Writing Diary

Okay I'm Back!

2005-06-07T11:39:00.000+10:00

Well, Planet Ds Tier Three Cluster Three is finally done. Just waiting for dana to edit and lay it out. I've been soooo backed up, I'm so far behind, it's just shameful.

I haven't started working on Scorch 2 again, I haven't done lots of what I'm supposed to be doing. In my defense, I am judging the Dream Realm Awards this year (the first round of which I've finished judging) and I am participating heavily in Thylacon, this years National Australian Science Fiction convention, which is being held right here in Hobart, Tasmania. How cool is that?

Though I'm on quite a few panels, my biggest reponsibility is a parody of the ABC (that's the Australian Broadcasting Company, not the ABC most Americans would recognize) tv series, the Glass House. So this friday night, I'll be hosting the Green House; a news-panel-comedy discussion of Australian current events in the year 2050. To tell you the truth, I'm nervous as hell. I mean...while I've scripted part of it, it's a panel show, and I have no idea how funny or quick-witted the panelists will be, not even myself. It's a lot of pressure. I can't wait until it's done, so I can enjoy the rest of the con.

One of the guests is Rob Valentine, the Lord Mayor of Hobart. It should be interesting. I'm interested in seeing if I make a fool of myself or not. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, I did get Planet Ds edited and now it's in dana's hands. I'd really REALLY like to ship it before the con.

Oh! Another thing that's been taking my time up is Novelspot. If you haven't been there click on the link above...www.novelspot.net, a new book review site. Yes, I'm there, helping to run things. So my time has been spent training reviewers, editing and making policy. I should be writing. I have to get back to writing afer the con, but when you see the site, you'll understand why I'm so enthused over the project and why I allow it to take up so much of my time.

Does this blog post sound like an excuse as to why I'm not writing. It probably is. When I'm not working on my writing, I feel like I'm playing hookey. Okay, maybe I am, but I do have other projects, two of which will be over soon. Then, finally, I can get back to Earth Scorched.

Wish me luck!

Whoops!

2005-05-03T17:42:00.000+10:00

So I'm sitting here, updating the links on the articles section on my master nage website (see link above).

On some level, I knew there were issues of my Dominants View column Master-D-bates that I hadn't yet archived. I just hasn't made the time to rectify the situation before now. While I was working, I decided to check what was on my hard drive with what I had linked. Low and behold, I found an issue of Master-D-Bates that I can't find archived on the web. In fact, I can't find it anywhere. What the hell happened?

I was pretty sure I submitted it. Did I forget? Did it get lost in transit? Did it get forgotten on the other end? Was it consumed by cyber-termites?

I read the article, subtitled "You're not a Dominant If..."

It was terrific. How much stuff do you have to write to completely forget about some of it.

I'm just waiting to hear back from Kayla Kuffs (edtior of the Dominant's View) for an answer.

If it's not published, it will be in the next issue.

Sahara Ice - Dealing with Writer's Block

2005-05-03T02:10:00.000+10:00

Yes, I've neglected my blog...again. My only excuse is that I'm completely unreliable, and you should never believe anything I say. It will all end in tears if you do. Just ask my ex-wives. lol

Anyway, the new issue of Sahara Ice is up (see the link above), but you don't have to take my word for it...go and read it for yourself.

This issue of Sahara Ice may or may not have anything to do with YOUR writer's block, but it's sure about mine.

And now, it's time to ride modestly off into the sunset.

Vote for Slave Heart

2005-04-20T23:18:00.000+10:00

If you loved Slave Heart, and want to support my writing career, please consider voting for me in the Love Romances Golden Rose Award. Slave Heart has been nominated for the best erotic romance. To vote, go to http://www.loveromances.com/goldenrose.html of click on the link above!

Thanks everyone!

A Word About OQ

2005-04-19T02:50:00.000+10:00

Years ago I was a huge Dungeons and Dragons player. I loved it. Back then we changed all the rules that didn't make sense, until we had a completely different game. So I wrote it an called it Doublestar.

This is not a computer based roleplaying game, but a pen and paper RPG, the type I love best. In any event, I wrote Doublestar. The player's handbook was 118 pages, and I even managed to get some illustrations for it, which was pretty cool. I sold about 50 copies at one point, before my first wife decided she owned half of it, even though she did nothing more than proofread the manual for me, and perhaps put up with me writing it.

In any event, Doublestar was rewritten a couple of years back under the name OQ, short for Odd is Ze Qwest. Yes, it's a very bad pun. If you don't get it, you don't want to know.

The best thing about OQ is that the character sheets are very detailed. The worst thing about OQ is that the character sheets are very detailed, or rather it takes a long time to generate a character (which is done by rolling dice, if you must know, and making a bunch of calculations).

Years ago, I had a doublestar character generation program that I wrote in basic on my old Amiga 500 computer. It was a great program. It did everything. It allowed you to generate a new, random character, or input one you've already rolled. Then you could save it, edit it, print a character sheet, what a great tool.

A year or so ago, I made a brave attempt to program an OQ character sheet generation program on some shareware basic program I downloaded on the computer. It sucked. I'm using a better version of basic now, and recently, since I had to give up origami due to back pain, began programming again. I had some of the program written and I'm back into it. I'm rather happy with how it's coming along.

I need a hobby that's really involving to unwind, or my mind won't shut off. I need to beat my mind into submission to get to sleep. So programming is perfect. Hopefully I'll have a working character generation program in a month or so. I'm pretty excited about it.

Oh, I don't play OQ, by the way, I just write the program. Pretty stupid, huh. Still, my stepson Lachlan has been interested in OQ for a long time and is trying to get some friends from school into it, so maybe it will come in handy anyway.

Maybe I'll even find a couple of friends here in Tassie who want to get a game together. Or maybe an online game, which would be problematical, but it could work.

I guess I'll have to give it some thought.

Stuff I've Been Working On

2005-04-19T02:37:00.000+10:00

Well, dana and I are about halfway through the edit of A Creative Edge: Tales of Speculation. We just got finished typing in the corrections for Virtual Confusion. Every time I read this story I like it more. For all that it's one of my oldest stories it's one of my favorites. I have a lot of favorites from back when, actually, and this is up there with them.

I am in the process of editing genre definitions for the reviewers at Novelspot to use at the request of Erika, our beloved site manager. I also did a dynamic interview (no I won't explain what that is here) with Adrianna Dane for Novelspot this week, which I have yet to finish editing.

I wrote the rough draft of a review for Novelspot, of Stephen King's book On Writing, which I loved. I have to read and review Tyrant Moon by Elaine Corvidae soon. I can't wait. She's a terrific writer.

I still have to write this months Speculative Fission column for the Novelspot newsletter, I'll probably do that tomorrow. Maybe. lol Hopefully I'll also finish up an article I wrote to help out the Novelspot review team called The Anatomy of a Review. It is Novelspot's goal to offer training to all our reviewers to improve the quality of their reviews over time. I hope it's a huge success.

I was over at Fictionwise today and I reached a milestone, if a small on. A Leaf in the Wind (which is currently the #41 fantasy bestseller on Fictionwise) now has over 30 ratings, 31 to be exact. It was sitting at 29 reader ratings for so long, I was beginning to think I'd never have 30 ratings on any of my books. Strangely enough, my top rated book only has twelve ratings. Go figure. A Cure for the Common Curse is also doing well rating-wise and continues to be a humor bestseller at Ereader.com, which is pretty cool.

I'm waiting for Deron Douglas of Double Dragon to send me a cover for Consigned to Darkness. It will be up for sale not long after that, which is good for me. It will put another ebook in fictionwise fantasy. You have to keep your name out there and that's one way to do it, but damn it's hard work.

I mean, if I'm finishing off a fantasy book, my erotica career languishes and vice versa. It's not easy. I have to come out with at least two books per career, or four books a year to make it, as close as I can tell. Fun, fun, fun.

I still don't have my issue of Sahara Ice edited, or my new Planet Ds issue written. I have to do both of these this week in addition to all the Novelspot chores I've been handling.

The fun never ends. lol

I Think I Sold a Book

2005-04-16T11:34:00.000+10:00

Okay, I've sold lots of books. However, this one is different.

A while back, I left a couple of copies of Fantasy Cereal, my Zumaya double novel, at a local bookstore called Ellison Hawker. The store specializes in science fiction and fantasy.

Today I stopped by and it looks like one copy has sold. I don't think any of my books have sold from a bookstore shelf before this (and if they did, I wasn't around to see it).

It's a small thing, but it's sorta cool.

My Dream Allows Me No Time To Sleep

2005-04-14T16:57:00.000+10:00

I should be writing Earth Scorched right now. I had thought to start that on April 1st. I'll be lucky to start it on May 1st.

Turns out I have to edit A Creative Edge: Tales of Speculation for print. Lida Quillen from Twilight Times Publications contacted me. I should have had it in ages ago, but with the changes the company was going through, I really never had a clear date and admittedly, I kept putting it off for projects that were due. Now I'm cramming at the last hour again.

