Tag: Writing

Tool or Tools Of The Trade?

Today I bought a new friend. A friend who hopefully will inspire me to write and enable me to accomplish more.

It’s beyond hopeful, but hey, that’s what I do.

My new friend is in the thirteen inch variety, weighs very little and has Scrivener installed on it. Some might say I’m impulsive. Some might say I’m a moron. That’s why we listen to the voices in our heads (and not the ones that tell us to burn things). After demoing Scrivener and their incredibly generous twenty one days, which I never ran out of, I decided to take the plunge. Upon discovering it was half off in the App Store, I rejoiced and committed my novel to a life in Scrivener. To the people who made that program, I swear when I get published, I will mention you in a separate dedications page!

And now… Apple should thank those same people who created Scrivener for making me run out and buy a portable sexy beast with lit up keys for all those late night writings (like this one) and portability. Now I’m unsure if this is my newest tool of the trade, or if I am the tool of the trade! I mean really, am I fooling myself into believing that a thousand dollar machine will be the thing that gets me published? Will this new machine begin to gather dust after the wonder of looking down upon the keyboard like watching city streets from a plane wears off?

I must admit, the keyboard is a dream to type on and is relatively silent. My poor exhausted girlfriend sleeps right beside me while I write this very post. She’s got extremely long work days for the next week, and with the puppies out with her parents, that gives me all the time to spend with this magical beast. Lucky for me, I also have the next two days off, although at the cost of running into a nine day stretch of work. Tradeoffs.

Although for those of you who’ve read through here before, you may know that I work retail. I sincerely enjoy my job and the challenges it comes with. As a part of a management team, I manage to liken it to trying to assemble the Avengers/Justice League and trying to get all these awesome folk and misfits to work together and accomplish the task at hand. Some days are easier than others, others are like running with your pants down. But sometimes it is the challenge from the other side of the business that throws me for a loop.

I like to think I am a nice, helpful guy. Many people thank me, wave or shake my hand, smile and are generally positive on their way out. But I must say the one thing that shocks me about retail is the lack of customer compliments these days. I’m someone who would love to get promoted and I bend over backwards in my efforts to try and help the customer out while ensuring the business isn’t run into the ground. I have helped with minor issues (This was the wrong color) to the major issues (This five thousand dollar TV was busted when I went to set it up) and just about everything in between, and from my experience I could effortlessly get a million complaints a week. A million. Exaggerated? Maybe. But only on the number of people through our doors each week.

What am I getting at? I’m getting at the fact that somedays (myself included) when the world is going awesomely and everything is perfect, we forget to take the time to give out some good feedback to those who helped make it a great day. Today I helped a customer with their computer who had called the manufacturer and was told to bring it in. Somehow they had set up a password for the BIOS (that load up screen before any operating system starts) and had created a password for the computer and forgotten it. It took some time out of my day (around thirty minutes with a restore), but I managed to get rid of both passwords and set the computer up so everything ran smoothly. I decided as I had spent my time, I would politely ask the customer to take time out of their day to try and get me promoted.

This was where things got interesting.

When I placed them in front of a computer and set them up with the website, all I wanted was an honest opinion on how I had done today. What I got was, “I’m terrible at these things. Can you write it for me?” From a customer service point of view, I was actually a bit crushed. I pressed on and actually had to almost repeat the sales process by asking a ton of questions about how I had helped. In short, the customer was happy to put their name to whatever I wrote. I suppose at least that meant they trusted me fully by then, but still, I now know that it’s extremely hard to get a compliment. Lesson learned.

So for those of you out there who have complimented someone lately, thank you. On behalf of whoever that was, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. It’s so easy to get out there and vent your anger or frustration, but I’d say it takes a bigger person to go out of their way to thank someone for exceptional service and the such. Have you ladies and gents beyond the screen given any compliments lately? Let me know, and try and keep it positive in the comments! Good luck!

Power Level, Over Three Thousand?

Oh Dragon Ball Z… you still slay me after all these years.

But seriously… my blog has finally reached another milestone, of three thousand views. I want to thank all of you who actually swing by and donate some of your time to making me feel important. It may not seem like much to happen upon someone’s site and take a quick look, but to me? That means a lot! There aren’t many people in my life outside of this blog that I share my writing with and even fewer who actually care. Sometimes as a writer, you feel as though you are the only one who really gives a damn about your story. No one makes time for it. No one helps you with it. You are alone in a vast imaginary wasteland of your own devising.

Your quick stop by? It is like the shining light that makes me continue through that lonely darkness. The comments? Like a message in a bottle found on the beaches of despair. You are not alone, the only message inside.

No no, don’t read this wrong! I am not depressed! But I want to express the feelings of every blogger out there, that feeling of writing something and having no one view it or that feeling of having even just one person view it! Your few minutes is beyond welcome and I cannot express my gratitude enough.

*Sniff* So thanks again!

Ahem! *Cough* Moving on. So I’ve been embarking on a journey of trying to learn a third language… Which is harder than expected. Firstly, how the hell did I ever learn English?! Immersion definitely helped. But then how did I learn French?! Oh right… French Immersion (Ou, L’Immersion Francais… I know, difficult translation, right?) But now… I’m staring at these Kanji and Kana and my brain can recognize some of the Kana already and I know the sounds. But there is one thing I’m not sure on… grammar. Also, how certain things change depending on what symbol comes after it. My brain melted at trying to translate the very first line of one of the video games I bought while I visited Japan.

From what I have gathered… it has something to do with a birthday. Shortly thereafter, I had a nap. My Uncle had told me while I was in Japan he still can’t read some signs (he’s been there twenty five years… what chance do I have?), he also said learning to speak it was easier. Sadly, not all my games dictate what is happening on the screen to me. As it stands, I have three books on Japanese and a memory like game to help me recognize and register the different Kanji and Kana. My goal is to eventually write my uncle a letter in Japanese, admittedly most likely poor Japanese… but a letter nonetheless!

