Jason's Ramblings

A Closer Look At The Tennis Bracelet

2011-09-25T10:36:00.000+10:00

It is not frequently that an accident inspires the name of a jewelry piece; however, that is how the story goes with tennis bracelets. They got their strange name from an occurrence during a 1987 match, which involved Chris Evert, who played tennis professionally at the time. Evert was sporting a costly bracelet which featured an inline sequence of diamonds that were individually set. During the match, the clasp broke and she requested that the officials discontinue the match until the bracelet could be found. From that day, any bracelet which features an inline string of diamonds has been referred to as tennis bracelets.

A tennis bracelet is the perfect bracelet for formal wear due to its sparkle and luster. Diamonds are individually placed in settings of square, after which they are strung into a bracelet which uses a clasp to hold it together on the wrist. The support wiring and settings may be crafted from silver or any jewelry metal of quality. The individual settings contribute to the comfort that is experienced when tennis bracelets are worn.

Other categories of jewelry that take on the form of tennis bracelets are called tennis-style bracelets. Different sized stones may be used in groups in tennis-style bracelets, but the piece keeps the inline appearance of the original tennis bracelet. Traditional tennis bracelets have a tendency to feature a standardized arrangement of diamonds and can be extremely costly.

One essential component of a diamond tennis bracelet that is well constructed is the safety clasp. After a while, this latch can become less dependable; therefore, designers of the pieces incorporate a secondary security feature in the tennis bracelets. The two most popular styles of security latches are figure eights and chains.

The figure eight safety clasp is a miniature metal double loop. If the main clasp disconnects, the loops of the figure eight keep the tennis bracelets from slipping off. The chain safety latch attaches on the opposite side of the main clasp, from one little stud to another. If the main clasp breaks, the chain is designed to hold the bracelet in one piece until it is repaired.

For maximum comfort and security, tennis bracelets ought to be customized to the wrists of the individuals. Loosely fitted tennis bracelets can become pulled and snagged. While overly close-fitting tennis bracelets can scrape the skin and become in danger of breakage. An ideally fitted piece will allow a finger to easily pass in between the wrist and the bracelet.

The popularity of tennis bracelets stems from the fact that they are versatile and are often worn in many different social situations. They are sophisticated and elegant and can greatly accessorize any style of outfit.

Bulova watches - the wearer’s choice

2011-08-15T22:53:00.000+10:00

Readers might ponder why Bulova watches are the most sought after luxury wrist watches by most fashion conscious people across the world. Surveys made across the world rank the Bulova wrist watches at the very top amongst all leading designer luxury watches. Wrist watches have seized to be just instruments reminding people about their deadlines. They now are an integral part of a man’s personality. Now the reason behind the bias of many wrist watch buyers towards Bulova is rooted down to the fact that they are the firsts in many ways.

In 1919, as pocket watches lost their popularity, Joseph Bulova became the first to introduce a new luxury line of wrist watches. In 1924, Bulova introduced the first ever line of luxury watches for women. In 1931, Bulova became the first watch making company to produce electric clocks. That very year they became the first luxury watch company spending over a million in a year. In 1968 they constructed the first ever public clock the Bulova Satellite Clock which maintained accurate time from satellites orbiting in space. The Bulova line was used as part of NASAs Apollo 11, which also was the first human-piloted shuttle to land on the moon. That means: Bulova watches were the first on radio, first on television, and first on the Moon, and of course first in the hearts of millions. Joseph Bulova always made it sure that the Bulova brand was in the hearts of the people by creating such headlines.

Another feature of Bulova is that they design gender specific watches. Men’s watch line include masculine durable collections like Telluride while the Bracelet collection include women’s watches. The Bracelet collection gives the appearance of a bracelet instead of a watch. The band being thinner looks more delicate suiting women. Some bands are also studded with diamonds to add a tennis bracelet appearance.

Unlike genuine Rolexes watches, anyone can have the pleasure of wearing an elegant watch due to a variety of collections from Bulova at a wide range of prices. The Caravelle collection, developed in 1962, is the most affordable. The Bulova timepieces tend to be more fashionable and contemporary, but because of their affordable prices, fans can buy the current trends and update their watch line chest. Classy, contemporary, trendy and exotic-are the words to describe the elegance of Bulova.

Useful Information About Czech Beads

2011-08-06T17:35:00.000+10:00

It is a known fact that Czech beads have been around for centuries and over the years they have evolved and grown in terms of different designs and techniques of manufacture. They are really superb miniature works of art made with glass as the basic raw material. The changes and evolution in designs has been happening over the past few centuries quite rapidly and is usually in tune with changing customer tastes and preferences. Of the many varieties that have created ripples of excitement in the market place Czech beads known as lampwork beads is something that is worth mentioning.

The problem with most of the beads emanating from this country is the fact that they may not be culturally compatible with the country in which it is being imported. Language was a big problem and quite often there was utter confusion as regards the order and actual dispatch. Some buyers may have asked for a specific color and would have been shipped a diametrically opposite color. Getting a replacement would often take a long time and it would basically destroy the very purpose for which these beads were imported.

Nothing much could be done about it because many of the suppliers were not tuned to rapidly changing and demanding market situations. Hence the only way the situation could be remedied is to come out with a novel and easily workable solution as far as these beads were concerned. The best way would be to personally visit the country and have these beads ordered, manufactured and shipped. Though this could have taken some time it was a much better opportunity that not having anything at all.

However, things have changed for the better today and more modern and market savvy manufacturers and suppliers are getting into the business in Czechoslovakia and they are able to not only match our requirements for Beads but are also able to go a step further and come out with newer and stunning varieties which often takes us by complete surprise. And with the internet more popular than ever, it is now easy to buy beads cheap online.

One such new variety that is creating a lot of excitement in the western markets is the variant called Venetians. These are very attractive and unique varieties of Czech beads that are finding a lot of acceptance amongst sizeable sections of the western world. These new varieties of beads are basically made using gold foils unlike the traditional beads that are made using silver foils.

A Mini Guide on Tiffany Wedding Rings For Men

2011-07-13T11:13:00.000+10:00

Since the wedding ring is a piece of jewelry that your husband will likely be wearing throughout your entire marriage, its features must include durability, and well built design. Since he will be wearing the ring for the decades to come, you should consider checking out the Tiffany wedding rings for men options, in order to ensure you are getting a quality product. Over the past few years the variety of Tiffany mens rings has increased and hence, your first decision should be whether you want to get a traditional or a modern wedding ring.

