Mark Joseph Young's Blog: The Ides of Mark, page 2

In and Out Again

I had another short visit to the hospital, complications of the previous visit.  I returned home before my wife was discharged from rehab, but only just before, so I've been very busy caring for her.

Despite this, I have kept up on the Christian Gamers Guild Chaplain's Bible Study, posting Mark 14:3 through 9 as well as Quotes ##193, 194, 195 , Quotes ##196, 197, 198 , and Quotes ##199, 200 .  The Guild also released RPG-ology #84:  Possibilities , discussing the use of inductive logic in play.

In bigger news, An Analytical Commentary on The Book of First Corinthians came out in two volumes, paperback and Kindle.  I continue work on the Second Corinthians installment, but rather slowly.  I also continue working on the character sheets for Multiverser:  The Thirteenth Story, and Eric Ashley and I have slowly resumed our collaboration on When Verse Comes to Versed.  Meanwhile, the online serialized publication of Con Version sees Tomiko Takano move to a new world, Derek Brown face a nightmare, and Brian Cooper settle into being a superhero, in chapters 97 through 104 and a behind-the-writings web log post, #510:  Versers Debate covering the previous dozen verses.

There might be more, but I don't remember more.  Your best shot at keeping up to date is through social media and particularly Patreon.

Visiting Rehab

I'd like to say that I'm back on track, but I'm really not.  It has happened this way before, ironically, but the day after I entered the hospital last month my wife fell on the deck and broke a bone--last time a hip, this time a leg.  She is in rehab and expects me to take a couple hours out of every day to bring her coffee, usually food, and visit with her.  That plus the travel generally tires me such that I get little else done.

However, little is not nothing.

I did write a chapter of the next novel, When Verse Comes to Versed.  I finished my last obligations on An Analytical Commentary on The Book of First Corinthians, which will appear at any moment on Amazon, and returned to doing setup on the Second Corinthians installment, although I haven't yet figured out where I was.  I also dabbled on the character sheets for Multiverser:  The Thirteenth Story, and resumed posting quotes from various books.

Turning to the Christian Gamers Guild, we saw the release of Faith in Play #84:  Hope , discussing motivation from another angle.  The Chaplain's Bible Study continued with Mark 13:28 through 14:2, and Quotes ##182, 183, 184 , Quotes ##187, 190 , and Quotes ##193, 194, 195 .

Going back to the novels, I posted chapters 88 through 96 of Con Version , continuing stories for Tomiko Takano in the wilderness, Derek Brown in spooky New Orleans, and Brian Cooper becoming a superhero.

I wrote another Faith in Play article and set up another RPG-ology, taking me into early next year.

I think that's everything.  You can keep up through social media and especially Patreon.

Hospital Visit

A couple days after posting Late Again my wife insisted I return to the wound care center about some of my medical issues, and they had me admitted to the hospital for most of two weeks.  I'm now trying to catch up.

I was for awkward reasons cut off from my computer during that time, so I have accomplished very little work.  I did post Mark 13:25 through 27 to the Bible Study, and Quotes ##176, 177, 178 .  I also managed to post Con Version chapter 86 with Derek Brown before I left and chapter 87 with Brian Cooper upon my return.

May November be better.

Late Again

I've been a bit sick all week and my wife has been running me ragged all month, so I'm attempting to get this posted, albeit a day late.  I'm going to try to keep it concise, although I don't know whether I can do that.

We opened the month with Faith in Play #83:  Spirits , discussing the inclusion of angels and demons in a game. Since the first half of the month began on the first it ended on the fifteenth, giving us RPG-ology #83:  Tactics , a recovered Game Ideas Unlimited article about having battle plans and other pre-organized procedures in game. Between the two the Bible Study continued with Mark 13:15 through 25, and Quotes ##169, 170, 172 and Quotes ##174, 175 .

On the fiction front I published Con Version chapters 78 through 85 and one behind-the-writings mark Joseph "young" web log post, #509:  Character Challenges .  Eric and I are slowly picking up When Verse Comes to Versed, and I'm doing character paper setup for Multiverser:  The Thirteenth Story.

A Pagan friend asked a very insightful question which I answered in blog post #508:  Christians and the Law

I think all I have left is to mention you can keep up to date on Patreon and other social media.

Month Waning

I'm late in the day composing this, due largely to the fact that when I thought I was headed out to dinner we were interrupted by a phone call stating that the grandchildren were going to need supervision because their mother was going to have to go to the hospital.  The day was already behind, though, so we turned back and took care of them, and I attended to my own medical needs and collapsed for an hour.  Then upon rising I realized that I had scheduled this bi-monthly update.

