David R. Michael's Blog, page 24
September 5, 2011
Writing Progress Report
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, August 29, 2011.
Writing Project
Words
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Line edited Gunwitch chapter 1.
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Total
Publishing/Marketing
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Reading List
Financing the American Dream: A Cultural History of Consumer Credit by Lendol Calder.
Questioner's Shadow by Mark Fassett.
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August 30, 2011
Another Part of My Current Not Writing
Back in January/February, I started playing Warmachine, a tabletop fantasy wargame. In the confusion and chaos of waiting for and then having a baby, I funnelled a lot of creativity into my growing Cryx army. Here's my latest bad boy, Lich Lord Terminus:
Lich Lord Terminus
I'm quite proud of how he turned out.
I think I'm getting a handle on how to expose the detail of the model while still steadfastly refusing to be "realistic" in my color scheme. When I first started Warmachine, I decided that I would avoid realisim. I would use a metallic, corroded gold paint scheme. Sort of like an old chess set. A radioactive, old chess set.
Over the months, I've experimented with different ways to paint the models (even using spraypaint for a while), though sticking with my original choice of colors. In the past few weeks, I simplified the painting process and figured out how to better integrate the green (called "Necrotite Green"). I like the green. It provides an "edge" and keeps the model from being boring.
Lich Lord Terminus, above, is the largest model I've painted and is, I think, one of the best I've painted–if I do say so myself.
If you're curious what the "studio"/standard paintjob for the model is:
I like mine better.
I expect to spend less time on the army and more time writing in the second half of September. Until then, I will still be working to get Gunwitch and GoSH1 ready to publish.
-David
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August 29, 2011
Routine Recovery
Today, for the first time since March, I did my Monday morning work out. I had suspended my weight training routine back in March due to a lingering wrist injury, and because I was wanting to focus on finishing GoSH1. Then there was late pregnancy stuff going on. Then a new baby going on.
Alan Ryker's recent post about his lifting milestone inspired me to get off my butt and get the work out happening again.
Life has pretty much returned to normal. Or as normal as an 8-week-old will allow. So I'm looking to get back into my normal daily routines. Like weight training. And writing. And working on The Journal.
I haven't changed my weight training routine. I'll still be working out 4 days a week, with each day focusing on a different (ish) set of muscles. In a nutshell:
Day 1 – Chest & Triceps (bench press, incline bench press, French curls)
Day 2 – Biceps & Legs (ezbar curls, incline dumbbell curls, squats, lying leg curls)
Day 3 – Shoulders & Abs (bench shoulder press, upright barbell rows, incline situps, incline twist setups)
Day 4 – Back (bent over barbell rows, pull ups, deadlifts)
I have a power rack and bench, an Olympic barbell (7′, 45lbs), an Olympic bar (5′, 30 lbs), an Olympic ezcurl bar (20 lbs), and two Olympic dumbbells (13 lbs each). I have more 2-inch free weights than I really need (go go garage sale shopping), plus a set of cast iron dumbbells from 2 lbs to 20 lbs. And I have a slant board for situps of various types. I started accumulating all this just after my 39th birthday, and now it takes up a good chunk of the upstairs game room.
For every exercise I do a warmup set of 8 reps, usually at 1/3-1/2 target weight. Then I do two sets of 6-8 reps at the target weight.
This week, since I'm getting back into it, I will be "moving the bars around". I won't be adding any weight at all. Just performing the sets with empty bars. I'm still doing the warmup set, though, so this week I'll be doing 3 sets of 8 reps each at minimum weight. Next week I'll start adding weights again, slowly. 5 lbs/week for some exercises, 10 lbs/week for others. Being 42, and working out essentially alone (though the family is usually in the house somewhere), I prefer to take things slow and easy.
My logs show my peak lifts at:
Bench Press – 145 lbs
EZ Bar Curls – 100 lbs
Barbell Squats – 225 lbs
Deadlifts – 245 lbs
At 6′ 2″ tall, 195 lbs, I won't be using those numbers to join the USA Olympic lifting team, but I'm pleased with the progress I've managed over the past few years.
I expect to get the other parts of my routine in place over the next couple weeks. Until then, I'll continue touching on the writing and publishing in a piecemeal fashion. I'm hoping by the end of September to be clicking along on all to-do-lists again.
-David
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Writing Progress Report
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, August 22, 2011.
Writing Project
Words
Monday
Tuesday
Edited Gunwitch chapter 10, 11.
Wednesday
Edited Gunwitch chapter 12.
Thursday
Edited Gunwitch chapter 13, 14, 15.
Friday
Edited Gunwitch chapter 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.
Saturday
Sunday
Total
Publishing/Marketing
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Reading List
In Cheap We Trust by Lauren Weber.
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August 23, 2011
Writing Progress Report
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, August 15, 2011.
Writing Project
Words
Monday
Edited Gunwitch chapter 3, 4.
