Reading: I’m going back and forth between King’s Gold by Arturo Perez-Reverte, Unclean by Richard Lee Buyers and Untold Adventures, an anthology of D&D short stories.

King’s Gold is fun but I have this tendency to put the book down and not pick it up again for a while and its happening again.  Its odd because I really love the Captain Alatriste novels.  I wish I had some time on a beach somewhere so that I could just read them all in one delicious, swashbuckling sitting.

Unclean is a Forgotten Realms novel set in Thay and so far its not bad but there is no gnoll character yet and that makes me sad.

Untold Adventures is a book I picked up on a whim at the bookstore while I waited for Janaki to arrive in town.  I told myself that I’d read two stories of my own choosing and if they were good, I’d buy the book.  The first two were good, especially Jay Lake’s story, The Decaying Mansions of Memory, which concerned my favorite D&D artifact.  That artifact is a blog-post-a-comin’, I think.

Planning: Edgar vs. Maynard III this Saturday.  Hell yes.  Edgar/Maynard II is probably the best sporting event I’ve ever witnessed.  I can’t wait to see them fight for the belt again.

Writing: Here’s what I’ve been doing.  I wake up at five in the morning and write until I have a thousand words.  Its non-negotiable.  I can’t snooze until six in the morning.  I can’t make up the words later.  I wake up at five, dammit.  First thing in the morning I become a whining baby, looking for a plea bargain, looking to cut any deal that will get my back under the covers.  It feels great to write but I don’t want to talk about what it is specifically just yet.

Alexander has been meeting me via G+ Hangouts so we both log in, grunt a good-morning, wish each other luck and silently write.  Its really cool to know that if I punk out, Alexander will be tut-tutting me in NYC.

I’m inspired by Storn A. Cook and Aaron Kuder.  They draw every damned day.  Ask them when the last time they can remember when they didn’t do their thing.  They probably won’t be able to remember a day when they didn’t get some art done.  Also, Janaki told me about something she read by Octavia Butler about writing, about how she’d wake up every morning before work and write; that was a big inspiration.  I remember kvetching to Bret about not writing and he’d say, “So go write…”

The Ballad of Hal Whitewyrm is really hitting its stride.  This third chapter was really cool and had some of my favorite GMing and favorite writing moments so far.  Check it out.  And you can leave a comment over here if you care to.

And you?