DOH!!!!!!!

Let me preface this by saying I DO pay attention when I'm editing my books. Skinners, especially, are a labor of love. Make no mistake, however, they ARE a labor. I created the series as a way to fashion a world full of cool monsters that I've always wanted to see. I wanted events to go from one book to another like a camera panning out farther and farther to show more and more of this world. By the time I got to #s 5 and 6, I realized how smart other series' authors are for keeping their urban fantasy squarely within the context of secret societies that only occasionally fracture the real world or having society being more or less ok with monsters among them. I didn't. I wanted Skinners to evolve into something bigger. Tough job and sometimes people pay the price.

Or...they pay the price, rise from the dead and pay it again.

A reader on the B & N discussion board (found here if you haven't already checked it out) found a glitch in The Breaking where someone was killed and was still feeling good enough to fire a shot on the following page. I must explain. In my epic, evolving world of Skinners, my characters are beyond such restraints as "going limp" or "losing command of their bodily functions" or "staying down" when they're killed. They're tougher than that. Cooler. Or...I screwed up in editing.

Someone else has emailed me about it and all I can say is... ooopsy. Editing those action scenes is rough and a lot of times, chunks get moved around. When that happens, it's like fixing a car. Pieces are taken out and when some are put into another spot, they must be welded so as to work seamlessly within the whole. Sometimes there's a rattle. Unfortunately, this car is off the production lines and on store shelves, never to be repaired again.

Too funny. I just gotta shrug. So does my main editor at EOS, my copyeditor and the other editor who went through the manuscript before it was sent to the presses. Where were you guys?? I thought you had my back!! Oh well. Happens to the best of us. In a fashion similar to how Lucas references his stormtrooper that clunks his head on that doorway in Episode IV, I can also reference my temporarily undead dude in future volumes. And speaking of Star Wars glitches....how come Jango Fett's head doesn't fall out of his helmet when Boba picks it up for that disturbing / touching moment in Episode II? Not trying to put my books in the Star Wars category. I was just wondering about that.

And there was much rejoicing

First of all, I'll lead with the cool news. I got some copies of the new cover in the mail today. Woo HOOOO!! Check it out...

In the original version I was given, the gargoyle's eyes were glowing red. That was cool, but I'm definitely not complaining. I love it. Also, I do kind of miss the hot, butt-shot of Paige from the last one. That's just me. Heh. Let me know what you think. This one hits shelves on May 31.

Recently, I've finished with my largest round of editing for Book 6. Now is the time where I can sit back and relax because the book feels like a book and it feels truly finished. Of course, there are some more edits to do, but no more stress by feeling like my newest baby is laying on the floor in pieces. Whew. Time to sit back and play some video games for a day or two. Then it's back to work.

(Insert frustrated grunting sound here)

After lugging around that colossal pile of paper that was my copy edits for Skinners #5, it's time to send it back to New York. After this step of the process, there's just looking over the final run before publishing and Book 5 is in the books! Or...it IS a book. Whatever. It's almost done. It also gave me a chance to look over the stuff I wrote leading into Book 6 which helps me in that writing process. Very "Circle of Life"-esque.



I've decided to go with UPS this time as my little protest against the whole Post Office experience. You know the one. I go there, find a line of 45 people waiting because there's only 1 window open and that person is just milking time before they go on break. Or where I go to the automatic teller, punch in the ZIP code 4 times, swipe my card, tap 57 screens and then get to the last screen that tells me the machine just broke, jammed, or ran out of paper so I need to hop into the line I was trying to avoid. Or the one where I send my package 2-day delivery, pay extra and have it get there in 6 days. Fun.



In other transit news, I'm seeing all this stuff about the outrage regarding airport security searches and privacy issues. Since I rarely fly anywhere, that usually doesn't get a lot of attention here but I'm planning on visiting family over the holidays (wow...real unique there, huh?) and will actually be flying. As cool as the big X-ray machine was in The Running Man (or was it Total Recall?) I'm not sure about it here. I mean, the airport is still afraid of excessive amounts of shampoo and now they've got head-to-toe radiation generators and strip search VIP rooms? Ugh.



First HUMBUG of the season!!!!!!

We're Skinners. We're werewolves. We're all a little loony!

