New Short Story: Time
It has been awhile since I released a short story. Personally, I find writing a manuscript more fulfilling because of the details I can add to the story. However, sometimes you get bitten by the bug and decide to write something that pops into your mind. This piece hit me while I was rabbit sitting my friend’s bunny. Luckily, I had my computer on me and half a battery. Two hours later, the rough draft was done. Another hour, and the second draft was edited. A couple of emails between me and my editor, and the final piece was complete. Here is an excerpt from Time my new short story:
Read More“I’m next, John!” John had fallen asleep leaning against a golden pole with red velvet ropes. His new found friend grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him awake.
With a startle, John popped to attention, “What? Where, what, are we there, uh—”
The man interrupted John’s disjunctive questioning, “You dozed off again. You know you don’t have to sleep anymore.”
Research and More Research
“Whoa there ol’ girl.” is what I have been saying to myself the last week. Which is slightly odd, because I am a boy and not a girl. But, the reason I have been talking to myself, while pacing my hallways, was Tesla’s Travels. I love this story, and already know it will be an amazing journey. However, there are a lot of little things that need to be well researched so they flow well. So, I stopped writing Tesla’s Travels for the last week and just focused on researching. This wasn’t happy fun research, this was frightening research, because I explored how humans can make perfectly logical decisions that would lead to atrocious acts. Now that the reading’s are over, I have am back on the Tesla bandwagon. As of today, the piece broke: 7111 words.
Read MoreTesla’s Travels – Its Own Page
There is a new page in the manuscript section: Tesla’s Travels. This will be a place that is updated once a month with information about the book. Since it is being written, this page will mostly be used to mark its progress and give a synopsis. The issue with the synopsis is simple. This is a working title, that means that it can change drastically as I work through it. Yes, there are ten pages (18″ x 24″) of outlined notes, demographic data, character development, but most of these are “hard plot points”. That means that they have to happen otherwise it will negatively impact the four other stories. Even with ten pages, these only define major events for the main plot line. That means the book is still amorphous and time will be the determining factor in the whole story. So, other than the hard plot points, everything and anything can change while I work on the piece.
Read MoreNet Neutrality and My Paranoia
Over the last week everyone has been like a bee, abuzz, with the implications of net neutrality. I don’t think the majority of our population even understands that there is a war transpiring over the internet. So, I figured I would take the time to explain why I personally care.
There are two major reasons for my concern: 1) my website, and 2) other websites like mine. First, lets set up an analogy that we can use for the internet. Imagine that the internet is a finite bundle of pipes and each pipe is currently equal in size. Understand, that if there is no net neutrality, it means major businesses can pay internet service providers to engorge their pipes. Well, since it is a finite amount of pipes, the business is now allocated more pipes while the rest of the internet has to run on what is left (realistically they would be given preferential priority and not a dedicated line to your home). That means that it takes longer for you, the consumer, to reach that non-paying website since they can’t pay for a larger pipe. This is great for companies like NetFlix who devour a massive amount of bandwidth for their streaming services. Since they have the money, they would pay to get faster speeds to your home which improves their product for the end consumer. Using their larger pipe, they could create a large barrier to enter the streaming media industry.
So, that means if you try to access my website it will take longer to load. Why is that an issue? Well, as a society we have become more impatient and demand things to be ready immediately. With that entitlement, imagine waiting ten seconds for a website to appear? Then you click and wait another ten seconds. No one would stick around to view that website, and that would make those ten seconds a death sentence! Now, my website is payed for by me. I foot the bill, and I refuse to allow advertising. That means, I will not be paying to expand my pipe. My hosting company may, which would be awesome, but I doubt they have the money to compete with NetFlix or Amazon. That echos for all the other websites that are small and make meager profits. I am talking about web comics, Wikipedia , research websites (my university’s library that I use to research for my books), and other universities websites. That is my issue with the topic. I would like this website to be equally viewable to everyone. If the changes purposed go through, that may not be the case. If you are interested, trust me, there are a lot of sources that can explain it better than I did. I am not a journalist, and this is my personal interpretation based on what I have read. If anything is not correct, contact me and send me a source explaining the misinformation.
Read MoreTesla’s Travels – Research and First Chapters
Tesla’s Travels is moving ahead faster than any of my other projects. I spent a long time outlining, designing, and constructing the world. Unlike Journey to God, Tesla’s Travels has to be designed to support two books, and two short stories. While there is a short story and book that won’t fit directly into the Tesla’s Travels story vein they will exist in the same universe. So, I had design give independent stories that all use the same foundation material.
Non-fiction books are flying into my home, and I am reading them as they arrive. I needed a massive foundation in various disciplines in order to write Tesla’s Travels. Sadly, to push this project ahead, I became a recluse. With all the foundational information completed, I began writing.
I am sitting at six chapters and counting. The goal is to be done with this book by the end of June or the middle of July.
Read MoreUpdates to the Manuscript Section
Upgrades have been made to the manuscript page. I rewrote the manuscript page’s main section, added the Journey to God subpage, and updated the Primo Capite and the Others subpage. These updates should clean up all these pages. It is weird, I want to share information about these manuscripts, but I don’t want to give away anything important. So expect the manuscript section to be a revolving door with different information as I try to nail down the perfect blurb.
On a secondary note, I have sent a treatment of Journey to God to the agent who sent me the personalized rejection letter. It took me awhile to get all the necessary parts in place. Also, it was weird handwriting a letter that required perfect grammar and spelling. In the end, I realized my handwriting is atrocious but my spelling and grammar are solid.
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