Being on vacation meant I slept in, accessed the online world in my pajamas, and didn't eat lunch until 2:30 pm. But I did do my push-ups - 145 this morning, the first day of Week 5. The second set (35 push-up) was difficult, I have to rest longer than 60 seconds between sets, and I *really* felt the last set (35) in my arms.

Back on track, or back on the floor, as the case may be.

Until next, next week ...

For those of you following author Rick Castle's best-selling career, his new heroine, Nikki Heat, will be making her debut very soon in Heat Wave. Chapters will be released online, with the book becoming available in September from Hyperion.

I'm sure Detective Kevin Ryan will also have something to say about this, so be sure to check out his blog: The Ryan Report.

So last week was a weird combination of yay! and frak!

yay! bits ...
- started a personal coaching program, like the materials, like my coach
- saw design being implemented for my new writing website which will launch on July 4th
- bought URL for another website that taps into my dual passions of swag-creation and fandom (I think I'm a URL junkie)
- cleaned out flower bed along garage wall and put down rubber mulch
- confirmed I have enough self-restraint to act in a professional manner at the day job no matter how sick I am and how idiotic other people are

frak! bits ...
- physically ill for several days and still had to be at the day job
- skipped doing push-ups on Wed & Fri
- let work stress get to me
- found out David Tennant will be at San Diego Comic Con and I will not
- zombies ate my brains, repeatedly

Feeling much better after a weekend of rest and productivity, and looking forward to a new week of more yay! and less frak!.

Did 98 push-ups this morning. This is the beginning of Week 4 of 6. And it suddenly dawns on me that I'll be doing a lot more than 100 push-ups before this thing is over. I went and did some math and the last day of the last week is 245 push-ups across nine sets.

Why does that seem daunting, when 100 push ups didn't? I know I just did 98 push ups, so I can obviously work my way up to 245, and it makes sense to do more training so that reaching the goal of 100 is, for lack of a better word, easy.

But 245 push ups just sounds like a crazy lot of push ups.

Oh well, that's a few weeks away. For now, I'll take my 98 and be very happy about it. :)

Until next, next week ...

Only July 14th, the Leverage TV show will be available on DVD. You can also get it from right now.



I enjoyed the show a tremendous amount, even have a music video idea, and am looking forward to season 2. Most of my TV show viewing tends to happen on the weekend, so while I did catch a few Leverage eps live, others were seen on a friend's DVR and the last few were purchased from . I'm still going to get the DVDs.

Because not only is Leverage good television, and by that I mean good writing, it is not produced by a studio. That's right, Dorothy, we're not in Kansas any more. Second season is going to air on TNT again, so it's got the distribution of a studio piece, but TNT didn't pay to create this show.

For more behind the curtain info and some great videos by the Leverage cast and crew, check out the Kung Fu Monkey blog, search results: Leverage.



Nathan: Sophie, Sophie, it’s the Butcher of Kiev.

Hardison: Have you ever been to Kiev? The cake maker of Kiev whoop all our ass, this is the Butcher.

Sophie: Uh huh. Is this about fear of the Russian mob or fear of intimacy?

- Leverage: The Wedding Job

Spent the evening helping sort t-shirts for the global Can't Stop the Serenity screenings. We ran out of boxes around 9:30 pm, so that was a good enough excuse to call it a night. I'll likely be back down here on Saturday, as there's a whole lot more swag to sort and box and label and ship to the shiny 49 cities that are participating in the 2009 screenings of Joss Whedon's movie Serenity in theatres to raise money for Equality Now and local charities.

The chosen design looks very nice on the black shirts, and it was heart-warming to see the rows of logos of global sponsors printed on the back.

Not too shabby for a movie that came out four years ago. :)

Behold the power of Browncoats!

Having had no interest in Doctor Who, I am now a devout fan of the 10th Doctor, David Tennant. Which means I'm very excited to share the following news:

1. David Tennant as the Doctor will star on the Sarah Jane Adventures for two episodes this fall

2. BBC Two will air Hamlet starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart

3. David Tennant will be the new host of Masterpiece Contemporary starting in October

For the latest David Tennant news and an incredible photo gallery, I highly recommend the fansite http://www.david-tennant.com/.

Joe Flanigan will be guest-starring in the new SciFi series Warehouse 13. He plays the "the handsome and wealthy Jeff Weaver". Sounds good to me.

Warehouse 13 website will will premiere July 7 with a two-hour pilot at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Hope that take the ratings from the ep Joe appears in. ;)

Did 74 push-ups this morning. Don't feel sore afterwards, but it does wear me out a lot more doing the actual sets in the mornings, than the previous weeks.

