Jason A. Cheek's Blog, page 20
September 1, 2014
Winter gaming group for WOW
For any of you that are interested, my I will be participating in a “Winter Gaming Group” that starts up November 2nd and goes on basically until the weather is decent here in Germany. A Teamspeak 3 server is being stood up for when the guild get up to the point of raiding.
Here is the official email I received about the group:
“First off, http://www.audiovideodisco.org
Please register, I'm trying to post information to the forums on a regular basis. It's also a great way to get information from the experienced WoW folks. Any questions you have you can post in the forums and I'll try to answer.
Secondly, Teamspeak 3... we have it. This means you need to be able to at least log in. Nothing is mandatory with it, but it's a very useful tool if you are a new player and have questions. Once we hit actual raiding content this will be mandatory.
Thirdly, nothing is stopping anyone from starting up right now! Guild invites are available right now. We just don't have anything on the event calendar until November. If you want to try to put together a higher level group feel free!
Lastly, November starts our Winter Gaming Group events. You need to do the following before November 2nd. This group is more for brand new WoW players than anything else. Helping them level up, learn the basics of the game to hopefully become entry level raiders for the guild later on.
1) Register on the website (I'll get you the correct permissions, just message me through the website or post in the forums)
2) Sign up for the events you will be at via the Events link!
3) Have a level 15 character ready to go on November 2nd! Play what you want and will enjoy!
4) Make sure you have Teamspeak 3 downloaded and you can connect to the server!
Second Lastly, feel free to forward the guild information to anyone interested. The more the merrier! Just send them to the website for more information!”
For those of you who don’t know my history, I was a hardcore gamer for a number of years. I loved all genres … first person shooters, strategy, MMO’s, etc. It was a huge part of my life and still is very important to me in many ways, even though I don’t normally play much now-a-days. Partly the reason I don’t play like I used to was that after being a Guild Leader of an End Game Raiding Guild for so many years. The constant responsibility sapped my love of MMO’s in general. Another part of the reason was that I had a long-term relationship end with my girlfriend who was my gaming partner, which made many of the gaming relationships I had painful to continue holding onto at the time. Also switching over to extreme sports and traveling around the world kind of threw a major kink into having any time to game too.
This doesn’t mean I won’t be writing regularly, but I thought it might be kind of fun to take two days a week to play a couple hours with some co-workers, friends and maybe some fans. I’m just warning everyone, I will be playing at some odd times due to my Central European time zone in comparison to people in Australia, Canada and the United States, but at the same time I would love to have some time to team up and hang out online for those of you that are interested.
Feel welcomed to drop me an email if you’re interested or just sign up on the Guild’s forums
Here is the official email I received about the group:
“First off, http://www.audiovideodisco.org
Please register, I'm trying to post information to the forums on a regular basis. It's also a great way to get information from the experienced WoW folks. Any questions you have you can post in the forums and I'll try to answer.
Secondly, Teamspeak 3... we have it. This means you need to be able to at least log in. Nothing is mandatory with it, but it's a very useful tool if you are a new player and have questions. Once we hit actual raiding content this will be mandatory.
Thirdly, nothing is stopping anyone from starting up right now! Guild invites are available right now. We just don't have anything on the event calendar until November. If you want to try to put together a higher level group feel free!
Lastly, November starts our Winter Gaming Group events. You need to do the following before November 2nd. This group is more for brand new WoW players than anything else. Helping them level up, learn the basics of the game to hopefully become entry level raiders for the guild later on.
1) Register on the website (I'll get you the correct permissions, just message me through the website or post in the forums)
2) Sign up for the events you will be at via the Events link!
3) Have a level 15 character ready to go on November 2nd! Play what you want and will enjoy!
4) Make sure you have Teamspeak 3 downloaded and you can connect to the server!
Second Lastly, feel free to forward the guild information to anyone interested. The more the merrier! Just send them to the website for more information!”
For those of you who don’t know my history, I was a hardcore gamer for a number of years. I loved all genres … first person shooters, strategy, MMO’s, etc. It was a huge part of my life and still is very important to me in many ways, even though I don’t normally play much now-a-days. Partly the reason I don’t play like I used to was that after being a Guild Leader of an End Game Raiding Guild for so many years. The constant responsibility sapped my love of MMO’s in general. Another part of the reason was that I had a long-term relationship end with my girlfriend who was my gaming partner, which made many of the gaming relationships I had painful to continue holding onto at the time. Also switching over to extreme sports and traveling around the world kind of threw a major kink into having any time to game too.
This doesn’t mean I won’t be writing regularly, but I thought it might be kind of fun to take two days a week to play a couple hours with some co-workers, friends and maybe some fans. I’m just warning everyone, I will be playing at some odd times due to my Central European time zone in comparison to people in Australia, Canada and the United States, but at the same time I would love to have some time to team up and hang out online for those of you that are interested.
Feel welcomed to drop me an email if you’re interested or just sign up on the Guild’s forums
August 28, 2014
Quick Update on Book Two
Today I was having an 80’s flashback at work. Being overseas and listening to the Armed Forces Radio, we get an eclectic selection of music played on a regular basis. While we have all the new stuff, the DJ’s also consistently play oldies. What got me on the kick for a couple hours today was hearing the Song “Voices Cary” from Til Tuesday. I had always loved the song but had never looked it up. Luckily now-a-days there is Youtube, so once I found the song I became lost in a haze of 80 tunes. Before I knew it I’d gone through “Holding Back the Years” from Simply Red, “Luka” from Suzanne Vega, a little Duran Duran & Modern English, “Harden My Heart” from Quarterflash and “The Captain of Her Heart” by Kurt Maloo.
Well, enough of that. Back to my Epic Music mega mixes.
I wanted to introduce another character from Book Two, Captain Sean MacRoy. I had thought he was an interesting character, but it wasn’t until after talking with several friends that are beta reading the story for me that I found out just how cool he is. So I’m introducing him here.
