Valencrime's Day

So, I haven't blogged in a long time, but I've been thinking about it, and finally I'm doing it. How's that for a lead?

I'm feeling pretty random tonight, so let's just rock some random paragraphs!

My oldest nephew is 9, and as an exercise in school once a week he has to do free writing. He has this journal where he writes like a paragraph long story. Well, he lets me read it the other day, and it turns out that everything he writes is food based. Here's my best attempt at recreating one:

Planter's Dry Roasted Peanuts are amazing. They have salt and crunch in your mouth. Snack time is fun when you enjoy some of these peanuts.

The thing is, the kid starts getting really nutty in them, it's seriously some of the funniest stuff I've ever read. One was about his love of chicken strips, and at one point it says something like "Cluck cluck tasty!" HAHAHAHAHA. There was one about tea, pizza, root beer, pasta, pop tarts. One was about milk, and at the end he wrote "Keep mooing cows, keep mooing." hahahaha. There were like 20 entries, all of them about food. Reading that journal was the top moment of 2012, hands down.

Speaking of my nephews, we recently made a trip to the magic store, and all three of them have started getting into magic. It's been pretty awesome, they're really good! One of the twins, Matt, has really surprised me in how he's taken to it. His first trick was a chain escape where you actually lock a chain around his wrists, and he can escape it in like half a second. He's great at it, and he's super intense in his magic. They all say that we're in the magician's code together, so we share the secrets of the tricks with each other and work on techniques and stuff. They make me want to get back into card magic. At one point several years ago I was actually pretty good at it!

I released a new book recently, the sequel to Black Badge. I'm really proud of it, especially since it's my first ever sequel. It's a pretty violent affair, but if you read the first one that's probably no surprise. It's fun for me to write a book to just go all out in. With a lifetime love of action cinema, I've got a lot of inspiration to just pour into this guns blazing, bone crunching type of a book. It's also super cynical, just about society and politics and such, which is funny since I consider myself a pretty big optimist. Maybe my way of staying optimistic is to pour all of my cynicism and anger into a project like Black Badge, which is pretty cool to have such an outlet. I've re-read the book recently I think it's not too jaded. It's just over the top enough to not be too much of a downer. Anyways, if you're interested in picking up a copy here's a link to a blog post that tells you all the purchase options. If you do check it out let me know, I'd love to hear what you think. If you never read the first one, you can buy the new one bundled with the first for a discounted rate, which is pretty stellar.

Speaking of writing books, I'm over halfway done writing Scrolls Season 2, which is awesome. Scrolls is easily my favorite thing I've ever created, I think it's such an honest vision of my passions, the kind of things that I like, and the kinds of stories I love to tell. Season 2 is even better so far, and there's more relationship stuff as well, which I enjoy. A ton of people checked out Scrolls Season One on kindle, so I'm hoping that the sequel enjoys the same success. I know fans of the original will love the sequel, and I can't wait to get it finished and released.

Speaking of writing in general, I watched the movie Anonymous the other night. Now, as a deep lover of storytelling and as a professional writer, I'm taking a risk when I admit to you that I've always been a little lukewarm when it comes to Shakespeare. Yeah, yeah, his stuff is brilliant, no doubt, but I've never really been one of those "Shakespeare is the greatest storyteller of all time" kind of guys. But I have to admit, this film really moved me. It speculates on the true author of Shakespeare's work, but honestly it's just a testament to the power of storytelling. I'll admit to being very teary eyed in the end, and inspired to go and write something beautiful and meaningful.

Not sure what else I can give ya. I haven't cut or even trimmed my hair in well over a year. I look like the kid from Jungle Book now, and I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Work at the newspaper is good, as busy as ever. I'm due for a big story soon and I've got one in mind, so I'll probably go out and cause some trouble next week researching that.

Alright, I guess that's it. I hope all of you are having a great week, I hope your Valentine's Day was full of love and happiness, and I hope the rest of your week treats you right!

Get yo' badge on!

Okay, so, my new book is out now, and I wanted to give everyone an easy resource for buying it. So here you go. It's available at:

Amazon.com

Amazon Kindle e-reader

Barns & Noble

Barns & Noble Nook e-reader

As always, you can also purchase your copy directly from Hall Brothers Entertainment, and there are still a few signed & numbered copies left, if you're into that sort of thing. Also at our shop, you'll find the awesome High Octane Bundle, which is Black Badge Season One & Black Badge Season Two together for a reduced price. That's available at:

Hall Brothers Entertainment

It occurs to me that some of you might not be familiar with the project, so let me tell you what Black Badge is and why you should buy it. I affectionately refer to Black Badge as the "bloodsoaked offspring of 24 and The Shield". It's an action/detective/thriller that follows a dangerous man named Lance Parker. Possessing a black badge, Lance tells everyone that he's authorized to deal with dirty cops with extreme prejudice. The only problem is, no one is sure if the Black Badges are real or not. In the first book, Detective Devin Lamonte finds herself pulled into Lance's dark investigation. She reluctantly works with him to track down a serial killer, all while investigating Lance. In book two, the characters are left to deal with the aftermath of the dark investigation in book one. Everyone is in a darker place, but with a new menace taking lives across the United States, Lance, Devin and their few allies are in a unique position to track and bring down this new threat. Along the way, the mystery of the Black Badge organization deepens as Lance struggles to prove that it's real and that he's not just a maniac who kills cops.