It is important to note that you should never leave this task for the last minute, especially if you want to engrave one of the many Tiffany wedding rings for men models you like. The best way to deal with this is to browse through various models of Tiffany jewelry for men and choose a ring two months in advance of the wedding. The two months will ensure that you have sufficient time to receive the ring and make all the changes you want to it.

When it comes to shopping for the perfect Tiffany ring, you should know that these models have more style options compared to other types of rings. For starters, these specific Tiffany jewelry for men can be made out of gold, platinum, sterling silver, titanium, tungsten or ceramic and include decorative features, such as beveled edges for instance. Even though each of these metals have unique qualities that can make them a good or a poor choice for a wedding ring, you should know that with a bit of research you can find the high-quality wedding band in all categories.

For instance, if you will browse the golf Tiffany wedding rings for men you will notice that this subcategory includes its own plethora of matching wedding bands. Besides the fact that gold wedding rings are classic, the metal can also be polished to have a really bright shine and it is available in colors such as rose, white or classic yellow. The reason why this is a popular choice is because the material is easy to engrave. However, before you purchase the ring or rings, you need to make sure that your future husband does not have an adverse reaction to gold, as a surprisingly large number of people are allergic to this metal.

Sample: Cryoskip's Footprints, part 1

2011-05-08T19:07:00.001+10:00

It's been a few weeks since I put a writing sample up, and since I have just released Cryoskip's Footprints, it seemed like the obvious choice for a new sample. Enjoy!
Cryoskip's Footprints
Striding into the dingy club, Derek took in the scene at a glance. It was typical of all the backwater dives he had seen countless times in his travels, full of people drinking to forget how crappy their life was out here in the wastelands. Three large men sitting in the corner took a mild interest in his

Cover For Next Atomic Wasteland Story

2011-04-28T22:51:00.001+10:00

I haven't spoken much about it on the site, as writing it has been driving me nuts :) But I'm just about to send the next Atomic Wasteland story (Cryoskip's Footprints) off to Lynn (Red Adept) for editing.

My original plan was to finish the story by the end of February, but for some reason the words for this story have been hard to find. Thankfully, I've finally managed to extract them from my brain and get them into the computer. After some revising (and excellent feedback from my beta

Flash Fiction: Pandemic

2011-04-08T22:17:00.001+10:00

I originally wrote this piece for Karen Berner's Bibliophilic Blather. Each month she has a specific theme for flash fiction submissions to her site. The theme for April is 'Spring Fever'. I had been watching too much House MD when I read the theme, and this was the result. The original post with the story is here.
Pandemic
Dr John Andrews looked through the transparent wall in his office toward the hospital entrance below. Hundreds of people filled the normally clear area, all seeking

Two New Interviews

2011-04-08T09:59:00.001+10:00

I've been interviewed again! Two interviews have gone live this week.

The first interview is over at Indie eBooks, a new site run by Nadine Earnshaw that has just started up. The second interview is over on Tales and Troubled Times of a Hungry Author, run by Roberto Scarlato. Both interviews feature "The Outsider" as the book I'm talking about.

Thanks to both Nadine and Roberto for interviewing

Sample: The Outsider, part 2

2011-04-06T22:49:00.001+10:00

This weeks sample is the second scene from The Outsider. If you missed it, you can read the first scene here.
The Outsider (continued)
Jacob stood with the town doctor and watched as the man slumbered restlessly on the bed. Jacob’s young daughter watched the stranger with a combination of fear and curiosity from the doorway, while his wife stood behind her and looked on disapprovingly.

“So, he will recover then?” Jacob asked.

“Oh, yes,” replied Doc Tanners. “Luckily, his

#ROW80 Round Two - The Goals

2011-04-02T22:02:00.001+11:00

So, another round of ROW80 is upon us. And now it's time to come up with some specific goals to work toward for this round.

I may add to this list of goals, but for the moment I'm going to go with the following:

Complete a short story at the end of every month - I don't really have an option with this goal. I've made a booking with my editor to submit a short story at the end of every month, so I need to get those stories written.

Get Gears of Wonderland to beta readers by the end of

#ROW80 Week 12 - The End (Round 1)

2011-03-25T18:53:00.001+11:00

Oops. Don't you hate it when you think you have a few more days than you actually have :)

For some reason, when I wrote last Sunday's post I thought there was still a full seven days left for round 1 of ROW80. Of course, thinking about it that doesn't make sense, since then it would be 84 days (12 x 7), and not 80 days.

Never mind. I made good progress for my weekly goal of finishing off the short story. I still have a couple of thousand words left (I've got to throw out one scene now

Hard Deadlines

2011-03-22T23:41:00.001+11:00

One of the killers for any sort of project that you do in your own time is the lack of a deadline. If there is no time limit for when something has to be done, you're relying on yourself to get it done in a reasonable time.

For some people this isn't a problem. They're self-disciplined enough to get the work done in a reasonable time. But for the rest of us, we're not so lucky :)

Challenges like Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) are fantastic for helping to set goals with a time limit.

Aliens vs Ninja (in a fun way)

2011-03-19T10:53:00.001+11:00

One of the things I enjoy about meeting and interacting with other authors, is occassionally getting to beta read upcoming work. That was the case for Keith C. Blackmore's latest novella, The Bear That Fell From The Stars. I first read this back in January, and I've been itching for it to come out.

I honestly loved reading this story. I have a strong interest in medieval Japan (I'd never write something set there, because I know I'd get the minor details wrong, but I love reading about the

Sample: The Outsider

2011-03-17T14:35:00.001+11:00

For this weeks sample, I've decided to post the first scene of The Outsider. I wanted to paint details of the setting in broad strokes, and introduce Jacob as a man who knows he is risking a lot by helping the dying stranger who has turned up at the gates. I hope you enjoy.

The Outsider
Jacob blinked the sweat from his eyes. The harsh afternoon sun burned, even in the relative shade of the watchtower, and he longed for the end of his shift to arrive so he could get down from the

Focusing Your Writing Time

2011-03-15T13:28:00.001+11:00

It's somewhat ironic that the day after I post I'm going to make this blog more reader-orientated, I make a post that is writer-orientated. But I've been trying out a new (free) program the past few days, and found it to be fantastic for helping me write.

