80,000

I didn't even realize I made it past 80,000 words in Blood Plague during my last writing session. 80,000 Words is offically the mark where I do a happy dance because the book is a "novel" by anyone's standards. I am going to estimate I need another 20-30 thousand words to tie everything up but I can't believe I didn't even notice when I hit 80.

Trees and things

It has been a pretty busy summer so far, and I have not had much time for writing so there hasn’t been a whole lot to report so far as my writing goes. Here is a little tidbit from my regular life. There was a thunderstorm on Friday, this is a pretty common event in late June. There was a little hail and a lot of wind. I got off of work to find this.

Yep that is a two hundred pound “branch” that fell on my brand new fence. Thankfully the branch did miss my wife's car just a few feet out of frame and came no where near the house. It was a little shocking. The storm wasn't that bad.

Anyway, I am a man and part of my manly duties is to fix things like this. So Saturday morning I went to the hardware store got some more pickets and a new two by four( the one the tree is sitting on is shattered but somehow still holding up the tree in the picture).

A few hours and one pretty jagged cut on my hand later I was done. There was much rejoicing as I proved that I still deserved my man card. We played computer games and drank massive quantities of crystal light.

As for writing, it has been the same old thing. There has been one new development. A publication I have a story in has sent out an email to writers it has worked with in the past. They are looking for independent film/book reviewers. I sent an email back saying I would give it a try. So sometime in the next few months to a year I might be a published reviewer.

A Story Published

Hey all. Just wanted to mention that my story “The Last Hero” is now available in Library of Horror Press’ Alienology: Tales from the Void anthology. This story was my first foray into superhero fiction. It tells the story of one of earth’s last superheroes after an alien invasion. I couldn't really tell  you a lot more than that, it was accepted waaaay back in September of 2009 and I haven't read it since then, and to be honest, I don't remember the story  very well. Which is kind of weird. Maybe in a few years I will be able to go back and read my early stuff and not remember it at all...then I could be my own fan or, more likely, my own critic. Hmmm...  Anyway, you can buy the anthology HERE

That leaves five stories that are waiting on publication and six stories that I am still trying to find a home for. I haven’t been writing too many shorts of late so this might be it for awhile. When I have time to write I keep trying to finish up Blood Plague.

Speaking of Blood Plague, I think I figured out that last little piece of the story that is setting up the conclusion. I am hoping to get those two chapters written this weekend and then after that, if I have time to write, progress should fly on Blood Plague. Until about mid July or so I am only going to be able to write on weekends so it’s a little up in the air how long it will take, my wife and I already have plans for this weekend and next, summer gets so busy. I am estimating that I still have around 20,000 words left, which I could easily get done in a month or so in the spring or fall, but it is going to take a little longer than that.

What to do at 32?

I need to “figure out what I want to do this weekend” for my birthday, or so my wife tells me. My birthdays isn’t until Tuesday but I am working on Tuesday. I am turning 32 and I told my wife that I wanted to do something. Deciding what is harder than I thought it would be.

Thirty years ago it was easy. Someone else did all the planning. I got lots of presents and from the photographs I seriously enjoyed my birthday. Like really, really enjoyed it. In one picture I seem to be trying to become one with the birthday cake and have my head buried in it. But no one is going to plan my birthday for me, and I really shouldn’t eat that many sweets. I am on a low carb diet.

Twenty years ago it would have been simple too. Pizza and a movie. Simple. Easy. Either renting them or actually going. Google tells me that summer had some good ones. Terminator 2, Robin Hood the Prince of Thieves. But the low carb diet nixes the pizza, and as you can see from my last post I just went and saw the only movie at the theatre that I wanted to see. And Netflix has made going to the movie rental place pointless.

Don’t even get me started on ten years ago. A case of beer and a pack of cigarettes would have been all I needed. But I have quit smoking since then and the drunken debauchery of my early twenties sounds exhausting. I have no desire to wake up in a lilac bush wondering where my pants went. I would need at least three days of vacation time just to recover.

So that leaves me with very few options. I could head up to the local Indian casino. As a member of the players club I get $20 in free gaming. But I am a little casinoed out. We went to Deadwood at the beginning of May and there is only so much time I want to spend watching my money disappear with nothing to show for it.

A few years ago I bought a video game and had a few friends over to play it with me and my wife. That was kind of fun. Maybe I could do that. Only minus the friends (they left town) and the rum and coke (rum gives me a stomach ache).

Geez…see the problem? Anyone out there have any ideas?

X-Men: First Class Review

I went to see X-Men: First Class last night. I really enjoyed the first trilogy. Checking other reviews online this morning I seem to be in the minority, but this one is not nearly as good as the rest of the franchise, even X-men Origins: Wolverine was kind of fun. If any character or plot arc in the movie even started to become fun or interesting they would quickly switch scenes to something less fun or interesting. When the best part of the movie is a thirty second cameo of Hugh Jackman telling the main characters to F*ck Off(something I wanted to do for nearly an hour) there is something wrong with the movie.

Untangling the mess and telling you why it was bad is a little beyond me. So it is hard to pin down exactly what was wrong. But here are a few things I didn’t like.

The plot mixing the Cuban Missile Crisis with mutant rights was over the top and convoluted.

James McAvoy is a good actor but a horrible Professor X

The special effects with Emma Frost are ridiculous and cheap.

The movie was about 45 minutes too long for what happened in it

The “first class” had no personality or depth. The only character that I cared about at all was Magneto and I knew he was going to turn evil. Fewer characters and more characterization would have helped a lot.

The Beast/Mystique attempts at finding a cure, this lame attempt at characterization felt forced and hollow and took up way to much time.

I thought Kevin Bacon did a great job and so did Michael Fassbender. Overall it kind of felt like the first draft of a novel that hasn’t been revised yet. Parts of it didn’t really make sense, parts were slow paced, characters needed to be developed more, but there were some really great scenes and ideas behind everything.