HonorCon Day 3 and Beyond

Well, returning to 'real' life . . . ugh. It's a very tough part of the year, full of herding teenagers into painting, wall-papering, stretching fabric flats over wooden frames, carving cliffs, making stone walls out of foam, etc etc etc . . . lots of work.

Anyway, Day 3 . . . I left the lovely La Quinta, tried to find a Dunkin Donuts and abandoned the search as I had a loosely-scheduled meet-up with Gena Robinson, David Weber's PA and Co-Chair of the Convention Council. I missed Gena, unfortunately, as I had horded one last copy of Honor Among Outlaws, hoping to give it to David as a token of thanks for years of entertainment, inspiration, and for making himself so available to us so often.

Missing Gena, I hurried to my next panel, Writing -- Baen Speaks: Writing from a Publishers Point of View. Again, the panelists were Toni Weisskopf, grand-pooba of Baen, Tony Daniel, publisher and author, and Laura Haywood-Cory. Eric Flint sat in again, as he now publishes his own magazine in addition to being a big-wig author. It was another GREAT panel. Seriously, these Baen folks know there stuff, but they also present engagingly with humor and warmth. If you ever have a chance to attend something like the Baen Traveling Roadshow or some other panel, jump at it!

Chuck Gannon, Eric Flint (in motion), and Tony Daniel

My next panel was Writing -- Advancing Plot. Eric Flint, Tony Daniel, and author Chuck Gannon, speaking about things like outlining, flow charts, foreshadowing, etc. Chuck Gannon had a great term that I particularly liked: Pantsing, for writing by the seat of your pants, rather than using an outline. Turns out the professionals, whether they like to or not. have a similar opinion about outlines to mine, ie: they use them.

And that was the end of my panels. I needed to make my flight, return my rental car, etc. So I was unable to stay for the last panel I REALLY wanted to attend: The Trial of David Weber, where a panel of super-fans forced him to account for the many beloved characters he has killed throughout the Honor Harrington series. Now that I know a lot of these folks, I'm sure that was a blast. Maybe not as fun as "Airdropping Several Thousand Angry Treecats on Mesa" . . . but still fun . . .

I did finally track down Gena and David. He seemed genuinely touched when I gave him the copy of my book, and he wrote something VERY kind in my new copy of the Empire from the Ashes, the omnibus containing Mutineer's Moon, the first David Weber book I ever bought, more than 20 years ago . . . That book is currently now one of my prize possessions, and I do not lie . . .

I tracked down Chris, Fred, and several of the other friends I had made over the course of the weekend. I was even asked if I wanted to come back next year as a full-fledged guest writer . . . um . . . hell's yeah! :)

And so, rushed back to the Greenville-Spartanburg 'International' Airport . . . which is where I started the last post . . . so I think that was it!

All in all, this was a great, extremely well-organized convention. Not huge, but then, I would never have wanted something like this to be huge. Each panel audience was about 20 or 30, except for the big events. I was able to sit close to the front each time, and felt like I was really talking with the guests. It was awesome. The venue, the Hyatt-Regency, Greenville, was beautiful and very futuristic, which was a fantastic backdrop to all the uniforms parading around all weekend. And speaking of uniforms, how about a picture of The Royal Manticoran Navy's Bureau of Supply, as a sample?

Anyway, that's about all I have to say about that . . . time to get back to work with my final revision (thanks to a timely delay at the other end) of Abundant Riches, the final book in the Jesse James Archive trilogy.

As always, thanks for reading, and goodnight!

~Craig

HonorCon Days 2

So, here I sit, in the lovely Greenville-Spartanburg 'International' Airport . . . the nice TSA lady told me there was food on the other side of security, so I moved on through . . . only to discover yet again the wildly divergent definitions many folks can have for 'food' . . . there's a snackbar with a microwave and a toaster oven . . .

Anyway, to the Con!

Saturday was another great day. This Con was very well-organized, with only minor glitches, quickly and seamlessly addressed, occasionally rearing their ugly heads.

I started my day at the seminar by Evergreen Productions on 'Writing for the Transmedia Honorverse' Another well-put together presentation on the concept of creating an entire franchise, ala Star Wars or Star Trek, from the ground up, intentionally. Comics, video games, novel tie-ins, and of course, the movie. I'm very intrigued by the whole idea, and wish them a lot of luck . . . you can tell they know a lot about not only their own fields, but the Honorverse as well, and are passionate about their project.

