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    What's happened around the site? What new content has gone up, or changes have gone down? You'll find all of that, and more, here.

    Thursday
    Sep022010

    Links: Skeleton Fumes

    DateThursday, September 2, 2010 at 3:00PM | by AuthorWarren Stallworth's Diary of a Mad Writer | | CommentPost a Comment | in

     

    I really need to highlight a buddy of mine's webpage: Skeleton Fumes. Donny is probably one of the most well rounded individuals I know when it comes to music, movies, and gaming, so I think it only right to send folks his way who are looking for something fresh to add to their repertoire. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

    Wednesday
    Aug182010

    Diary of a Mad Writer #27 -- For L. Ross Love

    DateWednesday, August 18, 2010 at 2:27PM | by AuthorWarren Stallworth's Diary of a Mad Writer | | Comment1 Comment | in ,

     

     

    In loving memory of L. Ross Love. Rest in peace and may the universe cradle you in its arms.

    I haven't been around recently for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the death of a great man and the person my mother would have spent the rest of her life with. It's still surreal to think that he is gone; that I can't have him and my mother over for dinner or to relax and watch TV. I know that healing will take a considerable amount of time, but it doesn't mean I won't miss him all the same.

    The last thing he said to me was to take care of my mother. He needn't worry; as the first born and the only son, that is a duty that I will never shirk. But he also urged me to continue going after whatever my dreams may be. He wanted me to achieve my vision, and I intend to follow through.

    Sometime before his death, I finished filming "Duality," a five minute short film about the effects of character driven writing. Editing has been completed on the project, and I'm waiting for my new external recording device to ship before I redo the sound. Once that's done, I'll be ready to share it with everyone. I like the way it turned out, honestly, being my first time handling my new Canon EOS T2i and really putting it through its paces. There are some things I wish I had purchased before we started filming, but what came out at the end was decent enough.

    I have plans for three more shorts, all dealing with different subject matter. Some of them I can start on right away, but one of them I need to wait to nail down my actors before I can begin.

    Writing is a funny beast, in that regard -- it can take forms you never originally intended. I never planned to make "movies." It was never on my radar. I've always written novels, albeit all of them unpublished. In fact, the three most recent have been through multiple edits with the intention of finally taking that next step. I've shopped them around but have yet to get a bite. Still, I continue working on other projects while pushing my objectives forward. I wouldn't have it any other way. Whether it's poetry or scripts, novels or comics, I write. I simply don't know anything else.

    So to Ross, thank you for believing in my mother and loving her. I have never seen her happier than the time she spent with you. And thank you for believing in me, as well. I will miss you more than words can say; not just for me, but for the woman who birthed me. But I will make you proud. No matter what, I will never give up on my dreams.

    Wednesday
    Aug182010

    Stories: Photographs

    DateWednesday, August 18, 2010 at 2:02PM | by AuthorWarren Stallworth's Diary of a Mad Writer | | CommentPost a Comment | in

     

    Again with the writing challenges. This time, a fair bit of chaos was thrown into the mix. Bordering on the insane, "A Photograph is Worth" is an experiment that succeeded on a fairly strange level. You can find it in the Stories section.

    Tuesday
    Jul202010

    Stories: Obscurity Will End You

    DateTuesday, July 20, 2010 at 5:25PM | by AuthorWarren Stallworth's Diary of a Mad Writer | | CommentPost a Comment | in

     

    The NeoGAF Writing Challenges have been a blessing for me. I haven't been this prolific in almost a year, and it feels good to return to my roots. In the most recent, the topic had to do with things that were "Obscure." Of course, like always, you could interpret this any way you wished. I decided to take a stab at both the Higgs-Boson, as well as sci-fi horror, with mixed results. The story I wrote is entitled "An Air of Obscurity" and you can find it in the Stories section.

    Tuesday
    Jul202010

    Stories: Cermintor to end all Cermintor

    DateTuesday, July 20, 2010 at 5:16PM | by AuthorWarren Stallworth's Diary of a Mad Writer | | CommentPost a Comment | in

     

    For those that remember, there was a song I wrote back when I was in a band called "Cermintorva," which has the same implications as Seppuku for the Japanese. Recently, because I had never officially written the story, I decided to revisit it in the form of Mnenlic's last moments, when he warns the others of what is to come and must perform the final deed. Entitled "Cermintorva, Mnenlic, My Son," you can find the short in the Stories section.

    Tuesday
    Jul202010

    Stories: The Uncanny

    DateTuesday, July 20, 2010 at 5:10PM | by AuthorWarren Stallworth's Diary of a Mad Writer | | CommentPost a Comment | in

     

    Awhile back, for one of the NeoGAF challenges, I wrote a poem called "Uncanny." The topic was "a view from afar or within," so I decided to do a bit of both. You can find the poem in the Stories section.

    Tuesday
    Jun292010

    Industry News: Terry Goodkind to Pen Three New Books

    DateTuesday, June 29, 2010 at 4:36AM | by AuthorWarren Stallworth's Diary of a Mad Writer | | Comment2 Comments | in

    I'm a tad bit late in regards to this bit of news, but I was just made aware that one of my favorite authors, Terry Goodkind, will be penning three new books about Richard and Kahlan from the Sword of Truth Series.