Captain MacRoy is Irish, but his decedents come from Scotland. His ancestors intermingled with Norse Settlers before they were invited as a group of almost fifty families to Ireland by the Irish Nobility as mercenaries. The locals called them “Foreign Geals” instead of Scotts due to their mixed heritage, which they later adopted as their name becoming known as the Gallowglass Clan. Sean is a big man with bright blue eyes, curly red hair and broad shoulders. He’s tall, standing at 6’4” or 193 cm, and was born in Belfast, Ireland. Brought up as a Protestant Unionist, he followed the family’s business of hauling bulk-cargo with his ship named Triumph, which was built during the Second World War. Over the years he’s traveled the world, mostly working off the coast of Africa and India where he became a smuggler and gun runner until meeting up with Larissa Evens. Although, once a smuggler always a smuggler.
Sean has a close nit crew of Irish, German and Polish merchant marines that have a number of unique skills acquired over the years from their legal and nefarious activities. Although now-a-days they run mostly legit operations depending upon the corruption of the local governments they are forced to deal with.
Anyway, the story is coming along good. I hope everyone likes the quick update.
Well, enough of that. Back to my Epic Music mega mixes.
I wanted to introduce another character from Book Two, Captain Sean MacRoy. I had thought he was an interesting character, but it wasn’t until after talking with several friends that are beta reading the story for me that I found out just how cool he is. So I’m introducing him here.
Captain MacRoy is Irish, but his decedents come from Scotland. His ancestors intermingled with Norse Settlers before they were invited as a group of almost fifty families to Ireland by the Irish Nobility as mercenaries. The locals called them “Foreign Geals” instead of Scotts due to their mixed heritage, which they later adopted as their name becoming known as the Gallowglass Clan. Sean is a big man with bright blue eyes, curly red hair and broad shoulders. He’s tall, standing at 6’4” or 193 cm, and was born in Belfast, Ireland. Brought up as a Protestant Unionist, he followed the family’s business of hauling bulk-cargo with his ship named Triumph, which was built during the Second World War. Over the years he’s traveled the world, mostly working off the coast of Africa and India where he became a smuggler and gun runner until meeting up with Larissa Evens. Although, once a smuggler always a smuggler.
Sean has a close nit crew of Irish, German and Polish merchant marines that have a number of unique skills acquired over the years from their legal and nefarious activities. Although now-a-days they run mostly legit operations depending upon the corruption of the local governments they are forced to deal with.
Anyway, the story is coming along good. I hope everyone likes the quick update.
August 23, 2014
what a crazy cool week
We’ll as much of a crazy cool week as possible while working my ass off every day at work. Currently I’m sucking down a cup of java and listening to some Stabbing Westward – Sleep ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-z6YAZrauU ). Sorry for being late on my blog update, but it happens. Btw, if you like the old song, check out “Waking up Besides You”, which is another favorite of mine.
To be honest, I still feel somewhat hung over from reading a book that Nathaniel and Richard both recommended I check out during my “research phase” I’ve been working through for my own romance scenes. The book they both thought I should check out, along with Elliott Kay’s Good Intention Series, was John Conroe - Demon Accords 01 - God Touched. You can find the link here: http://www.amazon.com/God-Touched-Demon-Accords-Book-ebook/dp/B003G2ZCW0/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408784847&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=John+Conroe+-+Demon+Accords+01+-+God+Touched Another one of those books I just had to read in one setting after swearing to myself I would head to bed early after writing until 2200 hours (10PM for those of you not familiar with military time). I promptly went to bed by 0330 in the morning, which made for a really hard day at work for the next morning. Although I don’t know if you can count two and a half hours as sleep, it’s more on the side of being a long nap than anything else. As of abusing myself once this week wasn’t good enough, I did the same thing the next night, only this time I read the second novel in John Conroe’s Demon Accords series. Only this time I didn’t make it to bed until 0430. The only good news was that I finished both books in one setting HA!
Okay, I have to be good this weekend and next week. I have to have some time to recover. I mean seriously, I’m way too old to be going to bed so late on a school (I mean work) night. John Conroe, just give me some time to catch up and I’ll make sure I get those reviews out.
The crazy cool part of my week came down to two parts. One was I received an email from Elliott Kay this week. He liked my review I gave him on Amazon and was (I think) pleasantly surprised to see my happy praise for his Good Intention Series on my blog. You know sometimes when you’re reading a novel you feel like you’ve gotten a good impression of the writer just because of their perspective of their Main Character and what they focus on within their story. When I read Elliott Kay’s books I overwhelming had this impression. Maybe that sounds odd, but the more I write the more I get these impressions, because anyone who writes a novel puts their heart and soul into their work. I think it definitely bares one soul to a point.
I guess I’m saying all of this because Elliott was super cool in his email. He offered to give me some of his personal advice on writing erotica and overall good authoring stuff to be aware of and shared understanding of dealing with some people’s negative reviews. Seriously he’s a pretty awesome cat! I still need to answer him back, but I probably won’t make it until next week. Also, Nathaniel, if you read this before I get a chance to email back, this goes the same for you. I have to watch out how much time I spend on book, blogging and author stuff when I’m home around my family. I’ve been given the talking to that book stuff only happens during non-family time. My wife is working this morning, so I have a little bit of time to do a quick blog update before I have to finish up my house chores.
Currently my wife and I have been catching up on the Teen Wolf Series. We started it late and are just about half way through the third season, so I expect we’ll be staying up late tonight trying to cram in as much Teen Wolf as possible before passing out tonight from staying up too late.
The other somewhat crazy cool thing that I did was accidently share my part of my raw story with my bud Richard. I blame this lack of attention to detail because I’d been staying up so late reading. This raw story is something I usually work a lot together with Deanna and Patrick who both helped with giving their thoughts on the story for book one. The reason is that I’m very shy / embarrassed about my writing until it’s in a cleaned up state and also I try to keep the story under wraps as much as possible. Although Richard was on my list of beta readers, I hadn’t planned to share the story with him until it was finished, but all in all it turned out okay. Richard gobbled the story up in one setting and we talked about his impressions the same day after I got home from work. I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the feedback. It lets me know I’m doing a kick-ass job on book two’s story arc. The only thing is where the part of the story he read left him majorly hanging at an exciting part, which is cruel and usual punishment for those of us who love a great story.
