Warrior Wednesday - 2/26/2013

All right, this week's Warrior Wednesday will be short.  In fact, for the next few weeks, I won't be putting much time into the blog.  Tomorrow marks 38 weeks for my pregnant wife, and the MD thinks something could happen in the next week.  The point is, my attention won't be on my writing or blog all that much for a bit.

So, to keep things brief, I've had two decent runs since the last blog in my training for the Warrior Dash this May.  This past Friday, I did 4.01 miles in 36:27(still a far cry from my average pace in the past, but I'll get there), and then on Sunday, I ran 3.2 miles in 34:00.  Sunday's pace was quite a bit slower, but I ran with a good friend I haven't seen in years.

My goal from here is to get my pace down to 8-8:30 miles before May for the 3-4 mile range.  Of course, I don't expect to maintain that pace for the Warrior Dash, given the obstacles.  My other goal is getting more gym time.  I've been once during a lunch break this week, and that's it.  Hopefully I'll have a bit more motivation and continue to improve until I can get a little closer to where I was before my back problems.

Also, deciding to forego the GoPro camera, I invested in a cheap Action Shot HD(seems more HD-ish, really) to make a video of the Warrior Dash.  I'll try and get a run with it soon and post a snippet(because you all certainly care to see that :-P.

And, as always, be sure to visit www.warrior.stjude.org/brianbeam and consider donating to my fundraiser for St Jude through the Warrior Dash for a chance to win one of my books or your name in book 3 of Korin's Journal.

And lastly, to make up for the general crappiness of this blog post, check out my son Jonas showing his love for Mega Man in this YouTube video.  You don't have to be a fan of Mega Man for it to make you smile :).


Best wishes to all!

Brian

Top-Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Video Games

Being as much of a dork as I am, here's my top ten video games of all time!  

10. Contra (NES)

9. Final Fantasy VII (PS1)

8. Mega Man 3 (NES)

7. Lunar Eternal Blue (Sega CD)

6. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)

5. Super Metroid (SNES)

4. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)

3.  The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

2. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)

1. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)

Brian

Sunday Scoop - 2/23/2014

I have embarrassingly little to report on Book 3 of Korin's Journal this week.  I've had a lot of other things going on, and I've also hit a bit of a snag with what I want to do in the current chapter.  Mostly, though, my wife's due date being in 3 weeks, a visit from some great friends we haven't seen in way too long, and my book signing this past weekend have all contributed to a week of pretty much zero progress.

Therefore, this week I'll just be posting a couple pictures from the book signing.  It went fairly well, and I was happy to help out the local independent bookstore in any way I could.  Also, the lower floor of the bookstore has an awesome toy store(mostly educational-type toys) in addition to the children's book section, meaning my son had an amazing time!

You can still donate to the fundraiser I'm doing for St. Jude for the North Carolina Warrior Dash at www.warrior.stjude.org/brianbeam and there's still 5 days left to enter my Goodreads giveaway for a print copy of Alinor's Shard by clicking below:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Alinor's Shard

by Brian Beam

Giveaway ends February 28, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

With the baby coming any day now, I don't anticipate making a ton of writing progress over the next several weeks, but I'll post about what little progress I do make.  

Until then, here's a couple book signing pictures!

Brian

Friday Review 2/21/2014 - The Lego Movie

All I can say is that those involved with the making of The Lego Movie really knew what they were doing.  It's not hard to see why it has received so many glowing reviews and why it has topped the box office for both weeks since its release.  This is a movie made to appeal to both the young and young at heart(sounds better than just calling myself old), girls and boys, fans of Lego toys and . . . face it, everyone loves Lego. 

I'll skip any description of the plot (take a look at the movie's Wikipedia page if you'd like - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_lego_movie) and get into why I absolutely loved this movie.

Four things really struck me about The Lego Movie.  

The first is the simple fact that they not only made a Lego movie that appeals to today's children, but basically made the Lego movie that, as adults, we would've wanted to see as children.  There is a constant sense of wonder to the whole package that perfectly encapsulates what it was like to play with Lego bricks as a child.  

