Cinnamon Toast Crunch used to be one of my favorite breakfast cereals. But I guess in order to cash in on the low carb craze, the manufacturer changed the recipe so that it now has "75% less sugar!" I think they should also add the disclaimer: "Only 25% of the taste you used to like!" I won't be buying any... read more »

The PR firm for Writers of the Future has scheduled a couple of book signings for me. These signings are your chance to get my autograph so you can sell it on eBay and retire to a life of ease and riches. The first will be at the Barnes & Noble on University Parkway in Orem, on November 6, from... read more »

Another chapter down. I also made a slight change to the second-to-last paragraph of Chapter 31, which changes what it is Selima fears. I realized as I was writing today that it was inconsistent.

This is not looking like a good year for me. Only one out of three again. BYU lost in the last minute by missing a field goal. The Klingon Warriors lost in my fantasy league, and it wasn't even close. But at least the Dallas Cowboys came away with a win over the Redskins on Monday Night Football.

And with that, I pass the 80,000-word mark. That puts me two thirds the way to my goal. However, I have a feeling I will end up substantially over the 120,000-word goal for the total word count before I actually finish. I start on chapter 32 tomorrow (well, today, actually, since it's after midnight.)

I realized that I had posted an image of the cover of the Phobos anthology, but not of the Writers of the Future anthology. I like this cover quite a bit.

Apparently the extended edition of The Return of the King will only be four hours and ten minutes long, instead of over five hours. There will only be fifty minutes of previously unreleased footage. What a ripoff! I feel cheated. And I'll obviously be buying it when it comes out on December 14.

I wrote a short story today. The Codex writers' forum I'm part of is having a Halloween short story contest for members only. Each person participating gave a general story idea to another participant, who had to use the idea in his or her story. I was given my idea back in August, but it wasn't until Friday night I... read more »

OK, so that's false advertising. Chapter 30 is done, and at 4231 it's my longest chapter yet (if you don't count the prologue as a chapter). I'm supposed to be writing shorter chapters as this goes on, but this chapter needed to tie up some subplots so the rest of the story can move ahead.

Publishers Weekly has reviewed Writers of the Future, Volume XX: L. RON HUBBARD PRESENTS WRITERS OF THE FUTURE VOLUME XX Edited by Algis Budrys The human element remains at all times paramount in the 15 SF stories gathered in the 20th edition of L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future series, at this point the most enduring forum to showcase... read more »