How often do you gaze up at the stars?

Everyone knows that we’re losing interest in science as a country. Where visiting the moon should have been the first step in our visit to space, we haven’t gotten much farther. Have you ever wondered what happened to the public’s interest in space exploration? Have you lost your interest in knowing what amazing sights are to be found out there?

I was thinking about it the other night in front of my house. Fort Worth is not a huge city compared to some, but even here the stars are dim most nights. What about major cities who can’t even see the stars? How many children out there have never seen a starry sky that wasn’t on the television? We’ve all heard of the SciFi/Fantasy stories about civilizations that have never seen a tree before and are in awe of them. What about the fact that in this world, as it is now, there are probably children who have never seen a sky filled with the beauty of the universe?

There is so much more to existence than what we can comprehend as human beings. Sure there are still people interested on exploring the universe, but it’s the kids that we really need to get interested. They’re the ones that might see what we cannot. Kids need to see a truly starry night. I think we all do.

And FYI, the images are from NASA’s astronomy pictures of the day, which are fantastic.

This 7th story is going to be delayed a week. We talked more about tonight’s episode and decided that we wanted to try another take or two before posting it. This story is going to have more accents than anything we’ve tried before. Getting those voices consistently right is something we want to do a good job of. Below is the synopsis for the story, Pushed To The Edge. Check back next Tuesday for part one! I think this one is going to be fun.

For fifteen years invaders from the distant land of Kalleth have held Alsalam in servitude to their army, but they’ve brought peace and prosperity as well. When a murderous and enslaving change in command comes down from the eastern King, Alsalam must use the military knowledge he’s learned from them not only to defend himself, but all the tribes of his homeland.

I should have gotten this up yesterday, but I had to work until after midnight, then be up again at 7 this morning, and I didn’t have the audio at the time. My apologies! Here is Adventures Through The Window in its entirety. I hope everyone liked this story, I enjoyed many parts of it, but I’m still uncertain of it as a whole. Not that I think it’s bad, but there are parts I think could have been better by going back in with some more editing, but alas, that’s not an option with these podcasts!

Next week we’ll start a whole new story, so be sure to check back. It’s going to be another adult story, in the high fantasy genre I love so much. I’ll tell you guys more about it later in the week.

If you liked this one, feel free to tell your friends about it! We always love more readers/listeners.

Most readers here have figured out that education is something that means a lot to me. There are few things I find more important than developing a person’s natural curiosity, no matter what age. Having the ability to teach yourself, or to find those around you who can help you learn, is such an important skill to have in life. If kids learn only one thing in school, it should be that they have the potential to teach themselves. Sadly, this rarely happens in our education system.

One way I like to teach myself is to spend some time every week watching TED talks. These inspirational speeches are a great way to figure out new things you can learn. It’s not often a full lesson, but it’s enough to get you going in the right direction.

I wanted to share these two videos, both from the same person. Sir Ken Robinson is one of my favorite speakers on the subject of education. I think everyone can learn something by taking a little time to listen to his views about teaching children.

Tonight is the conclusion of Adventures Through The Window! I’ve had a lot of fun with this story. The idea of bringing sense to a world of nonsense turned out a lot different than I originally thought it would. TJ’s been a good protagonist, but I’m already working on the next hero to tell us a tale. I’m feeling really good about the notes I have so far. It’s going to be nice to get back into a more adult, high fantasy story.

As always, thanks for joining us.

In last week’s post TJ learned that not all great deeds are followed by cheers and thanks. His latest companion didn’t even say a word to him about it. Now he must once again figure out who he’s traveling with, and if the cat knows Jester. TJ’s come to enjoy his time through the window, and he’s eager to discover what more there is in store for him.

There’s a special 4th of July treat that we managed to sneak in there for you guys. I hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday! As always, we hope you enjoy the story.

We’re back tonight with the real part six of Adventures Through the Window. I hope everyone enjoyed last week’s comedic break. I told David he really needs to try his hand at another, so he may be back at some point. In tonight’s episode TJ finds a feast has been prepared for his awakening. Fun as it all may seem, his suspicions grow as his memories begin to return. Just what are Ambrissia’s intentions, why is he so special in her eyes?

Need to catch up? You can peruse our latest posts, or you can read the story here if you prefer.

As always, thanks for joining us tonight. We hope you’re enjoying the story.

I never thought that I would really get into writing serialized fiction, my wife still can’t understand how I do it. I’ve always been a plotter, writing detailed outlines and world building a lot for my stories. I even write detailed notes about chapters before I write them. Suffice it to say, very little is just made up as I go through writing a novel.

Podcasting has offered me that completely different path though. Because I really don’t spend much time plotting out these stories, they just evolve from week to week based on things that happened, and where they might lead from there. It has been a wonderful experience to me as a writer. My skill has increased drastically since this all began. My confidence has as well.

It’s something I think all you writers should try at some point.

It has taught me to edit – If you really want to see your mistakes, read your stories out loud. Every little mistake will scream at you when you hear it. If you really, really want to see, have someone else read it aloud. David has taught me not to send him bad drafts!

It has taught me to adapt – I can’t count the number of times I felt the story was trapped and had to find a way out.

It has shown me characters – It’s the characters that drive these stories every week. Never before have I felt so confident about getting into the mind of a protagonist.

It has shown me limits – One of the first rules we decided on for TNS was that no story would last more than 9 episodes. I’ve learned that each episode really has to drive toward that necessary conclusion, there aren’t episodes to waste.

Has anyone else had experience with this? What have you thought about it?