A Word about Ellery

Alright, so this post is to make something in one of my books absolutely clear, so if you haven't read And Is This What You Dream, don't read any further than this. There's going to be spoilers, and it also just won't make any sense if you haven't read the book.

In And Is This What You Dream, Ellery can come off as an asshole--let's just get that out in the open. He's gruff, he's mean, and he gets angry pretty easily. Anyone can get this from reading the book. What I feel isn't as readily evident is that the Ellery we see during this particular journey to the Terminus is not the "true" Ellery.

For each of these characters going through this journey over and over again, being taken out of and replaced in stasis time after time, there is the original or "true" personality of this character from before the loop ever began, and then there is the current personality of the character which we are experiencing. Each time a journey to the Terminus is attempted and failed and the characters are returned to stasis, losing memories along the way, the characters also both lose parts of themselves, and have different parts of their personalities exaggerated due to lingering subconscious (or conscious) memories of the last attempt to reach the Terminus. Each time a character goes into stasis and then comes out of it once more, they're a different person. From journey to journey, the change is not large, but over time, certain shifts in personality become increasingly evident.

Ellery, the "true" Ellery, could be angry, and a little pugnacious, and yes, he did get into quite a few physical confrontations as both a child and young adult, but he knew where to draw the line. He also was very considerate of how he behaved around those he loved and their loved ones, including Rafferty and Rafferty's friends and family. There were people he didn't like or get along with among those close to Rafferty, but he had enough maturity and sense to not be a total asshole to them. The "true" Ellery is not like the one we see in And Is This What You Dream during most of the story--he's much kinder, much more toned-down, and much calmer.

I wanted to make sure this was clear due to the fact that I don't feel it was exceedingly obvious from the novel. There are a lot of things that I hinted at or otherwise alluded to in the book, but this is one of those things that after hearing from people who have read it, I don't think people are picking up on very well, and I'll take the blame for that.

I really like Ellery as a character, so I wanted to try to clear his record just a little bit since I didn't write his original character as a complete asshole.

Hope your week is going well, and if not, that things will get better for you.

Tschüs!

The Seventh Book Hath Been Released Unto the World

You read that right. My seventh book, a collection of short stories and poems, is finally out on Amazon. It's been out as an ebook for a few days now, but I didn't want to post anything here until the paperback was out.

I'm pretty happy with how most of the shorts turned out in the end. Some of them are a bit older, so I'm more iffy on precisely how I feel towards them, but I thought they deserved the light of day.

Yep. That was it. Class is starting soon. Going to be living four hours away from home again soon. Have a lot of ideas right now and I'm going to have very little time to work on them soon. Been questioning my career path and education again and expect questions to increase in proximity to an academic institution soon. You're probably sick of the word 'soon' now. I'll stop.

I hope you all had a good summer, and will have a good fall, and if you're heading back to school, best of luck, and if you're not, best of luck. The world is wacky.

Tschüs!

DONE

Just finished the last story for the collection. And earlier today wrote another poem for it. Now everything's done for the next book, which means I can sit back, relax, and wait to see what all my editor has to say about this crap. I'm so happy right now. So happy.

Tschüs!

Gettin' Real Close Now

The last short story for the next book is divided into ten mini-chapters, and I've only got two of them left to write. The beginning's done, the ending's done, most of the middle bits are done, and I know what I want to happen in each mini-chapter. I don't have any exams this week, so hopefully I'll be able to focus enough to crank out these last two.

As to the collection itself, it's got a title, a dedication, possibly even the image for the cover, and I believe it's currently being edited (I use the word 'believe' because it's hard to say with my editor). Anyway, the title of the collection is Intentions, which I'm not sure if I've mentioned before, and the cover image that I have planned--though I'm not sure I'll stick with it--has to do with the short story I'm working on right now. It's going to be a collection of quite a few poems, some of which are pretty old and almost all of which have never been published before, and a decent number of short stories. I actually wrote another poem for it the other day based on the really bad funk I was in earlier this week.

Anyway, that's the update.

Tschüs.

Quick Middle of the Week Update

I finished that short story. Just now. Only minutes ago. I'm doing the update because I'm probably going to be busy all weekend--and by weekend I mean starting tomorrow at three--and also because I'm excited about finishing this story. Still has to be proofread and things, but the writing is done. I am very close to having all the content I want for my next book. There's only one story left, and I think I can hash it out by the beginning of the summer. I hope.

The only thing that stands in my way is school, tests, and crochet. Yes, crochet is an obstacle. There are so many things I want to make. It's an addiction.

Anyway, that's it. A thing has been accomplished, and I should really be getting to sleep now.

Tschüs!