A Creative Edge is a seventeen-story anthology that's 93,000 words long. It includes all my early work including classic stories such as Music to My Ears, Born of Darkness, As Luck Would Have It and the Necklace of N'larikan. It differs from the very first ebook version that was published, with the addition of the short story Tales of Speculation. This was added as an afterthought.

See, I have a method for naming my anthologies. Dream Sequence and other Tales from Beyond was named for the titles stories Dream Sequence and Tales from Beyond. They are the first and last story in the book respectively. A Creative Edge: Tales of Speculation starts with the story A Creative Edge, but lacked a story called Tales of Speculation at the end, so I wrote one. It's probably not as aptly named as it could be, but I wanted to use that name and the truth is, it's such a fun story no one has noticed that the name might have been better chosen. Naturally, I have to go and ruin everything by confessing here.

I have enough short stories for at least another anthology, maybe two. The tentative title of my third anthology would be Dream Warriors and other Rites of Passage. Rites of Passage was published in Twilight Times magazine, where as Dream Warriors, one of my favorite stories, remains unsubmitted. I really have to do something about that in my copious free time.

I just submitted my story Dead Wrong to Quantum Muse a new market for me. They don't pay a lot, but I can't think of a pro market that would take Dead Wrong and it was all edited and ready to go. I have a lot of stories like that, just about ready to go, sitting on my hard drive doing nothing. Should I sell them all for ten bucks a piece, or shoot for the gold? I guess I'll try a bit of both, depending on the story.

If you've been reading this blog, you'd know that two of my stories have recently been published in ezines (A Matter of Grave Importance and Euthanasia) and I'm looking to spread my name around a bit, and gain a wider audience by sending out some others. I don't care if I give them away, it's free advertising. That's how I look at it. Hell, Alaric Swifthand, Reflections of a Recovering Servant and Confronting the Void were all given away at one point for free, and they were a lot more work than a short story. But they helped me build a readership.

So now, I go back to my roots, submitting stories, in some cases for a pittance, trying to increase my share of a jam-packed market.

And instead of starting the new projects I have lined up (Earth Scorched, A Game of Ghosts), I have to try to get A Creative Edge: Tales of Speculation as clean as possible for print.

Can I complain? Not really. I'm writing full time. I'm so far ahead of where I was two years ago, it's not funny. Sure I've got a long road ahead of me, and I may not yet see the light at the end of the tunnel, but at least I've reached the tunnel.

So if you don't hear from me for a while, I've got my head stuck in an edit. Hopefully I'll have enough strength at the end of each day to post here.

By the way, if you recognize the title of this blog installment, then consider yourself a die-hard fan. I used this title as the subtitle for one of my Shattered Fragments columns that appeared in The Wandering Troll Ezine years ago. If you didn't recognize it, that's cool too, because I only just thought of it now myself.

I folded The Sphinx

2005-04-12T08:03:00.000+10:00

Okay I didn't get much done today. After staying up all night on Far Chatters to promote my work, I got to little sleep, did yet more work on the new webpages and then had to go to a quiz night at a local pub, helping to raise money for Thylacon, the Australian National SF convention that I'll be attending in June.

Afterwards, dana and I typed a few edits into a story called The Tree, which is part of my anthology A Creative Edge: Tales of Speculation, which we're editing for print. Then I decided I needed to unwind. I found a number of origami diagrams online, and started downloading. I downloaded 52 files, including instructions on how to make an origami chess set and also, instructions on how to make The Sphinx.

It's pretty complex, at least for me. I didn't expect to be able to complete it the first time out but complete it I did. Soon as I figure out how to put pictures on this damned blog, I'm going to take a pic of it and show the world. It's not perfect, but I'm very proud of my Sphinx.

I guess I'd better get the editing done first tomorrow, before I start playing.

If anyone is interested in some of my older origami, check out the webpage link above. I've actually done more complex origami than this, but don't have pictures at this time.

OMFG I am Tired!!!!!!!!

2005-04-11T09:13:00.000+10:00

Well it's 9:15 am. I just got through with my author day at FAR Chatters, which is an all night affair for me. Dana is in the shower then we're going to bed. I'm shot.

It was a great day though. I got to post excerpts from much of my work, I got to tell a few jokes, answer a few questions, have some pleasant banter and sail modestly off into the sunset. My Yahoo group membership is up to 77 members now, which is the highest it's ever been. I have new subscribers to both my newsletters Nagerotica and Dream Sequences. I really feel like I'm starting to gain a small following. I love knowing people are reading my work.

Now, I'm going to drag my weary carcass to bed.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

My Author's Day at Far Chatters

2005-04-10T16:46:00.000+10:00

If you happen to be around on Sunday, April 10th, why not join me on the FAR chatters Yahoo Gropu? I'll be chatting all day about my current work, my upcoming books and anything else that takes my fancy.

Not a memeber of group? Clicking on the link above will bring you to the Fallen Angel Reviews page. Once you enter, scroll down the side of the page until you see Far Chatters. Click on that link and follow the instructions. Just be prepared for lots of email. This is the busiest Yahoo Group I'm on.

Anyway, I'm all excited about my author's day, so I'd better go get ready!

Of Awards and Websites

2005-04-10T16:42:00.000+10:00

I've been told by many people that my book Slave Heart is a winner. The point was driven home to me more strongly recently, when Slave Heart won the Enda Award, not only for the best erotic BDSM novel, but also for the Year's Best Erotic Read. I was stymied. I hadn't thought a BDSM novel could do that. I was, thankfully, wrong.

So to celebrate, I decided to redo the entire Master Nage website. It's only just begun, but already it's much better than it's ever been. Just click on the link above and away you go. I've already developed quite a network of pages (my books page, Amazing Erotic Sci-fi and now the new Nage Page), and more, as I said, is on the way.

All comments on the new website will be greatly appreciated.

Sahara Ice and the Dream Sequence Webpage

2005-04-08T01:58:00.000+10:00

Today wasn't a particularly productive day either, at least as far as writing goes. However, I did write a future Sahara Ice column called Dealing with Writer's block. However, I think I might have to let that sit for a while, as I really need to write up something about The Dream Realm Awards.

I also completely redesigned the books page of my Dream Sequence website. I really couldn't deal with it anymore, so I bit the bullet and put in the time. I've been working on it since last week.

The section is now complete. The main page (which is duplicated in the books section of my Dream Sequence webpage), now has short blurbs on it, with links to individual books pages for each of my books.

Each book page has a blurb, an excerpt and reviews if available. Making a separate page for each book is a pain in the ass, but it was worth it in the end I feel.

To see the new page and check out the individual book pages linked from it, just click on the link above.

Most of the short log lines you'll find on the book page are brand new.

The Solution

2005-04-08T01:50:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I achieved very little, but I did write a new story, if a short one. The Solution is under 600 words, and probably saleable if I take the time to edit it properly. It doesn't have the sharp twist that most of my short work has, but it's twisted in its own way. In fact, there's something disturbing about it because I can almost see it happening.

Normally I'd tell you what it was about, but with a story that short, it's almost impossible to blurb. Hell the blurb would be longer than the story.

A Matter of Grave Importance

2005-04-06T00:27:00.000+10:00

Like Vampire stories? I don't write them. At least I haven't written one yet--well, not really. A Matter of Grave Importance is a vampire story that's not really about vampires. It's a rather entertaining look at the first trial in the world to uphold vampire rights.

Anyway, the story is called (if you haven't already guessed, A Matter of Grave Importance. You can check it out by clicking on the link above, in the current issue of Alien Skin Magazine.

Enda Award Chat

2005-04-05T23:24:00.000+10:00

Come chat with us!

On Thursday April 7, at 9PM EST, join the Enda Winners for this final contest to see who wins the Best Erotic Read Award. Finalists including myself, Desiree Erotique, Maria Osborne Perry, Marianne LaCroixe, Ellen Fisher, Vivi Anna and Lucinda Storey. I hope you can join us for an entertaining and erotic night, when the best erotic read of the last year will be named.

Just click on the link above (or go to www.literarynymphs.com ) and select chat from the pull down menu box. Hope you can make it!

Wish me luck (against names like that I'm going to need it!).

The Shortest Story I've Ever Written

2005-04-05T23:21:00.000+10:00

Enthanasia is, by far, the shortest story I've ever written. My last blog entry was longer. Click on the link above to read Euthanasia. I promise, it won't take that long.

I'd like to say at this time that this story was schedule to print long before I heard anything about the euthanasia debate in America. That it appears at this time is just a coincidence.

Trying Again

2005-04-05T02:15:00.000+10:00

The last time I tried to leave a post, the webpage crashed after I'd written the whole thing. I then wrote a really angry post in response to the crash, which I did nothing with. So here I am again.

Planet Ds Tier Three-Cluster Two has finally shipped, at least the PDF version has. I'm still waiting for dana to finish the .lit version, which represents about a 10% of our subscribers. I believe that will be done shortly. Dana is working on it as I type.

