I've been intending to post something to this blog for a while now, but I just haven't gotten the motivation to go ahead with any particular topic. A lot of my time the last few weeks has been spent on sports (watching and reading about), so I've decided to write a few posts on sports topics.
The Copa America Centenario tournament just ended a few days ago. The European Championships are still raging. (Those are soccer tournaments, by the way.) I have watched many, many matches from these tournaments. There are several things I would like to say about what I've been seeing. I'm not sure how many posts I'll be writing, but I imagine there will be at least two, possibly a bunch.
I listened to the audiobook for Kevin Hearne's Hounded and really liked it, so I might post a literary criticism in the next few days as well. Hopefully, through some sort of posts, I will get some lifeblood back into this blog.
Showing posts with label Announcement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Announcement. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Foreboding A-to-Z Challenge Theme Reveal
I see that I'm a day later than the greater part of the A-to-Z Challenge community in revealing my theme. Not that I had intended to participate in the event, as it were. But it is another sign of my lack of attention to my blog and the blogging community. I'm only one day late, at least.
My original plan for my A-to-Z theme was to review a television show episode each day. As the days of March faded away without much preparation, I decided to change the idea. With school, I cannot trust myself to watch the requisite amount to declare that theme. Instead I'll be giving myself a much smaller load.
This April, I shall be posting a short bio for a character (I'll probably never write) or a description of some world-building element of a random setting I make up, likely different each time (though perhaps some days will be from the same milieu). These will likely be quite short. I'm sure my imagination will take a firmer hold on occasion and lend itself to a longer post.
I hope to see any and all of you join me in the Challenge this year. I didn't make it very far last year, but this will be my fourth year participating, and I really hope it won't be a second failure so soon. I respond to virtually all comments on my posts and try to comment on the blogs of all of my visitors. Happy A-to-Zing!
My original plan for my A-to-Z theme was to review a television show episode each day. As the days of March faded away without much preparation, I decided to change the idea. With school, I cannot trust myself to watch the requisite amount to declare that theme. Instead I'll be giving myself a much smaller load.
This April, I shall be posting a short bio for a character (I'll probably never write) or a description of some world-building element of a random setting I make up, likely different each time (though perhaps some days will be from the same milieu). These will likely be quite short. I'm sure my imagination will take a firmer hold on occasion and lend itself to a longer post.
I hope to see any and all of you join me in the Challenge this year. I didn't make it very far last year, but this will be my fourth year participating, and I really hope it won't be a second failure so soon. I respond to virtually all comments on my posts and try to comment on the blogs of all of my visitors. Happy A-to-Zing!
Monday, January 11, 2016
Extra Posts!
I had only really planned on doing one blog post a week (except during April), but as it is turning out, I will probably end up posting twice a week most weeks through April (and possibly every day during April). Why? I'm enrolled in an Intro to Professional Writing class this semester and we need to keep a blog. I had the option of using this blog or making a new one for the class; I chose to use this one. These posts shall be tagged "Professional Writing," and I shall link to them in a tab with the same name. This week, my normal Thursday post and my Professional Writing post will likely be one and the same. Hopefully this will change in coming weeks.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
I'm Not Dead, I Swear
I've been really mistreating this blog the past ten months or so, I know, I know. I'm sorry. A lot of things have happened that either took up all of my time or energy. Now I'm just really out of the swing of things. But there will continue to be posts. They may not be regular, but there will be posts.
I start college at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown on Monday. My major going in is Creative Writing and if everything goes well, I'd like to do a double major with Theatre Arts (acting/directing concentration) plus a minor in French. My classes for the first semester are: Medieval French Courtly Romance (may swap for a different class because it doesn't help me much with getting my degree), Composition 2, Topics in Philosophy (Moral Psychology), Intro to Physical Oceanography, and Intro to Creative Writing.
I may work 10-12 hours a week. In addition to that, I have my own reading to do, as well as writing. I will soon begin some in-depth research into Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and Peninsular Malaysia in order to write a fantasy story with a setting based upon those areas of South-East Asia. I'm also teaching myself how to play the mandolin (here is me playing and singing "Let Her Go" with my sister providing backing vocals). There are various school activities I'd like to become involved in too. I do a good bit of volunteering with my church and have done some pulpit-filling in the past. And maybe I'll spend some time socially!
Despite all of this, keeping myself busy may actually help me to keep this blog going. When I'm going, I usually expend all of my energy working on the various things that make up my life. We shall just have to see how things go.