The second is the absolutely amazing stop-motion animation of the film.  As it is, stop-motion animation is a rarity today.  With the relative ease of resorting to CGI(as has been done with Lego's straight to video movies for its different toy lines), practical effects are quickly discarded.  Now, this movie is not without its moments of CGI, but nearly the entire thing is made using real Lego bricks, and the results are incredible.  The scope of the sets, the action . . . it all just blows me away when considering the amount of time and care went into building the world in the movie.   There is one scene where the protagonists are out on the ocean, and days later, I am still taken aback by the scope of what had to be put into the animation of the undulating motion of the water.  

While movies such as Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline also display the beauty of using stop-motion animation, something about The Lego Movie seems more impressive.  It may be that I've always been more impressed when I see giant Lego models(such as Rivendell below) than realistic models of the same.  Whatever the reason, The Lego Movie is truly a spectacle to behold.  

The third is just how self-aware this movie is.  This is a world made up of Lego bricks.  At no point does it try to convince its audience otherwise.  

Fourth and final is the heartfelt ending.  Personally, I didn't see it coming.  The general message of The Lego Movie involves being yourself, not conforming for the sake of being like everyone else around you.  At the end, however, after an entertaining and exciting climax, there is a scene that really tugs at the heartstrings, especially if you're a parent.  I'd explain, but it's probably best left to experience.

So, if you can't tell, I fully recommend that you see this movie unless A)you're anti-consumerism to the point that the thought of a movie based on a toy line makes you want to vomit, or B)you have absolutely no inner child at all.   

Brian

Throwback Thursday - 2/20/2014

This Throwback Thursday is a testament to my lifelong love of books:

My father reading to my brother and me.

Reading along with Teddy Ruxpin (I think Teddy Ruxpin needs another revival at this point . . . )

My wife and I with the late Robert Jordan during his final book tour for Knife of Dreams.

Meeting my favorite author, Brandon Sanderson , during his Memory of Light book tour.

Brian

Warrior Wednesday - 2/19/2014

So, my big(ish) run for this past week was on Saturday at the local YMCA indoor track.  Running indoors for the first time in about two years reminded me of something.

I hate running indoors.

For one thing, I like the dynamics of an outdoor run, the elevation changes, the differing scenery, the complete freedom to go where I want to go - to ad-lib my run you might say.  Mostly, I just hate the repetition of an indoor run.  

Let's start with treadmills and why I'd rather quit running than ever run on one again.  First, they give me shin splints. Granted, I'm sure something about that is psychological; treadmills are much lower impact than when I run on sidewalks.  Second, without actually moving forward, feeling the cool rush of air resistance, I get hot really really quick.  I always get hot and sweaty when running, but this happens much quicker, and is much more severe.  Lastly, it's just plain boring.  So boring, in fact, that I can't get into my music, or watch tv, or even mentally work on my story plots in my head, all because I'm too focused on how much I hate the treadmill.

Indoor tracks, however, aren't as bad, but I still hate them.  This was the first time I'd run on an indoor  track at the YMCA, and I was basically forced into it due to the layer of ice still clinging for dear life to the area's sidewalks.  I used to run on the indoor track at my college in my nursing school days, and it was eight laps to a mile.  This one was twelve.  Twelve!

As I said, I get bored with the repetitious nature of running indoors.  Running twelve tiny laps to make a mile is possibly the definition of repetition.  It's like the movie Groundhog Day, only living out the same 40-45 seconds of your life over and over.  Every lap you pass the same walkers.  Every few laps you get a little variety when passing a jogger going slightly slower than you, or get passed by one running slightly faster.  I lost count of my laps after the second lap or so, and my GPS watch is useless indoors without being right by a window the whole time, so I have no idea how many miles I ran.  All I know is that I lived the same 40-45 seconds of my life on repeat for 40 minutest straight, only getting sweatier as I went.

But, in trying to get back into running as much as I used to, or at least close to it, I made this sacrifice today.  I don't like doing it often because I don't enjoy it.  Though I like that running is good for my health, I truly love running when I'm outdoors, either making my own route or running a race.  As I've mentioned on this blog before, a lot of plotting occurs when running, though only when I'm outside and enjoying it. 

This is an older(2012) pic after a rainy 5K

in my hometown.  No, I didn't run with the 

stroller, but maybe I should've!

I'm really starting to consider getting  the base GoPro camera to take some videos to spice up my jogging blogs, though I also don't think I can bring myself to invest $200 bucks.  So if anyone wants to invest in getting one for their favorite indie fantasy author jogger, give me a call . . . what, I'm not your favorite IFAJ(yes I acronymed it, and made up the word acronymed, and I'm kidding on all fronts, of course)?  If I can ever make myself shell out the cash(doubtful with bundle of joy # 2 on the way), I will hopefully do so before the Warrior Dash.  I think it'd be fun to take a video of me putting myself through hell, getting muddy, and having a heck of a time doing it.

