Writing has been tough lately.  It's something I love to do but there are so many distractions and responsibilities that it is really hard to make myself sit down and commit to the process.  With that in mind, I'm going to take the advice of the late Ray Bradbury: write every day.

Now I know there's a lot more good advice floating around out there but that's just another distraction for me.  Every minute I spend reading or listening to advice from others about how to write is a minute I could actually be writing.  At the moment, I've got two novels in progress and another "episode" in my fan-fiction series for the TV show Psych.

I can't complain: I've got two completed novels and a novel's worth of fan fiction.  I've also got two "screenplays" that I wrote for work: a pair of fun training videos - one done as The Twilight Zone and one as Mission: Impossible.  I've been asked to do a third one and the concept I keep coming back to is the Wizard of Oz.  So yeah...  Another project to work on!

So I am going to make it my goal to actually do what Bradbury suggests.  Writing SOMETHING every day: a blog post, a new chapter in one of my novels or fan fiction, or maybe even something for an entirely new or different project.  I know that if I ever want to make this more than just a hobby, I have to do it.  Hmmm...  November is coming up.  Maybe it's time to do National Novel Writing Month.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Take the month of November and really go crazy on writing?  We will see.

Chapter 2 of Dream Flyer

Trying to get myself back in gear for writing and I figured I'd post this for anyone to look over for more feedback.  The chapter is titled "First Encounters".

Dina had no idea how long she floated through the clouds. Time was impossible to tell. There was no day or night, only a softly-lit swirl of mist. She couldn’t see the sun or stars. She never ate or slept, but she never felt tired or hungry, though she knew what those concepts meant.

To break the monotony, she began to play and experiment with her ability to fly. With only a thought, she dove downward through the sea of white, feeling the rush of wind through her hair. Turning upward, she went into a loop while twisting in circles. She imagined she was a bird, spreading her wings and banking left and right. There were no landmarks for her to gauge how fast she was going, but the wind whipped through her hair and made the hem of her dress snap like a flag on a windy day.

­This was freedom!

Up and down were difficult to determine but she discovered that when she stopped focusing on staying aloft, she began to fall. She let gravity fully take hold and found herself caught in the weightlessness of free-fall. She tumbled and spun through the air until she tucked her arms in at her sides and plunged downward even faster. A cry of excitement flew from her lips as she reveled in the sensation until, suddenly, she felt something shift.

Slowing her descent, she scanned the area around her. She couldn’t tell what caused the change. The lighting had dimmed slightly and the air felt cooler. She was still surrounded by clouds, but something felt… different. A faint sound crept around the edges of the silence, a high-pitched whine and a rush of air. The noise got louder and louder until Dina thought it was going to tear her apart. She felt like she should recognize the sound and though it was familiar, she couldn’t remember.

Suddenly a huge metal blade sliced through the clouds only a dozen yards away from her, causing her to scream with fear and surprise. Her scream was was instantly drowned out as the noise became a deafening shriek that made Dina clamp her hands over her ears. The blade rushed downward at a frightening speed but she was also able to make out a larger shape through the clouds. It was long and narrow and she saw the glow of white-blue flames and blinking red lights. Whatever it was, it seemed to take no notice of her.

Panting and shivering in the clouds, the sound slowly faded. She hugged her arms around chest and tried to slow her breathing. Was it a sword, swung through the air by some flying monster? It didn’t look sharp enough to cut anything, but the size was incredible. The blade was at least ten feet across and she had no idea how long it was. The shadowy shape she saw deeper in the clouds had to be hundreds of feet in length.

While she was trying to make sense of the encounter, the clouds below her suddenly erupted with light and an explosion ripped through the chilly air. After blinking in shock for a few seconds, Dina launched herself toward the flickering flames below. The air rushed over her and as she got closer, a dark twisted shape suddenly flew by her. She only got a brief glance but it looked like a piece of metal, larger than her and scorched by fire. She could smell smoke in the air while she whirled around the area. More burning, mangled pieces of metal hurtled through the air and began to fall away from her. On one piece she saw some letters and numbers and on another she could make out the word “Delta”.

Then she heard a scream. The feeling of complete terror that accompanied the sound sent chills up her spine. It was fading quickly so without another thought, she flew in that direction. The unending shriek got louder and louder until she could make out a shadow of a person falling through the clouds.

Without warning, the sky cleared and she could see a sea of twinkling lights in the darkness below her. The lights formed crisscross patterns on the ground and when she looked back over her shoulder, she saw a clear night sky filled with twinkling stars. The clouds had vanished, but she could still see the burning debris plummeting around her.

Shaking away her confusion, she focused again on the falling person. “No! No! Please, God No!” a female voice cried out between terrified screams. Dina got closer and made out a few details, long black hair streaming away from a woman with pale skin. Her eyes were huge and filled with panic. The woman blinked in confusion as she spotted Dina zipping toward her.

The woman let out another shriek of terror as she turned to look toward the ground. Dina screamed too when she saw how close it was. Dark earth filled her view but she ignored it and reached out again for the woman. Dina’s fingers brushed her arm but the woman became hazy and indistinct. Her screams faded abruptly and the world around dissolved into cold white mist once more. The ground, the lights, the woman, even the twisted fiery wreck were all gone.

