Getting Close to the End!

Hello to the fans of the DragonHawk Saga!

I'm happy to report that Dragon Betrayal is getting close to the end! I hope to have it wrapped up this weekend. Once it's finished, I've got to go through and do the conversion to Kindle and Smashwords formats. It takes a little time to remove all of the formatting and clean out the shortcut and formatting macros I use when I am writing.

I've also got to process updates to Dragon Hunter and Dragon Heart. I made some changes to both books while I was working on Betrayal to clear up some inconsistencies. Remember the Saga is going to be 10 books long. So if you find something in one book that doesn't seem to fit, it might be connected to something that's going to happen in the next book.

Anyway, when I get all three books loaded on the various sites, I'm going to have a special offer that will let you get all three books for almost nothing. So stay tuned for that.

After I accomplish all of that, I'm going to break away from the stories to work on the website and my (feeble) marketing attempts. I expect to start work on Dragon Revenge, Book Four of the DragonHawk Saga, by the end of summer.

June 14th will be the first anniversary of Big Boy's passing. Baby Girl and I miss that ole cat and think about him everyday. In my spare time, I've been working on a book called Hurricane Cats, a "historical fiction" if you will, of the lives of these two cats before they came into my life. I'm going to be giving away copies of Hurricane Cats starting June 14th, in memory of that ole Tom Cat.

Well, that's about it. I've caught you up with writing for now. It's time for Baby Girl and I to get back to work!

As always, thanks for reading!


Dave

Moving Forward in 2017

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2017!

Well, we made it to 2017. I can't believe how fast 2016 flew by, or how little progress I made in 2016 on advancing the Saga. I got about halfway through Book Three, Dragon Betrayal, then stalled out. So I went back through Books One and Two to try and regain momentum.

Think of it as trying to drive up a hill, stalling halfway, then rolling back down the hill and making another run at it.

That worked pretty well for a while. My writing style and my knowledge of writing has changed, (improved?), and I made a bunch of changes. Rewording sentences, improving grammar, cutting down on excess details, etc. In an attempt to improve the flow of the story.

That worked pretty well on Book One, Dragon Hunter. And its going good on Book Two, Dragon Heart. I've made a big plot change that requires a lot of rewriting. I'd hoped to get caught up over the Christmas Holiday, but I fell ill and didn't make as much progress as I would have liked.

So, now it's 2017. Time to move on. I've ignored the Saga this week, concentrating on getting the new year started. Next week, I'm starting a new project at work. I don't think it will be that difficult, but it will set the pace for how much and the quality of writing time that I will have after normal working hours.

You see, I work on the Saga in the evenings after I finish my normal work, usually after everyone has gone to bed. I do my best writing between the hours of 11 PM and 2 AM in the morning. So it seems. On the weekends, I'll work later or get up earlier than everyone else and get in a couple of hours of writing before everyone else is up and about.

So, what's the moral of the story?

My mission is to tell the story of the Tycho Drakkon and their pursuit of the Return of the Great Dragon through the stories of the DragonHawk Saga. I hope to get that mission back on track, just as soon as I can.

As always, thanks for reading!

Dave

DragonHawk Saga Update

Hi there friends and readers.

It's been a rather frustrating time for me. I hit a massive writer's block while working on Dragon Betrayal, so I decided to go back and read Dragon Hunter and Dragon Heart, in an effort to try and get some momentum back in my writing. Kinda like backing up to get a running start at a hill.

Bad idea. As my writing style and my knowledge of writing has grown, I soon found myself embroiled in an effort to revise and rewrite Dragon Hunter. So far I have reduced the size by about 3700 words, and hopefully improved the readability and flow of the story.

Right now, I'm working on Dragon Heart. It's going okay. Not good, but okay. I've gotten stuck in one spot that I want to rewrite, but I struggle for the words. Maybe I should just leave it as it is, and move on.

A note about Dragon Hunter. I did managed to reduce the size of the story by about 3750 words, thereabouts. Dragon Hunter and Dragon Heart are both about the same size, which probably doesn't matter to anyone but me. After all, if you are a reader, you only want a good story.

And if you are a reader, I'd like to hear what you have to say about the DragonHawk Saga. If you are not a reader, then I invite you to give my stories a try and let me know what you think.

As always, thanks for reading the DragonHawk Saga!


Dave

P.S.

I seemed to have made it past my block last night. Reading and rewriting of Dragon Heart is moving along nicely now. All I had to do was eliminate the distractions. Put on the headphones and called up a nice long playlist. Didn't stop until 2 AM this morning. Back at it after lunch with fresh cup of caff and The Beatles "One" Album!

Cheers!

Dave

DragonHawk Saga Update

Hi there friends and readers.

It's been a rather frustrating time for me. I hit a massive writer's block while working on Dragon Betrayal, so I decided to go back and read Dragon Hunter and Dragon Heart, in an effort to try and get some momentum back in my writing. Kinda like backing up to get a running start at a hill.

