Future Direction

    I’m writing this to map out where the futures of my two series are going for everyone. As much as I love the Wrong and Strange Visions series, all things must end, and I’m still in the process of deciding how both of them should end. I have a rough map in my mind, and I thought I would share that with everyone.

    The Wrong Series is going to require at least seven books to come to an end with everything that Wrong Regrets will set up. I’ve already written a rough version of a fifth book in the series. It’s one of my favorite books I’ve written so far. I already know exactly how the sixth book needs to go, so I don’t think it’s going to be a problem to write it in a very smooth and quick manner. The problem is the seventh book. I’m going to have to try to find a way to bring together a lot of different characters and story lines into one book. It will probably be the most challenging book I’ve ever tried to write because of the sheer scale of it. It will also be difficult to say goodbye to the characters that I’ve grown to think of as friends. That may sound odd because obviously there is nothing real about Nathan and Sam, but in a world where very little makes sense, they were real to me when I needed them most. They were an escape for someone who had to have an escape. I don’t know if I can wrap up everything in the seventh book, but I’m going to try, and I suspect that it will be a much longer book than I usually write.

    The Strange Visions series is a series that I don’t exactly have completely mapped out. I’ve written the fourth book, which I’m temporarily calling Strange Visions: The Calm, and I know exactly what the fifth book needs to be about, but after that, I have no direction. I know that everything will be resolved at the end of the fifth book. I could technically end the series there. I have an idea for a sixth book that would be set somewhere in Trent’s future after he’s out of college, but that’s only an idea. I don’t know how interested people would be in seeing him as a lawyer, and I don’t even know if book five will work out for him. Maybe he won’t even be around to be a lawyer. I think that a sixth book would be fun, and I even think that ending both of the series on a lucky number like seven would be nice, but I don’t have everything set in my mind about this series. I know that there will be somewhere between five and seven books in the series, and I know that for better or worse, the ending of book five will provide a satisfactory ending for the series if I choose to end it.

    After my two series are finished, I don’t know for sure what I should do. I think that I might just take a break for a while. I’ve practically been working myself to death for the last few months. Then again, I know that I won’t be able to sit on the sideline for too long. My mind will wander, and I’ll have to write something. Maybe I’ll just write for me for a while. I miss doing that. I miss writing what I see in my head without ever worrying about how someone might perceive it. I’ve got a detective novel, a sci-fi series, and a Christian book rolling around in my mind. Maybe I’ll write one of those things. Maybe I’ll simply dream and look for direction in some other area of my life. Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds. Back in January, I started something with high expectations. Some of those expectations have ben met and others haven’t, but it’s always been interesting. In some ways, I wish that I could go back and keep my stories for myself so no one could ever judge them, but in others ways, I think it’s incredible that people from every major country have read my work. I’ve gotten a strong response from it. One particular woman in England loved Wrong Place, and I thought that it was incredible that someone could find the characters that have always been running around in my head to be entertaining. I’ve received other great feedback from a lot of different people. I’ve made friends that I wouldn’t have made if I hadn’t done this. There has also been a downside. Some people haven’t liked what I’ve done. It’s made me feel naked and judged. All of this is a reflection of who I am, after all. If someone doesn’t like it, then they certainly wouldn’t like me. That’s a hard thing to accept. It’s hard to accept that someone could think that something that comes from your soul is ugly. It’s still amazing that I can get a reaction out of the people who don’t like me, though. These books and this experience have gotten very strong reactions as a whole. I’ve felt good on one day and then like I was buried the next. It’s been odd, and it’s been hard. The truth is that I don’t even know if I should have started any of this, but I’m going to finish it. I know that I’ve grown as a person through this experience, and if nothing else, I’ve let a few people in on the daydreams that have kept me alive and sane through the worst of times. Maybe most of all, I’m proud of what I’ve been able to do so far, and I know that it’s all worth something great. I don’t know where I’m going in the future, but I know one thing by looking back at the last few months. It’s going to be fun, painful, emotional, and I’m going to be working hard, but no mater what, it’s going to be worth it. 

