Category: Updates

Projects

kevinriley2 Comments

I’ve always had multiple projects going on at once, but lately it seems that my mental to-do list just keeps growing. Between the household projects, my writing, 3D printing, guitar building, etc…, it seems like I’ll never get done with all of them. My wife is big on creating lists, so as much as I hate them, I decided to put together a list of all the projects I’m either currently working on or plan to start in the near future. A lot of the projects are household projects but some of the projects are personal projects (like adding a rasberry Pi/ Octopi to my 3D printer), some are for my online shop, some are for my writing (like finish the four books I’m currently working on) and some are for family and/or friends, but all of them can currently be done if I make them a priority. Additionally, each of them is an actual projects and not just a routine task I have to do often (such as mow the yard, cook dinner or do the dishes). So once I compiled the list in excel and had everything documented like that, I realized why I haven’t been writing much. As of yesterday morning I had 74 projects on the list.

At first, seeing the entire list laid out was a bit intimidating, but then I realized that very few of the projects had a specific deadline. Stuff for my son’s wedding has to be made before the wedding, and the pool landscaping would be nice to have done before we close up the pool for the winter, but otherwise the timing is up to me. And, while some of the projects are large, many of them will only require a couple hours or possibly even less. So with the list made, I now just need to determine my priorities.

I’ve already knocked out a couple projects, and prioritized some writing time, so I think the list will definitely help keep me moving forward on all of the projects, just don’t tell my wife she was right about making a list.

6 Years!

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It doesn’t seem possible that 6 years ago I took the plunge and published my first book – The Dark Genesis of Daniel James. When I first started writing it, I planned on continuing the series right away, and I even have the sequel halfway done, but then I started to play around with other characters and other worlds.

23 Hours came to me in a flash, and I liked the idea so much that I just had to write it. Being a novella, just over 20,000 words, it only took a couple months to finish 23 Hours but by the time it was done, I already had another story I just had to write; The Consciousness Puzzle.

The Consciousness Puzzle took a bit longer to finish than I expected. I was really still so new to writing and filled with self-doubt so I restarted it a couple times, bouncing between 1st and 3rd person view points, and trying different voices before finally trusting myself. I also worked on a sequel to 23 Hours, and hopped back and forth between the two projects for a while before decided to focus on The Consciousness Puzzle. Once I decided on that, and allowed my own voice to flow, I was able to finish the book.

But once again, by the time I finished The Consciousness Puzzle I had an Idea for its sequel, so as soon as I published it, I started on Zero Sum. Everything was going pretty well with Zero Sum when I had yet another idea for a book I just had to pursue – My Life As Death. I tried putting off MLAD until I finished Zero Sum, but eventually I just had to at least start it. So this past year I’ve been working on both MLAD and Zero sum, hoping to complete one so I can get another book published.

So that’s a brief look at the last 6 years of my writing. I definitely wanted to be a bit more productive than that, but I feel this year will be different, and I will definitely have at least one new book out, so keep checking back here for updates.

Writing Update 4/5/19

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My recipe posts have been getting a lot of attention recently but I want to be clear that this will not be turning into a food site. This is a writing site and the recipe posts are practice for my eventual cook book, tentatively titled “Recipes to Make While Drinking a Beer”. I like the title, even though I haven’t actually been drinking any beer while cooking (or really while doing anything else) lately. I have an obstacle course race coming up in a couple months and I’m just now starting to prepare for it.

My fitness training has cut into my writing time a little, but I’m also spending a lot more time on contracted design work. That, plus a couple new grand kids being born and a wife recovery from surgery means that I’ve not gotten a whole lot of writing done the past couple weeks. But I’m getting a routine worked out, and have several hours dedicated to writing today, so I hope to get back on track. My Life As Death continues to surprise me every time I sit down to work on it so I can’t wait to see where it goes. And Zero Sum is so close to being done that I get antsy any time I think about it. I can’t wait to share these books with all of you, so continue to check back here for updates; I’ll be needing beta readers real soon.