February was filled with proofing the novel and filling out the supplements, and relaxing where I could with shows and movies.

Projects

For starters, I’ve got all five proof copies ordered and on their way: the hardcover and paperback editions for Champion Bold, and the three paperback supplements: Catalogue of Aliens, Encyclopedia Galactica, and Ship Recognition Guide.

When I wasn’t proofing and editing, I was working on other projects. Sasha’s Book 3, The Colonel Lieutenant, is the next big project, currently undergoing a major re-write. Other ones I want to focus on are the Champion Bold sequel, Champion Impact, and the fantasy novel, Orcfyre. Some minor projects I’m picking at are my American Civil War novelette series and some other science fiction and fantasy ideas I’m kicking around.

March Goals

• Approve the proofs for publishing
• Sasha Book 3: Finish Current Act Re-write
• Sasha Book 3: Big End-Battle 2nd Wargame
• Orcfyre: Act Re-distribution and outline
• Other: Knock 10 things off my to-do lists.
• Publish two blog posts.

Books

I actually managed to finish a pair of books this month, putting me only two books behind where I want to be right now. Not bad progress.

The first book was The Other Queen, the fifteen and last of Philippa Gregory’s historical fiction series. This one follows a period of time in Mary, Queen of Scott’s, life under incarceration, with her and her jailers as the characters. I’m working on the book report now, so I don’t want to say too much. Except that now with that done, I can do one of my other big reading projects.

I also finished The Best School in the World: West Point 1833-1866, a non-fiction book on West Point prior to and during the American Civil War. This one was research for several different projects of mine; I wanted to know what sort of curriculum West Point cadets went through, and how it differed from other contemporary European schools. I got a lot of good information from this book.

March Goals

• Finish two fiction title
• Finish one non-fiction title
• Finish one research titles

Movies and Shows

• Skeleton Crew
• Oppenheimer
• Shazam!

I made an effort to make time for movies and shows this month, and I knocked three titles off my list.

First, Oppenheimer, the biopic about the doctor who helped develop the a-bomb and then fell to post-war politics. I really likes this one, from the casting to the politics to the explanation of the physics. At no point did I feel like the movie was talking down to me, and that’s the least you can ask for when a movie is getting into atomic physics and red-scare politics.

Then there was Shazam, the superhero movie. I’ll be honest, the only reason I chose this one was because the sequel is on my fixit podcast and I want to see that before I listen to the podcast. But I actually really liked this one. It was funny, and exciting. Just adult enough to appreciate, without being too adult to not believe there are children involved. I’m glad I watched this one.

I also finished Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. I had a rough start to this one because I had to warm up to the children, but halfway through I came to appreciate them (and they had grown enough for me to like them). My final grade was going to depend on how the show wrapped up, and it ended really well. The kid’s space adventure gave them the skills and experience needed to win. Huzzah! Good show.

March Goals

• Finish one started show
• Start one new show
• Watch one Best Picture Winner
• Watch one other movie

Games

• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Madden 2025

Nothing much to say on the gaming front. I’m enjoying Baldur’s Gate 3 when I have time to play it. Haven’t touched any of my other games in a long time. My RPG characters are all still alive. The game I run is still going strong.

March Goals

• Advance to next chapter of Baldur’s Gate 3
• Advance story of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
• Advance story of Red Dead Redemption 2

What’s Next

I have two events on the books.

First is the Literary Libations event on Saturday, March 22nd, at noon. I’ll be there with a number of other local authors, selling my books and trying not to buy more. I’ll also be doing a reading of some sort. See details here.

I also have a table at Minicon 58, April 18 – 20, 2025, at the Doubletree Hilton in Bloomington. I’ll be there all three days with a table. I applied to be on some panels; we’ll see what I get assigned. Details here.

That’s it for now.

Where did January go? I swear we just started the month a week ago, and we’re already done? Wow. At least I managed to get some things done this month.

Projects

I’ve got physical proofs of Champion Bold, and I’m reading through them to find last-draft corrections. Most of these are formatting errors: missing punctuation, or lengths of text that need to be italicized. Maybe one in five corrections is style, something that makes less sense to me now that I’ve had several weeks stepped back from the project. (For all you writers out there, this is why I recommend putting in several week breaks in the process: when you come back to the project, these things stand out all the more.)

I’m almost done with the supplement books. I’ve got all the artwork assembled; some of it I need to finish processing to add to the book. There are a few articles I need to complete, and a few pages where I want to add additional images or world-expanding text boxes to fill blank spaces.