Dina was alone again.

Learning to Fly

This is the latest version of the first chapter of my latest book, Dream Flyer.  It will undoubtedly be edited and changed as I get further into writing and after my editor and proof-readers have their input.  I will be posting more later.   I hope you enjoy.

Her first memory was of floating in a sea of white.  When she awoke, she blinked groggily before looking around at an impenetrable mass of swirling mist.   The air chilled her skin but the cold didn’t seem to bother her, even though she wore only a thin cotton dress, pink with white flowers around the knee-length hem.   She was a young woman, her figure slim but showing the curves she would grow into.   Her hair, a soft brown color tumbled over her shoulders in wavy curls exaggerated by the moisture in the air.  She blinked slowly and looked around, her gray-blue eyes wide with fear.

As she bobbed slowly in the still air, she tried to remember how she got here, but there was nothing.   She didn’t know her name.  She had no recollection of her parents or if she had any siblings.  She couldn’t picture a house or any other place she might have lived.   She didn’t remember having any hobbies or friends.   She knew that a home and a family existed, but there was only empty space filling the place where those memories should be, just like the mists surrounding her.

Letting out a startled cry, she suddenly realized that she was hovering in mid-air.  There was nothing solid beneath her and when she looked down, she felt sudden lurching sensation and began to fall.  A frightened scream burst from her chest as she flailed her arms uselessly while plummeting through the clouds.  “NO!” she shouted, her voice cracking with fear.

Almost as quickly as it began, her fall stopped and she began to hover again.  Chest heaving, she looked around and trailed her long, thin fingers through the mist.  She tilted her head to look upward and thought to herself, “up”.  Immediately, she floated upwards.  With another thought, she banked left and right, weaving through the air as gracefully as a bird.  She rolled onto her back and stretched her arms over her head as she floated through the air.  It felt like swimming but without any sensation of pressure or weight. 

The feeling of flying made her stomach flutter with excitement but she couldn’t fight the dread that sat in her chest like a lead weight.  M The world around her was silent and formless.  She was alone and lost in her troubled thoughts: 

Who am I? 

What is this place? 

What happened to me? 

Where is everyone else? 

The questions kept forming in her mind but there were no answers until one word flowed through her min, a name.   With a quiet sigh, she said softly, “Dina.  My name is Dina.”   She looked down at the cotton dress she wore and she came to another realization.  “I like flowers and the color pink.”  Looking around again at the swirling mists surrounding her, she added, “And I can fly.”

For now, that was enough.

Starting a New Book is Hard!

So as I said before, I've begun writing a new book and I can honestly say, getting this just right is really difficult.  I want to convey what the story is about without giving too much away too soon.  I've already rewritten the prologue and first chapter five times - usually after getting feedback from friends, but also because I'm trying to get it right.  There's been a lot of progress this week.  Characters are developing and events are occurring!  Introducing new characters and settings.  Quickly closing in on the 10K word mark.

As soon as I get final updated draft that I'm happy with, I'll post a preview here.  Take care all!!

Mass (Effect) Diversion

So like it says in my Bio, I'm a major gamer.  LOVE games of all kinds: video games, role-playing games, card games, board games...  I've played a LOT.

Recently, I got WAaaaaaaay into Mass Effect.  Absolutely love the game and while I'm not happy about the ending, I still love the game.  I took my adept character, James (who looks quite a bit like me, only a little more blonde) through all three games.  When I got done, I just didn't feel satisfied so I thought for a bit and wrote my own version of the ending.

If you haven't played the game this won't make much sense to you and if you have played but not finished, it will be a major spoiler.  Consider yourself warned.

James Shepard ME3 Ending.

Oh, and that happens to take you to my Tumblr feed.  I'm not majorly active there, but I do enjoy the microblogging thing.

Okay...  Back to Mass Effect.  I've got a galaxy to mess up save!

Psych Episode 5 Finished

So I wrapped my latest Psych episode!  (If you're coming to this page from there, HI!!)  If you're coming here from somewhere else, check the previous post for a link to my psychfic page so you can check it out!

Now that the episode is done, I'm going to focus more attention on my new project, a young adult fantasy tentatively called Dream Flyer.  Stop back in the next few days for a preview of the story.  I'll be posting more news about it as I go and I may even preview some more chapters as I get them written.

Take care!!!

   - JWG

Back to the Beginning

My website got hacked so rather than spend more time and money there (I'd rather be writing!) I decided to come back to blogspot and update my page.

For those of you that are new here, I'm J.W. Grace (Jim to my friends) and I've been writing semi-seriously since 2009. I've written and self-published two books of a "modern action horror" trilogy called The Undead War and I'm currently working on the final book. Check over to the right of my page for links on where to order it.

I've also been writing a virtual season for the TV show Psych. There are currently five complete "episodes" and if you like the show, I really think you'll like my season. Check it out here:

JWGrace at Psychfic.com

Very recently, I've begun a brand new project in the genre of young adult fantasy. Stay tuned for more details. I'm really excited about this new novel.

I'll be adding more content to this as I get time so check in often!

JWG