Still Worthy

I think it’s been long enough that we can talk about Avengers: Endgame without making anyone mad, but in case you somehow haven’t seen it and want to avoid spoilers, this is your warning to stop reading now.

We’re in Print!

Hi everyone! It’s been a while since I announced the launch of the ebook version of Monsters: The Crossover Alliance Anthology – Volume 4, and I am happy to tell you that it is now available in paperback for the first time! The anthology contains my first published short story, “The Absolution of Oblivion,” along with nine other stories by eight other authors. You can find it here for $11.99 in print, or here for $3.99 in ebook. I’m super excited to share my story with everyone–and the other stories are pretty great, too! If you aren’t sure if this anthology is right for you, please check out the mission of The Crossover Alliance to see what they’re all about, and if it sounds like something up your alley, or even something you might be able to enjoy for a change of pace, take a look at this book trailer they made to promote the anthology. I hope you all get a chance to check out my story and the stories of these other talented authors. I know I’m looking forward to reading my copy!

Story Update!

Happy Halloween everyone! I’m just writing a quick blurb to let you know that The Crossover Alliance Anthology Vol. 4: Monsters is now available! It features my short story, “The Absolution of Oblivion,” alongside the stories of several other talented writers. I am so excited to be able to share this anthology with you, and I think you’ll find it quite enjoyable if you like to read things that are on the creepy side. Even if that isn’t your usual cup of tea, I still hope you’ll check it out, because you may be surprised by what you find in this new collection. You can find it here in e-book format, and it will be coming in print in the next month or so. Have fun today everyone, and be safe!

Exciting News! I Wrote a Story!

How’s it going everyone? It’s been a little while since I’ve posted, but that’s because I’ve been busy! Not only have I been working as a freelance editor, but I am also a substitute teacher now. To top it all off, I am going to be published! I have been working with the great folks over at The Crossover Alliance, along with several other talented writers, on their fourth short story anthology. My original short story, “The Absolution of Oblivion,” is going to be featured in this collection, alongside 9 other stories, all on the theme of “Monsters.” Fittingly, this collection will be releasing in e-book format next week on Halloween, with print copies following in time for Christmas! I am super excited to read the stories by my fellow authors, and I can’t wait to be able to share my story with you! If you like spooky, creepy, thrilling stories that have Christian themes and real-world content, then this collection is for you! You should also check out the other short story collections and novels published by The Crossover Alliance if this sounds like your cup of tea.

I hope you are all looking forward to this as much as I am! It’s been a great experience to write this story and work with the people at TCA to edit it and get it ready to publish, and it almost seems unreal that in less than a week, people will be able to read my story! I could keep going on, but I think you get the idea–I’m stoked! Rather than rant at you ad nauseam, I’ll sign off now, with the exhortation to check this book out! The other authors are all excellent, and this anthology is sure to be a treat. That’s it for now. Until next time!

A Special Editing Offer

Greetings everyone! You may remember how a few weeks ago I mentioned that I am now a freelance editor with my own editing website. Well, I have a special announcement I want to share with you! I am offering free sample edits for the month of August! Here’s the text from my Facebook post:

“Are you a writer, blogger, or online content creator? Have you been thinking about taking your writing to the next level? Do you want to make your prose as polished as possible? Then I have good news for you! For the month of August, I am offering free sample edits, with no obligation for any further services, to anyone who is interested. If you’ve been thinking about how an editor or proofreader could help your content be even better and wondering if it’s right for you, now is your chance to try it out, absolutely free! Just contact me at andrewnewtonediting@gmail.com and mention this post, and I will work with you on a free sample edit of 2 double-spaced pages or 500 words. I offer all levels of editorial services, from line edits to content editing and from general analysis and feedback to spelling, grammar and punctuation proofreading. If you want to improve your words, but aren’t sure about working with an editor, don’t wait! Try it out today for free, with not obligation! A good editor can mean the difference between a decent passage that kind of gets your ideas across and lively, engaging, polished prose that perfectly captures your message. Want to know more about me? Check out my website: andrewnewtoneditin.wixsite.com/andrewnewtonediting
Remember, this offer is only for the month of August, so don’t wait, and remember to share this post with anyone you think may be interested. Have a great day!” -Copied from  Andrew Newton Editing’s Facebook page.

I am making this offer both to publicize my services and to give people a chance to experience how much hiring an editor can improve their work. I love to help people make their best work, and even if they don’t end up hiring me to do anything further, I hope that people take this opportunity to see just how great working with an editor can be! If you or someone you know is on the fence about hiring an editor, take this opportunity to try it out. You won’t regret it!

