The biggest takeaway from my week of Infomagical is the seriously wonderful idea of narrowing my focus to one or two things and working on them until they're done. I have a bad habit of saying yes to everything, of getting excited about so many projects and/or collaborations that it becomes really difficult to keep … Continue reading (Writing) Ye Olde List of Projects
Category: Writing
(Friday Fiction) The Comfortable Clink of Silence
Working on THE CULT OF MAXIMUS has exposed a few problem areas for me as a writer -- I really need to get better at writing scenes where characters are in direct conflict, and I could stand to shore up my dialogue so that characters expose their personalities a bit better through how they speak. … Continue reading (Friday Fiction) The Comfortable Clink of Silence
(Friday Fiction) The Surprise at the End of the Hike
The sun slunk low behind the canopy as we made our way deeper into the woods. It wasn't low enough yet that the pockets of light were weaker or smaller, but it was low enough that sunbeams hit at crazy angles. You could still feel the difference in the air between the sun and the … Continue reading (Friday Fiction) The Surprise at the End of the Hike
(Writing) Episodic Pacing
I LOVE the rhythms of episodic storytelling. There's the anticipation of setting the scene, the cold open that makes the play for your attention and emotional investment right away, and the momentum that builds through a number of scenes, action set-pieces or conversations that build to a climax that ties the entire episode together through … Continue reading (Writing) Episodic Pacing
(Personal) State of the Jackalope, May 2016
The past couple of months have been marked by the death of various tech around the burrow and the attempts to replace them. Now that Bigwig (my desktop) and Hazel-rah (the new laptop) are settled for a while, I can get back to the business of writing and I'm tremendously excited about that. Hazel-rah is … Continue reading (Personal) State of the Jackalope, May 2016
(Writing) Marvels of Character
One of the benefits of holding myself to a regular writing schedule is being able to quickly identify the things I should be working on. The first couple of chapters of THE CULT OF MAXIMUS feel a little boring to me, and that's mostly because my main character -- Officer Thomas Beck -- is so … Continue reading (Writing) Marvels of Character
(Personal) Retaining Mindfulness Under Stress
So far this year has been an obstacle course, as I've mentioned a few times here. Work has flared up significantly as I shift positions and my company makes fairly major changes on an organizational and product level; priorities have been shuffled accordingly, and even though I'm getting better at juggling many things at once … Continue reading (Personal) Retaining Mindfulness Under Stress
(Personal) Where I Stand
I thought that 2016 was going to be different. With the launch of the Jackalope Serial Company and a host of opportunities for this little black geek to write stories for anthologies specifically for him, I had prepared for a big focus on storytelling. Now we're entering the middle third of the year, and the … Continue reading (Personal) Where I Stand
(Personal) April 2016: Spring Cleaning
It feels like when I sit back and look at my goals for this year and how little work I've done to actually move towards them, I have a laundry list of extenuating circumstances to account for that. In January, New Years lead right into the day job summit in New York which lead right … Continue reading (Personal) April 2016: Spring Cleaning
(Personal) A Different Kind of Work
Now that the month is almost over, I think it's safe to say that February wasn't nearly as quiet as I hoped it would be. The day job has continued to be incredibly demanding; five of the most senior members of my team were shipped off to Europe for training and integration with the company … Continue reading (Personal) A Different Kind of Work
From the Desk of Jakebe T. Rabbit 