I then spent a great deal of time in the vendor hall, hanging out with Pat Doyle, a gamer and member of David Weber's BuNine. He was running a Star Trek Attack Wing campaign using the Fleet Captain game as the map and engine. It was ingenious, and reminded me a lot of Russ.

I kept going over to the Ad Astra Games area, looking at the Saganami Tactical Simulator . . . but there is just SO much math involved with that! I couldn't do it, and my brain kept hurting. My fault, not the fault of the game . . . which always had a bunch of people playing it.

I then attended the Baen Traveling Road Show, David Weber addition. This was a fantastic presentation by the publishing team from Baen, led by Toni Weisskopf. She's the head honcho, there, and obviously does not suffer fools gladly, but gives a great presentation, was very funny and personable, and engaging the entire time. The core of the presentation was a slide show of covers, both of David's books through the ages and other authors. It was very cool watching the evolution of the artists and the covers.

After the Road Show, I attended the seminar on World Building, featuring David and other authors. It was one of the best, and easy to relate to as it was constantly tied into the Honor Harrington Franchise. I rounded the day out with Tactics 101 (wow, these guys take their fiction seriously!), and Building a Fictional Navy. This was particularly interesting, because it was being run by naval personnel former and current, and a former professor at the Naval War College. It was really interesting stuff.

I then attended another writing panel, this time on Taking Your Reader for a Ride. This was the first panel I attended with Eric Flint . . . who was AWESOME. Very down to earth and blunt, but also a giant in the field. A lot of practical help for new writers, as well as fun banter, insight, and a couple of behind the curtain stories.

After the last panel of the day was the awards ceremony, where most of the organizers were given plaques (often a surprise, even to the folks organizing the awards), and David was given an admiral's beret in lieu of the full Royal Manticoran Navy  uniform they have commissioned for him. You could tell he was very moved by the gesture. Also receiving awards were the winners of the costume contest, the story telling contest, and the best over-all fan. A story I have to tell later, because it was really cool . . . in a really weird way . . .

After the ceremony I went out to dinner with Listener and Friend of the Show Fred Kiesche and Convention Toastmaster Chris Weuve at the hotel's Roost restaurant . . . delicious. And Fred was gracious enough to treat, and would not take no for an answer.

We ate and chatted late into the night, and I called it a night, returning to my lovely suite at La Quinta, the official hotel of the D6 Generation. :)

And now my flight is boarding, and I have to run!

The last day as soon as I can get to it.

As usual, thanks again for reading!

~Craig

HonorCon, Day 1

So, as I relax in my awesome suite at the Greenville, SC La Quinta (Thanks, Angelo!), I reflect back upon the first day of my first Sci-Fi con . . . and I find that it is good.

The day did not start so well . . . I did not deign to pack the night before, and did not calculate that into my wake-up time, and so was running about 20 minutes late as I tore out the door. I engaged my stopwatch, thinking that I had over-estimated the travel time to the airport, and that would make me feel better . . . except that I was spot on, so no help there. So I walked briskly to the terminal from long-term parking . . . and got there in time to realize that I had forgotten my phone in the car. I RAN back to the parking lot, and then hobbled pathetically back to the terminal (I probably would have been better off walking both ways).  So, panting and sweating like a pig . . . I made it through security only to be stopped at the X-ray machine, where my copy of Firefly The Board Game caused an argument between two TSA agents. One said it was 'only a game', the other said they needed to check. When they saw the box, the woman said "Oh, I know him! He's on Castle! I love Castle!" So they waved me on my way. :)

Because I flew Southwest, I was then last to check in, and thus last on the airplane . . . without checked bags, so a carry on suitcase, for the first time in years . . . tight fit, but I made it.

I arrived in plenty of time at the Greenville/Spartanburg aiprort, and drove swiftly to the Hyatt Regency. The great folks at HonorCon allowed me to have a full 150 person conference room with full technical support for a Q&A on the podcast and Honor Among Outlaws. Sadly, there was no time to do any publicity for it, other than my twitter account . . . and this very kind announcement at registration:

Sadly, I just hung out in the room by myself, and then moved on to the next adventure . . . 

