Joe Vasicek

I really love this story

I should have written this last night, but yesterday I set out at 8:00 to write in Hero in Exile, and two hours / 1,300 words later, I realized that I really like this story. Maybe I’m just a sucker for the romantic, exotic Western view of the Middle East–stunning deserts with their rocky cliffs… Continue reading I really love this story

Revising, outlining, and a goals adjustment

The comments on my last post were really interesting, and made me do some thinking today. When I sat down to work on Phoenix today, I decided to look at the broader picture by outlining, in two or three sentences, what is going on in each scene I’ve revised so far. As I did this,… Continue reading Revising, outlining, and a goals adjustment

Question about revising

Here’s a question about an issue I’m starting to have with revision. I’m currently revising the rough draft of my novel The Phoenix of Nova Terra. So far, I’ve just been cutting out unnecessary descriptions/wordage and rewriting some of the passages to make them stronger. Although I’m making a lot of changes, I haven’t really… Continue reading Question about revising

Ottoman airships

I just had a REALLY cool idea. It comes from an unhealthy combination of Girl Genius (one of the coolest steampunk stories I’ve ever read) and too many classes on the history and humanities of the Middle East. What if blimps, dirigibles, and airships were invented in the Middle East before flying machines ever came… Continue reading Ottoman airships

I did it!

Yay! I finally hit all three of my daily goals in one night! Six+ pages of revision in Phoenix, 500+ words in Hero, and a contribution to the wikidpad notes on Hero! It may not sound like too much, but it makes me happy. And I’m sick. Blegh. Since it’s after 1:30 am and I… Continue reading I did it!

General Conference and weekend progress (or lack thereof)

This weekend was General Conference. I watched most of the sessions from friends’ apartments here in the FLSR. While I enjoyed many of the speakers and caught all four sessions, I have to confess that I slept through a lot more of the talks than I should have. I’ll definitely download the mp3s and listen… Continue reading General Conference and weekend progress (or lack thereof)

Posting story ideas

My friend Steve posted a comment on my last post that I thought was deserving of a post all to itself. He said: Joe, If you have a good idea, you shouldn’t put it up on your website, man. Someone is gonna’ steal it. Take your flower idea and hoard it, man. Because, I’m gonna’… Continue reading Posting story ideas

Flower magic

Alright, here is a really cool idea for a magic system that I came up with while hanging out with friends. I have no idea exactly how it came up, I just know that it did. What if you had a magic system that was based entirely on flowers? I just don’t mean recycled My… Continue reading Flower magic

Making it up on the weekend

Yesterday, as I was writing a small paper (~500 words) for PLSC 201, I realized that I would be FINISHED with classes this week today at three o’clock and I wouldn’t really have to worry about homework. What a delicious breath of freedom! So today, after I slept through the four hour-and-a-half classes that I… Continue reading Making it up on the weekend

Progress comes slowly

I feel like today was fairly productive. I finished all the homework that’s due tomorrow, put in three hours at the writing lab, went to all my classes, got up early, and now I’m going to bed relatively late, after writing for about two hours. However, I still wasn’t able to get all the writing… Continue reading Progress comes slowly