Akting Out

Well, I did a little better than I did last week…

I wanted to try an experiment; every day, when I came home from work, I would write one thousand words a day. It didn’t matter if it was complete and utter crap (cause most of my first drafts are usually just that), it just had to be one thousand words. Following that logic, I would be adding at least five thousand words per week to the story. I could go back and revise anytime I wanted.

Yeah…I was able to do that one day this week.
Three weeks into this little project and you may begin to wonder if I secretly hate the writing process, or I’m just getting burned out. Neither, I say. I’m just lousy at budgeting my time and managing my (surprisingly chaotic) personal life. Things were much more hectic than normal this past week, and it really impacted how much writing I could get done. All said and done, I think I may have added 1.5k words to Atherean Defenders.

So how did the week go?

What Went Right

Progress was made on the final version of Atherean Defenders. The first three chapters, building up to the epic adventure underwater, are just about done. I have made no revisions to Chapter One since posting the excerpt. Slow progress is better than no progress.

I have one definitive offer to publish Atherean Defenders, which means the book would appear in print.

I’ve gotten my weight down to 271lbs, which is down from the 290 I weighed at New Year. My goal is 269lbs by Monday and 220lbs by July.

What Went Wrong

Came up short on the word count. I wanted to accomplish 5k words, only got 1.5k done. I need to get better at managing my time.

Wanted to hit the gym three times this week; made it once. Wanted to train three times a week, only managed once.

Wanted to release a blog for parents on buying video games for their kids, and I haven’t even written it yet.

Lesson learned this week? Get Better At Time Management.

Next Week On Life As I Play It

Wednesday: An Introduction to the ESRB For Parents (For Real This Time!)

Friday: Writer’s Diary 3-4-11

Sunday: An Excerpt From Atherean Defenders; “Brothers”

Goals: Week of 2-28-11

Writing

-Complete at least 3k words on Atherean Defenders

-Release ESRB Blog on time

-Plan weekly writers series “The Road Home”, dealing with freelancing and getting paid to write

Personal

-Spend at least four hours in the gym.

-Spend at least four hours on the heavy bag.

-Lose five ponds

Business

-Order Business Cards

-Resume work on http://universalwarrioronline.com

Day Job

-Sell at least three TV products

So closes another week! Thanks for reading and best of luck in your endeavors!

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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So this is the second of what I hope is an ongoing series that chronicles one week in the life of someone who works a full time job and is trying to bring a book to market. Special thanks to the ridiculously talented Jamie Depree for giving me this idea.

So from here on out, I’ll go into what went right that previous week, what went wrong, and what’s coming up that following week.

What Went Right

My subscription to Writer’s Digest kicked in! I got two issues this week, and this thing is almost impossible to read at work. I’ve missed entire calls because I was knee-deep in advice on story prompts and mind-shopping for all of the things I didn’t know I needed until I saw them. Seriously, if you have the extra fifty bucks to blow (it’s tax time, you can squeeze it out somewhere) sign up for the VIP program. It’s worth every penny.

I got to play Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds on the day it came out! Part of the reason I love living out here is that there is no waiting for a good game, and while I couldn’t snag the special edition, I didn’t have to wait in line for a copy. Capcom got this one right, and Prima created a gorgeous strategy guide to go with it.

My oldest son celebrated his fifteenth birthday on Valentine’s Day! He’s both on the honor and on the verge of being expelled for fighting. Only my son.

I’m working on/through three offers to publish Atherean Defenders. One of from a publisher I know, trust, and have history with, another will pay my way out of the day job at the cost of my rights, and another is a negotiation-in-process to turn Atherean Defenders into a video game. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do, but I have some time to figure it out.

I got an email from a family-owned company asking me to review their products on my blog. I have yet to investigate the offer, but it’s the first one I’ve ever received.

What Went Wrong

So I’m making my lunch the other day, a casual event, one easily taken for granted until one forgets that BIG SHARP KNIVES are involved. No matter what else one may be doing, one must never forget, nor disrespect, the knife. I did both.
So I sit here writing this with my left middle finger while my index finger recovers.