I broke ice on an erotic story for a new Extasy anthology, involving four authors who I somehow, through no doing of my own, ended up linked with. They are (in no particular order): Amy O'Conner, Sarah Dickson and Sascha Illyvich. It's an odd grouping, since none of us write the same type of stuff. Therefore, it is only logical that after our successful four authors contest, we should participate in an anthology together--just not logical in this universe. The anthology is called Just Past Midnight, and my story is called Moonlight Sonata. The tagline: Is there love after death? I think that about says it all.

I've been working on individual book pages for my Steve Lazarowitz books. If you want to check them out, click on the link above. That will take you to the one for Confronting the Void, my newest ebook release. From there, clicking next or previous will allow you to cycle through all the new pages. Yay me.

Actually I had help from Rebecca Pack, who did me a favor by setting up the initial pages. It took me only two days to complete them all, by adding in navigation and reviews, and making the occasional changes. Anyway, the pages are terrific, if you want to know more about a specific book, these pages are linked both to my books page and the books division on my Dream Sequence website.

Dana is currently in the process of doing the final edit of A Creative Edge: Tales of Speculation for a Twilight Times Print Edition. This has been a long time in coming, and I'm extremely excited about it. The entire volume has been re-edited, including new beginnings for my short stories Sea Trap and Virtual Confusion. They are much improved over the originals. The old Virtual Confusion opening was a total cliché, and the Sea Trap opening I always felt was wooden. I'm glad I had the opportunity to rework these stories before they went to print. For those of you who don't know, A Creative Edge: Tales of Speculation won the Dream Realm Award in 2000 for the best anthology, and finaled in the Eppies.

I also am almost finished writing the promo guidelines for Novelspotters, the yahoo group associated with Novelspot, which surprisingly, I own part of...don't ask me how. I'll be posting it to the list as soon as I finish up this blog, which is what I should do now. Then I'm back to editing web pages. Isn't life grand?

Out of the Frying Pan...

2005-04-02T18:56:00.000+10:00

Once I finish a major project, I catch up on all the little things that have been neglected for so long. Today, for example, I started organizing the Dream Realm Award information, since I'll be in charge of getting the judges this year, as Samandi Adams, the old coordinator, is out of commission.

I also wrote the promotion policy for Novelspotters, the chat group affiliated with the Novelspot website, of which I'm one of the owners (don't ask me how it happened, I'm still trying to figure that out).

Then I wrote a blurb for Consigned to Darkness, and sent it into Double Dragon. Here's the blurb for those of you who aren't on in my Yahoo group...

Kestryl the Bladesman has been pushed to the edge of madness. Only the death of the Duke, the son of the woman he loves, will satisfy his need for vengeance. With High Gondylar on the brink of war, an assassination would destroy the Dukedom's best hope of surviving. Trapped between the love for his country and his hatred for the only man who can save it, Kestryl must make the hardest decision of his life.

I think this does a nice job of summing up the main conflict of the book, though there are quite a few others. This is probably the most complex book I've ever attempted.

My next trick, which I'll do after I take a break, is to get some much-needed work done on my webpages, afterwhich I'll be working on my newsletters, both the Steve Lazarowitz and Master Nage versions.

After that, I'll probably try to submit a couple of short stories, before I dive into working on Earth Scorched.

I had wanted to start the new project by April 1, but I feel it will probably be almost a week before my plate is clean enough to devote my attention to it.

Still, I have been thinking about it quite a lot, and I've made several plot changes from my earlier concept, including a new twist that should make the book far more interesting. This isn't an unusual procedure for me. I've always done most of my prewriting in my head.

Actually, I do a lot of work telling my stories to friends and colleagues to. I am gratified to find out that I'm not the only writer who does that. According to Orson Scott Card in his book Characters and Viewpoint, he knows another author that works the same way I do. Believe it or not, a silly little reaffirmation like that, helps.

Time to Play (which for me means write)

2005-03-31T20:39:00.000+10:00

After finishing the last touches on Consigned to Darkness, I figured I'd take a day or three off and do something I really enjoy. I'm going to write.

This might seem odd to you, since I write all the time. However most of the time, I have columns due, or contracts to honor, or books to get out. There are, however, a few things I write just for the fun of it. Anything that appears in the Origami Salad section of my Dream Sequence Webpage (click on the link above) falls into this category.

Origami Salad started with the three issues of Reflections of A Recovering Author, and continued with A History of My Writing in Nauseating Detail. Part one is up and I'm working on part two, which is a lot of fun for me. Perhaps that's only because I'm remembering the days before writing was business and I could "come and go as I please".

The first part of A History of my Writing deals with my life up to 1990. This second part will cover the next ten years or so.

One of the things I did, in order to add detail to the piece, was to call up original versions of A Leaf in the Wind and Consigned to Darkness. I still have them banging around on my hard drive. Leaf was written on Lotus Amipro, while Darkness was written on Lotus Word Pro, Amipro's successor. Fortuitously, Amipro and Wordpro both have fairly extensive document property functions, so I know the exact date I started those files. The amount of time makes me reel.

I started the Leaf rewrite on September 3, 1995 and didn't touch it again, at least that file, after February 16, 1996. That would have been just to fix typos, because I started writing the first draft of Darkness on December 14, 1995 and didn't touch that again after April 4, 1996. I started the third book of the trilogy, then called the Price of Freedom on March 8, 1996 and have yet to finish it. I last touched that file on July 17, 1996.

That I'm still working on this series today, and that I've just finished the second book of it, is almost disorienting. The amount of history leaves me speechless...well speechless for me, which is about as long as this blog entry is.

Hopefully you'll stop by and read my entries in Origami Salad, including the installment I'm working on now. It's a free gift to those of you who enjoy my writing. I wish there could be more of them.

It Ain't Over Till It's Over

2005-03-30T13:56:00.000+10:00

But it's ALMOST over. Today I've typed in the last corrections, rewrote the last scene I'd have to rewrite in Consigned to Darkness. That means the next to next to last step is done.

If I've already entered all the corrections from all my editors, what's next, you ask?

First, I have to do the global edits. This consists of a number of searchs in the document to make sure certain references remain consistence. For example, is high priest capitlized or not. In the case of "Darkness", I have an extra step, since it's the second book of a series. I have to make sure that the conventions used in the first book, are continued in the second. It's a pain in the ass, but it's better that way.

Is it spelled m'Lord or M'lord. It has to stay consistent from book to book. is the Fotress-Temple of the Sarithan Assassins capped? Is it hyphenated? Even in this same book, I have things that I have to check, such as the capitlization of sangreth, which I eventually decided to lowercase.

And then, I check for the words I tend to overuse: of course, thus, really, fortunately-- all words I could do with a lot less of.

Then, all that remains is to check the formatting, which dana does anyway, before sending off the final copy to Double Dragon.

Does that sound like fun to you? It's not, but it has to be done. So I'm off to do it. But it feels so damned good to get the corrections typed in.

Yay me! (and dana too!)

It's All dana's Fault

2005-03-28T18:46:00.000+10:00

Well, I thought I'd be done with Consigned to Darkness by now. I'm sure you're probably as tired of hearing about it as I am of editing it. Dana and I have just entered chapter nine corrections into the final manuscript, which only leaves 10, 11, 12 and the epilogue to go.

However, chapter nine required a bit of a rewrite, because dana couldn't visualize one of the battle scenes. It left her with questions, one of which was dead on.

There's a plateu in High Gondylar called Hell's Garden. It's quite a remote site. Three of its sides are too steep to get an army up, and so it can only be approached from the West. The Count of Astriana decides this is a very defensible position, and decides to gather his scattered forces there.

In the original scene, there is a rush to get one of the forces up to the top before dark, because even the western slope can be trecherous, and after dark, downright dangerous. To help the men climbing below, the Count orders a large fire built, which will hopefully give them some light and a beacon. During this crisis, an attack comes from the north face of the plateau. This raised several questions to dana. Where did they get the wood for such a large fire? How did the attackers bring a force up the north side, and why would any intelligent General light a hugh fire on the top of a hill, when he doesn't want to give away his position.

I hated having to rewrite this scene. I fought against it tooth and nail. I was verbally agressive. I got dana to the point where she was just saying leave it...but by then I couldn't, because her comments started making ME wonder about the scene.

The new scene is MUCH better, more logical and the mood, my favorite part of the first scene, is preserved and even improved. Yay dana. That will teach me to argue.

It's just that I'm so tired of working on this book, and I'm dying to move on. Still a couple of more days should do it. Just a couple of more days.

Assuming dana doesn't make me do any more rewrites

My Least Favorite Thing About Writing

2005-03-27T09:15:00.000+10:00

The newest issue of Sahara Ice is up at Fallen Angel reviews. Just click on the link above, and read away.

If I didn't spend so much time editing, I probably wouldn't hate it so much, but it's a quality control issue. Some of my early work is not as well edited and when I read it now, I absolutely cringe.

In spite of this, people have told me they love my early work. Go figure.

It's particularly noticable in the ebook version of Dream Sequence, in which the unedited manuscript was inadvertantly published instead of the edited one. I should say that the fault here doesn't like with the publisher, but with me sending the wrong copy to publish.

On the other hand, the copy I sent in, was the final formatted copy, sent to me by my editor (who denies it to this day).

