I Will Find the Time to Write, Whilst Rocking Extra Hard in My Studies

I just can't not write.  I really can't. 

This has been a dilemma for me since nursing school began, as I was not willing to take any time whatsoever away from my studies, which were every spare minute that I could find.  While that hasn't changed, I've had a bright idea.  I've still been reading recreationally for 30-60 minutes before bed to ease my mind and dampen the nightly anxiety dreams about school (no joke), and this has proven to provide me with much needed relaxation at the very end of my day.  So, why not use some of that time to write?  I'm not taking any time away from my studies that way, and it's fulfilling a huge creative outlet for me that I feel as though I can't do without.  Not being able to write feels worse to me than not being able to read books would, which would be awful!

That said, I would like to announce that the second volume of Tales of the Bodhisattva is in the works. 

Here are some tidbits:
Leaf and Ankara have a son!  This is quite possibly mirroring my own life, as my beautiful wife and I are about to become parents.  There is continued turmoil between the gods, and the conflict is rising to much more epic proportions (possibly a war).  Many characters from the first book will return, and some new ones will be introduced who were only mentioned previously.  Leaf will be torn in many different directions as he is trying to protect his new family, searching the world for the reincarnations of the bodhisattvas, attempting to soothe the minds of many to avoid an all-out war, and dealing with a brand-new adversary. 

Here is a needle-felted Khurran that my wife made!

And here's my beautiful baby-momma! (don't worry, it's just O'Douls)

She's actually at 32 weeks now, and her baby-bump is much bigger.  I'll update soon with a more recent picture.



Free, Free, and also Free. Oh yeah, did I mention Giveaway and Free? Giveaway.

As much as I know how most people detest getting things for free, I'm doing yet another book giveaway on Goodreads.com.  One autographed paperback of "Tales of the Bodhisattva: the Khurran" will go to one lucky individual who will be forced to begrudgingly accept the darn thing for free!
 
This time the giveaway is open to a much broader audience, available to those in the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, and Australia.  And the moon.  Not that I'm expecting many people from the moon to enter, though I know old Moon Bob will!  (We go way back.)

And though I can't control the outcome of the giveaway, I hope you win.  No, not you, you already have a copy.  I meant them over there. 

As a final note, I'm sure that all of you are aware of the importance of reviews to authors, including this guy (thumbs pointing inwardly).  If you so happen to come across a copy of my book (via giveaway or otherwise) and read it, would you please give me the honor of an honest review?  I would be eternally grateful. 

Random update from campus library

Sitting in the campus library.  Just nailed my Vital Signs checkout, and I'm one small step closer to being a nurse.  Wishing that I could slip into another dimension where time sits at a standstill so I could spend some time writing.  The plot and outline of TOTB vol. 2 are continually unfolding in my mind, and I'm going to be introducing some really exciting and fun new characters, not to mention taking some of the characters from volume one in some completely new directions. 

Something that I have been doing quite a bit of is networking with other authors and lots of readers.  Only recently, I was more than a little intimidated by the seemingly daunting idea of networking, as I have never really done it before, at least not on purpose.  To my great surprise, I've enjoyed every bit of it so far. 
Connecting with others with the same interests as me (writing/reading fantasy) is a blast.  Duh!

Seeing what others have been doing with their books, blogs, websites, Goodreads groups, etc., has been very inspiring and informative.  Hopefully you'll see some of that inspiration come through in my blogs and other stuff, time permitting. 

Well, I'm meeting with my study group here in 5 minutes, so I'd best say farewell for now.  Thanks for reading, and thanks for your support!