CSI Season Premiere

I’ve been waiting for this one all summer. CSI’s seventh season starts tonight and my DVR is all set to record it. Brass is back in action and we’ll finally be able to see how well Grissom and Sara can keep their relationship a secret. Personally, I think Grissom and Katherine was a better match, but the attraction between her and Warrick is interesting, too. Looks like that’ll be popping up again this season.

After CSI, there’s a new show starring James Woods called Shark. The previews look great and seems tailor-made for Woods. Woods is a Republican actor and it will be interesting to see if any of that plays into his characterization, too. The premise is solid, and as I writer I look forward to the many great stories this series has the potential to tell.

Out with the old, in with the…old?

This is the first new post in the blog. News updates from the main site have all been ported into backdated entries and now reside seamlessly here. Until I can host the blog itself on my site, I will still do what I can to see that the blog and site complement each other as much as possible. The fact that all the links from the old posts transferred without a hitch helps in that regard.

As for the title of the post, that refers to temporary posts that I used to test this blog out. Obviously, they are no longer here.

Now that I have the blog set up and working how I want it, I can hopefully do all kinds of updates since I can now do them from anywhere. As easy as it is, I’m actually trying to work on getting this set up for my Sunday School class, too. It’s perfect for it.

Last of the old posts

So much for soon, but it is down. There really wasn’t much point in having a guestbook anyway. Even if this site at some point does generate some real traffic, the forum is more than sufficient to make up for it.

Also, because I could, I added my Xbox LIVE gamercard info on the front page. It’s a way for anyone interested to see what games I’ve played on my Xbox360 (when it comes in–I’m still on backorder) and what I’ve accomplished in them. The icon I currently use is a character from the popular Halo games with a black/orange swirl in the background. Bengal colors. Who Dey?! (Here’s hoping for a 13-3 season).

I’ve taken out the placeholders for Deleted scenes links on my books. Aside from the fact that I just don’t get the time to update this site like I’d like, that particular feature would really never be that much of a draw. Again, if someone should be interested, the forum is the best place for something like that.

I really do intend to be more vigilant on updating this site, but who knows when that will be? I’m on Chapter 9 currently in Fallen Sparrows and only have about 2 more chapters after that before I finish my first draft. That’s my top priority, but even finding time for that is difficult. Thanks to those of you who have stopped by and looked around. I really hope you’re enjoying it. Your prayer and support is invaluable. Until next time…

Edit: The gamerpic for my Xbox Live card is (as of this post) Gimli from Lord of the Rings. It may or may not have changed by the time you see it.

Demise of the guestbook

The guestbook will be coming down soon. The only people using it are only using it to subtly advertise stuff like cialis. That is not what this site is about.

Edit: This was mentioned in other post edits, but this post is here for the sake of keeping a complete archive of previous posts.

Site updates and a conference

Time for another update. Fallen Sparrows is complete up to chapter 4 now. I’ve updated some of the pages for its section of the site, repairing a few incorrect links in the process. I hope to get a couple more pages up for it soon, meaning some time this month.

Lord willing, I have a one day Christian Writers’ Conference to attend on April 16th in Columbus (just two days after my birthday). Some of you may remember that I tried to attend a couple of them two years ago when some unexpected car trouble came up. Thankfully, with the car I have now, that is not expected to be a problem. I am looking forward to the learning experience as well as the opportunities it may present. Please pray that this will not only be possible, but aid in getting my stories into the hands of people who need them.

The site itself has been getting some notice, as you’ll see from the Guestbook page. It is always encouraging for me to receive feedback like that. It makes the costs of maintaining a low traffic web site worth it. Every life touched confirms that this is what God wants me to do, and I am thrilled to be able to do it.

I have begun submitting pieces of Fallen Sparrows to a critique circle on Faithwriters.com. An early response has already confirmed that the first chapter sets up the pacing perfectly. As I get more critiques in, excerpts will appear on the appropriate Reviews page. I also have the option of posting To Every Thing a Purpose as a rudimentary e-book, as well. It will be interesting to see how that goes.

Hopefully, I’ll get another site update soon, so if any of you out there are keeping up with me, you’ll have a reason to come back. Thanks for stopping by. God bless.

Edit: I did get to go to that conference and it was both educational and a blessing. It’ll be awhile before I can do another one, but I absolutely intend to.

Star Wars

All the pages for ‘To Every Thing a Purpose’ that already existed for the previous site format has been ported over to the new format and all the links should be up to date. Anything added now will be completely new. Also, ported over the About Me page and converted the photo of me on the home page to an e-mail link so you can contact me if you wish.

