Another Trip Around the Sun

Last Thursday marked the passing of my 27th year on this island Earth, and it went down much like any other annual “congrats for being alive” milestone before it: with general fatitude and revelry. What made this birthday weekend more remarkable than recent years was probably that it coincided with the Web Zeroes wrap party, and my youngest brother Kyle coming in town. It made for one exhausting and fun weekend, particularly as I reminisced on the nerdy shows we’ve made. I’m not sure if it was encouraging or a letdown to consider that I began pursuing my creative endeavors when I was 24, but I’m still on the good side of 30 I suppose, with lots of good writing or basket weaving years left in these bones. Continue reading →

Back to Zero

Mount DoomWell, tomorrow marks the end of a year of hard work for me and two of my best friends: Web Zeroes draws to a close with its final episode. I’ve got some mixed feelings on this, some of which I can share at the moment and a few that will need some time to sort out and file in the appropriate boxes for later use.

I think the thing that I’m feeling most of all is relief. We’ve had a fairly brutal schedule over the last ten months or so, one that is finally letting up and giving us a chance to get our heads out of the production hole. The most analogous thing I can conjure up when it comes to producing a series is that it is like throwing the ring into Mt. Doom at the end of Lord of the Rings, but not as cool or dramatic. Also I don’t really look like a Hobbit, and I hope that nobody shows up to bite my finger off once the show’s over. Continue reading →

Faith and Speculative Fiction

Science Fiction

There are typically two types of books that I lean towards when populating my reading list: Sci-fi/Fantasy books or books on theology and Christian living. It’s a strange combination, I suppose, but says a lot about the things I ponder, when I’m not thinking about Batman or cheeseburgers. As an aspiring author, these are actually the two types of writing that I’d like to delve into some day, and there is usually a stark separation between the two (although I’ve shared before how I think this should not always be so).

Over the weekend, there were some interesting discussions going on in a few Christian blogs about the absence of speculative fiction (sci-fi/fantasy/horror, etc.) from the world of Christian publishing. This all seemed to start over at ReveLife with a post about how Science Fiction Goes with the Christian Life, which discusses the myriad of thematic elements that are relevant for Christians in the realm of sci-fi. Personally, I think it raises some good points, especially considering that science fiction’s most powerful ability is to turn the magnifying glass on present culture by way of the future or the seemingly impossible. For reference material, see: Battlestar Galactica, the series. Continue reading →

Confessions of a Nerd

ConfessionA few weeks back, I wrote a bit for this blog about The Rabbit Hole of Geek. The main premise of this piece of writing is that deep down, everybody’s a dork about something, whether they know it or not.

Originally I was going to tack on a whole other portion — a confessional if you will — of my nerdiest and most awesome exploits, but the post was getting a bit long. These are things that not everybody knows about me, but I feel it’s best to come clean. They say that confession is good for the soul, even if it’s not good for the self image.

So, here it goes: Continue reading →

Achievement Unlocked

Crackdown 2

Last night, something weird happened when I played the demo for Crackdown 2. I loved the first game, but most of my memories with it are associated with hunting for agility orbs, which allow you to run faster and jump higher. I collected every single one in the first game, and ignored much of the game proper simply so I could do it. In fact, I spent several weeks hunting for the last 2 or 3, to the detriment of other real things I should have been doing. Continue reading →

My Former Musical Aspirations

Martin Guitar

Something that a few of you might not know about me is that I used to consider myself a musician of sorts. In college, I fancied myself as the singer/songwriter type, with a heavier emphasis on the latter portion of that. Truth be told, I wasn’t a half bad guitar player or singer, I just gravitated more towards the writing of songs and stories in them. Although I wasn’t especially great at any of those things, I did enjoy it. Continue reading →

Bad First, Then Good

The trickiest part of writing for me has never been starting it. Or finishing it, even. That was a hurdle that I eventually cleared, though it took me some time to negotiate. The hardest part of writing isn’t even making it a daily discipline or doing something that you think people will like.

No, the toughest part of this thing I do is letting something suck. Continue reading →

Rabbit Hole of Geek

Rabbit HoleFor most of my life, I have been called a geek. And honestly, I can’t even remember when this started. No, it wasn’t when I got those glasses with the rubber handlebars that locked them behind my ears. And no, it wasn’t when I wore my MC Hammer pants to school on a day that was not Halloween. It wasn’t even when my brother and I showed up in matching outfits.

In elementary school, I remember every kid on the street having a Nintendo. It was the normal thing to do. Nobody cared that it was nerdy. Or perhaps nobody had decided that’s what it was called yet. When you’re young, these things are mostly normal, but at some point, everything changes. At some point, a switch is flipped, arbitrary social lines are drawn, and people align themselves where they think they will be happiest. Around this time is when I suppose the whole “geek” thing started for me, even though I wasn’t doing anything differently than I had done it before. Continue reading →

The Creative Bog

Brays Bayou

Lately, I’ve been getting into riding my bike along the Brays Bayou here in Houston several times a week. It’s a nice stretch near our neighborhood with a path for biking and running. The only problem is that it’s so open, there’s always one direction where the wind buffets you like a whip, and keeps you from getting up to full speed. So basically, there’s a portion of the ride that’s a bit of a chore.

I’m finding out that writing is kind of the same way. My biggest problem throughout college and my early adult life was that I had a terrible habit of starting new projects without finishing them. Getting started on something new wasn’t a problem at all — it’s actually the easiest part. But once that initial rush of doing something creative is gone, you’re left trying to ride against the wind or run up hill. It’s what I refer to as the Creative Bog. Continue reading →

Why I Write: The Power of Story in the Human Narrative

Years ago, when I was traveling to different churches and seeking a job as a youth pastor, I ended up at a fairly conservative Baptist church. I don’t mean to pick on that denomination, but while there on my interview, I was put into a bit of a bind by a particular question I was asked in front of a group of parents and students. “Do you think it’s OK to watch rated R movies?”

The reason this question proved to be so awkward was that it’s loaded with assumptions, and implications for the wrong answer. It also is the kind of question that makes people look at Christians all goofy. Continue reading →

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