After my research and discussions, I believe I’ll try to base my romantic scenes somewhere in-between Elliot Kay’s and John Conroe’s methods of addressing this. I just won’t know 100% until I put everything down on paper and then run it by my friends, but that’s the plan. Who knows, if Elliot is open to it I might run some of it by him.
Anyway, I need to get started on my weekend cleaning.
To be honest, I still feel somewhat hung over from reading a book that Nathaniel and Richard both recommended I check out during my “research phase” I’ve been working through for my own romance scenes. The book they both thought I should check out, along with Elliott Kay’s Good Intention Series, was John Conroe - Demon Accords 01 - God Touched. You can find the link here: http://www.amazon.com/God-Touched-Demon-Accords-Book-ebook/dp/B003G2ZCW0/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408784847&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=John+Conroe+-+Demon+Accords+01+-+God+Touched Another one of those books I just had to read in one setting after swearing to myself I would head to bed early after writing until 2200 hours (10PM for those of you not familiar with military time). I promptly went to bed by 0330 in the morning, which made for a really hard day at work for the next morning. Although I don’t know if you can count two and a half hours as sleep, it’s more on the side of being a long nap than anything else. As of abusing myself once this week wasn’t good enough, I did the same thing the next night, only this time I read the second novel in John Conroe’s Demon Accords series. Only this time I didn’t make it to bed until 0430. The only good news was that I finished both books in one setting HA!
Okay, I have to be good this weekend and next week. I have to have some time to recover. I mean seriously, I’m way too old to be going to bed so late on a school (I mean work) night. John Conroe, just give me some time to catch up and I’ll make sure I get those reviews out.
The crazy cool part of my week came down to two parts. One was I received an email from Elliott Kay this week. He liked my review I gave him on Amazon and was (I think) pleasantly surprised to see my happy praise for his Good Intention Series on my blog. You know sometimes when you’re reading a novel you feel like you’ve gotten a good impression of the writer just because of their perspective of their Main Character and what they focus on within their story. When I read Elliott Kay’s books I overwhelming had this impression. Maybe that sounds odd, but the more I write the more I get these impressions, because anyone who writes a novel puts their heart and soul into their work. I think it definitely bares one soul to a point.
I guess I’m saying all of this because Elliott was super cool in his email. He offered to give me some of his personal advice on writing erotica and overall good authoring stuff to be aware of and shared understanding of dealing with some people’s negative reviews. Seriously he’s a pretty awesome cat! I still need to answer him back, but I probably won’t make it until next week. Also, Nathaniel, if you read this before I get a chance to email back, this goes the same for you. I have to watch out how much time I spend on book, blogging and author stuff when I’m home around my family. I’ve been given the talking to that book stuff only happens during non-family time. My wife is working this morning, so I have a little bit of time to do a quick blog update before I have to finish up my house chores.
Currently my wife and I have been catching up on the Teen Wolf Series. We started it late and are just about half way through the third season, so I expect we’ll be staying up late tonight trying to cram in as much Teen Wolf as possible before passing out tonight from staying up too late.
The other somewhat crazy cool thing that I did was accidently share my part of my raw story with my bud Richard. I blame this lack of attention to detail because I’d been staying up so late reading. This raw story is something I usually work a lot together with Deanna and Patrick who both helped with giving their thoughts on the story for book one. The reason is that I’m very shy / embarrassed about my writing until it’s in a cleaned up state and also I try to keep the story under wraps as much as possible. Although Richard was on my list of beta readers, I hadn’t planned to share the story with him until it was finished, but all in all it turned out okay. Richard gobbled the story up in one setting and we talked about his impressions the same day after I got home from work. I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the feedback. It lets me know I’m doing a kick-ass job on book two’s story arc. The only thing is where the part of the story he read left him majorly hanging at an exciting part, which is cruel and usual punishment for those of us who love a great story.
After my research and discussions, I believe I’ll try to base my romantic scenes somewhere in-between Elliot Kay’s and John Conroe’s methods of addressing this. I just won’t know 100% until I put everything down on paper and then run it by my friends, but that’s the plan. Who knows, if Elliot is open to it I might run some of it by him.
Anyway, I need to get started on my weekend cleaning.
August 15, 2014
Update ON Book Two's story arc
After talking to some fans about the desire to have more romantic/erotic action in book two and then doing some research by reading the Good Intentions series, I had to sit back and think deeply on how that would affect my overall story line. While I loved how the erotic action of the MC in the Good Intentions series, I had to consider how this would work in my own story arc. Honestly I have to say this kind of tied me up for a good week to week and a half before I felt comfortable with how to proceed further.
I ran some of my ideas by my friend Deanna, Patrick and Richard who all have different perspectives on the topic. Everyone had some awesome perspectives that really helped me find peace with how everything should fit into the story.
I have found that I need to be careful when I’m getting outside influences into my writing style and how I allow the different things I read or hear affect my story. Richard listens to a lot of discussions and training sessions from various successful authors, which is very good and gives you some great ideas for what to consider when writing. At the same time, I’ve found that sometimes these different perspectives can really make you question your own story line and ideas. Finding a middle path between your own ideas and outside influences I think is very important. I know I listened to one forum of six well known authors discussing magic theory and world design that messed me up for a good two weeks before I felt like I was back to where I needed to be for my storyline.
I’m not saying it’s wrong to listen to how people are creating these very successful stories and worlds, because it is. What I will say is that you need to be careful once you start writing to be able to keep a certain distance between theory and your current story’s design.
Luckily for me, I was able to find myself once again and keep my magic and their practitioners where I wanted them to be. Somewhere between general accepted character types such as Clerics and Paladins while hopefully still keeping a slight mystical unknown quality to their abilities that come out in a logical way within the story.
Recently my biggest dilemma was how to add in romance/eroticism into my story in a way that fit my characters and overall story arc. When I think of some of the best stories that many of us love, a good example would be The Lord of the Rings series, there is not a lot of romance/eroticism within its pages. Even the love between Aragon and Arwen is very light and subdued, there is no question to the depth and the love that they have for one another.
Now I have to be somewhat careful to not give away any spoilers, but I was always a big fan of Pierce Anthony’s The Apprentice Adept series. I read the series at a very young age and there is no doubt that the mixed species relationships within the story affected me greatly. I will be exploring my own twist to such a story line in my Book Two.
