I am navigating through the murky waters of ideas that are simply stuck inside my head. This is just one of the results :P

New Sex

Hot and trendy, not words but texts
Sweat is replaced by an avalanche of information
Bytes are not bits, parted lips are slanted picks
Moans and ring tones go hand in hand
Bloody autocorrect, it is an erection after all
Downloading orgasms, eclectic keystrokes
Shut off phone, battery ran out.
Rinse and repeat.

Books, Writing and RPG!

It has been a busy weekend and a very busy beginning of the week for me. Sorry about the post being a day late :D.

Well, the past week was weird one: too much work and too much stress. I was looking forward a quiet weekend at home, and then on Sunday to visit some good friends and draft my fantasy football team. It all went down as planned, but I am still feeling tired.

This week I did not finish any new books, I am reading three, almost done with two, still working on the third.

Books

William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition has been a lot of work. The first few chapters have not been kind to me and I am finding the book to be very interesting but very difficult as well. While Cayce is a very interesting character and her job is one I would like to have for real, the pace and tone of the book, the terminology and the fact that many of the references are from our time, from this world, are a bit unnerving, yet this is what I have liked the most of the book so far.

Hit List is the last Anita Blake novel written so far, and I am not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. The reason? Well, it is more of the same. I posted last week that some of the male authority figures in the series are just mean, racist, misogynist pigs. At first, you get the idea of the world Anita Blake lives in, but seriously, the mold of these types of characters are just too much for me. Also, the stories used to be good, there used to be a plot that was a part of Anita’s line of work, the investigations, the jobs of raising the dead, the many adventures with Death. However, those plot lines are weak and diluted, they are not as important as the sexual encounters. Anyway, I hope the book’s last 20% is better than what I have read so far.

Shadow’s Linger is the second book of the Books of the North trilogy, written by Glenn Cook. So far so good. I really like this book, especially because I am enjoying the characters. The idea of an honor bound mercenary band has always been appealing to me, especially in a fantasy setting, and that is what the Company is. If you mix these supernatural beings, the Ten Who Where Taken and the Lady, and the unique type of magic they possess, with a fast paced and interesting story, then you have a winner in my books!

Writing

For the past couple of week I have been writing more articles than the novel, or the short story I am working on. That will stop this week. I do enjoy making top ten lists and other types of articles, but I waste too much of my time doing just that. I wrote a Travel Guide, and two book lists, as well as an introductory piece on fantasy, a poem and a flash fiction story. The lists are fun, the travel guide was not. The poem and the flash fiction story were pretty good exercises on reminding me that I can I write other stuff. I also posted the Prologue and Chapter 1 in their new homes. So, I don’t think this is working for me. Why? Well, I do not have time to write an article a day, or a week for that matter, and use what little time I have to write my novel and short stories. I am not good at that either, so I won’t continue. The top ten guides and lists are fun and will continue to write them when and if time permits. Also, I like sharing my work on other sites, like HubPages, where I can create unique pages for each chapter of the book. The problem that I have encountered though is that I get too caught up on page views and not enough on the content. I have not edited these first drafts, and I guess I need to. I like being read, but I like writing more, so I will focus on that this week.

The Druids’ Grove is still stalled on Chapter 13 of the Elven story.

Now, X’s game is done, but I will rewrite it today and probably tomorrow as well. It was just too long and not fast enough, at least in my mind. It will be ready to be sent this week.

The freelance writing thing, well, I am not sure I am cut out to write hundreds of articles on topics I do not know much of, or are not that interested to begin with, so I will focus more on the creative aspect of freelance writing, submitting poems, stories and such to online magazines. Hope this goes better.

RPG Thursday

Last week, we played a survival type RPG, where zombies will nom, nom your brains out. It was great! The setting was the ZM’s (Zombie Master) house, so even though I have been inside the house many times, I had not noticed that the house SUCKS for a zombie apocalypse. Ynoz will get us killed, I have no doubts on that, Emo Dorne will get himself killed, and JP, the Spider and I will survive against all odds, even if the ZM is intent on killing us. (Note to the ZM….chill out my friend! This is not a game of us against you, it is more of a game about us against you! LOL).