That's really all I've got for this week.  No upcoming races that I'm registered for (yet) other than the Warrior Dash in May.  My St. Jude fundraiser will be up until May 17, so please check it out and consider donating to this awesome organization.  Either click this link - warrior.stjude.org/brianbeam, or the picture below to check it out.

Thanks for reading!

Brian

Top-Ten Tuesday 2/18/2014 - Top 10 Fantasy Books

Okay, so in keeping with my more regular blog posting, I present Top-Ten Tuesday.  I'll just be giving my top tens for a variety of nerdy stuff, mainly dealing with books, music, television, movies, and video games.  Since I write fantasy, I figure I should start this feature off with my Top Ten Fantasy Books.

You'll quickly realize that I'm more into recent fantasy than the older classics.  Also, I want to point out that when I chose books for this, I decided not to use multiple books from one series(with one exception).  Here goes!

10. The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)

9. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling)

8. Way of Kings (Brandon Sanderson)

7.  Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman)

6. Myst Reader (Robyn Miller, Rand Miller, and David Wingrove) 

5. Elantris (Brandon Sanderson)

4. Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind)

3. Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)

2. Eye of the World (Robert Jordan)

1. Mistborn: The Final Empire

Any thoughts?

Brian 

Sunday Scoop - 2/16/2014

I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  If you're like what seems like 90% of Facebook and feel the holiday is nothing more than a manufactured one and that the concept of taking a single day to dote on those you love is ridiculous, then I just hope you had a wonderful day.  Though, any day that can be used as an excuse to have free reign on candy, and then buy that candy for 50% off the next day is okay in my book.  Also, any holiday in which Reese's has a holiday-themed peanut butter cup-ish product gets my seal of approval.  

Onto the (lack of) progress updates!

Well, it was another week of "meh" progress, so I'm hoping to be a bit more productive next week.  As of now, Book 3 of Korin's Journal stands at 19,132 words.  Korin's about a chapter away from getting his mind blown!  That's all I can really say about the upcoming part of the book without giving to much away.

Other than those few words, no other writing has been happening.  I do want to have a backup project this year to turn to when I need a little break from all things Korin, but I'm not sure what I want it to be yet.  As you can tell from my lil' ol' progress bars to the upper right of this page, I have a novella I started that has been stuck on 29% for . . . a long time.  Sadly, though it is something I will be finishing in the future, I just haven't been feeling it.

What that novella is going to be, basically, is a murder mystery involving immortals, immortals who are supposed to be, well, immortal.  I still like the story and the characters, but there's just something missing that I feel the story will need to be what I want it to be (Reading back through that sentence makes my head hurt).  

Basically, I don't plot on paper.  I don't formally outline.  The second I have a physical outline, I feel trapped.  OCD kicks in and I refuse to deviate from what's on the paper/file/whatever.  Therefore, I keep everything in my head.  And believe it or not, it works(for me), and it doesn't incite my psychological stubbornness to stick to the plan .  Also, I tend to create stories with a series of events in mind and then fill in the gaps between those events as I go.  That's the only way I can be truly creative.  Anything else just feels too procedural.

Even so, I don't "wing it" with my writing.  I'm not a complete pantser.  When I sit down to write, though I may have trouble getting the words out of my head, I always know what I want to happen.

With this novella, I have the main events in my head.  I have 99% of the plot.  I even have a decent idea for a sequel.  But something, some inexplicable spark, just isn't there for me right now.  The result of this lack is that I keep my distance from the story, waiting for that spark  to hit me.  And I know it will.  But until then, I don't want to go into the story half-assed and end up hating it, as I've done with so many things I've written in the past.  Maybe at some point this year I'll clean up what I've written so far with it.  The first couple chapters are a bit too much of an info dump for me.

Hmm...I didn't plan going there with this blog.  Anyway, at some point, you'll probably see another project progress bar up in that corner(hopefully with actual progress), while the Untitled Novella(though it is titled) stays where it is for a bit longer.

Moving on.

