On Schedule Changes

So I suppose it would be good for me to admit something at this point. Iron Angels won't be coming out in May.

That might be kind of obvious, given that we are on the last day of the month. Hope springs eternal, I guess. :) Unfortunately due to delays caused by our move to Pennsylvania, other projects, and the unavoidable craziness my life seems to attract, the possibility of getting the book out this month wasn't very high.

Which, of course, means I now have a decision to make. I can either continue to work on Iron Angels until it is in publishable condition and get it out during the month of June. That would mean putting off the revisions on Badger until Iron Angels is completely done, possibly delaying that book as well, which is something that might get me mobbed. :) Alternatively, I can shift my focus to work on Badger and finish up the work on Iron Angels at a later point. One way will minimize the delay before Iron Angels hits the market, while the other preserves the rest of my schedule for Badger and the other books.

As I've been thinking about it, though, the best option seems to be the second one. Iron Angels is in the final stages; that means it will only need a short, final revision to touch things up before it is ready to go. I think that if I get Badger ready during June, send it to the copy editor by the end of the month, and turn my attention to Iron Angels after that, I can have Iron Angels ready before I get Badger back at the end of July. Then I can pour my efforts into getting Badger ready, which I will hope to get out by the middle of August. That way, instead of stressing myself to my limits and possibly rushing the development of these two stories, I can take each at its own pace, and probably have both of them ready by mid-August. They'll be released at the same time so that they can support each other, which might be a benefit that I won't complain too much about.

There are benefits to doing things the other way as well, but I think they are more than outweighed by the costs in time, effort, and most importantly, sanity. Putting too much pressure on myself to get everything done at a preset time, without consideration for the usual chaos that infects my life, will do more harm than good in the long run. By taking a more measured approach, I can have both books out before the end of the year, and hopefully arrive at my next project with my wits intact.

So yeah, if you are waiting for Iron Angels to come out right now, I apologize for the let down. It has taken me a while to admit it, but it turns out I am human too, and can fail. Blergh. Rest assured, however, that my schedule for Badger remains unchanged. My rewrites on that are starting as we speak, and the alpha readers have pretty much all gotten back to me. That project has me both excited, scared half to death and ready to start. Let's hope no more crazy hops in the way this time.

In any case, I'll see you around!

On Critical Decisions

I think my new laptop may be coming in the next couple of days, which means my computing power is going to expand by about an order of magnitude. This fact, of course, means I have to turn my thoughts to critical decisions I’ve been putting off for a long time.

Namely, what video games to buy for it.

The new version of Dwarf Fortress will be a no brainer. It’s a simulation of a settlement of dwarves that you have to build up and maintain in the face of goblin raids, elven assaults and ancient arcane horrors. And cats (don’t ask). Though it is horribly complicated and the graphics are awful, the complexity and challenge of the game is incredibly addicting. The fact that it is basically free is a huge draw as well, and now that I will have a laptop that won’t overheat just running the program, I will be much, much happier playing it. That, and half the newest additions to the game sound wonderfully interesting.

Battlefield Middle Earth is another game I have my eye on. It basically plops you down in the middle of Tolkien’s books and lets you control the various factions as they fight it out. Then again, it is kind of an older game, and I am not sure it will maintain its appeal in the face of some other, newer options.

Another option is a game that is a lot older, but still managed to catch my eye. Medieval 2 Total War is more or less a mix between Civilization and a tactical army simulator. You basically take charge of a royal family and their nation during the dark ages and try to bring that faction to power over the course of the age. The sheer possibilities in the game, as well as the depth of the details available, make this game worth it.

I’m sure there must be other games out there, but these are the main ones that I’ve fixed my envious eye on for a while. If you know of any other ones that seem good let me know. Or don’t, if you don’t want to aid my self-corruption. :) In any case, I hope all of you are having a good week, and I will see you around!