family – Page 7 – One Thousand And One Parsecs

And now for a little Minecraft…

I call it Teotihuacan.

The temples each have a base of 31×31 blocks and a height of 13 blocks, with the topmost level a 7×7 square. They are spaced kitty corner five blocks diagonally, in a sort of equilateral quadrangle. The biome is actually a swamp; I added the jungle trees later for effect.

The idea came to me a couple of weeks ago, when I was playing with my toddler nephew. I built a Mayan step pyramid out of Duplos with him, then figured why not do the same thing in Minecraft? The first attempt was in survival mode, which took FOREVER, so for this one I decided to go creative.

Overall, I’m rather pleased. This was my first time playing around in creative mode, and I must say it’s a lot more … creative. Go figure.

Don’t worry, I’m still writing. This was just a little diversion to keep me busy between job applications and temp jobs. The staffing agency has kept me pretty busy until now, so I’m looking for something a little more steady. Had an interview at J-Dogs today that went pretty well–hopefully, I’ll hear back from them next week.

In the meantime, I’d better get some sleep. G’night!

Oh hey! Happy Thanksgiving!

Funny how holidays creep up on you when you’re in a foreign country.

We have Friday off here in Georgia, due to an Orthodox religious holiday. I’ll probably head east and check out the Stalin museum, maybe Mtskheta and Qazbegi depending on the weather. A friend of mine in Tbilisi said she’d get me a Svan hat, so if that works out, I’ll be sure to post pics.

In school today, we made the hand-traced turkeys from construction paper, with “I am thankful for…” on it. I got to tell the kids the thanksgiving story, too. I’m not sure how historically accurate it was, but they seemed to enjoy it. They also enjoyed all the stickers I gave them for their finished projects. The Nintendo stickers were the most popular.

So what am I thankful for this year? Let’s see…

Delicious homemade Georgian food. Beans, cheese, bread, potatoes, peppers, chicken, borscht–almost all of it grown right here in the village where I live. It’s awesome.
My students. Seriously, some of the awesomest kids I have ever known. Every day when I get to teach them, I feel like a rockstar. I’m going to miss them when the semester is over.
My friends and family. Even though I’m literally on the other side of the world and hardly ever have internet, I’m glad that we still keep in touch.
My readers. Seriously, it’s awesome that you guys are reading and enjoying my books. I just wish I could put them out faster.
My first year of running a profitable business. That’s right–with last month’s sales reports, I’m on track to run a modest profit for 2012. Let’s hope that this growth continues well into the future!
The changing face of publishing. Seriously, it is so awesome that for a very little upfront cost, a guy like me can sell his books across the world and find fans in places as far away as Singapore and the Czech Republic. There are so many choices, so much freedom, that it’s staggering to see how different things were just a couple of years ago. Kris Rusch said it much better than I did, so be sure to check out her most recent post on the subject.

There’s more, of course, but those are the big ones off the top of my head.

I know I missed Trope Tuesday again this week, but I wrote up a long post and then got dissatisfied with it just as I ran out of time. We’re on the magic flight stage of the hero’s journey, but I’m having trouble finding a page on tvtropes that really fits it. It’s not really a stage that I’m all that familiar with, either, so it’s going to be a bit of a challenge to figure it out. But I will, don’t worry–hopefully next week.

As far as Star Wanderers goes, I’m working on the final revisions for Homeworld (Part IV) right now. It’s going really well so far, so I expect to be finished in a week or two. After that, I just need to get it copy edited / proofread, and then it should be good to publish.

Just to tease you all, here’s the cover:

So yeah, definitely look out for that soon!

I’ve got to go, but I’ll post again when I get the chance. Happy Thanksgiving, and I’ll see you around!

Quick summer update

So I just finished a quick 2.0 draft of Star Wanderers, and there still seems to be something missing. Not sure what it is, but I probably need to take a break from it for a while and focus on something else.

Working on it has really drained me, which is one of the reasons why I missed the Trope Tuesday post this week–sorry! I’ll try to get something up this coming Tuesday, though I can’t make any promises since I’ll be at Cape Cod on vacation with the family.

I’m not sure whether to take a break for a while or to throw myself into another project, but I’m going to take it easy this next week and focus on having a good time with my family. That’s the main reason why I came back to the States, after all. But one thing I do want to do is read more, so I’ll definitely be spending some time with my kindle while on the beach. Expect to see a few reviews here shortly.