The books are very action packed. This series was definitely inspired by my love of dark cop stories like The Shield and my lifelong love of action movies. It is a pretty dark series, I'd definitely say it's rated R with some rough language and a lot of violence.

So there you have it, just a bit of info in case you were interested in learning more. Nothing would make me happier than if you chose to pick up one or both of the books. They make great gifts, the covers are gorgeous thanks to designer Paul Milligan, and I just really want more people to experience this exciting story. Writing is a bit of a lousy pursuit when not shared with others, and I really hope that some of you reading this decide to take a chance and pick up Black Badge.

The Penultimate

Current Project: Writing Black Badge Season 2

% Complete: 96

Yesterday was an odd day and it felt like no matter how much I was sitting here writing the word count wasn't budging. I kept pushing though, and by late in the night I'd hit 2800 words, which was pretty good. Thursday could've been a better day than that, but I had a long work assignment for the paper and knew I had all day Friday to finish, so I didn't press too hard. I'm about 3/4 done with the finale episode, and will be finishing it up this evening. I'm so ready to be done!

Other stuff

Nothing really. I wish the Texas Rangers would stop losing. They picked a terrible time in the season to go on a losing streak, and they need to play their best the next three days or that spells trouble for us. So go Rangers!

I'm off to write!

Step Twelve

Current Project: Writing Black Badge Season 2

% Complete: 92

Yesterday was a very productive day, which came as a nice surprise. I only had a few hours of sleep, had to work the first part of the day, fell asleep at the keyboard in the afternoon, went to my family's house for a few hours for dinner, and I still somehow managed 3600 words. I broke it into two writing sessions. From 3pm to about 4:15pm I was asleep at the computer, but from 4:15pm until 5:30 I wrote 1500 words and finished episode 11. Then later last night I got moving on episode twelve, the season 2 finale, and wrote 2100 words.

I was really pleased with how episode 11 finished up. In a book full of dark happenings, this may've been the darkest of them all. I was unsure on how it was going to work, so it was a relief to write it and feel like it played out perfectly. And then to start the finale, I can't tell you how good that felt. Weirdly, I think the finale will be one of the shorter episodes. I'm usually a "go out with a double sized episode" kind of guy, but unless something balloons unexpectedly, it looks like the finale will run a bit shorter than the average episode. Which is fine with me. The book's on track for low to mid 70,000 on the overall word count, and that's not including all of the bonus material we'll be packing into it.

Other Stuff

Nothing really. Just excited to be this close to the finish line. I've got work tonight covering a big football scrimmage/fundraiser thing, but I'm writing a little before and a little afterwards, all in preparation for finishing on Friday. Getting it done on time should be easy enough and barring complications I'll be celebrating at some point tomorrow night.

The Very Big Night

Current Project: Writing Black Badge Season 2

% Complete: 89

For how busy of a day it became yesterday, I actually managed to do a good job of keeping the word count solid. I wrote 2200 words, spread over two separate writing sessions. I watched my nephews for a few hours in the afternoon, then wrote, then spent the evening hours covering City Council for the newspaper. I got home and wrote that, finishing around midnight, and I jumped into more Black Badge. Council is extremely draining, so it was nice to power past that and get some quality writing done.

Other stuff

It was a huge night for my newspaper. We've been in business for a little over 5 years. The other local newspaper in this area has been in business for like 70 years. So you can imagine the uphill fight it's been for us to gain credibility and acknowledgment. Well, we're not the red-headed stepchild anymore. Last night the City Council voted to elevate The Grizzly Detail (that's the paper I write for, for those that don't know) to the status of Official Newspaper of the City of White Settlement. They didn't take the title away from the other paper, so now there are two official papers here, but I really don't even care, because this is a huge victory for us. We're a tiny operation, with just 3 people on our main staff (that includes me). The division of labor can be weighty sometimes, and each of us wear about twenty different hats, from writers to photographers to deliverymen to web designers to whatever else we need to be. We've worked so hard to get to where we're at, and to get the recognition last night and to have the council put their support behind us (well, 4 of the 5, one voted against us, hahaha), it's so rewarding.

