Current Projects part 37

Welcome back!

February has arrived and Mother Nature can’t seem to make up her mind; some days the weather is mild and others it is still way below freezing. We have seen everything from rain to snow to ice pellet.

However, this gives us the perfect excuse to stay inside and hide from the cold, snuggling up with a loved one on the couch. This seems appropriate, since St-Valentine's day is just around the corner. In honor of the holiday, I have put together a book review of a romance novel, as well as an interview with a published romance author.

Romance as a theme.

    Before writing this update, I took a look at my progress update from last February, and saw that I ad promise an update on my writing once my home office would be set up. Well, we are a year later, and my office has still not been completed. I’ve run into computer problems which prevent me from accessing the internet and my Google account.

Luckily this has not slowed my normal progress. In fact, after last month’s decision to focus more on my story rather than my blog, I actually managed to get an entire chapter done and submitted for editing. The chapter introduces my three main characters, how they interact with each other, and we gives the reader an initial overview of the setting. It’s a nice way to ease the audience into the story, and came out rather well.

    In terms of art projects, I have started on my first chair ‘revamp’ that I plan on selling. It proved to be a different type of challenge, because not only did I have to be creative style wise, but I had to be creative repair wise, as the chair had a few issues. It is coming along nicely, and I’m looking forward teeing it completed. I seem to be having issues with loading pictures right now, so hopefully I can include some in my next update.

    Though I am no longer working on this project, I am still supporting it, as I did contribute a lot of time and material. Missing Worlds Media has released only one update in the past month. You can read the full article on their kickstarter page:

Landmarks: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/2089640

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments. I can be reached via the following social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookmarkboundPMosborne/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter: @OzmosisCoH

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+PatrickOsborneOzmosis

Happy St-Valentine's day!

   

That is all I have to report for this month. Thank you all for dropping by and keeping up with my progress. I would also like to thank you all for taking the time to drop by, and to wish you all a happy St-Valentine day!

Until next time!

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

Current Projects part 36

Welcome back,

           Progress report number thirty six. I have now been doing this for three full years; researching material on creative writing, seeking inspiration, talking to authors and trying to put together my own book. Time sure does fly by.

                           

           As I look back on 2017 and everything that has changed in my life since late 2016, I can’t help but feel grateful to those that helped me get through some rough times. Furthermore, all of these changes have made me take good, hard look at myself. This moment of introspection has helped me get a better idea of what I wanted out of life, and where I should start going.

‘’You can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance at doing what you love’’ - Jim Carrey.

           When I made the decision to make a serious effort a writing a novel, I started doing research, asking for advice and paid for online classes. A major point that came up was that authors have a better chance at success if they already have a following by the time they write their fist book. This is what motivated me to create this blog; it was a tool meant to document my progress and what I learned, as well as (hopefully) gather an audience. Three years in, and I can see the progress I’ve made thanks to this blog, which is encouraging.

           However, this came at a price. The time I’ve dedicated to the blog has taken my attention away from my book. As I mentioned last month, the overall amount of content I created for my book is roughly 85 pages long. Though I find it pretty impressive, it’s pales in comparison the time spent on my blog. In the past three years, I have written a total of 177 articles, averaging two pages each. That means I have written around 354 pages for my blog since I started. Add that to the work I have actually done for my book, and we are looking at an estimated total of 439 pages… Had I focused on my book from the start, I would probably be done by now, rather than still chipping away at chapter two.

           With this realisation in mind, I decided to change my focus come 2018. I feel that after three years of posting material, I have a solid foundation to help other writers, so I will be adding new content less frequently in order to help me concentrate on my actual work. My updates may be bi-monthly, with other articles appearing when I have time to work on them.

           This will also allow me to work on a second side project I have been considering lately; creating a Patreon page. After posting pictures of recent artwork, I have had two requests from paying customers. I will therefore be trying to generate additional revenue through my painting and sculptures. As usual, you can expect more details as I make progress.