Startüm Ironwolf will be facing many new challenges on Irlendria, including those involving the heart. Along with him are many new supporting characters that are dealing with their unique love situations. Although many of these relationships will be interspecies love affairs that cross many boundaries, I am not going to make the story into an erotic novel per say. At the same time I do plan to explore each of these relationships in much more depth than I had originally planned ... at least in the heavy panting way, so there will be a flavor of the erotic to a point. I think it’s important to have a comfortable medium that works within the overall flow of the story.
If that sounds confusing, think of it this way. Would the Lord of the Rings have been a better story if Aragon and Arwen had hot steamy R-rated sex scene in the movie? Wait … wait, I mean yea I could have gone with seeing more of Arwen too, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make here. Let me try this again. Would an R-rated sex scene have fit within the overall flavor of the series itself? I think not. At the same time, I would have liked a little more focus on their time together.
With the Last Paladin Series I have more flexibility within the story in this way. I think the story line itself is better setup for more closer and descriptive romantic scenes between characters that would not detract from the overall story itself. At the same time the story is not the same flavor as Good Intentions. Startüm doesn’t have a Succubus at his beck and call to lead him down a path of eroticism while fighting the good fight. Part of my week and a half pause in writing was to determine how best to tweak the story and fit in the intimacy between characters that many of us find so interesting, while still keeping true to the overall story arc.
I believe I’ve found a happy medium for the Last Paladin Series.
I ran some of my ideas by my friend Deanna, Patrick and Richard who all have different perspectives on the topic. Everyone had some awesome perspectives that really helped me find peace with how everything should fit into the story.
I have found that I need to be careful when I’m getting outside influences into my writing style and how I allow the different things I read or hear affect my story. Richard listens to a lot of discussions and training sessions from various successful authors, which is very good and gives you some great ideas for what to consider when writing. At the same time, I’ve found that sometimes these different perspectives can really make you question your own story line and ideas. Finding a middle path between your own ideas and outside influences I think is very important. I know I listened to one forum of six well known authors discussing magic theory and world design that messed me up for a good two weeks before I felt like I was back to where I needed to be for my storyline.
I’m not saying it’s wrong to listen to how people are creating these very successful stories and worlds, because it is. What I will say is that you need to be careful once you start writing to be able to keep a certain distance between theory and your current story’s design.
Luckily for me, I was able to find myself once again and keep my magic and their practitioners where I wanted them to be. Somewhere between general accepted character types such as Clerics and Paladins while hopefully still keeping a slight mystical unknown quality to their abilities that come out in a logical way within the story.
Recently my biggest dilemma was how to add in romance/eroticism into my story in a way that fit my characters and overall story arc. When I think of some of the best stories that many of us love, a good example would be The Lord of the Rings series, there is not a lot of romance/eroticism within its pages. Even the love between Aragon and Arwen is very light and subdued, there is no question to the depth and the love that they have for one another.
Now I have to be somewhat careful to not give away any spoilers, but I was always a big fan of Pierce Anthony’s The Apprentice Adept series. I read the series at a very young age and there is no doubt that the mixed species relationships within the story affected me greatly. I will be exploring my own twist to such a story line in my Book Two.
Startüm Ironwolf will be facing many new challenges on Irlendria, including those involving the heart. Along with him are many new supporting characters that are dealing with their unique love situations. Although many of these relationships will be interspecies love affairs that cross many boundaries, I am not going to make the story into an erotic novel per say. At the same time I do plan to explore each of these relationships in much more depth than I had originally planned ... at least in the heavy panting way, so there will be a flavor of the erotic to a point. I think it’s important to have a comfortable medium that works within the overall flow of the story.
If that sounds confusing, think of it this way. Would the Lord of the Rings have been a better story if Aragon and Arwen had hot steamy R-rated sex scene in the movie? Wait … wait, I mean yea I could have gone with seeing more of Arwen too, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make here. Let me try this again. Would an R-rated sex scene have fit within the overall flavor of the series itself? I think not. At the same time, I would have liked a little more focus on their time together.
With the Last Paladin Series I have more flexibility within the story in this way. I think the story line itself is better setup for more closer and descriptive romantic scenes between characters that would not detract from the overall story itself. At the same time the story is not the same flavor as Good Intentions. Startüm doesn’t have a Succubus at his beck and call to lead him down a path of eroticism while fighting the good fight. Part of my week and a half pause in writing was to determine how best to tweak the story and fit in the intimacy between characters that many of us find so interesting, while still keeping true to the overall story arc.
I believe I’ve found a happy medium for the Last Paladin Series.
August 9, 2014
Researching for Book Two
After talking to different fans that have read Book One, I’ve heard multiple comments requesting more “erotic action” in the story. Luckily I’d planned for this within the series, but I needed to get some good examples of how I wanted to do this within my world and its characters. Also, there is that whole “Good Paladin” thing I have to take into consideration, but I have a good twist in the story that will fit what I want to do. I think everyone will like it.
Startüm is coming of age, and for his Werewolf side this means some intense emotional and physiological changes. On Earth he’s considered 24 years old, but on Irlendria he is fast approaching his 18th birthday. Unbeknownst to Startüm, this “coming of age” is extremely significant for his Werewolf half. Fighting his intense aggressive feelings was bad enough, but nothing in comparison to dealing with his raging hormones. He suddenly learns what it means to be a horny teenager.
Richard, a buddy of mine, suggested that I check out a book series to get some ideas of how I might want to think about doing the intimate scenes. I wasn’t sure what I thought initially when I read the book’s excerpt, but once I started reading I couldn’t stop. Thankfully there are only two books in the series, because I don’t think I could have stayed up for another night to read the third book. Two sleepless nights of reading and working through the day was hard enough on me.
Yea, the books are THAT good!