As for my writing, the blog has been doing well at getting me back into the habit. (Thanks again!) Sometimes I wish I could just head to a positive space for my writing needs every single day. Sadly my routine starts at six in the morning with the puppies and then work, followed by either cooking or cleaning from dinner followed by spending some time with my partner and the pups before heading back off to bed around ten in the evening. I’ve tried to write on my breaks at work (what an impossibility that is) and I never accomplish anything. Currently I am writing on my days off (so… see you next Tuesday most likely…) but hopefully soon I will be able to get out of work on time as we will be back up to the full compliment of management.

Also in the realm of writing, I appear to require more effort into describing scenes and people. My story is action and dialogue driven… but the feedback I have received is that there are only a few places where I have gone into detail. Perhaps I should have been a scriptwriter instead? Oh well… as an effort here is the scene I am currently writing in, from my own perspective, as practice.

***

My beard itches as I lean against the back of the couch. I remember now why we bought this one, as it’s embrace cuddles me like a throne of pillows. I satisfy my beard’s itch with my right hand, while my left one slides across the suede like texture of the cushions. I feel a quick prick, as my hand drifts onto the brown microfibre blanket covering the majority of the couch. Damn dogs… My fingers pluck a thin and pointed burr from the plush blanket. They’re lucky I love them. I secretly drop it into my girlfriend’s box of teaching things, which looks about as well organized as a game of fifty-two pick up. She wasn’t feeling well yesterday, so she probably just tossed it onto the couch, in my spot. I feel a bit like Sheldon Cooper from the TV Show, The Big Bang Theory. It’s in my spot… That’s my spot. I chuckle to myself as my right hand finds another pointed burr. I toss it onto the table, past my silver and black Chromebook.

With a twinge, I learn forward and push the tiny burr into a small pile of other similar pointy objects. Stupid back… stupid spot just below my ribs. I shrug the short dull pain off as I glance to a pile of three books on the “el cheapo” coffee table. The table was free, so I won’t argue. It still serves its purpose. The books are stacked three high; Japanese Bilingual Dictionary, The Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary and a book on Japanese Kanji and Kana. Roughly a sixty dollar investment into being frustrated. I’ve already managed my sixty dollars of frustration, time to move into productivity. Suddenly my laptop hits a song I like by Them Crooked Vultures and pumps it through my headphones. So much for that. I listen close as the song powers on, its distracting melody pleasuring my ear drums.

My eyes drift from the laptop to my beautiful TV as my fingers pump away at the Macbook-like keyboard before me. Fifty five inches of sexy LG goodness on top of a bookshelf from IKEA; one of those four by two even square shelves, The Kallax. The two latest Playstation consles sit just below the TV on top of the shelf, amid the blanket of dust. Seems I’m not only neglecting my writing… I consider playing a game, but the one I am in the middle of just isn’t keeping my attention. With so little time to do what I want, I’ve considered cutting it loose. The clutter below the consoles in the TV’s cabinet are behind glass and not as dusty at least. I skim across the spines of my collection of Marvel graphic novels, which when placed in order, create a landscape photo with the various heroes side by side. It’s a fantastic idea however, I’ve begun putting things in front of them. A card for my own birthday over a month ago, various Japanese knick-knacks and two books block the majority of the Marvel spines.

My eyes stop on the final of the four top panels and behind the class door is a small obsession of mine. Seven books, all silk bound hard covers, all philosophy and self help books. My self diagnosed O.C.D. arranged them in colour order: Yellow, Orange, Red, Maroon, Purple, Blue, Green. My eyes drift over the titles: The Prince, The Art of the Samurai, The Art of War, Marco Polo’s Silk Road, The Prophet, Tao Te Ching and The Five Rings. The amount of wisdom contained within those books is like having your own life lesson course in a glass case. I shift my legs out from under me and stretch across to the other lounge chair, until I’m comfortably on my side. What is the point of all of this? Will this make me a better writer?

The shelf in the corner looms in the shadows of the room, with virtually the entire Barnes & Noble leather-bound collection on its top two shelves. I shift back into a cross legged position as my back protests resting on my elbow, while I consider pulling down a book to read. George R. R. Martin’s advice was to read, anything and everything, fiction and non, in the quest to write better. From Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy to Poe’s complete Tales and Poems and further along to Ray Bradbury and HP Lovecraft; I stare at the shelf in awe. It is as if I have all my favourite authors watching over me, trying to guide me onto the path to success. I lean back and stare at what I’ve written on my Macbook mockery. The word count rings in at nearly fifteen hundred as Them Crooked Vultures loops back around and breaks into possibly my favourite riff of all time. I shrug off the idea of editing the blog post, and smile at my reflection in the TV before me. Welcome back my muse, shall we get started then?

***

Practice makes perfect right? If anyone has any suggestions into my ability to describe or how I could better use description… I’d love to know. I don’t think I used smell in my above description, but then again… I hope my house doesn’t smell at all! Anyway, I’m off to eat and write a quick short story before I practice some Japanese! It’s noon already and the day flies by when you’re having fun… hope you’re all having a good day out there and thanks again for stopping by! If you’d like me to read some of your stuff, just post it in the comments! I will get to it eventually, I promise! (I still have a few to read already, so it may be a bit!) Anyway thanks and take care! Hope everyone out there is winning!

Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, Treachery… And Other Ways To Live Your Life To The Fullest

Limbo…

A place where every procrastinator, myself included, spends most of their time. A philosophical question… is to not try, failing? A hockey player once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” He is right, statistically, but he also had a gift which got him into an arena where he could take as many shots as he wanted. If writing was like a sports team, I’d have quit my day job years ago and started practicing to get paid where I could take all the shots I wanted. Sadly, this is not the case… so I work, to pay the bills. By the end of the work day, I am tired to the point of ADD and cannot focus. I hear that coffee stuff does wonders… too bad I hate the taste. So here I sit… writing a blog… in Limbo.

Lust…

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Isn’t that true? Whether it’s a job or a story idea… there’s always something us silly humans are lusting after. More money? I want it. More free time? Sign me up. Story about a boy magician or a story about  fighting for the iron throne? I wish I’d written that. Despite my best efforts, I always see some shinier idea and leap upon it… leaving my old idea sad, alone and unfinished. If I could somehow tie all my incomplete stories together, I’d have one badass series of books. Sadly, the moment that I came up with a better idea, I’d be off lusting after that one too… damn sexy ideas. I blame the characters.

