Another Tuesday is upon us! Unfortunately I had to work most of the day, and most of the night really, but I did get it in before midnight! Sorry about the delay, folks.

In the last part, TJ lost consciousness in the forest. He wakes in a tall tower being waited on hand and foot. Is his rescuer and host someone he can trust, or just another inhabitant of this strange world looking to trick or use him? I could actually call this part 5 1/2. I had to break what I wanted into two parts for the sake of length. I hope you all will forgive me!

As always, I hope you enjoy the story.

Harry Dresden is a wizard for hire. In a modern world, that is enough to have him laughed at by almost everyone who finds out about his profession. It gives him a funny mixture of cocky and reserved and utterly broke. Storm Front is the first book in the Dresden series.

I liked this book, the first in a series, a whole lot. Harry isn’t necessarily a good guy, he’s judgmental and often sexist. He also has a big weakness for not wanting to get anyone else into the troubles and affairs of “his world.” In fantasy terms, I call this the “Rand Complex” which anyone who’s read the Wheel of Time knows all too well. Even when he obviously needs help, he avoids it. This pits almost every woman in his life against him sooner or later. I read a lot of reviews that said all the women were weak and pathetic in this book, but I liked Murphy. She is your typical woman trying to make it in a man’s police force character, but she’s not weak by any means. The back-and-forth mistrust between her and Harry is amusing to say the least.

Storm Front is set in Chicago, but that’s not overly important to the story. You could take any city with mob connections and it would fit just as well. Having a specific setting does have the advantage of making it feel a little more real to the reader. In a fantasy setting, even one of urban fantasy, it’s nice to have a physical place to imagine while we read.

One of my favorite aspects of this book was the way he wrote wizards. There’s nothing strikingly new here, you could research them in dozens of places and see bits of the magic system Jim Butcher uses, but it’s the mind of the wizard that is so much fun. A wizard is only as powerful as he is clever, and Harry Dresden is very clever (which is really where the cocky side comes from). The first person view is perfect for this setup. Harry’s success isn’t stemmed from the fact that he is stronger than his opponents, in many cases this is the exact opposite of the truth, but he can think quick and catches his enemies off guard.

So, all-in-all, if you’re looking for deep originality and intense characters, this may not be exactly what you’re looking for, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth checking out. It’s a fast read, and a fun one to boot. Butcher likes to beat the crap out of his protagonist and I love that. Poor ‘ol Harry gets battered pretty consistently throughout the book.

There’s also a fun television series you could check out. It’s not exactly true to the books from what I’ve seen so far, but it’s fun anyway. The actor who plays Harry does a good job with the arrogant attitude, though I don’t think he pulls off the sensitive side as well as Butcher does in the books.

I give this book a 3.5 out of 5.

Part four came out a bit shorter than some of the previous episodes. I knew what I wanted to come next, but between getting there and what happens there it all became too long. So I found a place I thought broke it up well and went with that. In this part, TJ is running away from old Ma Gister and looking for somewhere else to go. It isn’t until he’s caught in the forest that he remembers the old woman’s warnings about the poisonous bush. Will he find help before it is too late, or will even more trouble find him first?

As always, thanks for joining us!

Sometimes I think all artists are born with this curse. Or perhaps we, as procrastinators, are drawn toward interests that are known to be sympathetic. If I wasn’t so bad about putting things off, would that mean I would write more, or would it mean I’d find something else to do with all my free time? I’ve often wondered these things. If you haven’t yet, you probably will at some point too.

The fact of the matter is, the answer doesn’t really matter at all? This is who I am and I rather like that person. So we learn to deal with our inadequacies instead. The internet, other than the devil-sent curse of any procrastinator, has thousands of positive tips for this little ailment. I thought I’d share some of the ones that work for me.

1. Minimum word counts – I do this like most other writers, but I’m not quite as brutal to myself as many seem to be. I think when you do sit down to write you need to have some idea of how much you want to get down. I try to get at least 700 words typed up whenever write. I’m also not big on the whole “you HAVE to write EVERY day” thing. If that works for you, rock it, but it rarely does for me. If you write 900 page books you may eventually HAVE to write every day, but most probably don’t.

2. Find a consistent time – Schedule a time block you can write in if you choose to. I’m a bit of a night owl, so my time is usually 10PM-12AM. If I want to write I know I can, since I’m not usually doing anything else. I have to set time aside to get anything else done, so why not writing?

3. Don’t read what you write – Early on I always read what I did for the day, then would get stuck into edit mode for days. There’s always time to edit later, just leave it alone! Forward, friends, move forward!

4. Don’t worry about names – Changing a characters name, even a main character, is easy to do in editing. If you can’t think of a cool name, just give him or her a crappy one and worry about it later. The same goes with places too! If you use Microsoft Word, the find/replace feature is quite nice for this.

I think I’ll stop there for now, I’m already thinking this will need a continuation post some time later! There are so many good ways to get around procrastination. Feel free to add some of your own to the comments!

Hip, hip, hooray to my little sister for graduating from high school tonight. It was great to watch all the kids walk across the stage and get their diplomas. She’s currently caught somewhere between feeling that great relief and crying that her friends won’t be joining her at college. It’s so hard to grow up! She’s definitely a people person though, and even though she may not see it yet, she’ll have plenty of friends soon enough I’m sure.

So here’s to you, little sis! I’m so proud. You have the world at your fingertips now, so go get ‘em!

Yesterday we went to my little niece’s graduation from kindergarten. They gave all the kiddos graduation caps to wear and let them line up on a stage. It was very cute. My niece is shaping up to be a very intelligent little girl. There’s an inquisitiveness about her that I don’t see in a lot of other kids, they are the ones that always fascinate me. She really enjoys taking the time to figure things out. So, of course, we get along great together.

The other day when we visited she said they (they being her and her little brother) wanted to play teacher with me. I laughed, a bit curious about what the game could be. So the two of them sat side by side and handed me a book. Teacher is a game where I get to read to them, showing them the pages. I got a kick out of it, I remember when it was just asking me to read a book.

I’ve always thought it would be fun to teach kids that young, but I feel I would be more useful when they are a bit older. I’m glad to get to help out with these kids though! It’s always a fun getting to be around them. Now that it’s summer I imagine we’ll be going swimming quite often. No complaints here!

Tuesday Night Stories is officially back! If you’ve missed the first two parts of Adventures Through the Window, you might want to catch up here. In tonight’s episode TJ meets with old Ma Gister, but will she reveal anything to TJ? When it turns out Jester isn’t quite as reliable as he seemed, the boy must find answers to these questions all by himself.

Thanks for joining us tonight, it feels great to get back to this story.

Things are finally calming down around here. This means part 3 of Adventures Through the Window got finished up for a new podcast episode tomorrow! Huzzah! I’m happy to get back into writing. My other Summer project is to get a lot done of the rewrite of The Forest Awakens. I’m excited about this new take on the book. I’ve figured out places to add much richer descriptions, and more insight into the childrens’ reactions to the events unfolding around them. Multiple agents pointed out these changes to me, making me confident the effort will make the story that much more appealing to future agents, and the kiddos who will hopefully one day enjoy it.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow to listen to the first podcast in over a month!