What Now?

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After getting kicked out of high school, I never thought I’d go to college. Ten years later I convinced myself to pursue a degree in Computer Application Development in order to have a career that would better provide for my family. The funny thing is, that by the time I completed that degree my career took off in a completely different direction, focusing on graphic, color and material, and CAD design. I worked with a lot of great people and had a lot of great experiences, but after 20 years with that company, I felt a need to change direction, so in 2018 I left, unsure of what was next. Freelancing provided time for me to pick a direction, but Covid really was the catalyst that made me decide to go back to school and pursue a second degree, this time focusing on Mechanical Engineering Technologies. And I am pleased to say that Monday night was my final class for this degree. The final grades haven’t been posted yet, but for all intents and purposes, I am done. In a funny twist of fate, my career decided to take a little different direction about six months ago, and even though I am in an engineering position, my main projects are more focused on Computer Application Development then on Engineering Technologies, but I love the job and the company, so it all worked out. The only question is, “Now what?” For the last couple years I have structured my life around school, so now that I’m done, I will have to decide what projects I want to focus on the most (besides the projects directed by the wife). The guitar building is still going strong so I know I will continue working on them, but I don’t think I’m going to dedicate a whole lot of additional time to that pursuit. I enjoy it, but I feel I’ve been spending the right amount of time on it. What I have not been spending enough time on is my writing. MLAD has been done for quite a while, but I really haven’t done anything with it yet. It’s time to get it out in the world. And while I have been working on the sequel, it’s only about half done, and I plan on having it completed this year. I also plan on finishing the sequel to The Consciousness Puzzle soon. In order to do this, I’m going to have to spend a lot more time with my butt in the chair, pounding on the keyboard, so I guess that’s my plan going forward…Butt in chair, hands on keyboard. I’m sure I’ll come up with plenty of other, creative projects to fill my time, but I really want to have at least two books out this year, and preferably three. It’s going to be a huge undertaking but I have a lot me free time now, so stick around to see how it turns out.

My Life As Death on Wattpad

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Hey Guys! I know many of you read My Life As Death here as I was writing it, but for those who haven’t read it, or those wanting an easy way to read it again, I have put it up on Wattpad here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/255746411-my-life-as-death-a-grim-beginning.

I am still pursuing publishing options for MLAD, but in the mean time, I want to make sure anyone who wants to read it, can. I love this story so I want to make sure it stays available for anyone and everyone. I am also continuing to work on the sequel, but I will not be serializing the continuing adventures of Nate and Weed here, or elsewhere. I’ve got many projects going on so I cannot guarantee I will be able to complete a chapter each week. But I’m starting my final class for my engineering degree, and my career has stabilized, so I do plan on posting a new entry on this blog each week, so stay tuned for updates on MLAD, its sequel, and the other novels I’m currently working on, as well as descriptions of the new guitars I’m building as well.

Fletching Jigs

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A few years ago, my youngest son got me into archery. I mean, I remember shooting recurve bows as a kid, and it was fun, but I never really got into it until he got interested. We loved it, and got to where we were shooting compound bows multiple times each week. The only problem was that we were not very good, so the fletching on our arrows suffered quite often. New arrows were expensive, and we were poor, but I did have access to a 3D printer so I designed a jig to help us re-fletch our arrows. The first version worked, but it was very rudimentary. I refined the design over the years, shared the 3D files on thingiverse and even started selling them on Etsy , so I don’t know why I’ve never really discussed them on here. I tend to sell 1-2 a week, and I just do it to help out other archery enthusiasts who can’t afford the expensive fletching jigs and/or don’t have the space. I’m proud of the jigs. They’re not perfect, but they’re perfect for hobbyists so it’s something I keep doing in my spare time.

