2016

Blog No. 163

I did it! I didn’t think I would, but I did! For all of 2015, another whole year, I put up a blog post every week. That’s three years running now with only one flub (back in 2013 I missed a Thursday and the post went up on the Saturday). I’ve gotta say, I’m pretty impressed with myself. It’s not a feat that everyone achieves. Not everyone wants to achieve such a dream, but some do, and I did.

The Fifth Monday: Hard On’s Curse – Behind the Writing

Blog No 158

Behind the writing was an idea I came up wit back when we started Adventure Worlds. Other people have done similar things (it’s not like I invented it) but for the purposes of this blog, it was something I pushed for. The others weren’t convinced, and now I seem to be the only one sticking with it. Which is appropriate, since I was the only one interested in the first place. So now I’m doing them on my blog and I just finished the conclusion to Hard On’s Curse, and now I’m going to talk about it. So *spoilers* and all that. (http://adventureworldsblog.com/2015/03/29/the-fifth-monday-hard-ons-curse-complete/).

Little Books

Blog No 156

Each week I sit down and write one of these blog posts. When I’m done (and it’s posted) I spend the time before the next one furiously brainstorming what to write about. Last week, due to the book I was given by my mother, I decided to write about book lengths. Instead I wrote about audio books, my mother, and a little about my brief time in another city. I don’t know how I got so far off track, but it happens, and I am happy with how that post turned out. Now I want to try again (this time more focused) and explore the topic of book lengths. I can only hope I manage to stay on track. You may need to check out the last post Thoughts about Books for this to make sense.

Currently I am working on the final layout issues of the short story collection that Christian and I are publishing. I’m also a third of the way through writing my first novel and picking away at a novella that I’m rewriting, hoping it will be the start of a series that has been on my mind for my years. They are all writing, but the lengths are very different and therefore they are written in different way. The story structure, the detail, and the plot vary greatly based on the length of each publication.

Halloween Hangover

Blog No. 154

It’s a strange thing, what time does to us. I’m not afraid of age. I don’t worry about getting older (outside of the efforts I make to get healthy). I quite enjoy the age I am and, while I’m terrified of being elderly, (I don’t think I’ll be in very good shape by then) I wouldn’t go back to my twenties if I could. I would love to be able to tell 20-year-old Ben to get off his ass, but that’s something different. Time soldiers on even when we aren’t paying attention. In the same way, life changes, but being in the middle of it, it often goes unnoticed (at least for me). The one day, you find yourself handing out Halloween candy, watching old episodes of Venture Bros. and wondering what time you’re going to get up for your day off the next morning. 

Behind the Writing: Dime Store Detective

Blog No. 144

It’s been quite a while since I wrote one of these behind the writing things, but I do remember that I should warn you that there will be spoilers, and recommend that you go read the story for yourself. I’m quite happy with this one, so really, go read it.

(http://adventureworldsblog.com/2015/01/18/dime-store-detective-complete/)

Where do I start? The story is quite a meandering thing. Written long ago, edited over a long time, smattered with old Ben and new Ben. One of the major life events was, consequently at the same time as the beginning of Adventure Worlds, my writing For Them and Not. The story isn’t anything special, but being my first story written under the banner of Adventure Worlds, and being the longest thing I had written at the time, it stands out. Writing it took a long time, lots of energy, and it helped, from my perspective, cement the early group. I was going through a lot of new experiences that seem quaint now, but were ground shattering back then. From there I went to the better (in my mind) The Star that was the Sun. Not only do I like that title better, but it was my best story when we started the Zine, and has tagged along all the way to the last issue.