Recently, I pulled out Book 3 and I’ve been writing in that again. I processed some of the things that bugged me in my previous draft and I’m working those into this draft. My editor has a copy of what I’ve done so far, and I’m looking forward to her feedback.

I’ve picked at some other projects last month. I looked at my fantasy draft and worked out some fixes that I’m starting to incorporate. I’m doing world building for some other projects, lots of histories, organizational building, or crafting magic and philosophical systems. The type of things where you work on it for a bit, take a step back, then return and delete half your work and keep at it.

February Goals

• Finish review of Champion Bold
• Order Proofs of Supplement Books
• Continue work on Book 3
• Knock items off other project to-do list

Books

• Angel Fire East (eBook; Fiction)
• The Best School in the World: West Point 1833-1866 (Non-fiction)
• The Other Queen (Fiction)
• Sapiens: A brief History of Humankind (Non-fiction)
• Hannibal (Audibook; Non-fiction)
• A Burton House Christmas (Fiction)

January was a bit odd reading-wise, because I ended up starting a lot more books than I meant to. Mostly this was due to library returns forcing me to discontinue reading before I had finished some books and reminding me to start the other library books before they became due. So, I’m actively reading through four books simultaneously. Which feels like a bit much, now that I’m no longer reading on the bus every day.

I did finish A Burton House Christmas, a small side-book in the Burton House Saga. It was an interesting aside book from the main narrative: six of the characters each tell a Christmas story, either a real experience of theirs or a fictional tale they wrote themselves. Each story has a different flavor and feel, but each feels like a Christmas story. A nice experience I didn’t get to until after the holiday season.

February Goals

• Finish two fiction titles
• Finish one non-fiction title
• Finish one research title

Movies / Shows

• Skeleton Crew
• Tenet
• Star Wars Visions Season 1

I made an effort in January to watch more new things, even if it was just one episode when I got home from work before I got lost on the computer screens. It helped.

Star Wars Visions is a show where each episode is a different story, animated by a different studio, giving it a different style and flare. Some of the episodes I really liked, feeling like old Samurai movies or anime films. Others felt more like the sort of anime shows I never got into as a teenager: I’m glad I watched them, but I don’t feel the need to see them again.

I watched one movie last month: Tenet, the time-warping movie from Christopher Nolan. This movie was not as bad as I’d heard, but it wasn’t great. There were a lot of things I liked about it, but it seemed to get into it’s own science a lot without explaining it enough to the audience. There was enough that didn’t make sense to me to disrupt my enjoyment. I’m glad I watched it, and I’d probably watch it again, but it’s not amongst my favorite movies.

February Goals

• Finish two season of TV
• Finish two movies

Games

Not much to add on this front. I’m playing through the same games I was last month. I just haven’t sat down and concentrated on any one game to knock it out. I’m sure I could if I wanted to, but that’s a lot of time, and I’ve got a lot of other projects I’d rather be working on. That being said, I’ll make an effort in February to make progress on my games. Maybe I’ll get in a streak and knock one out.

What’s Next

I have two events in the next few months.

March 22nd I’ll be at Lift Bridge Brewery in Stillwater. It’s a short, six hour event with several other authors. I’m hoping to have my book ready be then.

Then, Easter weekend, I have a table at Minicon, Friday through Sunday. I’m looking forward to that event as well.

And I should have a book launch party for Champion Bold. I’ll let you know when that is,

Until next time, keep on writing!

Cheers!

-Michael

This update is very late in the month, due to moving, project work, vacations and then catch up. Suffice it to say, I’m feeling very tired. Accomplished, but tired.

Projects

I had two big projects this last month. One was to get Champion Bold to the proofing. I’m pretty much there. I’ve gone through each page looking for italicization errors, formatting issues, and trying to avoid large blank spaces. Now I’m waiting for the last backers to get back to me with their names (if they want to be included), then I will format as a PDF and start prepping for proof. This might take a few rounds to get done as the two programs involved have some different ways of interpreting the same data, but I’ll get it done.

The other was in regards to NANOWRIMO. I used the month as a chance to re-write Book 3 of the Renaissance Army series. This went well for about two weeks, when I had time to work on both projects. But when it came time to pick and choose, I had to pick Champion Bold. That being said, what I did re-write was a lot better. I’m looking forward to getting back into that soon.