The end is nigh. Well, at least the end of this draft of Skinners #5. I should finish up with it in a few days and then I can take a much-needed (albeit short) rest before starting in on the NEXT draft. Whew. What really bit me in the ass with this one was the whole "Keep writing until it's finished" mentality for the first draft. That's a good thing because I want it to be a great story and not just one that fits within a certain page count. I originally typed that last bit as "paige count". Heh. See what all of this editing has done to me? Anyway, the first draft wound up being 691 pages. YOWZA! I've cut a significant amount already, saved some for Book 6 and just sent some into story heaven.


I've been on a cartoon binge lately. I think that's got a lot to do with my brain being fried after so many long days of work and me not having any gray matter left when I do get to step away from the computer. Also, I just like cartoons. It's been a lot of 90's stuff like Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, and X-Men. Plus some 80's goodness like Thundercats, He-Man, etc. Throw in some Spongebob and I also found some Tom & Jerry collections for super cheap at WalMart! Funny thing about that. It's hard to find a lot of classic cartoon shorts like Loony Tunes and Tom & Jerry on TV anymore. Plus, they seem to be cut up and edited to shit, so why bother when I do find them? The thing with Tom & Jerry was that Tom's owner in a lot of those classic toons was this big lady who was voiced as some horrible, outdated, and just all-around crude racial stereotype that seems like something from the pre-Civil War days. I know these cartoons are old, but yeeesh! So I pop in my new Tom & Jerry dvd and the first thing on the screen is a disclaimer that basically says, "We know about the racial stuff. Sorry about that. These shorts are from another era. They were wrong then, wrong now, but nothing worth rioting about. Just relax, and enjoy seeing a mouse smack a cat in the face with a frying pan." If you can't laugh at that, you're just beyond hope.


So it's back to work for me. There was something else I wanted to discuss with you guys, but we'll get to that next time. Gotta leave 'em wanting more! Eh, don't get too excited. It's nothing that great.

Editing....that's about it

Wow, it's been a while since my last post. Sorry about that. I wish I could say I've been kicking back and relaxing after OSFest and finishing a preliminary draft of Skinners 5, but that's about as far from the truth as....well...something that's really far away. I wrapped up this draft of Skinners on August 1, took a whole day off and have been editing like a madman ever since. My days are simple. I wake up, watch Price is Right, have breakfast, shower, maybe step outside for a little while, and launch into editing. I'll edit through some pages, take a break for a minute or two of watching something on my DVR that I can start and stop at will, edit, watch, edit, you get the idea. That goes for about 12 hours a day.

I'm not complaining, mind you. The book is coming along GREAT and I'm gearing up for #6. Yes, there will be a Skinners 6. Sweet! Somewhere during my rare downtime, I've been playing a few games. Went through Limbo, which is downloadable on XBox Live Arcade. What an amazing, brilliant, creepy, artistic, sometimes very WRONG game! Love it! You play as a little kid who can't swim (that's important with all the water in this game) who dodges giant spiders and spikes. You die in so many gruesome ways, it makes me giggle. There's even a part where you jump across a lake using the bodies of other little kids who died before you as platforms. Like I said, wrong but fun. It does me good to see horror representing! Plus, I unlocked a creepy little pet for my Avatar. Nice. Still chopping away at Red Dead Redemption and Fallout 3. Yes, I'm still playing Fallout 3.

In movie news, I finally got to see the new Clash of the Titans and Kick Ass. Clash was pretty cool, although not as cool as the original. The first one KNEW it was shooting for cheesy. This one is cheesy in parts, serious in others, whatever. The scorpions, Medusa and Kraken were awesome and that's what I was after. Kick Ass was just f'ing great! Since I wait for the DVD release of just about every movie anymore, it seems dumb to go into detail. It's been out for a while, most everyone else has seen it so who needs my ultra-late reviews, right?

Speaking of behind the times, I just found out that the new Black Label Society CD is coming out on Tuesday. AWESOME! For those of you piecing together a Skinners soundtrack (are there any of you out there??) play BLS's Fire it Up when reading Book 4 in October and Electric Hellfire when reading the big finale battle in Howling Legion.

