S. Evan Townsend's Blog, page 137

Second Draft Done!

Been working on this secret book project for about six months now (maybe longer, time flies when you're an old fart).  Tonight I finished the second draft at 51,572 words.  The ending may be a bit abrupt.  Not sure.  Anyway, now to con someone into proofreading it.

Online Ads Stalking Me

Maybe I should switch to Firefox and use the "ad block" add-on (actually, I do, but I use IE9 for "casual" web surfing).  But I love when ads on websites try to say your location and get it wrong.  For some reason a lot of ads think I'm in Virginia (I'm in Washington State) such as the ad to the left.  Then some think I'm in Bellingham, Washington (on the other side of the state).  My ISP was headquartered in Bellingham before it was bought out by a bigger company (in Virginia?).  And sometimes they say I'm in a small town near here where I believe the fiber optic connects to the main Internet backbone (can you tell I know almost nothing about this).  And some get both the town and city right, I just don't believe all those beautiful, lonely women live here.  Sorry.

Starbucks

If I'm not home or off interviewing someone, I'm usually at Starbucks. I may be addicted!

Exotic Food

A while back I posted a pic (testing the mobile app for Blogger) of Mexican food.  Then this weekend I went out for Korean food in Spokane (see picture at left).  I really like Korean food and this place (actually, in Airway Heights) has good stuff.  I was a little insulted when they handed us the "English Only" menus (I read a little Korean).

I like exotic food, just not too exotic. When I was in Peru they had guinea pig on the menu.  But I like Chinese, Mexican, Korean, Japanese (sushi and sashimi), and Thai.  I guess that's not all that exotic but it beats McDonald's.

So what kind of foreign food do you like?

Masquerade Giveaway

My publisher, World Castle Publishing, is having an eBook giveway one per week in October.  To enter, use the Raffle Copter below.  Prizes are free eBooks published by World  Castle. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tired!

Not exactly what I would call a relaxing weekend.  Years ago I promised my son when he was 18 he could go the the high performance driving school (driving on a racetrack) that I let his older brother go to and that I attended many, many times.

I decided not to drive this time so I ended up sitting outside in the sunshine (not something fair-skinned redheads should do a lot) while my son drove on (and twice off) the track.  Because of his second departure from the track today, the car is filthy inside and out.  I said we looked like a couple of rednecks who drove their Camaro off the farm.

So I'm tired.  Just thought I'd let you know.  But boy, I heard the roar of the engines, smelled the hot brakes, felt the ground-thumping of massive power being applied, and I so wanted to be out on that track.

So now I'm tired, and sunscreen is getting into my eyes, and I just want to rest.  How was your weekend?

Sunday Six: Vlad

Today's Sunday Six from the Prologue of Book of Death:

Vlad stood and walked down the few steps of the dais, cackling with laughter.  The two warriors beside him followed, drawing their swords which hissed as metal escaped scabbard.  The young girl chose that moment to flee from the room, her skirts swooshing and her long dark hair swaying as she nearly ran. "You don't know the power of what I am doing," Vlad said in a soft yet somehow terrifying voice.  "Bring on your armies and your adept ones.  I'll defeat them all."

Sunshine Award!

I have apparently been nominated by my good friend Sare for a Sunshine Award.  And this apparently confers upon me some responsibilities (gee, thanks, Sare).  One is to put the picture to the left on this blog.  Another is to answer the questions below.  The complete list of rules is here:

As with all awards, the Sunshine Award comes with a few rules:

♥ Include the award’s logo in a post or on your blog
♥ Answer 10 questions about yourself
♥ Nominate 10-12 other fabulous bloggers
♥ Link your nominees to the post and comment on their blogs, letting them know they have been nominated
♥ Share the love and link the person who nominated you.

The problem is, I don't know 10-12 "fabulous" bloggers.  Most the blogs I read are political.

But I will answer the 10 questions (you know, it doesn't say which 10 questions, but I assume it's supposed to be the same ones Sare answered):

Favorite color:  Lately I've been partial to hot pink.  Not sure why.
Favorite animal: I've always liked bald eagles.
Favorite number: 165 (the fastest in miles per hour I've driven a motor vehicle).
Favorite non-alcoholic drink:  Diet Sunkist
Prefer Facebook or Twitter? I use both to promote my books but also with Facebook I keep up with family and friends.  It's sort of like do you prefer PowerPoint or Excel?  They do different functions.  One fun thing about Twitter is I've seen in tweets news before it breaks elsewhere such as the Washington D.C. earthquake and that Santorum was suspending his campaign.
My passion: writing, politics, driving (fast).
Prefer getting or giving presents: gimme gimme gimme
Favorite pattern: Whatever short little schoolgirl skirts are made of.
Favorite day of the week: Usually Thursday because I have nothing to do that I have to do those days.
Favorite flower: No idea.

Okay, so I won't nominate any blogs (sorry) if you haven't been reading Sare's blog, you should.

First Draft Done

I just finished writing a 50,577 word first draft of a novel I've been working on for a while.  It took me longer to write than I thought it would because I couldn't figure out the ending.  This is a hussssh secret project that if I publish it will be under a pen name.

Now to wait a day or two and go back and proofread/rewrite.  That always seems to make my manuscripts longer.

In the Beginning . . .

Read about the genesis of the Adepts Series at my Page Flippers guest post.