The author is Elliott Kay and the first book in the series is: Good Intentions http://www.amazon.com/Good-Intentions-Elliott-Kay-ebook/dp/B0054E8QYE/ref=la_B00B6QGFMY_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407580735&sr=1-1
The second book is: Natural Consequences http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Consequences-Elliott-Kay-ebook/dp/B00EENE9G0/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407580694&sr=1-2&keywords=good+intentions
Both are awesome. If you get a chance check them out. The only warning I would give is for those people who are closed mind about religious stuff. If you’re one of those people I would suggest not reading the series, but I figure if you’re reading my blog and have checked out Flight then that’s not an issue. They have a modern Robert A. Heinlein feel to them, mixed in with some Dresden Files and Patricia Briggs.
I now have some awesome ideas for how I want to do some of the specific intimate scenes. For those people who love the intense action, don’t worry. The story is still action packed.
Startüm is coming of age, and for his Werewolf side this means some intense emotional and physiological changes. On Earth he’s considered 24 years old, but on Irlendria he is fast approaching his 18th birthday. Unbeknownst to Startüm, this “coming of age” is extremely significant for his Werewolf half. Fighting his intense aggressive feelings was bad enough, but nothing in comparison to dealing with his raging hormones. He suddenly learns what it means to be a horny teenager.
Richard, a buddy of mine, suggested that I check out a book series to get some ideas of how I might want to think about doing the intimate scenes. I wasn’t sure what I thought initially when I read the book’s excerpt, but once I started reading I couldn’t stop. Thankfully there are only two books in the series, because I don’t think I could have stayed up for another night to read the third book. Two sleepless nights of reading and working through the day was hard enough on me.
Yea, the books are THAT good!
The author is Elliott Kay and the first book in the series is: Good Intentions http://www.amazon.com/Good-Intentions-Elliott-Kay-ebook/dp/B0054E8QYE/ref=la_B00B6QGFMY_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407580735&sr=1-1
The second book is: Natural Consequences http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Consequences-Elliott-Kay-ebook/dp/B00EENE9G0/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407580694&sr=1-2&keywords=good+intentions
Both are awesome. If you get a chance check them out. The only warning I would give is for those people who are closed mind about religious stuff. If you’re one of those people I would suggest not reading the series, but I figure if you’re reading my blog and have checked out Flight then that’s not an issue. They have a modern Robert A. Heinlein feel to them, mixed in with some Dresden Files and Patricia Briggs.
I now have some awesome ideas for how I want to do some of the specific intimate scenes. For those people who love the intense action, don’t worry. The story is still action packed.
July 30, 2014
Quick Update and information about Book Two
Okay, well maybe not such a “quick update”, but I can’t help it once I start writing!
It’s been a crazy week at work and at home, between the two I’ve missed my normal blog posts. I decided to get a quick post out before I went to the movies to see Lucy. For those of you who haven’t seen the trailer, it’s here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVt32qoyhi0 I hope it’s as freaking awesome as it looks!
Wednesday nights are our movie nights at the Taunus Theater. You can find it here: http://www.shopmyexchange.com/ReelTimeTheatres/Movies-Wiesbaden.htm Although not much of a selection, it’s still a nice theater for those of us serving overseas. The next two movies I’m waiting for are Guardians of the Galaxy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89q_HH-3ghk and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZZ0PnDZdZk
Hey don’t judge, I know I’m a geek =D
I’m still trying to decide on a title for Book Two. Hopefully my next post will have the top four Titles that I’m struggling to decide on. I’m hoping I can get a vote as to what people like best and then decide based on everyone’s feedback.
I will also be posting my experience on the process of getting a new edition of Flight’s printed edition up on Amazon. Although I update the Ebook whenever I hear of an issue someone found within its pages, I haven’t updated the printed edition. My wife just had a friend want to give her husband a copy for his birthday and I was horrified when I’d realized I hadn’t updated that version yet.
Until now updating the printed version hasn’t been an issue. People typically buy Ebooks or Audio books, but rarely does someone actually buy the printed edition, which is why I’ve been somewhat lackadaisical on getting it corrected. Now if I had my books in bookstores across the world and in the airport this would have been a priority, but since I’m and Indie Writer it hasn’t been top on my list. Well now my wife has properly motivated me to update the printed edition too.
My daughter just had her eighteenth birthday party this last Monday. Although this was the small party for her girlfriends since it was a school night, the girls danced and sang until 0500 in the morning. I think I passed out sometime around 0230 from exhaustion … not drinking. It was entertaining to hear everyone singing and dancing though.
I’ve also been working with my daughter on learning to drive. She’s doing awesome with the learning the manual and I’m really proud of her. I think it’s always smart to be able to drive any car, no matter if Google is trying to make knowing how to drive obsolete =D You never know when you’ll be stuck somewhere trying to escape a Tyrannosaurus Rex and the only vehicle available is some manual transmission jeep. Sigh, my daughter rolls her eyes at that, but I know some of you know what I mean.
I had a fan named Nic ask me when I’m planning on having Book Two out, and I’ll post what I told him. If RL allows me to finish Book Two in 2014, then I’ll have it out this year, but if not then I’m planning on the first quarter of 2015. While Flight was 88,040 in length, I’ve already written over 65,000 words of Book Two. Although that sounds like a lot, Book Two is turning out to be a lot bigger story than I’d originally planned. I know where I want the story to end at, but as I’m writing the story I’m discovering there is a lot more story then I’d realized and I have no desire to skip over the details. I’m doing my best to get it out as soon as possible though and I normally write a little every night … except on the weekends. My wife has nixed any writing on the weekends after Book One was released.
Eitherway, Book Two is turning out awesome. I really love how the story is turning out and I hope everyone who reads it feels the same!
I’ve said this Series will have four books, although that doesn’t mean the story is over. I already have a second series planned that picks up where The Last Paladin Series stops. The planned name of the next Series will be “The Demon Wars”. I had originally thought this was a spoiler … and maybe it is. Once you’ve read Book Two it will make more sense ^^
Also, I have two prequels planned for the Series. One will be the stories of the Paladin Ilmarinen Ironwolf and his Werewolf wife Novastar Ironwolf (Startüm’s parents), which will cover the Tuonellian invasion up to their death. The other Series will cover Startüm’s life on Earth.
After writing back to Nic I just decided I had to share the information with everyone who checks out my blog. Again, thanks for letting me know how much you liked the story Nic. It made my day!