That's about it for now. Gotta get to work. And I haven't forgotten about my promise to update the main website. I hope to get to it when I have more than a moment to let my brain cool off.

Always more to do

I really need to get crackin' on updating my main website. So far, the only real stuff I've done to it is to put new covers on when the books come out. Actually, I should say Webmaster Steve does that sort of thing. I have high hopes for the appendixes, but I have to do more than hope on those. I actually need to sit down and write some things. When I do (which won't be long), it'll be pretty cool. The MEG Files will be a reference to the main characters and the Skinner Field Guide will be a reference to the creatures. Doesn't sound like a lot for me to do, right? Well, it's really not. That's my fault.

Just got finished with the edits for Skinners 4 and they're looking great. You'd think I'd learn something by paying attention to all those copy editor's notes. I do! I pay attention, but my strong suit has never been comma usage. That's what the copy editors are for and I'd hate to put them out of a job. By the way, thanks to my copy editors. You're the busy hands dusting me off, straightening my tie and slicking back my hair before I present my books to the world.

The first draft of Skinners 5 is moving right along. Just got finished with a major action scene and some pretty cool interactions between Cole and a newly introduced Full Blood. Could I be more generic than that? Let's see...Paige is also kicking someone's butt and flipping someone else some attitude. More generic?? Seriously? Ok. Somebody else is doing some stuff and interjecting dialogue along the way. Heh. That was fun.

The neverending process

Here's a funny cycle. As tedious as editing can be, it's hard for me to stop doing it. Most tedious things are a joy to put down, walk away from, etc. With this one, I'm always finding little things that I want to fix or rearrange. Some of the things I rearrange are actually putting sentences back the way they were before I rearranged them the first time. Sigh. I'm putting the most recent coat of polish on Skinners 4 and enjoying it very much. It's turning out fine, but there's the part of me that wonders what I missed THIS time around. Once more, I go back to the tired analogy of slicking a kid's hair back before he goes to school. Could I have come up with a better analogy? Probably. I'll fix that later. Heh.


In other news, it's Tattoo Day! Hopefully this is the final session since that leg of mine is feeling a lot like over-tenderized bacon. Ok, it's not that bad, but it'll be nice to get this one wrapped up. I'll post some pics when it's done. Or, perhaps I shouldn't. If you want to see this sweet bit of fleshy artwork, come see me at a signing or something. Yeah!! Ok fine, I'll post some pics. Maybe I'll be stricter when I get more appearances scheduled. Not a bad idea for a promo, huh? The "Permanently Scarred Skinners Tour". I like it.



It's also Comics Day. Wow. If God of War 3 came out as well, it would be the perfect spending storm. When I played God of War 2 on the PS2, I knew part 3 would be the one to make me buy a PS3. Fortunately, I got my hands on a system earlier than that, but I am still pumped to play it. Played the GoW3 demo and I can already imagine a lot of reviewers saying stuff like "more of the same" or "nothing new here", but that's not a bad thing when you're talking about something as fundamentally awesome as the God of War games. The game feels a lot like the other two and I LOVE the other two. The PS3 has really been impressing me with stuff like Infamous, Resistance 1 & 2 and Heavy Rain. Still an XBox 360 guy, though. I'm addicted to Achievements and the whole Trophy thing on PS3 just doesn't compare.


Ok. Back to work. Gotta get some pages done before heading out for comics and getting tatted up.

Fitting things together

Starting in on the next draft of Skinners. As with any round of editing, I'm stricken by the occasional "What the hell was I thinking with THAT?" sentence as well as a few "I wrote that? That's actually good!" ones. Won't bore you with the details, but it's coming along nicely. With this schedule, it's strange to hear people talking about Howling Legion because I'm two books ahead of it. In my mind, I'm already starting Book 5! Ugh!

In totally unrelated news, I put a new TV stand together tonight. It's one of those stylish black steel and glass shelf numbers that's a lot heavier than it looks. I only say that because I had to wedge it into the back of my car and thought I'd have to leave it there for a few days until I found some younger helpers to carry it up to where it needed to go. I'm not really old, but my back and knees aren't really young. Rebelling against that, I got it out of my car with little effort. "I can drag it to the front door," I thought. So I did. "I can use these packing strips to carry it up some stairs." So I did (this was the part where I tweaked my back). Once I got it to where it needed to go, I put it together.