More updates will be coming soon, but not too soon. The Star Wars Trilogy DVDs are coming out today. I may be busy for a few days.

Edit: Oddly enough, this is almost 2 years to the date since Lucas released these DVDs again with the theatrical versions on them. I didn’t buy them since I’m satisfied with the newer ones, but I did pick up Lego Star Wars II for my Xbox360 on trade-in and loved every minute of it.

A much longer update

This has been the first update in exactly seven months, but it has been quite a busy seven months. Unless this is your first visit, chances are you’ve already noticed the biggest change. The format of the site has changed, including new custom-made graphics. Some pages now no longer use frames, but they never really needed them, anyway. The Feedback section still sports the old color scheme, but changing that involves more work and time than I can give it. Since it works well enough on its own, I’m just going to leave it for the time being.

Another huge update lies in a whole new section based on my new work-in-progress, the novel “Fallen Sparrows”. Work has actually begun on it, and it is the main reason a major site overhaul was necessary. As of today, I have almost two chapters completed. The portion of the site for this novel hasn’t been built yet, but you should be seeing it fairly soon. The hardest work was converting the rest of the site, including checking all the links, and most of that is done now. Of course, work on the novel is top priority, but updates are a lot easier and more convenient to do than redesigning a web site.

The “To Every Thing a Purpose” portion of the website is down for the moment, but that is coming next. My apologies to anyone visiting the site wishing to download the novel to read. It will be back up very soon, I promise. It is people like you who keep me encouraged and excited about writing. Trust me, this newest story is going to be awesome.

I’m also going to be expanding each of the novel sections a little bit. Each will have a page talking about the various main and supporting characters. These pages won’t contain any spoiler information, but if anyone’s wondering who some of the real life people are that inspired certain characters, this is where you will find it. There is also going to be a “Deleted Scenes” page for each book. Usually a feature you see on DVDs, I do have a couple scenes from each novel so far that have been scrapped entirely. In the case of “Fallen Sparrows” they have been completely rewritten. These pages are where you will see what was originally written and be able to judge for yourself if I made the right choice in tossing them. They’re more curiosity pages than anything, but someone may be interested.

The most subtle update to the site is an icon with a link in support of the reelection of our President George W. Bush and our vice President Dick Cheney. This is not a political site, so I won’t debate why Bush is the right choice and Kerry isn’t. There are plenty of sites for that, and that is not the purpose for this one. This is a personal site, so I limit my politics here to simply stating that George W. Bush is the candidate I support.

Anyway, keep checking back for all the updates and news regarding my writing and efforts to publish it. God Bless!

Edit: The deleted pages wasn’t so great an idea in retrospect and was just too much in light of everything else I want and wanted to do. Fallen Sparrows is still a great story in my opinion. I haven’t finished because I haven’t been able to get the creative juices flowing at the same time that I’ve had time to write. That and ideas have been coming fast and heavy for the next story.

Also, now that this is a blog, I won’t mind posting political items from time to time and maybe even allowing comments for them (moderated, of course).

Be a Man

There’s a new poem, “Be a Man” in the poetry section. I have a short story in progress that has a lot of promise and hopefully will have it finished and up soon. You may also notice the counter has changed again. This one is hosted by a Christian site and updates when anyone else but me visits the site. Please visit often as a lot of hits will rank me higher on some of the sites I’m listed at, and that in turn will bring more new traffic here. I know the site is still relatively new, but it can be discouraging to work so hard on a site and not receive any feedback, much less any traffic at all. Oh, well. Have to start somewhere, right?

Rate me

The biggest change is the new 5-star rating system in place for the short stories and snippets. The first snippet still has yet to be written as I’ve been concentrating on the site itself. You can see each story’s rating at a glance from the Short Stories index page, and add your own rating to the average from each story’s individual page (“Whispers” can be rated on page 10).
I’ve changed the counter to a hosted script so now it doesn’t update every time someone refreshes the page. With it being smaller, too, it’s now less intrusive.

For the world to see

The site is live now! It is coming up on a few search engines already, with many more to come. A couple reader reviews have been added to the “To Every Thing a Purpose” section, so you no longer have to take just my word for it that it’s a good story. The short story section is up and running with the exception of the snippets, and the idea is already brewing for my first one. I’m trying to figure out how to add a poll to each on so readers can rate them. (Besides, who doesn’t like a good poll?) All in all, some pretty good progress these past few days.