The Approaching Break

At the time of my last post, I had expected to finish the short story by the end of that week or maybe the next. Just today I've worked on it for the second time all week, but the good thing is that I've gotten a lot done. It's about three-fourths of the way through, now, and I'd really like to finish it somewhat soon.

There's a break from class coming up, but I'm going home for that weekend and will probably be thoroughly busy with various things while I'm away, including dealing with whatever homework gets assigned. Plus, I won't have my computer with me because it's too big and fat to fit in the bag I'm taking home. If you want to know, I had to get a new backpack just because of the size of this laptop.

Then, after this shortish break, there's a week of class I think is best referred to as 'limbo week', as the week right after it is Spring Break, so it's bordered by days off class. Unfortunately I have two tests during limbo week. And the weekend after class starts again, I'm going on a trip out of town to see some research presentations and also just to get out of this town for a bit, and I probably will be more focused on finishing homework than anything else that weekend. Besides that, I have at least one test every week except for the middle week of April, so I'll be juggling studying with regular homework and trying to relax so I don't tense up enough to explode.

Anyway, I'm going to do my best to finish this story, and today was very good progress. In addition, I wrote a few poems a week ago which I plan to include in the collection that I want to put out in a few months, and I've also written the dedication now. And it has a title, which is pretty impressive considering I'm normally terrible at picking titles. All I really have to do is finish this short story and then the one that ties three of them together--which I already have mostly mapped out plot-wise--and then it's onwards to editing.

Sorry for the long post. There's a lot going on and my mind is sort of everywhere.

Best of luck to you all.

Tschüs.

The End of February

So this is now the last week of February 2015, the perfect month (it's the way the days line up on a calendar) and after this week I'll have had my first test in each of my classes.

I've been dragging a notebook around with me and strongly encouraging myself to write in it while waiting around for class and such, and now I'm about a third of the way through that short story I've been working on. I have the beginning and the end finished, and hopefully the middle bits won't take too terribly long.

Trying to split my time between homework, studying, teaching myself a programming language, writing, and relaxing has been going alright so far, but there's no guarantee any of these things get equal amounts of attention.

So that's my little update for the week.

Tschüs.

First Test Done

First test of the semester was this past Thursday, which means that the semester has actually begun. I have two tests this next week, one the week after... and so the cycle begins.

I've been feeling really stressed lately, which might have partly come from getting sick the week of the first test and the peak of my sickness landing right on the day of said test, but I'm trying to pull myself away from anxious thoughts and worries. We'll see how that goes.

I've started writing the last of three short stories about kids with something unusual about them, and once I finish this one, I can write the story that ties them together. I expect the tie-in might come out as novelette-size, but definitely nowhere near novel-size. The short stories and their wrap-up novelette should all end up in the poetry/story anthology I plan to put out in early summer (at the latest).

The good thing about the short story I'm working on is that I have the ending and beginning written, so all that's left are the middle building-up parts which, if I simply make myself write a little bit every single day, should get done relatively quickly.

I hope everyone's been having a good February. Happy late Valentine's Day.

Tschüs.

First Week

The second week of the semester is starting today and it's still looking like a fifty-fifty chance for non-stressful free time and... not non-stressful free time.

I'm already worrying about tests that are a month away and the fact that two of my classes always have exams on the same weeks and there's one day where I have two exams on the same day. I'm also already planning for the next semester and counting down the days until the first break, both of which are things I probably shouldn't be doing one week in. There's also a chance I'll apply to be a volunteer DJ next semester... but we'll see how that goes. My justification for it is that it's always a good thing to be accumulating different experiences. So there's that.

I have done some writing since I got back to the dorm and recently got rolling again on a novel I'd been blocked on. I'm going to have to wait until after the semester has actually gotten going before I'll know for sure how much writing I'll be able to get myself to do. I really do want to be comfortable enough to write, though.

Tschüs.

Circles

My break from school is rapidly coming to a close and I feel like I've accomplished very little. I finished another short story and my brain kickstarted for an idea for another story entirely unrelated to anything else but that would have the potential to incorporate a lot of random ideas I've been hoping to use for a while.

In theory, there's the potential for me to have more free time to be used to write during this upcoming semester, but there's also the chance I'll start working in a lab at some point. If the lab thing happens, I'll likely be spending a lot of time trying to understand what the heck I'm doing, given the fact that there's a lot of quantum stuff involved with super conductors that I've never seen before.

Physics aside, I fully intend to do my best to spit out a collection of short stories and poetry sometime during this summer, and I would like to get work done on some longer pieces, too. I have so many ideas I want to give my attention to, and I'm having a terrible time of doing just that. Once I settle into the new semester, I hope to find a pocket of time I can use to just relax and write, uninterrupted by anxiety about class or research or life.

I hope 2015 is going well for you, and if it isn't, I hope things turn around. Best of luck.

Tschüs.