The software is called Focus Booster. I found out about it when Amanda Hocking mentioned it on her blog (who in turn found out about it from Zoe Winters).

What does it do? Basically it puts a little timer on your screen (you can move it

A Question of Purpose

2011-03-14T15:03:00.001+11:00

I haven't been blogging much thepast month or so, and the main reason boils down to the title of this post. What is the purpose of this blog?

When it comes right down to it, I want this blog to be a way for me to interact with my readers (admittedly that's only a handful of people right now, but I hope that will slowly change in the future :) ). To have a place to be me, and hopefully show that there is a person "behind the book". But for a while, I had lost sight of this.

Instead, I had

Sampler: Scull (The Vampire Drabbles)

2011-03-12T20:02:00.001+11:00

Another sample drabble from The Vampire Drabbles. One of the things I like about drabbles (and writing in general) is playing with expectations; taking the normal, and making it abnormal. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Hopefully this one does :)
Scull
“Scull, scull, scull, scull, scull.” The crowd chanted loudly, cheering as Steve finished. Steve shared a round of high-fives with everyone around him.

“Not bad, not bad,” yelled Bob over the crowd’s noise, slapping

"The Outsider" (post-apocalypse short story) is now available

2011-03-09T20:59:00.001+11:00

My short story, The Outsider, is finally available on Amazon (and coming soon to Smashwords, and everywhere that Smashwords distribute to).

The Outsider is the first story in a series I've called "Atomic Wasteland Tales". It's a post-apocalyptic setting, many decades after a nuclear war that wiped out the majority of the world's population. The stories (at least initially) aren't linked in an overarching sequence, but there will be recurring characters and places appearing through

#ROW80 Week 8 - Sigh

2011-02-27T23:27:00.001+11:00

After having a good week last week by crossing off one goal from the list, this week was a bit of a disappointment. Since we're starting to get near the end of this round of ROW80, I"m beginning to get a little concerned.

Write one drabble a day – I only ended up writing three. I have been playing with the idea for the next collection of having 5-6 linked drabbles that fit together to form a narrative arc (the cause, and possible end, of the zombie apocalypse), in addition to the other

Author Interview: Michael Crane

2011-02-22T14:15:00.001+11:00

Today's interview is very important to me. I reviewed Michael's book, Lessons and Other Morbid Drabbles, back in December. His book was the reason I started playing around writing drabbles, which eventually led me to write The Vampire Drabbles. So I was extremely happy when he agreed to my request for an interview.

Michael is slightly unusual compared to most authors, because he focuses his writing on short stories. He speaks a little about why in this interview. I hope you enjoy it.

JGA:

I've Been Interviewed

2011-02-21T10:55:00.001+11:00

Keith C. Blackmore has just interviewed me over on his website. It's my first interview, so I'm somewhat excited :) Hopefully I didn't make too much of a fool of myself!

And while it's not as exciting as an interview, The Vampire Drabbles have just been listed on the Excuse Me, Miss list of 99 cent

#ROW80 Week 7 - One Goal Crossed Off

2011-02-20T23:31:00.001+11:00

I'm very happy with week 7 for ROW - I can finally cross one goal off as being totally completed! :) Of course, to balance that out I didn't do too well at one of my important goals for the week, but I'll give myself a pass anyway ;)

Write one drabble a day – Done! Many zombie short stories are starting to fill my Scrivener project for this collection. I've been hitting pretty close to the 100-word count this past week, usually only needing to delete a few words. I'm not entirely sure if

#ROW80 Week 6 - Even More Editing

2011-02-13T19:11:00.001+11:00

So, week six has now been and gone. Wow. Not too bad for this week really.

Write one drabble a day – I didn't quite make this goal for the week, writing only five drabbles in the end. But I did manage to write my first drabble that was exactly 100 words when I'd finished my first draft of it - no editing required! Of course, I'll probably edit it later on, but that's beside the point :)

One ~5k short story a month – After two false starts for a paranormal mystery that just wasn't

#ROW80 Week 5 - Edit, Edit, Edit!

2011-02-07T10:55:00.001+11:00

The title of the post pretty much sums up this week - it's been a week of editing and re-writing. Overall the editing has been very successful, although I will be changing my goals again as a result.

From the start I've had a goal to work on my current WiP (On Ice) at the same time as I edit my first novel (Gears of Wonderland) and write a short story. I don't think I can effectively do all three at the moment, since Gears needs ~10k new words as well as the usual fixing of mistakes. So for

Book Review: Lessons II by Michael Crane

2011-02-01T14:09:00.001+11:00

NOTE: I do not accept books for review. Reviews posted here are only for indie books that I have bought, and enjoyed enough to tell others about them. No, I don't post reviews for books I would rate less than 3.5 stars.

I reviewed Michael's first book of drabbles, Lessons and Other Morbid Drabbles, back in December. I became interested in writing drabbles (stories exactly 100 words long) after reading his book, and got so attached to them I'll be publishing my own collection

Amanda Hocking - Over Half a Million Books Sold!

2011-01-31T17:04:00.001+11:00

No, seriously. She has just posted about it over here on her blog.

I'm sure that there will be people who claim she is lying. I'm sure there will be people who start trying to knock her down, because she's being "too successful" (there are always sad individuals who can't be happy about someone else being successful). But in every interaction I've seen Amanda involved with she has always been a pleasant, classy person. She deserves every success she has had so far, and I wish her all the

#ROW80 Week 4 - Six of one, half a dozen of the other

2011-01-30T23:07:00.001+11:00

So, this is the end of week 4. It's hard to believe that it's been four weeks since the whole process started.

This week has been mostly positive. So without further ado:

Write 2,500+ words on my WIP – Not done - I stopped writing this week and deliberately spent most of the time working on a precise outline, figuring out every scene I was going to have between where I currently am and the end of the book. I restarted writing today, and already things seem a bit easier. I'm going to

Guest Post: Excuses Excuses Excuses

2011-01-29T23:26:00.001+11:00

Today's guest post is from Tammie Clarke Gibbs. Tammie is the author of the time travel romance novel Island of Secrets. Her article talks about a problem every beginning author faces - the ease of finding excuses for why we aren't achieving what we want to achieve. I'll let Tammie describe what she means herself.

I believe that sometimes we (authors) are our own worst enemies.