Updates

I used to update the site on Thursdays with my work, I will still be able to do so, although I have no clue as to what type of content it will include.

Have a great week!

Changes

Hello all! I hope you are all having a great week so far.

Well, I am going to be implementing some changes to the blog, specifically with those concerning my work. The Druid's Grove and the Short Stories pages are going to be deleted, because I am posting these works in other sites. Why? Well, I felt that the format of reading a while story or the escalating pages of the novel was becoming a tiresome and unpractical endeavor. I am going to post my work in a much friendlier format and I will make the links available to you once they are up and running. Right now, you can enjoy the Prologue of the novel in one of the links posted under the "My Other Links" header.

The Freelance writer adventure is well under way, I have been able to post interesting articles and some of the work I don't usually share, like my poetry or the flash fiction stories. I am sure that you have already read/tweeted/buzzed/digged/ all of the links, and if you haven't, well...what are you waiting for? The challenge of writing is to be able to create interesting content for you and I will try to share some of mine.

For the past 5 months I have been fortunate enough to be able to open a window of my life, to bare a bit of my soul with the world, and I intend to continue doing just that; however, I do want to get the blog back on track to the original purpose of sharing my work, books, book reviews, movies, T.V. series, webcomics and other things I enjoy. So I promise that there will be less personal epiphanies and tragedies, and more interesting content.

Have a great week and don't forget to visit the links!

P.S. Chapter 1 of the Druid's Grove will be up on Monday in its new home, the Scribes of Lore might be up by tonight, hopefully, in its new site as well.

The Black Company

Good Monday to all! This past week I was ridden in bed with a nasty flu bug, but it was an n interesting week nonetheless. On to this week’s post!

First of all, I want to thank each an every one of you for reading this blog and for putting up with the numerous requests to read and to check out my other links. It has been an interesting week because I have now written some articles and some creative writing work for different sites to be published and I have been lucky enough to have been published indeed. Your support, your likes, your views will become an important part of my writing portfolio and for that, I thank you again! You have also put up with an unending stream of Fantasy books lists, I promise that changes are in order on that front, and will try to write about other interesting stuff.

Today, I am inaugurating a rating system that will represent how much I liked a book, a movie, a TV series, etc… The Golden Chocobos Rating will consist of a scale going from zero to five Chocobos, where zero is the lowest rating, and five is the highest.

Reading.

Well, this week I picked up the pace, I had not been reading enough and my soul was suffering for it. (Yes, I still have a soul). I read two books:

Glen Cook’s The Black Company, book 1 of the Books of the North Trilogy

Wonderful change of pace for me, regarding fantasy series; this book is not your garden variety fantasy and is not very accessible in terms of readability. The Black Company is a book that tells the story of a mercenary band called the Black Company, it is a feared and respected band, and their rich history is kept in the voluminous Annals of the Company. You will follow the adventures of the Company and its colorful members: One Eye, Goblin, Elmo, The Captain, Raven and Croaker, the latter being the one the story focuses on. It will detail the battle raging all over the world, and the shaky alliance between the Company and their mysterious employer, or backer, one of the fabled Taken, as they make their way into the bowels of the kingdom.

It is very well written and the pace is relentless. The characters are well built and the relationship between them, although strained, becomes an important part of how the Company survives.

I give it 3.5 Golden Chocobos.

Laurell K. Hamilton’s Bullet, Book 19 of the Anita Blake series

WOW! This book is really good. Of all the 19 books I have read so far, this is the one I enjoyed the most. It is fast paced, action packed but the story and the circumstances surrounding the story finally, at least in my mind, begin to move forward. I had felt that even though the books as single units were entertaining, the story had grown stagnant and predictable. Anita’s changes, gains in power and her choice of lovers had become the focal point of the story, not the threats that surrounded them. In this book, the threats are more real and the consequences are deadly. Anita’s choices are hard and they truly affect her, her change into one of the monsters is still a work in progress. However, there are still some issues, not exactly within the book but with the series. Why does every single cop in charge of investigations are pig headed bigots that hate woman. In particular, they hate Anita? Why? I have read the same discussion 100 times before, the same lines, the same innuendos, the same reactions…it is tiresome.

