Book 3...the First Draft is DONE!!

In 1993, I saw an interesting weapon in a Museum Replicas LTD catalog.  I'd been working with long-handled Chinese weapons at that point and I thought the blade in the catalog looked like something I would LOVE to use as a personal weapon.  I idly drew some sketches of what I thought it would look like, and even created an RPG character that carried it for use in a D&D game I was playing with my dear, departed friend, Jason Blankenship.  The character was a jester.  I know that probably surprises you.  Stop that laughing.

Not long after that, had my "I can write better than THAT guy!" episode and began work on what would become Mage's Burden, using the weapon I had envisioned as a focal point.  It took 21 years for that story to make it to print, but not long after I held that first copy in my hands, I quickly started on Gart's Road to continue the tale.  16 months later, GR was complete and on the shelves.  I took a break for about 2 weeks (during which I struggled to not write, telling myself that I neeeeeded a break), and then started on Book 3, A Mage Awakens.  That was back in December, 2015.

On Tuesday, July 12, around 2:30pm, I finished the first draft of AMA, and with it, the story that had been rattling around in my head for well over two decades.  It was finally all there in black and white.  All the pieces had come together, the dust had settled, and I definitely had the feels going on.  Yes, yes, there is still a lot of editing to do, and some things might yet change here and there, but all in all, it felt finished.  Done.  Fini.

It has been such a crazy ride for me.  I've known these characters, both heroic and evil, for nearly half my life, and now, their tale is pretty much done.  Sitting there at my desk, I felt such a wonderful sense of completion, relief, and yes, some sadness.  I've always had their story pressing in my head, wanting to get out, and I miss it already.  I feel so strange right now, even though I've done this before with my previous books, going through the editing process to tune it all up feels a little different than it did the last two times because of its finality.  The trilogy as I had envisioned it is complete.  Now, there is an emptiness that is hard to describe.

The good news is that there is already a new story taking shape.  It's unformed, just flashes and images, really, but I can feel it in there.  I can already see the return of some old friends and the approach of new ones, as well as the presence of some very nasty bad guys.  Even at this ridiculously early stage, I'm comforted by its presence.  I've apparently got a lot more writing to do once this last book in the trilogy is polished and published.  And that makes me happy.  Have a great week, folks.

Gart's Road...it's available!

 

Here it is...the next chapter in the tale of Brunar the Mage and the Guardians as they oppose the evil sorcerer Mordak...


After the brutal murder of his family, Gart’s voyage continues as he searches for the weapon that was promised him by the Mage, Brunar. Once a peaceful farmer, who only wanted to be left alone, Gart must now become something more. Struggling with the powerful magick that grows within him, Gart follows a dangerous path. Only with the fabled Jidaan of Storms would he have a chance against Mordak’s Champion, the demon-bred Jor Dayne.

Guided by the noble Brunar, the other five Guardians make their way to Laro, hurrying to reach the walled city before Mordak’s army. Brunar and the elf-like Weya guide the Duke and his fierce warriors as they face an enormous, bloodthirsty horde of nightmarish creatures. The dead will rise and evil will walk the walls of Laro if Mordak has his way.

As the time for battle draws near, Gart fights his own monsters…alone.


http://www.amazon.com/Garts-Road-Jidaan-Trilogy-Volume/dp/0692573054

FINALLY! Book 2 is done!!

After 16 months of rough draft, proofreaders marks, read aloud draft, final tweaks, artwork, and cover production, BAM!!  Gart's Road is finally done!  A couple of days ago, I rolled up to the house and found the box with my first preview copies on my doorstep.   GR is 30,000 words longer than the first book, Mage's Burden, and after some feedback from several folks, I decided to increase the font size just a tiny bit to make it easier to read.  The end result is that GR is nearly twice the size of MB.  It's a hefty piece of work, yes it is!

It's going up on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Ibooks, Smashwords, and several other sites, both in e-book and paperback, tomorrow.  That's Friday, November 13th, and yes, that's always been a lucky day for me.  I really feel like this book is better than the first one in many ways, so I hope that folks enjoy it.

There's a lot of other stuff going on these days as well, but the book thing has been the biggest priority in many ways, so I figured I'd post an update here.  Book 3 is still just a twinkle in my eye at this point, although I do have my trusty old outline and a handful of notes.  I look forward to eventually seeing how the story ends!

It's October, and things are great!

October is finally here!  It's my favorite month, you see.  As a kid growing up in Angleton, Texas, in the 70's and 80's, October always brought the Brazoria County Fair and Parade, the Renaissance Festival, and Halloween (which happens to be my birthday), and nowadays, there's a wedding anniversary thrown in.  The weather turns cooler, the sky turns bluer, and I generally feel thrilled to be alive.