I’ve written more words in this blog than I have all week. I don’t think I’ve even turned on the desktop all week.

I didn’t get into the gym at all this week. I compensated by eating better, but I’m still ten pounds heavier than I intended. Fell way short of the goal this week.

Next Week On Life As I Play It

Wednesday: An Introduction For Parents To The ESRB  (A guide for parents from a parent about buying video games for your kids)

Friday: Writer’s Diary (Summary of the week’s events)

Goals: Week of February 21, 2011

Writing

-Complete Chapter “A Lie Of Omission” for Atherean Defenders

-Make Blogging Deadlines this week

Personal

-Spend at least four hours in the gym

-Train for thirty minutes per night, twice a week

-Lose three pounds

Business

-Resume work on the website

-Continue negotiations on publishing contracts

Day Job

-Sell at least two TV products

-Bring adherence (at-work attendance) up to where it should be

-Miss no time

That’s it for now! See you next week!

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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In the same vein as Super Street Fighter 4, Capcom triumphantly presents Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. Keeping enough of its predecessors to remain fun and familiar while ditching what wasn’t necessary (and shedding too many characters, one can argue), Fate of Two Worlds is a welcome return to the team-based crossover franchise.

The crack-addicted gameplay of MvC2 has entered rehab and emerged a more managable game this time around. While hyper-jumps, air combos, and team-based play are still the title’s hallmarks, they’ve been toned down as to reduce the risk of epilepsy, placing greater emphasis on learning the timing of button presses and commands, rather than mashing away to victory.

Fate of Two Worlds boasts more better-looking characters than its prequels, thanks to thicker shading. The Super Moves are still gorgeous and have that “OH-SH*T!!” feeling if you’re on the wrong side of them, but again, this time, it’s not over the top. Minor tweaks benefit the gameplay, such as the ability to maneuver Ryu’s beam-like Shinkuu Hadoken. The devil is in the details and the animation is almost flawless; check out Deadpool’s exaggerated movements to see for yourself (Is he MOONWALKING?!).

The double-edged sword is in the roster; Capcom strove to introduce characters not previously seen in fighting games, which meant that some old favorites had to go. Say hello to Wesker and Chris Redfield from the Resident Evil series; say goodbye to Ken and Sakura from Street Fighter. Luckily, the new characters keep it interesting (Dante is a most welcome addition for players who want to invest the time into learning him), and old favorites like Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Chun-Li are present. Besides, with D.L.C., and the promise of Jill Valentine, anything’s possible. The sound, as it should, compliments the game nicely, and while I wish more work had been put into the characters endings, this is a minor gripe.

Overall, fighting game fans will be satisfied, longtime fans will be satisfied, this is a great game. It’s been too long, but it was worth the wait. If any of Capcom’s representatives are reading this (Thank you!!) please don’t make us wait ten years for part four.

NOTE FOR PARENTS: This game is rated “T” by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, which means that it is typically okay for children over the age of thirteen to play this game. It does feature fighting violence, however, there is no blood spilled, and no bruising on the characters of any kind. If this was a movie, it would more than likely be rated PG-13. Remember this when your kids ask for it.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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I got this idea from a few friends of mine. I figure maybe it’s a way to keep my blog updated, share the writing process, and keep me accountable. Plus, right now, I’m a little tired of fictional writing because I hate what’s happening to my characters right now. It has to happen, and they want it to happen, but dammit, I created them and I say I get some time off.

So I feel like I’ve been working on Atherean Defenders for, oh, I dunno, the last half century or so. I accomplish an average of six to seven thousand words per week, and yet the damn thing never seems any closer to ending, which leads me to ask; HOLY CHRIST ALMIGHTY, DOES THIS THING EVER END?!

