role playing

Unfortunately, progress on writing book 2 hasn’t been what I would have liked.  I focused November-December on selling book 1 rather than writing book 2, but I thought January would have seen me writing more.  Circumstances are what they are.  However, finally fed up with circumstances and just brimming with writing desire, this weekend I sat down and blocked out the world and wrote twenty, that’s right, 20 pages, in about a 4-5 hour timespan.  That is 20 pages single spaced.  That is 16,000 words.

You might wonder how that is possible.  Well, while it is true that I hoped to write in January, it isn’t wasted time.  I did plenty of reading for research purposes and contemplated the story frequently, so writing it was merely recording what had been imagined earlier.

Anyway, it is clear that generally speaking, writing during the day is just going to be impossible.  Hence, today I was up at 5 a.m. and I knocked out another 4 pages or so before the kids got up.  (On account of the kids, this blog post has taken more than thirty minutes to compose).  How often I’ll be able to do that is open to debate, on account of the fact that the kids have been getting up three, four, and even five times a night.  Needless to say, I’m often pretty tired and getting up early in that state does not put me in a writing mood.

However, if I can block out the time, at say 5-10 pages in a sitting (which is what I was able to do with Fidelis), I can have the text completed by the end of February and there is still hope for a summer release.  We’ll see.

In other news, I am expecting to be featured in a national print mag in March.  This will be a great opportunity for me.  As far as I know, this is a done deal, but I have had enough ‘done deals’ fall through that for now I want to wait before naming names.

I’m not sure where the podcast stands. I have audio enough to complete chapter 1 and distribute it but I don’t know where the rest of the book is.  When I know more, I’ll let you all know. I know I have some subscribers.

And about the role playing game… the same circumstances that keep me from writing keep me from engaging in the game.  I did clear out a million and a half abandoned dwellings.  I still have lots of ideas for the game, though.

Getting book 2 out is the latest top priority, however.

That’s all for now.

Information about the Commission Program is Near the Bottom. 

As part of my campaign to kick off the role playing game based on my book series, I am inviting bloggers to join and participate in my game and hope they will post a review- positive, I hope!- on their blogs, with a link to the game.

As part of this effort, I am going to give additional resources to bloggers who sign up so that they can start the game with more advantages than a new player normally would have. This will allow them to buy weapons and supplies and enable them to travel more widely, earlier.

In order to qualify for this promotion, bloggers should sign up to play the game and immediately send a message to AR Horvath from within the game. He is easy to find, but if you have trouble you can also send a petition, or if all else fails, send an email to him at pr@birthpangs.com. Give him the web address of your blog.

YOU MUST ACTUALLY POST THE LINK ON YOUR BLOG, even if there isn’t a review yet. This is to prove that you really have access to the blog. You can put it in a post or in your blogroll link section. In theory, after Horvath verifies the link you could delete it, but why would you do that? That would be mean.

Please play the game long enough that you can really get a feel for it before you post your review. In particular, READ THE FAQ! It is a big world and takes some getting use to. When you post your review, please alert Horvath. While he reserves the right to decline to link to your review, if it is honest and/or enthusiastic, you can count on Horvath also linking back to your site. Everyone wins.

Information Below on the Commission Program.

To go to the game and get started, go here: www.birthpangs.com/rpg

The game takes place in a big world. If you have questions or concerns about getting started, READ THE FAQ. After that, feel free to ask the players in the game, or again send a message to Horvath.

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Commission Program: If you want to list my book for sale along with a review of the game, please let me know. I will generate a referral code for you which people arriving from your site and purchasing MUST include when purchasing. Bloggers will earn $3.00 for each book, soft or hard cover.

The Birth Pangs role playing game is unique in that it aims to reflect the book series in the game world. There are some limitations to how accurately the RPG can do something like that but literally hundreds of hours have gone into rendering it as close as possible. What really makes the game unique is that the author of the Birth Pangs series himself participates and the characters in the book also makes appearances in the game. But what is potentially ground breaking is the fact that it is possible that there can be reverse inspiration, where events in the RPG might actually come to be reflected in later books… !

The Birth Pangs world is one with post-apocalyptic feel to it. There has been a terrible disease and some nuclear strikes and now there is virtual anarchy. This plays out in the game as players are able to conquer cities and territory, build city defenses, and tax travelers, as well as uncover material that will help them understand the Birth Pangs series itself as they read the books.

Technology continues to shape how books are marketed and promoted today. The close interaction between Horvath and his fans and the real potential for ‘fan fiction’ (in the RPG sense) to be integrated into future books is just a sign of how the industry is transforming.

In anticipation for the Christmas season, Horvath has released a special RPG package where a small donation gets new members some advantages as they begin playing. Normally, players start out with just the clothes on their back, but Horvath will give new donating players money, weapons, and a ride so that they can quickly immerse themselves into the fantasy world that is the Birth Pangs universe.

The promotional donation amount is just $5.00 and puts new players in a position of strength right to start with. Go here to purchase the promotion resource bonus and/or go here to play the role playing game: www.birthpangs.com/rpg

NOTE: This is for new players only, as existing players already know that they can donate through the game and that since they are already strong characters, they don’t need this special help to get started.

As I’ve mentioned in numerous places, Fidelis is going to be re-released in hard cover for the Christmas season. A very neat promotion is going to be in effect that I hope you all take advantage of. I will be pushing that promotion and the role playing game for the book series, too. My goal is to have several thousand new players in the rpg by February of 2008. That would be fantastic! Plus, the game world is going to be expanded to take into account the release of book 2 in the series, which has new cities involved.

Feel free to poke around and drop me an email at author @ birthpangs.com if you are so inclined. I’m looking for book signing gigs, so if you’ve got ideas, let me know!

If you want to get into the groove, click on the wallpaper above and then right click and save the file to your desktop. From there, you can set it as your desktop wallpaper! More images to come! (You can also download it by clicking here.)

Wallpaper courtesy of http://www.sojournerleather.com

Well, I invited a bunch of folks over for the RPG (www.birthpangs.com/rpg) and then it broke on me.  5 hours of labor to rebuild a new one later, its up and going.

Waiting for the pre-proof books to come in the mail tomorrow (Saturday). We are *this* close to the finished product.  Assuming everything looks good, its just a matter of finalizing the cover… and launching the product…