Gluttony…

Do I overindulge into my worldly pleasures? Perhaps… I only have a hundred games or so and a hundred books… or more. I do not eat to health, but instead to convenience. I do not drink, unless we count drinking in the stories of other creative types who have made it. As for those, I am drowning in them. I have more books than I have free time. I have more games than I have books. I am a glutton for a good story and even more so for great media in general. They say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem… right?

Greed…

As I sit among all my things, I realise that I probably relate closer to Smaug than anything else. I am rational for the most part. Until I want something. Then I can ignore prices and my own common sense. For instance, my obsession with collector’s edition books has managed to get to the point where my bookshelf is starting to bow. They are all books that I wish to read, but never make time for. Do I buy more? Of course. Who doesn’t? Does that make me greedy? Yes, yes it does.

Anger…

No one is more frustrated with me, than me. My girlfriend is probably a close second, and my coworkers a close third. Work is fulfilling. Numbers do not lie and when you are doing well, you see it reflected in the numbers. That is why I like work so much. My brain releases endorphins when I succeed. I succeed at work, through others. That is why I love it. I can pump them up, get them excited, start them on the task and leave… only to come back and follow up. Easy right? Now to accomplish anything in my personal life, it is not so easy. I am angry that I have lost the focus and the capacity to accomplish outside of the work setting. I am angry that I get distracted easily. I am angry that I seemingly have tons of time for a bunch of things I have no actual interest in, and no time for the things I want to accomplish. I’m just an angry guy apparently.

Heresy…

For this particular circle of awesomeness, I am a heretic on multiple levels I suppose. I believe the future of movies lies in video games. *GASP* Although I have also lived the majority of my life believing in no God, and also with the belief that if we are indeed creatures of a God’s creating he will be happy with how I have lived my life and the lessons I have learned and will hopefully learn before I die. Let us take a look at the commandments. 

  1. You shall have no other gods before Me. (What about no God at all?)
  2. You shall not make idols. (George R.R. Martin is my hero.)
  3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. (Didn’t anyone work retail back in those days?)
  4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Which one is that? My day off?)
  5. Honor your father and your mother. (I have cursed them and loved them dearly throughout my entire life. I still hate it when Mom is right.)
  6. You shall not murder. (That’s easy, unless he means anything. In which case… I’m sorry, but spiders are terrifying.)
  7. You shall not commit adultery. (What constitutes adultery anyway? I mean, if a man can take many wives… where is the line?)
  8. You shall not steal. (I was young! I did it to be popular! I learned!)
  9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Who hasn’t lied to get out of something?)
  10. You shall not covet. (See Lust above. Whoops.)

So there you have it… I’ve broken most of those outdated commandments and people consider me to be a nice guy. I’m sure my version of God will be impressed I’m not a lunatic… sadly if it is the biblical version, well… I’ll fit into any of the nine circles of hell. Party on the lake of fire. Whoo.

Violence…

I’m not a violent person… unless I get frustrated with a video game or get backed into a corner. I’ve been in a few fights over my years, but hey, we’re all fighting for something, right?

Fraud…

I talk of being a writer, when really I’m not. I’m a manager first and a writer… umm… roughly twelfth. It is nice to be something that you’re not occasionally, like when I am a writer first and foremost. In a sense, we may all be frauds until we truly discover who we actually want to be. I can fit into virtually any group, but that doesn’t mean that is who I am.

Treachery… 

Betrayal of trust. So many people believe that I have lied about completing a book because it is still in the editing phase. *Shrug* Well it is. But when I was young, I betrayed the trust of many people; Friends, family and strangers. Lies became a basis of what I did to get out of things and eventually it took getting out of that crowd and a fight to realise what was happening. Although anyone can be deceptive if they put their mind to it. After all, I am in customer service… deception sometimes keeps both the customer happy and the business’s image untarnished while everything gets sorted out.

So… as you see above, if I were in the Divine Comedy… I would fit comfortably in most circles of Hell. As it stands for now, they are the nine circles of my own personal torment, but I’ll get there someday. After reading some tips and hints from one of my favourite authors, George R. R. Martin, I think it is about time to start giving my writing back some priority. Ironically, I am still awaiting my copy of the Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics Edition of The Divine Comedy. Curse you back orders, curse you!

One final note too, that made me quite the “happy chappy” was this quote from Mr. Martin himself: “I’ve always said there are – to oversimplify it – two kinds of writers. There are architects and gardeners. The architects do blueprints before they drive the first nail, they design the entire house, where the pipes are running, and how many rooms there are going to be, how high the roof will be. But the gardeners just dig a hole and plant the seed and see what comes up. I think all writers are partly architects and partly gardeners, but they tend to one side or another, and I am definitely more of a gardener. In my Hollywood years when everything does work on outlines, I had to put on my architect’s clothes and pretend to be an architect. But my natural inclinations, the way I work, is to give my characters the head and to follow them.” That is how I wrote my story to completion was to have a few plot points to hit, and let the characters do the walking. I’m also starting to believe the game idea I had where six characters all affect the same world should be more like how I write. It’s been right there all along!

The Journey…

Life has an incredible way of throwing curve balls. Whether I’m at work, or at home… there is no end to the surprises in store for me. This year was supposed to be the year I manage to get published, or at least put in a solid effort towards it. In case you haven’t noticed, writing has drifted somewhere into Neverland along with this poor, dusty old blog. Does that mean I’ve been unproductive? Not at all! But the things that mean the most to me for the most part come in last. Since I last wrote on this blog… Wow… Has it been that long?

The last thing I wrote was a scene I’d had in mind for a long time. Almost two months ago. That is embarrassing. So much has happened since then! 

Firstly, I finally achieved one of my biggest goals in life; To travel to Japan and visit my Uncle. It has been a long time coming and it did not disappoint. From seeing my extended family, to gaming culture, to the Japanese culture and even further onto the history and beauty that is Japan… It was not hard to see why I know so many people who love Japan, and miss it so. For me, it felt like home; Safe and comfortable, yet exciting and new. 

