Progress report

Over the past several weeks I've been a bit distracted with family issues. (see previous post) I'm finally getting back on track. This weekend was my birthday, I finished the first draft of a short story "A Matter of Breeding" on my birthday.
I also got to meet Thomas on Sunday for the party, one of the great guys who have given up their time to help me with my copy editing issues. Thanks Thomas. Hopefully your lovely latina lass lets you out of the doghouse soon! ;)
Anyway, Thomas got a bit of a sneak peek at some of my thought processes in my writing, as well as a quick look at the concept material I've gathered for several of the books I am working on, along with upcoming books. :)

He and I also talked a bit about Jethro's armor design. Here is his skinsuit WIP 4, textured. I still need to fix a few bugs, and I need to get the rigging sorted out.

This was going to be his full suit, but I think I went a little too far overboard with the Halo motif so I decided to start over with a more bulky StarCraft 2 look later. (You'll see it for the cover of Jethro 2 First to Fight, and most likely it's construction here and in my Deviantart gallery)
We also talked about the shipyard, 3D printing, TV sticks, and some things I'm not going to get into. >:D

Anyway, his trio had a ball playing with the trains and in the pool. I hope to have them (with his latina lass hopefully!) over again soon. Their kids are incredibly well behaved. I am looking forward to introducing them to the rockets the next time they come over. Seeing the kid's faces when they launch one should be fun. Thomas and I hit it off pretty well, he and I are alike in some ways and talking with him was fun. His talks with Jeff seemed... interesting. lol

I have also been testing Natural reader:
http://www.naturalreaders.com/
I wanted to see if it would help me with my editing. Many people suggest (or demand in some cases) that people read material out loud to themselves or have someone read it to them to see if it makes sense. Some writers are now using narrators. I've played with the idea before, but I gave up. I tried it again with "A Matter of Breeding" Sunday and yesterday.
It's an interesting program, the free version has it's faults though. It trips over some words, and it has an incredibly annoying pop up. The program halts every 3-4 paragraphs and it asks if you if you are ready to buy it yet. There is a 5 second countdown before you can hit the later button. That is aggravating.
I know Windows has a built in narrator that this program builds off of, but it's even worse. The voice is horrible. I've also used UltraHal in the past, but the site and software haven't been updated in years. It also has a virus on the site so BEWARE. I warned you.
I'm going to keep exploring I guess, though I'll try the reader one more time with the short story "The Last Round Up." I'll peck at that later tonight or tomorrow. (most likely tomorrow, it's getting too warm in my room)

With the kids out of school and the summer heat beginning, I am expecting more calls to play board games or go swimming. (or both) I am not sure how much that will impact my schedule. (No plan survives contact with the enemy!) Take yesterday for example, we got the call and spent the afternoon playing games with the kids at my sisters. (and everyone had a coughing fit and watery eyes from Jay's spicy pork concoction!)

I have also been working on spinners, rendering them during the morning when it is cool out. I've rendered about 3/4 of the aliens from the Federation universe. (those without fur or feathers) and I've been rendering my 3D Zoids. (those I've finished)
I'm debating retexturing my Blade Liger (or finishing it's textures) and rendering it again. Maybe even animating it.

I'm trying hard NOT to telegraph any story bits (spoilers) here and I am looking into expanding my exposure on the web as recommended by a few people including Rich. (It's hard, I hate having my picture taken! I may use a 3D image of Jethro as a place holder)

Oh! Almost forgot, Brandon finished AD over the weekend, and I'm waiting on Jim to finish PP before I make any more decisions on the editing front. :) I need to look into the mentioned POV shift issues too.

That's it for now!