My dog and constant companion of almost ten years and best friend, passed away unexpectedly late last week. I don't really feel much like writing right now. I've always been a bit socially awkward so I don't have many friends. Coming home to her after a day of work was always the highlight of my day.

In case anyone is wondering what the crap happened to Battle For Earth, it's still here I just moved it into it's new Universe Organizer page aka the Earth Source Universe.

Also for those that are interested Legacy of Earth, the sequel to Battle For Earth, is up to about 45,000 words and I'm getting really close to finishing the first part. It won't, however, see the light of day until all parts are finished. Sorry.

It seems my five year anniversary with this site has gone and past more than a month without me noticing. I certainly hope I'll be around in another five years. This place is such a welcome community and though I'm not as deeply involved as some folks in these parts, I've always found the attitude friendly and inviting.

Kudos to Erin, and crew for running such a great site!

Just a little note to those that might be wondering...

Good news! I'm making the final edits to chapters 14-18 of Battle for Earth: Liberation along with the epilogue. So you can expect chapters 14-18 sometime this week and the epilogue sometime next week.

And there was much rejoicing...

Just a note for folks who are anticipating the next episode of Battle For Earth, I have some changes I want to make to said part which due to a plumbing disaster and an all around busy week haven't gotten done. As such I'm a bit tired and burnt out. I'm pretty sure the delay will be less than a week, but probably more than a few days unless I find the time (or inclination) to revise it today.

Everyone have a delightfully demented day,

D.A.W.

Well, those who've followed my stories for the last several years are probably aware that I often provide pdf and epub versions of my stories for folks to download here on bigcloset. Unfortunately, I won't be able to provide PDF documents this time around as the file sizes are much too large (bigcloset has a max file upload size of 2 mb). I could reduce them by producing inferior images or removing from the images from pdf altogether, but that's something I very am very keen on doing. If anyone is interested in a pdf download I am willing to send them a copy of the file.

Or at least it seems that way to me. You see, I've finally reached 200,000 words on Battle For Earth. Which is, well, pretty dang long and I'm not even finished yet. And considering that it's about 2.5 times as long as destiny which was previously my longest story to date that seems pretty darn impressive to my demented mind. Anyway now that I've gotten that out in the open it's time for me to drift off to sleep and venture into the lands of dreams and make believe...

Just saw this today and I was a surprised no one had posted about it here. Thought it would be of interest to a lot of the folks here.

California Becomes First State to Ban Gay, Trans 'Panic' Defenses. It's sad that someone can try to justify murder for any reason, but at least this is a positive step. I was surprised, for once most of the comments seem to be positive.

Well, it looks like the anniversary of joining the site passed me by without me noticing. I've now been a member for three years and six days and let me just say I'm glad I did wind up joining the site as is often the first place I visit when I first sit down at my computer. The community is welcome and inviting and the atmosphere is unparalleled. I'd just like to add Kudos to Erin and crew for their continued work in keeping the site up and running and for maintaining said atmosphere! :D

In my daily foray into the 'interwebs' I ran across a rather helpful blog post listing 22 apps for writers which I thought I'd share here for those interested. I only personally use two of those mentioned, Scrivener and Evernote, but the others definitely seem to be worth a look.

22 Apps and Tools Every Writer Should Know About

I've heard of jewelry and bracelets made from human hair before, but I have no actual experience with them. I know they were popular during the 18th (maybe 19th) century, but a lot of people have never even heard of them in these modern times. I don't ever intend to make such a thing or wear one, but I'm thinking of using one in my story. The tale itself is set in a dystopian future Earth where most of humanity has been enslaved by a malevolent race of aliens.

So, today I wound up doing something I reaaaaallly hate doing... I cut a rather sizable chunk of my story. In fact, I can honestly say this is the largest single consecutive piece of a story I've ever cut totaling a whopping 15,000+ words which sets me back to a little over 100,000 words. Ouch. It's rather depressing, but unfortunately it had to be done. The story was headed in a direction I did not like and the only way to back out was to take this rather significant hit. There are parts I may be able to reuse, but most of it is a complete wash.

Sorry had to vent...

Like many people here I'm on a quest... Not really a quest for gold or fabulous treasure, but I think perhaps a more mundane one. I'm looking to improve my writing skills. Every story I write I learn something new and I'd like to keep this trend going, but I've hit a bit of a snag. One of my biggest weaknesses is that I lack a complete grasp on grammar. Virtually Twisted was my first foray into the world of TG and also the first yarn I'd written in quite a while. Something I think was painfully obvious when I first posted it.