The box said is was made to be assembled and disassembled easily. Good thing, because I needed to disassemble it after I screwed one of the shelf racks on upside down and then assemble it again. Easy? Maybe not. There's always the possibility I'm just impaired. Ok, that's a STRONG possibility. Anyway, the shelf is up and looking good. Hopefully it stays together when I put the TV on it.

Progress Report

So far, so good!
Been editing Skinners 4 and I'm liking what I see. Normally, the first draft is fine as the bare-bones thing it's supposed to be. It just usually doesn't feel like Skinners until over halfway through. Don't know why, really, but it just lacks that....Skinner-ness?? You know what I mean. That's probably because I'm too busy trying to figure out what the hell will be going on instead of thinking up cute dialogue. "Cute". Now THERE'S something that reeks of Skinner-ocity, right? Ugh.

Anyway, it's moving along nicely. I was worried about this one because I'm also working on other stuff at the same time such as trying not to freeze into an ice sculpture when I walk the dog and doing my best to understand the hypnotic mind control that compels me to watch American Idol auditions twice a week. But there's good news on the TV front. The new season of Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares premiers tonight. Plenty of garbage can kicking and bleeped out British expletives to go 'round!

And so it begins

Editing. Ahhhh editing. Such a harsh way to spend my time. Seeing things that I thought were so cool at the moment, but now seem like complete bullshit. Looking over any first draft gives me the heebie jeebies, but being this far into a series only adds to the effect. I'll come across a sentence and wonder, "What the hell was I thinking? Didn't I read the other three books??" And then there are the other times where I ask myself what I was drinking and / or smoking while I was sitting at the keyboard on some other day.

Sometimes editing can be fun. It's nice to go back and find glaring mistakes so I can file them down, chip them off or paint over them. Let's see...any other construction metaphors I can use? Probably, but I'll spare you. At least when I see something that's really bad, that means I caught it. There are always those things that get by me no matter how many passes I take. As bad as that is, there are others that sail past me AND the editors at the publishing house. Ugh. Those sting.

So now this process starts for Skinners 4. So far, I'm still liking this book. Check back with me in a little while and we'll see how I'm holding up.

Once upon a time...on a time...I don't know anymore

I've been going over the copyedits for Skinners 3 which are the nitty-gritty grammar, punctuation and technical fixes. In other words, this is where I learn how bad I am at grammar, punctuation and technical stuff. I'm fine with that. One thing I take comfort from is that these edits get easier and easier with every book I write. Sure, it may have started off better if I'd majored in English Composition in college or something more lit-tastic than Criminal Justice, but I'm making progress. Sometimes it doesn't seem like it, though.

One case in point: in tact. Or, intact. For some unknown reason, I ALWAYS split this into two words. My spell check doesn't catch it because they are both real words, but my proofreaders and editors sure do. It's become such a problem that I've put a sticky note on my desk that reads, "Intact = ONE WORD". You know what? I STILL make this mistake. When I'm writing, no matter how much I'm thinking about my problem, my fingers still screw up. Kind of like when I type the word "future". My fingers want to type "furture". I kid you not, when I wrote the first word in quotes it was furture. At least spell check catches that one.

Second case in point: Upon. I'm really seeing this one in the Skinners 3 manuscript. If my copyeditor is reading this, I'm genuinely sorry. Plus, you're a saint for all the freaking times you had to correct me on this one thing. My problem here is that I just use this word incorrectly. I write "upon" when it just needs to be "on". "Cole placed his hand upon Paige's shoulder." "Paige set the gun upon the table." "The furture rests upon their next decision." DAMN IT!!!!! In my head, one word just sounds better than the other. That's it. My brain doesn't care which is correct. It just knows which it likes and it likes the wrong one.

I cannot thank my editors enough. They have to put up with all of this garbage. At least they get to read the next Skinners before everyone else. If they don't like my books, then they deserve an extra medal for doing their jobs so well.

As much as I'd like to be perfect and get each manuscript right the first time through, I know that's just not going to happen. I'm not a grammatical guy. Also, in these tough times, I'd hate to put someone out of a job. This system works pretty well as it is, so I'll keep it in tact.

