Finished Broken Trails, Chapter Twenty-Nine. I backtracked to chapter twenty-seven to start, scanning over it.  From here on out, the novel’s mostly about the mechanics of the race—it’ll be difficult to toss in the foreshadowing of Lainey’s emotional issues.  I’ll probably have to read it from start to finish one more time, just to be sure I’m keeping the feel of the novel cohesive. Total wordcount today is 2602.

I also edited chapter thirty, and set up thirty-one for the next round.  I’m not counting it for today’s total for the reason listed above.  I need to have a go over it again, just to be sure.

Saw the season premiere of Heroes on NBC.com last night.  Ah, a carnival of real freaks!  Of course!  Funny how the guy running it – Robert Knepper – also acted in the Showtime series, Carnivale, huh?  LOL!

There’s an auction for Kim Pritekel on AUSXIP.com (click here.) I’ve added a signed copy of Warlord Metal and On Azrael’s Wings.  Go.  Bid.  The woman’s a good writer, and losing her eyesight would interfere with that talent.

I’ve been published for about six years (off and on as I swapped around publishers.) I’ve always been pretty much a POD name, unfortunately. I know that there were some specialty book stores that ordered my titles for their shelves, but not in my town.

I found a website called BookFinder.com . . . On a lark, I plugged in my name. Came up with both PD Publishing titles. So I clicked one. Then I frantically back tracked and clicked the other.

BOTH of my books are at Powell’s! The King of bookstores! Here! In MY town! Mere blocks away!

Good gods! I have to go to Powell’s tomorrow just to be able to see my books on the shelves!

Even if I was up until 3:30 this morning!

Yesterday morning we opened our presents. Woot! I got the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin, and the first season DVDs of Smallville! My wife got an expensive set of professional pans and one of those Magic 8 Balls. LOL! She loves the 8 ball more than the pans, I think!

Another great gift came in the mail . . . my author copies of Warlord Metal! YAY! They look fantastic! Steph Solomon-Lopez did a killer job with the graphics!

A downstairs neighobr came up to cook dinner for us. He really enjoys cooking and trying out new recipes, but he lives alone. So he comes to our kitchen, and has fun feeding himself, us and another neighbor down the hall who’s unable to cook for himself. It’s pretty cool. Last night was a chicken/tater tot casserole. Definitely interesting, and very good.

We lit the Yule candle at sunset and between my wife and I, we held vigil until sunrise this morning. Then we both put the candle out. Welcome back, Sun!

Today’s a lazy day. (Like I haven’t had enough of them! LOL!) Just puttering around the house, cleaning up stuff, getting geared up for the feast day. Saturday will be prep work and laundry, Sunday will be stockings and friends and food. Tomrrow we’re going to see The Chronicles of Narnia, get our hairs cut, and run some errands.

I’ve been fooling around with my website some more today . . . mainly going over the added features I get through my webhost, Dreamhost. The Trek RPG I belong to has recently picked up their own website through Dreamhost. I’m fiddling with some of the features to see how we can augment our new website. Maybe we’ll break completely away from Yahoo and run it entirely on our own . . . who knows?

I’ve been remiss. People are wondering if I’m still breathing. I am! I am!

Busy, busy, busy at work. Despite that, the most exhausting thing is the constant shifting between days and swings. I have to cover the manager’s days off, and still cover the swing shift as much as possible. Six days last week. I’ve got two more to go before a blissful five plus day weekend.

Today I begin to clean house and put up the decorations. On the morning of the 19th, I do the door decorations for the annual contest in our apartment complex. Still top secret until I get it out there. Then I’ll spill the beans.

Tuesday is Mother’s Night. My wife and I plan a quiet evening together, candlelit dinner, and then a stroll through the building to see the other door decorations. Wednesday is Yule, and I’ll be up all night in vigil.

Went to my rheumatologist last week to discuss beginning the clinical trials we talked about earlier. Bummer! I’m not eligible! I have no pain and no joints swollen! Too bad, huh? YAY! Even the joints in my hand that have remained swollen throughout the last two years have gone down! (As you can imagine, I’m crushed.)

Sent out Yule cards. To those reading this who got one, the cards are part of this year’s theme for us. Now you might have some idea what our door decoration will be! LOL!

Got the Yule shopping complete. (Thank gods for mail order.) I spent one afternoon out and about on errands to pick up the last of it for my wife, and it’s wrapped and sitting on my desk now. Yes . . . my form of torture. The gifts are in plain sight. Also got a box shipped out to my best friend, which thankfully arrived yesterday in California.

No writing to be had. I’m sort of stuck with Orphan Maker. It’s gone into an area I have no outline for. I’m not sure what’s going to happen next. I read it during those few bouts of free time last week, and I like it, but I haven’t had any time to concentrate on the characters. I know the story will eventually get to where I want it to go, but it’s gone on a detour and I need a road map!