Things are going pretty well for me right now.  A recent burst of enrollments at JMMA has finally allowed me to relax just a tiny bit and think that we're going to be able to pay our rent, and the energy of the student body is absolutely wonderful.  I've been doggedly training to improve my breathing and cardio capacity after spending most of the year struggling with a vicious asthma flare up.  Although I'm still far from where I'd like to be in regards to my athleticism, I'm improving all the time.  My Jiu Jitsu is getting better, I think.  And I've finally finished my second book, Gart's Road.  Family life at home has improved in many ways, so I'm feeling a general sense of delight.

At times like this, I finally feel like I can relax for a moment and just take it all in.  It's all a journey, and I'm sure there are many more ups as well as downs to come.  For this moment, at least, I feel deeply, truly happy.  There have been many times in my life where things were not going my way.  There have been some major challenges, to say the least.  In the face of those obstacles, I have always chosen to simply take a deep breath and then press forward with everything I could muster.  This has generally worked for me.  Of course, there have often been changes of plans, adjustments of routes, and I occasionally discovered that the process of meeting one goal ended up changing the goal altogether.  That said, I think it's important to just keep moving forward, one foot in front of the other, until you end up getting somewhere.  I've done that, and done it often.  It's hard work, yes it is.

However, at times like this, where I can feel a cool breeze on my face and the warm sun on my skin and everything in my world is more or less at peace, I'm grateful for all the challenges.  They led me to this moment, this particularly wonderful and happy moment.  Life is good.

I am trying to get into the habit of writing here more often.  I have another blog where I talk more about my books, and you can visit it here.  Feel free to leave a comment, drop me a line, or just say 'hey.'  And have a fabulous day.

Space City Comic Con, and more

This is reposted from my other blog, which can be found here.

July 27, 2015

WOW!  Why in the world have I not been to a Comic Con until now?  I had no idea what I was missing!  I talked to celebrities, met a ton of great people, saw some waaaay cool stuff, and sold a ton of books.  It was super-duper fun, and I'm already making plans to hit another convention on Labor Day weekend. 

It started like this...

 That was Thursday.  It was pretty bare-bones since the banner hadn't arrived and we were just getting things set up.  Friday was sooo much more fun!  For one thing, we found the Ultrasaber shop

.

I want one.  Oh yes, I surely do.  Anyway, we sold 7 books that day, I met Cynthia Rothrock, caught a glimpse of William Shatner, and tried to get a feel for how things went.  The next day was a bit better...more like this:

 We sold all but 9 books on Saturday, met a ton more people, had a ridiculous amount of fun.  Case en pointe, this happened...

We also met Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Bridget Regan (Kahlan from Legend of the Seeker) and Naomi Grossman (American Horror Story, Freak Show).  There were soooo many folks in costume, it was great!!  If you want to see all of the pics, feel free to go to my Facebook page and check them out here:  Whit's Space City Comic Con 2015 Album

Sunday saw more of the same, and ultimately, it ended up like this:

 Over 30 books sold!  All in all, it was an absolutely amazing weekend!  Special thanks to Larry Escher for getting me there in the first place.  I'm already making plans to attend another convention, so I'll keep you posted.  In the meantime, come see me on Facebook, or send me a note from here.

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Yeah, that was a pretty amazing weekend.  As I said, I'm looking forward to doing another Con as soon as I can manage it.  

In other news, I'm really just having a ball lately.  I've made some changes in how I run my day that have brought really great results.  I have a breathing exercise that leads me into a short meditation each morning.  There is now a notepad on my desk upon which I write tasks, thoughts, and stuff that happens throughout the day.  This has really spiked my productivity like crazy, I've gotten SO much more done without feeling frantic about it.  Training is going well, and I feel like I'm finally making some progress with my breathing and stamina.  Lately, I've been working on the 2-handed straight sword form, and I'm almost finished with it.  That form is perfect for the lightsaber that I'll be getting for my birthday!  

That's about it for the time being.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go back to the laundry and working on Gart's Road.  Have a great week!  

 

Touching Base

Well, there's been a lot going on, most of it good!  It's been a month and a half since I reminded myself that I have this blog, and I've been so darned busy that I didn't put it on the to do list.  To be honest, I've been spending much of my time working on my second book, Gart's Road.  Yes, I've posted about it all over the place here.  In fact, I have a new website, strictly for the book series!

www.jidaan.com

Go have a look!  Maybe you'll like it.  I have a blog over there too, strictly about my writing projects, so my intention is to save this blog for other stuff. 

One little thing happened last night that made me smile.  I was talking to my son, Connor, about my childhood.  Just a fun little conversation.  We got on the subject of CB radios.  My dad used to always have one in his truck, which he used on long trips to talk to the truckers.  We had a base CB in their bedroom, with a ginormous antennae in the back yard.  For a while, I had a CB in my cars as well.  This was well before cellphones came about, and they were pretty fun and handy.

When I went to bed, leaving him in charge of the dogs (already asleep, the lazy buggers) and surfing around on his computer, I noticed that he was researching CB jargon.  He wants a CB.  I'm thinking I'm going to get him one.  Why?  I don't know...he really doesn't need one.  He's got a phone, I've got a phone, everyone's got a phone.  Even so, I think I'll get him one.  10-4, good buddy!