To become a specialist in any occupation a certain amount of time, effort and investment is expected. Yet, as

What We Are Creating

2011-01-27T10:25:00.001+11:00

Over on the Superstars Writing Seminar web site, there is an extremely moving audio from Tracy Hickman about what we are doing as authors when we write our stories. I urge you to listen to it (it's around 10 minutes

#ROW80 Week 3 - Altering Course

2011-01-24T00:03:00.001+11:00

Another week gone, in what seems like the blink of an eye! This week was an interesting one for me. I had been on holidays the last few weeks, but alas it was back to work this week. It wasn't something that I'd really thought about too much when setting my ROW80 goals (since I had finished NaNoWriMo fine while working), but it's been pretty obvious this week that with everything I want to achieve, I'm going to need to make a change to one of the goals!

Not surprisingly, the goal I'm going

Book Review: Decisions by R. Doug Wicker

2011-01-17T15:16:00.001+11:00

NOTE: I do not accept books for review. Reviews posted here are only for indie books that I have bought, and enjoyed enough to tell others about them.

I'm a big fan of murder mystery stories, but for some reason I've never read a lot of them. I'm not entirely sure why that is - I guess I tend to lean toward sci-fi, fantasy and urban fantasy as my first reading preference, which leaves little time to read other genres. But I saw a brief description about Decisions on the KindleBoards (the

#ROW80 Week 2 - Stormy Weather

2011-01-16T14:57:00.001+11:00

Unlike week 1, this week hasn't been too good as far as meeting my ROW80 goals is concerned. I think it's too early to panic and change my goals, but I will be keeping a close eye on how I go the next two weeks.

So, how did I do?

Average 1,000 words a day on my WIP – not at all. To be honest, my average for the week was just under 500 words a day. Looking to improve this week!
Write one drabble a day – done.
One ~5k short story a month – I've added a few more words to the

Author Interview: Keith C. Blackmore

2011-01-15T21:47:00.001+11:00

Todays post is an interview with Keith C. Blackmore. Keith writes in the horror and epic fantasy genres, two genres that I enjoy reading. You can read more about the books Keith has written at www.keithcblackmore.com.

1. What are your influences and sources of inspiration?
I was an avid reader of comic books and later got into trade paperbacks. I read a lot of different stuff, from action adventure to horror, SF to fantasy. The first novel I read was Conan by Robert E Howard, and a

Guest Post: Six Fantasy Cliches To Avoid

2011-01-11T20:57:00.001+11:00

Todays post is a guest article by William Meikle. William is currently holding a blog tour across many author/writing blogs, and is running a contest to help gain interest. Anyone who comments on this blog post will be entered into a draw to win a Kindle loaded with all of William's books. So get commenting! :)
Six Fantasy Cliches To Avoid
Fantasy fiction is doing good business at the moment, but there are certain situations that have been overplayed. So much so, that they have become genre

Book Review: Dark and Darker by Ryne Douglas Pearson

2011-01-10T13:45:00.001+11:00

NOTE: I do not accept books for review. Reviews posted here are only for indie books that I have bought, and that I enjoyed enough to tell others about them.

I can't remember how I initially stumbled across Ryne Douglas Pearson's books - I think it might have been a link to his web site on the Kindle Boards. Anyway, while looking at the list of books he had written on his site I saw Dark and Darker. I've become interested in short stories lately (since I'm writing a few myself :) ), and

#ROW80 Week 1 - Clear Days

2011-01-09T10:23:00.001+11:00

Ok, so officially we're supposed to check in for ROW80 on Wednesdays and Sundays. I'm not a "check in twice a week" person, so I'm just going to be doing the Sunday updates :)

So how has week 1 of ROW80 gone? Very well so far! Obviously we're only at the start, but looking at my goals for the challenge...

Average 1,000 words a day on my WIP - done for the first five days this week (I work out the average for the week on Fridays, since I don't write a lot on the weekend). I was worried I

Indie Author Sales in December

2011-01-02T14:30:00.001+11:00

Over on the Kindle Boards indie authors are once again giving details on their sales for December, and once again I'm compiling them all into a single list.

It's fascinating seeing the difference between November and December. Authors on the Kindle Boards were saying that they were seeing good sales for December as the month progressed, and the final results definitely show that.

In November, after the authors who had less than 30 sales for the month, the largest group was authors who got

ROW80 - My Round One Goals Updated

2010-12-29T14:20:00.001+11:00

I wrote about the Round of Words in 80 Days writing challenge just over a week ago. It kicks off in a few days, and it's now time for me to "officially" state what my goals will be for the challenge.

Claire Farrell used a very clear way of stating her goals on her blog, so I'm going to adapt her method for my own use :)

Goals

Write at least 7,000 words every week (ie: average 1,000 words a day) for my current WIP. Weeks are considered to end on Friday - I don't always get a chance to

"On Ice" Cover

2010-12-28T13:31:00.000+11:00

Normally a cover for "On Ice" isn't something I'd be thinking about at this stage - I'm still very early (~12k words) into the first draft, and it will be at least mid-2011 before it is ready to be released.

However I was lucky enough to win a free book cover in a Christmas draw held by Glendon & T.L. Haddix. Glendon is one of the people involved with Streetlight Graphics, and as I found out he is extremely talented when it comes to graphic design.

Glendon asked me a series of

Amanda Hocking, Indie Author Superstar

2010-12-27T11:01:00.001+11:00

For many indie authors (especially those who hang out on the Kindle Boards or read JA Konrath's blog), the name Amanda Hocking is well known. Amanda is an author who started self-publishing her novels to the Kindle in April this year. She has quite a few out now (she had a large collection of manuscripts from many years of writing), and she has been doing ok as far as sales go.

Where ok means that she has now sold over 100k of books in just 8 months!

Just think if someone had said a few

How We Write

2010-12-22T23:04:00.001+11:00

There has been an interesting thread over on the Kindle Boards that started with a simple question - how do you write your novels?

As you can imagine, there have been a huge number of varied replies. I'm pretty sure that if you asked 100 different authors how they write, you would get 110 different answers :) There has been talk about discovery writing and multiple redrafts, and using an outline. Constant writing, and writing when the mood takes you. Edit as you write, and powering through

A Round of Words in 80 Days

2010-12-20T13:02:00.001+11:00

NaNoWriMo was a lot of fun, no doubt about that. But the one drawback to NaNoWriMo is that it only happens once a year. There is something about having a set goal in front of you that seriously motivates you to get moving. I was planning to set myself a writing goal after NaNoWriMo, and now I've found a writing challenge that is just what I wanted.

