I Feel Like I Owe (You & this Website) A Post.

People of Earth…how are you?

Things have been cooking in my part of the world, but I’ll be dashed if I don’t set aside some time to put something up on this musty ol’ blog.  It’s my duty.  I ain’t new to this.

WRITING NEWS (if this stuff bores you, skip on ahead yo)

I’ve been spending pretty much all of my free time at night behind the ol’ keyboard.  So much time in fact that I’ve worn it out.  I’m not even kidding.  The shift key sticks and it ends up putting words up there that I didn’t even type.  I mean…it couldn’t be my fault, right? (Right.)

In the world o’ writing, I’ve been plugging away on the two new Picture Window titles I’ve been contracted for.  A book about life in Colonial America and another on life on a Viking Ship.  Here’s what’s kind of funny about this:

In school, I didn’t care a lick about history.  We learned about old dudes signing boring documents and law and some battles and what-not and I honestly wasn’t even remotely interested.  Now…decades later, guess what?  I’ve got to write about this stuff.  I remember telling my parents (when I’d come home with a C- or even a D or two in history):

ME: “I don’t care about this history.  I’m going to be a writer when I grow up.  How is learning about history going to help me with that?  Besides I’m acing writing and English.”

PARENTS: “But you never know when you’re going to need this know this crap in the future.”

ME: “Ah.  I never will.”

(I had similar conversations for science and social study classes, too)

All I gotta say is this: History has a way of catching up with you.

So, I’ve been drowning myself in stories about Jamestown, Colonization, Vikings, Norse gods, etc…  It’s been fun, but LOADS of work.  I’ve been neglecting my other stuff, this blog, my critique partners (sorry Shelley and Brandon!) and all of my other endeavors.

The good news?  I’m close to getting these bad-boys done, so it’s only a matter of time.  In fact, I should have the 2nd (Vikings) done this week.  It’s always fun to finish ’em up, but then there’s that weird part of me that’s like Dang, I wish I had something else to work on for those guys…

I’m always looking for more to do, contracted or otherwise.  But, I’m actually looking forward to a lull and this Spring might give me a chance to chip away at other writing-type stuff.

Remember that YA zombie series that I’ve been working on for years?  Remember how I couldn’t get an agent to snap it up to share it with the rest of the world?  (Probably not…only a couple people have actually read it!)  Well, I’m going to see if ol’ GOODHALO can get a new life as an eBook.  I’ve had piles of people tell me I should dip my toe in the water of eReaders, so I’m going to take a crack at it.

I’ve lined up uber artist Nathan Malvig to design the GOODHALO cover for me.  Check out his site to see some of this other work.  Scroll down far enough and you can see the drawing he did of my main character (Pious) a few years back.  The dude has talent coming out of his pores, y’all.  Plans to get the 2nd book in the series in fighting shape for release are in the works, too.  We’ll see how the first one does.

I’ve also go my other little underdog book: THE SHORT BUS JOURNAL waiting in the wings, too.  My hope is to get those two up and see if they can get any digital love.  I’ve got some awesome people in my corner helping to make this happen, so come spring…it’s on.  Expect to hear more about it when we get closer!  Special thanks to my gifted authorly friend Rhonda Stapleton for continuing to love this book when the literary big-shots wouldn’t touch it!

Outside of that, I’m planning on getting back in the saddle to finish the oft-delayed but still beloved LITTLE BROKEN WINGS.  Remember that one?  The one about my brother and I and the summer where he tried to save all those injured birds?  Yeah.  That one.

(FILM/MOVIE STUFF)

We (Soft Drink Productions) has yet to get a film project planned this year.  I want to with a sickness and and a quickness.  Something will get shot n’ cut before the year’s end.  Believe that.

The film fest that we entered RISE OF EL RETRETE has come and gone, but we didn’t bother to make one.  Schedules and stuff, man.  You know how it is.  Plus, we weren’t really too excited about shooting something in this god-forsaken winter.  But I think we’re all hungry for something new.  Heck, I know I am.

In other movie news…

It’s hard to see movies consistently when you’ve got kids, a lot of stuff to do in your spare time, and you know, a life.  So, a band of friends and I have formed a group called Friends of Cinema (FOC for short).  We get together (almost weekly) to see a late night flick during the week.  During the Oscar season, we tried to get out and see all of the nominated films.  (I only fell asleep for part of The King’s Speech, I swear)

We’re still going strong, seeing stuff on the cheap during the week.  The drawback?  When we’re done, it’s usually so late and so cold in the parking lot that we’re in a hurry to get into our vehicles and hit the road without talking about ’em.

So…we’re in the planning stages of making FOC a tried and true movie review site and podcast of sorts.  My grand vision is to make it an all-encompassing site about movies, even old crap, stuff we’ve seen on Netflix, the works.  Not sure how it’ll shake out, but it’s another thing that might sponge up any remaining free time I’ve got left.  Who doesn’t like to sit still?

THIS GUY.

So that’s my big excuse for being absent.  I’ve been crazy busy.  It’s funny, I sort of bagged on this online comic strip that I love called Achewood.  The guy who created it used to put up new comics like 3-4 a week.  Lately, it’s been once a month.  I would log in and see that nothing has changed and say: Seriously, dude?  Nothing new?

Well, I’m not one to talk, apparently.  In his case, I think he’s just reached a creative drought with his characters and needs the time to explore new things.  It happens.  For me, it’s been trying to find to find the time.

So with a tip of my hat, I’m off to hang with the boys this afternoon.  Thanks for indulging me.  I’ll post something not so “hey lookit what I’m doing” next time!

Peas and carrots,

– TKT