The new (temporary) hours at work now tie up my mornings but leave my nights wide open, but between the few nights I get to the gym, and other nights I just plain don’t feel like turning the computer on, not a lot gets done. Luckily, my weekend begins at eleven am on Fridays (oh, if only that was permanent, but the good news is when the schedule goes back to normal, it’ll begin at one-thirty), but since I’m responsible for cleaning half the house on weekends, I don’t really feel like doing much by the time that’s done. Sure, I always tell myself that I’ll get started “right after lunch”, but that mentality always gets defeated by “you know what?! It’s the freakin’ weekend, and I ain’t doin shit.”

Saturdays are usually good days; I have the mornings to myself, and this is when I do most of my damage. Same with Sunday mornings. But I slept through most of yesterday and felt a need to take a hiatus from the net, so today, I accomplished a paltry 2.5k words and got started on this.

I keep telling myself I’ll get back to it later tonight. Look out your window. That squeal you hear is a pig flying.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the writing process, especially the learning aspect of it. My boss actually caught me one time looking up random words on the internet. That’s how far gone I am. But it’s also an exhausting process. While I’m not sure of my target audience, I’m very sure of the story I want to tell, which is of the very first conflict in the war between Heaven and Hell. Not too long ago, I got the first draft of the story completed, and it clocked in at about 30k words. Now, when I say ‘first draft’, I mean nothing even fit to be used as toilet paper. I accomplished a beginning, middle, and an ending. I know how I want the story to go. Filling in all the details? That’s proven to be the fun part.

I write using a style called the Jigsaw Method (I think I made that up. I don’t recommend it). I think it’s a cross between freewriting and something more traditional, where I assemble the chapters of the story (the frame) and then write various scenes in no particular order that fit into those particular chapters. The good news is that the writing comes out much purer, and I’m more satisfied with the end result; the bad news is that I end up doing a lot of rewriting when an earlier scene affects a later one. Oh, and the research. Never again will I purchase instructional books in the middle of writing a story. It causes too much of a headache. Because I find something that works within the story (hey, I found a piece of the puzzle!) but then I have to write around that piece that I don’t know how I lived without before.

Gragh.

All in all, I’m satisfied with the week’s progress. All of the chapters have at least some content and my characters, one in particular, are really finding their footing. I know I’m nearing the end of this story because I can already imagine the sequel, something I can never do until I approach the end of the first story.

So that’s the entry this week. My goals for next week (GOOD LUCK!!!) are to get the story to 50k words (I’m at 42k right now) and get at least the first three chapters to completion. Right now, only one chapter is ready to go; the only one I haven’t gone back and made any revisions on.

So that’s all for the week. If you’re reading and pursuing something of your own, I’d love to know what you plan to accomplish this week, and how you’re doing it.

Good luck. Thanks for reading.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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Hey all;

A lot has happened in and around the world of Atherean Defenders, so let’s get to it.

1. The First Draft Is DONE.

No more tossing out entire first drafts and starting over from scratch; the first draft of Atherean Defenders is done.

Throughout the month of February, the draft will be edited (and expanded upon). The goal is to hand the story off for professional editing by the end of February, and then get the book to the masses around the beginning of April.

1. We Have Some Covers To Choose From.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of Jag Lall, there are now two versions of the book cover to choose from. I have to admit, I prefer the first one, but the second was modified taking into account the many suggestions that were received about the logo.

If everyone could please take two seconds and chime in on the fan page’s discussion board, let me know which cover you prefer more, and as always, suggestions are welcome.

1. Contests!

With things (finally) ramping up to release, there will be a chance to win some prizes from Akting Out LLC, including limited edition artwork and an iPod Touch, complete with the book (and a few extras) already installed!

1. An Excerpt!

No update on Atherean Defenders would be complete without an excerpt from the long-awaited story. Check out “Follow The Dead Orca” to see how Reginald, Angelica, Jayden, and Lihua’s adventure begins in the Atherean!

So that’s all for now, thank you for reading and see you next time!

Sincerely,

Avery K. Tingle

Author, Universal Warrior: Atherean Defenders

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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