Anyway, all water under the bridge, but now I'm far more careful about how I edit and how much personal responsibility I take for those edits, instead of leaving them in the hands of others.

I Can't Imagine How Tired I am

2005-03-25T01:15:00.000+11:00

Well, progress is slow, but getting there. I finished and submitted my monthly Sahara Ice column to Fallen Angel reviews today. It's subtitled My Least Favorite Thing About Writing, and I quite like it. Anyone who's ever edited a story will be able to appreciate it.

I've also gotten halfway through my final edit of Planet Ds Cluster 3 - Tier 2, before I ran out of steam. Completely. I don't know if this is a blood sugar related problem (I seem to have no energy since I've been diagnosed with type II diabetes, or if it is something else. Maybe just my schedule. In any event, I couldn't see straight and have to stop.

And dana is just about finished with her final edit of Consigned to Darkness. She'll be done with the Epilogue in just a few minutes, which means I have three chapters of corrections to type in, and then I have to do word searches on words that I tend to repeat too often and a few things like M'lord to make sure they're all spelled and capitlized the same way throughout the book. Then, finally, I can send it into Double Dragon.

However, there will be no work at all on Saturday. March 26th, 2005 is my two year wedding anniversary. Dana and I will be spending the day celebrating. The kid's grandmother is picking them up in the morning and we'll have a few days to ourselves. As much as I love the kids, and I do, I can use a break from their constant sniping at each other. I know it's normal, but it's also frustrating, because no matter how often I tell them to stop sniping and just beat each other senseless, they ignore me. lol

Anyway, they're gone and we're going to go to the Psychic Faire down at Wrestpoint Casino, afterwhich we're going to have dinner out, we haven't decided where yet.

But the best thing about the day, will be when we get home. (Get that dirty thought out of your mind!). You see, dana and I have something most couples don't have. Most people have memories of their dating days, and can reflect back on them, but dana and I met on the Internet. I moved to Tasmania from the States to be with her, so we were a couple pretty much as soon as I got off the plane. We didn't exactly have dating days. We were sleeping in the same bed from day one.

However, we did chat online for many, many months before I ever moved here, every day, sometimes for hours. Which means, unlike most couples, we don't have memories or photos of those early days, but we do have transcripts of those conversations. Imagine being able to actually relive your old conversations, your old arguments, your old moments of sharing...in actual detail. Not a fallible memory, but an actual record of the event.

So when we get home on Saturday, dana and I will be reading through some of our old chats, to remind ourselves just how we got together. I should be, if nothing else, interesting. Some would say it's romantic. I know I think it is.

But since Saturday is a day off, I want the Planet Ds edit finished by tomorrow, so that dana can go through it and lay it out on Sunday.

Of course, tomorrow, we're also going to be typing the rest of the corrections (or as many as we can) into Consigned to Darkness, so that might not be realistic. Oh well, it will be done, when it is done. I used to stress about things like that (hell I still do, I just live in denial), but I can only work as fast as I can work and I refuse to sacrifice the quality of my work to rush something out. Anyway, when I started Planet Ds, I didn't know I'd be diagnosed with diabetes or have no energy.
Hopefully my subscribers will be patient, and they'll feel the wait for the new issue (which I really love) is worth it.

I also want to update my webpage, to include the Enda Icon for Slave Heart that I got in the mail, and I want to update the Planet Ds members only area as well.

Oh, and I just signed up for a new anthology with Extasy books, with three other authors, which means another short story I have to write within the next couple of months. The anthology, which has yet to be named, will include Halloween erotica stories, for those who like a bit of supernatural mayhem with their sex.

Okay, this is turning into a novel in and of itself. I'll see you all tomorrow (if I have the strength).

Planet Ds Tier Three - Cluster Two

2005-03-21T01:05:00.000+11:00

After two days of slow writing, I finally finished the rough draft of the next issue of Planet Ds. I'd like to get it out in the next few days, though it depends on dana who does the layout. She's busy editing Consigned to Darkness, but she's almost done, so who knows.

I'm only a bit behind schedule, which isn't too bad. A few days at most. Fortunately I'm not really scheduled to start writing Earth Scorched till April 1st.

I've done a lot of other work that I haven't listed here lately, including a story of the Planet Ds story. In other words, why I decided to write it. I should probably publish that here separately.

I also wrote a review of the Jack Chalker book The Moreau Factor for Novelspot, the first review I've done for them. Oh, and I wrote my Master-D-Bates column for The Dom's View, my Speculative Fission column for the Novelspot Gazette and an article called The Making of Thylacon for SFSITE and anyone else who wants it. I guess I have been getting some work done, if only a little at a time. I really need to start keeping this diary up to date.

Slave Heart Wins an Enda

2005-03-21T00:53:00.000+11:00

Earlier today, I learned that my book Slave Heart has won the Enda Award for Best Erotic BDSM book. Furthermore, I found out the decision of the judges was unanimous. I'm very proud of Slave Heart, and I'm glad that it was recognized.

Slave Heart is the book in which I put forth my own personal BDSM philosphy. Actually, I do that even more in Master Nage's Guide to Training Consensual Slaves, but that's nonfiction. The character Jorge in Slave Heart is basically me (with more hair).

I should mention, The Enda Awards are the annual Literary Nymph Awards. Literary Nymphs is probably my third favorite yahoo group, right after Dark Romance Novel Group and Novelspotters, which I consider home. I really should spend more time there.

So Much for Posting Every Day

2005-03-21T00:48:00.000+11:00

I had originally started this to be a journal for my writing, though I do include other thoughts as they occur to me. However, I haven't been feeling great lately and so I haven't done as much writing as I would like and though I have made progress on Consigned to Darkness, I am so sick of the book, I no longer want to talk about it.

I guess if I want daily entries, I'm just going to have to try harder. I do have some news today, but I'll post them under separate headings, because it makes more sense to do that.

In the meantime, hopefully my health will improve and I'll be back to posting more often.

What's in a Name

2005-03-07T11:45:00.000+11:00

Several people have asked about the origins of the name Master Nage. We can trace the roots of the name all the way back to two of my favorite high school past times...watching Star Trek and playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Fantasy roleplaying in general and D&D specifically was my favorite thing to do in high school. The idea for A Leaf in the Wind came from a D&D game back in high school, though of course, it had to be significantly modified. Games don't generally make great books.

In any event, back in those days, we could never think of names for characters, so we ended up spelling things backwards. Emanon was one of my favorite character names (no name backwards lol).

Back then, the only Star Trek series in existence (unless you count the cartoon), was the original series. My favorite episode, written by the science fiction great Theodore Sturgeon is called Shore Leave. My favorite character in Shore Leave was a guy by the name of Finngean, played by a little known actor named Bruce Mars. Not that that has anything to do with the name, just thought I'd mention.

Anyway, if you spell Finnegan backwards, you get Nagennif, which was what most of my characters were named. I was too lazy to think up new names. Naturally, when I wrote the first draft of A Leaf in the Wind, Nagennif was the main character. It also became something of a nick name.

Once at a Star Trek Convention at the Statler Hilton Hotel in NYC, I was wearing a name tag that said Nagennif, as it had become sort of a nickname (even though no one ever really used it. It was more of a tag I guess).

When I went up to get Walter Koenig's autograph (that's Checkov to you), he asked me what my name meant and I told him, it's contrived. It's Finnegan spelled backwards. He didn't bat an eye but signed his autograph and moved onto the next fan (there was quite a line). As I walked away from the table, I noticed that he'd signed his name backwards. If I still have my Star Trek scrapbook somewhere, I might have the ONLY autograph of Walter Koenig backwards in existence! Certainly a novelty item.

I was thrilled, by the way, by his frequent appearances as the Psi Cop Al Bester in Babylon 5. But I digress.

Anyway, when I got online and started going into chat rooms, Nagennif just seems like the name to use. It was there, I wasn't using it for anything else, I didn't have any books published. So what the hell.

Of course many of those chat rooms became BDSM chat rooms (I first found out about BDSM accidentally. I was actually looking for a D&D chatroom and saw a room on the IRC called The Dungeon. How's that for coincidence?). Anyway, when it was time to publish A Leaf in the Wind, I couldn't use Nagennif anymore as the character a fantasy novel, because back then the link between Nagennif and Steve Lazarowitz was not widely known. So I changed the main character's name to Tanrif in the book. In fact, I changed pretty much all the character's names, so that people reading it wouldn't be distracted by trying to spell everything backwards. I did leave one of the old, backwards names in, a minor character, just to see if anyone would notice. So far, no one has.

In any event, around this time, I started realizing that if people in chat rooms want to shorten the name Nagennif, they'd call me Nag. While I sometimes do nag, I didn't feel this was a good name for a dominant, and so I shorted the name to Nage, figuring it was short enough for most people to type.

When I started writing erotica in September of 2004, I decided Master Nage would be a good name to write BDSM fiction under. I'm still not sure I've made the right choice.

