Tag: writing (Page 4 of 12)

Where do you draw the line?

May 27, 2014 / Justin Matthews / 6 Comments

Hello again. Today I was looking over my computer and I noticed that I had a ton of ebooks. I did a search for .pdf files and I came up with over 400 items. Sure some are check stubs, some are user manuals for snowblowers, generators, tillers and the like but a good portion are e-books.

I have all of these because they seemed like a good idea at the time. Many are related to my minor obsession with kettlebells. Many are, lately, related to blogging and business building. I then looked at my bookmarks in Firefox. I have a ton of sites saved for later. I then checked my rss reader and I have better than 50 sites to slog through on there.

I then looked at the jumbled mess of paper on my desk, the top sheet filled with notes on places to look at, affiliate programs to refer back to, forums to visit, and pages to write.

It made me think of the title of this post. Where do you draw the line and dump all of the old stuff? Where do you decide to make a break and just go forward? I talked a bit about this in one of my previous posts: Seeking out the flash we want instead of the stuff we need. Where am I going to dump things that my brain says “yes I REALLY REALLY do want them” and just forget about it. I can’t tell you how many bookmarks I have that I haven’t touched for years. There were some on there a while ago that were so old the URL had expired and wasn’t even parked anymore.

I then get to thinking I am getting a handle on it, when I look at my bookshelf and see so many books that I would like to read. Then I get invites to read something else. Then I get free books to write reviews on. But there is TV that is so good right now. There are all of these movies that I have to watch. (I have a couple of DVD’s from Xmas 2008 that I haven’t seen yet).

I am facing some truths now. If I am going to be serious as a blogger and truly treat this as a full time job and be able to expect full time income then I have to break down and prioritze. I hav4e to actually plan out my day in order to get posts written, novels written, comments out there and other things read. I am going to have to dump 90% of my bookmarks that I don’t use anyway. I am going to dump rss feeds that haven’t had a new post for a week. I am going to visit forums on MWF and not every day. I am only going to check my alexa and affiliate ranks and balances once a week. I am going to write like a madman and comment like Ben Lumley or James Richmond. If you don’t know they comment a lot. Take that SEO.

So, today is forum day. I am off. It is also the start of the Pre-writing challenge! See my page here! I have 4 ideas starting development right now and more to come this month.

I think I will also sort through all of those ebooks that I am never going to get to. I can only hope that my ebooks won’t end up in the “never going to read that but maybe some day” file.

Thanks for reading yet again, tomorrow is fiction Saturday! Part 3 of Death With A Vengeance.

Just a side note, this post was going to be a short one but it now tops 600 words. This is cool because it is getting easier to write longer the more practice I get. My biggest story barrier has been breaking 5000 words. this is fantastic practice!

Until Tomrrow,

Justin

Poetry Tuesday: The City

May 27, 2014 / Justin Matthews / 0 Comments

hello Folks, did you miss me? I am finally getting back on the horse after way too long away. Today I have a rather cheesy poem that I wrote quite a while ago while playing with some different themes. This is comedy with some pretty groanable rhymes. It should at least make you smile. have a good day and look for an actual post Tomorrow, I am going to switch my day off to Monday because I can’t seem to get anything written for Monday lately. Of course that goes for the rest of the week as well.

New Schedule: Monday off, Tuesday poetry, Wednesday musings, Thursday podcast or musings, Friday SAHD stuff, Saturday fiction. Lets see how good I can keep up on it this time! Thanks for reading, you guys are awesome.

The City,

By Justin Matthews

The dingy grey of the city morn, dulls my senses as someone honks a horn.

I drive and drive looking for a place to park, I’d better hurry or it will be dark!

There’s bums on the sidewalk and beggars in the street, be careful walking or you’ll step on their feet!

Becca J. Campbell and churning out fiction.

May 27, 2014 / Justin Matthews / 0 Comments

Hey folks. If you have seen some of my reviews on here, they seem to have a lean towards my friend Becca J Campbell. Click on her name to go to her blog.

It is no secret that I am a fan of her fiction. She writes very interesting characters who don’t kill everyone like most of my characters seem to do. She has some stories that push the limits of reality like Foreign Identity. (That link goes to my review). Her current story is no different, it pushes reality in a cool almost-the-future-but-not-quite, human-interest, love-story, adventure way.

I wrote a review of her last short story Not the Norm (again click for the link), and said that it needed more to the story and more to the world.

Well, now there is. Unmasked Alloy is the next installment is what I am perceiving as a serial fiction series. Much in the “feel” of old time radio, this story gives you a sense of a self contained episode in the greater overall story.

Now, before I go any further, I have to pacify the governmental types, I received an advanced copy of this book to review, at no charge. I am sure that she would prefer a positive review (it is) but it will be honest at any rate.

So, Unmasked Alloy is a story set in the world created in Not the Norm. It is months later, and leaves me wondering not only what is going to happen moving forward, but what has happened to this point.

There are new characters who can play with fire and another who really could be part cyborg, think Terminator 2. This story, while not long, does not want for lack of action. It hits right off and keeps going until the end when you want to say, “What?!?! That’s it??!?!” Yes, I was not excited to get to the “Tweet that you finished this book” page on my kindle.

So, in conclusion, do yourself a favor and get in on this series. Not the Norm is at Amazon and Goodreads, with those links, and the new one, Unmasked Alloy, is on Amazon and Goodreads with those links.

The Footsteps of My Mother…How I Follow.

May 27, 2014 / Justin Matthews / 5 Comments

Growing up I always wanted to be like my Dad. He was strong, smart, and full of a barely restrained rage that got him through the tough times. I learned many things working around the house with him and I just didn’t get other things that he really hoped were ingrown in HIS son. Alas, in several ways I am a miserable failure in his eyes.

Not the least of which has been my decisions since I started to have kids. I have tried to finish college several times now and I am very close. It just seems like things keep getting in the way and I am left being a stay at home dad. Don’t get me wrong, I love my kids and this is a fantastic opportunity to bond with them when they are young. Think how it must (and does) irk Mr. Ex-Navy SEAL, Type A+ personality Dad.

The reasons behind the stay at home part are many and they may end up their own posts. This latest round was mostly to take care of my youngest daughter. She was diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease or Kidney Failure just before her first birthday. They told us right then she would need extensive dialysis and eventually a kidney transplant. So, through this that and the other, (I think I will write a book about this. Ebook or real? Any thoughts?) I stayed home and shuttled her to dialysis 4 times per week for 2 years. She finally got a kidney transplant last May and is now only going to the doctor once a month so I am freed up.

That is one of the reasons I am blogging now. I am working on my writing skills, I do have a couple of ideas for books that I would like to actually sell. Maybe I can parlay my blog into the cash to do school and finish up those pesky 18 credits.

Now back to my main point, I am a stay at home dad. I am following in my mother’s footsteps and not entirely my father’s. And I don’t care. I am proud to be able to take care of the house and the kids as well as the yard and the car. I can change a water pump or a diaper with equal ease, if not equal time. I can rebuild a wall or teach my first grader how to read. I can do dishes or divide fractions with my 9 year old. I can field dress a deer or wash laundry.

I am proud to follow my mother’s example and do all of these things. I am proud to be a writer and will be more proud when I am a successful one. I know what it takes to keep the house running now, and my hat’s off to those mom’s and dad’s who stay home and do it.

Now, go do something useful!
-Justin

Tag: writing (Page 4 of 12)

Where do you draw the line?

Poetry Tuesday: The City

Becca J. Campbell and churning out fiction.

The Footsteps of My Mother…How I Follow.

Segments of my Brain

The Mail is Calling

Go Shopping!

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