    Here’s to reflection, and here’s to looking forward to what might be and realizing your own potential and worth, regardless of how unsure the road ahead is.     

A Birthday Tribute To Me!

   All right, I’m twenty-five today, and no one’s going to write me the tribute that I deserve, so I guess that I’m going to have to do it myself. (Joking) So without further ado, I bring to you the top ten lists of my greatest achievements and most epic fails.

Greatest Achievements

10. Did a backward dunk to impress a girl when I was a teenager. (I had never done or attempted one before then, and I’ve never been able to replicate it since. I think that God might have saved me from looking like a fool that day.)

9. Lost 60 pounds (Yes, I know that what you weigh isn’t important, but it was hard to lose that weight!)  

8. Made a perfect score at my first piano recital.

7. Been a part of a football team that beat someone who hadn’t been beaten in two years.

6. Achieving a 4.0 in multiple semesters in college. (Yes, I’m a nerd.)

5. Beating the number one person in the world in a game of Madden. (Once again, nerd!)

4. Went to Europe and opened my mind to new things . . . especially gelato!

3. Being a part of the perfect kiss in the rain.

2. Wrote six books in six months. (How is my mind not fried? Oh, wait! It is.)

1. Accepted Jesus Christ as my savior.

Epic fails

10. While attempting to score my first touchdown, I had the ball literally hit me in the head and bounce off. It wasn’t funny, but plenty of people laughed.

9. Fell for a woman who was literally the total opposite of me and actually expected things to work out. I seriously question how intelligent I was when I was sixteen.

8. Refused to buy an autographed game used Jersey card of Drew Brees because, “that guy will never be that good.”

7. Had the most awkward and terrible first kiss in history, and yes, it was my fault.

6. Allowed a friend to drive my car the day after I got it . . . it was in the shop the next day.

5. Failing to ever learn more than “semana uno” in Spanish class. That means "week one."

4. Attempting to play a song in church when I had never looked over the music.

3. Drinking too much and deciding that it would be a good idea to lie down in the bathtub while the shower was on. My foot was over the drain, and the water was rising rapidly. Can you say death by drowning in the bath tub because that’s exactly what almost happened.

2. Saw the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen across a road. She smiled at me and gave me a look that seemed very inviting. I never thought twice about what I needed to do. I immediately started to walk across the street while never taking my eyes off her. Before I even reached the road, I felt a pain in my head and found myself lying on the ground. I had walked straight into a stop sign, and if I hadn’t done that, I would have walked out in front of a bus. She and her friends simply laughed at me. To say the least, I didn’t go talk to her that day, and it was one of the worst epic fails of my life. If you’re reading this, extremely hot girl, please get in touch with me. I won’t walk into anything else again. I promise.

1. I’m sure that you’ve had an automobile accident, and some of you may have even had a housing accident. A few of you might have had a boating accident, too. Well, I’ve had one of all of these. The catch is that they happened at the same time. When I was first learning to drive, I was backing out of the garage, and I had the music on extremely loud, so I didn’t notice when the side of my parent’s car was scraping the edge of the garage. I didn’t notice that my dad’s boat was behind me either. I backed directly into it, and then when I tried to pull forward, I hit the house again. I had no idea how to explain it to my parents at the time, and honestly, I still don’t know how I managed to do that much damage in about ten seconds. I would have loved to have seen the insurance guy’s face when he got that claim, though.  