                                        


           Though I am no longer working on this project, I am still supporting it, as I did contribute a lot of time and material. Missing Worlds Media has releases two updates in the past month: one regarding character modeling an another about story progression. You can read the full articles on their kickstarter page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/2059888

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/2066126

         
            Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments. I can be reached via the following social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookmarkboundPMosborne/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
Twitter: @OzmosisCoH
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+PatrickOsborneOzmosis




                                         



           That is all I have for this month. Thank you all for listening, as your continued support is always appreciated. I hope to see you all at next month's progress update, and most importantly, have a Happy New Year!

Until then.

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

Current Projects part 35

Welcome back,

            Being a little proactive this month by working on my upcoming articles a few weeks in advance. Managed to get everything done an entire week before the arrival of December, which is great, considering I was super busy with big lifestyles changes in November and upcoming preparations for the holidays. I will go into further details on what I have been going through in next month's progress update.

            Given that the holidays are just a few short weeks away, I did my best to have holiday inspired content for December. My inspiration post will be about a location I explored back in early 2016. This type of location has appeared in multiple Christmas stories, so it can prove to be useful to anyone looking for a fitting setting.

Also, my book review for December will be on a novel called Covert Christmas, a suspense story which takes place during the holidays. I’m super excited about it, because I managed to contact the books author, Hope White, and she will be the spotlight of my January interview! This will be a first for me, so I’m looking forward to it.

In regards to my story, I am still working on the character sheet of my main antagonist, Lord Decay. I’ve been at it for over two months now, but given his importance to the story, I believe he is well worth it. I’m currently filling in some details to his backstory, which is pretty extensive. Unfortunately, that is the extent of the progress I made on my story this month.

That being said, I went over all of my material this month, and came to a surprising realization;  not counting my research notes and timeline, I have more than 85 pages written. When you think about it, that is about a third of a novel, which is probably the most I've ever written on one subject in my entire life (not counting my work for Missing Worlds Media, of course). I thought that was quite the milestone for me, and felt I needed to share!

    Speaking of Missing Worlds Media, there has only been one releases in the past month: an introduction to one of our artists and content designer, Gerard Michael Tupaz (a.k.a. Witchikin). The article also shows some of his work, detailing some of the characters that will be present in game (please keep in mind, these are still in the early phases, and may be subject to change).  You can read the full articles on our Kickstarter page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/2040450

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments. I can be reached via the following social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookmarkboundPMosborne/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter: @OzmosisCoH

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+PatrickOsborneOzmosis

That is all I have for this month. Thank you all for dropping by, as your continued support is always appreciated. I hope to see you all at next month's progress update, and most importantly, have a Happy Holidays!

            Until then.

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

Current Projects Part 34

Welcome back,

            October proved to be another busy month on my end. I got more artistic work done on some sculptures, made some progress on writing, and started to put together a studio in my basement. Not to mention my yearly Horror Movie Marathon!

            Other than that, I haven’t been up to much, so this update will be shorter than some of my previous ones.

As I write this, November is only two days away. Before we know it, winter will be upon us and the holiday season will be here! I’m already looking into Christmas shopping and making preparations for holiday get-togethers. For now, however, Mother Nature is wreaking havoc, as my hometown is going through yet another rainy period. This will be the second series of floods this year.

        

            The bright side to all this rain, is that I get to stay inside and do some work! In terms of writing, I have almost completed the character sheet on main main protagonist. I only have his history section left to fill out, which might be a bit tricky, since I have to coordinate it with several other characters. I also chipped away at my second chapter, so at least I got some progress made.

I’ve been doing more art recently, mostly for hanging on my walls. I will be sharing pictures once they are complete. I’m giving myself a deadline of early february, and I want them up in time for my Birthday!

Missing Worlds Media have been busy since my last progress report, since they have released three updates in the past month! The articles covers power designs, animation and one background story. You can read the full articles on our kickstarter page:

Power design: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/2013779

Animation: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/2027268

Lore: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/2001146

That is all I have for this month. In closing, I want to thank everyone for taking the time to visit my blog, your support is truly appreciated. I can be reached via Facebook, Google+ or Twitter (@OzmosisCoH), so don't be shy and send me a message if you have any questions or comments.

