2009 is fading fast...

2009 has been quite a year for us. After many trial and tribulations, we were finally able to sell our house in Alberta, and purchase a house on Vancouver Island. The kids have settled in, and we are at home.

Of course, like any home, it requires a certain number of modifications to make it more suitable. More and more as time goes on, it seems. Doors, walls, toilets, showers, floors (ah yes, the floors. All of them. Everywhere...). In the spring, it will be gardens and fencing. Fruit trees and rock gardens. I'm looking forward to it. All this sort of work is not really what I would call fun. However, it is definitely satisfying. At the end of the day, you've actually accomplished something, something you can point at and say "I did that."

That's a pretty cool feeling. My job doesn't produce tangibles, things I can hold. It's great that my life can.

But at 2009 draws to a close, I can say that it has been a good year. Were there problems? Of course. My "luck" would hardly allow anything else. The good outweighed the bad, and I think that is good enough.

And so it begins

Snap-hiss. Raj woke with a start, the fear-sweat stink still sharp in his nostrils, overlaid with the smells of sweat and decay. Panic nearly crushed him before he remembered where he was. The bunk above him was barely a handspan away from his nose, military-style bunks for the castoffs of humanity. Hushed voices in the darkness near him, a protest, a muffled cry. Then a peculiar noise, almost like a pop, and then the folding sound of a body hitting the ceramic floor. Just another night in the Acropolis.

About that challenge...

Just to be perfectly clear, I'm going to win. Mocking rights will be mine. All mine.

Precioussss.....

Push the envelope

First post in over a year.

I'm challenging myself to do some new things this upcoming year. First, I'm going to update this thing at least once every two weeks, and find enough interesting things to say to make it worthwhile. If my buddy Steve Fitzpatrick can do it, so can I.

I'm going to work on both my writing and my drawing. Both have languished for a long time, and this is the year that I get going with both again.

On the writing side, I have challenged a couple of my friends to see who can get a short story published first this year. I also have the novel I'm working on, and an outline for another.

On the gaming side, I plan to write, and illustrate, a line of vehicle, ship, and planet books for the game Traveller. These I will self-publish in PDF format, and once I have a critical mass of each, I will see about getting them into print. On the print side, I have a couple of projects I'm starting, but I don't want to give anything away. These are personal projects, in the sense that they are mine, not work-for-hire. I just need to keep up my current momentum.

On the drawing side, in addition to the gaming books, I want to work on a web comic or two. One would be in conjunction with my friend Earl, if he can get off his butt, and the other would be in conjunction with one of my secret projects.

Yeah, I plan on a busy year, but as a wise woman once told me, "The more you do, the more you can do." I intend to push that to the limit this year in my creative pursuits. While, and at the same time, making sure that I am there for my family.

Off I go, and back to work.