Halfway through the regime. I can feel a big difference in my upper arms, although I don't visibly notice much of a difference other than a slight shadow on the inside of my arm near the elbow. I initially thought it was dirt, as I saw it when I was outside gardening, but it didn't wash off. Tonbo says he can see a difference in my forearms; I take his word on that one because I don't see it at all.

So, almost half way through my doubled up version of the One Hundred Push Ups training program, and I'm impressed with me. :)

Until next, next week ...

This weekend I was at Bob Mayer's Writing Workshop and learned a phenomenal amount.

Saturday, 9 am - 6 pm and a working lunch, was a lecture-type class that mirrored a lot of the information in Bob's Novel Writer's Toolkit book. As many hours I spent in that conference room, it didn't seem like it at all. The information is dense, but all of it is valuable. You get the benefits and learnings of Bob's 20 year career, from the craft of writing to the business of publishing. He is an very good speaker, and the book and movie and Special Forces\military examples he uses all help re-inforce or provide concrete models to illustrate his points. And he has multiple Snoopy cartoons. Can't go wrong with Snoopy as writer comic strips.

Sunday, again 9 am - 6 pm with the working lunch, was a much smaller group, where everyone one went through their idea, conflict box, and first pages of their work. Bob had personally commented on everyone's submissions, which included a cover letter, 1 page synopsis, and first ten pages of the manuscript. My cover letter needs tweaking, my synopsis need work, and my first ten pages have a few "good"s on them, as well as things to remove\clarify. Overall, I'm really pleased and excited to apply what I've learned to VM, which now goes under the moniker SI.

I'm also very much looking forward to Bob's Warrior-Writer Workshop in July.

Had the day off of work for a convention that I didn't end up going to because I'll be taking Bob Mayer's Writing Workshop this weekend instead.

Got productive, errand stuff done, then went and saw the latest Pixar film UP with Tonbo.

Wow.

Pixar films have an odd sense of pacing, but it works. Nothing in the trailers prepares you for the first bit of this film, which is all backstory. Newbie novelist take note: you are not Pixar, do not attempt this anytime soon.

One of the trailers that was shown before UP was for the Disney film G-Force about hamsters. One of the last bits of that trailer was a black screen and white text featuring the names of all the big star talent that had voiced the movie.

Pixar trailers, on the other hand, don't need to do that. Their characters, beautifully rendered and lovingly detailed are their stars.

After having watched the G-Force trailer and the UP movie, I'm thankful the Disney execs are smart enough to leave the Pixar folks alone so they can create the masterpieces they can create.

See UP in the movie theatre.

And bring something to wipe the water out of your eyes.

A friend lent Tonbo a copy of Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation. Tonbo read it, enjoyed it, asked if he could lend it to me.

I read it.

Got completely sucked in. I enjoy the overall art style, and the different touches such as Coyote. There is plot, OMG, so much plot that gets doled out like a trail of sugar cubes through the forest. Each chapter is fun, and I will follow it unto the end, because I care about these colorful (literally and figuratively) three-dimentional characters, from Annie and Kat to Reynardine and Shadow X. It's British, so it's mutli-generational, and the school is divided into four houses.

Then I lost a few hours reading all the way through the second book on the Gunnerkrigg Court website. Tom Siddell's currently on holiday, but will be back for the third book on the first of June (yay!).

Then I bought my own copy of Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation, because Tom's full-page art is like some of Mary GrandPré art in the Harry Potter books - it isn't until after you've read it that you understand the significance of what you are looking at. I want to be able to hold this book and re-read it and look at the art when the story is done, because I *know* things that are "pretty" or "interesting" are going to be "significant" once I understand what I've looking at.

I found Chris Guillebeau through a link from Seth Godin's email newsletter a month or so ago.

I read the 279 Days to Overnight Success. I've purchased and read the Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself. I get Chris' email newsletter and follow his tweets. I'm a big fan.

His recent article, Why People Hate Marketers moved me enough that I want to share it. I also believe in a perspective of prosperity, and it was very nice to read someone articulate it so well regarding the online\social networking world.

Freely give, freely receive.

from Felicia Day's Twitter account

RT @theguild Twitter contest! Tweet a *fake* DVD extra from The Guild S2. Tag with #theguild. Signed cast photo & S2 DVD for the five best!

So, any fellow peeps who tweet, let @theguild know about a fake The Guild DVD extra you'd want to see.