Friendship

   I just wanted to share a thought with everyone before I get back to working. I’ve been thinking about friendship lately. A lot of people define a friend in different ways. For some, a friend is just someone to talk to. For others, the true definition of a friend is someone who supports them through everything. Other people think that a true friend will tell them how things are in any situation no matter what they may think about it. Does any of that matter, though? I don’t believe so. To me, a friend is someone who will always be there. No, they won’t always tell you that you’re right in every situation, and no, they won’t always be the most supportive person in your life. They have things going on in their lives, after all. They can’t concretely be that person exclusively for you. They will always desire to have a large presence in your life and share secrets that they don’t share with many people. When you think of a good friend, you won’t help but smile and think of old times when neither of you were in your right mind. There’s another side of friendship, too. A true friend will be there for you when the metaphorical crap hits the fan. They won’t necessarily have the right words, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll do anything to make you feel better, but they will be right there with you in your situation. Friendship isn’t perfect, and we all fight, but if you have someone who is simply willing to experience all the good and all the bad with you, you’ve truly been blessed. We throw away friends too easily now. Maybe a friend hurt our feelings or maybe they don’t share a certain opinion that we do. In some cases, we even start to feel like we’re doing all the work in a friendship. That’s when we give up. We distance ourselves, and then it’s all gone. We’re strangers again. I’m not trying to bum anyone out, but I’ve just been thinking about different bridges that I’ve burned and people who have pushed me away for very small reasons. We don’t treasure what we have, and then it’s gone. I still remember being a child and having a best friend. I knew almost everything about my best friend. When we got older, things came between us. They were other friends, girls, and even opinions that don’t matter at all today. I moved on to another so called best friend. The process repeated. Sometimes I wish we could all go back to the way we were when we were children. We were so easy to forgive and start anew. Even a fist fight wasn’t enough for us to turn our backs on our friends. Things were simple. I know that nothing can be as simple as it was when we were kids, but I miss it, and I think that we over-complicate things as adults. We don’t make friends for many reasons, and we push people away because of things that are petty. Maybe most of all, we never see things from our friend’s point of view. 

   As most of you know, I write for a living, and I’ve met a lot of people while doing this who truly care about how successful I am. Some of them are extremely close to me, and others I’m just getting to know, but I’m not letting those people go. I need them, and for the first time in my life, I’m making the decision to let relationships be what they were when I was a little boy. Relationships are give and take. They’re simple, or at least they’re much simpler than most of us make them. So no more drama for me and no more worthless opinions that drive a wedge between me and the people I need in my life. Thanks to all the people who have supported me and especially to the people who are keeping me sane through all this. For the last six months, life has been stressful, and it’s been fun all at the same time. I don’t know where anything is going, but I’m interested to find out, and I know that no matter what happens, I’ll have a group of people there to enjoy the ride with me. 

Music

I wanted to talk about #music tonight. I’ve always heard people say that they like a certain genre of music. It might be pop, rock, or hip-hop, but everyone seems to have some kind of preference. I don’t think that I really have a preference musically, though. I can listen to metal one minute and the next minute listen to pop radio. It isn’t that I like all music. It’s just that I see certain parallels. The genre and subtle sound that is applied to music is nothing more than packaging for a product. A lot of what people are saying in lyrics is very similar across all genres. I guess that what I’m saying is that music seems to be a reflection of the person who wrote it, and if that reflection is beautiful, I’ll like it no matter what category it falls into. For that matter, I’ve always hated categories. When you write something as complicated as a song, how do you put that into a category with a million other songs. Is it not unique? If the answer is no, then it’s not worth anyone’s time. I’m into anything different and anything that seems to come from a place that’s real rather than engineered. When you start trying to sell me what people typically want to hear, that’s when you lose me, but I still can’t blame the musicians who make music with a certain formula. That’s all people seem to want to buy, and if you want to have your fifteen minutes of fame, that’s exactly the type of music that you should write. Occasionally, though, someone comes along who blows my mind with something that’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before, and I don’t mean just lyrically. A good guitarist can speak to me just as much as the words do because when you pour your soul into an instrument it shows. A good drummer can show me the frustration in their life, and a singer can spell out exactly who they are. I love writing, but I don’t know if there’s anything as unique as music. When several individuals pour themselves into what they’re doing, something incredible happens, and when the right combination of people come together, we get to hear something truly special. I think that people often hear the music, and maybe even hear the words, but it’s not very often that they see the soul behind it all. A lot goes into anything creative. The next time you turn on the radio, don’t miss out on the story behind the story. I know I never have, and I also know that music has been one of the few things that has truly made me feel content and connected to others.