I give it 2 Golden Chocobos.

Reading

I am reading Bullet, book 20 of the Anita Blake series, Shadows Linger, book 2 of the Books of the North Trilogy, Pattern Recognition, Cyberpunk for the literary club, and, after writing one thousand fantasy books lists and reviews (again I thank you for your patience), I will now revisit the Dragonlance Universe, beginning with the Legend of Huma.

Writing

I am writing a lot, probably more than I have written in my life. The experience of writing articles for online content has been much more difficult that what I though at first, but it has been rewarding as well. It has been tiresome, but a great way to practice and write, which is why I was placed on this world to begin with. This has led me to write X’s Game, a Steampunk short story and it is almost done, and also continue to write the Druid’s Grove. The latter will become the first novel I have ever finished, and although it is still raw and a first draft after all, the guidelines for finishing it, the foundations, would already be there, and that is exciting. I am thinking that after X and the Grove, it will be time to write about another project I have labeled Children of the Sea. Too many ideas, so little time!

Movies

I want to see Green Lantern and Captain America; hopefully I will have time this week to do so. Are they any good?

Well, an update will be ready on Thursday, and hopefully, other articles will linked as well.

Have a great week!

Chapter 5 is up

The Druid's Grove chapter 5 is up and running!

I also wanted to share some links to some of the workl I have been publishing through several content websites. I realized that I am good at two things in life: writing and administrating the family business. I intend to do both. So, while my administrative skills are going to be tested to the max, I have decided that I want to become a Freelance writer, so that maybe, in a few years, I could earn my living writing.
Hey, a man's gotta dream also right?

Visit My Other Links!

Comment and post please!

See you all on Monday!

Back in the saddle

Hello all! Sorry I had no update up for Thursday, but the internet connection in the hotel was not that good and when I got back home two things happened: I got sick...and my internet was down. Sooooo....with the inauspicious beginning of the week, I decided to stop seeing myself as the victim and taking life by the edge of the horns, because, sincerely, there is not much I can do.

This week's update is going to be a bit short, most of last week's feelings are still lingering inside of me, and to be honest, I decided to completely relax and enjoy my wife and kids. I did think a lot at night, hearing the soothing sounds of the ocean, but in the end, the path is clear, there are not too many paths to choose from, so even that had been somewhat of a blessing in disguise.

I read a single book this week, written by Kathy Reichs, the creator of Temperance Brennan, the protagonist of the TV Series Bones. The book is called Spider Bones and it is the kind of book I love to read when I am vacationing. And even though this is the first book I have read on her series, I was still able to get enough of the back-story to enjoy a good mystery.

This week I will be busy, posting articles, writing and finishing X's Game, and I will upload the other short story I have ready for editing, as well as continuing writing the Druids Grove; all of these tasks will have to take place simultaneously as me and my parents try to salvage what is left of our manufacturing plant. So please, wish me lots of luck, I will certainly need it.

See you next week.

Reality check

Another weekend flies by and I am being assaulted by doubts from work and home. It is eerie how life works sometimes, and how it stops working more often that not. I get that life, in all of its glory and trials, is about the journey and not about the destination. True, but again, it depends on what end of the looking glass you are looking through.

For me, this week had been hell, not a blessing in disguise, not a one of those epiphanies hidden behind a wall of hurt, not the twisting road I chose once upon a time. No, my definition of hell, to me, is the uncertainty of not knowing what I am going to do to feed my family in the immediate future, it is not knowing where I am going to be a month from here, and it is the fact of knowing that most of the opportunities I have been given in life were squandered or not appreciated in its fullest. I do not regret the choices I made per se, but I do regret the way life passed be my by and I was either asleep or thinking that the future was too far ahead. Either way, I do believe that life gives lessons and this one, for me, has been harsh to say the least. 

