Monday, January 26, 2009

Photoshop Class #3 at The Designory

So my third Photoshop class here at The Designory is as a moderator for a Photoshop Tips and Tricks lab that will take place this Thursday at noon (apparently lunch will be served as well).

The idea is to host a lab where long-time Photoshop "creatives" can come together and share some of their tips and tricks. I'll have some of mine and some subjects to bring up if others don't bring what they need. Apparently lunch will be served so I'm hoping for a good turn out. The announcement is going out today so I'll probably know by the end of the day what the response was.

It's kinda exciting to participate in this way with other "creatives."

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Writing Update: January 2009

So, while there's not a lot to speak of as far as increased availability of my work, I'll just take a moment to touch upon the various projects that are currently in "a" stage of progress.

Chance for the Future: This is a brand-new edit of my original 2000 novel that I self-published. The hardcover was due last year. There have been some schedule setbacks with the publisher but I'm assured that the new edition is on track for sometime this year. A mmp (mass market paperback) edition is supposed to follow the hardcover edition (as well as digital releases, supposedly PDF and Kindle). All editions should include a new Chance short story, "Power To The People". With the slips in the schedule, it makes me wonder if this will come out before the novel's ten year anniversary.

Hope for Tomorrow: The sequel to Chance for the Future was originally supposed to see release this year. With the schedule slipping, I'm not sure where this one will fall on the calendar. Like, CFTF, HFT is supposed to see a hardcover release as well as a mmp release (and the digital releases). All editions will be a completely new edit of the story (I'll have completed my edits in another week and have the new draft to the publisher probably early in February) and will include the Nik-centric short story, "Riot Act."

Faith in the Past: The third novel in the Fairlight series will again be a brand-new edit. It's currently set to be a hardcover and mmp release (as well as the aforementioned digital releases). All editions should include the Faith and Nik short story, "Saint Nik."

Zooming Thru Life: My first nonfiction book is slated for August 2009 in trade paperback and digital releases. At this point, I'd be surprised if we make that date based on the publisher's schedule slips. More release info when I have it.

Stranger On A Quiet Street: My angels vs. demons contemporary fantasy novel is pretty much wrapped up. I've been reading it, one chapter at a time, to Lori at night and she seems to dig it. I've noticed a few minor tweaks I need to make to it so once I get through it with Lori, I'll polish it one more time and then let my publisher take a look to see if he's interested. To be honest, I'd like to see some of these other books come out before I get him excited about something else so it might be a good thing to wait a little while before handing it off. Also, the title will probably change somewhat. I think I'll keep "Stranger" in the title but that may be all.

One of the Girls: My YA superhero novel that I self-published shortly before moving back to California (and actually the latest one I've put out) has been picked up by my publisher to see a new edition. That said, I've still got a lot of copies of the original August Too edition. In the past, I've visited elementary schools with these books and it looks like I may start doing that again this year. I currently have feelers out to two schools. More info as I get it.

Plunge Into Eden: This is the working name of the first book in what I expect to be a trilogy called The Earthship Endeavor Chronicles. I've started writing it, even though I haven't fully plotted it yet. I'll be working on the plot tonight and just the anticipation of working on it tonight has excited me enough to drop this entire blog post! Yes. I'm excited about this one. I need to be very excited about a concept and the characters to decide to write a trilogy because it will be a major part of my life for the next two or three years. It is nice to be back to actual science fiction again though. The last two have been more in the realm of contemporary fantasy. The Earthship Endeavor is a spacecraft. So I'm out among the stars this time... at least I am when the tale starts...

Monday, January 12, 2009

Remembering Lyric Phoebe Carhart

As previously noted on this blog, Lori and I were expecting a new baby in April, 2009. Tragically, we suffered a miscarriage at five months on New Year's Eve, 2008. The end result is that we lost our baby. While we had been hoping for a little boy, as it turns out, our child would have been a little girl. Lori named her Lyric Phoebe. It was a devestating turn of events. Both Lori and I are still heartbroken by the loss.

Lori's primary way of dealing with the loss was to have me take down the crib and changing table from the baby's room. Since we've decided we're not going to try again, we got rid of all of the baby stuff. I sent an e-mail to everyone at work who's expecting and had a decent response. We gave away a lot of stuff. Thousands of dollars worth of stuff, probably. Crib, strollers, etc.

The way I deal with this kind of loss has to do with re-focusing my plans and goals. So tonight, Lori and I are going to sit down and look at our goals in every area of our life and adjust where we can, allowing for what our life will probably look like now without this new child in it over the next year or so.

So while we've decided to remove certain items from our life that will remind us of our loss, we choose to remember Lyric Phoebe, our child who "just couldn't make it."