Until next time.

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

Current Projects part 31

Welcome back!

           The last month has proven to be a veritable cascade of activities! Work has been slowing down after the events for Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation, meaning I’ve had more time to work on my personal projects.

Typically, despite the lax workload, I still waited to the last minute to work on next month's articles, so now I’m rushing to get things done. There is no overall theme for my articles during August, so I will be posting material I’ve had stored for times like this.

I have a lot to share with you this month, as well as a lot of new ideas to iron out. So let’s get right to it.

Earlier in the month, I did a fair amount of progress in terms of writing. While chipping away at the character sheet of my second henchman, Misery, I got a major breakthrough. The document itself did not get that much headway, but when thinking about Misery’s powers, I got this idea which changed a considerable part of my story. Inspiration hit me, then evolved into a wicked little plot twist, which not only added depth to a lot of the characters and the story, but also fixed a few holes in the plotline.

This new idea came from a little modification to a character, and in turn it spawned content for three new chapters. Needless to say I was ecstatic, and promptly added the information on my plotline excel sheet. As a writer, you gotta love it when this happens!

But that was not the only form of inspiration that hit me these past few weeks. During my vacation, I had begun renovation work in my basement; fixing base boards, a window, a door, and the most notable project, tearing down the old bar that came with the house. The bar was a DIY project from one of the previous owners, so it wasn’t all that pretty. Add to that the fact I rarely drink, and the bar suddenly loses all reason of being there. So I began taking it apart, but while doing so, left a big empty space in the room (not to mention a mess).  

The room became a blank canvas. Now in full designer mode, I began researching for ideas for what the basement should look like. Intended to be a gaming room, I searched for video game related content, with a heavy penchant for industrial style. The room is taking shape inside my head, now I only need to work on making it a reality. I will post pictures once the room is completed, but for now, here are some work-in-progress photos.

           Ever since I decided to learn as much as possible about writing, I began analyzing  every story I read. Of course, books are the primary source of storytelling, but there are also plots in movies, television shows and video games. Though the audience interacts with these mediums differently, many of the same storytelling principles still apply.

           Over the past two years, I’ve actually created a spreadsheet of the movies I’ve watched, and my thoughts on their plotlines. It’s shocking how my opinions on certain movies have changed once I started actually paying attention to the plot, rather than simply following the narrative. I also discovered I can predict story outcomes easily, once I get a feel of the story.

           With this being said, I have been thinking if creating a movie/video game review articles, similar to my current book reviews, would be a good idea. I’m not entirely sure how copyrights or trademarks would come into play in terms of blog posts. If writing these types of articles would be allowed, then expect to see some movie/video game story reviews in the future.

           I have also been considering a few other ideas in order to generate more traffic to my Blog. The first is writing Tweet/Facebook posts that give details of my story, either monologues from my characters, or descriptions of the setting. The second is translating some of my old content to french in order to reach a bigger audience. I’m still working on these ideas, so it is not a guarantee at this time.

In regards of new material from Missing Worlds Media, there hasn’t been any lore related content released from last month. Two article did get published however, both from the art department. One focuses on animation, and the other on character modeling. You can read the full articles on our kickstarter page:

Animation: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/1919464

Character modeling: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/1931008

I would like to mention that I am always looking for more authors to interview. If you, or anyone you know, is a published author and would be interested in having an interview posted on my blog, feel free to contact me. It is a great opportunity to share advice you may have with other writers, as well as free publicity for your own work.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookmarkboundPMosborne/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter: @OzmosisCoH

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+PatrickOsborneOzmosis

That is all I have for this month. Thank you all for dropping by, your continued support is always appreciated. I hope to see you all at next month's progress update.

    Until then.