A Round of Words in 80 Days aims to let writers set their own goals. It is intended to have four challenges in the year, each of them 80 days

Book Review: Lessons by Michael Crane

2010-12-13T23:49:00.001+11:00

NOTE: I do not accept books for review. Reviews posted here are only for indie books that I have bought, and that I enjoyed enough that I want to tell others about them.

I first heard about Lessons and Other Morbid Drabbles from a review Red Adept did on her blog. The concept of the book (stories written in 100 words or less, also known as a drabble) intrigued me. Thirty seconds later I had bought the book, and set about learning what a story of less than 100 words looks like.

As I

Christmas 2010 Giveaways & Contests

2010-12-11T12:57:00.001+11:00

Several writers are running some giveaways and contests on their blogs. Since free things are always nice, have a look to see if anything catches your eye.

Helen Smith is offering signed paperback copies of her books, Kindle editions of her and other authors' ebooks (this is only available to Amazon.com customers because it uses the Kindle gift facility, which isn't up and running on Amazon.co.uk yet), and an Amazon gift card worth $50/£30.
Three lucky people can win a paperback or

First Draft for Gears of Wonderland Complete

2010-12-10T12:23:00.001+11:00

I've been a little hesitant to declare it, but now I'm going to. The first draft of my novel Gears of Wonderland has been completed.

I know there are some gaps in the story, which is why I delayed calling it done for a few days. I need to expand the descriptions in a lot of scenes, at least one more scene with the main character needs to be inserted in the middle to develop his relationship with his travelling companions, and I need to add a number of scenes for the second viewpoint

Funny Video On Checking Sales Rankings

2010-12-03T15:30:00.001+11:00

For any authors (indie or otherwise) who get obsessed about checking their sales ranking on Amazon, here's a cautionary tale for you to consider... :)

On a slightly more serious note, this video is a great example of viral video marketing. I've seen it posted on Twitter and more recently over at KindleBoards, and I'm sure it's being posted to a few blogs as well (like I'm doing ;) ). If nothing else, it gets the titles of the authors books out there in front of more people, and I'm sure

Indie Author Sales in November

2010-12-02T13:40:00.001+11:00

Over on the KindleBoards, a number of indie authors are posting a summary of their November sales. I decided to tabulate the results to try and get an overview of how everyone was going. The thread starts here, while my summation post (which I'll continue updating for a few days as more authors post their results) is here.

I found the results interesting (and a little surprising). While there are a big number of authors selling less than a book a day (it's the largest group overall), there

Reviewing The Strider Kids Bike

2010-07-10T19:26:00.001+10:00

If your toddler is able to walk, the good news is they can begin to learn how to ride a bike with the Strider Kids Bike. The Strider Running Bike teaches your child the essential skills of balance and coordination, allowing them to develop the confidence for later on when they progress to a full bike.

Trikes or traditional bikes with training wheels focus on teaching a child how to pedal first, with no thought for balance or coordination. Additionally, these bikes and trikes are often heavy a

Radio Flyer Big Wheel Reviewed - A Look At The Radio Flyer Big Flyer

2010-07-10T11:13:00.001+10:00

If you're looking for a chopper style tricycle that your children are sure to love, the Radio Flyer Big Wheel is definitely one bike you'll want to take a look at. For a start, the Radio Flyer Big Flyer has a soft rubber front tread along with wide rear tires, to ensure the bike remains stable when your child is going around turns. The seat is adjustable between three different positions, making it easy to adjust as your kid grows (or if you have several kids of different ages who all want a go

Diamondback Mini Della Cruz Review

2010-07-09T11:47:00.001+10:00

If you're looking for a trouble-free quality bike to get your kids off to a great start with riding a bike, it's hard to go past the Diamondback Mini Della Cruz. Designed to look sweet and stylish to your daughter while providing the solid construction and reliability that you desire as a parent, the Mini Della Cruz is a bike that will last your child a long time.

The key to the reliability of the Diamondback Mini Della Cruz is the quality replaceable parts used. The heavy-duty steel frame an

WoAdWriMo adventures finally available

2008-08-11T10:00:00.001+10:00

The adventures that were written for WoAdWriMo (at least most of them) are finally available for download. They haven't been added to the main page of the site yet, but there is a thread on WoAdWriMo the forums where one of the organisers has posted links to the PDFs. There are apparently still another four adventures that he needs to convert to PDFs, plus several people said they would be getting their adventures in late, so the list is sure to grow.

I haven't really had a chance to read the other adventures yet, but from a quick glance at all the files ZOMG! (Zombies, Oh My God!) certainly looks very nice!

Power Groups within The Forgotten

2008-08-05T16:12:00.000+10:00

With Obliviscence finally out, I’ve turned my mind to detailing more of the setting for The Forgotten. And as I’ve been thinking about it more, I’m beginning to come to the conclusion that I need to change it up a bit.

The setting as presented in Obliviscence is one where, in general, Forgotten life is ok. While it’s only hinted at in the NPC descriptions, my original idea was that the “good guys” (lead by Laura) have managed to deal with the old situation in the city that had three rival gangs controlling the city (and the Forgotten within it). Laura and her followers overthrew the old gangs several years ago, and are now attempting to create a peaceful society as best they can.

(Of course, one of her former supporters is attempting to carve out his own power niche, but you get that :-) )

However now I’m thinking that I need to step it back a bit. The idea I'm currently considering is that Laura and her people have managed to overthrow one of the gangs (presumably the most powerful), but the other two are still a significant threat within the city.

On the plus side, this is an obvious source of conflict (and hence adventures) within the game. It means that the setting isn’t safe and happy, and that everyone still needs to be somewhat careful when moving around. And if I assume that the other two gangs have lost a lot of their previous power (even though they still control some territory), it means that things like the Exchange can still exist within the setting.

The negative side is I’m not too sure I like adding such potentially large “militant” slant on the setting. Players who like killing lots of things would probably like it, but others who are more interested in exploring where they are (and trying to find a way home) probably wouldn’t find it appealing.

Much more thought is required I think!

WoAdWriMo On Reflection

2008-08-02T23:08:00.003+10:00

So, one month later and WoAdWriMo is finally over. Now that Obliviscence is out I can finally sit back and reflect on how it went.

