Time flies

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I posted a blog.

How time flies when there is so much shit to be done.

In that time I have had two jobs, my baby niece has turned 1 and I met an amazing young lady online who liked me for who I am and we were proceeding along the path that I thought meant I was never going to date anyone ever again, of course I've managed to screw that up that we went from talking all day every day to her barely speaking to me at all. All my fault cause I am a self sabotaging idiot, how much I wish I could stop myself.

We lost my Grandma back in January after a battle with cancer which sucked the fun out of life for a while. She was the strongest, toughest, little old Geordie lass you would ever meet but she loved her family like nobody else could and the loss of her presense in all of our lives is sorely felt by all of her family. I wish I had had kids before she died so they could have known her and like all of us we are glad that she got to meet our munchkin,  wee ZoZo, my niece Zoey, who is the most fun to chase around the place cause that wee cheeky smile and laugh brightens up your day.

On the creative side I am working on a number of writing projects at the same time, it's fun because when I'm writing I am not getting bored at all, funnily enough not one of them is the book that I've been sitting looking at for years that I keep on promising will get published but never seems to get there. I'm working on a Military Sci-fi novel as part of a series actually set in the Magiverse I set up for Burn, Forest City, Burn.

The second is the first book in an epic Fantasy series based on a world I've been RPG gaming in for 20 years (well 11 years but there was a 10 year gap inbetween 10 and 11) and it's not getting worked on much but it's coming along but this one has a plan that I can go back to without the fly by the seat of my pants approach I usually take to writing.

The third is actually a campaign book for the aforementioned epic Fantasy series, which due to actually playing in the world I find myself looking forward to publishing more than I do my books. It's 20 years in the making, it's something I've been tinkering with and perfecting longer than anything in my life.

I've started painting for other people, starated with my wee brother's Chaos warriors, who are nowhere near done but I have managed to finish all the foot warriors, like everything else of my own painting wise there is so much work to be done that I go back when I can. I'm putting the finishing touches on a 2nd group of Battletech figures for one of the guys at Glasgow District I regularly play against. He hands me them and says do what you want with them, I've got the 3Rd Lyran Guard, 2nd Ceti Rangers, 1st Marik Militia, 4th Arkab Legion and Smoke Jaguar Alpha Galaxy down pat. Watch this space for updates on that particular endeavour in the future.


Of my own painting I've been working mostly on my American WW2, but it's been a while since I did anything with them, my ever growing Malifaux collection, spent more money on that in a year and a half than I have anything other than booze, actually probably more than I have on booze. I've been doing bits and pieces for everything but not settling on a single project for more than a month at a time. When I got my Zombicide Black Plague (If you haven't played it I can not recommend it more, it's awesome) I worked on that a whole lot, 30 figures at a time over a couple weeks and I'm probably only half way through them.

I took part in my first Malifaux tournament at the Scottish GT last month and didn't come last, managed to beat my expectations for the weekend of getting a Victory Point in every game of the tournament, by actually winning a game, beating a friend who had up until that point alluded me beating at the game. I'll conceed the terrain, the strategy and the schemes suited my faction and the crew I chose to perfection against his which none of it was any help to him. Liking forward to my next one and an excuse to paint abother faction's worth of figures. Got three factions now, Guild, Ten Thunders and Outcasts, though I could field a Neverborn crew I wouldn't say I had them as a Faction. One of the Outcast crews is all female and I will be painting them all the colours of the Harley Quinn Rainbow, from the original, to the Arkham series probably all the way to the Suicide Squad incarnation. Watch this space for those.

I've also got a bunch of Napoleonic's sitting ready to be painted I started the foot centre company but got distracted by work and everything else.

So as for the rest of my life, the only real significant thing other than getting my degree was the young lady who I met online. Sonya. She fits all the attraction points for me, redhead, gorgeous even though she doesn't see it, fun, smart even though she doesn't think it, and tough, not just because of everything she's gone through in the past 6 and a half minus that I've known her but the mental toughness to come though the things she's had to endure over her life, if I was her I'd have rolled up into the fetal position long ago and wouldn't have gotten out of it. Of course I managed to do what I always do and sabotage myself by saying stupid shit and not stopping myself even though I know I should and have been there before. I wish I had learned by now not to do this shit. But I haven't and don't know if I ever will.