December Goals

• Get physical copy of Champion Bold
• Finish supplement books
• Knock 5 things of Project To Do List

Books

• Running with the Demon (eBook; finished)
• A Knight of the Word (eBook; finished)
• Fire and Blood (Physical; started)
• Fool Moon (Audiobook; continued)

Since I had a week off from work, I missed out on a lot of my normal reading time. I finished Running with The Demon and then read through A Knight of the Word, the first two books in the longer Shanarra series by Terry Brooks. This was one of the first fantasy series I started reading as a child, so I’m interested to get through it as an adult and see how it reads.

Running with the Demon ended better than it started it; it took a long time to get into it. Introducing the characters and the rules took a while. Once it got going, it took off and ended pretty well. Though it reminded me more of a Stephen King novel than the fantasy stories I remember from my childhood.

The second book (A Knight of the Word) was mostly better story, largely because I knew the characters and the rules of the world from the first book. The series of twists at the end were a mix of what I expected (which I hoped he would have done differently) and what I didn’t expect (which I appreciate). Still, it was a good book.

Fire and Blood is a long narrative history of House Targaryen and its rule of Westeros. It’s not a story in the sense of the other books of the world, but it is a fascinating read. I’m enjoying it, especially because it has given me some ideas for non-traditional projects I could work on.

December Goals

• Finish Audiobook
• Finish One Non-Fiction Book
• Start one Research Book

Movies and Shows

• Deadpool and Wolverine
• Agatha All Along
• Star Trek Lower Decks Season 5 (Started)

Managed to find time this month to sit down with friends to watch a few things.

Deadpool and Wolverine was a great movie, filled with a lot of fun callbacks, fourth-wall jokes and action scenes. I found the initial premises a little hard to accept, but once I got past that (and it’s really easy to get past it) I loved the movie.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Agatha All Along. What I got was a great show that managed to follow the established rules of the MCU, and still provide enough surprises to be enjoyable. I’m looking forward to re-watching it to see what I missed the first time.

Star Trek Lower Decks is on its Fifth and final season this year, with one episode left to go at the time of this posting. This show has been fantastic since episode one, telling its own stories while making references and call-backs to previous series. It’ll be a shame to see it go, but better it leave by its own accord than it die of misuse.

December Goals

• Watch one Best Picture Winner (3 Remaining)
• Watch one Fix-It Movie (11 Remaining)
• Watch one Other Movie
• Watch one TV Show
• Watch one In Progress TV Show

Games

• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Madden 2025

As part of my moving process I invested in a PS5 and several games I had my eye on, including Baldur’s Gate 3 and Madden 2025.

Madden is a typical football game. My playing so far has either been with my roommate, or doing the skill tests to learn how to play the game. I haven’t done a season yet, so I can’t claim any great competency at it. But I am enjoying it.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a DnD 5th Edition game. I started the first Baldur’s Game way back when several times, but never got too far into it. This one I’ve heard good things about, and so far I’m having fun. I’m playing as a generic custom character, so I can make dumb mistakes and learn the game. I’ll replay later as the game characters, once I have an idea of how things work.

December Goals

• Make progress in Red Dead Redemption 2
• Make progress in Assassin’s Creed Odessey
• Make progress in Warhammer 40K Armageddon
• Make progress ins Baldur’s Gate 3

What’s Next

Working on the book. Planning events and projects for 2025. And surviving the holidays. That about it.

October was fun. Filled with a few good books and a few good shows, mostly it was filled with a lot of good project work, and a lot of fun writing.

Writing and Projects

I’ve got Champion Bold to Word, which means I’m prepping it to get a printed proof. This sounds easy, but this is where I’ve made some errors in the past, so I’m being careful and thorough. Progress is progress, but progress also involves a lot of tempermental programs. So, slow and steady, and checking my work.

The supplement books are coming along nicely. They’re not quite at the printed proof stage, but they should be soon. I just need to finish some articles and assemble some artwork.

I’ve been working on other projects, planning and preparing. Particularly, I’ve been revising my plan for Sasha 3, hoping to get that to proofing during 2025.

November Goals

• Use NANOWRIMO to re-write Book 3
• Get Champion Bold to proofing stage
• Finish Supplement Books
• Knock 10 things off Writing Project to-do list

Books

• Under One Roof (Burton House Saga Book Six; Fiction; Finished)
• Fool Moon (Dresden Files, Book 2, Audiobook, Fiction, Started)
• Running with the Demon (eBook; Fiction; Started)

I read through Under One Roof, Book 6 of the Burton House Saga. This books takes the reader to colonial Australia, which involves reading through how the penal colony works for both men and women, and how the colonists interacted with the aboriginal inhabitants. As for the characters the story followers, their stories involve a lot of overcoming personal adversity, and trying to be the best leaders they can be for those who are dependant upon them.