What a difference another draft makes

Just got finished with Draft 5 of Skinners 3. I think this bad boy is ready to be printed up and shipped out. Even though printed manuscripts are on their way out, there's something so very satisfying about seeing your work made into something as physically imposing as a four hundred- something stack of paper with your words on it.

Now the real editors get to have their way with it. Bring it on. This one's ready.

Rounding third

No, I'm not talking about THAT third base. I finished draft 3 of Skinners 3 earlier this morning and am taking a few days off. Feels like I was just talking about this in regards to draft 2, doesn't it? To YOU, maybe! It feels like I've been doing this draft for about 3.8 months. What separates this draft from the others is that Megan will read it. I've found that she's a great editor, but not so objective when I'm talking to her about one cool part I wrote or some other fight scene that worked really well or a twist that I hope will land. With me blabbing on like that, she can't really read it as a true reader. She already knows what's coming, so of course it all flows. When I keep my mouth shut, she can read it with fresh eyes. Of course, the drawback to that is I can't share my proud work moments with her as I'm writing them. Considering my caliber of writing, those moments are few and far between.It's kinda nice to talk about them to SOMEbody. But it all pays off when she reads it and genuinely enjoys doing so.

At least I hope she enjoys it. If my own wife tells me something sucks, that's a stinger. On the other hand, I want her to tell me if it sucks so I can fix it. She's responsible for some major changes in Blood Blade. Because of her, I removed the entire prologue and wrote a completely different one. It worked out a LOT better. She knows her stuff.

This weekend, I plan on digging into some comics, catching up on my other reading and getting into some Fallout 3. It's been too long since I've wandered the post-apocalyptic landscape, blowing mutants' heads off and listening to The Ink Spots.

The 7th of July

So I'm a little late with my patriotic tidings, but happy 4th everyone! Mine wasn't too spectacular just because I was working. It was pretty much like any other weekend except with more explosions. Since our grill was confiscated by the porch police (one guy sets his mini fence on fire in our complex so we ALL have to start obeying fire safety laws), Megan cooked up some burgers. Actually, they were better than what I would have grilled since she cooks 'em with the cheese on the inside!! It's the little things that make life so grand. Also, we learned that the dog is a little skittish when it comes to fireworks. Watching the pup scramble at the sound of every bottle rocket in between editing Skinners 3 made for an interesting weekend. And, by "interesting", I mean "only slightly better than the 3rd of July".

No complaints, though. Draft 3 is almost done and then it's off to Draft 4. Should I come up with cooler names for those? How about "Draft ALPHA, BETA and OMEGA". That makes it sound like a military campaign or one of those Andy Sidaris movies. Yeah!!!

Magical weekend

What a great weekend! Despite some computer setbacks on Friday that brought my PC to a standstill, I got all the R&R I could have wanted. I played some Ghostbusters (even got a chance to do some multiplayer - Survival mode rocks), was consumed by Magic: The Gathering (Webmaster Steve is now fully addicted), watched a bunch of mind numbing TV, saw My Bloody Valentine in 3D (The 3D actually worked on my TV...so much for the "theater-only" experience), and got a whole lot of sleep. Also, I started in on The Conduit which seems like a pretty damn great FPS on the Wii. Sure there aren't as many as on other consoles, but this and Metroid really nail it.

Today, I start in on Draft 3. Not as much overhaulin' as Draft 2 (hopefully) and I'm anxious to dig in. Also, BBC America FINALLY got the new season of Doctor Who started. It's been too long, Doc. Also on the way are Torchwood, Robin Hood and the new one Being Human. Primeval is already underway, giving the Brits well-earned domination in the genre TV show category. This season will be a short one for Who and Torchwood, but a little bit of something that great is better than nothing.

And on top of all this, the weather's cooled off. I can actually take Abby out for her walks and not want to kill myself as my eyeballs sizzle in their sockets.

Hello XBox. Remember me?

I just finished Draft 2 of Skinners 3. Sometimes, a writer's work just seems to flow from a wellspring of creativity. This wasn't one of those times, but it turned out great. I'm completely spent and very much looking forward to taking a wee bit of time off to attach myself to the couch with a controller in my hand. Bust some ghosts. Shoot some stuff. Whatever. Then it all starts again on Monday with Draft 3.

