Frustration...sometimes it's difficult to be a writer/artist...sometimes the idea of having a real job seems so tempting and you wonder why you spent 6.5 years at colleges that gave you a degree to teach at colleges...I'm teaching art, but is that enough? I should have been a history teacher...or, at 6 ft 7 in and 285lbs a construction worker (or body guard/bouncer)...hmmm...well, editing is going okay...I picked up my own copy of Entropy Gate - Journey and it feels good to know that there are 200 copies out there (some across the ocean). But it needs to be a primary source of income...it has to become the bread winner. I know it can become that...but it's just going to take time...I wish I wasn't so impatient...sigh (cue sad music)...enough (cue triumphant music) of this pity party crap!!!! Time to get back at it!!! YEAH!

Slowin' down a bit, but still chuggin' away...word count: 127,172 page 193 of 513

Really getting back into it...128,714 words...page 182 of 519.

I'm on page 177 out of 523 pages...I'm down to 129,708 words...it's really a much better story now. It moves a lot quicker. Looks like I'll hit my 100,000 word goal before Christmas.

130,700 words down from over 155,000...editing has been slow, but it's making for a tighter, much more readable story. I'm very excited about resubmitting to some of the agencies!

Jake's graphic novel is on line now...click HERE.

My muse...Kristi.

Here's the new den...

Finally getting back to work on the book. I’ve been busy with back-to-school stuff, but it looks like I’m going to get back into an editing routine.

Here was another meal that almost killed me...this time it's my wife's fault...past shells with spinache, beef, sauce and cheese!

You should have gone to the other blog...thy clocking HERE.

I know that it's only August...but the November write-a-thon is just around the corner...

There is some really cool art at this guy's blog...

I have some stuff going on at the Darkness Aftermath Report blog...link to it here.

editing has been slow going this weekend...had to replace an 80 year old toilet in the house before it could come crashingthrough the floor into the dining room...thanks for the help, bro...

We site? I've got to read my posts better before posting them...in the previous one I refered to my we site...meant web site...

Also...I've been thinking about posting bits of the HOPE manuscript on a blog...

Editing is an interesting process…what I hate is the time consumption…time I could spend telling new stories instead of rehashing old ones…however, as I was editing today, I recalled a frequent comment…most people said (regarding my book) "once you get into it, it really moves and is hard to put down…" (or some such thing.) I always focused on the latter part…but I’m realizing that there is a lot of excess in the first part of the book that really DOES slow the reader down…I’m cutting out anything that seems to slow down the story…the manuscript was 154,500 words…I’m a little over half way through part one and it’s down to 135, 655…I actually can’t wait to go back and read it once it’s done…

A little web page update…the guy who is helping me with the we page has had a series of family problems and I don’t want to bug him to help me get it finished…hopefully we’ll be able to tackle it this weekend.
Also, occasionally I’ll post something here or at the other blog and it won’t have a picture along side…but then, viola, a few days later there is a picture…this is due to the fact that my home computer is dial up and my ITT (work) computer is not. I can’t seem to get blogger to accept my images from the home computer no matter how long I wait.
And one final thing…this post is also on the other blog…the only time I’ll "double post" is in situations like this…

Someone asked what HOPE was about...I thought I'd give a brief description (without spoilers) of each story. JOURNEY, BEYOND, REPERCUSSIONS and RETURN are all stories about Michael Connelly and his "Journey". A more descriptive...Description, will soon be posted at the site...ICONS is actually the first in the entire EG saga...right now it is merely five pages long and most likely destined to be a graphic novel...it sets up events that take place in BEYOND...but it actually takes place during the Italian renaissance...I have a drawing of the characters and will post it soon...FIRST GATES was written during a one month period of coffee induce speed writing two years ago. There is a site that encourages one month of writing (November) and there is a challenge to bang out a novel with a certain, insane word count. I was ahead of schedule most of the way, but then, with only five days left, I awoke one morning with a cold that trashed me until Christmas break...the story (horribly written) involves a young girl in High School who discovers that there is a portal in her closet...early Entropy gate stuff...the book actually takes place in the 80's and 90's as it tracks her from New Haven High School to the University of Saint Francis to Bowling Green...I went to all of those places and even make a cameo...man was I drinking WAAAAAYY too much coffee...I don't know if it will ever get edited...it's that bad...I might just rewrite the entire thing from scratch...DARKNESS AFTERMATH is best described here...and finally, the HOPE...It's hard to explain really because what it does is answer all of the questions that are raised and hinted at in the entire series...it's sort of the background, subtext, hints and allegations, secrets, truths and yadda, yadda of the series...if you have had the opportunity to read JOURNEY or BEYOND, then you know that the HOPE is the name of the doomed ship that...well...is responsible for many of the problems that Michael encounters...there...vague enough for you?
P.S. The sandwich...has nothing to do with Entropy Gate...I just made it for lunch the other day, ate the whole thing and was unable to do any writing or editing because I was about to explode...

