Yes, I’m not dead, which is probably pretty obvious since I’m a bit more active on my Facebook page and much more active on Twitter. For the most part over the last little while I have been keeping my head down, nose to the grindstone, as it were, hence why I haven’t made a lot of blog posts, despite the myriad topics I would have loved to cover, but never quite felt like I could articulate them well enough. Click past the jump to find out what I’ve been working on!
Writing has definitely continued, but time has also been divided into looking for some applicable work here in Vancouver to justify my work visa and all that studying I did. On the writing, you can see I’ve written some flash-fic, and I have some other short stories I have to refine and put out. I’m also still incredibly committed to the Blast Back project, and the next chapter is finally, definitively, on its way. Seriously. I promise.
Another reason for my absence is that I’ve taken up freelance editing. I feel like I’m fairly skilled in the writing department, but by being able to help others refine their own work, it’s a great way to keep my skills sharp and use them for more than just myself. I’m already a bit of a nitpicky asshole, so using that nitpickery for good is certainly a plus. If you, too, are in the need of a nitpickeroon like me, let me know.
In my haste, excitement, and whatever other excuses I can muster, I completely forgot to bring to attention that I put up a brand new episodic series as a way to give back to all you bookworms for your support on my social media. Extravagari was meant to place whatever kind of protagonist you can envision at center stage in this over-the-top, reality-hopping adventure.
And even more recently, I was experimenting with sort of perspective shift for another story, and ended up using Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One as a base to try it out. I dug the book when I read it, and with the movie coming in a few months, it’s been a bit of an exciting time as fan of that pop culture, to see a DeLorean racing through the city just about made the kid in me explode.
Like…c’mon. Look at this!
Sorry, I like exciting stuff. I woke up one morning with the idea in my head of what my own experience in the OASIS might be like, and it all sort of fell in to place to get in the groove to write, to experiment with perspectives, and to just cut loose in the background of someone else’s universe. What resulted was essentially a Ready Player One fan-fiction, and I might continue it later, if I’m so inclined. I hope my experiment works out well enough to use in my own story, and if you read the fan-fic, I do hope you enjoy it.
So yeah! Here I am, same as ever. I’m going to make a much greater effort to use this site for more than just hosting my writing, especially as a space to talk about my thoughts on things; there’s just the problem that I really don’t want to talk about politics, and there’s…just…ugh! So writing and nerd junk it is! Hope you’ll stick around, and sorry for being absent with my thoughts (as if oh so many care).
Until the next post, which I swear won’t be long, Keep Yourself Alive.
JB Sargent 