Let's begin with the behind-the-scenes stuff.  I've been doing a read-through of Multiverser:  The Third Book of Worlds, and finding places that need attention.  I've also reported some issues with the draft of An Analytical Commentary of The Book of First Corinthians Volume I, and progressed with the setup of the character sheets for the novel Multiverser:  The Thirteenth Story.  Also starting in small bits Eric Ashley and I have picked up the first chapters of When Verse Comes to Versed.

In the public view, the Christian Gamers Guild released RPG-ology #82:  Knowing , from a Game Ideas Unlimited entry of the same name, about character self-knowledge.  The Chaplain's Bible Study meanwhile continued with Mark 13:3 through 14, and had two additional entries, Quotes ##160, 161 and Quotes ##162, 163, 164 .

Con Version continues to appear online at four chapters per week, continuing the stories of Derek Brown, Tomiko Takano, and Brian Cooper with chapters 70 through 77.  The mark Joseph "young web log post #506:  Characters Involved gave a behind-the-writings look at chapters 61 through 72 of that book.

With the election looming I felt that I should write something about it, so I published web log post #507:  Something About New Jersey's 2024 Election .

We also more or less celebrated half a dozen close family birthdays in the latter half of the month, which took a chunk out of time but was generally positive.  I must again thank my patrons for taking some of the financial pressure off us, and mention that you can support my work through Patreon and PayPal.me, and keep up to date through other social media sites.

Multiversing

Forward movement in the first half of September includes that we have secured domain and hosting for Multiverser.com; unfortunately I have not yet figured out how to access it, and I keep getting sidetracked.

I also asked the board whether I should be working on Multiverser:  The Third Book of Worlds or the second edition of the rules, and didn't quite get a straight answer, so I have been doing a readthrough of the worlds book I haven't really looked at for a long time.

Eric Ashley and I have effectively put our collaborative novel writing on hold, although I did poke a bit at When Verse Comes to Versed.  Meanwhile, I've been moving forward on the character sheets for Multiverser:  The Thirteenth Story, and posting chapters 61 through 69 of Con Version .

The Christian Gamers Guild released Faith in Play #82:  Nice , discussing a character trait that should be found in us as players but not necessarily always in our characters, and the Chaplain's Bible Study continued with Mark 12:37 through 13:2.  Quotes continue on Facebook and Instagram, with select ones released to the Bible study, including Quotes ##149, 150 and Quotes ##152, 153, 154, 155 .

In the middle of all this my youngest son got married on a beach in Sea Isle City, I was the best man, and we had to obtain a beach-capable wheelchair which was not a particularly comfortable way to get my wife on and off the beach, but it worked.

I think that might be everything, other than that you can keep up to date on social media and especially Patreon.

Transitions

The latter half of the month of August has been a confused state of affairs as everything I was doing last month has been replaced by everything I'm doing this month.  Eric Ashley and I have brought Verse a Tile to the point where the next step is for me to set it up for publication on the web, which is not happening for a while since this is the thirteenth novel and I'm only part way through publishing the eleventh, Con Version , having added chapters 52 through 60 and the behind the writings post #505:  Versers Advance to cover chapters 49 through 60. I have finished most of the setup of Multiverser:  The Thirteenth Story but for a bit of character sheet work I'm still completing, and done a bit of writing on the fifteenth book, When Verse Comes to Versed.

Meanwhile, I'm sort of between books on the Analytical Commentary series. Ken Goudsward sent me a print-ready draft PDF of the first half of I Corinthians to scan for errors, and I'm editing and setting up the II Corinthians volume.  Meanwhile the Bible study continues with Mark 12:27 through 36, and three posts of quotes, Quotes ##135, 136 , Quoters ##140, 141 , and Quotes ##143, 145, 146 .  The quotes also continue on Facebook and Instagram.

I always liked the Game Ideas Unlimited article that I am pleased to see restored now as RPG-ology #81:  Wizardry .  It relates an encounter between a fighter and a wizard, from each perspective, and then gives some insights into fantasy magic.

I was asked by a reader what caused me to become a writer, and recognizing that this is not a simple question I quickly wrote and posted mark Joseph "young" web log post #504:  Why I Started Writing .  I'm told that work is progressing toward the re-release of Multiverser, and so I have created a Valdron Linktree in anticipation of having a new website.  And in the midst of all this we're trying to prepare for my youngest's wedding.  I have the suit, and think I can get away without alterations.

I think that's everything.  You can keep up to date through social media, and particularly Patreon.

Catching Up

It would be arrogant of me to suppose that any of you noticed I failed to post this seventy-seventh entry of The Ides of Mark on the fifteenth of August, but I apologize anyway.  It was well into the wee hours of this morning that I realized I had missed it, so I figured that there wasn't much difference between posting then and posting twelve hours later.