I can’t really say which project I’m going to pick up next, but I’m going to take a break from Star Wanderers for a while. Don’t worry–Part III will be out no later than October, possibly sooner depending on any number of things. Taking a break from this story will help me come back to it with a fresh perspective. And who knows? I might write something really awesome in the meantime.

That’s just about it for now. If updates are sporadic for the next week, it’s because I’m on the beach somewhere, reading a good book. 🙂

My mom gave my book three stars

Some people complain about how indie authors hit up their friends and family to give them five-star reviews…well, last week I gave the Createspace proof for Genesis Earth to my Mom, and today I noticed that she posted a three-star review for the book on Goodreads. 😛

It’s a cute one, though. This is what she said:

Sci-fi is not my genre, but the author is my own son! I read it in 2 days (fast, for me); after page 100, I did not want to put the book down. Had to see what would develop–see the story. I’m hosting the author at home for a few weeks, so it has been fun to discuss his characters, etc. in person. I look forward to more discussion.

I posted this on the Kindle Boards just for laughs, and the guys over there agreed that it’s pretty hilarious. A few of them suggested I rate her cooking! But don’t worry, Mom, I’d give it at least a 3.5. 😉

In all seriousness, my Mom’s actually been really supportive of my writing, and I really appreciate that. She is a tough (if loving) critic, though, so I’m sure she’ll keep me on my toes.

The most hilarious thing about this is that her catchphrase growing up was “suffer!”

What I’ve been up to recently

I thought it would be a good idea to do a quick post explaining what I’ve been up to the past month or so, since a lot of things have changed and I’m sure they will be changing a lot more in the future. So, here’s what’s up:

As you may or may not know, I decided about four or five months ago to leave the USA to teach English abroad. For the past few little while, I’ve been applying for a program to teach English to elementary school kids in Georgia. I had the interview over Skype just yesterday, and I think it went pretty well! I should hear back in the next couple of days, so fingers crossed on that.

If they decide to hire me, I’ll leave in three weeks and stay until at least mid-June. At that point, I’ll either sign up for another semester or go somewhere else, either the Middle East or Eastern Europe. The pay isn’t great, but it seems like a good cultural experience, and I’m a lot more interested in the Caucasus than I am in East Asia (no offense to Asians).

Ever since I graduated in 2010, I’ve been looking for a fulfilling career that I can balance with my writing aspirations. I learned pretty quick that that simply doesn’t exist in Washington DC; either you sacrifice everything for your career, including your family, or you end up trapped in an office pushing papers all day. In Utah, I bounced around a lot of temporary jobs while struggling to make ends meet, but I never found anything more permanent that seemed to strike a balance.

I hope that teaching English will help me to find that balance, and from what I’ve heard from some of my former expat friends, I’m optimistic that it will. Perhaps more importantly, it will probably enrich my writing by exposing me to new peoples and cultures. Desert Stars was certainly enriched by the time I spent in Jordan; without having lived in that culture, I don’t think I would have been able to write it. Besides, English is something I’m good at, and so is teaching–so why not capitalize on the skills I already have? It certainly sounds better than wasting my 20s in a warehouse.

So that’s the plan: launch a TEFL career and spend at least the next three to five years abroad. At least. I might not get married until my 30s–or who knows, I might find someone out there and go native–but this is something I want to do as a career, not just as temporary filler before I figure out what I want to do with my life. I’m through with filler. Whether it takes one year or ten for my writing career to take off, I’m going to get out and do something useful and worthwhile.

That’s the plan, anyway. And of course, I’ll always keep writing.

Right now, I’m finishing up Stars of Blood and Glory; I’m on chapter 15, with only three more and an epilogue after that, so I should finish that well before I leave. After that, the next big project is Star Wanderers, which is already about halfway finished. I’ll probably take some time off and work on polishing part II, then release parts I and II sometime in the spring–unless by some weird fluke it wins Writers of the Future. I’ll know in February.

And after that? Well, I’m thinking it’s almost time to pick up Edenfall again, but I can’t say for sure. Probably, though–I definitely want to finish that one before the end of the year, and preferably get it published. After Stars of Blood and Glory, I’ll probably take a break from the McCoy continuity in the Gaia Nova universe, though I may pick up something from Jeremiah’s timeline in Star Wanderers. I really want to do a parallel novel from Noemi’s point of view–maybe that’s the one I’ll do in seven days, just to hit that resolution. Everything has to be ready fist, though, and right now it isn’t.