Hibernation time

Like the mighty bear during the winter months, I have burrowed deep into my cave for the summer. Man, I wish I had a cave. It sounds like that would be so cool and shady. Bit by bit, I’ve turned my office into a cave-like replica, though. It’s cooler if I don’t have the sun blazing in all day, so the shades are drawn. Megan brings me berries and pads the floor with straw. It’s nice enough that I rarely go outside because I’ll either melt or run into someone who insists on asking, “Hot enough for ya?” I would have to kill that person.

Despite being really busy (STILL working on draft 2, but almost done) I’ve had some time for gaming. First of all, Ghostbusters is freaking GREAT! I was grinning like an idiot the first time I heard the siren of Ecto-1B (yes, 1B because Ecto 1 was in the first movie and Ecto-1A was in the second.) Stupid details like that really make this game sing. For the first several minutes, I just wandered around the firehouse looking at all the stuff on the tables and scattered throughout the building. The strainer hat Louis wore in GB 1 is on a table. The Vigo painting is in the garage. There’s even stains on the sheets from that one VERY friendly ghost from that montage in 1. Ok, so maybe they left that detail out, but a lot of others are in there. You use the PKE meter and of course you use the proton pack. Oh my lord, the proton pack! They nail it from every sound (turning it on, firing the stream, cutting off the stream) to the rotating lights on the back. Next to a lightsaber, this is the piece of sci-fi equipment I’ve always wanted and this game gets pretty damn close to burning someone’s face off. Speaking of lightsabers, there’s still no good saber game on the Wii. And speaking of the Wii, I got to try Ghostbusters on the Wii. Now, the graphics aren’t as good, but they purposely went for the cartoon-version on this one. While they’re not the dudes from the Real Ghostbusters cartoon (which I watched religiously back in the day and yes, I was probably too old for it even back then), the Wii game has a great feel to it. The proton pack is aimed using the Wiimote, but I really got a kick out of throwing out the traps which you roll out with the same motion used by the pros (sort of a bowling motion). Megan liked this version better because of the split-screen co-op mode.

Another awesome game that just came out was Magic: The Gathering on Xbox Live Arcade. I got heavily into the card game for a few years around the release of the 7th Edition. It’s fun and pretty much the geek equivalent of smoking crack. Once you get a taste, you gotta have MORE, no matter how much you got to steal or who you gotta scam to get them cards. Was I a tournament-level player? No. Was I close? Ehhhh, maybe on my best days, but it was still fun to play with friends. Plus, it was during the time in St. Louis when I had a great D&D group going. Those were some expensive trips to the comic book shop every week. Pick up the new comics, maybe get a new monster sourcebook and top it off with some Magic booster packs. Megan actually stayed with me through those times. That’s love. Anyway, the Magic game on Live is as accurate as you can get on a console. Even better, you can unlock decks and cards by just playing the game instead of buying each one for an additional fee. I’m sure there’ll be downloadable content, but it’s nice to have so much variety for $10 (about the price of 1 real deck). Am I a lot better at the game now that I’m older and wiser? Hell no. I played a few games in the general population of Live and got annihilated. Still, the AI opponents are fun and (better yet) I got Webmaster Steve hooked so I have an opponent. It’ll probably be about a week or two before I get beat every game, but it’s still a good time.

Despite all this video game talk, I honestly haven’t had as much time as I would like to play. It’s been more of a welcome distraction from the self-imposed isolation / slave driving of editing. I need to force myself to come up for air lately and when I do it feels like a vacation. You know the look on that kid’s face from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when Indy frees him from that mine? That’s how I feel after taking a break to bust some ghosts or flip some cards around. Then that big dude with the whip and beard shows up to force me back to my editing. There’s no real dude like that, but it feels like it. Or is there a real guy? I don’t know anymore. Maybe I should stop working until 4AM.