My St. Jude fundraiser is still stuck at the $275 out of $300 mark, but it's ongoing until May 17, so there's still tons of time to make a donation and get a chance to win a signed copy of one my books or to get your name in Book 3 of Korin's Journal.

And don't forget to enter the Alinor's Shard giveaway on Goodreads!  The giveaway ends February 28th!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Alinor's Shard

by Brian Beam

Giveaway ends February 28, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

This Tuesday's blog (2/18/2014) will be my first Top-Ten Tuesday blog, and appropriately will feature my top ten fantasy novels.  I've decided not to explain my reasoning for each item on the list each week, but will gladly do so if asked after they're posted.  Also, feel free to ask things like "You actually like that crap?" or "Why the hell would that be #10?" or "Why don't you like old books/movies/music etc?".   With Top-Ten tuesdays, there'll officially be 4 regular blog features on here(Sunday Scoop, Top-Ten Tuesday, Warrior Wendnesday, and Throwback Thursday).  There'll be at least one or two more regular blog features, I just don't know what they'll be yet.  

Best wishes to everyone for the coming week!

Brian

Throwback Thursday 2/13/2014

I'm going to keep things simple with my Thursday blogs, going with the cliche Throwback Thursday theme(and about 1-2 years later than everyone else).   

Here's me at Christmas(not sure on the year) in my radical 80's sweater.  

Brian Beam

Warrior Wednesday 2/12/2014

Last week, I talked about my upcoming 8K and whether I could pull it off given my extreme lack of jogging over the past few months.  I'm proud to say that I did pull of the 5ish mile run, and came in 3rd in my age division, even if at a slower pace than I was capable of only a year ago.  It's a great start, though!  I finished 68 out of 179 with a time of 43:41.

Between doing better than I'd expected and the fact that I'm getting to the gym a bit more during my lunch breaks at work, I'm feeling more and more confident about my upcoming Warrior Dash race in May.  There's a ton of upcoming 5Ks I'm looking at, and I definitely want to sign up for a couple before the Warrior Dash, including a local mud/obstacle course race I did last year.  There's one race that I'll likely have to forgo due to the impending birth of my second son that involves running 1.55 miles, eating 6 hot dogs, and then running the remaining 1.55.  It's only 1 week after my wife's due date, but if I can pull it off, it'll be a good primer for if I ever get to do the Krispy Kreme Challenge(same concept, only involving a dozen KK glazed doughnuts instead of hot dogs).  As a lover of jogging and doughnuts, I've always wanted to try this! 

Back to the Winter Flight 8K I did this past weekend, the best part of the day was that my son participated in the 1/2 mile fun run beforehand.  He was still getting over a bit of respiratory junk, but he ran half of the half mile and got a medal!  It was adorable to see how proud he was!  

As for my St. Jude fundraising for the Warrior Dash, I'm still standing at $275 of my $300 goal.  Remember to check it out at warrior.stjude.org/brianbeam.  Every $5 you donate enters you to win copies of my books, or even to get your name used for a major character in Book 3 of Korin's Journal.  And, of course, you'll be supporting an amazing organization!

Until next time, here's some post-race pictures!

And a video of my son, Jonas, racing!

And finally, here's my son as a 3-year-old ladies man.  He fell in the gym at the college where the race was held while playing and did his whole cover-my-face-and-pretend-no-one-can-see-me embarrassment thing.  Then this little girl helped him up.  And then he fell again, this time without the embarrassment, and she helped him up again.  And then he fell while standing in place, obviously on purpose, smiling up at this girl the entire time.  When she helped him up again, they held hands and proceeded to run around the gym together.  Apparently I've got a little heart-breaker in the making.  

Sunday Scoop 2/9/2014

This week's update on my writing is fairly pathetic, sorry to say.  I'm up to 17,356 words on Book 3 of Korin's Journal, and just finished the chapter I was working on during my last update.  Other than that, I didn't work on anything writing related at all this week.  There were lots of factors involved in my lack of progress, but first and foremost, I really just couldn't find the motivation I needed last week.

I really hope this week goes better on the writing front.  I'm excited to introduce a certain character in this next chapter.  As it is now, things aren't looking good for Korin at the moment.  Going into Chapter 6, Korin is facing death at the hands of those who should be his allies.  I'd explain, but that would give too much away.  