Bad idea. As my writing style and my knowledge of writing has grown, I soon found myself embroiled in an effort to revise and rewrite Dragon Hunter. So far I have reduced the size by about 3700 words, and hopefully improved the readability and flow of the story.

Right now, I'm working on Dragon Heart. It's going okay. Not good, but okay. I've gotten stuck in one spot that I want to rewrite, but I struggle for the words. Maybe I should just leave it as it is, and move on.

A note about Dragon Hunter. I did managed to reduce the size of the story by about 3750 words, thereabouts. Dragon Hunter and Dragon Heart are both about the same size, which probably doesn't matter to anyone but me. After all, if you are a reader, you only want a good story.

And if you are a reader, I'd like to hear what you have to say about the DragonHawk Saga. If you are not a reader, then I invite you to give my stories a try and let me know what you think.

As always, thanks for reading the DragonHawk Saga!


Dave

Baby Girl

Wow. I can't believe my last blog post was back in June when Big Boy passed away. I suppose I should update you on how Baby Girl and I are doing. I must admit that she has been an interesting cat to watch. 

The biggest change is their bed. The two of them shared a large cat bed that sat on one end of my desk. Well Baby refused to have anything to do with that bed. I left it alone with Big Boy's smell on it. She wouldn't touch it. I washed it. She refused to touch it. I put one of my old tee shirts in it. Refused to touch it. 

So I got rid of the bed. 

I started cycling folded blankets as a pad until I found one that she would lay on. It's not very comfortable looking to me, but Baby Girl likes it. More importantly she sleeps on it.
Until I found a blanket she liked, she was perching on my mouse pad. If I was using the mouse, she lay down on top of my hand and the mouse.
Okay, I can take a hint. I'd have to stop and pet her for a while. Most of the time she would flop over on her back or side for me to rub her belly.

 Cindy found a scratching box shaped like a cat's head, which has high sides. Baby Girl will sleep in it from time to time. When she's inside it sleeping, she is completely hidden. She also likes to sleep in my desk chair. 

The biggest concern that I had about Baby is that she would go feral and not come home. She'd go out in the morning and not come back until late in the evening. Didn't see her hanging out around the house in her favorite spots in the flower beds. She would come in to eat and then take off again.

I wondered if she was looking for Big Boy.

After a month or so, I think she gave up looking for him. For whatever reason, she started hanging out around the house more. On the days that I was working from home, she'd stay inside on my desk for most of the day. Go out for a bit, but always come back to eat and to sleep.

Cindy had to leave town for a couple of weeks to help take care of our granddaughter. So it was just Baby and I at the house. I'd been working on Dragon Betrayal, Book Three of the DragonHawk Saga for most of the day. I'd reached a point where I was not sure what I was going to write, so I leaned back in my chair and dosed off.

The next thing I know, Baby Girl climbed over and was laying down on my chest. Needless to say, I was surprised. She'd very rarely ever let me pick her up or hold her. This was a major break through and a major show of affection. When I told Cindy about it, she said something that made me cry.

You see, whenever Baby Girl climbed into their bed, she'd sniff Big Boy, make sure he was okay, and then curl up behind him.

Now she was doing that with me. She'd accepted me as his replacement.

You may think that I am crazy, but I was honored. I am honored. I remain honored.

But what about Dragon Betrayal, you say?

I'll update you on the Third Book of the DragonHawk Saga later.

In the meantime,

Thanks for reading!

Dave

Baby Girl

Wow. I can't believe my last blog post was back in June when Big Boy passed away. I suppose I should update you on how Baby Girl and I are doing. I must admit that she has been an interesting cat to watch. 

The biggest change is their bed. The two of them shared a large cat bed that sat on one end of my desk. Well Baby refused to have anything to do with that bed. I left it alone with Big Boy's smell on it. She wouldn't touch it. I washed it. She refused to touch it. I put one of my old tee shirts in it. Refused to touch it. 

So I got rid of the bed. 

I started cycling folded blankets as a pad until I found one that she would lay on. It's not very comfortable looking to me, but Baby Girl likes it. More importantly she sleeps on it.
Until I found a blanket she liked, she was perching on my mouse pad. If I was using the mouse, she lay down on top of my hand and the mouse.
Okay, I can take a hint. I'd have to stop and pet her for a while. Most of the time she would flop over on her back or side for me to rub her belly.

 Cindy found a scratching box shaped like a cat's head, which has high sides. Baby Girl will sleep in it from time to time. When she's inside it sleeping, she is completely hidden. She also likes to sleep in my desk chair. 

The biggest concern that I had about Baby is that she would go feral and not come home. She'd go out in the morning and not come back until late in the evening. Didn't see her hanging out around the house in her favorite spots in the flower beds. She would come in to eat and then take off again.