Being the Official Newspaper means that we'll now receive every notice that the City is legally obligated to place in the paper. They have to do this all the time, from ordinance notices to bid announcements, they put in ads constantly. Ads are the only revenue stream for a newspaper, and securing this new source of ads is a big boost for us.

I'm not going to lie, I feel like we've deserved this distinction for a while now. We turn around city news insanely fast, and my bosses give me the freedom to be a storyteller. They allow me to craft things like City Council coverage into a narrative, alive with quotes and supporting information. We've gone above and beyond in this city, and we just kept our heads down, ignored the negativity, ignored the attacks that came against us, and focused on doing what we're passionate about. Informing the citizens about the important things going on in their world. I'm insanely proud of what we've accomplished, and I feel like this is a huge validation for us.

So yeah, as you can tell, I'm really pumped up about this. It makes me want to work even harder, to get even better, and to show this community on a weekly basis why they should be proud to have us as their Official Newspaper.

Quietly marching forward

Current Project: Writing Black Badge Season 2

% Complete: 87

Yesterday was an oddly calm day for me, as my roommate lives on a cycle of strange and ever shifting bedtimes, and yesterday saw him go to bed at like 2pm. That meant an empty and silent house for me to exist in, and while it was certainly nice, it was also a little weird.

As far as writing goes, I had a really good day that I wish had been really great. I wrote 3700 words, which is a really big day, no doubt, but not quite as huge as I had been hoping for. I totally spaced about an assignment for the newspaper, so 2 hours of my prime writing time was spent doing that instead of working on Black Badge. But, the writing flowed pretty well, so no real complaints. I'm halfway through episode 11 and I'm really pleased with how the story is playing out, so that's all that matters. I should have enough time to still reach my goal of being done by the end of Friday.

Other stuff

Tonight's got the potential to be pretty big for my newspaper, so I'm getting a little nervous about that. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but there's a City Council action that pertains to us that could be a big deal. It's sure to be a crazy meeting, but my boss will be there which is always nice. It's usually just me, so it's nice to have the big cheese there to act as a shield.

Hopefully the meeting and the fallout isn't too insane, as I'd love to get in another writing session after I come home and finish the council coverage. I don't think I've ever successfully come home on a Tuesday, written the council coverage, and then turned around and wrote fiction. Council is so draining that by the time I'm done putting it together I just need to veg out for a few hours and then crash. But, I've never been on a mad dash to finish a novel after council either, so maybe tonight I can work through the post council crash and get some more Black Badge written. We shall see.

That's about it. Yesterday I also went to the bank and to the grocery store, cooked some tacos and took out the trash, watched the Rangers beat the Red Sox while I wrote (I've mastered the art of watching baseball AND writing at the same time, it's just a shame it took me 95% of the season to figure it out), and.... I guess that's it? No, I also watched a movie. "Something Borrowed", because yes, I do love romantic comedies and I'm not ashamed to admit it. It was really good, and not as "paint by numbers" as most films of that genre are, although it did confirm my longheld belief that Kate Hudson is the absolute worst actress. If she and Cameron Diaz where in a movie together the TV would just break so that it wouldn't have to live through the terrible act of projecting their terrible performances onto the screen. So yeah, I obviously have strong feelings about it.

Hope the week is treating everyone well or good or both, depending on how much you care about proper grammar.

Ending on a high note

Current Project: Writing Black Badge Season 2

% Complete: 83

After bemoaning the weekend, I ended it on a high note. 3300 words were written to close out episode 10, and to top it off I was done before 10pm, which is about 4 hours sooner than most of my writing sessions have been ending over the past few weeks. With just two episodes left to go the sun suddenly shines brighter and the heavy workload of the rest of the year seems a little less intimidating.

Other stuff

Being done at 10pm afforded me to do something that was far overdue, and that was clean. For a little over a week I'd migrated to my secondary workstation in the living room, abandoning my primary computer in my bedroom to the avalanche of notebooks and paperwork that had overtaken the desk. So I spent a few hours getting the bedroom whipped into shape, and then also had to do some straightening in the living room as I set it back to how it should normally be. The final result was a much happier life, as I hate living with clutter. The room's in great shape now, and I'm back on my beloved neon green keyboard in front of my widescreen 32 inch monitor.

The Black Badge Season 2 deadline is by the end of Friday, so today's already been filled with one writing session and I'll get another one in after dinner. Tuesday night, Wednesday morning and Thursday night are all full this week, so my big writing gains will need to be made today (I'm already making great progress there) and Friday. My hopes are to finish episode 11 Wednesday afternoon, then immediately start episode 12. Friday will be an all out writing marathon, and I'll either finish on time or die trying. It's been a while since I had to push it to the limit, and in a sick way I'm kind of looking forward to it. Or maybe I'll make much better progress than expected Tues/Wed/Thurs and Friday won't have to be too brutal. We'll know soon enough!