As for other news, my book signing's coming up quick!  In two weeks I'll be signing copies of all three of my books at the Literary Bookpost, an independent bookstore here in Salisbury, NC . . . well, assuming I actually sell something to sign. In all truthfulness, I have no idea what to expect with this signing.  If nothing else, there are worse ways to spend two hours than in an awesome local bookstore.  The book signing will be from 11-1.

My Goodreads Alinor's Shard Giveaway is still up until the end of February.  There's 2 copies of Alinor's Shard available to win!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Alinor's Shard

by Brian Beam

Giveaway ends February 28, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Also, be sure to check out Justin Dockins giveaway for his debut fantasy novel, Tales of the Bodhisattva: The Khurran.  I'm currently reading it and have been very impressed with it so far.  Enter to win at https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/enter_choose_address/79951-tales-of-the-bodhisattva-the-khurran

My fundraising for St. Jude through the North Carolina Warrior Dash is ridiculously close to its goal!  $25 is all I need to meet my $300 goal, so please check out my fundraising page and consider making a donation to this awesome organization.  Plus, you could win signed copies of my books, getting your name in Book 3 of Korin's Journal, and more!  Click on the image below to go to my personal fundraising page.   Your donation could make a big difference in the lives of children receiving treatment at St. Jude Children's Reseach Hospital.

Here's hoping I have better luck on my progress on Book 3 of Korin's Journal and starting on the short story I mentioned last week.  

Brian Beam

Warrior Wednesday - 2/5/2014

So, the whole Warrior Wednesday concept for a weekly blog feature stems from the upcoming Warrior Dash 5K I will be running in this May.  At first, I just figured it would be a good way to promote my fundraising efforts for St. Jude through Warrior Dash's partnership with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  Upon further consideration, I've decided that this is a feature I can extend well beyond the race and the fundraiser, using it as a way to chronicle my attempts to get back into running shape and getting back into more races.

Let me explain.

So back in early 2013, I was having short periods of stabbing pains shooting down my leg, primarily when not moving for long periods, such as 8 hour car trips to visit family.  As a nurse/avid jogger, I realized it was probably sciatic nerve pain, but the transient nature of the pain led me to write it off as soon as it passed each time.

And then it got worse.  And worse.  Limping, paling, worse, lasting hours at a time.  I'm stubborn, but when moving becomes a chore and I have trouble even holding my son, I take notice. I started with the nurse practitioner available where I work, going on tramadol(non-narcotic pain medication) and Flexeril(muscle relaxer) and taking some time off from running.  I'm the type of jogger-or was the type of jogger-who stressed out missing a single day of my jogging routine, let alone weeks!  But I knew something was wrong, so I sacrificed.

It didn't get better.

That lead to an x-ray, MRI, and a diagnosis of a protruding disc in my back.  Now, a protruding disc is really on the lower end of the spectrum when it comes to severity of back problems, but it was causing enough pain to keep me from running, going to the gym, or being very active in general.

Skipping ahead a few months, after physical therapy and eliminating all meds helping with the pain, I was in much better shape, experiencing only moderate back/leg pain only once a week or less.  However, after a couple months of little to no running, my psyche was shot.  I couldn't get back into it.  I'm still having that trouble.  I was running 7-8 minute miles for up to 7 mile jogs.  Now I was running 9-10 minute miles over 1-2 miles. I know that may not sound horrible, but ask any dedicated runner, and you'll probably get a semi-shocked response like, "Oh, that's horrible!"

Anyway, I've decided to take control of this and get back into my prior habits with diet and exercise.  It's been a slow process, but I've decided to get into a few races to push myself to continually improve my running, my health, and honestly, my happiness.  Now, I'm a happy person anyway, but when I'm running regularly, I just feel better - more natural energy, better productivity in basically all aspects of my life, and I used to do 90% of my plotting in my head when running.  Something about the endorphins gets my creative juices flowing.

So, why in the hell would you care about this?  You probably don't.  However, I believe this will keep me more accountable for keeping up with my fitness goals, and heck, maybe I'll eventually inspire someone to take steps to a healthier lifestyle.  Maybe not.  We'll see.

So, step one is getting out of my comfort zone, namely an 8K race this Saturday.  I have only run 5 miles once or twice in the past 7-8 months, the last time being two weeks ago.  It wasn't exactly pleasant.  However, just knowing I wanted to do the race, and my stubborn nature which prevents me from letting myself walk during a race, I knew that I would be able to push myself past the 2-3 mile runs that I was doing once a week, if that.  After chumping out on my run this past weekend(mostly because I was at the tail end of recovering from a sinus infection), I went ahead and signed up for the race, something that will ensure I will participate.  To further cement my participation, I signed my three year old up for the pre-8K fun run.  Seeing his excitement when he crosses that finish line will be all the motivation I need to make it to my own finish line, even if not in the amount of time I'd like.

