The End of the Year is Near

Well, first and foremost, season’s greetings to you all. Hope that whatever it is you celebrate, you’re enjoying it. Oh, and to help you celebrate — just a little — is a new chapter of Avatar. It’s going up today so enjoy!
Hope you all have had a good year. For me and mine, this year was better than last year, but considering what last year was like, that ain’t saying much. My wife’s health is still quite poor, although it’s poor and getting better (v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y), so as long as the improvement continues, that’s something. My job continues to suck, and I’m now working for one of the worst managers in the building. He’s known far and wide as being a dick, yet senior management still gives him people to lord over. And the smug piece of shit does exactly that. You can be sure that we don’t see eye to eye on many things, especially after he fucked me over on a review. On the other hand, I still have a job, so that’s more than a little something.

On a national front, I can say I’ve never been more embarrassed by my fellow countrymen (and women). America has become a country by and for the rich and powerful who will, and are, happily abrogating any social responsibilities they can while raping us of every penny. I lost one twitter follower because I insisted on calling tea baggers what they are: fucking morons. On that front I will say, “Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.” While the tea baggers raise a few (very few) good points about what’s going on in this country, they’re just a stalking horse for the uber-rich who want less government interference in their affairs. And don’t get me started on the democrats. A more frazzled, disorganized, gutless bunch of whiners I’ve never seen.

And for those people (usually republicans) who say, “Get out there and do it yourself!”, I say fuck off. Read my blog on corporate life, and try to extrapolate. If you can’t do that, then read that blog and try and figure out which character you are. Here’s a hint: You’re probably part of the problem. Oh, and another news flash for you: You’ll NEVER be part of that rich set that you are support unless you win a lottery.
I truly fear that America’s best days are behind it. A once proud, powerful nation has allowed the rich to gut it, sell it off piece by piece to foreigners and leave the rest of us the bones.

On the writing front, I managed to get one book out this year, plus a few chapters of Avatar. I wish it could be more, but it is difficult to write when you are constantly feeling depressed. I do try to keep writing, but days when I’m not feeling that bad I try and spend enjoying myself. I still get the urge to write often and have a ton of things in the works. That’s good and bad. I have tons of cool projects (including future Avatar stories), which is good. It’s bad because I can’t seem to complete anything without getting distracted by something else I’ve got going. I’m getting better and taking ideas that demand to be let out and outlining them, then going back to a project that I WAS working on. I think I write pretty well, but now I have to concentrate on … concentrating.

You’ve probably seen my comments about Liquid Story Binder. I love it, and it deserves a mention here because it’s awesome. I’m very happy to have it and it has helped with a lot of different aspects of writing. Activities like plot building, outlining and keeping everything organized are much easier using this tool.

I’ve been thinking of moving off LJ onto blogger or another platform. Why, you ask. Well, because it was pointed out to me that those are getter social media outlets. I’m not sure if I agree or not. Perhaps I’ll post this post on Blogger. Not sure, since setting up a new blog is a pain. Plus, there are handy-dandy links to my books already on my LJ page. Plus, those of you that still follow me might not want to deal with blogger. Dunno. I think I’m not good at advertising … me. If you have any thoughts about platforms, please feel free to let me know.

Oh yes, two last things.

1) If you email me using an anonymous email address I can’t reply to you. So don’t bother asking questions. I leave the anonymous option on SOL because I think it’s important that people have the choice not to be associated with reading dirty stories. But please don’t ask me questions unless I have a way to contact you.

2) Do NOT email me and expect a reply if you use one of those fucking filter websites. I am NOT going to waste my time jumping through three hoops just so that I can have the privilege of replying to your email. I just had that experience and it’s very annoying.

Well, if you’ve made it this far, then again, I extend good wishes to you and yours for the holidays and the New Year. Thank you for reading my stories and buying my books. I appreciate it.