If you're really, really lucky, you'll soon get a review of any or all of the following in the coming days: The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan, Firefight by Brandon Sanderson, and A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
I start college at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown on Monday. My major going in is Creative Writing and if everything goes well, I'd like to do a double major with Theatre Arts (acting/directing concentration) plus a minor in French. My classes for the first semester are: Medieval French Courtly Romance (may swap for a different class because it doesn't help me much with getting my degree), Composition 2, Topics in Philosophy (Moral Psychology), Intro to Physical Oceanography, and Intro to Creative Writing.
I may work 10-12 hours a week. In addition to that, I have my own reading to do, as well as writing. I will soon begin some in-depth research into Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and Peninsular Malaysia in order to write a fantasy story with a setting based upon those areas of South-East Asia. I'm also teaching myself how to play the mandolin (here is me playing and singing "Let Her Go" with my sister providing backing vocals). There are various school activities I'd like to become involved in too. I do a good bit of volunteering with my church and have done some pulpit-filling in the past. And maybe I'll spend some time socially!
Despite all of this, keeping myself busy may actually help me to keep this blog going. When I'm going, I usually expend all of my energy working on the various things that make up my life. We shall just have to see how things go.
If you're really, really lucky, you'll soon get a review of any or all of the following in the coming days: The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan, Firefight by Brandon Sanderson, and A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Coming Soon
I was quite busy the past seven months or so. Now I should be able to make a return. I have some plans I'd like to make public about the direction of this blog, mostly to coax myself into actually making them happen.
May 15th was my 3rd blogiversary. I know that my 3rd year of blogging was a lot less productive than my first two, but I plan to make the 4th at least better than the 3rd.
I graduated from high school on May 29th. My first day at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown will be August 31st. I will be studying creative writing.
The first thing I need to do is get a fresh background on the blog. My cousin edited a photo he had taken to my specifications so that I could use it here. He took the background photo currently displayed and I'm pretty sure at least one of the ones immediately before the current one. This time around I'm going to write a story or vignette in support and celebration of the photo. That should be the next post I do, up within the next few days.
As I mentioned before, I would like to continue to post some stories in the Drake Lunar Base setting. There is a lot more for me to explore and learn from the exercise. If anyone wants to have their name and/or nationality used, feel free to tell me in the comments section.
I'd really like to start getting back to writing story reviews, especially short fiction reviews. I think I'll do some more movie reviews as well.
I'm not sure if writing posts will return with any sort of frequency. I doubt that I'll never post another, but I don't know that they're really good enough to warrant the hour of writing time, energy, and concentration. We shall see.
There is a great possibility of new features on the blog as well, including the return of an occasional flash fic vlog.
For anyone actually reading this, hello! I'm sorry for my absence. Welcome back to the ravenous maw! Watch out for that massive saliva droplet above you!
May 15th was my 3rd blogiversary. I know that my 3rd year of blogging was a lot less productive than my first two, but I plan to make the 4th at least better than the 3rd.
I graduated from high school on May 29th. My first day at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown will be August 31st. I will be studying creative writing.
The first thing I need to do is get a fresh background on the blog. My cousin edited a photo he had taken to my specifications so that I could use it here. He took the background photo currently displayed and I'm pretty sure at least one of the ones immediately before the current one. This time around I'm going to write a story or vignette in support and celebration of the photo. That should be the next post I do, up within the next few days.
As I mentioned before, I would like to continue to post some stories in the Drake Lunar Base setting. There is a lot more for me to explore and learn from the exercise. If anyone wants to have their name and/or nationality used, feel free to tell me in the comments section.
I'd really like to start getting back to writing story reviews, especially short fiction reviews. I think I'll do some more movie reviews as well.
I'm not sure if writing posts will return with any sort of frequency. I doubt that I'll never post another, but I don't know that they're really good enough to warrant the hour of writing time, energy, and concentration. We shall see.
There is a great possibility of new features on the blog as well, including the return of an occasional flash fic vlog.
For anyone actually reading this, hello! I'm sorry for my absence. Welcome back to the ravenous maw! Watch out for that massive saliva droplet above you!
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
A to Z Withdrawal
I'm sorry to say that due to time restraints from my high school musical, I have decided that it is in my best interest to withdraw from the A to Z Challenge for this year. After April is done I may very well continue with posts similar to those I may have posted had I had the time and energy to do so during the Challenge month. I will do my best to still leave some comments on other blogs when I have a free moment. Sorry and thanks.
Monday, March 2, 2015
A to Z Challenge 2015 Plan
This will be my third year joining in on the A to Z Challenge. To fulfill the challenge, you must blog each day in the month of April except for on Sundays. The first post must deal with something starting with "A," the second post "B," the penultimate post "Y," etc. (If you'd like to take the Challenge too, you can sign up here.)