So much is changing–I have no idea where I’ll be in the next six months, creatively or physically. But right now, I’m just enjoying a relaxing time with my parents and getting ready for the next big transition. Life is good.

Back from Texas, or My Last Day in Provo

So! My Christmas vacation in Texas is over, and I’m on the road again, hanging out here in Utah before catching the train to my parents’ house in Massachusetts and (hopefully) going overseas before the end of the month.

It was a great break! Great to see my niece and three nephews together. I swear, my sisters have the cutest kids; it’s going to be a real challenge to find a woman beautiful enough so that my kids will be able to compete! For Christmas, I gave them all trilobites from my fossil collection.

My favorite moment was probably playing with them at the community park, on the slides and other stuff. Jane, who is two and a half, likes to wear pretty dresses and run around the playground talking to herself, which is really cute. Dan, who just started to walk, would climb up to the slides and then stop at the top because he’s too scared to go down. It was fun watching him discover and explore his world.

On the way back to Utah, we stopped by my old roommate Steve’s place up in Dallas. He lives in an apartment that is just like a freaking motel…how crazy is that? Pretty cool, actually. It was fun to see him again, especially since he’s getting married in April. Good times.

My sister gave me the gift of her stomach flu, though, which really hit the next day. Around Amarillo, it got so bad that we pulled over on the shoulder and I fell out of the car vomiting. It was…like something from one of my novels, actually. We were hoping to make it all the way to Farmington and the Navajo reservation, but ended up in a Hotel 8 outside of Clines Corner for a very miserable night.

The next day was much better, though, and we made good time all the way back to Provo. My brother in law couldn’t stop talking about the book I’d gotten him, Born to Run, and said that it’s changed his life (he’s a runner…go figure). We also talked about story structure, Girl Genius, places we’d like to settle down, life plans, etc. Stopped in Moab for some dinner, and in Bluff to check out this really cool looking historical site. We switched over in Blanding, and before we knew it, I was pulling us into Provo after driving almost five hours straight.

As a side note, I want to say that I love Southern Utah. ZOMG, it has some of the most beautiful desolate country I have ever seen. Inasmuch as I can see myself settling down anywhere, I’d really like to settle down in a place like Monticello or Blanding or Saint George.

Texas is also beautiful, but I’d probably find the rampant consumerism a bit too stifling, and New England winters are far too dark and depressing (unless you have a cozy little cottage with a wood-burning stove). But Utah–this is my people, living in my kind of country: wild, open, and desolate, where the pioneers are remembered by name and ancient Indian ghosts still haunt the land.

So anyway, I’m back in Provo for a day before heading out on a train late tonight to Massachusetts. If you’re in the area and want to hang out, give me a call. This is my last day in Utah for at least the next couple of years or so, and I want to make it count!

My internet access in the next couple of days is going to be spotty, but I want to do a couple more posts to round out the year. A lot of things changed for me in 2011, so I want to recap that, and I’ve been thinking a lot about my New Year’s resolutions, so I’ll definitely do a post on that as well. I’ll probably write those on the train, though, so they might not go up until next week.

That’s the plan, anyway. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and I look forward to hearing from you again soon!

Merry Christmas from Texas!

Merry Christmas y’all! I’m down here in Texas, spending the holidays with family; it was either Texas with my sister’s family, or Massachusetts with my parents, and we all agreed that the weather was better down south.

My brother-in-law and I drove down here from Provo, and it was a fun little road trip! We passed through New Mexico just before the storm, stopping at Roswell to see the UFO museum. Interesting stuff! Spent a night with family in West Texas before driving across the state today, arriving just this evening. Highlights include conversations about The Dispossessed, postmodernism vs. moral absolutism, the Lebanese civil war, and the excesses of modern consumer culture.

We’ll probably be here until Wednesday, then it’s back to Utah to drop off the car and back east for me, taking the train back to my parent’s house before heading overseas to teach English. The last few weeks have been pretty hectic, what with moving and all, but now that I’m out of my apartment and on the road, I think things will be less stressful in some ways–fewer balls to juggle.

I don’t foresee getting into much of a routine again until after the holidays, but I’ve been able to write between 500 to 1,000 words per day in Stars of Blood and Glory so far, and hopefully I’ll be able to keep that up. And of course, the train ride should be perfect for pounding out words.

