In other news

So the other day I finished off one of my WIPs.  It was the latest in the “Life of Rage Cycle” of stories, which so far includes Pekra and The Orc Way.  This story came out a little lighter on the word count, as well as on the subject matter.  It’s almost a sit-com kind of situation, with an orcish spin. 

It’s pretty rough, and I am not all that happy with the very end.  But, I have my primary beta-reader looking at it (soon, I hope…), so I expect there will be some revisions forthcoming. The plan is to Kindle this one as well as any more involving this lovable cast of scamps.  Eventually I may wrap them all together in a single volume, and make it a POD offering (either through CreateSpace or Lulu).

I’ve also been struggling to get a military sci fi book off the ground, but I keep faltering.  In theory, it sounds fun.  But, when I sit down to work on it…meh.  So, I took a step back and re-evaluated the effort.

In the process of doing this, I came across a document I had created detailing the Snowflake Method of book-writing.  Suddenly I had an epiphany (the first of a few involving this project).  So, I started “filling in the blanks” according to the Method’s instructions.  And it was going well, when I suddenly had another insight. 

What if the main character was female?  And what if her situation was one not of her choosing?  Working from that, it’s coming along nicely.  I’m incorporating ideas from long-abandoned efforts from my past, and it is all working out well.  I’ll probably have a complete outline within a couple of weeks.

I also started reading Master Sergeant by Mel Odom.  Saw it on his blog a while back, and found it at the library this weekend.  So far, it’s pretty dang good.

Of course, I currently have just under a month to write a 12-page research paper on Operation: Market Garden for my very last college course.  In April I will be enrolled in a prep course designed to prepare me for a comprehensive exam on History.  Assuming I pass, I will be done with school!  Well, probably only until I start my teaching certificate training in the Fall.

All of this, and I am still working on a few RPG projects, including some revamping of my Supers game, and another issue of my fanzine.  You’d think I keep myself really busy with all of this, huh?  Well, my lazy evenings of NetFlix watching and other such nonsense might contradict that.  It’s a good thing I have a full-time job.  If I had to write to live, my family would probably starve.