Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Summer Is Already Coming to a Close...

Unfortunately, it feels like it just began, so I'm a bit bummed. One tends to look back at their summer breaks (especially when they're young) and take stock of everything they did. Part of the reasoning behind this is our naturally competitive nature, of course: when you get back together with your junior high friends, it's important to have done more cool stuff with your summer than they did. (Come to think of it, we do the same as adults, comparing exotic vacation spots visited and personal sporting equipment utilized...). It was very important to DW and I that we keep the kids busy this summer *without* breaking the bank, and I think we've done just that.

* Zoo visits x2 (and more to come, since we bought an annual pass)
* Trip to Michigan to visit DWs family (which itself included a trip to an amusement park, rafting, swimming, and other assorted activities)
* Enough crafts and projects done at home to open our own shop
* DS and I have hit the basketball court on several occasions
* Hikes/walks aplenty
* Northwest Trek (an awesome little photo safari where you view local wildlife)
* Trips to the movie theater (7 for me, 3 for my DD, 2 for each DW and DS)
* Barbecues aplenty

Of course, the quantity of these activities is in long run fairly meaningless; what's important is the question of whether or not we had fun, and I think I have to answer with a resounding "Yes". In fact, this is the most enjoyable summer I can remember in a looooong time, and the only bad thing about *that* is that DW and I have set the bar high for next summer. :)

Enjoy the rest of August, everyone!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Daezarkian Is Writing Again

No. Way.

It's been way, way, WAAAAAAAY too long since I did some productive writing, so I'm stoked.

While "Darker Sunset" has received its third official rejection, I've been quietly revising the first two books of my so-called horror trilogy, "Razor". That revision is still a work in progress, but that didn't stop me from starting up the long-avoided third installment yesterday during a "break"*. I'm happy to say that I've pumped out 15 pages since yesterday, which is exactly 15 pages more than anything else I've written all year long.

The "Razor" series is sort of hard to describe...it's not quite horror, not quite action, not quite fantasy, but it works awfully hard to incorporate elements of all three while still striving to be as relentlessly gory, offensive and sex-filled as it possibly can be.

"Razor: Angel" is a fairly traditional horror story that follows a pair of professional hit men as they track a vampire from Colorado to Washington and attempt to put an end to her feasting days, only to learn that she is the least of their worries...indeed, as the local sheriff of the lonely northwest town of Ravenwood has come to discover, this vampire may be humanity's only hope.

"Razor: Hell" is two interconnected stories. The first involves an investigative reporter and a government agent who embark on a mission of revenge and find themselves in the middle of a massive supernatural conspiracy that spans across the globe. The alternating story involves an epic journey through a world known as Hell.

"Razor: Serpent" is intended as the climax of the series, and it involves a brutal war between opposing forces that have long vied for control over a source of immense source of mystical power. Where the first book takes place entirely in "the real world" and the second novel spends time both on Earth and in Hell, this third book is a more fantasy-style story set entirely in a dark, fictional world.

So there you go. You may never get to read them, but this series has for the past couple of years greatly revitalized my writing habits. Because of that, the least I owe to the story and these characters is to finish their tale.




* Break = Any moment or moments spent avoiding real work, while still typing furiously and looking furtively at the screen so as to deceive one's supervisor into thinking they are doing an outstanding job.