But I'll get there.  And I'll be writing about my progress(or lack thereof) each Wednesday.  Up until the Warrior Dash in May, I'll also be talking about my progress with my St. Jude fundraiser.  Of my $300 goal, I'm up to $275, or 91% of my goal.

Now, if you've read this far, and are still awake, be sure to check out my previous blog post in which I explain how you win signed copies of my books, free Kindle downloads of my books, and getting your name in Book 3 of Korin's Journal by donating to St. Jude:

http://brian-beam.blogspot.com/2014/01/support-st-jude-for-chance-to-win.html

If you would like to make a donation, simply go to www.warrior.stjude.org/brianbeam

I'll be posting next week how things went with the race(or more likely gushing about my son's involvement in it.)  

Brian 

Sunday Scoop - 2/2/2014

Hello all,

I'm hoping to start blogging more (yeah, I've said that before . . . and more than once), and I'm considering starting a daily or every other day blog post with the whole day-of-the-week theme thing.  Now, until I work out some time to hammer out a couple, as well as come up with a good idea of what I want these themes to be, I'm going to start with what I'll call the Sunday Scoop.   And sorry, it doesn't have anything to do with ice cream . . . mmm, ice cream.

Nope, not going to get distracted!

Anyway, the Sunday Scoop will just act as a snapshot of where I am in writing projects, and will basically take you through what I do - or in many cases, don't do - from week to week.  So, here goes!

Sunday Scoop 2/2/2014

Book 3 of Korin's Journal officially stands at 14,505 words.  I've got the book named, but in order to give myself the freedom to change it without question and to avoid giving away the major focus of this concluding volume, I'm keeping it secret for now.

Currently, I'm in the middle of chapter 5, thus far untitled.  The current scene finds a nearly naked Korin alone, and breaking out of a prison in a foreign land.  His arm's dislocated, he's covered in blood, he only has a stolen sword to protect himself, and he has found himself effectively trapped in a large chamber full of locked doors.  There's a lot of strange things going on already - Korin has no idea who abducted him, offensive spells are deflecting away from him before they strike, and one of those closest to him has seemingly betrayed him.  Has he truly been betrayed? If not, why has the seeming backstabber made it clear they are trying to halt his escape?  Will he be able to escape the several dozen armored men who just entered the room and surrounded him?  Hint for that last question- Yes(come on, it's Korin's journal, for crying out loud, not "Korin's Journal for the Most Part but Finished by Someone Else After Korin's Untimely Death").

I'm really excited about finishing this chapter, solely because of a new character that will be introduced in the next chapter, one who will truly shake up Korin's world.  I've got a fun idea for their first interaction if I can pull it off.  Hopefully I'll be done, or far into this next chapter by next Sunday.

Alinor's Shard still has a giveaway listed on Goodreads that goes until Feb. 28.  There's 2 print copies available to be won, so check it out at https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/79084-alinor-s-shard

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Alinor's Shard

by Brian Beam

Giveaway ends February 28, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I'm hoping to start into a short story for fellow indie writer, S.W. Sondheimer, for a collection she is putting together to raise money and awareness for Bikers Against Child Abuse called Zombies Against Child Abuse. Finding time's going to be the only potential issue, but I have the story in mind, and it would introduce a character I'd hopefully use later for an idea I have for a stand-alone fantasy novel.

I'm still collecting money for St.Jude for the North Carolina Warrior Dash I'm doing in May.  Your donations will not only help sick kids receive the care they need for no cost and help support the research of treating deadly diseases in children, but will also earn you entries to win signed copies or free Kindle downloads of my books, or possibly even get your name as a major character in Book 3 of Korin's Journal.  Any donation of $10 or more will get your name in the acknowledgements of Book 3.  I'm up to $225 of my $300 goal, so please check it out and consider donating to this worthy cause if you have the means at www.warrior.stjude.org/brianbeam

That's all I've got for now.  Next time I'll hopefully have some ideas for ongoing blog features.  Thanks for reading!

Brian Beam