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Writing

Some new Merch in the shop!

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I love me a good ball cap. I also hate me a flat-billed cap, sorry hipsters. Printify added this awesome cap, which I immediately added to the store!

There are a few color options, but I’m getting this awesome blue on blue version!

And you know, because it’s 2020, you can now get your very own Space Rogues face mask. I won’t lie, back in April I resisted getting masks, thinking, “Surely we’ll beat this, and then I’ll be stuck with all these masks.”

Oh sweet summer child…. Now I’m stocking up on masks and buffs because it looks like we’ll be wearing masks into 2022, because ‘merica!

I’ve also added a few more shirts for women, both fitted and unisex. Take a look and rep your favorite crew of misfits wherever you are!

WIP Thursday (7/9) Space Travel has Down Time

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Lots of down time. FTL is great, but unless your entire story is blink of an eye travel, you gotta deal with getting from one place to another.

An hour or so later Steve walked into the common area, Naomi and Lori were on their second pot of coffee, “Morning all.” He rubbed his dark brown hair then ran his hand down his face. He looked at the two women, their eyes boring holes in
Lori looked up, “Good morning to you too.” Something in the way she said those five words caused Steve to blush. He quickly turned away, reaching into the cupboard to grab first one, then a second coffee cup.
Jax walked in, “Morn—“ Steve shoved a cup of coffee at him.
Both women turned their stares from Steve to a new target. Jax sipped the coffee, then looked at the two women, “What?”
Steve sidled towards the lounge area the long way around. Lori I waggled her eyebrows, but said nothing. She tilted her head towards the other woman on the sofa and winked. Jax groaned but said nothing. He turned and looked at Rudy, still in his charging port, “Rudy.”
Rudy made a mechanical sound, “If the hormone parade is over,” he disengaged from his charger and rolled to stand in front of the wall-mounted entertainment screen. “My understanding is that we need to get things planned.” He turned to Steve, “Your order of cabling should be delivered in thirty minutes, I’ll have Baxter accept it.” Steve nodded dumbly looking from Jax, the droid, and the two women.

Travel time is a great opportunity for a writer. Whether it’s FTL or the brave companions crossing the valley on horseback, it’s your chance to world build, to establish details, and to just let yourself have fun. Maybe it’s movie night, maybe a character is amateur chef, and each meal is an adventure.

I’m having a blast exploring Jax and his friend’s personality and preferences. I can’t wait for you to read this new series.

Meet the Osprey

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Early Sketch of the Osprey

I’ve been working on the first book in a new series. If you love Wil and the crew of the Ghost, you’ll love Jax and the Osprey!

While Wil has the crew of lean on, Jax has his mechanical friends.

The Osprey is a Valerian Coop scout ship. She’s meant for speed, and running away from fights, but don’t let Jax, or the ship’s AI, Skip hear you say that.

I’m working with the same artist who envisioned the Ghost to bring the Osprey to life. I can’t wait to see more of her!

It’s fun to collaboratively design a starship.

I don’t own a laptop anymore

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For the first time in twenty-odd years, I don’t own a laptop. This past weekend, I fedex’ed my MacBook Air (With the shitty keyboard. Thanks, Tim Cook) back to apple for trade-in credit on a Mac Mini.

Macbook Air packed up and ready for shipment.

The Mac Mini is great, it’s way more powerful than the MacBook Air, which is a plus, but wasn’t super necessary outside of making video editing and possibly running my upcoming online conferences easier.

I really liked the Air, except for it’s keyboard. I bought it knowing it wasn’t outrageously powerful, which for conference organizing and writing was just fine. Except the keyboard made writing agonizing. keys would repeat, keys would not activate, all randomly and never the same behavior in a row, so my manuscripts would be riddled with repeated words, wrong words that spell check was ok with and outright typos. It was annoying.

Mac migration tool screen.

Writing with the Mac Mini

I had already started moving to my iPad Pro for travel writing; it went to Egypt and Tanzania and was my only device and was just fine. The addition of the Magic Keyboard was the final nail. For a few weeks I’ve been leaving my laptop in my office, docked at the end of the day and just using my iPad around the house (Living room, kitchen island, etc). During the day writing on the Mini vs. the MacBook Air isn’t any different as the Air was docked behind monitors. The Mini is under them.

It’s definitely a little weird, and there are some things that require me getting up and going to the office (Designing book covers, for one) but I think as I get more used to using the Affinity tools on my iPad that might change. Otherwise walking away from my office at the end of the day, leaving the computer there, is kind of nice.

Conferences without a Laptop

This will be the first full week so we’ll see how I feel (not that there’s takebacks, the laptop is enroute to Apple). Right now I’m pretty happy. I think when I get closer to conference time it’ll be a great help running Zoom, and other tools for live streaming.

As I’ve been exploring online conference options I realized that since my MacBook Air would struggle with being a zoom participant (fans roaring, etc) that being host, plus running other tools like Ecamm Live, etc would tax the power little laptop.

Once the world gets back to allowing in-person events, I’ll face the final test of my set up. During the conferences, I do a lot of work at the registration table, or anywhere else, plus at least two times during the event, I am presenting on screen. Thankfully some of my speakers have already blazed the trail on presenting from an iPad.

Welcome Expedition Inc. to the Family

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Expedition Inc Logo

I’ve alluded to it in my newsletter, and I’ve started setting up the back end stuff (Like the Newsletter link to opt into Expedition Inc. Specific news)

I’ve just received book 1 back from the editor and am prepping it for ARC readers (want to be one? Sign up).

This is a bit of a departure while staying in my zone. I don’t want to give away too much, but if you like the dynamic of the crew of the Ghost, you’ll love the Expedition Inc. Team.

Expedition inc. is set on Earth just a little bit in the future. I’m aiming for more action adventure than scifi.

I’m aiming to launch Expedition Inc. #1 – Island of Secrets sometime in the fall.

Coming to a 3D Printer Near You

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Tiny Wil

I’ve never been a table top gamer, ever. No particular reason. I did have miniatures. I’d often buy pre-painted ones from the local hobby store when I was a kid in Torrence.

So, yeah, I like miniatures. So when I stumbled upon Hero Forge, I knew I’d have to design the crew. Fair warning, Hero Forge can be a time suck, even if you’re not into miniatures! It’s so addictive!

Tiny Zephyr

Anyhow, I’ve created the crew in miniature (within the constraints of the system) and I’ve released Wil and Zephyr to start. Right now you have to print them yourself. Your purchase is license to print (but not modify) the characters as much as you like.

My goal is to offer pre-printed miniatures (You still gotta pain ’em), but that’s gonna be a bit, so for now, if you have a printer, go nuts :)

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