Update Post!!

UPDATE

The Book

So as you may or may not know, I had a "working" copy of my third installment to the Light Bringer's Saga a few months ago and I trashed it, or at least most of it. It didn't work and I was rushing myself and trying to force it. Well I have been working on it pretty steadily and feel I am about 70% done with my draft. I might even have it finished by December 1st. I have wanted to get this story out for quite some time, but it is the resolution to many things that I have built over the course of the series and it had to be right. 

Having said that I have have another book waiting in the wings and can't wait to start work on it. I already have about 30k words done on it so really I am just waiting to jump back in. If you are interested in learning more jump back to 2013 by clicking HERE. 

The Store

So I have post about my wife's store before.

 She makes really cool jewelry. 

I have also talked about my clay figures before. 

Well they are all in the same shop now. 

Anything from rings and necklaces, to Dragon's and Batsy Cats. Also because I know people :D if you enter the coupon code Bax20(caps don't matter) you can get 20% off your order, good until Dec. 15th. So if you like handmade, unique jewelry and figures or know someone who does. Click here and check out the store. Layla's Trinkets.

Something Cool

So if you are not following S.K. Anthony's blog...get on that lol. But also something really fun happened over there. I personally love watching YouTube for anything about books. Discussion, author interviews, book reviews, anything really. So it was really cool to see S and her friend and fellow author Raymond Esposito bring us Writer's After Dark. A fun new YouTube channel dedicated to all things books. Go see them argue over which is better, Romance or Horror?!

Something Inspiring

This may be slightly hard to hear, but I thought it was pretty cool. Alan Moore( Watchmen, From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ) talks about writing and publishing. 

Anyway I hope you guys found something in there you liked. How is your writing going? Did you need some gift ideas and found the store to be that fix? Planning on checking out Writer's After Dark? I hope everyone is enjoying their November. As always, have fun and keep writing.

Chest of Awesome!!

A new feature on the blog where I want to present awesome things from my month that I want to share with everyone. Could be anything, but I want to try and do it at least once a month.

ROUND 1

The first is this awesome book. Anyone who knows me, knows I love Harry Potter. I also love reading to my kids. My oldest read for themselves now, but my youngest I get to read to all the time. He is still a little young for this book, but when I saw it I had to buy it. 

It is actually the full book, but it is filled with awesome little pictures of the world and the characters. I can't wait for my little buddy and me to read it together. 

ROUND 2

The next awesome thing is this book by Raymond Esposito (<--click me). I actually won this in a contest a while ago, but my reading pile is massive and I just got around to reading it. I will admit that I am not a huge consumer of all things Zombie. I love the Walking Dead, comic and show. I also love the comedic movies about zombies like Shawn of the Dead and Zombieland. 

Still even I can tell that this book was a refreshing take on the "zombie" thing. I put that word in quotes because...well go read and find out. Honestly the book was really great and I enjoyed it thoroughly. This is the first book in the Creepers Saga and after reading I am thinking of rearranging my to-be-read pile to read the second one sooner. 

Find the books here

BOOK 1

BOOK 2

BOOK 3

ROUND 3

The last thing in this post is something I am getting back into. Writing is my first love when it comes to art, but it is not my only love. Many times when I get deep into a book I need some kind of artistic palate cleanse. Sometimes I paint, sometimes I draw, but I also started to make things out of clay. It is actually really fun, but I had to stop to focus on my writing. Well last night I got the itch and so I made this new little green dragon.

  Anyway, what do you guys think of the HP Illustrated book? Do you like zombies? Anyone got some art to share? As always have fun and keep writing. 

IWSG

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! To join click HERE!

Derivative. It is a word with pretty negative connotations. When people say it, you can just picture the person rolling their eyes and scoffing.

I understand to a degree. I know that as you read more, it becomes harder to find that original thing. I do have a problem though condemning books for being similar to other books.

I have two major points on this subject. The first is this. No matter what idea you have it has to conform to a story and doing so will change it. I mean as long as you are not specifically plagiarizing something your story will be different because it is yours.

You could grab three writers give them the same story idea and get three completely different stories. We are the greatest resource of a story because the information is filtered through our minds and our experiences. 

My second point is that everything is new to someone. 350,000 babies are born a day, trust me I Googled it. So just think of how many new readers we get all the time. There are people who read Inheritance Cycle and it made them lifetime readers. Does it matter than that The Dragonriders of Pern series came first? I don't think so. I think what is important is that a writer finds their readers. Maybe a younger writer will bring a new perspective to an old story.

At the end of the day being a great writer is more important than what you are writing. If you love vampires and feel you have a great story to tell then tell it. Zombies? Go for it. Post apocalyptic story with a female lead? Hey you are brave, but go for it. 

At the end of the day writing trumps all. There are readers waiting for you. You just have to get good enough to reach them.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well, Thanksgiving is coming soon. As always have fun and keep writing.