Seeing my Uncle was incredible, after all, the last time we had seen each other was my father’s funeral (his brother). It was a rough time then, but we made the best of our time together given the circumstances. This time was not like that at all, but despite him running his own business and rushing everywhere, it was fantastic to spend the time with him and share some laughs and learn some family history. It was great spending some time with my wonderful Aunt and my cousins (who are both much taller, older and funnier than their shy younger years). I cannot thank them enough for opening up their home to us for the first few nights of our stay. Started off with some great relaxing for the trip ahead!

After this we went straight to Tokyo (stayed in Shinjuku) and enjoyed the sights and the city. Despite the enormous amount of people walking near the train station (which Japan’s trains are the best system I’ve been on, crammed, but efficient), there was always a sense of order and it seemed almost as if people moved in well coordinated lines. Also unlike most other places, people make the effort to move out of the way and make space for you no matter where you are. Just little kindnesses here and there, but they all added up. Our room was spacious and decently close to most of the areas we wanted to hit before moving on from Tokyo. 

I became obsessed with BookOff and the many small gaming shops around the city. We saw so much in regards to anime and gaming that my mind began to melt (and my wallet began to empty). I definitely picked up a Dragonball, some merchandise at a Pokemon Center (just one of many visits across Japan), some games that are never to be released in english speaking countries and paid my tribute at the Square-Enix cafe. All honesty, I could live there tomorrow if things were going differently. 

Next we headed into Kyoto with a bit of unease as we arrived. We had heard stories such as: it was hard to get around, experienced racism and people generally aren’t helpful. Within moments all of this was drowned with the kindness from the people around us and the fact that Kyoto has a bus pass that is a hop on, hop off anywhere pass for an entire day. Handy for the traveller there for a few days. Kyoto was absolutely beautiful; the history, the traditions and the people. Seeing kimonos first hand was extremely interesting as it still it the fashion there, unlike the budding metropolis we had visited just days earlier. Also in Kyoto, we found a restaurant… no, THE restaurant. It was a Do-It-Yourself Tempura feast, you paid one price and ate until your time was up. We may have gone back there again the next night… no regrets. 

From there we headed into Osaka. To me, I loved Osaka, both heart and soul. Tokyo was too crammed to feel quite comfortable for me, but Osaka was almost the calmer version. It still had the rich gaming culture and anime everywhere, but without the foot traffic and regular traffic of Tokyo. Here is where I did most of my shopping (games I held onto for years were available here for roughly $5 and were still popular!) and I made the decision I will need to learn Japanese. I’ll get to that later. For an afternoon, my girlfriend and I parted ways and I ventured around the city. I swung by many small back alley shops and marvelled at games that cost in the upwards of $6000 (first editions and rarities). It was hard to leave Osaka, but we still had another stop.

Atami was our stop in at a hotel that was styled like a traditional Japanese guest house. We wore our robes and went to eat dinner, when we realised that we were most certainly the only white people in the whole building (or perhaps even city…) We felt out of place for a few minutes as people pointed us out and the such, but then everything went about as if nothing happened. It was an odd feeling, but I’m sure to them, it was an odd sight! Here I fell in love with melon soda (or green, delicious, fizzy nectar of the gods as I like to call it) and we then headed back to the airport for the trip home.

So that was my journey into Japan. Before we left however my boss told me he had news. All of the sales managers for the local area were shifting stores. Without so much as a chance to say goodbye, I found out that was my last day and when I arrived back in Australia, I’d be headed into a different store. Going from a mall store to a destination store is tricky, especially now that Christmas is gone. That means I can work on growing the clientèle until then, but when Christmas hits we have to be in tip top shape. It is the only time of year you can hit a huge customer base and work hard to keep them for after the season. I did it with EB Games, and now it’s my plan with this store. Just means it’s going to be a long wait until then.

As for my writing… it has fallen off the wagon. Getting puppies was a fantastic idea, and I love them to death… but my productivity has disintegrated. I feel terribly guilty when I don’t pay attention to them as we have to pretty much lock them in the laundry while we work during the day. In our home we don’t have a nice yard they can just play in (hopefully in our next place they will) so we both feel as though we owe it to them to give them our undivided attention while we’re home. As one of my days off falls during the week, I still keep them away while I am home so not only as to get things done, but keep their during the week routine consistent as my day off may not be the same from week to week.

Also trying to fit gaming, writing and learning Japanese into my non existent free time has proven quite the challenge. My last days off were spent weeding the garden (AKA TJ Versus the Plant Spires Of DOOOM), cleaning the house (AKA Revenge of the Dust Hares), catching up on the laundry (AKA Attack of the Pasta Stains 2) and IKEA Furniture Assembly (AKA How Not To Assemble Furniture). The last game I played was on my iPhone (I’m so ashamed… all these game consoles and no playing time on them as of late) and in the washroom, where I have uninterrupted free time! Hurray for irritable bowel syndrome!

Anyway I am hoping to get back into it pretty soon, most likely in about two weeks time when my boss returns from holidays and I can focus on getting out of work on time. As for gaming, I’ll get there when I retire. *Sigh* Any one out there have any decent time management strategies/books they’d like to suggest or tips!? I’m all ears!

Ramblings On A Thursday

Hello, my name is Timothy John Edwards. I have a writing problem.

As in, I haven’t done much today.

Or… in the past few days.

Okay… so maybe I have a procrastination problem!

I have exactly nine minutes before I feed the dogs and then I’ll have some time to work on my story after that. Such is my life as of late! Having pets has been a dramatic change of pace for me, I suppose I figured a smart guy like me would find this easy and these pups would be completely trained in a few days. The reality is, I’m trained and they (while being quite well behaved for two puppies just over two months old) are toying with me. We’ve been putting their collars on to get them used to it (for future walks) but it has been much harder on my body actually than anything else. I feel older than I am, but also I have a strong allergy to dogs that my body is currently trying to build an immunity to. My chest constantly feels heavy and my eyes are beyond itchy. My energy levels have dropped and I can sleep at any point in time. Would I change it? Hell no, I love these pups.

