Just an introduction

I'm not famous. Not by a long shot. I'm just a normal guy who likes writing. I've been doing it for about 15 years now, and a few people ask me how it's going.

Thus the blog.

This is for my friends (and maybe someday fans) that wonder how things are coming along. So I'll update this from time to time (probably more often than my other blogs).

For those that don't know, here's a synopsis of how my writing "career" took off.

1995. High school. It was my freshman year at Marshalltown High School. I read a lot, A LOT a lot. Most of the people I hung out with read a lot too, or were interested in various things that were similar to writing. I was not a popular kid in school (insert random Geek/Nerd comments here). I wasn't in many clubs or sports in high school (a short baseball stint and a failed basketball tryout), and I worked a full time job, so needless to say I was very stand-offish.

Sometime during this year I was introduced to Magic: The Gathering. I was fascinated not only the mechanics of the game, but the story that surrounded it. I was also an avid Dungeons and Dragons player (go ahead and laugh) along with my long hours of reading. I decided to write a short story developing my own characters using the Magic elements, with some D&D elements mixed in.

Thus, Lords of the Light (known back then as Lords of the Night) was born.

As I kept writing, myself and some close friends noticed that there was nothing resembling either Magic or D&D in the story, so I decided to branch off and just write a book. It became my fascination for a long time, and with some input and help from a couple of good friends (Steven J. Adelmund and Jeremiah Klar) the world became more fleshed out.

I kept on writing all throughout high school, never finishing the book but had many pages of notes and 3 revisions as my writing skill improved. The book was about a third of a way done when I graduated.

After graduation, my life became more and more complicated. Military injury and discharge, my first child, a failed marriage and subsequent divorce, debt and college drop out. New marriage and another child. 2 MORE children and an unhealthy addiction to World of Warcraft. I only worked on it sparingly for about 10 years.

During this time I still played Dungeons and Dragons. While playing, I decided to make an evil character, someone who could become a true villain, thus Zormir was born. Upon the creation of Zormir, I immediately fell in love with his character. His attitude and presence was awesome. So, for a time I abandoned Lords and began working on Zormir.

And that leads us to today. I have begun heavy work on the Zormir novels. I still work on Lords a little here and there, but mostly it sits on the back burner for now. There are a couple of reasons for this, first I feel that while I'm still a new writer, trying to publish a novel following one character, rather than 3 groups of characters, would be easier for me to maintain, and might be easier for me to sell to a publisher. Secondly, events that take place in the Zormir novel directly affect the Lords books, so I feel that it would be better to define the world in this way rather than publishing Lords, then doing a prequel for Zormir.

So what are these books about? Here is a quick description:

Zormir- Once a chosen soldier of the church has fallen to evil. Will the world be able to survive the attack of their former hero?

Lords- In a post apocalyptic world, humankind struggles for survival at the hands of demons, devils, and men who have turned to darkness. Only one hope remains, the Lords of the Light, the Unblemished Army, lies dormant in a cave for hundreds of years. If they could be freed, then mankind can push back the Darkness. Can 4 men defy the odds and free the Army, and ensure victory? Or will the Legions of Hell swallow the last bastion of human civilization?

Unfortunately these are both series. I have too much planned for both to make them stand alone books. I have 6 books planned for the Lords series, and that's pretty definite for what I want to do. I would like to finish the Zormir series in about 4 books, but it could go much longer, as I don't have that series completely planned out yet like I do with Lords.

Ok, I know this is a long post, and I will finish with my current state on things.

Right now I'm in the process of transferring all of my old notes into one file using Wikidpad. If you haven't heard of this, I highly recommend it to anyone that has any sort of collections of thoughts, also makes pretty good to do lists, etc. Basically it's like having your own personal wikipedia, and as a writer I find it extremely useful. I have approximately 400 pages of notes to convert, which should take me about a week maybe two, then I'll start working on new material again.

I devote the majority of my writing time to Zormir, however I'm also transferring old Lords manuscripts to the PC as well, so I haven't forgotten it. I actually have more work done on Lords, but I promise Zormir will be completed first.

I also have a few ideas floating around my head for some stand-alone novels. They are no more than ideas at the moment, and I'm not sure if they will take place in the same world as the other books of something entirely different, but I'll keep you posted.

Well that's all for now. I'll TRY to update often, but I make no promises. I'm a busy guy, and a very forgetful one at that :P