Some people are fascinated by the idea of a real life Master writing BDSM and some think I'm the most egotistical thing since sliced bread. I'm guessing both groups are correct. lol

Anyway, that's the story of my name. And now, I go to prepare for a promotional chat at Fallen Angel Reviews.

I realize the odds of anyone reading this before the chat are negliable, but just in case, here's the info:

Sunday 3/6 at 9:00pm EST. http://client1.sigmachat.com/sc.pl?id=57562

Mind you that's March 6 rather than June 3. I have to say that since I now live in Australia where the dates are written before the month.

Champing at the Bit

2005-03-03T16:14:00.000+11:00

Well, I'm tired of this novel already and want to move on. I'm ready to start working on Earth Scorched, but I still have about two weeks of work left to put the finishing touches on Consigned to Darkness. During those two weeks, I also have to write the next issue (Tier Three-Cluster Two) of Planet Ds. I'm sooooo tired.

Yesterday, I wrote my short Speculative Fission column for the Novelspot newsletter. This one was about the upcoming Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie, and why it scares me. I also edited Dragon Tails (the Double Dragon Newsletter, which I also write) down to 500 words so it could go in the newsletter too.

Actually I don't write the Double Dragon newsletter. A while back, Deron Douglas at DD was looking for a newsletter editor and at that time, I told him how boring I felt the newsletter was. There was no unifying theme, it wasn't entertaining, it was just a list of everything that came out. Enter me.

I came up with the idea of writing the newsletter from the point of view of the dragon who founded the company. It actually says on the bottom of each issue, Translated from Dragonese by Steve Lazarowitz. Actually it says Translated to Dragonese, which is a long term typo that dana only just caught. lol

Anyway, I write the intro pagragraph and the closing paragraph and then we insert the boring bits in the middle. If I had more time, I'd write about each book personally, but that's just not in the cards. I did it for a few issues.

Anyway, to subscribe to the Double Dragon Newsletter, click on the link above.

Sahara Ice - Easy to Assemble

2005-02-27T14:16:00.000+11:00

Just thought I should mention that Easy to Assemble, the newest issue of Sahara Ice is now up at Fallen Angel Reviews. It's pretty funny, though it's a tough act to follow after my last issue Men: An Owner's Manual, which is archived on the site along with all the FAR back issues.

Sahara Ice is my longest running column, and remains my favorite. I hope you enjoy reading it, as much as I enjoy writing it.

Finally!!!!

2005-02-26T16:47:00.000+11:00

Well, it's finally done. Consigned to Darkness is ready to go to editing. I can't believe it.

The final draft topped out at just under 90,000 words, quite a long novel for me (though not as long as the first book in the series which is over 115,000 words). Still, it's quite an accomplishment. I feel like getting drunk (and I never do that).

Tonight we're going to go out to dinner and celebrate and tomorrow, I am taking the day off. No writing for one day. Well, maybe just a little. Emails and such. Maybe even a blog entry. Who knows?

In any event, it's time for me to relax. Yay me!

Youth in Asia

2005-02-26T05:07:00.000+11:00

My micro-fiction story Euthanasia will appear in the premiere issue of a brand new ezine Nimue's Grotto. Those of you familiar with Arthurian legend will no doubt recognize the reference. Those of you who aren't...well that's why God invented the Internet.

I don't usually give stories away for free anymore but I did with this one, for two reasons. One, my friend Michael Kechula is the Senior Editor of Nimue's Grotto and he asked me to. Secondly, it's the shortest story I've ever written. Weighing in at under 250 words, it takes up a mere third of a page.

Nimue's Grotto should make it's debut in April, 2005, so watch this space for a url.

Quieten

2005-02-25T18:32:00.000+11:00

At night, the sound of insects was so loud, nothing else could be heard. Only during a thunderstorm did the insects quiet down.

This two sentences above come from chapter ten of Consigned to Darkness. I wasn't sure I liked the way quiet down sounded, so I turned to dana. She suggested I should use the word quieten (which also can be used in the past tense, quietened).

I have never heard this word. I didn't believe there was such a word. Quieten? You're making it up.

I typed it in just to look at it. It looked wrong. It couldn't be a word. My spell checked didn't much like it either.

So dana looked it up in the dictionary. Sure enough, quieten and quietened is a word though I refuse to use it, because it just looks wrong.

This is not the first time dana and I have come head to head over word usage and pronunciation. It happens rather a lot. Past discussions have covered pumas, capillaries, Adidas, soldering irons and fillets. I had thought I'd heard it all...I was wrong.

But I still can't bring myself to use quietened in my story, so I will probably leave the sentence unchanged.

Yes, I am typing in chapter ten corrections (I actually added two brand new pages to the chapter), and I have started editing chapter eleven. By the end of the weekend, this book will be ready to go off to the editors. Good riddance I say. By the time I'm through editing a book, I never want to see it again.

Fortunately, that doesn't last all that long, but man, editing is work. I'm only typing this entry so I can take a break from it. I can procrastinate with the best of them.

Still, with only three chapters and an epilogue left to do, you'd think I'd be working harder just to get it done.

Oh, well, back to work with me.

Planet Ds Tier Three Ships

2005-02-21T22:30:00.000+11:00

After a considerable deal, Tier Three of Planet Ds with the new dana cover was sent out today. Hopefully, now that dana's computer is back up and running, the next issue should be more timely.

Actually, the MS Reader version is not yet available. Unfortunately, it takes far longer to get the MS Reader version laid out correctly than the PDF version. New subscribers won't be given a choice, because once we get rid of the four MS Reader subscribers we have, we'll be cancelling the format.

The problem is simple. Are there people who won't subscribe because it doesn't come in MS Reader format? I guess I'll find out soon enough.

I've finally finished entering the edits for chapter eight of Consigned to Darkness btw, and I've received edits from Allie Bates for the introduction and the first chapter, which I still have to go over. Oh well, I'm shot. Tomorrow is another day.

In the meantime, back to work with me.

Thank You Jaynie

2005-02-20T19:31:00.000+11:00

It was awfully nice of you to post such a lovely promo of Planet Ds. Yay you. You did a great job. Take a bow.

I added a comment of my own, because I'm that kind of guy.

Since I'm already talking to you, I guess I'll say I finished typing in the chapter four corrections in Consigned to Darkness, and started on chapter five. I added a great scene yesterday night, so I'm pretty excited.

I still haven't started editing chapter six, but hope to have it done before I go to bed tonight.

Thanks again for the promo!

It Never Ends

2005-02-20T00:26:00.000+11:00

Would someone please tell me why nothing can ever go smoothly?

Okay, I really have nothing to complain about. Nothing at all. I am doing the job I love, I have a great wife, I have great stepsons, and a dog that grates, but that's okay cause I love her anyway. I'm doing just fine.

Today, I did a tarot reading for a friend of a friend, who bought an autographed copy of the print version of Dream Sequence. You gotta love that.

Of course that took me out of the house for hours (I didn't read and run) and when I got home, an author friend of mine needed to chat with me, while her dog was going through surgery. Not the kind of guy to turn away a friend in need, I chatted until my fingers were about to fall off. Finally it's time to work.

Twice today, my computer reset mid-stride. It had never done that before. When I touched the back of my machine, it was hot. The fan on the power supply wasn't turning. This is a relatively new machine, that is still under warranty. It was also purchased off ebay. I can't take the time to deal with the supplier, I have a book to edit.

Fortunately, we have a spare computer in the house that we were supposed to sell when I got this one. So I scavened a power supply out of it, and I'm back in business.

Then I finished editing chapter five of Consigned to Darkness and now I just have to type in the corrections from chapters four and five to be on schedule.

I also managed to do some work on the Chronicles of Gondylar glossary today, before we left for my tarot reading appointment. I'm rereading A Leaf in the Wind in one window and flicking back and forth to a database, in which I enter the name, place or thing, along with a description. It's a lot of work, but it will be worth it in the end.

Of course, I still have the power supply issue to deal with, but at least my machine is up and running.

Oh, this new power supply is somewhat noisier than the old one and is giving both me and dana a headache. It whines (sort of like my first wife). I didn't say that. I would never say that. It would imply I listened to her.

Anyway, I'm getting back to work. I have an awful lot of corrections to type in.

The Only Way to Deal with a Full Plate, is to get a Bigger Plate

2005-02-18T22:41:00.000+11:00

I've finished editing chapter four of Consigned to Darkness on paper, but have made no further progress on entering the corrections from chapter three. Since I'm running behind, what did I do?

I started a glossary of names, places and significant items from A Leaf in the Wind to include in the sequel. I didn't have enough on my plate, you understand.

My father once said to me, "The more you do, the more you can do." For many years I repeated that quote and meant it. It seemed very much like it was true. When I wasn't working, I got precious little accomplished and everything was forced. When I was working, I was doing more on the side as well. I guess it all has to do with inertia. A body in motion tends to stay in motion; a body at rest tends to stay at rest.

I guess this means I'm in motion.

As the years passed, however, I began to see things a bit differently. Just because you can do more, doesn't mean it's better to do more. Sometimes, it's better to do less and not drive yourself so hard. See that's my problem.