I'm going to try to be creative (read: complicated) this year for the Challenge. I won't be using the schedule that I developed for my past two years, nor will I be utilizing a concrete theme. Instead, I will be taking a setting and event and using that as a framework for all of my posts. Before I explain further, it's probably best that I describe that framework.
On June 24, 2046, the aliens landed. They did not, however, land on Earth. First contact was made at, appropriately enough, the Drake Lunar Base. Every member of the base's crew remember the specifics of that day a little differently.
I'm going to experiment a lot with this framework. Each day, the post will be: a) an account of the alien landing by a character whose first name begins with the letter for that day; b) a sequel to one of the character-POV posts (those posts will have to have a title to match the letter); c) a pseudo-informational article on some aspect of the setting (my "D" post will probably be about the Drake Lunar Base, for example); or d) a story tying together different character threads (which will need a title).
Posts of the first variety will be given a date, corresponding to the date the "testimony" was given. To prevent confusion, every post of this type will be written in the 3rd-person. Yes, the characters will be telling their stories from their points-of-view, but in the 3rd-person rather than the 1st-person. The date of the "testimony" may range from the day after the event to several decades later. Because of this, facts such as the physical appearance of the aliens or the exact timeline of events will not necessarily be the same across posts.
All sequel posts will be taken from the same date as the original post for their POV characters.
Pseudo-informational articles will be written in a 100% reliable manner. All facts stated are meant to be the truth. That does not mean, however, that they will line up with what is stated in the stories. There will likely be foreshadowing and dramatic irony present in these articles, so if you want to leave everything a surprise, wait until the month is over before you read those ones.
The stories tying together different character threads are to be taken as cross-sequel between two or more posts of the first variety. They will be told by a character who was not the POV character of any of those posts, but may have been included in one or more "testimony." These stories will be told in the 1st-person. You will be provided with the name of the POV character and the date on which the story was meant to have been told.
This series as a whole shall be titled: First Contact at the Drake Lunar Base. It is meant to be character-driven science-fiction somewhere between soft SF and hard SF. The science will not be perfectly sound, but it will be more sound than the science in space opera stories, for the most part. Because of the wide variety of characters present, some stories will lean toward soft SF and others will lean toward hard SF.
This is an experiment. It will test all of my sci-fi writing skills. Hopefully it won't crumble, nor become too redundant (through the repeating of the same basic events or through different character voices being too similar). If it does, I apologize, in advance.
After April has ended, there may or may not be bonus posts extending this series. As of this writing, I do not plan on including any posts from the POV of any of the aliens with the Challenge month. However, I may post some such stories later, for anyone who cares to know.
If anyone has any questions, thoughts, etc., please leave a comment here or on any of my Challenge posts once the A to Z Challenge begins on April 1st.
I'm going to try to be creative (read: complicated) this year for the Challenge. I won't be using the schedule that I developed for my past two years, nor will I be utilizing a concrete theme. Instead, I will be taking a setting and event and using that as a framework for all of my posts. Before I explain further, it's probably best that I describe that framework.
On June 24, 2046, the aliens landed. They did not, however, land on Earth. First contact was made at, appropriately enough, the Drake Lunar Base. Every member of the base's crew remember the specifics of that day a little differently.
I'm going to experiment a lot with this framework. Each day, the post will be: a) an account of the alien landing by a character whose first name begins with the letter for that day; b) a sequel to one of the character-POV posts (those posts will have to have a title to match the letter); c) a pseudo-informational article on some aspect of the setting (my "D" post will probably be about the Drake Lunar Base, for example); or d) a story tying together different character threads (which will need a title).
Posts of the first variety will be given a date, corresponding to the date the "testimony" was given. To prevent confusion, every post of this type will be written in the 3rd-person. Yes, the characters will be telling their stories from their points-of-view, but in the 3rd-person rather than the 1st-person. The date of the "testimony" may range from the day after the event to several decades later. Because of this, facts such as the physical appearance of the aliens or the exact timeline of events will not necessarily be the same across posts.
All sequel posts will be taken from the same date as the original post for their POV characters.
Pseudo-informational articles will be written in a 100% reliable manner. All facts stated are meant to be the truth. That does not mean, however, that they will line up with what is stated in the stories. There will likely be foreshadowing and dramatic irony present in these articles, so if you want to leave everything a surprise, wait until the month is over before you read those ones.
