The 10 Star Wars Books You Need to Read Before Watching The Force Awakens

Standard

If there’s one thing any fan of pop culture knows, it’s that the Star Wars movie is coming out in a month and a half. Every tiny little detail in posters, teasers, trailers, games, what have you, is being dissected and analyzed for plot points and theories. The biggest reason this is happening is because nobody knows what’s going on with the new post-Return of the Jedi plot.

I say new because, as some or many of you may know, the old Expanded Universe was defenestrated by the new story group after Star Wars was acquired by Disney. This decision was either the best thing to happen to Star Wars or the worst, depending on whom you ask. Continue reading

NaNoWriMo 2015 – The NaNo That Was Not To Be

Standard

So November has rolled around once again, bringing with it the ever-growing NaNoWriMo movement. National Novel Writing Month, for those who haven’t yet heard of it, is a giant community of writers—both professional and amateur—banding together in mutual support and each attempting to complete a novel of 50,000 words or more in the month of November. Last year, some 300,000 people signed up.

I’ve never actually done a NaNoWriMo. I’ve never gone to the website and registered. I’ve never written a full novel in the month of November.

I will, though. Someday. Some year. Just, not this one. Continue reading

Book of the Week – October 30th, 2015

Standard

After a brief hiatus for my State of Writing and a busy week at work, the Book of the Week returns! This time around we’re going for one of my favorite new fantasy series, Brian Staveley’s debut The Emperor’s Blades.

The Emperor's Blades

Staveley’s first installment in his Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne was a pretty resounding success. Continue reading

Drew’s State of Writing – October 2015

Standard

It’s once again time for my semi-annual State of Writing Update. This serves the dual purpose of letting all of you wonderful readers know what I’m getting up to when I’m, say, slacking on my WoT reread posts or forgetting to do Books of the Week, as well as providing myself with a touchstone to get my agenda in order.

If you’ve followed these in the past, you’ll notice a theme: I generally go way, way off my intended schedule. Sadly, that’s sort of the reality of being a writer who also works a full-time job. Sometimes life gets in the way, and sometimes new things pop up and demand me to write them.

This update, thankfully, doesn’t feature too much of that. Continue reading

Cup of Dcaf: So You Want to Write a Book?

Standard

I want to start off with some encouragement here. You want to write a book? AWESOME. You can do it. Sit down with your pen or your keyboard and write it. If you want to write a book, it’s probably because you have a cool idea that you like. Write about that cool idea.

But here’s the thing. You have to understand what writing a book actually is. And what it actually is, is hard work. Continue reading