My best to you all, go do something fun and exciting today.  Or tomorrow at the latest.  Or at least do some burpees, they're good for you.

Gart's Road, coming this month!

I'm reasonably certain that Gart's Road (book 2 of my trilogy) will be completed this month.  I'm pretty excited about it (in case I forgot to mention it), and I'm currently hard at work on the last few chapters. 

In the event that you're just DYING to read the first book, Mage's Burden, I figured I'd toss a link up here.  You know...so you could pick it up.  If the mood strikes you.  Or you need a birthday present for an avid fantasy reader.  Maybe you just need a purple book cover to balance out the colors in your bookshelf, in any event, here's the link.  It's available in both Kindle and paperback.  Have a great day!

I'm on a Radio Show Today!

It's not exactly radio since it's online, but it FEELS like I'm on the radio!  I'll be talking with Barbara Ehrentreu on Red River Radio Tales this afternoon at 3pm CST.    This is the second show like this I've done, and I'm looking forward to it!  There's a chat room attached, so you can get on there and ask questions or just heckle me in general.

After the Play

A brief word about my son, Connor.

He's 13 now, and in 7th grade.  All year, we've struggled with him as he worked to find a way to juggle his homework and activities and put proper priorities on what needed to be done.  Fortunately, he's a smart, sweet kid, and truly wants to do the right things.  After an awful lot of hair-pulling and teeth-gnashing, he found his groove and got all A's and B's on his last report card, and is on track to making similar grades this time around.

Last night, I finally got to watch him in Schoolhouse Rock, Jr., the school play.  He had initially been somewhat indifferent to theater, actually making a c at some point in there previously.  I mean seriously...if you know him, you'd think that he'd be teaching the class, not bombing it.  We tried and tried to tell him that if he just tried to put some effort into it, really worked for a part on the stage rather than the behind-the-scenes crew, that he might really have some fun out there.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know how kids are, and he just scraped along.  At least, until this play came up.

He put a little more stink on things and tried harder at auditions.  He made it into the ensemble, which is basically a whole bunch of kids running around and singing together.  For the past several weeks, he's been dutifully going to rehearsals, working hard, AND keeping his grades up.  Showtime finally arrived, and he performed for the first time on Thursday.  I was teaching, so I had to wait until Friday to see him.  It was absolutely wonderful.

Connor committed 100% on stage, pulling all the right faces, throwing all the right moves, and singing his guts out.  No longer was he worried about looking silly, he got up there and owned his performance.  I laughed and laughed, I was absolutely delighted to see him in the show.  It made my heart swell up, truly.

Later, we all ate at the Chinese buffet and had a chance to talk about theater, school, girls, friend-zones and relationships, and all kinds of fun things.  We hadn't been to the buffet in awhile and I was pleasantly stuffed.  Christina went to find more salad or something and I had a chance to sit alone with Connor for a few minutes.  We were chatting happily and I took a moment to watch him eat.  There, sitting across from me, eating a giant pile of rice, was my son.  Only 3lbs or so at birth, he's now taller than I am.  I suddenly saw his newborn body in the NICU, tiny, but strong.  I saw him taking his first steps.  I remembered running behind him, my hand twisted up in his shirt to hold him up as he learned to ride a bike.  Then there he was, bravely going down the tallest waterslide in Branson only to refuse to go down it the next day.  I saw him playing lacrosse and hating it, but having a blast in swim team and bumping fists with all the other swimmers to wish them luck.  I saw him taking the ice bucket challenge with me and howling about how the ice water was reaching his crotch.  And I saw him sitting there, behind his new glasses, reading something on his phone, and shoveling Chinese food into his mouth as if it were a race.

With tears in my eyes, I told him that I although I may miss the 9 year old kid that he used to be...I am thrilled to my core to see the young man that he has become.  I sure love that kid.

Lacrosse is Over, Bring on Tough Mudder!

I was quite sad a couple of weeks back when I was told that the final game on the Bayou City Lacrosse Club's schedule was cancelled due to the other team's forfeiting for lack of players.  I had really been looking forward to that last game, and then it was yanked away and my season was suddenly over.  Sure, we still had the playoffs coming up, but I will be at the Tough Mudder that weekend, so my season was done.  (Sad music plays here)

Fortunately, San Antonio pulled out of a GCLA tournament, and we were asked to play in their place!  Woo hooooo!!!  Not just one, but THREE games!!!  That had me dancing for joy!  The games were big fun!  We lost vs Metro (imagine that), won vs TAMU Corps of Cadets, and then lost to the Bay Area Barnacles.  We didn't get to play the Swamp Donkeys.  That disappointed me.  I just wanted to play them because of their awesome team name.  I battled with a left ankle issue all weekend, so I ran with a rather nasty limp, but fortunately, my right foot held up just fine.  I'm thankful that the rest of me was decently healthy, and I had an absolute blast out there.  I hit a few folks, scored a couple of goals, won a few faceoffs, and even had fun in the final game brawl.  No one got hurt, just a couple of tempers flaring due to roughness and then the ensuing scuffle to pull them apart.  It is a full-contact sport, after all.