Before the end of the year, I’ll probably do the whole reflections on 2011 thing and resolutions for 2012, but posting might be a little spotty over the next few days, at least until after Christmas. It’s a time for family, after all. So anyhow, I hope y’all have a wonderful holidays, and I’ll catch you after it’s over!

Last day for Desert Stars campaign

So today is the last day for the Desert Stars kickstarter campaign. I’ve got a little under half the funds raised so far, but if I don’t reach the target goal by the end of the day, the project doesn’t get funded (at least, not through kickstarter).

All I need is about 35 people donating $10 each, or 14 donating at $25, so if you’ve been meaning to pledge but just haven’t gotten around to it, I’d appreciate it if you could take the time to do it. Worst case scenario, the project doesn’t get funded, and you don’t pay anything.

I’m currently traveling across the country by train, so I won’t be back online until Friday when I arrive in Utah. Right now, I’m in Chicago, getting ready to board the California Zephyr; internet is a little spotty at Union Station, but I’ve found a corner where I can check up on things.

Thanksgiving was great; I blogged about it on the travel blog. It was good to spend some time with my parents and visit with family. Christmas is going to be great, not only because all my sisters and their families will be there, but because we’ll be in Texas where the weather is a bit milder. I’m looking forward to it!

As for the kickstarter campaign, whether or not it works out, I’ll definitely blog about it in the next couple of days. Even if it doesn’t get funded, I’ve learned a lot from the experience, and I’m sure my fellow writers will be interested to hear about it.

So keep in touch, and I’ll be back on Friday!

Random updates before leaving

I’m spending Thanksgiving with my parents this year, which means I’m leaving for Massachusetts tomorrow…by train. Well, technically, Sunday morning, since the cross-country trains come through Salt Lake City in the wee hours, but to my way of thinking it’s tomorrow and not Sunday. Either way, I won’t be posting anything until Tuesday night, since that’s when I arrive.

You may have noticed that Amazon recently bumped the price of my two short stories, “Memoirs of a Snowflake“ and “Decision LZ1527,” back up to $.99. I decided to raise the price because giving them away for free wasn’t having any sort of effect on sales of my other novels. Sure, it exposed my work to more readers, but I want to be known for my science fiction series, not because of a couple of cute stories that aren’t a whole lot like anything else I’ve written.

However, after reading Kris Rusch’s recent post on this subject, I decided to drop the price of Sholpan to free for the next couple months. Sholpan is a novella taken from Bringing Stella Home, and is a great place to start for my Gaia Nova series. It’s a complete story on its own, but I’m hoping it will drive interest in the full length novel, and later in Desert Stars.

If the price dropping process is anything like it was for the short stories, though, it will be a while before Sholpan is free across all platforms. Amazon doesn’t allow you to set the price to free yourself; you have to get all the other places to do it first, so that Amazon’s bots will detect it and price match. To do that, you have to drop the price on Smashwords first and wait for it to trickle down.

In short, it will probably take three to five weeks for Amazon to make Sholpan free. Hopefully it’ll happen in time for the holiday season, and probably for a month or two afterward.

In the meantime, I just noticed that “Memoirs of a Snowflake“ is on both the science fiction anthology and fantasy anthology top 100 lists on Amazon. Woot! It’s not going as fast as it was when it was free (I think I’ve had just five sales in the past 48 hours), but it’s still going. It will be interesting to see how long it holds up; it would be awesome to crack the top 10 on either of those categories!

And that’s about it. I’ll leave you with the following quote:

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.

–Martin Buber

Tradition!

We have some pretty weird traditions in my family. One of them is that we watch The Ten Commandments every Thanksgiving. Another is that my mother tells everyone “rabbit rabbit!” on the first of every month. Yet another: whenever anyone opens a bucket of fresh butter, everyone nearby screams bloody murder and scrambles to be the first one to break it.

The biggest tradition of them all, however, is that whenever it’s someone’s birthday, everyone else rushes to be the first to wish them a happy birthday–or at least to get one of the first slots. For mine, my youngest sister called me at midnight to get the coveted number one spot.

So anyways, today is my sister Kate‘s birthday. I called her at 11:35 pm MST (GMT-6), which is half an hour past midnight where she lives. Of course, she didn’t answer her phone (she never does!) so I called her husband and asked him to wake her up so I could talk with her. “It’ll only take a second,” I said.

Well, he did…AND SHE SAID I WAS NUMBER TWO!!!

All I can say is she married smart.

#$@! !#$@# $%@^ !@#!

That is all.