First off, the main reason I decided to do this was to get me focused on my roleplay writing again. Polgarus Games has been on hiatus for almost 18 months now – and that has been mainly because I've been too unfocused. I'll play around with ideas for a while then jump to another, or allow myself to get easily distracted, and before I know it months have passed and nothing has been done! Doing WoAdWriMo was a good wake-up call... set a goal, set a deadline, and then sit down and just do it.

Secondly, going through the discipline of actually plotting out an adventure was a positive process. Don't tell my players this, but when I run an adventure I usually wing 90-95% of what I'm doing. I might have a few names, maybe a couple of scenes and an idea or two of what's going to kick things off, but most of the time I'm making it up as I go along. WoAdWriMo made me sit down and, for once, actually figure out everything ahead of time.

(I'm not saying I'm actually going to plot things out in the future – but at least I've had a chance to try it. :-) )

I did end up writing a lot more than I intended. Originally I thought I'd only end up writing a 15-20 page adventure... it ended up being 32 pages long (and this is the version without the maps and possibly a few images). It's a good wake-up call for some things I plan to write shortly – cut the waffle, and get down to business straight away.

So what do I think about my finished result?

On the plus side, I'm happy with the cover I created and the layout I used. Neither of them will win any awards, but I think they are good, neat and professional in appearance. I lost track of how many pages I printed out trying to find a font I was happy with for the main text – it was at least 20 pages.

On the downside, I think the adventure itself suffers from two problems. The first is that it is fairly linear. While I wrote in various suggestions on what to do if the PCs wanted to do something else (and encouraged the GM to run with the players instead of trying to force them to follow a set path), there is still an expected order that for the PCs to follow. They will go to the Exchange, they will be ambushed, they will meet Leopoldo, they will look for a new spare part, etc. Unfortunately I'm not too sure how the adventure could be changed to overcome that given its setup as a once-off taster for The Forgotten.

The second problem I think the adventure has is that there's way too much boxed text (at least early on - which could tie in strongly with the first problem). I think I got better the further I got into the adventure, as there is less text towards the end (although that was partly because I was running out of time). I'll have to try and limit the amount of boxed text I include in the future so it doesn't overwhelm the adventure I'm writing.

Overall I think WoAdWriMo has been a fantastic experience, and I look forward to participating again next year!

Obliviscence is complete!

2008-08-01T12:37:00.004+10:00

Phew! It was a lot of work, but Obliviscence (at least v1) is finally done. You can download it from here (direct link to PDF).

WoAdWriMo Progress Report - day 31

2008-07-31T22:13:00.003+10:00

Ok, so by the Australian calandar it is now the end of July. It's a good thing for me that I finished the first edit pass and the layout today then! The only thing left to do is make three more pre-gen characters, and then it's all finished. I'm going to cheat a little a say I'm using the US midnight for the end of the month, so that means I've still got until midday tomorrow (my time) to get those done. :-)

After that I plan on letting the adventure sit for a week or two (perhaps asking my players if they can read through it to spot any editing mistakes, unclear sections, etc). Then I'm going to re-edit the adventure myself, and release a 1.1 version (hopefully around the middle of August). That version will also have a few maps that I haven't had time to draw up.

WoAdWriMo - The Writing is Done! (sort of)

2008-07-30T13:57:00.005+10:00

Phew! The main writing for the adventure is finally done (and came to 30 pages in Word). But I'm not quite done yet - I've now got to write up some NPCs, create a few pre-gens, then do my best to edit the adventure (there are a couple of patches that are a little rough). And after that it's layout time.

I had hoped to spend a bit of time on the layout, but given the looming deadline I think I'll just have to keep it basic for the moment. What I think I might do is get v1 of the adventure out by the end of the month, then spend a little bit more time on it (another editing pass, add a few images, etc) and release v1.1 after a week or two.

Unless I get lazy and just leave it as it is ;-)

WoAdWriMo Progress Report - day 29

2008-07-29T14:15:00.004+10:00

The days are counting down, and it looks like I'm going to be cutting it fine. The majority of the writing is done (just mainly missing one section early on that's very free-form and proving hard to write), but there's still a lot more I'd like to do (like pre-gen characters). Not to mention the whole editing bit :-) . But overall things are looking promising for finishing on time - just.

I've taken a short time out of writing to put together the cover for the adventure. I'm quite happy with it... but we'll see how I feel about it in a few weeks time!

Obliviscence playtest, part 2

2008-07-26T19:31:00.002+10:00

Sometimes things can go right - and luckily enough for me, my group was able to meet again to finish off the Obliviscence playtest. The second half of the adventure seemed to go much better - we were over the "learn about the setting" hump that seemed to be a part of the first session, and overall I felt much more comfortable running the game. My players seemed to enjoy it too. I think it helped that the second half was slightly less "railroaded" compared to the first half.

I was extremely happy that my players managed to trigger a "Collector" - the big nasties of the setting who chase after the Forgotten.

Now I've just got to get everything typed up (and layed out) in the next five days. Eeep!

The Waiting Game

2008-07-24T15:56:00.001+10:00

Normally I'm a patient person, but at the moment I'm on tenterhooks waiting for an email that will either say yes or no. Gah! :-)

West End Games For Sale

2008-07-22T10:24:00.004+10:00

So, Eric Gibson (the own of West End Games) has just been announced that WEG is for sale. To say that it's a messy situation at the moment is an understatement - this thread is the latest in a long line of threads that have descended into chaos.

I have mixed feelings about the sale. It's obvious that WEG, and D6 in particular, haven't done as well as Eric expected. But rather than trying to move forward with small steps and building up the business again, he had simply put WEG on hold. WEG hasn't released any new products over the past two years (which never does a company any good). And communication with Eric has always been difficult - a couple of years ago I tried to get a license to publish D6 material (which pays Eric money), and gave up after several months of stalling and lack of response.

But on the other hand the way Eric is leaving, with the huge pile-on in the forums and people attacking him personally, is not pleasant. And from previous posts it's obvious that WEG has been a huge strain on him personally. Hopefully he will be able to sell everything off, and reduce the stresses in his life once he is out of it.

I wonder how much he wants for Fires of Amatsumara?

WoAdWriMo Progress Report - day 21 (eek!)

2008-07-21T13:11:00.003+10:00

Time is ticking down on WoAdWriMo. I have to say I'm feeling a little nervous about the deadline, but I'm still aiming to complete in time.