When I'm not working, I get stressed because I'm not getting enough done. When I am working, I'm biting off more than I can chew and I get stressed anyway. I haven't found the way to destress yet. I can watch television, but always in the back of my mind, the work waiting for me is still there.

There is no one standing over me. No boss telling me what to do. No official deadline that I can miss if I finish the book a week or two later.

Yet, I have two writing careers and if I want to get two books out a year under each name, I need to complete a book every three months. The book I'm working on is 90,000 words, which puts it towards the top of my word count list. A Leaf in the Wind and Dream Sequence and other Tales from Beyond are the only ones longer.

The answer, of course, is to start a glossary to run concurrently with the editing, so that they can both be finished in eight days time.

I think it takes a certain kind of crazy to be a career writer. I'm just hoping I can physically hold it together long enough to finish this edit.

A Turn for the Worse

2005-02-17T13:49:00.000+11:00

Authors always have problem words--words that they use to excess. Sometimes those words are unusual, but sometimes they're common words that somehow filtered into the author's writing, pretty much on their own. To the author, these words are invisible, but to a decent editor, they are obvious.

In my early work, everyone was always smiling. Constantly. He smiled, she smiled, they smiled, smile, smile, smile. Not a good thing. They were usually smiling while they were speaking, which is even worse.

So I consciously eliminated all that smiling from my books. Considering how dark a lot of my early work was, most of my characters didn't have that much to smile about anyway.

Unfortunately, like a person who gives up smoking and ends up eating too much, another of those words became more prevalent in my writing. Suddenly, there was a whole lot less smiling and a whole lot more sighing. This was a bad thing, because sighs are somewhat more intrusive than smiles, and they were everywhere. Admittedly, there was probably more to sigh about in my early work than smile, so it seemed to fit, but again, it was over done.

I got rid of sighing, only to have to battle a barrage of thats certainlies and howevers.

I think I did a pretty good job and I was feeling confident, when I noticed that one word had gotten by everyone for years.

I'm editing Consigned to Darkness and everyone is turning. They turn to say things, they turn to study things, they turn to leave. Everyone is turning. Don't they get dizzy? I would if I turned that much. So now I've gone on a rampage, deleting most of the turns from my book. One good turn isn't my problem--it's the dozens of bad ones I have to look out for.

I'm still entering chapter two edits into the computer, and then I have to edit chapter three. However, I looked ahead and there are three really long chapters in the book, and chapters two and three are two of them, so I might be able to stay on a one chapter a day schedule, which means ten days until this book is ready to pass on to my editors.

I'll be glad to get it off my plate, because I have a new issue of Planet Ds to write and I have to start Earth Scorched, the sequel to my science fiction erotica novel Scorch.

There's never a dull moment.

Some Days You Get the Bear, Some Days the Bear Gets You

2005-02-16T22:17:00.000+11:00

After several good days, I finally remembered just how much hard work editing is.

Usually I edit on screen, but today I printed chapter two and three of Consigned to Darkness. I did manage go get through editing all of chapter two (20 single-spaced pages), and even started chapter three, but I've only just begun to type the corrections into the computer.

I had been hoping to do two chapters a day. I see now this is a pipe dream.

It's not a question of time, but rather how long your mind will stay sharp if you overextend yourself. By adding a week onto the time it takes to finish this, I'll have a cleaner manuscript. At least, that's the theory.

I might have a few shorter chapters mixed in, which might speed up the process, but right now, I'm running two weeks over schedule already. Good thing I'm an understanding boss or I'd fire me.

It's only 10:30 pm and I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Mental exhaustion. Not enough sleep. Doing too much on a constant basis.

Sooner or later, you're going to miss a deadline, forget a plotline or simply run out of steam. It's okay as long as you remember.

Sometimes you get the bear...

This Has Been Some Day

2005-02-16T01:25:00.000+11:00

I've just found out that my Extasy book Slave Heart is a finalist in the Literary Nymph's 2005 Enda Awards, in the erotic BDSM category. I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised.

Surviving the first round, however, is not winning the contest. Winners will be announced sometime in March. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it. That moment when you're a finalist is nice, because have achieved an honor, even if you don't win. But on the day, if someone else beats you out, even if you really like their work, it doesn't feel like an honor.

I also received an acceptance letter from Alien Skin Magazine for my short story A Matter of Grave Importance. This is my only vampire story to date. I said I wouldn't write one unless I had something different to say, which I finally did. It will be published in the April/May issue.

I've finished editing Consigned to Darkness through Chapter One and it's coming along swimmingly (I've always wanted to type that word). Here is the briefest of excerpts:

Kestryl felt his control slipping. “You stain the memory of the Duchess Amalga. I’m glad Dathan does not live to see what has become of his throne. I have come to set things right. Stand and defend yourself.”

“You’re mad. I’m not going to fight you.”

“I thought that might be the case, but it doesn’t matter. I will kill you in cold blood if I must.”

“You’ll kill me anyway.” Theraint stood. “What about it, Kestryl. I thought you were a man of honor. Surely, you wouldn’t attack an unarmed man.”

“Don’t count on it.”

Kestryl leapt forward. Theraint had no time to react before Kestryl caught his him by the throat.

“Your honor…” croaked Theraint.

“There is no honor in killing you, but there is less in letting you live, Sheba forgive me.”

It's 1:30 am and I'm too tired to start the next chapter. I was hoping to do two a day. Perhaps tomorrow will be more productive.

Where the Hell Did All These Horses Come From?

2005-02-15T15:39:00.000+11:00

The Chronicles of High Gondylar take place on a world called Corithim, a world that exists nowhere but in my mind.

I'm in the process of writing Consigned to Darkness, the second book of the trilogy, when I started thinking about horses. Horses are native to Earth. The odds of them existing in any other world are neglible.

Which brings me to a problem. Do I edit out horses from the series and replace them with some exotic mount, like a cordefau, or a gizzlygoon? I think not.

The characters in my book are riding some creature that is roughly the equivlant of a horse. To them, it is a horse (since they haven't seen what we call a horse). I think it's better to use the word horse, showing how the characters relate to their steeds, because the description of the animal has nothing to do with the plot. They are there for a reason. To ride from one point to another. To carry warriors into battle. To steal, if you happen to be a horse thief.

There isn't a single converation in the book that takes place in English. English doesn't exist on Corithim. People might be speaking Talovarian, Dominian or Gondylarian, but they don't speak English. So as long as I'm translating character's conversations to English, why not just call their mounts horses. For all intents and purposes, that's what they are.

For this reason, I tend not to use archaic language when writing fantasy. This isn't taking place on Earth in the dark ages. This takes place on Corithim toward the end of the twelfth century. It's a different world. Different things exist.

When my characters speak, they are speaking their native tongue and it doesn't sound formal or stilted to them. When Tanrif says something, it sounds casual to him, as my words do when I speak. So I translate that into easily understood English that gives you the impression of what he's saying.

When he regains consciousness in the Darkdom of Vikon in A Leaf in the Wind, Tanrif says, "It's too dark to be heaven and too cold to be hell. I must still be alive."

The concepts of heaven and hell are restricted to Earth. They don't exist on Corithim, but some analogy of them does, so when I'm translating, I can use the words heaven and hell.

I like to think this makes my books easy to read, intuitive even. I'd rather spend my time building character's personalities than inventing a new creature for them to ride around on--a horse by any other name.

Sometimes, Articles Just Happen

2005-02-14T19:17:00.000+11:00

Yesterday, dana and I got a rolling wire-basket cart. At 3 am last night, I put the thing together. It shouldn't have been hard. It only had six pieces and casters and four of those pieces were baskets. This doesn't take a degree in engineering, even if I wish the idiot who designed it had taken one. What a mess!

Anyway, the entire situation was so ludicrous, the thing was so badly designed, I based my next issue of Sahara Ice around it and wrote it last night, after I told you I was going to sleep. As tired as I was, the muse comes first.

Today I got up, edited it, editing the Leaf synopsis again (for inclusion in Consigned to Darkness) and typed in the edits I received from Kathi Lowther for Luna Rising. She did a good job for me, but dana will still look at it, before I send it off to Extasy Books. I am so glad that's done with.

I have one more go through on my Sahara Ice article before I send it off to Fallen Angel Reviews and then I'm going to start my read through of the Consigned to Darkness prologue, surely the darkest chapter I've ever written. I can't imagine what possessed me.

Oh, yes, I spent much of the afternoon creating a collage of my book covers for The Master Nage Portal page at www.masternage.com . This is the best way to get to my erotica work. The collage, for anyone interested, is the center picture.

This was a much more difficult project than it should have been, mostly because I didn't realize that the background layer of a Paint Shop Pro image can't be made transparent. I'd wanted the collage to sit right on the background of the page, but so far, it is not to be. I haven't given up hope yet. Somewhere there is a solution and I'm going to find it (in my copious free time).

oh, in case you're wondering, Kayla Kuffs loved the article I sent in to the Dominants View Ezine and I made a deal with her about sponsoring my own column. She actually felt bad about charging me, so I'm giving away a print copy of Master Nage's Guide to Training Consensual Slaves for one of their contests. That will get me a banner right on the page with my column. All in all, a good deal for both of us.