Anyway, I think that’s enough of an update for now. I’m going to try to get a little bit of writing in before heading out to the movies.
It’s been a crazy week at work and at home, between the two I’ve missed my normal blog posts. I decided to get a quick post out before I went to the movies to see Lucy. For those of you who haven’t seen the trailer, it’s here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVt32qoyhi0 I hope it’s as freaking awesome as it looks!
Wednesday nights are our movie nights at the Taunus Theater. You can find it here: http://www.shopmyexchange.com/ReelTimeTheatres/Movies-Wiesbaden.htm Although not much of a selection, it’s still a nice theater for those of us serving overseas. The next two movies I’m waiting for are Guardians of the Galaxy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89q_HH-3ghk and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZZ0PnDZdZk
Hey don’t judge, I know I’m a geek =D
I’m still trying to decide on a title for Book Two. Hopefully my next post will have the top four Titles that I’m struggling to decide on. I’m hoping I can get a vote as to what people like best and then decide based on everyone’s feedback.
I will also be posting my experience on the process of getting a new edition of Flight’s printed edition up on Amazon. Although I update the Ebook whenever I hear of an issue someone found within its pages, I haven’t updated the printed edition. My wife just had a friend want to give her husband a copy for his birthday and I was horrified when I’d realized I hadn’t updated that version yet.
Until now updating the printed version hasn’t been an issue. People typically buy Ebooks or Audio books, but rarely does someone actually buy the printed edition, which is why I’ve been somewhat lackadaisical on getting it corrected. Now if I had my books in bookstores across the world and in the airport this would have been a priority, but since I’m and Indie Writer it hasn’t been top on my list. Well now my wife has properly motivated me to update the printed edition too.
My daughter just had her eighteenth birthday party this last Monday. Although this was the small party for her girlfriends since it was a school night, the girls danced and sang until 0500 in the morning. I think I passed out sometime around 0230 from exhaustion … not drinking. It was entertaining to hear everyone singing and dancing though.
I’ve also been working with my daughter on learning to drive. She’s doing awesome with the learning the manual and I’m really proud of her. I think it’s always smart to be able to drive any car, no matter if Google is trying to make knowing how to drive obsolete =D You never know when you’ll be stuck somewhere trying to escape a Tyrannosaurus Rex and the only vehicle available is some manual transmission jeep. Sigh, my daughter rolls her eyes at that, but I know some of you know what I mean.
I had a fan named Nic ask me when I’m planning on having Book Two out, and I’ll post what I told him. If RL allows me to finish Book Two in 2014, then I’ll have it out this year, but if not then I’m planning on the first quarter of 2015. While Flight was 88,040 in length, I’ve already written over 65,000 words of Book Two. Although that sounds like a lot, Book Two is turning out to be a lot bigger story than I’d originally planned. I know where I want the story to end at, but as I’m writing the story I’m discovering there is a lot more story then I’d realized and I have no desire to skip over the details. I’m doing my best to get it out as soon as possible though and I normally write a little every night … except on the weekends. My wife has nixed any writing on the weekends after Book One was released.
Eitherway, Book Two is turning out awesome. I really love how the story is turning out and I hope everyone who reads it feels the same!
I’ve said this Series will have four books, although that doesn’t mean the story is over. I already have a second series planned that picks up where The Last Paladin Series stops. The planned name of the next Series will be “The Demon Wars”. I had originally thought this was a spoiler … and maybe it is. Once you’ve read Book Two it will make more sense ^^
Also, I have two prequels planned for the Series. One will be the stories of the Paladin Ilmarinen Ironwolf and his Werewolf wife Novastar Ironwolf (Startüm’s parents), which will cover the Tuonellian invasion up to their death. The other Series will cover Startüm’s life on Earth.
After writing back to Nic I just decided I had to share the information with everyone who checks out my blog. Again, thanks for letting me know how much you liked the story Nic. It made my day!
Anyway, I think that’s enough of an update for now. I’m going to try to get a little bit of writing in before heading out to the movies.
July 18, 2014
Keeping focused for writing
Sometimes I forget how much working-out helps clear the mind to help keep me focused on writing.
For about the last month I’ve missed getting to the gym due to life events like moving, work, vacation, finding a renter for my apartment, more work, preparing to move, being sick, finding a new place to live and of course, even more work. When all of these things are taking place, I find that my work-out schedule begins to suffer.
I’m sure some people would wonder why this would cause writing problems. Although the correlation is not direct, it’s none the less an issue.
Don’t get me wrong, I still find time to write and tend to make that my primary focus once I’ve finished the stuff I have to do. Every evening I try to sit down and write between 1800 to 2400 hours. Still, I’ve discovered that my writing clarity starts to suffer if this goes on for too long.
Not due to the direct result of being busy, but from the side effects of missing my workout. A good example of this is having trouble falling to sleep. Normally I plan out the next chapter in my mind when I lay down at night. Even though I typically fall to sleep almost immediately, I usually get enough of the idea going to dream about the plotline throughout the night.
Amazingly enough, after a few days of this I usually have a good intro or ending to my chapter and overall it really helps my story creation for writing. On the weeks I start missing my work-outs, I’ve discovered that I start having trouble falling asleep. Instead of getting into that good “dream state” for writing and feeling rested once I wake up, I’ll spend my evenings feeling wiped out and my nights tossing and turning trying to make myself fall asleep.
Also, I find that during my workout I really connect with my characters’ situations and definitely is great for figuring out battle scenes.
For about the last month I’ve missed getting to the gym due to life events like moving, work, vacation, finding a renter for my apartment, more work, preparing to move, being sick, finding a new place to live and of course, even more work. When all of these things are taking place, I find that my work-out schedule begins to suffer.
I’m sure some people would wonder why this would cause writing problems. Although the correlation is not direct, it’s none the less an issue.
Don’t get me wrong, I still find time to write and tend to make that my primary focus once I’ve finished the stuff I have to do. Every evening I try to sit down and write between 1800 to 2400 hours. Still, I’ve discovered that my writing clarity starts to suffer if this goes on for too long.