Several milestones were reached in the first half of this month.  Eric Ashley and I completed our read-through edit of Verse a Tile, and I've moved preparation of the character sheets for Multiverser:  The Thirteenth Story forward such that I have working drafts of all of them and only have to create the HTML versions for posting. We agreed on a title for the fifteenth book, When Verse Comes to Versed, which will feature Derek and Vashti Brown, Tomiko "Tommy" Takano, and Captain/Doctor Joseph Kondor and his friends, in all new worlds.

On the subject of novels, I've continued posting Con Version chapters 43 through 51, with more of Derek and Tommy plus Brian "Barrelmaster" Cooper.  There was also a behind-the-writings web log post, #503:  Versers Progress , covering chapters 37 through 48.

On the subject of projects finished, I have sent final drafts of An Analytical Commentary on The Book of First Corinthians to Ken Goudsward at Dimensionfold, and he's started setting it up for publication as a two-volume set.  I have begun work on the next, obviously Second Corinthians.  The Chaplain's Bible Study continues through Mark 12:16 through 26, along with Quotes ##128, 129, 130 and Quotes ##131, 132, 133 , this time drawing from Verse Three, Chapter One , RPG Theory 101 , and RPG-ology Volume I .

The Christian Gamers Guild also posted Faith in Play #81:  The Bland Mind .  I have drafted entries for that series and its sister series RPG-ology through January, including an answer to a serious question about play, but you'll have to wait for those.

Quotes continue at Facebook and Instagram, and you can keep up to date through social media including Patreon.

Well, Not Well

A collection of annoying health issues have been slowing me down, requiring me to spend time caring for myself and my wife instead of getting work done.   Even so, progress continues.

Eric Ashley and I have completed Verse a Tile and begun the "final" read-through edit.  I call it final, because at this point he and I will still be consulting on changes, looking for inconsistencies and story problems, and agreeing on the text.  It then moves to the stage in which I am formatting the text for e-publication, and during that process I will undoubtedly find a few typos that got past us, and fix them--although if I find something major I might consult him.  For example, I'm still working on character sheets for Multiverser:  The Thirteenth Story, and I just realized that in one scene he had Tomiko Takano do an acrobatic move she had never learned, and I had to decide how to change the text--whether to make this something she abruptly attempted in the middle of combat and succeeded, replace it with something she can do well, or change it to an inconsequential failure.  (I did the second.)

While I'm on the subject of the novels, I continue to tell Tommy's story, along with those of Derek Brown and Brian "Barrelmaster" Cooper, in Con Version chapters 34 through 42, with stories winding through medieval Switzerland, spooky New Orleans, and a future wilderness.  I'm also still posting teachings on the Gospel According to Mark at the Christian Gamers Guild Chaplain's Bible Study, reaching 12:4 through 15.  I've continued posting quotes from the books daily to Facebook, Instagram, and Patreon, with select ones posted to the Bible study, including Quotes ##121, 122, 123, 124 and Quotes ##125, 126, 127 , all of which came this time from Faith and Gaming Expanded Edition .

Also appearing is RPG-ology #80:  Words , about jargon, another recovered piece from the old Game Ideas Unlimited series.  I have continued work on those, extending that series and its sister Faith in Play with drafts through November and preparing to write the December entries.

My behind-the-scenes work also includes nearing the end of the setup for An Analytical Commentary on The Book of First Corinthians, with a significant issue I'm going to have to discuss with the publisher once I do reach the end.

I have tentatively named the next novel When Verse Comes to Versed, but have not gotten any feedback on it from Eric, and thus it remains tentative.  I've answered a couple e-mails about time travel movies.

That might not be everything, but it's all I can at this point identify, and I have work ahead tonight despite the late hour, so I'm going to thank you for your encouragement and support, and close here.

Progress Progresses

Unseen, I've made progress on Verse a Tile, working with Eric Ashley, the character sheets for Multiverser:  The Thirteenth Story, An Analytical Commentary on the Book of First Corinthians, Faith in Play, RPG-ology, and the next as yet untitled novel.

The Christian Gamers Guild released Faith in Play #80:  Synchronized , Mark 11:26 through 12:3, and Quotes ##115, 116 and Quote #120 .

In other news, I continued posting Con Version chapters 26 through 33, with Brian thrown in a medieval jail, Tommy still camping in the woods, and Derek in a haunted New Orleans.  I also continued posting the daily quotes, which you can read at Facebook and Instagram and Patreon, and you can keep up to date on new posts there (but not Instagram) and other social media.