But because of these allergies my focus has been destroyed as of late. I am the kind of person who can put their mind to just about anything and achieve it. However between work and home I have been achieving next to nothing. But my mind is working overtime on the few stories in my head. Let’s give you a creative update!

My idea for one story has now evolved into four books originating from the main story idea. The main story was to be about a trio of characters all linked by destiny to come together and fight a common enemy. Now, I have the concept of a novel for each of the three to solidify their importance and build the backstory to enrich the main story idea of the three of them anyway. A Quadrilogy? There goes my writing life for the next year easily. In the individual stories there will be some similarities and cross overs as I explore the whole threads of fate concept between them.

Jefferson has been patient and I am roughly seven thousand or so words away from hitting the one hundred thousand. It will probably run just over that as they deal with the epic aftermath and sort through the fragments of what their lives used to be. Mwa. Ha. Ha. Probably within the final five thousand if I can get the pups settled fast enough.

My mind keeps revisiting a story concept set in a post apocalyptic world where the angels guarding hell are forced to retreat back to the realm of men. Together the two races are left to fend off the demonic hordes as Heaven wants no part in the matter. The concept stems from my idea that perhaps heaven and hell aren’t as we expect them to be and perhaps Lucifer is actually still the Lord’s General and lead fighter against the demons of hell in an eternal struggle. As Lucifer takes any who are not worthy of heaven into battle, he needs the vicious and the murderous alike to keep the demons at bay. When Lucifer and his forces are beaten back to the realm of men, Gabriel strips him of his rank for failing his duty, leaving him immortal but no longer an angel. This leads Lucifer to help lead the remainder of his army and the lands of men in their battle for survival as Heaven on high watches idly by.

And not bad for ten minutes, but have to run and feed the pups and get into Jefferson before I head to work! Take care ladies and gents and hopefully you’re done your christmas shopping or are enjoying the holidays either way!

An Update From Beyond The Screen

Holy crap, it’s almost halfway through December! Time flies when you suddenly have more hours at work and you have a dynamic duo of puppies who are extremely well behaved (until they decide otherwise). Needless to say I’ve been getting into a routine with the little guys but writing has very obviously taken a backseat for the moment as my routine currently goes: Puppies, Sleep, Eat, Shower. Either way, for those of you who were enjoying the daily posts I will get back into that habit as soon as my puppies stop turning pee pads into confetti… but for now the updates will be sporadic although I am more on top of my emails now as I have been trying (Read: Struggling) to keep up with those!

So, where am I in regards to completing my story?

Absolutely no closer! I have considered bringing my story to work to write on my break but as any retail manager knows, that’s near impossible. I get paged to the counter and around the shop a million and one times a day. Just at work alone I do over the daily goal of ten thousand steps. When I wake up my routine is take the puppies out to pee, breakfast for pups, out for poop (Pups only!), then if I have time breakfast, brush teeth and head to work. All excuses, I know, but until I get this new routine down I will be focussing on getting these pups trained properly. We’re not supposed to have them as our Strata setup didn’t approve them, however we’re going to make sure they’re the best behaved they can be. The final chapters of the story are coming together and I already know the last paragraph and its phrasing. However in a movie (because of the visual effects) it could be much more subtle!

How are the pups?

Puppy Lounge
Thor and Loki, sound sleep together… after a hard day of trying to destroy each other.

 

Loki
Life is hard for Loki the Destroyer.
Thor Lounge
Thor the Conquerer napping after sitting on Loki for awhile.
Guilty as charged!
Thor’s guilty face. Still damn cute.
I'm sorry
Loki’s “I’m sorry I just bit you” face.

Needless to say, I am absolutely taken by these two cute as hell fluffballs, despite their ability to get into trouble and absolutely tear apart their pee pads. It’s hard to stay strong when little Thor whines when we leave him alone. Luckily for us, they’re never truly alone as they do have each other and they do cuddle up (as well as try and murder each other). They’re both cuddly (on their own terms) and Thor likes to ensure Loki stays in line. Frequently if I am correcting Loki’s behaviour he also comes in and nips at his smaller counterpart. This is different to their play time nips… but then again, maybe I’m reading it differently. I’m sure the little sausage dog is laughing and saying “Haha, sucker… you got caught!”

It has definitely been a big adjustment for me not only routine wise but health wise as well. I haven’t had any time to really get bored and snack throughout the day which is great, but on the flip side my allergies are taking their toll on my energy levels throughout the day as their dander fights with my immune system. Do I regret getting them? Hell no. Just look at Loki’s eyes… just little balls of love. They’re actually quite well behaved for only having them for a week! It is rough at times as their little cries just tug on the heart strings unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. These are my first pets ever and I’m so glad I finally got my dachshund. It’s been years in waiting and it’s so worth it!

How is work?

Retail is definitely not the dream, but I love it. Christmas is the one time of year that challenges my passion for helping people as occasionally the customers can ask for more than I can offer. Not only that but with the holiday stress on everyone, customers can get rude (so can staff, don’t get me wrong) and make easy situations harder than they need to be. I’ve also been told that I am most definitely stuck in my current role until at the very least September next year. This is good because I can push to ensure the team is up to scratch for then but also I will be the one in charge of many decisions and planning the opening of the new store next September. It’s going to be another month of working my rump off, but that’s fine. It’ll be a great experience and I still have to learn the program for rosters as well as get deep into our Telco and Finance sections. I’ve got a bit to learn before I get my own shop anyway, I’m just really excited to help build a team and a culture where people want to be at work and love being there! This is how successful stores run! I’ve done it before with EB Games and HMV, so I’m excited to get my own shop again and get that vibe back into my life!

And such is life!

All in all, things are going really well, as soon as I work writing into this new schedule I’ll be on my way to virtually the right life! Lately I’ve been reading mostly Puppy Training books (Cesar The Dog Whisperer actually works!) and the new tunes I’ve been listening to include Jake Bugg’s Shangri La as well as KO and his various songs (Two faves Capable and Moving Mountains). Every once in awhile its good to get into some new tunes! I love that I get free streaming music through work! Although the last album I bought was Bad Religion’s Christmas Album!

