Home

I just finished my words for the day. It’s after midnight. Do they still count? I got sidetracked trying to install a widget to report my daily words in the sidebar, and completely lost track of time. I’m going to regret this tomorrow. Sleep is a precious commodity these days. If anybody can tell me how to install something to show my word count...

I’ve joined a word count challenge. We’re going to write at least 100 words a day. I wrote 117 today, and it exhausted me. No, really work exhausted me. My head is killing me, but I stayed up to write my words anyway. I’m happy with them. I don’t know that they’ll make it into my novel, since I had to invent a new scene without thinking too much...

Today I ran across something hilariously funny: a site called Tolkien Crackpot Theories. I’m going to quote my favorite theory here for your immediate enjoyment. To prepare yourself, first study this shot from the animated Lord of the Rings: Part One by Ralph Bakshi. Now, the theory: Come now. You have to understand that the text is absol...

Yesterday I posted a link to an article in an e-zine called Reflection’s Edge. They say they are a publication for housing good genre fiction and for helping writers improve their writing. I poked around the site a little, and discovered on their front page this short story called “Viscosity Breakdown” by S. Foster. It’s an odd little story. I ...

I ran across a link to a very well-written article discussing why fantasy writers should or should not imitate Tolkien. The link was posted by a fellow named Matt (aka Deliverator) as part of a discussion on The Riddle of Steel fan forums. We were talking about different styles of roleplaying, and naturally Tolkien came up as an example upon whi...

I really feel like complaining right now, so here goes. I hate being sick. It sucked before I had kids, but now it really, really, really sucks. Especially when my wife is also sick. And my two children. All at the same time. We’ve all got RSV. Yep, every single one of us. Whew. Man, that felt good. For more fun info on the state of my househol...

The title of this post probably sounds a bit odd out of context. I’m talking about social combat in roleplaying games. As a roleplayer, I often want to play characters who are socially adept. There’s just one problem. I’m not socially adept. Regardless of how badly I want to play a glib bard or a honey-tongued nobleman, I just can’t. I am forced...

I’ve undergone almost a complete reversal on my opinion of this band. I borrowed one of their CDs from a friend, and after a couple of listens—I’m totally hooked. A superficial listen to this band is not enough. They have such a range of musical expression in their sound that your really need to give each track a couple of listens to take it all...