I was then invited to take part in a book signing session . . . except that we were unable to get any of my books to the convention. But the very nice folks from Fiction Addiction offered to sell the two copies that I DID bring , which resulted in this unbelievable moment in my life:

And then inveterate listener and unwitting companion (thanks for the Guinness, Fred!), Fred Kiesche actually BOUGHT one! (And that's Jill, owner of Fiction Addiction and purveyor of very fine books!).

The panel was primarily me and a bunch of very nice folks from BuNine, David Weber's fan-based support committee and the group responsible for the House of Steel Honorverse Companion. They were also the organizers of the Con, and were GREAT to me. Of particularly kind disposition were Bryan Haven and Greg Whitaker. Bryan is the managing partner of  Atlantis Games and Comics. Both guys were WWX backers, and Greg bought my second (and last) book . . . so I sold out, again! :)

Oh, and I adopted one of the last four treecats ever available from the Royal Manticoran Navy Bureau of Supply, and he displayed the novel for me at the signing:

And of course, for the first time I realized that the title of my book might seem a bit strange and misleading in the current venue . . .

After the signing, Fred offered to buy me a Guinness, and my Irish blood would not allow me to say no. So we went to the hotel bar . . . which is AMAZING, and shared a drink and some stories about Raef's randomness and the size of Russ' head.

Then it was off to the Ice Cream Social, where a LOT of RMN costumes were beautifully in evidence, and one uniform from the Manticoran Army.

Then came the Opening Ceremonies, where I actually had a seat reserved for myself . . . and again, my yet-to-be-named treecat posed for a picture.

I nervously anticipated having to introduce myself to the entire hall. I made it, though, and actually got to say "I've been a published author for 11 days", and everyone cheered! It was an amazing feeling.

Each of the people on the opening panel spoke, and David Weber ended the ceremony with a nice speech.

Chris Weuve, former professor at the Naval War College and Toastmaster of the convention, is at the podium, with David Weber to his left.

After the Opening Ceremonies, the big score of the day: Behind the Scenes of the Honor Harrington Franchise . . . where the big plans for the future of the franchise were revealed by David Weber and the folks from Evergreen Studios, including CEO Mike Devlin, Chief Creative Officer Scott Kroopf, Vice President of Gaming and Interactive Richard Browne, Alison Haskovec, VP of Marketing, and Julie Karickhoff, Director of Marketing. I took a ton of pics of the concept work, including the early concept work of the various ships INCLUDING HMS Fearless and PNS Saladin aka Thunder of God, as well as concept art of gravitic wedges, worm holes, and of course treecats . . . and then they told us we couldn't post any pics of the images we saw . . . so you'll have to track me down and ask to see them in person. They even opened a Twitter account JUST for HonorCon . . . which I am not allowed to reveal . . . although if I find out anything cool from it, I'll probably mention it somewhere at some point . . .

We saw the cover of the first graphic novel . . . and I KNOW I'm going to get it as soon as it comes out.

We saw actual game play of the first mobile game, coming out, FREE, in early 2014, and I KNOW I'm going to get that, too. CRAZY cool looking!

And we saw concept artwork of Honor, various settings, and even the Stilties of Basilisk. Some TRULY amazing visuals.

And they talked at length about the various elements of the Honor Harrington full court press, including the abandonment of the On Basilisk Station plot line for the first movie, which will now focus entirely upon the novel Honor of the Queen. On Basilisk Station will provide the bulk of the material for the first series of comics.

Seriously . . . it was an amazing day. And this post took over an hour and a half to write . . . and an 'early night' is now a 'damn, not gonna get much sleep' early morning . . .

So, I'm off. I'll try to post again tomorrow . . . but maybe not quite so long . . .

Hope you enjoyed it, guys!

That's about all I have to say about that, so . . . G'night!

~Craig

Time has almost caught us, my friend!

Wow. What a crazy couple of days this has been, tacked onto a crazy month or two into the bargain! Sorry for the delay in posting here again, guys, but I sorely underestimated what a stone-cold beyatch returning to school AND writing the final book in the current Jesse James arc was going to be. Between writing, teaching, play rehearsal, not to mention Karen, Rhys, the podcast, etc etc etc . . . it's been . . . interesting. Ancient Chinese curse-type interesting, but interesting none-the-less.