So, lastly I want to wish you all happy holidays, no matter what you celebrate, no matter where you are, I want you guys to just enjoy the time with family and friends. This is one of the first years where I’m content. People asked me what I wanted and the only thing that jumped to mind was more time to write and still get everything else in. Despite not owning a next generation console, I’m not even interested in them at the moment. There’s simply nothing out until next year and by then they should be available in shops. Either way, how are things going with you ladies and gents? Where’s your writing at? Anything new in your life? Did you finish your NaNo project yet? So many questions! Take care and until next time!

 

TJ Edwards or: How I Learned To Stop Procrastinating And Edit My Novel

I reread the conclusion to my novel Jefferson and the Magician’s Curse today. This is a big deal because I have now fully finished rereading the entire thing. Do you know what I noticed?

The ending was good… But it could be so much more…

What do I mean? Well, I had an ending. I edited from eighty five thousand words up to the ninety thousand word mark. Then I had an epiphany as I read through the last pages of my story.

This was all too easy, the end? Too nice. Let’s crush some souls.

I’d like to think that at the end of my story, the reader will see the signs. They’ll see them and beg, BEG the protagonist not to do it.

But then… he does.

It is perfect and completes the ultimate circle. Besides the fact I have to rewrite the final ten thousand or so words of my novel, it works on many different levels and fits in perfectly. Much like finding the diamond puzzle piece that makes it all combine together… I feel… I feel…

Liberated!

Don’t ask! It feels so good to have crushed the ending I had with this new, Ending Version Two, Superior. This does put me a bit behind now though. I thought, edit some words… finish it today. Editing fifteen thousand words is easy once you get going. Just do it, I told myself. Then suddenly without warning, this comes through and despite the ending of the story already being written, I decided to rewrite it. I still want my book to be over one hundred thousand words. But now, it feels whole. Now it has things like foreshadowing, suspense, drama, action (which have been spit shined and polished) and now it has this moment. The moment the whole book has been building up to and is executed so perfectly it makes my mouth twist into an insane sort of grin smile. I think this might be called winning.

So now that I have to rewrite the final ten thousand words, I’ve set myself a deadline of the end of December. This is a near impossible target as in retail I work many hours, and then followed up by everyone wanting to see us over the holidays I think I may have to start overlapping mundane tasks (Brushing teeth and Showering, Eating and Writing) or get up earlier and go to bed earlier (which is hard when social events run until nine to eleven at night). If anyone can figure out how to write while they sleep… there is money already in the bank for you.

But the reason I decided to smash into it today was because I reread some of Ray Bradbury’s “Zen in the Art of Writing”. Mr Bradbury has so much energy and passion that immediately after reading any portion of it, you leap up and run to your computer to write. It is most disappointing that this man is gone as he will never know how much he influenced me from his small pocket sized book of writing suggestions. If you are a writer, go find this book and give it a read. I’d love to discuss it and when I eventually get published, he will definitely get a mention.

Also, procrastination is so easy. Pick up the challenge of eliminating all of these distractions we have at our fingertips and focus on what matters most to you. I put my phone away, used an app to limit my access to the internet and told myself to get to ninety thousand and read the rest. Now, things have changed… the story is going to rock and once I end the novel, it is then on to my partner to read. I just hope she enjoys it as much as I do!

Anyway get out there and write. Also, what is everyone writing right this second? Fantasy Novel? Story of a boy and a girl? I’d love to hear from you!

NaNoWriMo Ends, Christmas Begins.

From the frying pan and into the fire. From bad to worse. From craziness to insanity. From NaNoWriMo and into Christmas. All of these sentences mean the exact same thing when you work retail. Have you been wondering where I have been recently? I have been working myself really hard to prepare for christmas, and for puppies (Which arrive this saturday. Which… OMG I’M SO EXCITED, FACE MELTING CUTENESS! YAY!). I’ve never had a pet, so I don’t even know how these little buggers are going to take to our house. We are very much hoping they’ll take to each other and become the best of friends. But… I have worked retail for the past (Oh Man…) decade.

Christmas in retail is like being stuck in a building crammed with people and someone pulling the fire alarm. There are so many people and so few staff that trying to get to everyone is near impossible. Not only that, but I’m not sure when or how people came to the conclusion they’re entitled to everything, but they definitely do. My product was defective, and now I want a new one AND a fifty percent discount. Oh ha ha… oh wait, that guy was serious. Christmas brings out the crazy in people. Also, people make it very clear that “This is a christmas gift, so I need it before then.” I’ll be honest for all of you out there, no matter if you need it next week, or next year… the exact same process is in effect for both situations and you will get it ASAP in both scenarios. I promise!

So I know some people who did really well this year at NaNoWriMo (Congrats from me to Becka, BTW Check out that NaNo Cake!) Also Lorie and a few others!) I also know many who didn’t do so well… one notable one especially: Me! I had set the target of the end of November to be completely done my edit. I can give you a million reasons why I didn’t accomplish my goals, but not one as to how I tried to. I failed because I didn’t try to. I admit my defeat and move past it. No sense dwelling on it. But I am now aiming to have it done by the end of the month.

Of course as I mentioned earlier, I work retail. The hardest part about that at Christmas is I always want to do really well for budgets and the team morale. This involves me and some (Read: Many) extra hours at work. Arrive early, leave late, rock it for the entire day and revel in my own incredible productivity. Then I come home and glance at the couch before passing out on, near or around it. Horizontal is the new vertical, and I love it. So comfy. Anyway it seems I need to start waking up before work to get back into the habit I made to write.

Anyway congrats to all those who managed to hit fifty thousand words, and congrats to those who made those fifty thousand words matter! I will be back ASAP with more progress! Talk to you all soon!

Fragments of Stories: Past, Present and Future.

