Yes, It's True: I'm still a gamer.

With summer coming to an end, and a few things calming down around my office, I once again find myself with some free time. Even with my writing schedule, which is finally back on track now that I've figured a few important plot details out, I still need to come up for air.

Since I sat down in front of the Commodore 64 and loaded my first games from tape, I've been a gamer. Since then I'm sure I've played thousands of games, but the ones that really stuck were the massively multiplayer online sort. Starting with Everquest and going on to many others, this is my favourite digital hobby other than creating my own content. I can escape into an immersive world for hours at a time. I come back with a clear head, a bag of new experiences, and sometimes new friends.

Writing takes priority, don't get me wrong. I wake up every morning and my first cohesive thought is about what I'm planning to write that day. I get whatever I can down, and on a good day brain fatigue doesn't set in until about 1pm. Usually there's some office work to do, calls to make, and that takes up the rest of my day. Then I'm left to pursue hobbies, which include guitar, drums, and other things. Gaming has been sorely missing from my list of pursuits, however, since I've been busy, and I haven't been excited about a game in quite some time.

Then Star Wars: The Old Republic comes along. I've known about this game for years (literally), but recently a few people have been asking me if they'd see me around in that gaming world when it launches, and my answer was invariably yes. I even bought a cheapo PC laptop so I would be all ready to play (there's no PC version, and I'm not willing to install BootCamp on my Macs anymore, they're for writing and other creative pursuits). The next question that comes from readers and friends (often they're the same people), is if I'll be starting a guild, or if I'm already a member of one. Until today I've offered a blank expression as a response - which doesn't come across as well over the Internet.

Let's touch on another point before I follow that up though...

Over the years I've made a lot of friends through online gaming. I've learned a lot from them, had some fantastic times, and still speak to many of these long-range buddies. For some people Facebook or Myspace was their big first experience with social networking and having a large network of online friends. For me it was the Massively Multiplayer Online gaming space, mostly Everquest and World of Warcraft. Even though I enjoy going off on my own often in games, I find it's still better if there's a social aspect. The possibility of meeting new people online (in a game), and taking on a challenge with friends adds a whole new dimension of excitement to gaming.

So, when a couple readers asked me if I'd be forming a guild in The Old Republic today, I couldn't help but think of the fantastic folks on the Spinward Fringe Facebook Page, and wonder what that kind of environment would be like in game when it goes online later this year. I enjoy hobnobbing with the Facebook crowd and check in whenever I can. Imagine interacting with like minded people in an online game? Knowing that I'd download a lot of responsibility to officers in the Guild (much as I have with the Facebook Page), I decided that, yes, I'd create a guild. If there's something I've discovered I like doing, it's giving people who enjoy my company or my writing a place to hang out.

So, it is with no shame that I admit: Yes, I'm a huge [nerd] gamer, and I've created a guild called the Freeground Nation. If you're looking to play Star Wars: The Old Republic later this year and don't have a guild yet, go ahead and check it out. I'm sure I'll spend a great deal of my winter playing this game. Whenever I'm not writing, that is.

RL

[Updates on the Expendable Few, Broadcast 7 and other stuff coming early next week. The work goes well.]

Editing Week - I Knew It Was Coming

Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to brace yourself for a leap forwards. Right now I'm at a point where I have to remind myself of all the details in Spinward Fringe Broadcast 6: Fragments.

Instead of simply reading the book, I'm taking the opportunity to perform another pass on it, to correct those niggling errors that have been irritating me since the book came out. Broadcast 6 suffered from growing pains, since it was released at a time when how I did things was changing even faster than I thought at the time. A year later it's easy to look back at how my writing and editing processes have taken a step or three forward. Life has changed a great deal around that time for me as well, which was a strain on Broadcast 6's release as well.

Once this pass is finished I'll have a much clearer idea of how the timeline of The Expendable Few applies to Broadcast 6, and it'll be easier to write the next section of Broadcast 7. This edit isn't so much of a chore either, it's more like visiting an old friend. I spent a year writing this book.

When it's complete it'll be uploaded to Smashwords, the retailers on their distribution network (like Barnes and Noble, the iBookstore), and to Amazon. You'll be able to update your copies for free, but beware Amazon users! There is an excellent chance that any notes or highlights you've made to your version of Broadcast 6 will be lost when the update takes place, so find a way to dump those to a file using your PC or other magic computing box.

Well, time to get to work, see you on the other side!

RL

[One more thing... There will be a preview of Broadcast 7 in the new version.]

[If you want the current version for any EReader, it can be found in its many formats here at Smashwords.]

[EDIT: This polish of Broadcast 6 will take longer than a week, and the reappearance of the book on Amazon.com will be further delayed because I am hiring a professional ebook formatting firm to make it ready for its final appearance there.]

Expendable Few Update

Between The Expendable Few and Broadcast 7: Framework, I'm looking at a variety of writing challenges. It's taking a long time to write both, but they're the most challenging things I've ever written.

Having said that, I've reached a milestone with The Expendable Few. It's 54,000 words long after several cuts closer to the end and it finally feels like I'm putting the the last quarter of this puzzle together. I've been looking forward to this, where I get to go back and write in a few thousand words that will make the middle section of the book feel complete. These are the chapters where everything is already established and I get to set them loose on a developing situation.

After these chapters are finished I'm left with writing nothing but the last four or five chapters right at the end. It's a pretty exciting time for the book, because everything has been figured out and the only thing left is to write it. I expect this book to arrive (be completed), at between 70,000 to 80,000 words. There's a chance it'll go over, but not by much.

You're not alone in waiting to see the last half of the book. Not even Sylvie - my part time assistant (aka 'the Minion'), has seen the new stuff. She asks after new chapters daily, sometimes more. She's joined by my mother, who requests new material every time I speak to her on the phone. No pressure.

I'm just glad I can see the end of The Expendable Few, because I love delivering a story, I can't wait to get this out to you guys. There's a different kind of buzz in writing this book too, especially since 90% of the characters are totally new, some of the bigger ideas are brand new, and the ending is something new to me too. This stuff hasn't been kicking around in my head for  years, it's got an 'on the spot' quality for me because it's only a few weeks / months old. 

When it's all said and done, I hope this book is remembered well as a side car novel that fits alongside Broadcast 6-7 and stands well as a spiritual sequel to Broadcast 0. If you're looking to get a sample, there's a huge chunk of the book in the Goodreads Forum.

Now, back to work...

RL