Across the Board

So the last couple of days I have been working on a novelette, something that I wrote around six years prior. As I edit and rewrite segments, I am amazed how much I have grown as a writer. Yes, I may have stalled with my projects but the fact remained that I endeavoured to at least write something . . . even if that something never saw the light of day. The good news is that my writing has matured and it will continue to do so with each new story. Better still, it has given me the necessary confidence to at least try editing my stuff, and that counts for something.

I feel as if I had been on some winter slumber with my writing, and am now only coming out of hibernation. With summer just around the corner and a sudden increase of free time up my sleeve, complements of making the decision of taking a step back and let the company my family founded flourish, I will make the effort to write an treat it much like any profession - with the professionalism it deserves. Besides, if my friend Erica can do it and be successful, so can I. I know I can! I know I can! I know I can! I know I can! Now that I got that out of the way, what's in store for the new year? For one, I'll be revisiting a few old tales and see if anything is salvageable, revise, rewrite and send off to the betas for a second opinion and publish. Does it mean I'll be going independent, like I did with Compromised , Exit Strategy and Cover Up ? Yes and no, maybe. It's a toss up. If I can sell to the likes of a science fiction magazine or publisher specialising

There are moments where a writer does a story to such perfection that you end up in the character's shoes, and Richard Herman is that for me. I first picked up Warbirds when when I was a teen and had read every book he had written since, or so I thought I did. The Trash Haulers is new. Captain Mark Warren and his crew are trash haulers, airlifting supplies and personnel on their C-130 Hercules, the workhorse of tactical airlift.  Flying a Huey, the helicopter that symbolizes mobile warfare in Vietnam, Wilson Tanner is a Dust Off pilot who risks all to rescue the wounded.  At Se Pang, Colonel Tran Sang Quan comes into conflict with inept superiors as they initiate the People’s Army of Vietnam’s long-planned General Offensive and Uprising.  This is the beginning of the Tet Offensive.  Both sides face more than the enemy as superior officers manoeuver for political advantage, and where cowardice, prejudice and treachery infiltrate the ranks – on both sides.  In the air and on

A while ago, I thought it be a brilliant idea to write a story and post it here for you all to see. That story was With Prejudice, which you can link here . There are essentially just over a thousand words written in two blog posts. My initial idea was to show each chapter until completion. Unfortunately, life and my creativity had other ideas.

So I've been doodling a little, after having found Canva while surfing the net one night while editing away on the novella that may or may not be called Enemy Within . It may be just as equally be known as Designated Target , but it'll depend on the final version of course and input from my editor in November.

I followa very simple logic where my writing is concerned, if it strikes me as a fun thing that just grabs my attention from beginning to end (regardless how many revisions I make) I run with it. If it doesn't grab my imagination after 5,000 words than I call it quits. Thus far, Enemy Within and Ghost of Missions Past are keeping me focused. Then again, so is a previous story featuring my main character and corporate ran refugee centres. More on that later . . .

Remember this post ? Yeah . . . about that, life kind of took over. Don't get me wrong, both Enemy Within and Ghost of Missions Past exist in some form or another, the former more than the later. It's the editing that has bogged things down, along with life events like getting engaged, work and so forth. The thing is, the story was to be . . . and still is meant to be . . . the pilot and starter to a series and/or a serial , so it's all about ensuring that there is a hook to interest the reader, a solid universe and well rounded characters that weren't cardboard cutouts. As I like to say, watch this space and be patient with me. I am writing.

Fitness is important, I said that much in my previous post. Without my training regime I probably wouldn't be the man I am today. The thing is, I never really explained why I go out of my way to improve on my level of fitness. Hopefully this entry will shed some light on to the why and so forth. I do training so that ultimately I could do that what you just saw on the video. You see, my disability is static; meaning that it doesn't get worse over time, it just stays the same. What the doctors don't say is that if you don't use something overtime, you lose the ability.

Admittedly I have been slack in the blogging department, but that's the price of working full time, writing and carry on with life. The end result is that something had to give, and that something was blogging. Besides, I really didn't have much to report. Enemy Within has been edited to death, fixed and reworked accordingly. All going well, it will be up soon. Then there is Ghost of Missions Past , which is in the editor's capable hands, and very soon she will have another story to look at that features Special Agent Carl Nicole of the United Nations Police Division.

I will be the first to advocate the need for exercise, especially since it had helped me become the person I am. Today I want to show you this . . . That's me, doing a Hamstring Flex on an incline of maybe 45 degrees or thereabouts? As you can see, the right leg is attached to the cable. What you don't see are the actual weights attached as well. With the assistance of my personal trainer, whom I'll introduce you in my next post, we . . . well . . . I (but let's face it, training is a team effort, especially when the person being trained is disabled) did 3 sets of about 15-20 reps per leg (yeah, wasn't counting). Before you ask, yes I did add on weights at the end of the pully. First set per leg was only 11 kg and the remainder at 20 kg. 

No, seriously. Someone did. See? Okay, fine, it's just a model that flies. But come on, it's a helicarrier baby! Yes, deep down a bit of a nerd. I like my science fiction and yes, still like Marvel and DC. As a kid, I thoroughly fell in love with the idea that was SHIELD and the helicarrier (and it was awesome seeing it on the big screen in the Avengers). Something about both captured my imagination, you know? Like "the good guys are keeping the world safe while you sleep" sort of thing, which goes along how I also view those brave men and women who put on the uniform in real life; regardless if they are military, police, fire fighters or ambulance officers. They watch over us and keep us safe.

So I have been busy over the last few days, mostly to get back into the swing of things where actual work is   to be concerned. You see, I was doodling with Publisher and a photo editing programme, and trying to come up with a cover for a new series of novelettes, novellas and short novels that are to be set in the same universe (I talked about it last Friday here ). I talked about the importance of a good catchy title back then as well, and am still working on it for the first story and for the series itself. Well, for the last couple of days I was trying to come up with an idea for the first cover. You can see it to your right. It's not a bad starter, but as you can see the colours seem to wash into each other . . . or more accurately, the orange just didn't stand out.  The one on the left? Well, it's a step away from the first version, and is a spiritial follow-on to what my friends Nigel and Ander had done for me as examples. What do you guys think?

Hi all, an welcome to another rendition of my thoughts on something other than what I should be doing! As to what I ought to be doing, you ask? Write and fine tune some ideas, more or else. Nonetheless, I wanted to put my thoughts on what is it that I want to call my series. In the two draft cover examples to the right of your screen, you see Enemy Within and Collateral . Both sport "A Puppet on a String" in its titles, which were essentially what I wanted to go with from the beginning. But let's face it. As a whole the original title for the series is one heck of a mouthful. Yes, I completely understand that it could be informally known as "Puppets" for short, but you need to ask yourself . . . well, I need to ask myself at least . . . does it reflect what it is that I want to show. A prime example being Star Trek or Star Wars, both use that in their primary series title. Some of my favourite series in ebook form normally use the main character's