Coolness in small doses

The results came back from the most recent Nevermore investigation at the Squirrel Cage Jail. Of course, the good stuff happened AFTER the hours of evidence I was there to review. And on top of that, Megan had the gall to be born on June 3rd (not this June 3rd) so I missed the meeting that was the reveal for the rest of the team. There wasn’t anything as cool as a spectral prisoner rattling his chains for the DVR, but we caught a few head-scratching moments. Apparently, while we were all outside for a fresh air / cigarette break (ironic, I know) all of the DVR cameras were shifted slightly and then shifted back again. Was it a show of displeasure from Beyond? Maybe a quirky signal? Something in between like a quirky signal from Beyond? We don’t know. Also, during the investigation, I was fortunate enough to see a strange globe of light appear and disappear on one of the monitors from the camera in the solitary confinement cell. It sort of swelled up from nowhere and shrank back down again. That was caught on video and we still can’t explain it. Could be a blown IR light. Could be a demonic warden from…eh you know. All in all, it was an interesting way to spend a weekend.

In writing news, I just managed to put together a preview of Skinners Book 3: Teeth of Beasts (I love that title the more I see it) for placement in the back of Book 2: Howling Legion (also a cool title!). And when I say I just made it, I mean I JUST made it. I’ve been editing the third manuscript and going through the final pass pages for Book 2 at the same time. Today was the deadline and the final draft of Book 2 along with the preview pages were emailed at around 1 this morning. Whew! If it didn’t make it, the world wouldn’t have ended or anything, but I think this preview is especially nice because it feels like watching the first 10 minutes of a sequel right after a movie. After this, the major work on my end for Book 2 is done. All that’s left is the good stuff like waiting to see the final cover, getting advance copies and the inevitable signings and stuff. As the series grows, I’m hoping to get out there and attend more conventions, readings, etc. It’s more accurate to say I’m hoping readers and bookstores will want me to show up for those kinds of things.

E3 has wrapped up and there’s plenty to say, but I’ll save that for another post. I know what you’re thinking. “Video game crap? HERE???” Just bait your breath and wait for it.

Home Stretch: Pt. 1

Ok. The end of Skinners 3, Draft 1 is in sight. What does that mean? Am I about to send this baby in? Am I ready to kick back and wait for the fortune and glory? Yeah, right. While it's hardly time to relax, it's almost time to take a breather which will be nice. Also, I finally know how this one will end. On a not-so-exciting note, I also know a bunch of places that will need to be overhauled when I start in on draft 2.

Any of you who have written anything know that the start of a project can be the most daunting. The dreaded BLANK PAGE and all that. I find that part exciting at first, but there's just so much to do. Of course I have an idea of what's going to happen and what I want to develop, but it's still my book and I can take it anywhere. Draft 1 may not be complete (or even very good) but at least the framework is there. This project has actually turned into Skinners #3 instead of, "Let's see what I can do this time".

The important thing is that it's turning out great. Even more important is that I'm coming up with all kinds of amazing stuff for future installments. Now I just need to hope and pray there ARE future installments. But that's a stress headache for another time. Right now, I've got to put the rest of the big pieces together so I can tear it all apart and fit the small to medium pieces in.
Fun, right?
Yeah.......sure.

Moody

I’d forgotten how fickle dogs can be. The last few days, Abby couldn’t get enough of me. Always on my lap, checking up on me while I’m working, wagging the tail when I enter a room, all that good stuff. Today, she can take me or leave me. Fine. If that’s how she wants to be, two can play that game. I’ll just go about my life on my own! I’ve heard that dogs pick up traits from their owners, but it hasn’t been long enough for her to get this much. Has it? Besides, I don’t know where she would have picked that up from. Maybe Megan. Certainly not me. I’m done with that mutt!
Wait, there she is…tail wagging and everything. How cute. I love you Abby!
Aaaand she leaves the room. Who needs ya?! I DON’T!

Going through the copyedits for Skinners 2. Actually, I’m almost done with them. They use a new-fangled computer program that prints notes on the side of the page, letting you know everything they deleted or whatever. One page had notes COMPLETELY filling up the right margin. And they weren’t just a few big notes. It was a TON of little ones. They were all fine suggestions, but I wanted to just write, “YOWZA” along the edge. I would have, but there wasn’t any room thanks to my bad comma usage and repeating of certain words. Doh.

I came up with a cool new word while writing Skinners 3. Squamatasapien. You heard it first here! Basically, it’s a technical term for Lizard Man. Minor spoiler for Skinners 3? Actually, VERY minor but it’s something.