All in all, the season ended for me on a high note.  Of course, I'm already looking forward to next year, planning to train hard and come back as a wrecking, scoring, dodging machine!  I've said it before, and I'll say it until the day I die...I love this game!

Thumbs up at the GCLA Lacrosse Tournament, April 25, '15

As I mentioned, I'll be leading a team through the Tough Mudder this weekend.  It's a small, but enthusiastic group, and I'm looking forward to it with great anticipation!  There are new obstacles on the course, and my old favorites should be there as well.  I plan to take as many pictures as possible, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather holds...it's gorgeous out there right now!

In other news, I'm at around 60K words on Gart's Road.  My original goal was to have it finished by May, which shifted to having it done by the END of May, and since it feels like it should be around 90K words, I'll be somewhat hard-pressed to do that.  All I can do is just write at every available opportunity and see how it goes.  Fortunately, I'm doing better each time I sit down and things are coming along much easier these days.  I'm dying to see how it turns out!

Recently, I was a guest on a radio show blog, and that was tons of fun!  If you're of a mind to do so, you can listen to the interview here:

I read an excerpt from Chapter 2, and was flattered by all the positive responses I got afterwards.  Everyone seems to think that I have a decent reading voice, and that I should do an audio version of Mage's Burden.  After doing some research and asking around, some wonderful friends have said that I can use their facilities or equipment, so this thing might just work.  Of course, I want to finish Gart's Road first, but once that is complete, I'll dig into this project.  I think it would be fun!!

Speaking of projects, I've finally started digging into some boxes of old family photos that my Mom had given me a few years back.  It's a huge trip down Memory Lane, that's for sure!  I'm seeing pics I haven't seen in years, and many that I've never seen!  I love seeing my parents when they were younger and first married.  There are even quite a few of my Dad when he was young...quite the Rico Suave, that one.  My Dad was a stern old country boy, but he was also given to huge belly laughs.  Somewhere in there I found a pic of him in mid-guffaw, and it made me smile for the rest of the afternoon.  I also found many pics of myself with somewhat questionable fashion sense.  Geez, I really went out in public dressed like that?  With that hair?  Sigh.  Ah, well, I was young.  I had no sense.  Here's my 11th grade mugshot.  I obviously had no idea that I could put something in my hair that would make it stay in one configuration, because surely, I wouldn't have wanted it to stay like THAT.  And a baby pic!

Baby Whit  1969/1970

Whit McClendon, 11th Grade, 1986-87

One other thing of note...my Uncle Robert passed away last week.  He was my favorite uncle, and was well-loved by everyone who knew him.  He was always ready to help you fix whatever was broken, tell a funny story, and was just an all-around great guy.  The family held the viewing a couple of days ago, and I was told that there was a table upon which they had placed some of his favorite thing, service medals, awards, other items that he held in some high esteem.  My Mom noticed that someone had left my book on there, and when asked, found that it was placed there on purpose.  My uncle had loved my book, and so it was deemed worthy of being added to that collection.  I can't begin to tell you, dear readers, how much that moved me.  In fact, I have tears in my eyes as I type this.  Robert Pollock was a wonderful and amazing man, a man that I feel incredibly fortunate to have known so well during my life, and I was both deeply honored and humbled by the fact that he enjoyed what I wrote.  Godspeed, Uncle Robert.

Robert Pollock, Sr. 2015

Ow, ow, ow, ow! Dang it!

Bayou City played another lacrosse game today!  It was an away game vs. Metro, and this makes the third year in a row (I think) that this particular game was played in the rain.  Thankfully, the rain really didn't kick in until the 2nd half and was just a chilly drizzle rather than an icy downpour as it had been in games past.  As always, I look forward to these games with great anticipation...I simply love playing.  I'm not as fast as I once was, and I'm certainly not the best player, but you don't have to be Gary Gait (Google him) to have fun playing the game.  And oh, I do.  I really, really do.

For the first time in a loooooong time, I couldn't finish the game today.  Fortunately, I wasn't horrendously injured during a play (although I did stop a shot on goal with my thigh, and WOW, that did hurt), but instead, was sidelined by a bit of plantar fasciitis that's been dogging me for a few weeks now.  My right heel held up for not quite 3 quarters before it finally gave me the 'no go' signal, and I watched the rest of the game from the sidelines.  Frustrating, but I was happy to have played that much, at least.

We lost the game, but it was fun, nonetheless.  I really am glad to be playing for this particular team.  We win some, we lose quite a few, but we always enjoy playing together.  I couldn't have picked a better team on which to play.  And the team colors are green and white, of course!

I'm scheduled to do CrossFit Games workout 15.2 tomorrow morning at 7:30am.  I'm honestly not sure that my foot will allow it, but I've got the silly thing on ice at the moment, and I'll just have to see how it's feeling tomorrow.  After that, I've got a week to rehab the thing before our next lacrosse game.  It's a pretty simple routine, really...icing it, sleeping in a boot, rolling out my calf multiple times daily.  I could look at it as a huge annoyance, but admittedly, that takes too much energy.  Instead, I'll just view it as an additional step in my physical training, like warming up or stretching.  For now, it's just something I need to do to keep everything working properly, so there's no sense in resenting it.

In other news, I'm really rolling along with Book 2, 'Gart's Road', at the moment.  I've found a good balance of doing admin stuff for my school and also finding time to write each day, so I've progressed much faster lately.  I reached a point where I was about to depict the beginning of a city siege, but another scene kept presenting itself, so I shifted to write that one instead, and I'm thrilled with the result so far.  Now that I pretty much have that scene all done, it's time to get back to work on the attack on the city of Laro.  I've been reading an awful lot lately in the genre, and I've felt a lot more open to trying new things in my story, much more creative stuff than I did in the past, so I'm pretty excited to see what I can do with this next section.

I see the whole story in scenes, and although I do know where the whole thing is going, I don't always see the scenes in proper order.  At any given time, I'm generally just writing whatever I see most vividly right then.  There are also plenty of times when I just don't see anything, so that's frustrating.  Fortunately, the muse is speaking to me lately, so I'm going to make the best of it, and write as much as I can while I'm on a roll.

Sometimes, I write here to make a point of some kind.  More often, I'm just reporting things that happen in my life because I want to remember them later.  Yes, those things could just as well be written in a private journal, but I enjoy sharing in the hopes that maybe someone would be amused or even inspired by my writing.  This post doesn't have much of a point, other than to just say that I'm doing my best to keep moving forward in several areas.  I'm closer to 50 than 40 now, and I want to remain active as much as possible, so martial arts, lacrosse, and writing are not only lifelong passions of mine but also tools that I use to keep myself nimble in both mind and body.  I have no plans to 'go soft into that good night.'  I'm going to keep training, keep playing, keep writing, keep moving until I use up every ounce of life I've been given.  So there!

Writing, Training, More Writing

Yes, I've finally been able to get back to writing lately.  'Gart's Road', or Book 2 as I tend to call it, is moving along at last.  It took a month or so to get settled in here at JMMA's new location, but things are up and running smoothly now, so I can turn my focus back to the story.

I'm obviously not the fastest writer on the planet.  This occasionally frustrates me, but more often, I just enjoy the process however fast or slow it happens.  I've been stuck at one spot for a long time and I was thrilled to finally get through the scene and start looking at other areas of the story.  It's like watching a movie only 5 minutes at a time!  I'll get there eventually.

Things are about to get pretty hairy for my characters...there is about to be a large-scale assault on a city and its castle.  The fighting is going to be ferocious and intense, and I can tell you that it's going to be rough for the good guys.  Will they all make it?  I'll only give you this hint...George R. Martin, I'm not, but I'm not averse to seeing good guys die if that's what I see in the story in my head!

In other news, training is going well.  I haven't had a bit of chocolate on a day other than Sunday for over a month now, and I've kept off the handful of pounds I've lost.  Another lacrosse game is coming up this Saturday and I've got sprints planned for today in preparation.  I'll never be as fast as I once was, but my stamina is still pretty good, and I'm bound and determined to stay as mobile as possible.

Back to work here...I'll keep you posted.  Feel free to drop me a comment or an email anytime, I love hearing from folks out there.

New Year, New School, New Lacrosse Season

Wow, so much has happened since my last post here.  Last December, after months of wrangling, paperwork, and about a thousand things on the daily To-Do Lists, we managed to move Jade Mountain Martial Arts to a new location.  We moved from an extremely hard-to-find attic, with an entrance that sat about 20 feet from a dumpster, to a fantastic location right next to the Alamo Drafthouse.  In one day, with a massive team of volunteers, we somehow loaded up every single thing from the old place, and moved it all into the new space.  It took a good three weeks to get everything situated, but the new and improved Jade Mountain is ready for action and it...looks...GREAT.  I'm ridiculously proud of it, and humbled and grateful at all of the hard work that our students and Ms. Kathryn put in to make it look so amazing.

The To-Do List is still pretty gigantic, but things have calmed down enough that I can turn some of my energy to other things.  Book 2 has been waiting not-so-patiently for me to work on it again.  I'd like to get it done by the summer, though that means I need to get to it pretty consistently.  Lacrosse season also started today, and though my training suffered during the move, I was able to enjoy the game and cause a bit of trouble on the field.  No Tornado Kicks, but a few good plays, nonetheless.  I very much look forward to getting my speed and agility back as the season progresses and I'm able to get back to training.

That's about it.  I mean, the super short version, anyway.  As always, I intend to write here more often, but we'll just have to see how that turns out.  One thing I'll say before I go:  the weather was perfect for the game today.  It was sunny and bright, with a cool breeze blowing now and then.  The field was soft but not muddy, and my new cleats were rocking.  My team played hard and we had fun.  I ran, I scooped, I passed the ball, I hit some folks and dodged others.  As all this was going on, I couldn't help but feel absolutely, deeply, ridiculously happy.  I'm closer to 50 than 40, and I'm still out there.  It rocks.

Bad reviews...ouch! Well, I don't like Pumpkin Pie...so, there.

As a writer, I knew that I'd never be able to please everyone.  I've always dreamed of being a published author, and although I never aspired to fame and fortune, I'd always hoped that folks would enjoy my books at the very least.  I feel as though I'm a decent writer, maybe not as skilled or imaginative as my favorite big-name authors, but I think I do pretty well.  I knew that there would always be those out there who would not like my work, whether because of the subject, the storyline, the characters, or my sentence structure.  If I wanted to put my books out there, I had to be willing to endure the opinions of the masses, both good and bad.

Up to now, my reviews were pretty positive.  Of course, the first people to read Mage's Burden were those who knew me, so they were far more likely to be supportive.  However, I also got other reviews and positive feedback from folks I'd never met, so that got me pretty excited!  I always want honest appraisals of my work, and I do a happy dance for every good review that I get.

Along with the good opinions, suddenly came the bad ones.  In the last 2 days, it seems that a handful of people signed on to Goodreads.com as new members in order to review my book, and wow, they surely didn't like it at all.  Comments about my writing skill, accusations of racism and sexism (seriously?!?), and even suggestions that my use of punctuation was off-putting.  Fair enough.  Everyone has a right to their opinion, even if it's one I don't share.  It was a bit shocking to hear such negative comments on something that I had worked so hard to create.  I want to tell a story of heroism, a battle of good versus evil, magick and monsters...this is supposed to be fun! 

In thinking about all this, I realized that I don't like pumpkin pie.  Honestly, I never have.  Millions of people out there LOVE pumpkin pie.  It's a staple at almost every Thanksgiving dinner, and I don't like it.  I know there are others like me out there, but most folks enjoy it, and that's just fine.  It's also fine that I don't.  The fact that I don't like pumpkin pie doesn't change what the pie actually is, what it is meant to be, or the fact that so many love it.  It's just my opinion.  My favorite authors all have quite a few horrendously negative reviews sprinkled among the shining, positive comments, and they're doing just fine.  You can't please everyone.

All in all, I'm grateful to each and every person who takes the time to read my book, whether or not they like it.  I hope that more people like it than don't.  Having someone write how much they hate my work isn't the end of the world.  I plan to keep writing, keep working, and I'll improve my storytelling skills as I go. 

Those of you reading this, if you've read my book and want to share an opinion, I'd truly love to hear it.  Here are all the places you can write a review.  As much as I'd like to ask for good reviews, I really just want honest ones.

Mage's Burden on Goodreads

Mage's Burden on Amazon.com

Mage's Burden on Barnes & Noble.com

Another Year, Another Birthday!

I'm 45!  As of my birthday a week ago, I am now halfway to 90.  Not even CLOSE to being done.  I joke about being an old man, but although I'm a half-step slower here, maybe not quite as strong there, I'm feeling pretty danged spry, thank you very much.  I'm on the 120-Year Plan, so I intend to keep working out, eating right (more or less, anyway), and keeping a positive attitude.  45...wow.  In just a few short years, I'll be 50.  Cool.

It's been a big year for me, and it looks as though it'll end with a bang as well.  Just a few days ago, I signed a lease for Jade Mountain in a new, bigger, better location.  11 years ago, I had been teaching out of my garage, but we found a spot right off of I-10 near Mason Rd.  It was cheap because it was basically an attic for the store below, which was a Mattress Giant at the time.  Fortunately, the space had previously been a dance studio and also a martial arts school, so it was already laid out perfectly for what I wanted.  Since then, we've been rolling along, having a blast up there, but it's finally time to make a change.  We need a bigger space, a better space, a place that's easier to find!!!  After months of wrangling and financing, I finally put pen to paper a few days ago, and it is on like Donkey Kong.  The lease should be executed this week, then the builder will be put to work, and we'll eventually end up right next to the Alamo Drafthouse on Mason Road in a space big enough to have two classes going simultaneously.  I'll certainly miss the old Jade Mountain, but there are tons of good memories that will be coming with me, and a whole new adventure awaits at the new space.  

In other news, I've been working on Gart's Road (the second book in my fantasy trilogy) and thoroughly enjoying myself.  I've gotten to know other authors, had quite a few folks say nice things about Mage's Burden, and was recently mentioned on a radio show in Nevada!  My friends, students, and family have all been super supportive, and I've signed quite a few copies of MB for folks.  I often feel an odd sense of embarrassment when folks want me to sign one.  In my mind, I'm saying, "It's just little old me!  My signature's not worth anything!"  Yet I'm also quite honored.  I was fortunate enough to have a handful of my copies of various books signed by their authors, most notably, Dennis L. McKiernan, and I treasure those things.  Simply put, I think it's exceedingly cool to have them.  If I stretch my mind a bit, I can hope that maybe one day, others might think something similar when they open their copy of my book with my signature in it.  One day.  Maybe.  I'll just keep writing and see how it goes.

All in all, my 45th year has been pretty good so far.  I'll keep doing my thing and just take one step after another and see where the journey leads me.  I'm thinking it'll be fun!!

Krav Maga and Book Signings...

Wow, September was an eventful month!  It started with a fabulous 9 days of training in Krav Maga (with a Kung Fu demonstration for 300 families at the end of the first day), ending in an 8+ hour test.  Now THAT was FUN!!!  Then, September 27th was another big day...I had my first ever official Book Signing at a local bookstore, Katy Budget Books.  They actually had my name, picture, and a pic of my book cover on the digital marquee sign out front!

I really enjoyed the Krav training.  Emmanuel Ayache is a fabulous instructor, given to very structured, detailed explanations of technique and challenging summary drills that were also tons of fun.  Occasionally, there were 'winners' of the summary drills, and those folks got prizes.  One pair of winners got to punch and kick the rest of us as we all stood in a ring around them.  Another pair got a 400 yard piggyback ride from us while the others did jumping squats.  Yes, my idea of fun may be different from that of other, more 'normal' folks.

Over the course of the training, we learned punch and kick defenses, knife threat defenses, handgun threat defenses, stick attack defenses, choke defenses from both standing and the ground, even some rifle defenses.  The training started each day promptly at 9am and rolled on until sometime after 6, with an hour and fifteen minute lunch.  We had little breaks here and there, just a few minutes where I was able to toss down 3 or 4 peanut M&M's so I wouldn't get hungry.  There was just SO much to go over, and Emmanuel did a fabulous job of it.  We had homework several times, either planning warmups for the next morning or afternoon or doing lesson plans that we were to use when teaching the class various techniques.  I have over fifty pages of notes on all the techniques, drills, and lectures we had during the week, and I can actually read them!  Test day was grueling, but I had an absolute blast.  Over 8 hours of technique and sparring.  FUN!!!!!  In the end, I passed with very good remarks, and ended up a G1 level KMG Instructor.  It's been quite a journey, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

There is more, but since I actually started this blog post almost a month ago and I really think I should post something separate for my birthday, I'll get right on that.  Go train somewhere, learn something, and have some fun!!!

More News on Mage's Burden

I'm excited to announce that I'll be doing an author's booksigning for Mage's Burden at Katy Budget Books on Saturday, September 27, at 1pm!  This is definitely something I'll check off of my bucket list!  I'm very much looking forward to it, to say the least.  This will be the first (and maybe the only) bookstore that will be offering my book, and I couldn't be more pleased.  I've shopped there for many years, so this is pretty cool for me.  If you're in the Katy area that day, stop by and say hi!

I've had another author interview published, as well.  You can find it here:  http://www.thetimewarriors.co.uk/blog/?p=30974

Still more news!  I've found an armorer willing to finish construction of my own version of the weapon, the Jidaan, that I created for the story.  The blade is fine, and although the current pommel works just fine in terms of balance and movement, I still wanted to find something more along the lines of what I see in my mind's eye.  I like the sketches so far, so I'm looking forward to seeing what http://www.dragonsbreathforge.com/ can do with this project.

Work on Book 2 continues, albeit at a slower pace than I'd like.  There is an awful lot going on with Jade Mountain at the moment, what with the upcoming move and all.  Even so, I'm managing to get in a bit of work here and there.  As always, I'm having a ton of fun with the story.  I've recently likened my writing to surfing YouTube on a slow connection.  Sometimes, I can see the scenes very clearly and I write a lot, while other times, there's a lot of buffering going on, and it takes forever for me to get things moving.  Either way, it's fun.  I'll keep y'all posted!  One of these days, Book 2 will be ready for publishing as well!

Some Thoughts on Suicide

No, I'm not thinking of taking my own life...instead, the recent death of comic icon Robin Williams has sent me into contemplation on the topic.  I've long held certain beliefs on the sanctity of life and I've had my own strong opinions of the people who have taken their own lives.  I'm writing about it because I've come to some realizations on the subject that changed my way of thinking.

Please don't judge me too harshly for my thoughts...they are my own, after all, and I figure that we're always learning and growing.  I'm sure there are many folks who think far differently than I.  I share my thoughts this time because I just feel that maybe it could help someone be more positive about the subject.

In the past, I always felt that folks who committed suicide were selfish, that it was a permanent solution to what I figured was always a temporary problem.  To be honest, I felt that they were weak in some way.  Having been through a certain amount of difficulty and tragedy in my life, I just couldn't fathom what they might be thinking to make that decision.