Tuesday
Wednesday
Edited Gunwitch chapter 5.
Thursday
Edited Gunwitch chapter 6, 7, 8.
Friday
Edited Gunwitch chapter 9.
Saturday
Sunday
Total
Publishing/Marketing
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Reading List
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August 19, 2011
Slow Motion Progress
As the progress report for last week showed, I've started editing Gunwitch. I've done more this week, though not as much as I had planned. Still, it's progress.
Once I have this editing pass done, I'll still have:
Line editing
Ebook formatting
POD formatting
Ebook & POD proofing
Other misc tasks (like finalizing my choice of title)
All of that should be done, and the book released before the end of September. Which is a bit later than I originally anticipated, but, well, babies happen.
Somewhere between line editing and formatting, I'll probably start giving GoSH1 it's first real edit, getting it ready for first readers. More news on that later. Further, somewhere/somewhen in all of this late summer publishing activity, I'll even start writing again.
The cover artwork for Gunwitch is nearing completion. The artist released a sneak peak/tease this week on his blog:
Have a great weekend!
-David
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August 15, 2011
Writing Progress Report
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, August 8, 2011.
Writing Project
Words
Monday
Edited Gunwitch chapter 1.
Tuesday
Edited Gunwitch chapter 2.
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Total
Publishing/Marketing
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Reading List
Afterthoughts by Lawrence Block.
Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay.
Spend 'Til the End by by Laurence Kotlikoff and Scott Burns.
Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay.
Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay.
Playing to Win: Becoming the Champion by David Sirlin.
Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2011.
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August 9, 2011
Invisible Magic Hands
One memory from childhood that has always stuck with me is at once odd and mundane.
The memory comes from a Sunday morning, getting ready for church. I would have been four, I think, or maybe younger. On that particular day I realized I couldn't just push the end of my belt through the first belt loop of my dress pants, then push the rest of the belt to follow, and have the belt snake around my waist, slip through the other belt loops and, finally, through the last loop, where I could then cinch it with the buckle. No such luck. Instead, I had to find each loop in turn and slip the belt through them, all the way around (fortunately, I was a skinny kid, so it didn't take too long).
What was weird, what made me remember this event, was the nagging thought that it used to be just that simple, even magical. First loop, snake, last loop, buckle.
I have always wondered why I would have ever thought that. I used to believe this was an example of "the magical thinking of childhood". Or that I just remembered it wrong.
Recently, though, at the age of 42, I think I finally discovered the real answer.
I think that before that particular Sunday, my mother, or my father, or even my older brother or sister, had helped me get dressed for church. With their help, whoever they were, putting my belt on was exactly that easy: First loop, snake, last loop, buckle.
Magic, with a couple helping hands.
I had only remembered the part I did, and the final result. I never remembered–and I still don't–the assistance I received. But it must have been there.
So, Mom, Dad, Don, Wanda: Thanks. For helping me get dressed. And for giving me a bit of childhood magic I've never forgotten. =)
-David
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July 26, 2011
Angry War Bunnies
"Gnomeo & Juliet" is a mediocre film with a few highlights scattered throughout, nearly buried by the sheer weight of derivative dialog and situations.
That said, this one frame makes the whole movie worth watching, IMO:
Angry War Bunnies
There. Now you don't have to watch movie to get the best part.
-David
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July 24, 2011
Sounds of Home
My daughter once told me, as I was starting my near-daily ritual of brewing ice tea, that the sound of the water filling the teapot was a comforting sound to her. That hearing it meant she was home, and I was home, and it made her feel better. Serene was only about 5 when she told me that, so it's been a while, but I've never forgotten.
When I was writing The Girl Who Ran With Horses, I made a point of including a scene where Stevie stands still and listens to her own sounds of home.
…Blake let go of the door as Stevie stepped through, the heavy glass pane hitting her shoulder, the hydraulics of the door pushing her the rest of the way into the house.She stood in the foyer, by herself, clutching her duffel bag. She heard Dad in the office on her left, a clink of glass, a sound of liquid pouring, another clink as the stopper went back into the bottle, then the rustle of papers being adjusted. Nothing moved in the bright, empty family room to her right, the furniture looking dusty and unused.
She heard Dad take a drink and put the glass back down on his desk. She listened to him mutter under his breath as he rustled more papers, looking for something.
She smelled the scents of the house, the remnants of breakfast, the ever present musk of horses, a hint of Blake's aftershave.
She was home now. Somehow, the thought of home wasn't as exciting as it had been. And the big house seemed emptier than she ever remembered it feeling, even in the days right after Edwin died. Friends and family had been in and out, and then the funeral, and then Stevie was heading to Tulsa with Uncle Rick and Aunt Mary. There hadn't been time for the house to feel empty. Now, though…
I have my own sounds, of course, that I listen for to let me know I'm home, but I hadn't really thought about it until my little girl told me one of hers.
-David
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