Tonight's television consists of The Apprentice and Crossing Jordan, which will be my only break for the day.

5:13 AM and I'm Starting to See Things

2005-02-14T05:14:00.000+11:00

Well, I swore I'd get Luna done, and dagnabbit, Luna Rising is done, such as it is. I did bring it up to over 5000 words and improved it at the same time, which makes me a happy writer.

In fact, I'm so proud of it, here's a brief, unedited excerpt...

“Hello, Jax.”

“Luna, what are you doing here? You are not scheduled for a mission.”

“I just wanted to talk. Do you have a moment?”

“Of course, Luna. What can I do for you?”

I studied him. He was so like Jerico—blond-haired, blue-eyed, and physically perfect— I shuddered, but I was in too much pain to become aroused. It wouldn't have mattered. His lifeless eyes and voice did nothing for me.

“I need to tell you something important...”

I opened my mouth to reveal the traitor for what he was. I tried to force the words out, but pain engulfed me. I fell to my knees then to the floor, clutching my stomach. I felt as if someone had jabbed a flaming spear into my small intestine.
“Luna, are you all right?”

I tried again, but the pain intensified until I wanted to die.

I won’t say anything. Please. Stop. Your secret is safe with me.

Almost at once the pain subsided, leaving me panting and gasping on the metal control room floor. There were no flux walls in the control room; there was no need for them. Only hard, cold metal, as hard as the fear beginning to form in my heart. I could not betray the dermagen even if it meant the end of existence as I knew it.

Yes, I know, it's a tease, but I can't help it.

I also played a bit with a graphics program tonight, Picasa, which is free and great fun, and created a nice collage for my books link at www.masternage.com . Of course that's my erotica page, so if you don't like sex, you might not want to go there.

Anyway, it's time for me to ride modestly off into the sunset.

To Curse or not to Curse...

2005-02-13T20:46:00.000+11:00

That is the question. I've been thinking about it. I almost used profanity in my last post and and the last minute veered away from it. Why, you might ask? I wish I could tell you. I've been asking myself that very same question.

I mean, since half my career is erotica, I wouldn't think this would be an appropriate place for a kid to visit so I don't have to worry about an age limitation. I offend people regularly enough with my writing that you think I'd be used to it, certainly beyond the point of not cursing. So why did I make a conscious decision to write around a single word?

Even in my stories, I'll often say "He cursed" instead of revealing the actual curse. Dana pointed that out to me. Why write a book with all sorts of explicit sexual scenes built into it, and say "he cursed". Maybe it's just a bad habit from fantasy writing, but even in fantasy books today, people curse.

One of my favorite openings of anything I've written is the beginning of my short story Tales from Beyond. I reproduce it here, because I want to talk about it.

Eric Darkling stared up at me from behind a cluttered desk. Perhaps, it was an expensive one, but not enough of it was visible to make that determination. In the corner of the room stood a man, not unlike a wax casting. I wasn't even certain he was alive, until I saw him blink.

"Why are you here?" Darkling snapped.

"I'm here to apply for the job," I said, as calmly as I could under the circumstances.

"Mr. Masterson, WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

I licked my lips and wondered if I’d somehow showed up on the wrong day. "The people at the employment agency...."

He cut me off. "I don't care," he said softly, "if the people at the agency flew you here in a DIRIGIBLE. WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

"I'm here because I feel that working for you will be the kind of experience...."

He didn't wait for me to finish. "WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

"BECAUSE MY PARENTS FUCKED, THAT'S WHY!"

The man in the corner had no more reaction to my outburst than to the rest of the interview, but I was mortified. This was Eric Darkling, creator of the hit TV series Tales from Beyond, the greatest speculative fiction writer since Rod Serling. I felt I'd made a terrible mistake.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Darkling."

"Don't apologize. What do I look like, your mother? That's the first rule. Never apologize for anything. If you do something I really don't like, I'll stab you in the eye with my letter opener. Now, why is it that you want to work for me?"

I was beginning to catch on. He wanted me to think. Whatever the standard answer, this man expected... no, demanded more.

"I want to make money."

"BULLSHIT! If you wanted to make money, you'd be anyplace but here. I've read your resume, seen your portfolio. You're a fine writer. You don't need me."

"You're wrong. I do need you, because though I am a fine writer, you're the icon. Who better to learn from? Do you think I want to subject myself to another critique group, surrounded by intellectual snobs that wouldn't know satire if it bit them in the ass? Do you think I want to spend the rest of my life selling short stories for a pittance? Oh no, Mr. Darkling. I want more from life. I want to fly. I want other people to look at me in awe. I want people to read my work and say, ‘that Asimov, he was okay, but Masterson, he's a writer’."

Suddenly, the room became very quiet. Even the man in the corner, the waxman, seemed more still than he had been a moment before. I could feel the pulse beating in my temple. My secret vision, a dream I’d shared with no one, had emerged from my lips unbidden. As a teenager, I had worshipped Asimov, so much so that my words now seemed almost blasphemous. I held my breath, waiting for a reply.

Darkling stared at me for a few long moments before breaking into a grin. "Welcome aboard, Mr. Masterson. I can call you Dan, can't I?"

Without another word, he tossed me a manuscript.

"Read it. Let me know what you think."

He turned away and attacked the keys of his antiquated typewriter before I had the chance to answer.

The reason I include this excerpt (the entire story is available in the fiction section of my Dream Sequence Webpage for those interested) is that I wanted to illustrate a point.

I used the word fucked in this story, but during the editing process, I kept trying to replace it with screwed. It didn't work, of course. It wasn't nearly powerful enough to elicit the required reaction, but still, I kept trying. I was resistant to using profanity in a story. I'm happy to say that I have, for the most part, gotten over it.

So in the future, you might see any of the following words on this page:

fuck, shit, cock, cunt, pussy, asshole, cocksucker, mother fucker and lowly, scum-sucking dog whore. I make no apologies about it.

As a writer, words are my tool. Just as an artist wouldn't rule certain shades out of their creative process, so I will not limit what words I can and can't use to express myself.

Okay, So I Lied

2005-02-13T20:13:00.000+11:00

I said I wasn't going to make corrections in my writer's journal. Immediately after I wrote the last entry, I noticed several mistakes. I was going to ignore them, I really was, but they kept taunting me. Jeering at me. Shouting at me. So I changed them. Sue me. I'm not doing full edits, but if I happen to notice a typo, I apparently do not have the ability to leave it alone. Sucks to be me.

I had a two hour time slot at the Fallen Angel Reviews Valentine's Day Chat on the FAR Chatters Yahoo list. I think it went okay. I posted excerpts from A Cure for the Common Curse, Luna Waning, Luna Waxing, Luna Rising, Planet Ds , Scorch and Master Nage's Guide to Training Consensual Slaves. I gave away four Planet Ds mini-subscriptions (3 issues), one full subscription and a copy of Cure. I also got several new subscribers for my not yet published Master Nage newsletter, which I've been planning on putting out forever. Now that I have the subscribers, I hope to do just that.

I haven't written yet today, but I'm determined to finish Luna tonight if it kills me, which it probably will. We've gotten all the data off dana's drive and onto DVDs. I'm currently in the process of formatting her drive, after which we still have to install XP and put everything back on. I'm sooooo tired. But I WILL finish Luna tonight. You can bet your bottom dollar on it.

Actually finish is a pretty strong word. I will do what I believe will be my final edit on it. Whether or not it is remains to be seen.

I really can't wait to get her back up and running so I can get the first cluster of Planet Ds Tier Three out to my subscribers. I so hate being late with stuff. Drives me nuts.

Anyway, I'll probably drop by later and tell you how Luna goes. If I have time, I might even work on the synopsis of A Leaf in the Wind, though that's not my priority. It never ends--at least, I hope it never will.

The Unedited Truth

2005-02-13T01:46:00.000+11:00

As a writer, a journal should reflect a certain professional quality, particularly when it appears publicly. That is true in almost all cases, and I don't care. I'm not editing these posts.

I did proof the first couple and make a couple of corrections, but I'm not going to. This is my personal diary, in which I'm allowing anyone interested a voyeuristic seat in the proverbial front row. That's it. If I was writing it for myself, would I sit and edit it? Of course not.

With all the projects I have going, I do plenty of editing. Will I correct a typo if I notice it? Sure. Am I going to worry about it? Nope. I worry too much as it is.

Well dana's machine is coming along. I still haven't formatted the drive, but we do have a large amount of her data backed up to DVDs now, so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

In the mean time, I did a read through the final installment in the Luna trilogy of short stories today, and had a nasty surprise.

For some reason, I thought Luna Rising is the longest of the three stories, when in reality it is the shortest. I hate doing that to readers--giving them less, particularly at the end. I'd rather give them more. So I went back, did a bit of rewriting, and added about 600 words to it, so far. It's up to about 4300 words now. It will probably be a bit longer when it's done, which means it's still shorter than the first two stories, but I don't think it can be helped. I refuse to pad a story. If I can write something good, I'll do it, but I won't just add to add.

