Update: The Return!
Though, in truth, I never really left...
Hello to you, non-existent following whom I so desperately pursue. It has been quite a while since I made a post at this blog, I apologize for that. A combination of work, school, family, and health issues kept me very busy over the past... year or so. However, I will be making a commitment to getting this page back up and running. 2016 was the year of the Shambone, by which I mean, not very good. Now, 2017, that will be great.
What does all this mean?
Good question. Writing is a passion of mine, obviously, it's how I make my money. Not to brag, but I'm also good at it. To give a brief overview of what's been keeping me so busy, I work for two local newspapers, the Rambler Newspaper in Irving, and the Lewisville Texan Journal. I've also been pursuing a degree in English at the University of Texas at Arlington, with the expectation of moving into the publishing business or pursuing a wider range of journalism jobs. If all goes according to plan I'll be graduating this Spring. I've also done some film critic work that I'm very proud of, and, despite certain road blocks in that career path, I'm looking to expand upon that success.
Storytelling provides us with the tools to explore the human mind and soul without restriction. Philosophical questions can be played out with characters that, with the right skill, can seem as real and vulnerable as the people who read or watch their stories. That, and they can just be enjoyable entertainment, the skill of the writer, who has taken time to learn and master his craft, adding to the ever expanding library of human creation.
All of which is a fancy, rambling way of saying that I take literature seriously. I think the act of reading, whether it's a novel or a manual, allows us to improve ourselves in countless ways. Examining and comparing different stories allows us to make new connections, and craft stories with deeper meanings. Plot, Structure, Dialogue, Description, and Character are all aspects of a narrative, and reading deeply and widely allows writers to hone these skills. Even a poor narrative is valuable when you look at what caused it to fail. So, as I'm a lazy writer who is making a commitment to be more dedicated to being a better writer, I'll be using this blog to delve into my chosen genres. Which brings me to the main point of this announcement.
Weekly posts will resume in a few weeks time
Monster Mondays will continue to be the leading post on this blog, as it ties in with my work in the genres of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction. Reliquary Tuesdays may be limited to a monthly basis, as I want to expand into more occult items with a proper amount of information and research.
I am also planning on expanding the weekly line up with new posts meant to explore genre fiction by reviewing and examining short stories, novellas, and novels from a diverse host of authors and sources. This may start out initially as simply a weekly short story review, and perhaps a bimonthly or monthly novel review. Eventually I would like to expand upon it, having different weekly posts for works in those separate genres, maybe Horror Thursday or Fantasy Friday, things like that.
There's three reasons I'm wanting to do this. Number one, it's to help me get onto a serious reading schedule. It's easy to avoid reading when you're reading a busy lifestyle, which makes it best to set aside time for it. At least for me, anyways. Two, as a writer I want to expose myself to literature and hone my own skills. Writers get better by doing two things, writing and reading. Finally, the third reason for the upcoming review series, I want to create a sort of living database where people who love genre fiction in the same way I do can explore the ideas, themes, and structures of writers from different times and places. What kind of themes were being heavily explored in fantasy fiction in the 1970's? What kind of science fiction stories are being told by writers from Latin America or Africa? By studying individual pieces and placing those reviews in a single blog I hope to make literary and academic connections that can be applied to my own work. I also encourage others who may read these to share their own ideas, or call me out on any mistakes I may make. The latter is very important, because, being only human, I'm probably going to make some mistakes and I will of course edit the articles to maintain the highest quality.
I may also post the occasional film review on this blog, as I'm trying to break into that professionally and, as stated before, you get better by doing. I can't say whether or not this will be a weekly post, most films would be current releases, though, who knows, maybe down the road I'll start exploring genre films as well.
That's pretty much all the information I have for right now, I'll be working on getting a large enough stock pile of articles written up so the weekly posts can run for several months uninterrupted. If I had to hazard a guess when that would be, I would say about Mid-March to early April. I will of course make an announcement or two before the restart, and will leave a post if delays are expected.
Fingers crossed.