My regular group got together on Friday to playtest the adventure. Unfortunately we only got half way through the material in the time we had, but what we did get done seemed to work ok.

I've already made a few changes to the adventure based on how it played out and some feedback afterward. Some of the feedback was interesting - the start wasn't strongly liked because it was so sudden. If I was running a campaign, I guess I would have eased everyone into things a bit slower (the process of being forgotten taking several days), but for a once-off adventure I figured it was better to just drop everyone into things immediately.

The players also had some fantastic feedback on how one of the NPCs (a friendly one who's there to help them) was introduced. Hopefully her introduction will be stronger for their comments.

I did have one amusing moment while running the game - one of the NPCs suddenly changed gender from what I had originally planned!

The players generally seem like they want to finish the adventure, so I'm hopping we can get together again soon. It probably won't be until August (unless we replace one of our normal roleplay sessions for the second half, which is unlikely to happen). Hopefully what I've come up with will survive the lack of playtest ;-)

As for the actual writing of the adventure - I've completed the introduction section and almost all of Act I. Only four more Acts to go!

Oh yes, and one useless tidbit of info. One of my players recognised the second book that I've used as inspiration for The Forgotten (the one I had forgotten the title of). It's titled Displaced Person, by Lee Harding. I feel a re-read is in order.

Beware the killer ManFlu!

2008-07-17T16:40:00.003+10:00

Alas work on Obliviscence has ground to a halt over the past week. My home computer has died, which meant the only time I can really work on it is during my breaks at work. Then I caught the dreaded ManFlu (also known as the common cold ;-) ) and was off work for a few days at the end of last week and start of this week. So while I've had time to mull things over in my mind, not a lot has actually happened on the writing side of things.

However all is not lost. My players have agreed to doing a playtest of the adventure this Friday. While I won't have the adventure written up properly, it is as least at note stage (which is more planned than I normally do!) So it will be a good chance to see if what I have come up with works, or if I've left some huge holes in the plan.

Given some recent failings I've had at running things I'm guessing the latter.

Interface Zero - looks interesting

2008-07-09T15:35:00.002+10:00

Since I'm running a cyberpunk(ish) setting, I was interested to hear about the upcoming game Interface Zero, from Reality Deviant Publications. As it is nearing it's release date, they've just released a 28 page preview. Looks good!

I really like the work Reality Deviant Publications do - I've got a couple of their products, and I've never been disappointed.

WoAdWriMo Progress Report - day 9

2008-07-09T14:51:00.003+10:00

So I finally have a title for the adventure - "Obliviscence" (which is 'the process of forgetting'). It seems the more common spelling is oblivescence, but I prefer the extra 'i' instead of 'e' in the appearance of the word (yeah, I'm weird).

Progress on the adventure itself is good. The outline has been reworked, and I'm much happier with it now. There's still one section that I'm unsure about, but as that is towards the end of the adventure I can leave that for the moment and work on the rest of it while my subconscious thinks about it.

Ironically the one scene that had stuck in my mind from the very beginning of this (the PCs starting the adventure in a bus terminal) has now changed :-) Instead of a bus terminal it's an airport. It just seemed to be more sensible in the end, since air transport is more popular than bus transport over a long distance.

Writing wise I've now done the overview of the adventure for the GM, and almost finished writing the first scene. I'm hoping I can convince my players to give the adventure a playtest sometime next week, but I won't find out about that until we play this Sunday.

Adventure Pre-gen - Henry Leech

2008-07-08T11:34:00.004+10:00

An important thing for me with this adventure (and The Forgotten setting in general) is that it's about "normal" people who get caught up in strange things. So this is one of the pre-gen characters that will be included with the adventure. Built in EABA with the "normal" (80 A/80 S) point values.

Henry Leech, antiques dealer
"Are you crazy - do you know how old this is?"
Strength: 2d+0
Agility: 2d+1
Awareness: 2d+2
Will: 2d+1
Health: 2d+1
Fate: 2d

Skills:
Brawling: +0d
Land vehicles: +0d
Language (French): +1d
Language (German): +1d
Area Knowledge (business): +1d
Area Knowledge (antiques): +2d
Psychology: +0d
Carousing: +0d
Sleight of Hand: +0d
Scrounging (antiques): +2d

Traits:
Mature age (35)
Pain tolerance
Keen eyes
Obsessive over antiques (Personality 1 level)

Henry has had a love of antiques his entire life. His grandmother’s house was full of them and he spent most of his childhood at her place, listening to her stories about the items or reading up on them in books. He began trading in small items when he was a teenager (when other kids were doing paper runs or working other minor jobs to earn money). He started his own business properly when he was 19 and his grandmother passed away, leaving him the contents of her house. His business has been in the same small shop ever since. He has a reputation for being able to quickly track down specific antiques for his clients via his network of contacts and other dealers.

Possessions (carried): Leather briefcase (business papers, 3 pens, antiques catalogue, old auction catalogue, two chocolate bars), watch (plain), keys, clothes (old suit, shirt, tie, shoes).

Interesting Podcast on Writing

2008-07-07T16:32:00.002+10:00

I came across an interesting site recently that I thought should be shared. Writing Excuses is a weekly podcast that, as you can probably tell from the name, is about writing :-). Each episode talks about a specific part of the writing process. The podcast does focuses on novel writing, but most of the material is very applicable to writing in the RPG niche (especially adventure writing).

One thing I really like about the podcast is that each episode is only 15 minutes long, so they tend to be very focused on the topic they are discussing. It also means that catching up on all the older episodes is really easy!

WoAdWriMo Progress Report - day 7

2008-07-07T14:47:00.004+10:00

(Ok, this isn't really the 7th day that I've been working on this... but it is the 7th of the month, and since the aim is to finish in the month of July, my argument is that it's day 7 of the challenge :-) )

So far, things aren't going too badly. I've written up the first draft of the intro and details of the setting that a GM will need to know to run the adventure, and I've solidified in my mind many more details of the setting that had been bugging my subconscious (I think it's coming together well, but I could be biased). I've also created one sample pre-gen for the adventure - I plan on including four pre-gens with the adventure, just so a group could pick it up and play as a once-off if they wanted to.

I'm starting to write out an overview of the adventure for the GM, but the adventure itself is still in flux - it starts off strong (I think), but as I'm writing down the overview I realise just how weak it gets at around the half-way point. There's still some work to do there.