Not due to the direct result of being busy, but from the side effects of missing my workout. A good example of this is having trouble falling to sleep. Normally I plan out the next chapter in my mind when I lay down at night. Even though I typically fall to sleep almost immediately, I usually get enough of the idea going to dream about the plotline throughout the night.
Amazingly enough, after a few days of this I usually have a good intro or ending to my chapter and overall it really helps my story creation for writing. On the weeks I start missing my work-outs, I’ve discovered that I start having trouble falling asleep. Instead of getting into that good “dream state” for writing and feeling rested once I wake up, I’ll spend my evenings feeling wiped out and my nights tossing and turning trying to make myself fall asleep.
Also, I find that during my workout I really connect with my characters’ situations and definitely is great for figuring out battle scenes.
July 12, 2014
Meet another character from book two
Larissa Evans is a thirty-two years old Archaeology. She holds a Ph.D. in Archaeology, Anthropology and Linguistics and has spent the majority of her life studying cultural, physical and linguistic anthropology, focusing specifically on ancient and classical civilizations of the Mediterranean. Although she is recognized as a world renowned Archaeology and Linguist, her height and looks has made it nearly impossible for her to be taken seriously among her peers within the male dominated field of Archaeology.
While her model height of one hundred eighty-seven meters, small waist and large chest has time and again caused her problems throughout her professional career, her sharp mind and extensive knowledge of ancient civilizations has allowed her to excel within field archaeology. At the age of twenty-six she turned down a Professorship of Classical Archaeology at Oxford University, once she learned that Jowettney and Newtonian were the current electors. Larissa adamantly refuses to confine archaeology to the classics, which has put her at odds with her academic peers. Instead she accepted a position as the Keeper of the Ashmoloean Museum.
Her Father, Sir Arthur John Evans, was her motivation for going into the field of archaeology. His death when she was fourteen years old left a hole in her life. Still, even in death her Father’s many professional connections and her in-depth knowledge of ancient civilization has enabled her to succeed.
While her model height of one hundred eighty-seven meters, small waist and large chest has time and again caused her problems throughout her professional career, her sharp mind and extensive knowledge of ancient civilizations has allowed her to excel within field archaeology. At the age of twenty-six she turned down a Professorship of Classical Archaeology at Oxford University, once she learned that Jowettney and Newtonian were the current electors. Larissa adamantly refuses to confine archaeology to the classics, which has put her at odds with her academic peers. Instead she accepted a position as the Keeper of the Ashmoloean Museum.
Her Father, Sir Arthur John Evans, was her motivation for going into the field of archaeology. His death when she was fourteen years old left a hole in her life. Still, even in death her Father’s many professional connections and her in-depth knowledge of ancient civilization has enabled her to succeed.
July 9, 2014
AUDIO BOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR FLIGHT
For those of you interested the audio book for Flight can be found
here: http://www.amazon.com/Flight-The-Last-Paladin-Series/dp/B00LIAUVCI/ref=tmm_aud_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1404911218&sr=8-1
I still need to see if I’m allowed to give out a copy for Christian who
won the Goodreads Book Giveaway contest. I promise I’ll look into that.
The audio book’s price is set by Amazon since I went with their production process. It costs as much as any audio book does, which is much pricier than the Ebook, but for those of you who like audio books. It's nothing I have control of, but for I will say the price is well worth it. Alex Edward Trefethen did an unbelievable job with the story.
I hope the audio version does well so he will be interested in doing the second book, since I can’t imagine hearing the story with anyone else’s
voice.
here: http://www.amazon.com/Flight-The-Last-Paladin-Series/dp/B00LIAUVCI/ref=tmm_aud_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1404911218&sr=8-1
I still need to see if I’m allowed to give out a copy for Christian who
won the Goodreads Book Giveaway contest. I promise I’ll look into that.
The audio book’s price is set by Amazon since I went with their production process. It costs as much as any audio book does, which is much pricier than the Ebook, but for those of you who like audio books. It's nothing I have control of, but for I will say the price is well worth it. Alex Edward Trefethen did an unbelievable job with the story.
I hope the audio version does well so he will be interested in doing the second book, since I can’t imagine hearing the story with anyone else’s
voice.
July 2, 2014
WOW IT’S BEEN A CRAZY LAST FEW DAYS
It seems like life just doesn’t stop at times. I’ve been given the ancient Chinese curse – “May you live in interesting times”. Not that being busy and having lots of things happening is curse, but sometimes I wish events would slow down and give me enough time to recover in-between.
Over the last few weeks I’ve had friends shipping out, my daughter’s return from her exchange program, a wedding in Germany, a wedding in Poland, my audio book release, wife’s nephew’s visit, teaching my daughter how to drive and my first invite into an author meet-in-greet. All while working my normal full time job, preparing for an up and coming move for work, dealing with some personal emergencies that popped up during this same time, while doing my best to squeeze in whatever time leftover to write and work on the plot line of Book Two of the Last Paladin Series. Henceforth the reason I haven’t been to bed before 0200 hours in weeks.
Luckily during my drives heading into work and returning back home on the weekends I get a couple hours to figure out scenes in my head.
Somehow I’ve fit everything into my schedule. This week things are finally getting back somewhat to normal (if you discount Fourth of July weekend), but last night everything finally caught up to me and came down with a cold. A good excuse as any to go to bed at a reasonable time, like midnight =D
It’s amazing how much better you feel after a decent night’s sleep.
Couple highlights from the Super Strength Speed Reading Event. I met several Amazing writers and interviewers. Most notably were Will Massa, Tina Tame, Starla Huchton and Drew Hayes. Don’t get me wrong, the other authors (P.S. Power, Michael G. Thomas Joshua Guess, March McCarron & Cheree Alsop just to name a few) from the Event are awesome too and I bought all of their books, but for this post I want to talk about the first set.
First off Will Massa is just a great guy and I loved his titles. His Gargoyle Knight and Fear the Light series look awesome. I’ve bought both. The cover Will did on his Gargoyle Knight Series is incredible and I think we both hit it off due to the stories we both like to write. Either way, I had a great time talking with him during the event and look forward to getting to know him better in the future.
