The Stoic Writer

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“Some things are in our control, while others are not. We control our opinion, choice, desire, aversion, and, in a word, everything of our own doing. We don’t control our body, property, reputation, position, and, in a word, everything not of our own doing. Even more, the things in our control are by nature free, unhindered, and unobstructIted, while those not in our control are weak, slavish, can be hindered, and are not our own.”

— Epictetus, Enchiridion, 1.1–2

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“So, concerning the things we pursue, and for which we vigorously exert ourselves, we owe this consideration—either there is nothing useful in them, or most aren’t useful. Some of them are superfluous, while others aren’t worth that much. But we don’t discern this and see them as free, when they cost us dearly.”

— Seneca, Moral Letters, 42.6

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Welcome to Jon's author diary for the week ending March 15, 2020.

I finally finished the second draft of Blind Reset…finally.

That took so much more effort than it needed. I ended up adding about 20,000 words to the manuscript. But it’s done and ready for…draft number three!

Fans of The Ravenglass Chronicles will be no doubt glad to hear that I’ve switched b to working on my draft of episode 15, The Devil.

I’ve cleaned up the scenes I’ve already drafted and gone over my outline to make sure this is another fun episode.

I cannot wait to start writing The Tower, which is episode 16, as…well, let’s just say some faeces hits the proverbial fan.

Oxsight Prism update

Last week, I mentioned that I was going to try out some specialised glasses made for people with my eye condition called Oxsight Prism.

They were much better than I thought they would be. They work by using a camera to project a streamed high definition image onto the lens.

You can adjust the zoom, the contrast, the brightness, etc. And it didn’t take 15 minutes to adjust to changes in light like my eyes usually do.

When I spoke to the rep prior to trying the glasses, I could see most of her face, and little else due to my lack of peripheral vision.

With the glasses on, I could see her face, the wall behind her, the sofa, the table between us, her bag in the corner…it was crazy.

I played around with them for about an hour. You can adjust the colours, make it monochrome, highlight the edges of objects, and there was even one option specifically used when looking for signs, which pixelates everything but signs so you can find them easier.

So, I’m definitely going to get some.

The trouble is, they’re £4,000 (about $5,000), so I need to work out some options for raising the funds.

A few people have suggested using Facebook or GoFundMe to raise the cash, but I’m not particularly comfortable asking people to hand over their hard-earned money.

I might run a few sales on my books and get some author friends to share them with their readers.

If you have any ideas for raising the funds that don’t require me to ask for donations or do anything illegal, hit reply and let me know.

Take care,

Jon

“It is quite impossible to unite happiness with a yearning for what we don’t have. Happiness has all that it wants, and resembling the well-fed, there shouldn’t be hunger or thirst.”

— Epictetus, Discourses, 3.24.17

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Welcome to Jon's author diary for the week ending March 8, 2020.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on my second draft of Blind Reset, the follow-up to my gamelit novel/meditation on disability, Blind Gambit.

I thought I would have had it done by now, but I’m 3,000 words away from the end. It’s been a slow process with a lot of re-working to improve the pacing and tighten up the story. I tend to under-write my first drafts, getting the story and dialogue down and ignoring things like description or action.

It’s definitely made me realise that even though I’ve got into a nice groove with The Ravenglass Chronicles, I still have the same struggles with Blind Reset as I did writing the first book. I put this down to the emotional rawness. Even though half the book is a fun adventure set in a virtual world, the other half is about coming to terms with going blind—something I’ve had to come to terms with myself.

All being well, I should have the second draft complete by Tuesday. This means I can put the project aside and dive into writing The Devil, episode 15 of The Ravenglass Chronicles. I cannot wait.

My feelings are that once I’ve got my open projects out of the way (Cleric of the Wasteland, Blind Reset, and the co-authored Black Death trilogy), I want to focus on one thing—a sustained epic fantasy project.

I’ve been writing ideas down for a series in the Ravenglass Universe set a few hundred years after the events of my current series, with a new cast of characters and a bit of a darker feel, with thieves, assassins, and wyverns, of course! Think Scott Lynch meets Brent Weeks, with a bit of Robin Hobb thrown in for good measure.

2020 is about finishing open projects, including The Ravenglass Chronicles and the Wasteland series, so I’ve told myself I won’t start writing anything new until they’re done and dusted…though I have been toying around with an idea for a post-Earth space opera story…ooh, and that steampunk vigilante series…gah! Too many ideas and not enough time to write them.

I think I need to get the James Patterson setup where I write an outline and get someone else to write the stories :D

Oxsight Prism

I mentioned on last week’s Author Diary that I'd put my name down for an assessment for the Oxsight Prism.

These are glasses made for visually impaired people that use streaming technology to improve visual acuity, peripheral vision, and allow users to adjust the contrast between objects, etc.

This is quite exciting as my eyesight really does suck—my left eye is shot and my right eye has five percent vision.

I’m not sure how much the glasses will cost, but I’m assuming they’ll be in the region of £1,000 as they are a very specialist tech.

Hopefully, they’ll be within my budget. If not, I’ll have to think of some fundraising ideas to raise the funds.

Ancient Civilizations

On this week’s episode of the Sci-Fi Roundtable podcast, we dived into the speculative topic of advanced lost civilizations.

We covered the work of Graham Hancock, the show Ancient Aliens, ancient Egypt, and Atlantis.

Visit http://sfrtpodcast.libsyn.com or find the Sci-Fi Roundtable wherever you listen to podcasts.

Take care,

Jon

“I don’t agree with those who plunge headlong into the middle of the flood and who, accepting a turbulent life, struggle daily in great spirit with difficult circumstances. The wise person will endure that, but won’t choose it—choosing to be at peace, rather than at war.”

— Seneca, Moral Letters, 28.7

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Jon's Author Diary for the week ending March 1, 2020.

“How satisfying it is to dismiss and block out any upsetting or foreign impression, and immediately to have peace in all things.”

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.2

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