I offered "Sandeep Parikh audition tape for the part of Hamlet on Broadway"

Castle has been renewed!!! Dollhouse is renewed!!!

Updating list of network shows for Fall 2009 over here at Entertainment Weekly

Did I mention Castle has been renewed?

Which means you should really catch up via (for those who demand immediate gratification) or pre-order the Castle DVDs (for those with patience and a yearning for unseen treasures).

BTW, Castle was renewed, just thought you should know.

Did 48 push-ups this morning. And am feeling it, but not much, and not anywhere as near as badly as the second day. Easy to see how that could be a quitting point for some people. But pushing through it, doing the push-ups on day 2 and day 3 really wasn't as bad as it felt it was going to be on post-day 1. I'm sure there's a lesson or learning experience in there. ^_-

I think I did the right thing by doubling up on the regime, so I do each "day" twice, making my personal One Hundred Push Ups training program last 12 weeks instead of six. Still doing the alternative push up (knees, not toes) and that is not likely to change, although if I do this again, that might be a possibility.

I've also noticed some surprising yet welcome physical changes - like more muscle in my upper arms and a bit of waist tucking. I assumed my body would change over the weeks, but I didn't expect to see the difference in the first two weeks, especially since this is the lightest exercise attempt I've ever made: less than 10 minutes a day, three days a week. Pretty spiffy.

Until next, next week ...

Saw the new Star Trek movie. Liked it a lot. Surprised and delighted by the humor, and ILM keeps raising the bar on visual effects (*love* the Enterprise beauty shot coming out by Saturn).

I don't know any of these actors, so I didn't have any legacy (well, he was in [insert well known role here]) and therefore may have had an easier time accepting them in these roles. The red matter seemed a bit too big of a hat tip to JJ, but then again, I always enjoy seeing a Shizuma drive.

Very much looking forward to the further adventures of this old new crew.

This is a letter from Peter S. Beagle (The Last Unicorn, A Fine and Private Place, Hugo-winning Two Hearts, and many more) that came out in The Raven, Peter's email newsletter. It is reproduced here with a slight edit (removal of 52/50 subscribers for privacy) and additions (links to the Conlan Press website) by permission.

--------------------------------------------

A PERSONAL REQUEST TO ALL MY FANS
by Peter S. Beagle

If you've ever read and enjoyed one of my books or stories, or seen and enjoyed one of the films that I scripted, I'd like to ask a favor of you. It's simple, really — if at all possible, within the next month please do one of the following things.

1) Go to www.conlanpress.com and buy a subscription to my year-long 52/50 Project (more about which, below).

2) Go to www.conlanpress.com and buy any single book or DVD of my work, either for you or as a gift for a friend.

3) If you can't make a purchase yourself, try and get someone else interested enough to take the leap.

As for why I'm asking, that's even simpler: you will change my life.

If you make just one purchase, or convince someone else to do so the same...and if enough of the other readers who get THE RAVEN do likewise...if that happens, then the financial crisis I've been in since my mother died in 2006 will finally be over. If that happens, I'll be able to pay back all the money I've had to borrow to survive. If that happens, the Last Unicorn audiobook and the special hardcover Two Hearts will come zooming out at last from Conlan Press, along with Writing Sarek and the hardcover editions of my two new novels, Summerlong and I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons, and more. Better still, if that happens I'll be able to buy the thinking and writing time I need to tell the rest of Sooz's story — i.e., the full-novel Last Unicorn/Two Hearts sequel that I'm eager to bring to all of you (but which no publisher anywhere has so far been willing to pay me enough to live on while I'm doing the work).

Okay, Beagle. Deep breath. That wasn't so hard, was it? Except, of course, being fairly shy about these things, it was.

There are lots of authors who are good at self-promotion. I am definitely not one of them. All I can do is work up my courage and ask, which I have now done: the rest is up to you.

To that end, I want to publicly thank the 53 people who have so far purchased subscriptions (58, total) to my 52/50 Project, in which I'm writing 52 original poems or song lyrics, one per week, for a whole year. The money from these subscriptions paid most of my rent last month, for which I am amazingly grateful. So to...

[the names of 58 awesome people which have been removed for privacy - heidi2524 note]

...I give you my thanks, many times over. I hope you enjoyed the three new lyrics that have gone out so far ("The Alien," "Physics Teacher Gunch," and "The Perfect Beer"), and that you will get a kick out of the forty-nine more still to come. Let me take this chance to remind you all that I'm going to base at least 10 of the new pieces on subscriber suggestions...so please don't hesitate to send in your ideas. (I've already gotten a few challenges I know I'm going to have fun living up to.)

