Okay, things are finally settling down from a whirlwind beginning to the year. It’s a good beginning, but it’s been hectic. The new day job is going well… I’m really enjoying it (getting to play around with a lot of different technologies that I just didn’t have access to in my last job). It’s also nice that I was sent to work on a project in DC and Baltimore while the cherry blossoms were in bloom (it’s a pretty sight to see).

Travel is a bit of a two-edged sword though. I’ve been catching up on movies and TV shows (via travel packs of DVDs), and now that I’m getting a handle on all the travel and requirements of the job, I’m starting to get a little extra spare time for writing. On the flip side, I miss the family when I’m out (and they miss me) but having the entire weekend with them really makes a difference. And it gets lonely on the road, but I’m finding some of the characters I write make for “interesting” company. ^_^

Now, on to other stuff…

• Scryptic Studios (a website I co-founded with a few other writers) made the Writer’s Digest list of 101 Best Websites for Writers. It was a little odd flipping through my copy of Writer’s Digest and seeing Scryptic listed there. It was also a little odd finding out about this just after I made the decision to get my “The Art of Words” column rolling again (since I have a little extra spare time now).

• Also, some of you out there know this already, but for those that don’t, I’ve been doing the writing chores on a new comic created and co-plotted my Jim Valentino. A comic called, “Task Force 1” being published through Jim’s Shadowline imprint at Image Comics. The press release on it should start circulating next week, and it’ll be listed in the next Previews guide (at the end of this month for a July ship date). I’ll provide more details and sneak peeks when I can… and for those in the Austin, TX area, I’ll be doing some signings around here.

• For those asking about getting more of Steampunk Faeries, here’s the plan… Seth and I discussed it, and we felt the response from the one-shot was good enough that we want to finish up the entire first story arc as a full-color trade paperback. We just want to make sure that when the rest of it comes out, everyone’s guaranteed to get the complete story (and nobody has to worry about any current storyline possibly not getting finished if we get busy with other projects).

• I’ve been slowing picking away at mine and Seth’s updated website. It’s still in progress, but if you’d like to take a peek, you can do so here. As soon as I finish recoding all the different pieces, we might see some momentary downtime when I switch the site over to the new code. Just a little head’s up for ya.