Last week, out of the blue, I was contacted about the jigs by two individuals from companies linked to archery products. It looks like they were both connected, and one expressed interest in possibly purchasing bulk quantities. Unfortunately, it takes 4 hours to print one, and then 5-10 minutes for me to assemble each, so mass production is not an option right now. I responded to each, offering to discuss the jigs with them, but I have not heard back so I don’t know if anything else will progress with it. But the experience did prompt me to finally finish my next iteration of the jig. I spent some time the past few days finally dialing everything in so I can now print the jig with no assembly required. It increased the print time to 6 hours, but it saves me the cost of the adhesive, the assembly time and the overnight wait for the adhesive to fully cure, so it’s definitely worth it. It also removes the variation in assembly, so the jigs should be able to be even more accurate.

I’ve always used 2″ vanes, so that’s what I designed the jigs for, but I’ve had multiple requests for 3″ versions, so while I was making adjustments I finally completed that version too, though I have not printed one yet. I also don’t currently have any 3″ vanes to test it on, but I plan on picking some up this week, so I should be able to verify that design and offer it for sale as-well. Each of these jigs aligns the vanes perfectly straight, and many archers like a slight twist to their vanes, so that will be the next version I need to do, but it’ll probably have to wait until the end of the year.

I’m Still Here

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5 months. That’s how long it’s been since I’ve posted here, so I’m long overdue for an update. School has been kicking my butt but thankfully my accelerated class finished last week, so now I’m only taking two classes each week and they’re both done by 8:30 at night, usually sooner. It also means that my homework is pretty much cut in half too, so I’m finally going to have a little free time to work on other things, I think.

Even though school has been taking up most of my free time, I have continued working on guitars. I went from building and selling a couple each month, to not even finishing one each month. I hate not being able to work on them, and continuing to build the business, but I know it’s only a temporary slow down.

There’s also been a temporary slow down in my writing, but I’m continuing to work on it as I can, as-well. The sequel to My Life As Death is currently over 14,000 words, and if you enjoyed the first one (still not available anywhere but this website… yet :)), then you’re definitely going to enjoy this one. Nate and Weed are maturing… a little… and having a blast with a lot of new experiences, while trying to navigate this thing called life…and death. I have no idea when it’ll be done, or when I’ll even share a little of it with you guys, but I can’t wait. I’ve already realized that this will be a trilogy, and I know how it ends, so I’m excited to fins out everything that happens in-between.

I’ve got a few other writing projects in the works, and I’ll share those details eventually as-well, but for now I’m keeping them to myself. One thing I will share with you, and I’ve literally shared this with only two other people so far, is the fact that I will most likely be starting a new job. When I left work today, I had a voicemail about a new position I’d interviewed for a couple weeks ago. Nothing is official yet, but I was told they’re working through the process with HR and I should be receiving an offer next week. This could throw a wrench into everything, because the position is one that will require a whole lot of learning and effort on my part, but I’m up for any new adventure.

So, there’s the long over-due update. Hopefully it won’t be another 5 months before the next one.

S’mores Bars

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The other week at work I got hungry early in the day so I ran to the little marketplace down the hall from the labs I work in. I’d never seen the Golden Grahams S’mores bars before, but it sounded good so I grabbed one. The thing was awesome, but definitely not worth the $2.30 I was charged. And since I’m between semesters I have more time to cook, which means I have more opportunities to try new things, so I decided to come up with my own version. I used Golden Grahams cereal in my first attempt, and it was good, but my second attempt, with actual graham crackers was exactly what I wanted so I’ve decided to share the recipe. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of the snack before we ate it all.

1 Box (14.4 oz) Honey Maid graham crackers – crushed

4 tablespoons of butter

10 oz mini marshmallows

½ cup chocolate chips

Crush graham crackers and put in large bowl for mixing.
Melt butter in a non-stick pan
Reserve 1 cup of marshmallows and add the rest to the melted butter, mixing continuously.
Mix the melted and reserved marshmallows as well as the chocolate chips into the crushed graham crackers.
Dump mixture into greased 9×13 pan, cover with wax paper and press down to a uniform layer.
Allow to cool before cutting into bars.