    Tor Books is proud to announce the return of New York Times bestselling author Terry Goodkind to their list. The first book in the 3-book deal will be a new Richard and Kahlan novel, due in early 2011. Richard and Kahlan are the principle characters from his previous New York Times bestselling books.

    As I said, Terry Goodkind is, or at least was, one of my favorite authors. After the Sword of Truth series ended, I didn't read anything else he'd written (I only know of one other book beyond that series; if there are others, I'm at a loss to what they are about), so I can't say he's my current favorite. Even then, I actually stopped caring about the Sword of Truth series two or three books after Faith of the Fallen, for reasons I'd rather not get into. I stayed with it to the end because I'd gone through my high school years reading them, and his writing style helped form mine. However, I have to ask why he's doing this; if the story is finished, what new threatens could possibly turn the world on its head?

    I don't know whether I'll actually read the books - I may just skip them altogether - but I'll keep my eye on it if for nothing else but to see just what he does.

    Monday
    Jun282010

    Thoughts: Helping Others

    DateMonday, June 28, 2010 at 1:56AM | by AuthorWarren Stallworth's Diary of a Mad Writer | | Comment1 Comment | in

    To add to the Inspiration post from earlier, I happened upon this video a few minutes ago:

    Powerful.

    Monday
    Jun282010

    Thoughts: Reeves of Inspiration

    DateMonday, June 28, 2010 at 12:44AM | by AuthorWarren Stallworth's Diary of a Mad Writer | | Comment3 Comments | in

    What most inspires you?

    For me, it is hearing how other people battled and overcame their struggles. Tonight, while in deep contemplation about my life, as we are all want to do at some point, I happened upon a list recounting Keanu Reeves' personal battles. Keanu is a bit of a "joke" for most people my age. We joke about his acting, about his appearances in public, about who he might even be. Recently, Keanu became an internet meme. This is what Wikipedia says is an internet meme, for those who may not know:

    The term Internet meme (pronounced /ˈmiːm/, rhyming with "cream"[1]) is used to describe a concept that spreads swiftly via the Internet.[2] The term is a reference to the concept ofmemes, although this concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.

    Seemingly harmeless. Keanu's specific meme involves a series of pictures of him sitting on a park bench. One of them is below:

     

    People then take this picture of "sad" Keanu, and place him in all sorts of situations. Some are humorous, others gaudy. How, then, did this lead me to draw inspiration from him.

    While looking over these pictures, I happened upon a few others. One of them was a CD cover. The following list was part of that CD cover:

    There is something very humbling about these words. I pulled inspiration from them. No matter my own problems, whatever they may be, there are people much worse off than I. There are even people much better off financially, who are leagues worse off than I emotionally or spiritually, who help those much worse off than I will ever be in any of those things. It puts things into perspective.

    Thank you, Keanu. You're a great man.

    Friday
    Jun252010

    Diary of a Mad Writer # 26

    DateFriday, June 25, 2010 at 4:50AM | by AuthorWarren Stallworth's Diary of a Mad Writer | | CommentPost a Comment | in ,

    While sitting at work tonight, I decided that restarting my audio podcast (The Mad Writer Fictioncast) might be a good idea. Not only did I have a lot of fun with it, but I got to expose a lot more people to my writing - people who didn't have time to read it on the site, but could download it or listen to it while in the car. It was entertaining coming up with the myriad of voices I used to bring each story to life, and was also a good way to test my "radio" voice.

    I don't have a hard date, yet, but I'm looking at late July as the relaunch date. It's not that I'm not prepared, but that I like to have a nice little backlog of material before I go. You never know when something might put you out of commission for a week or two.

    The format will be mostly the same as it was last time around. I'm not going to vary it too much, as I think there will end up being more variety, and/or longer episodes the further down the pipe we go. The standard introduction, followed by prep theme set up will open the podcast. Then I'll read the story, followed by the outro. Episodes will stay within the 7 to 15 minute range, and I'll try to maintain a bi-weekly schedule. I may switch to a weekly schedule, if time permits, but that would be sometime in the future.

    I've always enjoyed doing "podcasts" long before they were called that. When I was younger, I did radio shows called "Warren Speaks to America," in which my friends and I would talk about video games, bikes, comic books, and more video games. They were all recorded onto tapes using a miniature see-through boombox I got one Christmas. Best present I could have ever recieved, in retrospect. I've since lost those tapes sadly.

    Years later, when music became my creative focus, I started doing "Warren Speaks to America" on my computer. They were 45 minute shows where I talked about things like the latest music news and what was happening in the video game industry. I'd also talk about books and movies. Again, some of my friends joined me when they were around, and we made a time of it. A hard drive crash actually ate those shows. Sad.

    Podcasts are just a natural progression of that interest in putting voice to tape and hearing it back years later. Only this time, they're stories I've written beforehand.

    Of course, podcasts aren't the only audio adventures I'm looking to partake in. I have so many ideas in the pipe that it's hard to keep them all straight. Ah, perhaps soon I'll get the chance to unleash them on the world.

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