Current Reading Material

I get friends that ask me for book recommendations quite frequently. (I'm honored that people think I have such good taste.) So, I thought I'd try something new and make a point to start posting up what I'm currently reading--and I'm always in the process of reading something. (Thus my "recommended" section.) Currently, I'm reading Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld, who just so happens to be one of my favorite authors. (And who I had the honor of meeting not too long ago, in case you missed that update.) It's a steam punk YA that takes place during WWI. I'm fairly new to the world of steam punk literature, this being only the second such book of that nature that I've read, but really enjoying it so far.

Status Update

Stick a fork in Chapter 11...it's done. Now, on to the next, which I'm very eager to write. Poor Mr. Taylor is finally going to have to face his demons. I almost feel bad for what I'm about to do to him. Almost.

Spare time? Never heard of it....

I hardly know how to act having an entire weekend ahead of me with nothing major going on and more astonishing, NO WORK! My job, among other things, has really eaten up my free time lately and my creative mind is frustrated. On the bright side, I've been working on procedure manuals, so at least I'm getting paid to write, right? Ha ha ha! I'm really excited about the turn my story is in the process of taking, but alas! No time to work on it. But I fully intend to rectify that problem this weekend. On a side note, important update coming up tomorrow. At least, it's important to me, and since this is MY blog, that's what matters!

Fresh Inspiration

Ideas randomly show up in the weirdest places, don't they? So I had a really bizarre dream last night--the kind that jolts you awake, heart racing and asking yourself, "Did that really just happen?" It kind of sat with me today, and I'll admit it, unsettled me for a little bit and I found myself wondering, "What if that really was reality?" The more I thought about it and imagined how various scenarios would play out in this little alternate world I'd created, the more the whole concept grew on me. To summarize: I have a really GREAT idea for another book...completely unrelated to what I'm working on now. I'm not abandoning my current project and I still plan to finish up my next chapter this weekend. But, I will be setting some time aside to get some of these new thoughts down "on paper" and do a few rough character sketches while they are fresh on my mind. That way, when I am ready to come back and tackle this new project, it will all be ready and waiting for me. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Update

Just a few quick notes. 1) You can now follow me on Twitter too @MJStafford2011. Which, is basically going to be the same thing you read here. :) Be sure to check out some of the great authors on there. As much as I hate to admit it, it's a great source for getting updates on what they're working on that they might not take the time to update elsewhere. 2) I am about halfway through my next chapter and will hopefully be finishing it up by the end of the week. I'm really excited about getting started on the NEXT chapter, so I'm pretty motivated to wrap this one up. My poor protagonist has been repressing some pretty serious inner demons so far, but in the next chapter, he's going to have to face them. It's one of the big events in the story that I've been really looking forward to writing since I started. (Yes, it truly doesn't take much to please me...sometimes.)

Another Week Down

Whew! This has been one heck of a week! I would love to report that I've made notable progress on my next chapter, but alas, an unforeseen root canal from hell prevented that. Ouch! Seeing as the only thing I've ever done successfully while on pain meds is beat the original Tomb Raider on Playstation, I decided it was probably best to focus my energy on recovering instead. Otherwise my characters would have likely found themselves engaged in battle with prehistoric sea monsters or trying to eat their way our of a 2,000 pound wheel of cheese or something as equally bizarre, and to be honest, that's just not what I have planned for them. Nevertheless, in the spirit of progress, after having received some very helpful information from some fellow authors and family members, I've been exploring the option of self publication, both independent and in conjunction with Amazon. Not that I'm to that point yet, but it never hurts to always look ahead and explore all your options, right? In closing, I just want to add that I am very excited about the release of the Movie adaptation of Patticus Lore's I Am Number Four tonight. (Interesting stuff about "Patticus" if you take the time to look into "it.") I can't wait to get to the theater to see it tomorrow night! If you haven't seen the trailer yet, you should check it out. And if you haven't read the book yet, I highly recommend it!

Major Update

At last, I have a power cord again! (Thanks Ed!) OK, so it's not the new power cord that I probably should have ordered over a month ago--it's more like a cut apart and taped together version of the one I already had and I'm sure it's a fire hazard in at least 5 different ways. But the point it, it works! (Which simplifies things considerably.) AND, not only that, but I actually finished my next chapter! AND, an outline for the NEXT chapter. Now I'm off to type it up so I can make the needed revisions. See, told you I was back in the swing of things again. What? Did anyone actually doubt me?