On the Codex Writers forum, we're in the fourth of five weeks of a flash-fiction writing contest.  Each Saturday morning the contestant are given three prompts and must use at least one of them to write a story of less than 750 words by Sunday evening. One of today's prompts was the following: Choose an element (fire, earth, thunderstorm, oxygen,... read more »

I began my serious weight loss efforts in January of 2006, so December of 2005 was when I was at my highest weight, about 235 pounds.  The "Before" picture(me in the blue shirt) is from the luau I went to at the Polynesian Cultural Center that month. The "After" picture (me in the white shirt) is from the luau I... read more »

Edmund Schubert, editor of Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show, asked me to pass this news along: To Readers of Science Fiction and Fantasy everywhere, When you have something great, you want everyone to know. So you tell people about it. You share it. You pass it along to friends everywhere. Well, that’s what we’re doing with InterGalactic Medicine Show.... read more »

My short story "Premature Emergence" is now available in the February 2008 issue of Jim Baen's Universe.  You can read the beginning of the story here. I wrote the first draft of this story in less than 24 hours while at the Writers of the Future workshop in 2005.  Our stories needed to be based on an object we were... read more »

The first time I went to Hawaii, I went to the USS Arizona memorial and toured the USS Bowfin submarine.  This time, I took a tour of the battleship USS Missouri. (more…)

Now that my technical issues seem to have been resolved, some more pics from Hawaii. On New Year's Eve, my sisters Angela and Carolyn went for a plane ride.  The takeoff went smoothly: (more…)

UPDATE: The emails finally went through, a couple of days late. For some reason, my post with photos from the Polynesian Cultural Center did not go out to the email subscribers to my blog.  This post is a test to see whether it's the email function itself that's broken. Update: Looks like the email's not going out. There may be... read more »

While in Hawaii, I visited the Polynesian Cultural Center.  The center has exhibits focusing on various Polynesian cultures, from Hawaii to New Zealand.  It's a pretty impressive tourist attraction. I took some photos during the boat parade: (more…)

OK, so this is almost a month late, but... (more…)

Here's the announcement about the 2008 Odyssey Writing Workshop.  I attended last year, and it was a great experience.  I highly recommend it for aspiring writers who can afford the time and money to go. ODYSSEY WRITING WORKSHOP ANNOUNCES SUMMER 2008 SESSION About Odyssey Since its inception in 1996, Odyssey has earned a place as one of the most respected... read more »