The stories tying together different character threads are to be taken as cross-sequel between two or more posts of the first variety. They will be told by a character who was not the POV character of any of those posts, but may have been included in one or more "testimony." These stories will be told in the 1st-person. You will be provided with the name of the POV character and the date on which the story was meant to have been told.
This series as a whole shall be titled: First Contact at the Drake Lunar Base. It is meant to be character-driven science-fiction somewhere between soft SF and hard SF. The science will not be perfectly sound, but it will be more sound than the science in space opera stories, for the most part. Because of the wide variety of characters present, some stories will lean toward soft SF and others will lean toward hard SF.
This is an experiment. It will test all of my sci-fi writing skills. Hopefully it won't crumble, nor become too redundant (through the repeating of the same basic events or through different character voices being too similar). If it does, I apologize, in advance.
After April has ended, there may or may not be bonus posts extending this series. As of this writing, I do not plan on including any posts from the POV of any of the aliens with the Challenge month. However, I may post some such stories later, for anyone who cares to know.
If anyone has any questions, thoughts, etc., please leave a comment here or on any of my Challenge posts once the A to Z Challenge begins on April 1st.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
The Beginning of Erratic Blogging
At least for a little while, I will be blogging without a set schedule. Having certain days upon which I post certain things isn't easy with how erratic my personal schedule is. So, if I have a flash fic I want to post, I shall do so. If I read something I really like or dislike for very structured reasons, I'll post a review. When writing subjects come to mind that I'd like to delve into in written form, I shall post my thoughts. Hopefully I shall be able to improve the quality of my posts through this fluidity, although I foresee a decrease in total postings. We'll see.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
The First of Several Posts Relating to KJ Kabza's SFF Collection Under Stars
I'm changing things up in the ravenous maw for the next eleven days or so. Instead of my typical post schedule, I will be posting exclusively literary criticisms and/or blurbs of the stories in KJ Kabza's upcoming SFF short story collection Under Stars, which launches October 27th. I will likely not write about every story in the collection, but I'll try to hit the highlights.
While I would recommend picking up Under Stars when it comes out, I will put a content warning on some of its material. The story "The Terms of Our Alliance" contains some mildly explicit content and is not recommended. There are also several dozen dirty limericks included, which I have not read and am not planning on reading. They're at least at the end of the collection, so they should be fairly easy to avoid if one does not wish to read them.
Several of the stories in the collection are available to read online right now for free. If you'd like to take a sneak peek into what you might find in Under Stars, take a few minutes to read Kabza's 1,000ish-word dark fantasy story "The Flight Stone" from Daily Science Fiction. It features both excellent world-building and groan-worthy horror.
While I would recommend picking up Under Stars when it comes out, I will put a content warning on some of its material. The story "The Terms of Our Alliance" contains some mildly explicit content and is not recommended. There are also several dozen dirty limericks included, which I have not read and am not planning on reading. They're at least at the end of the collection, so they should be fairly easy to avoid if one does not wish to read them.
Several of the stories in the collection are available to read online right now for free. If you'd like to take a sneak peek into what you might find in Under Stars, take a few minutes to read Kabza's 1,000ish-word dark fantasy story "The Flight Stone" from Daily Science Fiction. It features both excellent world-building and groan-worthy horror.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Forthcoming Drabbles and a Post-Script
I haven't made it known on here yet, but now that I've signed the contract, been paid, and have the dates of publication in my inbox, I guess I can tell everyone some exciting news. I have three 100-word stories (drabbles) forthcoming to SpeckLit.com. These are my first pro-rate sales (5 cents a word; also my first sales I'm making any money on at all). My stories go up: July 15th, August 10th, and September 21st. The first is fantasy, the second is horror, and the third is sci-fi. All three are 1st-person, which is kind of odd, because I don't write a lot of 1st and SpeckLit doesn't publish a lot of 1st. I'm definitely not complaining though.
One of the most exciting parts of this is that my first professionally-published story will be launching the day before my 17th birthday. It's just a bonus that it's in the fantasy genre.
P.S. I'm not doing a full literary criticism today. Instead I'm just going to point you toward Cat Rambo's latest Daily Science Fiction story, "English Muffin, Devotion on the Side." It manipulates POV in a cool, sci-fi way. And, if you really think about it, the story is also horror.
One of the most exciting parts of this is that my first professionally-published story will be launching the day before my 17th birthday. It's just a bonus that it's in the fantasy genre.
P.S. I'm not doing a full literary criticism today. Instead I'm just going to point you toward Cat Rambo's latest Daily Science Fiction story, "English Muffin, Devotion on the Side." It manipulates POV in a cool, sci-fi way. And, if you really think about it, the story is also horror.
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