Now, a strange sense of liberation has taken over my addled mind, one that only mad men or the ones that are waiting to be hanged share, it is the certainty of doom that sometimes opens the clogged visual lanes that bring pure joy and sheer terror. I tend to exaggerate, yes, I am not yet unemployed, and will fight with tooth and nails to salvage what might be left of the family business. The bitter end might be fifty years from now, or might come next month, but we are going out swinging. Again, this is the gamble of the desperate.

Now, after this soul cleansing rant, on to the blog.

Books

I finished only one book this week, but like most books in my life, it will define a time and place unique and irreplaceable, not only for the obvious reference to my troubled times, but also because of its own merit, the book is simply magnificent. I wrote a few months back that Neil Stephenson’s The Diamond Age changed my life, well, the Wise man´s fears has also changed my life in the same profound way books possess to let us know that somewhere, someone, has gone through what you are feeling, has tried to do right by doing wrong.

I highly recommend The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss.

Writing

The Druid’s Grove is in hiatus now, not only because I am writing this update in Can Cun, but because I am writing the short story I wrote about in last week’s blog. The story is going great and should be finished in a week from now, maybe sooner. However, I have sketched a few more scenes of the novel that might be written a month from now, depending on how I am doing in with the other stories.

Tomorrow is my birthday so…Happy Birthday to me!

See you next Friday, the Thursday update will be moved one day.

Addicted to Anita

Good Day to you all. Another week is in the books, time flies when you are having fun or working like crazy, and in my case, it has been both! On to this week’s post!

Books

I finished two Anita Blake novels, Skin Trade and Flirt. Skin trade is awesome, action packed and it focuses more on a part of the series that I like the most: the actual crime solving investigations. I am a sucker for crime novels, have been all of my life. I have read my fair share of Agatha Christie novels, Patricia Highsmith, Leslie Charteris among others. The first time I read Guilty Pleasures, I loved the idea of the preternatural investigation, and still do. (I guess that I NEED to read The Dresden Files now!) Well, the book is great, the action is great, the sex is great and the body count is scandalous!

Flirt, like Micah (Book 13 of the series), is short and to the point. I did not like Micah very much because it was too short, but Flirt is different, it felt complete, and I did like it. I am looking forward to Bullet!

I am also reading The Wise Man’s Fears; book two of the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. I am enjoying the book immensely, it reads like a classic fantasy novel, but on a whole new setting, with much deeper characters and a fascinating story. I just don’t want to read too quickly and have to wait at least another year for book three.

I am also reading Pattern Recognition, from William Gibson. This book is for our book club, and we decided to give cyberpunk a try. I think I am going to like this one as well.

Writing

Slow week again, bur I have a feeling that is the reasons behind the delay have nothing to do with work at home. No. To be honest, I am bursting at the seams because I want to write a short story for the contest (I already have a short story written, but I have not reviewed it), but his one I think has a better chance at being something important, so this week that is what I will be writing. I will post on Thursday the other story, called The Scribes of Lore, so you can give me your feedback. I managed to write a couple of chapters for the novel, which I liked, so I won’t totally abandon it this week. The thing is, I don’t want to derail the novel, which for the first time in my life I feel that I am actually progressing, moving forward, and it is important that I finish it. But, the calling of my steampunk fantasy has become too loud to ignore. Some research needs to get done, but the universe, the setting of the story is already there, I just need to iron out a few details.

Web Comics

This is my updated list of web comics that are currently on my radar:

Weregeek

Least I could Do

Looking for Group

Evil Inc.

Girls with Slingshots

The Devil’s Panties

Overlord of Ravenfell

Ctrl+Alt+Del

The Gutters

Sinfest

RPG

Last Thursday I played the RPG of Supernatural for the first time. I also marked the first time I played an RPG other than Dungeons and Dragons, and I just a blast. I am not a big fan of the series, although I did watch the first two or three seasons, so I was not completely in the dark. I LOVED the idea of following and investigation, but with little or no restrictions, us being Hunters and all. It did not hurt a bit to have two friends who just role-played their red-neck characters to perfection. One is a gator-hunter and moonshine machine, the other is a failed ladies man who will get us killed. The third member of the party is our basement variety hacker and yours truly chose a college professor, named Sean St. Claire, who has an actual shifter fetish, round out the party. We really did have a blast, being stupid while trying to solve a case. At least we did not get killed, but let’s see what happens this week. I will keep you posted.