End of the Semester

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Many of you probably know that I’m going back to school for a second degree, this time in Mechanical Design. Working full time, and going to school full time doesn’t leave a lot of extra time for other things, which is why I haven’t updated here lately, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing anything else. I’ve had to slow down my guitar building, but I’ve still managed to finish a couple custom requests and a couple extra guitars for my online store. They’re still selling pretty well, at an average of 2 a month, but I have far more ideas for builds than I can currently work on, which can be a little aggravating. Here are a couple of the recent builds:

In addition to the guitar building, I’ve also been writing. Not nearly as much as I would like, but I’m happy just to be able to write. I’ve mainly been working on the sequel to My Life As Death as well as the sequel to The Consciousness Puzzle. Both are coming along nicely but I have no idea when either will be done.

Next week is my final week of this semester, though, so I hope to be able to focus even more time on writing, and possibly guitar building in the near future, so I also hope to be updating this blog more frequently.

New Opportunities

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Amazon really created the whole e-book and indie-author revolution. And they’ve been the best choice for many, many authors since 2007. I was a little late to the party, publishing my first book in 2013, but they were still the biggest and best option for me. I experimented with trying other platforms over the years, but staying exclusive with Amazon always proved to be the right choice, until now.

I am happy to announce, that each of my books is now available on every e-book platform, as well as paperback. Additionally, hardback editions will be coming in the near future. I’m not sure what direction I will be going with future books, but right now I want to make sure my books are available to the largest audience, so you can find links to them on your favorite platforms including Apple, Kobo, Scribd, and more at:

23 hours – https://books2read.com/u/4AYNdo

The Consciousness Puzzle – https://books2read.com/u/baz1pv

The Dark Genesis of Daniel James – https://books2read.com/u/mVBdBZ

And from now until the end of March you can get each of them for only $0.99 everywhere except for Amazon!

Looking for Direction

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I’ve been bouncing around between a few writing projects lately and want to decide on one to focus on, so I reached out to the two people who have been supporting my writing from the beginning, my brother and sister. One suggested working on the sequel to The Consciousness Puzzle while the other was emphatic about me continuing on with the sequel to My Life As Death. Since I got no resolution from turning to them, I’m now turning to the readers of this blog. Please let me know what you think:

An Ideal Day – Almost

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For some reason I woke up early yesterday, even after going to bed much later than usual. Based on this, I really didn’t have high expectations for the day but I was pleasantly surprised. After finishing my coffee, I headed to my laptop and got some writing done. The sequel to The Consciousness Puzzle has been almost done for quite a while, but I wasn’t completed happy with a couple parts, though I didn’t know why. Listening to the Writing Excuses podcast has helped me identify what I need to do to help the story, so I decided to work on it and I made some nice progress.

When I got to a good stopping point on the writing, I moved in to my school work and managed to get that done. Afterwards, I wanted to do some guitar work, but the weather here in my part of Ohio made standing out in an uninsulated shed sound less appealing, so instead I stayed on the laptop, but switched over worked on a couple new guitar designs.

After working on the guitar designs, I actually got a great workout. I used to workout routinely, but the past year and a half has conspired against me and my workouts, so I was really happy with how well I did and how my body responded. Work, school and all my extracurricular activities will still make it difficult to get back into it as much as I would like, but I’ll be happy if I can get this type of workout twice a week.

Even with shoveling, showering and cooking dinner, I still had plenty of time to actual read for fun. I don’t spend nearly enough time reading, so it has taken way to long to get through even the second book of the Maze Runner series, but I’m enjoying it, even at this slow pace.

So all-in-all, Sunday was just about an ideal day for me. The only way it could have been better was if it was 70-75 degrees and I could have gotten on the motorcycle and out in my shed. I hope your Sunday was as good as mine.