A Halo 3 apology

On the weekends, with Scott, Sarah, or both, and sometimes via Xbox Live with Kyle, I play Halo 3. I am routinely, though not always, the worst player on my team. So, because my damn headset rarely works and I thus can't do it in person, I'm writing today's blog entry to apologize. If I've played with you in the past, I'm sorry I wasn't better. If you end up on my team in the future and I play badly, I'm sorry.

It's not that I can't play at all, mind you. On the right map and with the right type of game, I can hold my own. I just can't do it most of the time. I'm still not sure what I'm doing wrong, though I'm confident that my thumb control is sufficiently poor that my aim isn't what it should be.

If you want a chance to kill an SF writer online, email me via the form on my site , and I'll tell you my Xbox Live ID.

Of course, as time permits, I will keep practicing. Maybe one day it will take.

One of the joys of writing + network lag sucks

About a week ago, I realized that something very important had to change in the ending of Overthrowing Heaven. The notion hit me out of the blue, but the moment it entered my brain, I knew it was right. I love when that happens.

Tonight, as I was working on a scene, that earlier change led to me understanding something more about a character, and suddenly an important aspect of her past appeared, she became a richer person, the scene was stronger, and within a few seconds it was if all of this had always been true about her.

I think this might be what some writers call a character taking over. I don't believe that's what's happening. Instead, what's going on is that my subconscious, which lives off and on all day in the world of the current book, makes connections and figures out issues that I had not consciously spotted.

Whatever it is, it's cool when it happens.

On a completely unrelated note, tonight Sarah, Kyle (who's visiting), and I were playing Halo 3 on Xbox Live. I'm a passable Halo player for a guy my age, which is to say I suck in the general community of gamers. Tonight, though, I massively sucked as huge drifts of network lag washed over us. At times, the screen froze while someone killed one or the other of us. Quite frustrating.

Back to work; I have a book to write.