Things are moving along well on the writing front. Since returning from 10 days in Michigan I’ve managed to complete Carving Time and Saving Brackett Station shorts. CT is being reviewed while SBS is getting another pass to smooth out some issues before it too goes out for beta reads.
In the meantime, some hours have been put into finishing new chapters in Built for Murder. I’ve got about 2/3 of the material written for the final chapters, but they need to be reordered, transistions smoothed out or written, and final clues and events revealed to finish the story as planned. As soon as SBS’s first draft is ready for beta reading I’ll be diving back into BFM and spend some quality time finishing it up as well.
And Storms on an Opal Sea is back as well. I swear one day I’ll actually finish my second short story ideaonce and for all. The fact that I’m not yet happy with it is the biggest reason I haven’t released it yet. And since I plan to include it as one of the stories in The Three Realms ebook means that it too is suffering.
Once again let my subscription to WoW lapse to free up time for writing. As much as I love the social aspects of the game with friends all across the country the game itself has become a monotonous drag and just not that much fun anymore. Actually, the garrison missions have become a daily chore and not enjoyable at all, simply necessary to advance other aspects of the game. And I have little hope the next expansion will improve things as I suspect it will be a tie-in with the upcoming Warcraft movie coming out next summer and hence another boring orc killing fiasco. Instead of growing the world with new material, ala Pandaran, they worked at explaining/rewriting their history in the most unenjoyable manner possible.
Am rereading James Clavell right now, author of Shogun, Tai-pan, Noble House and wishing new books were coming out I would be willing to pay for. Since the BPHs renegotiated their contracts with Amazon and now control their advertised book prices, they’ve raised ebook prices to unrealistic levels and I won’t pay it. Most of the ebooks I’m interested are selling from $13-$18 on release. Little wonder their 1st quarter BPH profits shrunk by over 15% as the new prices went into effect. I can only hope it shrinks even more. Of course, they won’t change their positions, not until it’s too late to save them. All I’ve got to say is caio, baby!