See you on Thursday!

Update

Hello all. I have updated today's page, and you can find it by clicking on the link titled The Druid's Grove, to the right of this box. I have included the Prologue and Chapter 1 as well, and today's update is now Chapter 2, so you can read the whole thing if this is your first time, or simply to scroll down to the Chapter you want to read. I will try to implement a new way of posting these Thursday updates so that it might be easier to navigate.
So, if you have any questions or comments about me or my work, please feel free to do.
See you on Monday!

Books and Writing

Sorry about the delay folks, but yesterday I was completely beat and had no time to update the blog.

On to this week’s post!

Books

Last week was a good one for me both in my writing and in my reading. I finished 3 books last week, Laurel K. Hamilton’s Blood Noir, Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings and Patrick Rothfuss’ The name of the Wind. Three very different books but well worth the time.

Blood Noir was not entirely to my liking. For starters, it felt too short and the first half of the book was too slow for me, especially after reading The Harlequin and Danse Macabre, which are filled with action. I am not saying that the story in Blood Noir is not interesting, it is, but I just did not like the pace, although the end is action packed and sheds a lot of light about the changes Anita and her partners are going through.

The Way of the Kings is just massive. I loved it but I have to admit that it took me longer than it usually takes me to read any book, because it has so much information at the beginning and it is written in a manner where all of the characters in the book have the information needed to understand the world. So the first half of the book is difficult to process, although the whole book, the universe Sanderson creates, his characters, are all very, very good. This is the first book on what it is believed to be a long series, a 10 to 13 book series, so I understand the author’s need of presenting us the foundations of the world, which can be a bit tedious and confusing at times.

The Name of the Wind was a pleasant surprise. I had heard about this book when the characters in Penny Arcade’s web comic mentioned its protagonist: Kvothe. The plot moves slowly at times, but the characters are well written and the story really integrates into the world created. I really liked it.

Now, you all know that I am big fan of George R.R. Martin’s work, and the Song of Ice and Fire series is one of my all time favorites, however the series has also transformed me into a paranoid sociopath with my reading, and I am waiting for someone to get whacked or looking at the political angle of things. So reading through the Way of Kings was nerve-wracking, I saw a Littlefinger in every character; a Varys huddled in ever darkened corner.

Writing

This was a very productive week. I have written 12 Chapters so far, and I will finish Chapter 13 today. It has been easier to write shorter chapters and using the overview has also been fantastic. However, I still had to fight with myself, because I just wasn’t letting go. I wanted every word to be perfect, every description to be epic, and that is just no the way to go about it, at least not for me. So I just let go, all of the self doubt, all of the apprehension, all of the tension…and it worked wonders.

What I am posting, usually on Wednesdays, is the first draft of my work. After I have written all of the novel I will re-read the chapters, one by one and re write or edit as needed, but I don’t want to become the edit monster that I know I can become, so I will take things slow. Hopefully this week will be as productive as the last and my goal of finishing the novel before the year is over can be met.

Updates

I will update the blog on Mondays and Thursdays now, with the latter being the day where I post my work. There is another section of the page, separate from the blog, where you can check out my writing.

Games

Well, I just cannot wait to play Star Wars: The Old Republic, for two reasons. One, I love MMO’s so the idea of playing one again is exciting and frightening at the same. The second reason supersedes all others though, I will be playing with my real-life friends again, so it wont only be about the grind, about leveling, about dungeons and raids, it will be about being with friends, sharing, laughing and building a guild together, building and strengthening our friendship and learning to play to game together.

This will be the first MMO that I will play after it is released, so I won’t be the noob anymore, we all will be. I wonder how that will feel like?

See you all on Thursday!

Have a great week!