So . . . where was I? Ah yes . . . I'M A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!!!!! How the HELL did THAT happen? On Tuesday I got my Author's Copies (and I thought getting a single 'Contributor's Copy' of gaming books was cool!), and that was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I remember seeing countless scenes in movies and tv shows of authors opening up their box of author's copies, and I've always fantasized about what that would be like . . . and it SO lived up to my expectations!

So, the book released yesterday (Tuesday, October 22, 2013), and it was CRAZY fun watching the supply at Amazon dwindle and disappear, resulting in a sold out initial supply in less than 24 hours! I mean, it wasn't a HUGE amount they started with, a test shipment, really . . . but it SOLD OUT! :) And of course, going from 30,020th on Amazon to 9000th in the same timeframe was pretty damned cool as well. I haven't spoken much about it at school, but word got out, and the principal, my friend Brad, sent out an email to the whole district, and now everyone has been congratulating me and wanting to know all the details.

So I guess it REALLY better not suck . . .

And of course, that's where my head is right now. I REALLY hope this book doesn't suck . . .

And of course, Vincent at Winged Hussar Publishing, the hardest working man in the industry, has been bending over backwards getting this book everywhere he can. We went up on Amazon for pre-orders about a month ago, and now, this week, we signed a deal which should see the hardcopies and digital versions available from Barnes and Noble's website, and hopefully, we'll be in their stores with the new year!

And lest I forget, I received the FIRST copy of the Wild West Exodus Rulebook ever to arrive in America! It's even signed and numbered! :) It looks gorgeous, and it is FULL of stories about all the great characters in this wacky new universe that is evolving even as I type! So, having that in my hands was pretty amazing also.

Many folks have been asking about Honor Among Outlaws and Audiobooks, and negotiations are in the works to try to see that done for the new year as well. In the realm of translation, we are in talks with companies in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Poland, as well as setting up a distribution partnership with companies in England and Australia . . . although technically Amazon DOES ship that far . . . but this will save folks lots of money, if they want to go in that direction.

As for Abundant Riches, I finished it a couple weeks ago, and am only awaiting the edited notes back from Zmok/Winged Hussar to incorporate those (I make an alarming number of grammatical errors, I have discovered, for an English teacher . . . ), and address all the little notes in my 'Continuity Notebook', and it'll be done-done! As in my last post, I'm still amazed at how many times I have to 'finish' a book before it's really done! They JUST WON'T DIE!!!!!!!

As the exciting news continues to roll in (hmmm . . . not having any books to sell seems to have hurt my standing at Amazon . . . I've fell down to 10,299 . . . oh well), it looks like my next endeavor will be a two-book story arc, again set in the world of Wild West Exodus. I won't say more for now, as we're still in development phase, but I'm excited (once the damned play is over, anyway), to keep this rollercoaster alive!

I think that's about it for now. I'll try to be better about updates here, especially if any more exciting information comes to light. And of course, against my better judgement, I've been Tweeting quite a bit at @d6gcraig

Until then, everyone be well, and thanks for sharing this crazy ride with me!

~Craig

This is what Frodo must have felt like . . .

So, the final lap continues to unroll . . . over and over again. Each time you think you've reached the end, and the credits are about to roll . . . another scene!

I've learned so much throughout this process, one important thing I keep telling myself is that, although this first book might just barely make Not Too Horrible . . . I should get better as I go . . . right . . . ? . . . RIGHT??

So, one of the big lessons I learned most recently was to be very careful with the sentiment "I finished my book!" . . . people like wives and mothers will tend to misunderstand this sentiment almost as much as I did . . . Even though I only meant "finished the first draft" . . . it SOUNDS so final! . . . It's not.

One of the many great pieces of advice I've heard over the years, and something I've had to learn from one artistic endeavor to the next, is that any piece of art is never finished, only abandoned. I later learned, of course, that many folks attribute Leonardo Da Vinci with this quote, although Princeton University begs to differ. Anyway, whoever said it first, it's totally true. There is ALWAYS something you want to change, or tweak, or add . . . but you never have all the time in the world, especially if you are working on a deadline for a publisher . . . And so, in effect, what you are getting when you read any book is the high point (one would hope) of the ebb and flow of a writer's efforts, frozen in time.