I've been editing Journey and I've actually got about ten pages of The HOPE written...

Anyone interested in reading Entropy Gate - Beyond (the sequal to the Journey) can email me and I'll gladly send them a text file...provided you reply with comments and suggestions afterward.

The daily grind...I hate editing...it's so unlike writing for me...I decided that while I'm editing Journey, I'd also work on HOPE. Problem is, HOPE is kind of dark...so I've been tempted to work outside of the Entropy Gate universe on a romantic comedy that I promised my wife I would eventually do for her...it's called Artist Knight...but, like I said, it's not EG so I'll probably not have any updates here...might need to have yet another blog for that...

Someone asked about the four books in the trilogy...er, quadrilogy...Why four...why not three or why not go the route of the left behind series and have a 147 books, or how ever many they have now...

Well, to be honest, when the book sells and if it really takes off (giving me time to write more) I do have other stories to tell. Here is the full list in chronological order of events...

(asterix implies the original 4)

ICONS
HOPE
Entropy Gate - First Gates (I wrote this two years ago during the Nov. write-athon)
Entropy Gate - Journey*
Entropy Gate - Beyond*
Entropy Gate - Repercussions*
Darkness Aftermath
Entropy Gate - Return*

Just got another rejection slip for the Entropy Gate manuscript. It was humorous in the fact that the first line of the letter was "I am sorry that this is a form letter...I hate getting them and hate sending them..." They all ready had their maximum manuscripts for the year and were no longer accepting any.

No sweat...there,s more out there...

I just realized that this site states that the entropy Gate web site is down...I'll need to change that...it's up and running now...I just submitted to 4 more publishers today. Feels good to get the book out there.

I have another blog going...if you've been to the web site, you might be aware of DARKNESS AFTERMATH...this is the Darkness Aftermath Report.

hello? (there is a long, drawn out echo...)

Finally Entropy Gate is back on track...the web site is up and running, thanks to JOHN LYONS!!! Kudo to my brother as well for all he has done...the book has been going through a severe editing thanks in part to the Scribe, Mary Lou and Anne, and thanks to Steve Laub...more on him later...

There are several new additions to the EG web site...the second half of Vow of the Sword is going to be available early next week...FINALLY! It's been done for over a year, I've just not been able to get the site going to show all of the really fantastic artwork that went into it!

Also new is the expanded page on the web site...there are still some pages that need to be worked on, but the DARKNESS AFTERMATH page is worth the look...

And speaking of D.A., there will be a blog for that as well...hopefully as soon as Saturday...

sorry it's been so long...

So where have I been?

Busy, for one, but everyone is busy. I've just been trying to prioritize my life...three jobs, two kids, a wife, two cats a dog, book covers, writing, fixing up the house, (all of the DVDs I got at Christmas), reading (two books right now, William F. Buckley's the Right Word and David Gallertner's Drawing Life - a D.G. was one of the Unibomber's victims), digging cars out of the snow, chipping away at ice...well, you get the picture...blogging hasn't been at the top of the list. Neither has the revamped web site, but that, unfortunately, is due to finances. Who knows when it'll be ready...it was supposed to be done many moons ago. When the money is there, it'll be up and running.

more later...

Happy New Year!