Warlord Metal is officially out! YAY! I should be getting my author copies on Yule. What a great present for the holiday!

What else? Not much, really. The desk’s a mess, the house is filthy, I’ve got guests coming on the 25th for the feast. We’ve had something near thirty days of record lows, so my long johns have been getting a lot of use. Since Mother’s Night is a day of rest, I’ve got to whip everything into shape TODAY, since I work the next two. Ugh!

How’s everybody else?

Thank gods. 2537 words today, chapter twenty-nine of Orphan Maker is complete. My outline has gone the way of the dodo bird, though, which has been part of my hang up. Getting too invested in these outlines it seems. If I open up the document these days, I don’t even bother with my Shadow program. Not seeing how much I’m deviating from the outline has helped me get more writing done, oddly enough.

I don’t know about the next three weeks, however. These are the busiest times in my day job, and I expect to be working a lot of overtime (like I’ve been doing all last month.) I checked my records, though. I started Orphan Maker in mid-June. If I complete it by January 12th, I’ll have pumped it out in six months. Nowhere near the word counts that S.L. Viehl or Holly Lisle put out, but not bad for a small time pipsqueak like myself.

I’m expecting my copies of Warlord Metal any time now. Edits are complete, as is typesetting. Can’t wait to get my hands on a copy with the new cover! Story hasn’t changed a whole hel of a lot, though.

I’ve had lots of comments on Iditarod since it’s been finished. Glad everyone’s enjoying it so much. I’ve even had folks wondering if I’d publish it, but I don’t know. It’s a fluff piece, written more to draw attention to the website than for publication. The romance is pretty inconsequential overall, the main conflict being the race – not that there’s really much conflict there either. It’s been so long since I posted a story online, though, I thought it was time to remind people I was still here.

What else? Not much, really. When I’m not working or sleeping, I’m spending my spare time cruising around Second Life. If anybody reading this has checked it out, give Corby Bjornson a call. That’s my avatar name there. (Corby’s the name of my Starfleet RPG character, and the last name is actually from a list I was given by Second Life.)

Been pretty busy at work and at home to write or post. I’ll admit, some of it is an annoying addiction to Second Life, but the work front has been exhausting. The holiday season are both our busiest and laziest times of the year.

Orycon totally rocked, of course. I had a blast and went to many panels (writing oriented.) Learned some good stuff. I think there’s a 60% chance they’ll come back next year. My fellow associates kicked butt in wowing the attendees this year. There were very few hassles and only one pain in the butt issue (slow elevators.) The event manager in charge went on vacation, so negotiations are on hold until she gets back. Here’s hoping!

Then I worked another seven days in a row. Our biggest and busiest convention of the year is on Veteran’s Day weekend. So what happens? The other supervisor resigns his position and one of our less dependable associates called off. So, we were two people short, and I had to swap in the middle of the week to swing shifts to cover. Ugh. Twelve hour days (and nights) ain’t fun, but it could have been much worse. Had yesterday off, worked a swing last night, have today off, and tomorrow I’m back to days. Next week, though, I’m on nights.

During some of that down time, I’ve reread Orphan Maker and think I have a good idea where to go next. It’s dropping off my outline and I had to let it sit and stew for a bit, since I didn’t know where it was going. It’ll get to my planned ending, I know, it’s just taking its own sweet time getting there.

Also went over Warlord Metal again, the final .pdf for PD Publishing. That should pretty much be the last of THAT one. Again. LOL! It should be out this month. I’ve been through the initial editing of Castle Walls, but that’s not due out until next summer, so I don’t know when I’ll get the next round.

Work’s been busy, busy, busy, and I haven’t had a lot of time to concentrate on the writing, so it’s been slow going.

I just finished the final edits and added the dedication, bio, and acknowledgements for Tiopa. Whew! Since this is the final go round, I had to really pay attention to each and every word. What isn’t caught now ends up in the final product.

I’ve gotten through most the edits for Warlord Metal, as well. I’m waiting for the technical edit run through and then the final round with that, as well.

Tiopa Ki Lakota will definitely be available at Orlando Bardcon (complete with it’s spiffy new cover.) I think we’re still trying to push for Warlord Metal to be out at that time, as well, but I don’t know the timeline. Cross your fingers!

In the last two days, I’ve been through two rounds of publication edits on Warlord Metal and written 2k on the next chapter of Orpham Maker

One more round is possible for WM, though I’m hoping it won’t be much. I’ve also got a great idea for the next chapter of OM, so perhaps the block is over.

On the Katrina front, here’s an interesting site listing the timeline (and links to the news articles for each item.) I thought things were bad from reading the reports on each new day. Seeing the entire thing listed comprehensively . . . I’m speechless.

An announcement has been put out on the ‘verse about a former employee of Fortitude selling off the abandoned stock of titles. The books have been stored in her basement almost from the beginning of the company, and it will cost three or four hundred dollars to have the local waste management company haul them away.