That was one thing I learned. Another, from author friends I have been lucky enough to find, is that outside of IP fiction (writing for specific worlds/universes/games), this has been a CRAZY short time to write a book! I mean, _I_ thought so . . . but what do I know? In effect, this has been moving so quickly that all the folks that were going to help me by reading my stuff and getting feedback to me have been unable to do so, because I'm cranking out chapters so fast . . . Even the editor for my publisher has been slammed by the avalanche of words . . . not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Which is something I more experienced than learned from . . . not a lot of learning in this last bit, mostly coping . . . I feel, each time I delve into revision reading, like I'm drowning in my own words. I HOPE there's a coherent story here, but at this point, I literally can't see the forest for the trees. This is why, in the process I've developed, anyway, the outline is absolutely paramount. Because at this point its all I can do to focus on a chapter . . . and I have to trust, if the chapter does what the outline calls for it to do, that the blocks will all fit together in a reader's mind.

And so, as I count down the days to Friday, which is when THIS work of art (if I can use the term liberally), will be frozen in time forever. And at that point it's out of my hands, and then, probably even more harrowing, starts rolling downhill to where readers will eventually catch it, and then it's all theirs. Like it, hate it, find fault with it, accept it . . . my argument is in the words I've already written, so there's nothing more I can do. It's a very nerve-wracking proposition. WAY worse than the most stressful audition I've ever done, actually.

Anyway, back to work. I have just finished combing through the entire book changing every "ok" to an "okay" at the publisher's request. Thank God for the Find feature . . . but unfortunately, you can't just do 'Find and Replace' . . . do you have any idea how many words have the letters 'ok' in them? Well, I do. Roughly 60 per chapter, actually . . .

But that's done, so now I'm free to mow the lawn! Yippee!

Thanks for reading, and on the assumption that someone out there is interested, I'll keep you posted on how the next book goes as well . . . I'm supposed to be working on the outline of that one already, but I don't know how the middle book of the trilogy is going, or what's happening, or where it ends . . . the challenges never cease!

Thanks again, and see you on the other side!

G'night Middle of the Empty Desert!

~Craig

A Momentous Day!

So . . . it's been awhile. Longer than intended, of course. It's been an interesting few weeks, obviously. I got really sick . . . just a summer cold, but due to some complications based upon a few past unfortunate events, the common cold is not quite so common for me. Ended up at the doctor and everything . . . very unpleasant and slowed me down for a few days, but I'm back! :)

To answer the question I let you all with last time, YES, it DOES make it easier to start the next day when you leave something cool to continue the night before! I did that a lot to boost my productivity after that last post, in fact. It's hard, because quite often if it's cool, then I'm enjoying it, and I want to continue. But if I force myself to walk away with my juices still churning, so to speak, then it's easier the next day!

So . . . momentous day? I just finished the first draft of my first commissioned book! That's right, sitting right here in the back of the Biddeford Panera, I just typed the last word of the last chapter of Honor Among Outlaws.

My Vacation Office

That word, by the way, is currently 'labor' . . . but it's subject to change :)

So now I have two weeks to continue the process, editing and rewriting and polishing until we're all happy. I'm just aiming for "Not Too Horrible", so hopefully it'll all work out great.

It's been very interesting, and I've learned a lot, from many different people. The outline was INVALUABLE, and made it much easier, when the flow of chapters did not quite go the way I wanted, to rearrange things more to my satisfaction. In fact, I had to reverse two chapters at one point, and at another point I had to take half of one chapter and transpose it with half of another chapter, so the time flow made more internal sense . . . little things like that :)

I built up a huge collection of Wild West slang terms (and tragically over-used them in some chapters, underusing them in others, of course . . . to be addressed in editing), and a filing box of index cards of all the characters so I could chart their growth (and damage), their quirks, equipment, and abilities, so they stayed consistent throughout the book. I have Gena Robinson to thank for that particular trick (thanks, Gena!).

Anyway, so yeah, 109,715 words out of the target 80,000 to 100,000. Now, in addition to the editing, comes the defense portion, as the editor/publisher and I decide how much of that stays . . . I'm hoping most of it, although there are a few spots I think I got a little too wordy . . . which anyone who knows me won't be surprised with . . .

Well, I have to go get my double chocolate brownie to celebrate, and then head off to the beach. My son apparently went swimming in the ocean for the first time yesterday while I was here writing, and I'm taking the next day or so off to enjoy with my family, and hopefully coax my son back into the surf again today.

I'll let you all know (on the assumption you care), how the editing is going over the next two weeks, and then it's on to the next one! . . . I'm not sure I can do this . . .

Goodnight Desert Wastes!

~Craig

At the End of the Day . . .

So, things went ok yesterday, and again today . . . 10,000+ words between the two. So I'm back on track :)

Tonight, as I was wrapping up (and as Karen is converting my son's crib into a toddler bed . . . big day for the Gallant household!), I was thinking.

See, I'm JUST at the point where I'm introducing a new character. This one's new to the story AND to WWX as a whole, and I'm SUPER excited about him/her/it . . . in fact, my fingers are itching to write more, despite all the time I've already spent in this chair (note . . . cool-looking chairs for the pub were a great idea . . . for when they were for guests . . . but now, my tailbone is KILLING me from sitting here for 8+ hours :-P  ).

Anyway . . . so yeah . . . about to introduce kick ass new character, super excited . . . but what to do? The way I see it, I have two choices: I barrel through and take advantage of the muse now, while it lasts . . . cuz it DON'T last, all day every day. OR, do I stop now, with a little note to myself to remind me what's coming . . . on the assumption that tomorrow morning, when Karen takes Rhys to the beach, leaving me for a full day of writing . . . that I'll be all jazzed up and hit the ground running on that excitement . . . ?

Well, to be honest, the last three days, starting up has been a challenge. I'm not entirely sold on the chapters I've been working on, and there wasn't a lot of action, to be honest. So I've decided to wrap up for tonight and see if starting the day off with an idea that already had me excited will motivate me to jump right in.

I'll let you know how it goes, and I'll leave you with a redacted version of the note I left myself at the end of the current Chapter 5:

"Future Craig: XXXXXX is a BAD ASS XXXXXX . . . don’t forget! . . ."

G'night Missouri City!

~Craig 

Day 21 of the Dream

Well, 21 days ago sat down at my desk at school to begin writing the Prologue to Honor Among Outlaws. To keep on the VERY ambitious schedule we've settled upon I had to produce 10,000 words a week for the last two weeks of school. With the help of Vincent from Winged Hussar/Zmok, and Romeo, Brian Pulido and Gena Robinson, I learned, quickly, how to craft a decent outline, so I had a good road map to use . . . I think.

So, I'm 21 days in, and SHOULD be, by my own schedule and factoring in end of school year events, around 25,000 words . . . and I'm at exactly 24,451*! So, not so bad! And for those of you following along at home, that's about 25% of the word count (which is contracted to be between 80,000 and 100,000) . . . but not 25% of the outline  . . . so I'm going to have to pick up the pace a little bit, or prepare to beg for more space :)

The process so far has been amazing, but like most creative endeavors, an emotional roller coaster. There are days when I actually think I'm pretty good, and there are days when I think I'm going to bring the average value of all Western Literature down appreciably by my efforts . . . most days are spent somewhere in the middle, of course. So far I've only had to reach out to Vincent once for moral support, asking, at about 1am, for a simple email that needed no further message than "You don't suck" . . . he immediately responded with "That's too bad, I was just writing you an email telling you that you suck" . . . so the value of that response was . . . questionable. He then responded with a much nicer sentiment, thankfully :)

Anyway, so yeah. Today I need to rip out another 4,000 words or so, as my self-imposed schedule, now that school is out, is 4,000 to 6,000 words a day . . . which is 2 the 3 times the recommended rate, but let's see what we can accomplish, yeah? Of course, today I also have to write the script to the next Rapid Fire, and it's my dad's birthday, so that'll eat up some time (on the other hand, I get to have an Apple Chimicheesecake . . . which will make everything better for a little while). And of course, I'm chattering away on my 48 follower blog instead of writing . . . that won't help . . .

OK, back to the 'grind stone', in which a flustered Lucinda Loveless and a frustrated Henry Courtright attempt to use an intrepid anti-hero to track down one of the most notorious evil masterminds of the age . . .

Thanks for reading, and talk to you guys again soon!

~Craig

PS-And hey, I have my own Author Page over at Winged Hussar Publishing! How cool is that!

*PPS-Damn . . . just realized I'd made a minor mistake on my Excel tracking sheet for word count. One minor little error . . . that meant my current word count is only 17,299 . . . damn . . . now all that time and effort seems much less worthwhile, and this climb seems much steeper. I have no idea how I could have done that . . .  Well that sucks . . .

