Soooo, recently I went to the dentist for a fresh round of cleaning and up-checking and it had been a long time since the last visit.  Like, a really long time.  Like more than five years.  And everyone was super kind and no one made me feel ashamed for not having been to the dentist in five years (except for the little cleaning tool that I’m pretty sure was cursing me the entire time it was in my mouth).

But I realized that it really wasn’t that bad of an experience and in the process of trying to figure out why it was I hadn’t been in such a long time, I realized a good part of it was because I hadn’t been in such a long time.  That is to say, I hadn’t gone because I was ashamed of not having gone earlier.

Which is, in a way, very similar to why I haven’t been posting anything on Ye Olde Blarghe lately.  Because I haven’t posted anything.  And I feel bad.  And so I keep not posting, because nothing seems worth having waited ALL THAT TIME to post.

Here is a picture of a cute animal:

So this is kind of a dental check-up of blargh posts; it’s just a little reminder that hey, it’s really not all that bad to post things, even if they are of very little interesting content.

Perhaps, especially if they are of very little interesting content.

That’s probably not true, but it makes me feel better.

 

Hi hi everybody!

Just a quick update to let you all know that Angry Robot has announced Book Two in the Duskwalker series will be released next spring with the title MORNINGSIDE FALL

US Release: April 29, 2014

UK/Aus Release: 1 May 2014

I don’t have a cover to show off yet, but I’ll be sure to let you all see it as soon as I can.  Hopefully I’ll get to see it before you, but you never know.  I’m sure it will be awesome either way.

That’s the Royal We, which We’re now entitled to use by virtue of being a Celebrated Author.

(It’s true, my friend Clint Richards celebrated me once.  He held up his hands and went “yaaay”.  TOTALLY counts.)

I’m happy to report that my very first novel Three is alive and well and running around out there in bookstores and what nots. It was a bit of a crazy time trying to balance promoting Book One while finishing up Book Two, but I’m happy to say that the launch of Book One seems to have gone Quite Well.

And speaking of which, the manuscript for Book Two of the Duskwalker series is off to the publisher and I am anxiously awaiting edits.  Which means that perhaps I’ll actually get back to updating the ol’ Blargh now.

I doubt I’ll be updating with anything useful of course, but it’s my Blargh I’ll do what I want!!!

 

 

So I haven’t been updating the ol’ Blargh here for a bit, but I thought I’d let you all know that it’s not because I’m not thinking about it or because I’m lazy.  Or, at least, not JUST because I’m lazy.

I have in fact been quite busy finishing up my second novel and preparing for the imminent launch of the first (titled Three and out in the US July 30, worldwide August 1, buy buy buy!).

Over the next little bit (starting within the next couple of days), I’ll probably be sharing out links to all the various interviews and guest blog posts I’ve written, as they start showing up on the ol’ interwebs.  I hope you will count those as if they are my own blargh posts because I did in fact write them even if they are appearing elsewhere and because this is, after all, my blargh and it’s all about ME ME ME!

ME!

If you’re wondering what all this nonsense about a first novel is, feel free to purchase your own copy at your local bookstore, or from Amazon here.

I, of course, haven’t actually read it myself, because I don’t generally look at the screen when I type.  But the early reviews have been quite good.

The great thing about All The Social Medias is that you have access to way more people’s opinions than ever before in all of history.  Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, even the comment section of your local grocer’s weekly specials site, all provide you with tons of insightful analysis and helpful information about the quality of any number of things, like current movies, or latest technologies, or critically important national policy debates (sometimes in 140 characters or less!).

If you’re putting Something Out There, like a new vacuum, or book, or blog post about the lack of female protagonists in video games, there’s a very good chance that someone, somewhere is going to have an opinion about it.  And they will probably express it.

Occasionally it can be useful to go See What People Are Saying.

But before you do that, there a couple of things to know:

1)  NEVER DO THAT.

Okay, actually it’s okay to do it if you have to.  But it’s important to keep in mind that:

2) People often make sweeping authoritative declarations about quality such as:

This is terrible!

Easily the worst thing ever in the history of mankind!

If I had to choose between going back in time to shoot Hitler or the creator of this, it wouldn’t even be a choice … Hitler lives every time.  IT’S THAT BAD!

I used to make this mistake all the time.  And I still do it occasionally, but I’ve been working on it.

It’s very easy to confuse your own personal distaste for something with an objective and authoritative judgment that It Is Bad.

Some things really ARE bad.  Like that curry chicken and egg salad with extra mayonnaise sandwich that you left out on the counter overnight.  DO NOT EAT THAT.  IT IS LITERALLY BAD.

But there are a number of authors out there whose material I don’t particularly care for, and whose writing I used to look at and scoff and say “This is so bad!  This is awful!  It’s TERRIBLE!!!” and I’m not even one who usually uses exclamation points all that often, so that was getting pretty emphatic.

But many of those authors are selling literally millions of copies of their work.  Clearly they’re Doing Work that other people find value in (or, in which other people find value).

I’m not their target audience.  And that’s okay.  It is, in fact, good!

It’s great that those authors have found an audience and have connected with their audience and even though I want them to only create things that I like because my whole world revolves around ME BY GOLLY, it’s REALLY OKAY.  Something something about not pleasing everybody.

Whatever you create, some people will hate it.  Hate it.  (Sometimes it won’t even have anything to do with you … lots of people hate things just because other people like them.)

It can be helpful to remember that “This is HORRIBLE” is usually just code for “I don’t like it”.

(Also, never read the comments.)

(Feel free to post comments below.  I will read them.)

(Probably.)

(I rarely take my own advice.)

We’ve all done it at some point or another.

We’re sitting there in a line of traffic and it’s finally starting to move at 15mph and the right lane’s ending, and has been for 3500 feet, and that sports car is coming up way too fast, trying to cut in front of us at the last possible second, so we edge up as close behind the bumper of the car in front of us as we can because HE SAW THE SIGN.

Or, you know, that guy’s coming towards the intersection a little too fast, but we go anyway because we’ve got the green.

Or traffic’s not slowing down, but we’re already in the crosswalk and state law says they have to yield so by golly we’re going to cross!

And by golly, we’re right, by gum, we DO have the right-of-way.  We ARE doing the right thing, and THEY are not.

Unfortunately the laws of physics do not vary based on the laws of the state, and even though the guy who drove through the crosswalk might be very sorry for having done it, that doesn’t help you recover all of your formerly-inner bits from whence they’ve been scattered across hood and sidewalk.

Sometimes insisting on your right-of-way can cause otherwise-avoidable catastrophic damage.  And it’s not unusual for the person in the right to suffer more than the person in the wrong. Sometimes it’s worth pausing that extra minute or making a little extra room for that person who maybe isn’t quite doing things strictly according to the rules.

A little bit of grace can go a long way.

A lot farther than a Honda Accord can propel a human body, anyway.