I wondered if she was looking for Big Boy.

After a month or so, I think she gave up looking for him. For whatever reason, she started hanging out around the house more. On the days that I was working from home, she'd stay inside on my desk for most of the day. Go out for a bit, but always come back to eat and to sleep.

Cindy had to leave town for a couple of weeks to help take care of our granddaughter. So it was just Baby and I at the house. I'd been working on Dragon Betrayal, Book Three of the DragonHawk Saga for most of the day. I'd reached a point where I was not sure what I was going to write, so I leaned back in my chair and dosed off.

The next thing I know, Baby Girl climbed over and was laying down on my chest. Needless to say, I was surprised. She'd very rarely ever let me pick her up or hold her. This was a major break through and a major show of affection. When I told Cindy about it, she said something that made me cry.

You see, whenever Baby Girl climbed into their bed, she'd sniff Big Boy, make sure he was okay, and then curl up behind him.

Now she was doing that with me. She'd accepted me as his replacement.

You may think that I am crazy, but I was honored. I am honored. I remain honored.

But what about Dragon Betrayal, you say?

I'll update you on the Third Book of the DragonHawk Saga later.

In the meantime,

Thanks for reading!

Dave

Rest In Peace, Big Boy

Big Boy passed away on June 14, 2016. I was out of town on business, so I was not with him when he passed. He hadn't showed up for breakfast, having spent the night outside, so Cindy went looking for him. She saw him and called his name, but he didn't respond. When she touched him, he was cold to the touch and shaking, so she scooped him up and took him to the vet. The vet ran some blood tests and put him on an I.V. to try and re-hydrate him, to see if he would stabilize.
Cindy called me and told me what was going on. I was about half way between Dodge City, KS, and Oklahoma City at the time, on my way to OKC to catch a plane. I got to OKC, going through the airport routine of checking in the car, riding the shuttle, and going through security. My phone started ringing as I finished up with security.
It was Cindy, telling me that Big Boy had passed.
In December, 2008, in the wake of Hurricane Ike, I had a heart attack. I spent 10 days in the ICU, where I had two stints installed. After being discharged, I was sent home to recover.
The hurricane had stirred things up in our neighborhood and we had a bad rodent problem. We decided that we needed a cat to keep the squirrels and mice away from our property. So we went to PetCo, where the rescue folks were doing their thing.
I told them I wanted the meanest, baddest, tomcat they had.
They sent me to Chris, who said she had the perfect cat. But if we took Big Boy, then we'd have to take his girlfriend, Baby Girl.
Big Boy and Baby Girl lived on Galveston Island. If you go to the beach, and take the 61st street exit off I-45, you may remember where the old HEB was located. Across the street from the HEB was a Popeye's Fried Chicken. Big Boy and Baby Girl lived behind the Popeye's, under a shed behind some guy's house. They are both feral cats, as you can see from the notches in their ears, indicating that they had been captured, fixed, and released. Normally you leave ferals alone, so as to control the cat population (since they're fixed). But after Ike, Galveston was a mess. The rescue folks were trying to remove as many animals from the island as they could.
So Chris captured Big Boy and Baby Girl for us. We brought them home and they promptly escaped. We didn't know if they would come back, or what.
Two weeks after they disappeared, they showed back up on our front porch. The weather was good, so we had the windows open and saw Baby Girl walk past in the flower beds.
To make a long story short, I sat on the porch with them, slowly making friends and offering them food. It took a couple more weeks before they'd trust us and come inside.
While Baby was skittish, and wouldn't let anyone but me touch her, Big Boy was friendly and wanted to be petted by anyone and everyone. Neither one of them are lap cats, but Big Boy always craved attention.
They never gave up being feral. Whenever the weather was good, they'd want to be outside, staying out all night. Showing up the next morning for breakfast, then going back out.
In the past few months, Big Boy started slowing down. We never knew for sure how old he was, but I think he was about fifteen or sixteen. They say ferals only live about 10 years, compared to house cats. If that's true, then I guess he beat the odds.
I miss him quite a bit. Every time I turn to the cat bed to pet him, he's not there.
Baby Girl misses him really bad. As he started slowing down, she'd keep a closer eye on him. If he was laying on the warm bricks on the porch, one of his favorite spots, she'd go over and sniff him and give him a lick, then lay down beside him. Almost as if they were spooning.
Since he passed, she's stayed mostly on my desk. She's taken to laying down on my mouse pad or my mouse. Or on top of my hand. I hope she's going to be okay.
He'd been going out less and less, hiding under our bed, or behind the couch in the living room. The vet did a test on him after he passed and found out his spleen was filled with cancer. I guess it all just finally caught up with him.
Rest in peace, buddy. I'll take care of Baby Girl for you. We both miss you a lot.

Thanks for reading!

Dave