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

Current Projects part 30

Welcome back,

 

           This past month was quiet at work, most likely due to the start of summer. People are getting ready for their vacations, which means less customer requests coming in. This is great, because it means I get more time to concentrate on my writing. I also got to enjoy some of my own time off, which was way overdue.

 

 

           While taking a look at the month of July, I realised that many different countries celebrate Independence during this month. I tried to be inspired by this holiday while searching for a theme for this month's articles, and came up with a couple of ideas.

 

The first idea will be in the form of a writing prompt, and will explore the idea of freedom ,or more precisely, how the lack of freedom can affect different characters. My second idea is an inspiration post about horses. I have been working on it for a while now, and thought independence day may be a suitable time for it.

 

Also this month, we will have a familiar face come back; author Andy Peloquin will be returning to share with us what he has been up to, and to promote his latest book, which is due to be released later this month.

 

As for progress on my own book, I managed to complete yet another of my character sheets. Elsa Eisenberg, one of my story’s background characters, will have a short but important role. Her presence in the story will mainly serve to help establish the villains cruelty and methods. Writing Elsa was a different kind of challenge, as it required me to do some unusual research; different types of cat species. With Elsa completed, I moved on to another villainous character, Mei Wan (a.k.a. Misery), who will be another henchmen to the main antagonist. This character will be interesting to write, as she is completely crazy!

 

In regards of new material from Missing Worlds Media, there hasn’t been any lore related content released from last month. One article did get published however, this one giving details to our plans regarding subscriptions and possible pay methods. You can read the full article on our kickstarter page:

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/1906718?ref=backer_project_update

I would like to mention that I am always looking for more authors to interview. If you, or anyone you know, is a published author and would be interested in having an interview posted on my blog, feel free to contact me. It is a great opportunity to share advice you may have with other writers, as well as free publicity for your own work.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookmarkboundPMosborne/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter: @OzmosisCoH

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+PatrickOsborneOzmosis

 

 

On that note, I would like to wish you all a happy Independence day! Thank you all for dropping by, your continued support is always appreciated. I hope to see you all at next month's progress update.

 

           Until then.

Cheers,

 

Patrick Osborne

Current Projects part 29

Welcome back,

 

Here I am again, cutting it down to the wire. I am currently writing this last article planned for June, with only a few days left in May. Work has been crazy, so my workload has been keeping me really busy. We’ve had everything from technical issues with programs to people leaving for classes.

 

Not to mention the massive flood this region has had which forced us out of the work place for a few days. Entire neighborhoods had to be evacuated, and main roads had to be shut down. It was a stressful time for sure, and it’s not over yet, as more rain is coming before the floods have had a chance to fully recede. Despite all the chaos, it was inspiring to see the community come together to help those in need.

 

 

Regardless of all the extra work, I still managed to make progress and have content prepared for June. However, I plan on reading shorter books and concentrating on less time consuming articles for the next few months, only so that i can catch up on my own work.

 

This month does not have an overall theme, but I still hope you will all find something useful in my work. Among the articles I have prepared are an author interview with Druscilla Morgan, a book review of a Tom Henighan novel, and a long overdue writing prompt.

 

I managed to make some decent progress on my characters in the last few weeks. Evan Holt, another of my story’s secondary characters is completed! He will play a major role in the emotional development of the protagonist. I have now moved on to my first tertiary character, Elsa Eisenberg, who will play a minor role in the plot. Even though she will not be in the story for long, her presence will help establish just how evil the villains will be. Other than character bios, I have also added a few more details to my  timeline sheet.

 

 

Game updates from Missing Worlds Media have been slow this month, as the company must work around the schedule of its volunteers during the beginning of the summer season. One story related update was released however, and you can read it here:

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/1895291

 

For those reading this, if you are (or know) a published author that would want to volunteer to be interviewed for this blog, feel free to contact me. I can be reached via instant message on my Facebook, Twitter or Google+ accounts. Replying to this post will also get my attention, and I will be able to reach you from there.

 

On that note, I wanted to thank you all for dropping by, your support is truly appreciated. I will see you all at next month's progress update.

   

            Until then.

 

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne