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Book Three Baby

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Hello again Reader, Apologies for the short post today. I’m under a bit of a mid-contract-malaise. Not that anything untoward has happened aboard, far from it. I just find myself a little glum. A gloominess that has become a negative feedback loop of: while working the will to write burns because I didn’t write enough the previous day – get off work; get slapped in the face by fatigue – don’t write enough / good enough per my personal standards – get a little down because of it – go to work again – go to sleep; sleep bad – back to work – cycle repeats. With each cycle I inch closer to almost not writing at all. Sometimes it feels like I’m forcing it. And we all know forcing something doesn’t make for good outcomes. Still, I’m an advocate for keeping up a skill daily, even if it’s with the smallest thing. On Thursday, for instance, I reread one of my novella/short stories which has lingered as a first draft for quite some time. It is very Lovecraft-esque considering the narration is...
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Honesty Of Thought

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  Hello again Reader, We’re halfway through February now, and compared to November and January, man has it gone by fast! I blink and three days are gone. I wake up in the morning, I sneeze, and I’m in bed already. Then I close my eyes, and back up I go. We’re headed west now, and we’re running away from the sunrise, so mornings stretch by increments, making me stay up on the bridge as lookout for the entirety of my morning watch. So, blackness abounds. We’re no longer in coastal waters, so there ain’t a strip of land, much less another ship, in sight, making what is outside (which unless there ain’t any clouds), complete and utter darkness. That, and the seagoing has gotten a little rougher. I slept in 40 minute bursts for around six hours last night, and man can you tell from my face. I’m all puffy and bleary. Still, I come to you today on 14 Feb. (That is, if I’ve the internet to post). 3-5 should be up and ready for you to read, and man o man whatever might happen? Wha...
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February Grind

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  Hello again Reader, I’ve been a bit under two weeks out of an approximate six on board. As I’ve warned you, things in the writing department have gotten slow . I reach my point of diminishing returns in just about an hour, after which the structuring of a basic sentence becomes a chore. Or I just flat out lose track of what’s happened and what’s happening next. Also, I draw blanks more often. I’ll be hammering away, in a zen flow state, until BAM! What next? What next? Man, if that ain’t the worst feeling. It requires retreat back into the mental ZIP files where the story resides in its cosmic jumbled state, waiting to be pieced together. It doesn’t help that I’ve got that dawg watch of 4-8, which, although I sleep from about 20:30 to 3:30, leaves me a little dreary and glum, pale with dark crescents below half-open eyes. I’m a ghoul that skitters down to the mess for snacks and lunch between breaks from writing or napping or reading. Disheveled, oily and flabby are my prim...
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It Has Happened

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Hello again Reader, So, it has happened indeed. Yours truly is currently (pun intended), at sea! I got a 4-6 week contract on an oil tanker, that looks a little something like this: and it’s looking like either end of February or early March I’ll be heading back home. Of course I hope it’ll be 6 weeks. More work means more pay means more money to support me while I focus on this passion of mine. This marks the first out of five or six posts from me to you, from sea to land. I’m on the dogwatch (4-8), so I’m pretty beat after both watches. I’ll try and have something for you to read, every week, but I doubt that book four will be ready before my contract is done. I’m not putting anything on hold, but as I’ve stated before, the pace will be slower for the time being. I hope you understand. I also hope you understand why this post will be on the shorter side. It’s 8:55 ship’s time at the moment, 31 st of January, (I hope I get to post this today; internet is pretty bad), an...
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January Yammering

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Hello again Reader, 3-2 (i.e. book three chapter two, remember last post?), is here. Why has the ship stopped? Is something weird out there? Go find out in this week’s episode! *cough. I mean chapter! Not a long read, so go and enjoy! Regarding the ancillary things like the PDF and other things regarding the blog. Sorry, I’ve been getting distracted. Also, health problems again, but don’t want to worry you too much with those. I’ve started writing book four, yay! And without going in to spoilers, the vehicle theme from book three will continue, though not at sea, (whatever could that mean?). You’ll have to wait and see. And waiting is the name of the game for us all. Stream Of Thought: Some of us wait for summer, some of us for work, (like me), and some of you for new chapters of the BEST WEB NOVEL OUT THERE (tee-hee). January has felt like one long wait for me. Everyone else has run off to work after the holidays, while I just sit here, nervously glancing at my phone, expect...
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Project Update: Book Three!

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Hello again Reader, Coming at you all with a shorter post today. The reason? Book three is here! Yay! Though I’ve not begun writing book four yet, I want to start publishing book three. I really like it and going forwards I will endeavor to keep the following books up until the novel’s end as concise and entertaining as both one and three. I already know, as an author does, how the story ends, but getting there will take some time. So, strap in and get your sea legs, (for you cybernetically enhanced people quite literally), and cast off upon the strange waters of the Mediterranean Gulf, where stranger things happen on the daily. Will our crew come upon something anomalous? Something unexpected? A sea-monster perhaps, or an unmarked island. Who knows. (I do, but I’m not telling yet). Book three, like book one, is six chapters. And I’ll get em to you in the following weeks. Again, I remind you that it is a first draft and thus can be rough in spots. I try my best to iron out any ...
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Writing And Me, Part II

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  Hello again Reader, Your boy is coming at you from the wintry north with another post. Here, it’s a steady -20 to -28 °C; (around -17 to you Fahrenheit people), not a lot of snowfall, but what little has accumulated has stayed. Rime coats everything, and diesel engines and Teslas are fighting for their lives. So, in other words, winter has finally come! (It did around the 27 th , but it wasn’t as cold then.) Today’s post will be on the lengthy side because I want to talk about… write about, something I am passionate about. Just as passionate as I am about writing. But first! The Chronologies. Now that I’ve finished the first draft of book three, I am taking a break from writing anything new regarding our cybernetic friends. Instead, I’m just writing out some of my before-sleep-scenarios as short stories. You know the kind. The ones that shoot across your mind’s eye as you’re laying all quiet-like in bed. Sometimes I can’t get to sleep before I finish the scene in my mind, and I...
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