Well, it’s a small piece of the pie, but I finally have the journal set up to suit me. I still need to get into Photoshop and tweak the background graphics a little bit, but I’m very happy with the layout, links, forms, and other elements of the journal. I’ll get the graphics cleaned up soon, and then it will be ready.

I still have a ton of content to write for the main site. I also have to adjust the graphics for the main site. I have to draw maps for the main site. I have to contact the artist and see if he has anything else done. I also need to spend some time on the forum and get it setup with categories and customized icons.

I’ve been dragging ass, but the final edits are honestly and truly almost done on Heretic, and I’m writing down all the ideas that keep popping into my head for the sequel. It’s going to be awesome.

I’ve applied about 50% of the final edits to Heretic. I have a few more copies in circulation now, and planning to put out about three or four more, but I don’t expect to make any further changes… nothing huge, anyway.

If all goes well, I’ll get the edits finished before the weekend is out, but it’s hard to see that far out; I’m so damned busy with semester final exams and skills assessments.

One thing I will do this weekend is prepare Heretic and Shadow Infraction for a contest that judges the first chapter of the novel. If I win, I get $500, a free copy of Literary Maket Place, my chapter published on a popular website, and an interview posted on the same site. I could use the exposure right now, and I am hopeful that one of the two will win.  VIEW MORE

I haven’t had time to work on the new website since last weekend, and I haven’t looked at Heretic in almost three weeks, but I’m hoping to get  all of the final edits applied  this weekend since I’m here with the Jimbo Billy-Bob Brigade and have nothing to do.  If I can get the final edits applied, hopefully I can start in earnest on the sequel to Heretic when I have to go play GI Joe with these fuckers in May.  I’m getting more ideas for the new book all the time. 

A few weeks ago I wrote a song for a guy I know, to music he’d already written and recorded.  I wasn’t happy with parts of it, but this week I tweaked it a little and made it fit better.  I’m still not ecstatic about it, but I have reached a point where I realize it’s beyond my ability to do anything more with it.  If I keep fucking with it, I’ll mess up the good parts I managed to write.

I guess I’m on a roll though, because I got an idea for a new song and wrote it out all in one night, about two hours.  The catch phrase occurred to me at work, and it stuck in my head until I wrote it out later that same night.  It ended up being about my dead friend, Ford, and I think writing it did me more good than anything else I’ve tried.  I’m hoping my buddy can write some great tune for it.

I’ve got another idea for another song, but I think this one is for Tristan to sing in the second novel.  I’m going to work on it today after I edit a little.

I’ve been busy, but not with the things I should be doing.  I should be doing class preparation or honey-do chores, or maybe applying the final round of edits to Heretic or researching agents to query.  Instead, I’ve been working on a custom website for the novel.

Mt first though was to modify a Wordpress theme and use it as a content management system, but after days and days of mucking with the CSS and PHP, I still couldn’t get the theme to look like I wanted, so I stripped out all of the HTML code 1and1.com generated when I made shannonthomas.org with their online webpage builder.  I’m modifying it to suit my needs instead. VIEW MORE

I haven’t had a spare minute to apply the final edits on Heretic or to research agents. I hate knowing the publication initiative is slowly grinding to a standstill, but damn, something’s gotta give some where, and my finances are in such poor shape I can’t afford to spend time on tasks that don’t make money.