I can see her point, honestly. Fortitude didn’t pay her for storage and, when the company folded, ignored the legal notices sent to them to take care of the remaining product. The woman does have a valid reason for doing this to receive some sort of compensation since the former CEO appears to have washed her hands of the issue.

But let’s get something perfectly clear. Several months ago, I was told by this person that she would be discussing various avenues with the authors involved in liquidating the stock once all legal hoops were jumped through. Then, last week, I received an email telling me the same thing she’s posted on various lists in the ‘verse – that she was selling it off on her own, to defray costs of storage and in lieu of paying another company to haul it to the landfill. There was no discussion to be had.

According to my contracts with Fortitude, royalties will not be paid in the event that the company dissolves. So what she’s doing is legal (which I never doubted.) Unfortunately, all three of my titles are going to be republished through PD Publishing . . . both Tiopa Ki Lakota and Warlord Metal will be coming out by around Orlando Bardcon. Castle Walls will be out sometime next year.

So, if you absolutely must have those first two titles, knock yourself out. Or you can wait a few more months and see them in all their shining glory with the nifty new covers done by Steph Solomon-Lopez. (I think you know which I’d prefer! LOL!) I know that Tiopa hasn’t changed significantly from the second edition, but haven’t begun editing Warlord, yet.

Edit to add:

I’ve been reminded that no agreement between Fortitude and the individual in question was made regarding storage of product. It was only after the company folded that storage fees were demanded and refused.

Additionally, this person was a corporate officer of the company, not an employee. Her actions do represent the company (and our contractual agreement) as opposed to someone trying to see compensation for money spent.

So . . . legal or not? I don’t know. It’s in the gray area. Technically, Fortitude no longer exists, my contracts are defunct, and no royalties are due. But she’s not selling second hand books – she’s selling unsold copies – and she was a corporate member of the company.

Anyhow, just thought I’d clarify the muddy waters for folks. We all do what we need to do in life. You make your own choices.

P.D. Publishing is proud to announce that we will be publishing the following books:

Castle Walls, 2nd edition by D. Jordan Redhawk, available in the Summer of 2006. Also from Redhawk, Tiopa Ki Lakota, 3rd edition and Warlord Metal, 2nd edition, both available Fall 2005.

Though not many. Just updated the pages for Tiopa Ki Lakota and Warlord Metal to include the really damned COOL covers Steph Solomon-Lopez did! Damn, these thing ROCK! Go to the menu bar on the left and check them out!

Miles, that is. I’ve written Lainey out of Shaktoolik, through a six hour break at Koyuk, and on her way to Elim. Hopefully the end of this chapter will see her out of Elim and on toward Golovin.

The next stretch after that will be short and sweet with only a mandatory 8 hour break in White Mountain. I think I’ll be done in three more chapters. Whew!

Then this mess will be off to three content beta readers and I’ll dump it onto my mailing list for a month. After that, the first draft will be removed from list archives and I’ll begin rewrites.

Not sure what’s next as far as projects go. Orphan Maker calls, as does Born of Silence rewrites. Or maybe I should do a full rewrite of CyberEpic for publication. I’ll take a week off and see what slaps me upside the head most.

Steph Solomon-Lopez has been working on the cover for Warlord Metal. Good gods, this woman rocks! I liked the original cover from Fortitude, but this one . . . flabbergasted. Yep. That’s me. Once it goes through the publisher and we get an okay, I’ll post it.

And someone asked me about the ‘3rd’ edition of Tiopa Ki Lakota. This book will not be appreciably different from the 2nd edition published by Fortitude. The same goes for Warlord Metal, I think. Those of you who already have a copy of the 2nd edition do not need to buy the 3rd in the hopes you’ve missed something!

P.D. Publishing is proud to announce that we will be re-releasing the stories of D. Jordan Redhawk, Tiopa Ki Lakota, 3rd edition and Warlord Metal, 2nd edition. Both books will be available in the Fall of 2005.

That was a hassle and a half!

I went to open up my Warlord Metal file in Word, but it wouldn’t let me! When I went to the Finder (Mac) and clicked on one of the two files in that folder, I got an error message. Yikes! Fortunately, the other file opened and it was the manuscript. It would only open in Text Edit, however. Had to cut and paste into a new Word document.

I’ve spent the day wading through it, removing publication formatting and replacing proper manuscript formatting. There were some other changes, as well, but nothing drastic. An occasional word here and there.

I’m sending it off tonight before bed.

I’ve received contracts and signed contracts. Just have to get them back to the publisher. I also spent all day yesterday reading through Tiopa Ki Lakota. Not much in the way of repairs, since it’s gone through a total professional editing (thank you, Cindy!) so it was an easy read.

Ya know . . . I think I like it. That’s saying something.

Today I’m going to slog through Warlord Metal. Maybe I’ll like it, too, once I’ve done a final run through . . . I’m not holding my breath, though.