Of course this means another day before I get back to Consigned to Darkness, setting me back three days total, but I really need the rest. Anyway, none of my first readers have gotten back to me to tell me they've finished Leaf yet, so I have a bit of time I suppose. I should probably email them instead of waiting, but I'm curious to see what happens if I don't. I always love to test human nature.

In any event, tomorrow I WILL finish of Luna and get it to the editors so the day after, I can get back to Consigned to Darkness.

Oh, another thing happened today. Kayla Kuffs, editor of The Domsview Ezine (in which I have my regular column Master-D-bates), messaged me this morning to let me know she didn't have my current column. I had thought I'd started one, but can't find hide nor hair of it, so I was forced to sit down and write a column quickly, off the top of my head. I tend to do this rather well, and most of the work I come up with that way is very good. So I wrote my column subtitled, "Alternatives to Physical Punishment", which will appear in the next issue of the Dom's View.

And those of you who are waiting for the next issue of Planet Ds, it will still take a couple of days to get dana's drive sorted, afterwhich it will be laid out and sent. I hate being on time with writing something, only to have it delayed by matters beyond my control. In a word, argggggggggghhhhhhhh.

Oh well. I can't get aggravated over what can't be helped. I just hope my subscribers understand.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. Back issues of Xodtica Magazine (which hosts my Ask Master Nage column) are now available through Extasy Books. Since the first three installments of Planet Ds are included in the last and next two issues of Xodtica, this should be pretty good promotion for me. I can hope anyway. Always looking to promote where I can.

Which reminds me, I'll be a guest on the Fallen Angel Review Chatters list from 8PM to 10PM EST on Saturday night. That's US EST not Australian EST. In any event, I'll be chatting as part of the FAR Valentine's Day Chat, so if you're on that list, why not drop by? It will be entertaining to say the least.

Damn I'm Good

2005-02-11T23:28:00.000+11:00

Okay, I still haven't done any writing, but after more than 24 hours of hard work, I've managed to recover most of the data on dana's hard drive. I couldn't do this myself, so I can't take the credit for it. In the end, it took a purchase of a $79US program called Get Data Back NTFS to finish the job.

Of course, when the job started, her machine couldn't even boot into windows with her crashed drive in the machine, even if it wasn't the drive trying to boot. Even if it was on another IDE chain! It took me fourteen hours to get to the point where I could boot a windows operating system with that drive in a machine, afterwhich we tried a few programs, before I broke down and spent the money.

Admittedly, it's money we can't afford, but just as much, I can't afford to lose dana's edits and artwork, so there you have it. The day from hell in the life of a writer. And all's well that ends well.

We're currently in the process of copying the data she needs to save to my hard drive from hers and from there, I'll burn it to DVD.

I still have to go through the process then of formatting her drive and getting it all set up again, but at least most of her data has been saved. Yay me. Yay Get Data Back.

The bottom line, of course, is that poor Luna will probably have to wait one more day. This has been a bad couple of days to start a writing diary. lol

Sometimes the Language Betrays You

2005-02-11T15:06:00.000+11:00

I just had a conversation with Allie Bates, one of women who edits my work. She has edited a number of my stories and articles for free, or at least for the pleasure she gets from reading my work (her words, not mine).

Recently, I sent her a copy of A Leaf in the Wind, which she hadn't yet read. Since she's planning on editing the sequel, I figured she should read the first one for the sake of continuity. Here is a piece of our AIM chat from earlier today...

Allie: why i was doing the synopsis... I don't usually.
ACreativeEdge: I already did one. You read my mind (such as it is) lol
Allie: I lost chapter 5-12 and was going to go back and do them
ACreativeEdge: don't bother. Just read it and enjoy
Allie: I missed how Tanrif got Fireball back. I was going to go back and see
The stableboy is paid with a blade to release the horse for Galith to track and I want to go back and see where he got Fireball back
ACreativeEdge: when did he lose fireball? It's never stated directly and shouldn't have to be
Allie: I went back to read over if he was paid to pretend to have released him...
ACreativeEdge: Tanrif is staying at the shop of Demendil. That's where the horse was taken. Lylea took the horse so the Assassin's couldn't track him. That's all. The idea is, to make them think Tanrif has left. It was just Lylea being Lylea. She goes, trades a Demendil dagger for the horse and brings the horse to the shop.That's it. There's no real mystery to it.
Allie: Ah, but end of ch 5 ...read where the stableboy...I just assumed fireball ran home or something
ACreativeEdge: huh????? What are you talking about? Let me open the file.
Allie: k
ACreativeEdge: I'm there. I just read the scene in the stable and I have not the foggiest idea what you're talking about
Allie: All he had to do is release the young man's horse and lie to anyone who came asking about it
ACreativeEdge: hahahaha

And of course, I see the problem. If you live in a city and work somewhere, to release something is to let it go to someone. I used to work in a computer store that did repairs, and we used to release computers to people all the time. They had to sign release forms.

Of course, if you live in a rural area in the south, you're far more likely to think of releasing a horse as releasing it into the wild.

It never would have occured to me to think that someone would think the stablehand just let the horse go, when the young lady who gave him the dagger is right there. In my mind, he released the horse to HER.

I was completely oblivious to what most would say is the more obvious meaning.

Now I have to sit around and worry about how many people reading the first volume (which is already published), are wondering how Tanrif's horse got back to him.

Fortunately I have more editors and readers now than I did back then. My early books don't have nearly the quality of editing my later books do. They're still good books, but I wince sometimes, when I read them. I guess we all grow.

Fortunately, most of the people who read my work seem to enjoy the older work as much as the newer, so I've been pretty fortunate.

And now, back to trying to get dana's computer up and running.

It Never Rains...

2005-02-10T15:40:00.000+11:00

Well, I didn't get the Luna edit done today as planned. I didn't do much of anything today. Dana's computer crashed and I have spend hours trying to fix it. More accurately, I have spent hours trying to save her data. Some of it is backed up, but she stands to lose a lot.

One thing I did think about and wanted to mention was the date sync. Because I'm living in Tasmania, the dates on some of these posts are actually wrong. For example, it's already Friday February 11th here, even though this will show up as posted sometime on February 10th. This doesn't particularly bother me, but it was interesting to note.

Oh well, back to working on dana's hard drive. Wish me luck!

Always Between One Thing and Another

2005-02-10T12:09:00.000+11:00

When my good friend Aaron told me about blogger.com, I thought, great, another blog site. But I see the advantages in this site and don't use my live journal often enough, so here I am. Origami Salad is going to be a writer's journal for me. A record of what I was doing and when (and maybe sometimes even how and why).

I have just finished the rough draft of the rewrite of my fantasy novel Consigned to Darkness, the second book in the Chronicles of High Gondylar. That was yesterday. The rough draft was actually finished the day before yesterday. Yesterday I wrote the synopsis for the first book (A Leaf in the Wind), which will be included in the second book for those who need a reminder. Hey, the plots in this trilogy are relatively complex.

Two days ago I changed the name of Book Three of that same series from The Price of Freedom (a very much overused name) to Ioranna's Ransom, suggested by my lovely wife (and consensual slave) dana. She is almost as much a part of my writing career as I am at this point, being my first reader, my last reader, my editor and, in many cases, my layout person and cover artist. You can't beat that with a stick. And if you tried, she'd probably enjoy it.

Yesterday I wrote my fourth issue of Ask Master Nage: An Irreverent Advice Column published in each issue of Xodtica Ezine. Xodtica is a bimonthly erotic romance magazine. Ask Master Nage is, as implied by the title, a way for me to give advice in my own inimicable style. This means it's best when I'm annoyed at something. This month, one of the questions annoyed me.

I'm part of a nonfiction online critique group called Muse Deliberators. I don't think it's working for me, and don't have the time to do justice to the critiques, nor do I feel most of the critiques I've gotten have done me much good. I'm probably going to resign from it, before it's time for me to send my next piece. It's just too much, with not enough benefit.

Toward that end, I've recently started interviewing first and last readers, extra pairs of eyes that can read either my fantasy, nonfiction or erotica. It's a nonpaying position, but there are enough people who love my work that like the idea of seeing it before anyone else. I should count myself among the blessed.

Today I have to edit the last part of the Luna trilogy of short stories, Luna Rising. This is erotica, written under my erotica pen name, Master Nage. Luna is time-travel, science fiction erotica. Since my science fiction seems to be going over well, I figured I'd try a bit of time travel. Because I don't have the stomach (or time) for a lot of research, I decided to go with the short story format and use research I've already done for other stories. Why waste good research?

Hopefully I'll finish Luna today, and leave it in the hands of my editors, so I can make another editing pass at Consigned to Darkness. I really want this off my plate. Once I finish Ioranna's Ransom, it will be like the end of an era. I wrote the first draft of the first book of the trilogy back in high school and getting it out there will be a major achievement for me.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the four first readers I'm trying out. I sent each a copy of A Leaf in the Wind, just to get an idea of how well they read my work. Since most of these readers came to my stories through erotica, it will be interesting to see how they deal with a fantasy novel.