Then Robin Williams took his own life.  This was a man beloved by so many for his amazing humor and so many acts of kindness and generosity, a man who apparently even knew how much he was loved, a man with money in the bank, a loving family, and an extremely successful career with no end in sight.  In the past, Robin had trouble with addiction and depression, but everyone thought he'd conquered those obstacles, and we cheered him for it.  He had everything.

I read somewhere that someone else had asked the obvious question, "What could possibly have been going on in his mind to bring him to do that?  I just can't even imagine what it would take..."  And the answer was "You should be grateful that you don't understand, that you don't know firsthand what kind of pain he was in."

That's what struck me.  I know my own mind very intimately.  Suicide would simply not be an option for me.  I strongly believe that I can weather pretty much anything by breathing in, breathing out, repeating that process, and moving forward as much as possible through whatever obstacles might arise in life.  That's how my mind works.  I don't suffer from depression.  My brain just doesn't work that way.  Robin's apparently did.  The man was a genius, and an absolutely wonderful human being, but there was a lot going on in that amazing mind of his that we may never understand.  It doesn't make him a lesser man than me, just different.  It could even be said that he's a stronger man than I for fighting his demons for as many years as he did.  I haven't had to fight the same battles as he.  I can't even imagine what he might have gone through.  Not only was he fighting his own battles, but he still found it within himself to be kind, thoughtful, and generous to pretty much everyone who ever crossed his path.  I don't know that I could be that strong. 

Knowing that a man as intelligent, talented, kind, and well-loved as Robin Williams could go to a place where suicide seemed like an option, in fact, the ONLY option, made me realize that maybe I don't have a full understanding of what might go on in such a person's mind.  Maybe I'm not quite as knowledgeable about such things as I had previously thought.  And just maybe I need to be a bit more understanding and compassionate towards folks who may be fighting battles that I may never be able to fully grasp.


Robin Williams certainly left his mark, both with his life and with his death. I still get misty-eyed when I read more about what a wonderful person Robin was.  Heck, tears spring to my eyes just seeing a picture of him at this point, and it'll be awhile before that goes away.  After all of this, I simply resolve to be strong enough to be kinder to everyone, both in my deeds and my thoughts.  I owe that much to Robin just for all the times he brought laughter to my life.  Thanks, Robin.  We love and miss you.

Robin Williams...you will be missed.

My world tilted badly on its axis tonight.  It was a pretty good night at Jade Mountain, classes were running along at full steam, I'd had some visits from some folks that made me pretty happy earlier in the day.  Suddenly, I got word that Robin Williams died today.  That really rocked me.  I grew up watching him on Happy Days, Mork and Mindy, and everything he's ever done since.  Heck, I wore Mork from Ork suspenders in one of my school pictures, 4th grade, I think.

His death was tragic, and unnecessary, and my heart aches for him and for his family.  Robin brought a great deal of light and laughter into my life over the years.  He was gifted as both a comedian and a dramatic actor.  Yes, he made me laugh until I thought I'd wet myself, but he also made me cry, made me think, and then made me laugh again with performances that ranged from hilarious to deeply emotional. He always seemed so approachable, and I've long heard tales of his kindness and generosity.  He was the sweetest man, and he's gone far too soon.

Facebook is covered with remembrances of Robin at the moment, and every so often, I see something that makes me cry again.  I'll just end with this.  Christopher Reeve was another one of my favorites from the big screen, a courageous man who showed my generation that a man could fly.  He inspired me as a kid, and to this day, I have the Superman theme on my iPhone.  When Chris Reeve had his accident, this happened...

"When Christopher Reeve was in the hospital, awaiting a back surgery that had a fifty/fifty chance of killing him, a man burst into his room. He was wearing surgical scrubs, talking in a Russian accent, and said he was there to give a rectal exam. It was Robin Williams; the two men had been roommates together at Juilliard. Later Reeve said of his life-long friend:

“For the first time since the accident, I laughed. My old friend had helped me know that somehow I was going to be okay.”

That's sort of what Robin Williams did for all of us."

Godspeed, Robin.  You will be missed so very much.

JUKE is now available!!

Brian Briscoe is more a brother to me than a friend.  I've known the guy for literally as long as I can remember.  I believe we met through our parents when I was 2 and he was 4, and we've been close ever since.  I only tell you this so that you'll know why I'm thrilled to announce that his novel is finally available on Amazon!!

"Juke is the debut novel by Brian Briscoe. Set in Texas over the course of several decades, Juke follows troubled Mitch Casey and blues musician Juke Mills. Mitch finds himself on the wrong side of the tracks one night and follows the sound of music to Juke, long thought to be dead. A young man trying to make sense of his turbulent upbringing, Mitch is entranced by Juke’s tales of music and murder."

http://www.amazon.com/JUKE-Blues-Novel-Brian-Briscoe-ebook/dp/B00ML7806G

He's an amazing writer, and if you prefer something with guitars instead of swords, music instead of magick, then BUY THIS BOOK!!!