Mongoose Traveller Developer's Pack

2008-07-06T11:58:00.003+10:00

So Mongoose have released the SRD for their version of Traveller. To quote from the site:

The Traveller Developer's Pack has just been posted on our web site. This pack contains everything a fan or publisher needs to produce new material for the Traveller roleplaying game, while using the official Traveller logo. The Developer's Pack is intended for use by fans creating their own material for free download via a web site or other means, as well as publishers seeking to support Traveller with their own publications, be they paper or electronic-based.

The pack contains PSD logos, an Acceptance Form, the Logo Licence, and the Traveller SRD. The SRD has been released under the Open Content Licence.

If only I had multiple clones, so I could set one of them to work with this to develop new material for Polgarus Games :-)

Adventure Snippets Floating In My Mind

2008-07-06T09:04:00.004+10:00

Ok, so my plan was to talk about how I was working on this adventure here on my blog... so I think I'd better start doing that properly!

At the moment I know that the adventure will start with the PCs arriving in a bus terminal late at night at the end of a long trip. I'm not sure why, but the scene of a bus terminal has just stuck in my mind, so dammit all I'm going to use it :-)

One of the scenes I want to use is the PCs arriving at some sort of gathering of other forgotten - like a market or similar. However I am a little hesitant about the market idea, as Neverwhere has an important scene where the main character arrives at a market. So I don't want it to seem like it's too derivative. I could just make it some sort of camp I guess. I've got to think about that some more.

And I don't know why, but for some reason "mad religious groups" have been figuring into my roleplay creations the last year or two. It started with the Cauliflowers in The Veggie Patch, continued with the Fires of Amatsumara game I'm running, and now I'm thinking about it for The Forgotten - people who think they have been "chosen" (or are being tested) in some way.

Oh yes, and the PCs will definitely have to run into Collectors. What's a Collector? Think of them as the Men In Black or Agents (ala Matrix) of the setting, except they capture and drag away forgotten who are too slow and those people are never seen again.

20 Word Description

2008-07-04T21:06:00.002+10:00

So over on the WoAdWriMo forums there's a thread where people can give a 20 word or less description of their adventure. Here's what I eventually came up with:

Chased by strange men, ignored by everyone else, regular people must escape the strange new world they find themselves in.

And the winner is...

2008-07-04T14:20:00.003+10:00

Ok, so it's not Saturday morning yet. But the more I think about the two adventure ideas, the more I realise that one has more advantages over the other. So while I really love the Ostium setting, I'm going with the adventure idea for The Forgotten.

Why didn't I pick the Ostium one? In many ways it made more sense, since I'm running a campaign which uses the setting. The problem is that to create an adventure usable to others, I would really need to include the setting book with the adventure :-) In particular, no matter what system I published the setting for (I'm currently running it with EABA, although I'm starting to think Savage Worlds would be a better fit) I'd also have to publish all the "changes" to the system to make it work for a computer world setting.

While The Forgotten would need to include some setting details, they could be easily summed up in half a page. And the system would be basically unchanged.

Speaking of system, I'll be using EABA for the adventure (since it's the system I'm most used to at the moment). And there's a free "Lite" version of EABA available (written by yours truely) so even if people don't know the system they can still use the adventure if they want to run it as-is.

Now I've just got to plan out the adventure :-) I've got a few ideas, but we'll see how they gel over the next few days. My problem is I don't normally plan out the adventures I run - I write down a few notes before the session, then wing it all from there. Forcing myself to plan it all out ahead of time will be... interesting.

(But probably a good learning experience).

Further Adventure Thoughts

2008-07-03T23:07:00.007+10:00

After some more thought, I've narrowed my adventure setting options down to two.

The first option ties in with the dark future setting I'm currently running a campaign in. The setting is actually made up of two parts - the "real world" which is rather bleak, and a computer world called Ostium (think a much more advanced version of World of Warcraft) which citizens can play to escape the real world. If you've seen the .Hack series or read the manga, the computer world is similar to that. So option one would be an adventure for Ostium.

The second option is for a campaign idea that I've been kicking around called The Forgotten. It takes elements from Neil Gaiman's Neverworld, along with a book I read when I was in high school that I no longer remember the title of. Basically, the world just "forgets" the PCs, and they have to cope with the sudden loss of everything they have (while trying to survive in the "new" world they find themselves in). That's option two.

Both adventures would be introductory adventures. Both adventures would need some sort of blurb about the assumed setting. And both settings are ones I would like to publish via Polgarus Games one day (so the adventure would be reworked later on to be used as a free "promo" item).

Ah, decisions decisions :)

(And who knows - I might end up picking something totally unrelated!)

World Adventure Writing Month '08

2008-07-03T10:48:00.006+10:00

In case you've never heard of it before (and it hasn't exactly taken the Internet by storm), WoAdWriMo or World Adventure Writing Month is a RPG version of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that over the month of July, you write an adventure for your favourite system/setting that will then be freely available to everyone for download. Last year there was a page minimum (32 pages I believe), but the great thing about this year is that they've removed it. A very good thing in my opinion :-)

I thought about entering last year, then never got around to it. But I think I will definitely enter it this year.

Now I've just got to decide what I'm going to write about. Do I write something for the various campaigns I'm currently running (Evernight, Fires of Amatsumara, and an unnamed dark future cyberpunk [without the cyber] setting), or something totally different? I'm not sure yet, but I think I will give myself until Saturday morning to decide.

Should be fun!

It was still here!

2008-07-02T15:41:00.004+10:00

Goodness. I started this blog three years ago, then ended up abandoning it after a few weeks. I'd tried logging into it again a while ago, but obviously got the details wrong. At the time I figured Blogger had just deleted it since it wasn't being updated. "No great loss" I thought.

Imagine my surprise when I go to start another one, find the address I want is taken, then when I check the address find that it was my old blog, still sitting here! Best of all, I managed to find the old password information, so I could finally log in again.

I've deleted all the old posts (except the original "here I am" post), and I'm all ready to start again. Here's hoping I keep writing to it this time :-)

I've finally relented

2005-04-22T11:46:00.000+10:00

It was something I had been avoiding for a long time, but now I've finally relented and decided to start my own blog. I don't it will be of much interest to anyone but me, since I'll just be rambling about what I'm up to. But who knows, maybe there will be some benefit to someone :-)

Well, I'm still figuring out this system, so I'll leave it at that for the moment. Signing off...