I’m almost done with Running with the Demon. This book I came to by accident. I’ve been wanting to re-read the Shannara series, some of which I read back in middle school. I picked up a humble bundle, and this was the first book. It’s not bad, but it took a long time to pick up. If I stick with the chronology, I have six more books to get through before I get to a book I’ve already red. I may skip ahead. I haven’t decided yet.

November Goals

• Finish two fiction books
• Finish one non-fiction book
• Finish on research book

TV Shows and Movies

• The Acolyte
• Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5

Did not watch a lot of new things this month. I did watch through The Acolyte, the Star Wars show. I really liked this show. For half of it, I was thinking it was going to do A and B, and then it went wonky and gave me Q and T. And I liked it! But it’s been cancelled, so no more of that for me. I’m kind of miffed about it, but I can’t get into reasons because of spoilers.

Started Lower Decks season 5. The last season, by all accounts. It’s been a fun show, and I’m excited to see how it ends.

November Goals

• Start one new TV show
• Finish one in-progress TV show
• Watch one Best Picture Winner (3 remaining)
• Watch one Fix-it Movie or Show (10 remaining)
• Watch one other movie

Games

• Deathmatch Island one Shot
• Assassins Creed Odessey

Deathmatch Island

I got to participate in a short campaign of Deatmatch Island, an RPG that harkens back to Hunger Games and other similar deadly competition games. Your character is completely randomized, and the encounters are difficult but not game-ending if you get them wrong. It was fun, though it’s not a long-term game.

November Goals

• Advance Assassins Creed Odessey
• Advance Red Dead Redemption 2
• Advance 40K Armageddon
• Work out test game RPG one-shot ideas

What’s Next

Hello. July was a good month. I knocked a lot of things off my list, got my book to 80% edited, and made progress on the shows and games I hadn’t gotten to in a while. That’s a good month.

Writing

My focus was on Champion Bold and the supplemental books. Writing, drawing, hiring artists. It’s a large beast I bit into, but it’s progressing nicely. The Book is 80% edited, and the supplemental books are in the 40’s.

Not much advancement on other projects, but that’s okay. I want to get my primary project done and published, and that has to be my primary goal right now.

August Goals

• Finish editing Champion Bold, get published proof prepped
• Get Supplement books to 75% complete.
• Process feedback on The Colonel Lieutenant
• Knock 10 items of Minor To-Do List

Reading

• Last of the Mohican Graphic Novel, Marvel Illustrated (Fiction; Finished)
• Gettysburg by MacKinley Kantor (Non-Fiction; Finished)
• The Virgin’s Lover by Philippa Gregory (Fiction; Finished)
• Storm Front by Jim Butcher (Fiction; Audiobook; Started)
• Wisconsin Vamp by Scott Burtness (Fiction; Started)
• Complete Idiot’s Guide to Game Theory (Research; Started)

I read a lot over the course of the month. Reading a graphic novel of Last of the Mohicans actually made me understand the story a little better, though it’s still not great. Also finished the next Philippa Gregory novel The Virgin’s Lover, which I will have a blog post for up soon.

The fun one was a book my dad read when he was young on the Battle of Gettysburg. Oddly enough, it was titled Gettysburg. It was fascinating to see how books of that time (1952) portrayed the battle; what they emphasized and what they ignored. As a bonus, it did four pages on the 1st Minnesota and what it did there.

August Goals

• Finish one fiction book
• Finish one non-fiction book
• Finish one research book

Movies and Shows

• Witcher – Season 3 (Finished)
• The Expanse (Continued)
• House of the Dragon – Season 2 (Started)

As I said in the intro, I actually sat down to watch new things this month. I got halfway through Season 2 of House of the Dragon with my sister. So far, so good. And I knocked another episode off of the Expanse. I really wish I could get into that show as much as other people. It’s good, but it usually isn’t grabbing my attention.

Finished the current season of The Witcher, and while I enjoy the show — especially the over-the-top fight sequences — I feel it doesn’t do a great job of explaining the world. I have so many question that just don’t get answered. Maybe if I read the books or play the games, I’ll find out more.

August goals

• Finish current season of the Expanse.
• Watch two movies.
• Knock Tv show off my ‘started and not finished’ list
• Start new TV show

Games

• Warhammer 40K: Armageddon (Started)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Continued)

I advanced a little bit in RDR2. Played through a story mission that actually left me really angry. I had to free a member of our criminal party who had been captured, and there was no way to do it without killing a lot of people, including at least one innocent woman. I texted my sister (who loves this game) and asked her if I am able to kill the guy I rescued later on in the game. Apparently, it depends on my choices. Which is cool from a game design perspective, but I need to avoid looking up how to do it, lest I get spoilers.