Starla Huchton is just an amazing woman. She is savvy and smart about promoting herself and an awesome person with Super Geek Cred in my book. There is a lot any writer could learn just watching how she works. I picked up a copy of her Evolution: ANGEL Series because it sounds like a great story.
Drew Hayes was a just an amazing wealth of information and a super nice guy. He had some great information in regards to BoolBub & Bookgorilla, The Pen & Cape Society for authors and some incredible creative ideas for Web Series. Over the next several weeks I’m going to have to dig into everything he was talking about, but like I said, a great guy who has no problems sharing from his experiences, which I have nothing but respect for the man.
I’ve put Tina Tame in here due to Fang Tastic and a whole area of Dark Urban (Erotic-Romance) novels I’d never knew about. She invited me to an Event where I ran into some of Isobelle Cate’s work. Let’s just say it’s the perfect read to work on my up and coming romance scenes in my Series. Just plain hot. Tina is super cool and I had a great time chatting with her. Not to mention, she also speaks German of all things. All in all a smart, sexy and amazing woman with some great taste in graphics, so if you get a chance check her out on facebook at Tina Tame or Fang Tastic.
Lastly, I met a writer named Michael G. Thomas and fell in love with his cover for Legions of Orion. I immediately bought his book for two reasons. First, any book with a cover like that is going to grab my attention, and so far I’ve been enjoying the read. I can’t wait to get to the space battle scenes. Second, it partly scared me that the cover looked eerily similar to a Sci-Fi story that’s been bouncing around in my head. Luckily for me the story is different enough that when I write my own it won’t be in conflict with his story line, but when I first saw the cover I truly freaked.
There were a lot of other incredible people I had a chance to meet. Although everyone was cool and I really enjoyed Geeking Out, I spent most of the Event talking with Kelsea Schafer while trying to keep up the chaos. Who, by the way, is a pretty interesting woman and a fan of Urban Fantasy type novels.
I still need to finish writing up my documentary of the self-publishing processes. Although I have a lot of great information already listed about the process, there are still some important points I’d like to finish up for those writers looking to self-publish their own books.
In the days to come, I will be discussing my exploration into some of the great groups and tools that Drew Hayes gave me information about. Also I want to discuss some of the characters in Book Two.
An Indie Writer’s life is one of striving for balance while writing.
Over the last few weeks I’ve had friends shipping out, my daughter’s return from her exchange program, a wedding in Germany, a wedding in Poland, my audio book release, wife’s nephew’s visit, teaching my daughter how to drive and my first invite into an author meet-in-greet. All while working my normal full time job, preparing for an up and coming move for work, dealing with some personal emergencies that popped up during this same time, while doing my best to squeeze in whatever time leftover to write and work on the plot line of Book Two of the Last Paladin Series. Henceforth the reason I haven’t been to bed before 0200 hours in weeks.
Luckily during my drives heading into work and returning back home on the weekends I get a couple hours to figure out scenes in my head.
Somehow I’ve fit everything into my schedule. This week things are finally getting back somewhat to normal (if you discount Fourth of July weekend), but last night everything finally caught up to me and came down with a cold. A good excuse as any to go to bed at a reasonable time, like midnight =D
It’s amazing how much better you feel after a decent night’s sleep.
Couple highlights from the Super Strength Speed Reading Event. I met several Amazing writers and interviewers. Most notably were Will Massa, Tina Tame, Starla Huchton and Drew Hayes. Don’t get me wrong, the other authors (P.S. Power, Michael G. Thomas Joshua Guess, March McCarron & Cheree Alsop just to name a few) from the Event are awesome too and I bought all of their books, but for this post I want to talk about the first set.
First off Will Massa is just a great guy and I loved his titles. His Gargoyle Knight and Fear the Light series look awesome. I’ve bought both. The cover Will did on his Gargoyle Knight Series is incredible and I think we both hit it off due to the stories we both like to write. Either way, I had a great time talking with him during the event and look forward to getting to know him better in the future.
Starla Huchton is just an amazing woman. She is savvy and smart about promoting herself and an awesome person with Super Geek Cred in my book. There is a lot any writer could learn just watching how she works. I picked up a copy of her Evolution: ANGEL Series because it sounds like a great story.
Drew Hayes was a just an amazing wealth of information and a super nice guy. He had some great information in regards to BoolBub & Bookgorilla, The Pen & Cape Society for authors and some incredible creative ideas for Web Series. Over the next several weeks I’m going to have to dig into everything he was talking about, but like I said, a great guy who has no problems sharing from his experiences, which I have nothing but respect for the man.
I’ve put Tina Tame in here due to Fang Tastic and a whole area of Dark Urban (Erotic-Romance) novels I’d never knew about. She invited me to an Event where I ran into some of Isobelle Cate’s work. Let’s just say it’s the perfect read to work on my up and coming romance scenes in my Series. Just plain hot. Tina is super cool and I had a great time chatting with her. Not to mention, she also speaks German of all things. All in all a smart, sexy and amazing woman with some great taste in graphics, so if you get a chance check her out on facebook at Tina Tame or Fang Tastic.
Lastly, I met a writer named Michael G. Thomas and fell in love with his cover for Legions of Orion. I immediately bought his book for two reasons. First, any book with a cover like that is going to grab my attention, and so far I’ve been enjoying the read. I can’t wait to get to the space battle scenes. Second, it partly scared me that the cover looked eerily similar to a Sci-Fi story that’s been bouncing around in my head. Luckily for me the story is different enough that when I write my own it won’t be in conflict with his story line, but when I first saw the cover I truly freaked.
There were a lot of other incredible people I had a chance to meet. Although everyone was cool and I really enjoyed Geeking Out, I spent most of the Event talking with Kelsea Schafer while trying to keep up the chaos. Who, by the way, is a pretty interesting woman and a fan of Urban Fantasy type novels.
I still need to finish writing up my documentary of the self-publishing processes. Although I have a lot of great information already listed about the process, there are still some important points I’d like to finish up for those writers looking to self-publish their own books.
In the days to come, I will be discussing my exploration into some of the great groups and tools that Drew Hayes gave me information about. Also I want to discuss some of the characters in Book Two.
An Indie Writer’s life is one of striving for balance while writing.