Writing being the crazy whimsical pastime that it is, inspiration can suddenly flood in at any moment, drowning you with scenes, lines and concepts which are of the utmost importance. For me, these moments occur regularly and randomly. Sometimes they are about the same story. Other times they are mere flashes that string together as if my brain were assembling a movie trailer (complete with soundtrack). Some of you out there may understand… many of you most likely are phoning the people with the lovely white jackets on my behalf. Whatever the case may be, tonight I am going to take you on another journey, but this time into my flashes of inspiration.

So sometimes, I talk to myself. I’ve mentioned this before, so this should come as no surprise (depending on when you’ve joined… if you’re new, Hi! I’m TJ, and I talk to myself! Now you’re up to speed…). These conversations can lead to insanely inspiring scenes of awesome moments. Sometimes just a line itself begs to be written down and never forgotten. Tonight’s post is brought to you by a journey for water, in the middle of the night. Everything is completely unrelated to that… now, enjoy the fragments of my ideas and wonder how I piece together stories from these.

***

“I’ll never forget you.”

“Try.”

A knight clad in demonic armour forces a two storey pair of doors closed and drops the security bar into place. With a single bloodied hand, he leans against the door. I won’t forget you. A clattering of footsteps enter the room behind him and snap him from his daydream.

“Well. If it isn’t the fallen paladin… God abandoned you to the depths of hell did he?” A man sneers with a laugh. The other men chuckle as they enter the room.

“I wouldn’t know anything about God.” The demon knight narrows his eyes as he glances over his shoulder. Fifteen. He thinks to himself. Fifteen I can handle.

***

A ball of flame descended from the heavens and rained fire and ash down upon the kingdom of the Magi. Being the last of the fire Magi, Lorell ran desperately through the streets as he screamed, “Petra! Petra!” Finally he spotted her as she ran from a burning building.

Without a second thought, Lorell embraced her and patted out the flames with his bare hands. “Petra… oh thank the gods you’re alright.” As he held her tight, he could feel his body tingle. “We have to get out of here!” He yelled as the roaring inferno in the sky rumbled toward the kingdom. “It’s going to-” Suddenly, Petra went limp in his arms. “Petra?! Petra!!!” Lorell watched as her skin began to blister and burn. “No! There’s no time!” He clutched her close and pulled his cape around her. The sky grew bright and the earth shook ferociously. Then in an instant, all was seemingly over.

Lorell opened his eyes and stared into the pile of ash in his hands. He couldn’t recognise her any more, but he knew who and what it was he was holding. Standing straight up, the ashes drifted away into the breeze… Lorell looked lifelessly at the scorched earth around him. Organics turned to ash, bricks melted, metals ran tiny streams in the road. His immunity to fire had paid off. But it certainly didn’t feel like it.

***

As the police arrived, the train driver was sitting on the side of the road, still visibly shaken.

“Is that him?” Asked a broad shouldered detective, staring down a small man in a blue police uniform.

The smaller man leapt to attention as he realised who he was talking to. “Yes, Detective. That’s him.”

Walking up to the driver, the Detective sat down next to him. “Coffee?” He asked politely. The driver replied by shaking his head. The Detective smiled. “Good thing too, I only brought one of these. Want to tell me about it?”

“He-he fell, no jumped! He jumped from the overpass!” The driver exclaimed. People had been waiting for this moment, and the area went silent.

“Whoa slow down bud…” The Detective’s silver tongue calming the man a tiny bit. “He jumped in front of you?”

“Yes! I couldn’t have stopped, or missed!” The driver was nearly shouting, the attention of all around were beginning to stare.

The detective scratched his chin. “Well then, where’s the body?”

“Uhh detective?” A small bald police officer asked in hushed tones, in hopes that he wouldn’t be too much of an interruption. “You may want to see this.”

As the pair stared at the front of the train, the detective shook his head. “Call it in.” He said calmly.

The young officer peered up at his mentor. “Are you-“

“Yes,” The detective interrupted. “It’s not every day you see something like this.”

The detective watched as the younger officer walked away and then turned back to the front of the train. He stared at the perfect outline of a human like figure, dented into the front of the train. “Incredible… just incredible.”

***

As the small army of rebels began to retreat, the king pushed his men into pursuing them and killing them all to the last man. “Leave none alive! Not even the children and livestock!” He yelled, cackling in his glory. “But bring me their heads on pikes, so that I may revel in their agony and defeat every morning before dawn, and each night after dusk!”

As the king rose to inspect his newly acquired lands, his right hand knight Zero, removed his helmet. With astonishment, the king recognised him as the rebel leader. “You, how long have you…”

“Long enough to understand war. Understand people. Understand you.” The rebel said as the others also removed their helms. “You lead your men into the valley where my archers will kill them to the last man. Your people deserve better. They deserve a real king.”

“A real king? There have been no heirs in a thousand years!” The king scoffed. “You’d have more chance finding unicorn horns!”

“Yet here I stand… a testament to the love between the elves and humans, once. I come to unite the races and lead them into battle. A war is brewing…” The rebel sighed. “I am the final son of Balthazaar, prince of elves and Merida, queen of men. I am a man with the gift of eternal life.”

***

“Why, hello my boy! What’s your name?”

The boy shocked from his wonder, turned to see a round man in an ill fitting black suit twirling the tip of his fiery red moustache.

“Jefferson, Sir.” Instinctively the boy hung his head as he was taught to, out of respect for his betters.

“Chin up, Jefferson, you won’t see a thing staring at the ground!” The man tipped the boy’s chin up with his finger. “Only ten dollars to see the greatest show in the world!”

Sadness washes over Jefferson as he turned his pockets inside out. A small smooth pebble falls to the ground and both watch it roll to the man’s foot.

“A fine specimen! May I?” Looking to Jefferson’s innocent face for permission, the man smiles warmly. Jefferson shrugs with an eyebrow raised in curiosity. The man stoops to pick up the tiny pebble and polishes it on his shirt. “Thank you very much! A bit of spit and polish…” With a quick spit and some more rubbing from his shirt, the man produces a gemstone. “Perfect! This is worth roughly thirty dollars my boy!” He produces a twenty dollar bill from the breast of his jacket. “I assume you’d still love to see the show, so this should suffice as payment.” With a bow and a smile, the man vanished into the crowd.