PPPS -- Hmmm . . . ok, so, wrong AGAIN . . .or should I say WRONG! Found the error. I hadn't saved Chapter 4 . . . which is my current project, so got all confused . . . Back on track now, with Chapter 3 added back into the spreadsheet for a grand total, once again, of 24,451 . . . phew! Drama in real-time, though! :)

Clear the Decks!

OK, see? Two posts in quick succession . . . almost Rapid Fire, if you will! :)

I am happy to say I have just submitted the Extra Life story, "For Want of a Bolt", to Neil at Spartan Games, which is officially the last assignment I had on my desk before starting in on the work for Honor Among Outlaws . . . which will begin today, as I set my mind to the initial outline!

I will most likely post the full story here eventually, as well as the story from last year, so I know where they can be found in the future, rather than having to send people searching through the Spartan Games website . . . 

In other news, our publisher has been hard at work peddling the concept of the series to book buyers from across the country this weekend at Book Expo: America in NYC, and initial reception to the genre, plot outlines, and cover arts has apparently been very positive, which is a VERY good thing! Thanks, Vincent and Winged Hussar/Zmok Books!

And finally, as I've mentioned in several places, the comic book, which was getting great buzz last weekend at Phoenix Comic-Con, would not in any way be possible without my INSANELY talented partner,  illustrator (and currently colorist AND letterer) Michael Nigro. Check out his work at the links below. I think I might try to get permission to occasionally post preview page proofs here, to offer a little more incentive to check the blog out every now and then.

Michael's Deviant Art Page

Michael's less-attentively-updated Personal Page

See . . . I think I've figured out how to make updates here more regularly: Make this part of my standard Procrastination Loop! Considering how much time I'm going to have to spend on my computer over the next 4 months . . . I could do at LEAST an update every day! :)

Well, that's about it for now. Onward to my outlines! Watch here for more news as things continue to develop!

~Craig

May You Live in Interesting Times . . .

Listeners of the D6 Generation will by now be aware, I've been working with Romeo Filip, Chad Cooper, and a host of others in the formation of a new game company called Outlaw Miniatures, and on their first game, Wild West Exodus. The Kickstarter was amazingly successful, making over $320,000 with over 1000 backers. The rulebook is nearly done as I write this (over 100,000 words of just fluff when all is said and done), and I've just finished the entire first year of the comic, finally wrestling it into something resembling a coherent traditional story arc. In addition I'm just wrapping up the short story for Extra life featuring Peter West, the winner of the contest, as a Prussian bureaucrat who discovers something sinister afoot on the front lines and rushes into battle to save the day. It's been a LONG time coming, but it's nearly done now, so . . . I'm tempted to gloss over my pathetic timing on this one with the egregious "Better late than never!" But even my hypocrisy does not reach that far. Nevertheless, it IS almost done, so huzzah for that! And of course, there have been several more FFG assignments, including a SUPER exciting introductory assignment for the new Star Wars RPG series!

But as exciting as all of that is, and

 believe me, it's exciting . . . it doesn't scratch the surface for my new news . . . hmmm . . . that was less than elegant . . . Anyway . . . I've signed a multi-book novel deal!

Working with Outlaw Miniatures and Winged Hussar Publishing's fledgling fiction imprint Zmok Books, I have been signed on to write not one but TWO novels set in the Wild West Exodus world, beginning and ending a three book story arc, with Black Library veteran C.L. Werner writing the middle book.

The official announcements recently went out, and Winged Hussar is currently at a massive U.S. tradeshow pitching the series to the major book dealers of North America, to bolster our existing electronic distribution deals. So . . . yeah . . . I know I’ve said this before, many times, but I STILL have trouble believing this is not a dream!

I have wanted to be a writer since I was about 5, when my grandmother helped me put together a little book about a little raincloud that felt unwanted because everyone always wanted it to be sunny . . .  and now here I am!

So, that’s it for now. I’m going to try (I know, I always say that), to pop in here more often as I put my already-sharp nose to the grindstone. TWO novels in FOUR months . . . some say it can’t be done! My contract says it MUST! So, check in, and I’ll try to pop in from time to time to let you know how things are going. This is just the tip of the iceberg of my oh-so-interesting times.

I will leave you with the covers of my two novels (proofs, I might change how my name appears if possible . . . what do you all think? Craig Gallant, or Craig L. Gallant?).

Thanks for sticking with me, and tallyho!