Sleep is Over-rated

So I can't sleep. It happens. When it does, my mind tends to wander toward my writing. Tonight, it didn't land on a book, but rather on a concept; neglect.

This word brought about two very different topics within two very different books of mine. The first is Mage of Chaos, Book 1 of #ShadowGodsSeries and the characters of Dohan and Jayk. Within the pages of the novel, Dohan sees a lot of himself within the young mage, Jayk. But he also sees things he doesn't like. Things like hatred and revenge. Dohan doesn't want Jayk to follow in his footsteps so he wants Jayk's mentor to also become his friend. However, within the book I never specifically cover this and within a few moments of lying in bed staring at the wall, if figured out where I could insert this concept. Thus my night of none sleep has turned into a night of editing and writing.

The second book where the word neglect fits is in The Burden of Immortality. Now, I just finished a rewrite of the first two chapters within the book and am currently republishing, but if I had one word which describes the main character's childhood, it would be neglect. Of course, I never use that word within the book, but its fitting. In fact, to describe it best I would have to say that Drazan is like a broken toy which sits neglected in the corner and not even worth the effort of throwing away. Now take yourself and view it from Drazan's perspective. How would it feel to see your parents shun you, neglect you, dismiss you for your whole life? It would make me angry, fill me with hatred, and probably turn my attitude against myself. After all, for them to reject me would mean that there has to be something wrong with me. And this is pretty much how Drazan feels within the opening of the story.

And now that I've done my editing and writing for the night, I think it might be time to give sleep another try. Good night all. Sweet Dreams.

A New Burden

After some feedback on my novel The Burden of Immortality, I've decided to do a bit of editing/re-writing. Though the feedback was never intended for this, it made me rethink the ending of the book and how the beginning does not clearly reflect the importance the main character's parents play in his life and ultimately his selection and decision at the end. Now I don't want to give the story-line away, but the re-write (though not complete) does shift the emphasis of the first chapter on his feelings toward his childhood (which is crucial). Because that first chapter has changed completely, I now have to review and rewrite parts of the second as well as other spots throughout the book. Overall, I think it will be better for the story and, as much as I dislike editing, I'm intrigued by the possibility of expressing more feeling within the pages. Wish me luck.

On another note, I've still been working on editing Mage of Chaos of my epic fantasy series #ShadowGodsSeries as well as reaching over 30,000 words in Opal, the seventh book within the #StoneVengeanceSeries. As for the story, its about discovery, revelations, and sacrifice while providing differing views on the same. And as with most of my novels, there are hidden meaning within the word which reflect upon life (if you look for them).

What I have not been working on is Child of Need, a stand-alone book of which I'm halfway through completing. I have been considering the ending along with the next chapter(s), but I'm just not feeling the story right now. If I had more time to write, to really put time into completing one or all of my current projects, I might actually receive a sense of accomplishment. But that's not happening. Instead, I feel as if the holidays have put a damper on my true desires. Maybe in January I can make some real progress.

Until then, I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays and have an excellent New Year. Cheers!!!!

Something New

It's been a while since I posted something, but its not for lack of writing. I've actually been writing a lot. In fact, I'm 30,000 words into the next of the Stone Vengeance series, Opal. I've also been doing a little bit of writing in Valhalla and editing the first book of my Shadow Gods series. Still, I'm not as far along with the editing as I'd like to be. My mind is full of plans, but my fingers can't keep up and the holiday season does cut into what little time I do have for writing. These may be excuses, but they're truthful ones.

Now I mention Valhalla, but not the story. So here's the introduction. Enjoy the possibilities:

In the year 2028, the cost of just the prisoners on ‘death row’ rose into the hundreds of millions. Prisoners without the chance of parole brought that number into the tens of billions. And prisoners with sentences of over 25 years or more escalated the cost into the trillions. Due to this, Congress mandated the creation of Valhalla; a prisoner run facility anchored in the north Atlantic.

In all, five deep-sea oil-drilling platforms were used in the creation of Valhalla. Four platforms were anchored around a center platform and tied together by structural steel beneath the water’s surface. Also deep below the water were tidal current power generators which provided basic heat, lighting, and desalinization units for fresh water. Those mechanical components were housed in a sealed off level and are only accessible from a water level door available during low tide. Above the mechanical level were five levels of prisoner quarters. Between the four prisoner platforms, a total of 5000 prisoner could be housed.

As far as other supplies, every week helicopters flew in crates of food which were dropped on the center platform which was just like a flat table except with guide lights for visibility. Only after the supplies were dropped and the cable retrieved, were the remote-controlled retractable bridges from each of the four surrounding platforms extended allowing the prisoners to reach their food and blankets. New prisoners were also delivered to the facility in the same manner.

In the beginning the facility was stocked to its maximum capacity of five thousand prisoners and was continually restocked every week as prisoner gangs formed and died. Initially Valhalla was meant for only the worst criminals within the system, but after repeated studies indicated rehabilitation was unlikely to occur after twenty-five years of imprisonment, it became the home of many a repeat offender. Within the first year of operations, prisons started running out of prisoners to send to Valhalla. From that point on, the prison populations on Valhalla steadily dropped by the hundreds until approximately only five hundred prisoners remained alive.

It was then deemed supply runs to Valhalla occurred on a monthly basis instead of weekly.  That was three years ago. It was also at this point everyone started realizing there were no life sentences on Valhalla, only death sentences.