And if anyone reading this subscribes, I'll be happy to thank you in public, too!

Launching the 52/50 Project was Connor Cochran's idea, but I confess I'm thrilled to be doing it. I've always loved writing and singing songs (it's why I keep sneaking them into my books and stories whenever possible). I got myself thrown out of the Gunhill Road branch of the Boy Scouts by writing a scurrilous little number about our scoutmaster, and I've kept up with the vice ever since. Apart from the unnamed folk poets of my youth, my heroes range from Noel Coward to Frank Loesser, Carolyn Leigh to Johnny Mercer to Tom Lehrer, Stephen Sondheim to Dick Feller and Jonathan Coulton. In college I wrote lyrics for other people's music, and the book and lyrics for a musical about Ponce de Leon. In 1959, the year we graduated, my buddy Joe Mazo and I actually had some of our songs included in a very-far-off-Broadway revue, directed by and starring Dick de Bartolo, of Mad magazine fame. Later, singing in a French restaurant in Santa Cruz on weekends, I specialized in the work of Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour and Leo Ferre. It was the high point of my week for twelve years, and I miss it still.

Somewhere around that time, I discovered that I could sort of write music, after a fashion — not a Broadway score, of course, but to set my own lyrics, borrowing harmonies primarily from Brassens, odd time signatures from Ferre, and odder subject matter from my own life — and, perhaps, yours too. I've sung them in various venues over the years, and I know I'm more vulnerable about them than I ever am about my fiction. You want to get into my kitchen, praise the songs.

Being a sucker for anything I've never done before in writing accounts for, among other things, an opera libretto based on my story "Come Lady Death" and the series bible for a long-gone Saturday-morning cartoon called Captain Planet and the Planeteers. It also accounts for why Connor was able to talk me into this so easily when he suggested it as a way of commemorating my 50th anniversary as a professional novelist, and my 70th year on the planet.

Besides, I just want to see what comes out. And whether you'll like them.

Here's to hope and change, then, to a better life, and to more poems and songs. Always more poems and songs.

— Oakland, May 2009

----------------------------------------------

I've subscribed to the 52/50 Project and love it. What a wonderful way to start the week than with a never-before-seen work from Peter S. Beagle! Physics Teacher Gunch is my favorite so far, although The Perfect Beer was a lot of fun, even to someone like me who doesn't drink alcohol. ;)

as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

Twitter "is currently down for maintenance"

Sniff.

Just watched the last episode of Castle. Not sure if it's worse to not know, and have to wait for Season 2. Or to know, and have to wait for Season 2. Seems the only constant is the waiting for Season 2 bit. At least until September 22, 2009. Then there will be much rejoicing. And maybe a music video. Or two.

I find solace in my pre-order of the Castle DVDs, and my unlimited viewing of the Castle eps thanks to iTunes taking my money and giving me HD and non-HD files in return.

So iTunes can also take your money, here are links to each of the Castle eps and a brief description, just in case you missed any, or want to see them again before Sept. 22.

0 - Inside With the Stars - FREE - - a fun, 4 minute behind-the-scenes look at the Castle TV show with short clips from each of the major actors

1 - Flowers for Your Grave - - When Beckett Met Castle, pilot episode where fictional murder scenes from Castle's books are being reinacted in real life

2 - Nanny McDead - - dead nanny in the dryer and Beckett's tense, cutting, final confrontation with the murderer

3 - Hedge Fund Homeboys - - a teen's body in a boat leaves his gang of social elite friends devastated, but Beckett and Castle want to know what they were really doing in the park that night with their cell phones

4 - Hell Hath No Fury - - a dead councilman in a carpet lead Beckett & Castle on the campaign trail to find the killer

5 - A Chill Goes Through Her Veins - - the frozen body of a woman missing for years gives new meaning to the term 'cold case' (too soon?)

6 - Always Buy Retail - - meet Castle's ex deep fried twinkie and learn about the Nigerian connection with Aldis Hodge (of Leverage fame)

7 - Home Is Where the Heart Stops - - the violence of high-society jewelry thieves is escalating and Castle engages the help of an old associate and takes Beckett to the charity ball

8 - Ghosts - - it's all about poker, death by motor oil, a two decade old mystery and a dash of enterprising journalist

9 - Little Girl Lost - - a missing child, frantic parents, and Beckett's ex-FBI boyfriend, oh my!

10 - A Death In the Family - - even a week-long dead plastic surgeon can't compete with Alexis' fabulous prom dress and what Castle discovers about Beckett's past

Sniff.