Ramblings and Shit

So what's been going on with me lately? Where to begin? First off, I'm getting ready to retire from 20 years of military service. That alone has been eating up a lot of my time and energy. Who knew retiring was a full-time job? So many damn appointments, getting documentation and records in order, all that jazz. I've got so many plans for post-retirement, I'm pretty sure I won't have any extra time at this point. What are those plans you might ask? Well, for starters, I'm super excited to start my life as a stay-at-home dad and help raise my two kids. 

Second, I'll be writing full-time. That's right, full-time. I don't plan on going out to get a job anywhere (although raising kids is a full-time job, but I have the help of family). I will be carving out a portion of my day to dedicate to nothing but putting words on digital paper. At the moment I'm actively working on the third book of the Dark Tyrant Series, my grimdark/post-apocalyptic fantasy serial, the second Terrence book, and a couple of other secret projects. In the queue is a fantasy western serial, a horror short story for an upcoming anthology, a haunted house novella that takes place in three different timelines, a YA/horror series involving a high-school ghost hunting team that always seems to get involved with dark and scary entities (think Ghost Facers from Supernatural meets Scooby Do meets Lovecraftian horrors) and a choose-your-own-adventure style of horror books that involve gruesome deaths.

I finally made some headway with book three of the Dark Tyrant Series. My biggest hold-up was I didn't really know how it was going to end, so a lot my writing speed slowed to almost nothing because I was floundering. Well, I figured out where it's headed, so now we're making headway again. 

Moving on to another aspect of my life that I enjoy--hunting. This year I'll be retired when hunting season starts, which means I can be out in the wilderness longer, which means hopefully a better chance of harvesting something. Over the years, I've come to find being up in the mountains is my zen place. I love it. The sights, the smells, the connection to nature. It's amazing and magical for me. I'm taking my oldest daughter with me elk scouting this year and I can't wait. I'm tempering my expectations of what I'll be able to accomplish as far as distance and area covered since she's still pretty young, but the memories and experience that both she and I will gain will more than make up for it. 

Anyway, what are you up to these days?