A House Unbuilt

There’s something inspiring about raw materials.

I’ll walk into an office supply store and look at all the notebooks and pens, all the cork boards and post-its, and I see potential. When I walk into a hardware store, I’m filled with ideas and possibilities and plans and so many more things than I’ll ever get to do, but I’m excited nonetheless, because I’m inspired to start something new; to create.

When I drive by a fresh housing lot and see the foundation recently poured, and a stack of wood or a-frames ready to go, I’m left wondering what the finished product will be. I can see all the pieces, but can’t yet see the whole.

It’s like that with the next book (nicknamed AT5 until I find the title). I have scenes, propositions, ideas, and characters, plot twists and forks. Right now it’s all just a mish-mash of content. I don’t yet know what order they go in, or what goes with what, or what will be fleshed out or cropped out. I just see the ideas, and the potential, and I am excited to get started.

And that starts right here. I left some of my characters in the lurch. I left some with goals. I left others with questions. I left you, my readers, with some questions. And I don’t want to leave you hanging. I want to answer what I can in the prose of AT5. I can guess what some of them are, but you may have others that I’m unaware of. Let me know what they are either in the comments or by contacting me directly. Let me know all the materials I have to work with as I survey this house unbuilt.

Posted in Behind the scenes | Comments Off on A House Unbuilt

2023 Year Start Status Report

Yes, I know it’s February. Shut up. This is what was supposed to be my year end report and goal setting for 2023. Sometimes you need to try something different, when the old methods get stale. I’ll try that with this year’s goals. Let’s roll.

Continue reading
Posted in Behind the scenes, Progress Reports | Comments Off on 2023 Year Start Status Report

And we’re live!

Sometime in the night, my vendors flipped A Togahan’s Debt from preorder to live order. If you haven’t already, please take a look/grab a copy. And thank you for sticking with me.

-Pete


A Togahan’s Debt is available now (ebook form only) at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

(Also, all Togahan books will remain at $4.99 until January 5, 2023, but then I’ll have to raise the price to help cover expenses, so grab them while they’re cheap!)

Posted in Behind the scenes, Hype | Comments Off on And we’re live!

One Foot in Front of the Other

Needless to say, these past few years have been tough. There were times when I just didn’t have the heart to continue writing, or I made excuses about how tired I was, or busy, or there was something more important that required my attention, or I just needed to relax, or, or, or…

Continue reading
Posted in Behind the scenes | Comments Off on One Foot in Front of the Other

Adapt

Throughout the pandemic, we had to continually adapt to a changing, often confusing situation none of us had ever navigated. For me, the first few days of lockdown in March 2020 felt like extended snow days with our kids. Home bound, all of us endured what we hoped might be a short storm. We didn’t know much, and what we knew was frightening. We were good on supplies, so we just waited to see.

And waited.

Continue reading
Posted in Behind the scenes, Hype | Comments Off on Adapt

“The Enemy Gets a Vote”

… is a popular saying in the military. It means that despite the most thorough planning, all plans must adapt when, sooner or later, the enemy doesn’t behave as anticipated.

The last couple of years, despite my plans and goals, my own enemy didn’t behave as anticipated. My enemy, in this case, is what Stephen Pressfield calls Resistance. Most of my resistance has taken the form of escapism, including but not limited to:

Continue reading
Posted in Behind the scenes, Hype, Video Games | Comments Off on “The Enemy Gets a Vote”

….And We’re Back!

Wooo. That was a bit of a hiatus. My last post was January of 2021. A lot has happened in the last couple of years, and perhaps I got a wee bit derailed in my writing, but I’m back on track with completing AT4.

First things first, however, we can’t call it AT4 anymore. Today I officially announce that the fourth book in the Togahan series will be called…

Continue reading
Posted in Behind the scenes, Hype, Progress Reports | Tagged , | Comments Off on ….And We’re Back!

2020 Year End Progress Report

Ho-lee shit, what a year. I feel like we crash-skidded into 2021 shot full of holes with only one landing gear down and all engines on fire. I won’t rehash all the damage; you’re well familiar with it. Ugh, good riddance, but it’s not the number that matters, it’s the work ahead…

Continue reading
Posted in Behind the scenes, Progress Reports | Comments Off on 2020 Year End Progress Report

October 2020 Progress Report

It’s been about three months, so this would be a good time to update you on my goals. Like a lot of creatives at the moment, my enthusiasm has, how to put this, “shit the bed”. That said, I’ve tried to move things along, even if it’s at a snail’s pace, driven if only by the Will Rogers’ quote, “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” But enough thoughtful pondering. This is 2020 week 41, with roughly 79% of the year behind us. How’s my progress?

Continue reading
Posted in Behind the scenes, Books to read, Exercise and Health, Progress Reports | Comments Off on October 2020 Progress Report

Grounded

Throughout this pandemic I’ve been passing the time playing video games with my daughters. Lately my eleven-year-old and I have been playing Obsidian Entertainment’s Grounded, where we each play one of four children who have been shrunk down to the size of bugs and have to survive in a vast backyard jungle rife with vicious insects.

Continue reading
Posted in Imageek, Late to the Game, Popular media, Video Games | Comments Off on Grounded