As for the martial arts and my fitness, it's not been a great year, barely been to the Grip and put all that weight I had lost back on, I'm working on getting it back off but with my work schedule being as eratic as it is I don't know where I'm going to be from one week to the next, I was up north for two days last week, three this week and two next week. It's not like you actually get to see a place either, you get there at 8 O'Clock at night, go to bed cause you are up early the next day go to the job and either go home or onto the next town where you eat and go to bed cause of the early start. But it's work and I hate nnot working.

I'm going to stop predicting when I am going to publish what because it's a waste of my time, your time and anticipation. It is suffice to say, I am working on it and will be done and ready when I am done and ready.

One last thing Grimbold books, the indie publishers that published Strange Tales from the Scriptorion Vaults and A World of Their Own, both of which have short stories of mines published within their pages if you don't already own copies of both you should cause while I am a hack at the best of times the rest of the writers are truly superb and they are both Charity anthologies so the money you spend goes to two superb literary charities. They are on Patreon to keep the publishing going, the owners have poured their hearts and souls and plenty of their own money into this venture and there are some truly brilliant writers on their various imprints, I myself am helping them keep the business afloat, granted they are my friends and I support them because of that but because they also take chances on works that no major publisher would, and the out there oddball stuff is the best. Like all Patreon's you get what you pay for it'll be worth your time and money if you are a Fantasy and Sci-fi fan.

Think that's me for now, I will try and update this more often than I have in the past I need to just make the time.

Peace.

A World of Their Own

So, a week past on Friday A World of their own by the Alliance of Worldbuilders, a group who I was a member of when I was a member of the now defunct HarperCollins owned website, which was essentially their slush pile for potential authors, not that many people got through that, I never read any of them but doesn't mean they weren't any good, though just because anything get's published means it's any good Twishite got published.

Anyway back in 2010, the Alliance of Worldbuilders Authonomy thread began to take off and became the go-to site for fantasy/sci-fi writers to share ideas, critique each other, offer tips, and encourage one another in our writing and publishing journeys. We would constantly break the forum because our thread was so huge that they wouldn't load any longer, so we had to start again.

In 2011, we began to discuss the idea of an anthology to be published in 2012, collecting short stories and flash fiction from our members and putting it together. As we have all been on our own individual journeys in the last few years (many of the collaborators now published authors at this point), it took quite a while to finally put together and bring a real finalized product to the world.

So all the proceeds go to the World Literacy Foundation who's mission is to lift children and youth out of poverty by delivering effective and sustainable programs aimed at eradicating illiteracy.

The World Literacy Foundation was founded on several basic principles – education is a basic human right, too many people around the world don’t know how to read or write, and that literacy is the foundation to learning. Since its establishment as a not-for-profit in 2003, the World Literacy Foundation has steadily grown to align with the needs of a continually evolving educational sector.

So, basically a World of their Own is one part Charity Anthlogy other part homage to a fallen comrade, Lindsey J Parsons, or Sergeant Gummie Dragon, who we lost in early last year of a Brain aneurysm before she could complete the trilogy she was working on the Return of Effra. I personally didn't know her a whole lot but anyone who did never had a bad word to say about her and that speaks volumes about a person in my opinion.

Anyway both of my short stories We Rise and they smite and Night of a Thousand Spells were on here at some point in the past and it says I'm working on a Caleb O'Hearn book to be published hopefully in the first quarter of next year, of course since it's been published that's already changed. The first book of the Gabriel of Alba books, which was titled Burn, Forest City, Burn, but is know just Burn: Book 1 of the Magi Chronicles is going to be that book because the second draft is 80% done (and not before time it's only taken 3 years) and the first draft of Warrior Rising is only at 40%, but I'll be releasing that 3rd or 4th Quarter next year, none of this depends on if I get a publisher, I'll be self-publishing and at least sell it to the friends who like me enough to do it and the family members who feel generous.

So, if you are seeing this and haven't already bought it, please do and if you liked it leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads and any good review site, because the more people read and review it, the more money the charity get.

ISBN 13: 978-1909845817
ISBN 10: 1909845817
ASIN: B014WQS2GQ

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