Started a new computer game, Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon. It’s a hex-based wargame that uses the Panzer General engine to play as an Imperial Guard commander during the Second War of Armageddon. I like this game so far for two reasons. First, it is a simple and fun game with short missions. And two, the Second War of Armageddon was largely my first introduction to the 40K universe. So, it’s a bit of nostalgia in it for me.

The RPG games go well. My characters are still alive, which is good. The game I’m running only had one session this month, but it set up a nice battle for next session. Knights, evil wizards, and lots of goblin friends…and perhaps foes.

August Goals

• Advance RDR2 into next chapter
• Start Assassin’s Ceed Odessey
• Finish Armageddon

What’s Next

I have on public appearances planned right now. But I want to change that this month. I hope to find some conventions and events I can sign up for, before I hear about them too late.

Until next time, keep on writing.

Cheers!

Michael

June was filled with book work. Got a lot, and I mean a lot done. And there’s still more to do.

Writing Projects

I’m advancing Champion Bold and its companion books on towards completion. More than half the book has been edited. I’ve started work on most of the articles, and have commissioned much of the artwork. There’s still a good amount of work to do, but every day I move the spreadsheet closer to being completed.

I haven’t done much work on my other projects. I’m getting some feedback on Book 3 of my main series back. And I’ve picked at a few things here or there. But for the most part, it’s book work.

July Goals

• Get total Champion Project to over 50% Completed (Currently 25%)
• Two non-update blog posts
• 10 Things off the Minor List

Books

• Shogun Vol 2 (Re-Read; Finished)
• Story of a Regiment (Research; Finished)
• Robert E Lee and Me (Non-Fiction; Finished)
• Don Quixote (Fiction; Audio-book; Finished)

Finally finished the audio-book of Don Quixote. Now, don’t get me wrong, there were several great stories about Don Quixote’s adventures in this book. But there were also long segments where he wasn’t even in the story, but characters were talking about him, or about the genre of knight errant stories. It made it for a long and rough read to get through. I know that this is how stories were back then, but still. I think I’ll chose a more modern story for my next audio-book.

Also got through Robert E Lee and Me. This book is written by a retired US Army officer and former professor of military history at West Point. It’s about his journey as a raised southerner to identify and combat the Lost Cause narrative in his own life. It is a good, read, but it gets intense. He goes in depth into the slave trade and the history of lynchings. He even talks about how the statues and roads and base names were all in response to the growth of the civil rights movements. A good book to read, but it goes to dark places.

July Goals

• Finish one Fiction title
• Finish one Non-Fiction title
• Finish one Research title

Movies and Shows

• Godzilla Minus One

I can’t believe I only watched one new thing last month, but I guess that’s how it goes.

Godzilla Minus One is a good movie, surprisingly well done for it’s budget. I liked the characters, and the ending had just enough leeway for a sequel. And as a Japanese production, it wasn’t as ‘action packed’ as a Hollywood kaiju film would be. I’m glad I got a chance to see this movie.

July Goals

• Finish one TV show I’m watching (Witcher or Expanse)
• Start one new TV show
• Finish one TV show on hiatus
• Watch two movies

Games

• Frost Punk (Main Campaign Finished)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (In Progress)

Continuing my trend of not playing many video games, I only sat down twice to pick at Frost Punk. To my surprise, I beat the main campaign. Considering the game afterwards, I realized my big flaw was that I wasn’t passing enough laws. Basically, it’s a mechanic in the game that lets you shape the society: do you put children to work or not? Do you enforce order through authoritarianism or through a church? I was only passing laws when I had to, and so did not have a flexible society I needed to beat the game. It was only because I changed tactics halfway through the last play through I beat it.

My RPG games are all going well. They’re fun to play, and the stories are intriguing. My Atonement game is into the next chapter, which is an investigation-heavy chapter in a massive city based somewhat on ancient Rome and Constantinople. I’ll need to be careful; between the party splitting up, and the research-heavy sections, the game could slow down too much. I’ll have to trust my players to let me know if that happens.

July Goals

• Red Dead Redemption 2 to next chapter
• New Computer Story Game
• Finish Game in Hiatus

What’s next

Nothing exciting. Focused on book work. And readying myself to apply for conventions for next year.

Until next blog post, keep on writing.

Cheers!

Michael