Me

   I just thought I would tell everyone a little more about myself today. As a child, I was homeschooled, and I think that I got a fairly good education. Being at home for extended amounts of time also gave me time to concentrate on other things. I started writing off the wall things when I was fourteen. I wrote poems and even a script. Honestly, the script was terrible, but it was mine. Being alone gave me some time to really get inside my own head, and I think that’s a big part of why I developed a love for writing. I also think that being homeschooled gave me an opportunity to focus on subjects that meant a little more to me. In some ways, that was a good thing, and in others, it was a bad thing. I never quite learned as much as I should have about geometry, but I became an expert in English and psychology. I got to really focus on what I wanted to matter and not on what some group of people had decided should be important to me. I think that a lot of people thought I wasn’t getting the education I needed, but I did just fine in a good college. As a matter of fact, I excelled. There are some areas that I’ve never quite excelled at, however. I’ve never had the most friends, and I’ve never gone on the most dates. I also have an irrational fear of talking in front of large groups of people. I do pride myself on a few things in those areas, though. I am a good friend, and I don’t need to have the most friends to feel okay. I just need to have a few good friends. I also think that I’m a good boyfriend. I’m not good at playing dating games or at impressing people with exaggerated stories and lies, but I am good at loving a woman the way she deserves to be loved. I’m still looking for my other half, but I’m confident that I’ll find her very soon. As for the talking in large crowds thing, I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. I guess that’s something that I’ll just have to get over. I love video games, movies, and music more than just about anything. I like anything that can make me think or that tells a story. I’ve been called too fat and too skinny in my lifetime. I’ve learned one thing about weight in life. No matter what you weigh, there’s someone who’s going to think that you’re ugly. You should just weigh whatever you’re comfortable weighing and be happy. As far as politics go, I have a strong belief that I never want to talk to people about them. People get crazy about that stuff. I’m addicted to chocolate and Dr. Pepper. If I didn’t suffer from low blood sugar, I would probably be a diabetic by now! I’ve never been much of a critic. There has to be something seriously wrong with what I’m reading or watching for me to hate it, and even then, I don’t feel the need to start a campaign against it. I’m also the type of person that gets really excited about things. I’m that guy who shows up at midnight and irritates the workers at Wal-Mart anytime something new comes out that I’m into. I desperately miss sitcoms. Yes, we still have them, but so much of television is reality shows, which is fine. I just have enough reality in my own life. Sometimes I just want to laugh and enjoy something completely different than what I know. I have two loving parents, and sometimes we all make each other crazy in my family, but we love each other. I’m a Christian. My faith has shaped everything that I’ve done. I’m nowhere near perfect, and I even have doubts from time to time, but as crazy as it sounds, I can feel God, and I know that He has a plan for me. I almost never drink because I used to drink too much. Finally, I’m in love with what I’m currently doing. It makes me crazy sometimes, and there are even times when I want to take everything down and quit, but being able to be a part of the worlds of Nathan and Sam and Trent and Ally has been more fun than anything I’ve ever done.

   So I’ve told you a few things about me. There are probably a million other things I could also say, but a blog should only be so long. If anyone out there would like to get to know me better, contact me on Facebook. I could always use some more friends. Hopefully in a year, I’ll be writing something about an entirely different book series, and I’ll have met the love of my life. I can’t wait for a year from now, but at the same time, there’s so much work to be done now. I’m looking forward to all the work, and even more than that, I’m looking forward to getting to know more of my author friends, readers, and just plain friends who make life worth living.