Gunpowder and Ink!

You know, it’s already been one heckuva crummy year… and now nationwide rioting? Seriously?

The entire world united after Floyd’s death to condemn the dirt bag cop who never paid attention in Suspect Handling 101, along with his 3 fellow officers who did nothing but stand there as a man suffocated to death.

The entire world.

White, black, grey, everyone.

And here is something else we should all agree on now. We should be able to separate peaceful protestors from violent rioting opportunists who are stealing TVs and Cheesecakes from the Cheesecake Factory in Floyd’s name or setting fire to apartments then blocking Fire Fighters from saving children inside. (All three of these things actually happened.)

We should be able to stand with one group in solidarity while universally condemning the other.

But no.

There are an incredible bunch of dumbasses out there who support the rioters. It’s the “Voice of the Unheard!” The same dipshits who think that we apparently need a race war to get TRUE EQUALITY IN AMERICA. Oh, they don’t come out and say this. They never would. Instead they pay for the bail of protestors… who are by the way called rioters… the same violent people who are throwing bricks and bottles at cops and shattering store windows and stealing crap, are having their bails paid for by liberal celebrities.

That should be called ‘Funding Terrorism’.

Why aren’t you nincompoops paying for black owned businesses that were torched in the name of ‘justice’?

That’d make too much sense, wouldn’t it?

Riots never make anything better. Ever. They simply destroy the environments the very people they are supposed to be helping live and work in. They reinforce stereotypes and piss every reasonable minded person off.

Protesting does make things better. It raises awareness, it brings attention to a cause, it shows strength in numbers. It’s a good thing. That’s why it’s the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights in the freaking Constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

But charging police lines and getting shot in the face by a rubber bullet for chucking a piece of asphalt is called karma for being a violent law breaking moron. You’re lucky you aren’t being shot with an actual bullet and toe tagged after the battle. THAT would be true police brutality and the sort of thing that happens under a REAL dictatorship. Not the sort of dictatorship where the President ‘tweets mean things’, or the sort where over 600,000 plus law enforcement officers have millions of peaceful and law abiding interactions with civilians every day.

-sigh-

Stupid. Absolutely stupid.

God bless and protect the Thin Blue Line from you violent lunatics.

Book #3 is coming along nicely.

The first book took me two years to write, the second took me a year, and I’m hoping to pound out the third in six months.

That means I’ve got to really get on the ball. I think I can do it. And a book in six months is pretty professional. Heck, it’s probably way better than professional. But I’ve got to put out QUALITY writing. I don’t want to be a Nora Roberts equivalent who spits out a romance novel every three months. (Not that I plan on writing romance, unless the market REALLY takes a turn for the worse and I get desperate!)

All this means is that the first book really needs to sell well so Severed Press will demand an immediate sequel that is already written. Or else my stories will end with a quick and premature death. And I’ve a LOT more to write about in this world I’ve created.

So if I’ve sent you the first manuscript, and you liked it, buy a copy when it comes out. Then buy several more for your friends and family. Drive up the sales. Make it look popular. Heck, MAKE it popular!

But it’s been great to go back to the ‘early days’ of writing a book. Where the pages are blank and I’m just beating that keyboard like it owes me money. It’s the editing process that is SO tedious and time consuming… the rough drafting process is what I really love.

Because writing is problem solving. You’ve a million little issues that have to mesh together, not just the over arching story line and plot – which certainly has to go together, but figuring out each individual character’s subplot as well. (Because they all have a purpose, a reason for being and doing what they do, and that has to be explored and expounded upon.) It’s like a giant 2,000,000 piece puzzle that you get to cut the pieces to size and put them together how you see fit.

It’s just fun. Most of the time.

Also I just wrote an awesome intro scene that really drives home who my main character is and the lengths he is willing to go to do what he feels is right regardless of what the law says. And that’s Jedidiah Huckleberry Smith in a nutshell – Dark, quirky humor, with a morally ambiguous code of ethics, and the willingness to resort to gun play at moment’s notice.

🙂

As for an update on when West of Prehistoric will come out – I don’t know anything yet. But the contract has been signed and I’m eager to start the publishing process.

As for a personal update.

I’m a Jeep guy, I’ve a built 2001 Jeep Wrangler that I’ve had since 2005 and will continue to have until the day my kids inherit it. I also bought another 2001 Cherokee XJ recently for a daily driver. (Sure, I could have something nicer like a Jeep Gladiator Truck… But debt is stupid.)

And because I can’t help but tinker sometimes, I removed the fender flares, cut the fender wells larger, and installed some armor on the back end to protect the tail lights. Sure, it’s just a daily driver, but it was built by a guy from NC4X4.com forum with upgraded suspension, axle shafts, lockers, etc and it’d be a shame to not take the kiddos out in something more comfortable than my TOY Wrangler.

Here’s the after/before pictures.

Turned out pretty well. I’ve still got a few rivnuts to fix on the body armor. (Rivnuts are the suckith.) And I managed to only cut myself once working the angle grinder when I cut the wheel wells open. 🙂 Now the wife says I need some rocker guard armor on it, and I agree. So that’s in the future.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how a daily driver gradually turns into an offroading toy!

Publishing Contract Signed!

Severed Press will be publishing my book.

http://www.severedpress.com/

I’m pretty stoked. From everything I’ve read, they are an amazing publishing company and best of all their covers are works of art. (Yeah, I’m shallow like that. Nothing sinks a book faster than poor covers… except poor writing!)

Woohoo!

Sequel is finished!

Whew.

My first sequel finished, and my first feedback is that it’s as good as the first.

I’ll take that as two huge wins.

How does it feel? Pretty darn good. I managed to knock out the sequel in almost exactly a year. My goal was to have it finished by Dec which would have been about a half year, but for personal mental health reasons, that didn’t happen. But a year… while working a full time job and being a full time father and husband? That’s pretty sweet. In comparison, the first book took me almost two years… but to be fair to myself – there was a massive learning curve I had to overcome.

But now I’ve proven I can do it. I can write. Repeatedly. And churn out good entertaining work. That’s awesome. Am I a writer yet? I think so!

Anyways, I’m pretty stoked.

And now it’s time to start on the third one.

Gotta strike while the irons hot!

But, first – A song of Victory must be had. Oh yes… Victory!

I added a gallery… over there ->

People love pictures, so I figured I’d throw some up and update it from time to time. If you’re on a computer, they are on the right side of the screen now. If you’re on a phone/ipad/fire/whatever, they’re probably at the bottom.

Yay pictures!

(And I even threw one in of me showing some leg from back in college… before I learned how to squat with heavy weights.)