***

His brother’s lifeless eyes stared deep into his soul, judging him through and through. I’ve done the right thing… haven’t I? As he met his empty gaze, the swordsman withdrew the blade from the stomach of his victim. After all the searching, after all the hunting… he had finally managed to kill the last of the Templars.

***

Those are just a few images and moments from my mind tonight. Now I am tired, and I’m pretty sure I open at work tomorrow… so I must be off! I have so many more fragments so I’ll keep you posted to also see what piques your interest! Hope you’ve enjoyed and I’ve got a question! How do you manage your ideas? Write them all down separately? Convert them into the current story idea? Or leave them alone until you’re ready? Let me know and I’ll talk to you soon!

The Plight Of The Self Publisher

As a writer in this day and age, we all have hundreds of options available for us to run out and get the story out there. You can use Amazon, Lulu, iBooks and the list goes on and on. Which one do you choose? Which will get you the best audience? How do you do formatting?

Okay, I’ll be honest. I’m not going to talk about any of that. I’m no expert. I’m not even a novice. But I’ve got some nifty experiences to share.

So as you may see down the side bar to your right (no, your other right) there are three options for my short story, Circle of Vengeance. They’re conveniently the above three examples. For each of these there has been a drama in one way or another, from fonts to random characters in conversion (I’m looking at you, Amazon).

So I chose the iBookstore first because frankly, loads of people I know have iPads. Even more people have iPhones. If I combined the two, that’s a lot of people to get my story completely free of charge! So I browsed the iBooks Author app for Mac and settled in converting my story. It went super well and I submitted it. Long story short, bam! Self Published. However some fun facts! First, iBooks is on iPhone, the only problem is books created with iBooks Author are iPad and Mac only. Fine, no worries. But there’s more! Only certain templates do landscape or portrait meaning if you turn my book on an iPad, it maintains its orientation. I’ll fix that as soon as I can.

Next I wanted more people to have access to my story, so I rushed out and looked into Lulu.com. Sweet a PDF format for general use! Don’t mind if I do! I uploaded and everything seemingly went well. No bad feedback and when I look at the file, it is as I expected. Easy and decent. Not bad. However it wouldn’t let me convert to ePub. Fine, I figured I could just head to Amazon and get an ePub there. Simple, right?

Wrong! So I’ve submitted and resubmitted my story a few times and tried to get rid of the little “i” beside my name at the very beginning. As it is a ghost, I cannot rid myself of it. Fine. Also, I am stuck putting in a price of ninety nine cents for what they estimate to be twenty seven pages. It sells itself really. *Facepalm* So at least people can read my story on an iPhone now, right? Yes! With the free Kindle app and by paying a dollar for it. I cannot change the price and I have tried to get them to price match both Lulu.com and the iBookstore which are free. They won’t. Curse them I say! Curse them!

Also, embarrassingly enough, I bought my own book through the Kindle store. Strangely enough, my purchase has yet to show up in their sales figures, which makes me wonder how accurate they are. Unless I don’t count because I am the author… who knows really? Technology is awesome… until it makes no sense!

Because I’m in a fantastic mood tonight and back on track with blog posts, I’m going to share a few things with you! If you’ve read any of my posts of interest, you may recognise these details! Anyway, gather ’round for story time with TJ!

***

Everyone has to get a first job. Everyone starts somewhere. Some people got a paper route. Others worked for their parents. Maybe they got a job where their friends were working. Maybe they focused on studies as they progressed through high school. Me? Oh, well… I tried really hard to get a job back in my small hometown of Sackville, Nova Scotia. For those of us who grew up there, it felt busy enough and it felt big enough. Now that I’ve seen Rome, London, Paris and Sydney… Sackville? Yeah, more like a rural town. Anyway, I digress.

So jobs were hard to come by and I was stuck in a rut. I handed out resumes and everyone was asking for more experience. How can I get a job to get experience when apparently I need experience to get a job? Seemed like a subtle way of saying no politely. Anyway I went around town and gave out fifty resumes. Finally after weeks of no callbacks, I gave in and phoned in for a favour. One of my friends’ moms worked at the local mall (it has since been replaced by a strip mall) and she said she’d let me know if something came up. February passed by, followed into March and then finally came my call! I had a job! It wasn’t much but it was three days of solid work!

My first job and the most laughable moment of my entire life.
My first job and the most laughable moment of my entire life.

Three days as… The Easter Bunny. I begged and pleaded for anything else. Toilet cleaning. Anything at all. Instead, I decided to give in and not look that gift horse in the mouth. I took the job because hey, ten dollars an hour and free chocolate was as good as it gets at sixteen. I walked that mall like the best damned Easter Bunny you’d ever seen. I did learn some things though. Number one, laugh at yourself… that way if anyone else laughs it simply doesn’t hurt. Number two, all children who like the Easter Bunny are crotch height and manage to hit you like a soccer ball to the groin. Number three, all kids run head first and ninety miles an hour. Finally, I rock blue silk vests.

For the longest time, I left this on my resume. I dropped Burger King (which was the worst work environment I’ve ever had), condensed my stint with Empire Theatres (simply three or so years, ended off at Supervisor) and condensed my stint at EB Games (three years there, ended off as Store Manager). I kept it on there to prove to anyone reading my resume that I had a sense of humour and it always got me at the very least into an interview so people could ask about it. The above photo was taken with an ancient camera phone (Motorola Flip Phone, looked like it had a giant nipple on top… which was the camera).

Today I share it with you, so that you make shake your head and laugh! Maybe you’ll email me to ask if that is really me. Maybe you’ll comment because you’ve never known anyone who has been a holiday mascot (official term) before! Most of all, I share it because it was my rite of passage. It taught me humility and hard work (and toughened up the groin area) and I still carry that boy in the Bunny suit with me today so I never forget how lucky I am to have a job, but also all the great things around me!

Speaking of which, thanks again for sticking around and keeping in touch! This has been an absolute blast and I hope you’ll make the effort to get in touch! I can always use more friends that write!