Mark Gander: Blog

....I am back at work, with plenty of ideas to resume my established stories, as well as eventually write new ones. I have the plot bunnies for the new ones, but am trying to continue and complete the older ones first, in spite of any ADHD tendencies I might have (I have ADHD, autism, and a few other such conditions, including clinical depression at times).

By the way, for those who want to let God off the hook for things with the free will cop-out, just remember, with ultimate power comes ultimate responsibility. Now, I personally am an atheist, but if you want to believe that God exists and he's omnipotent, free will is such a flimsy dodge given that he can clearly take it away and apparently plans to do so after a while, anyway.

But enough of that. I live in the real world, even if I write some wild fantasy. Face it, if God were as I wrote him, he'd be a helluva lot better dude than the one presented in the Bible. Just sayin'. Don't @ me.

I mean, come on...isn't a God who makes sin, Hell, atonement, repentance, and other such notions obsolete while encouraging people to achieve more a better version of a Deity than one caught up in Bronze Age morals and values, stuck in commandments that don't even prohibit slavery or genocide? Just sayin'.

Yeah, I've been watching Aron-Ra a lot. So sue me.

Well, internet was in and out, best way of putting it. I haven't forgotten about my other stuff, many of which I wish to resume and soon. Unfortunately, bad internet and ADHD, autism, current events, etc. can lead to many new crazy plot bunnies. Not to mention that I sometimes take older story ideas down paths that I avoided in the past. I went down one road before, and then I went back to take other one in the fork.

I particularly want to continue a lot of my inactive stories now that my brain has some fresh inspiration. I'll hope for the best results from that. I'd pray, too, but I'm not really a praying man these days. It's kind of hard to believe in a God who allows this present world to exist in its current form.

If God exists, he's something of a deadbeat dad.

This doesn't mean that I have forgotten my other stories, either under this pen name or my other ones (Severusmax, Col. Jack Harrison, and Fan Fiction Man). It simply means that it's my temporary focus, as I work on connecting the story arc of Adam Clarke and company with that of the Lawgiver, Mark Schumacher, and his own family and tribe in Haven.

I hope that this clears things up for the present. I won't be taking on any new story projects at the moment, due to this laser focus on this particular serial.

Thank you for your patience and readership.

I didn't have internet for much of the week, and didn't wish to work on stories where I couldn't access them to remember where I left off, so I went with my Muse and wrote a brand new story, High Priest of Baal.

This doesn't mean that I have forgotten or intend to abandon any of my older stories. My continuation of "That Cupid Masque" is a recent example of that. I have a lot more to write on that one, among others.

In any case, some good came of the internet outage, which was very odd as to its timing. It was Thanksgiving week, after all. Incidentally, Audrey is inspired by a real bank teller, but I won't say who, where, and when in my life.

Yes, yes, as you can see, my Muse awoke and I've been actively writing out some work, especially in the Bite Me! story.

While I'm not finished yet with this campy vampy story, there is light at the end of that tunnel and hopefully not an oncoming train. I fully intend to work on other languishing tales as I get inspired to catch up with them.

I might even reboot some old faves here or there as needed, but time will tell. I do have more story idea, but for now, I'm trying to post on my old ones first. I don't want to spread myself too thin.

Feedback is always encouraged, as long as it isn't ad hominem invective and is constructive. Thank you for your patience.

Also, I hope that your Memorial Day was well-observed. I'm loathe to say, "Happy Memorial Day," because to me, it's a sad and solemn holiday, not a joyous one. It is still one worthy of observance in any case.