New York State (of mind): Beekman Arms and Vanderbilt Mansion

This gallery contains 40 photos.

Welcome to another installment of my photo blogs from our vacation. Today, we will look at our lunch at the Beekman Arms and our tour of the Vanderbilt mansion in Hyde Park. Enjoy! (If you missed the first set of pictures from the walkway over the Hudson and the FDR estate, you can find those […]

New York State (of mind): Hudson River Walkway and FDR Estate

This gallery contains 39 photos.

My wife and I recently took a road trip to visit some friends in Poughkeepsie, NY and do some sight seeing. We had a blast! This is the first of several photo blogs to share my favorite pictures and memories of the trip. Stay tuned as I sift through more pictures to share with you […]

Liminal Space

My eyes open to the sound of my alarm. It wakes me up at the usual time, but not in the usual place. I roll out of the bed that is too big for the size and number of its pillows and wander across the narrow room to the one working outlet I could find for my phone charger. I silence my phone’s alarm and head to the bathroom to get ready. In the light of morning, I am struck by the seemingly willful mediocrity of the place, as if the room is daring me to complain about the peeling wallpaper, or the holes and empty screws in the walls where presumably pictures once hung, or the toilet that flushes too slowly and must be flushed again to accomplish its job. I contemplate what it must be like to spend more than a single night here, what I would think and feel if I had to come back to this room. It’s almost like whoever built this place only ever intended it for one night stays from travelers like us. They cut the corners they didn’t think we’d miss for a single night. After all, the room has a bed, and that’s the main thing for a hotel room, right?

I shower, almost breaking the shower head trying to adjust the flow before giving it up as a lost cause. My thoughts return to last night. We rolled in fairly late, but still before midnight. Even at night, this place exuded an air of “not great, but it’ll do.” I’m fairly certain the woman checking in ahead of us was a prostitute, with her too-tight, too-short dress, her stack of cash, and her lack of luggage. Not judging, just noticing. As we waited to check in, a grandma, her grandkids, and her adult daughter emerged from the doorway to the outdoor pool. They were chatting in a tired but amiable fashion. I recall thinking that, for some people, this place may be a destination, not a stopping point on the way to somewhere else. They had chosen to come here–for vacation? for the nearby casino? for another reason entirely? We had chosen it because the last-minute deal fit our budget for lodging and we needed a place to sleep.

The elevator door creaked and almost didn’t close all the way as the small elevator moved us up a floor with jerky, uncertain motions. It sighed with relief when it deposited us in the hall and was allowed to resume its slow decay of inactivity. The hall was long and dingy. There were water stains on the carpet, but we didn’t care. We just wanted sleep. The room matched the rest of the hotel: aggressively mediocre, barely acceptable. There was only one working outlet, and half the lights didn’t work. I tried to connect to the free Wi-Fi, but the signal wasn’t strong enough to load the terms and conditions page, so I gave up. We collapsed into the serviceable bed and tried to sleep. The weak fan from the window HVAC unit tried and failed to drown out the background noises and make us forget that there were sounds all around us–that we were not alone in this liminal space.

I finish my shower and dry off with a too-thin, too-small towel. As I’m getting dressed,  I see the room rates listed on the back of the door–nearly triple what we payed for our night’s repose. There’s no way anyone would pay that much. I wonder if there was a time when this place was considered “nice.” Perhaps when it was new, when the walls were clear of scratches and stains, people thought of this place as a destination worth paying that much for the joy  of staying here. Maybe the grandma from last night remembers that time. I wonder if the young Indian man who checked us in does. My wife stirs and wakes. She goes through the same morning routine I have just completed. We are getting ready–ready to go, to leave this place and continue our journey. Will we remember this place tomorrow? Next week? Next year? Or will it blend with all the other in-between, liminal spaces, the spaces outside the margins of our lives?

We head down to the lobby for our complementary continental breakfast. I skip over the waxy, mealy Washington apples, grabbing a light strawberry yogurt as the closest approximation of fruit. The eggs are the lumpy, uniform pastel yellow that only comes from powder, and there are three tiers of different types of bread products. A trashy white guy with a sparse beard and baseball cap is chewing out a young girl for taking too much “bacon.” The bacon gets scare quotes because it more closely resembles bacon-flavored rice paper than anything that was once part of a pig. The other breakfast patrons give us blank, tired looks as they eat their light tan food and sip their brown, coffee-flavored water. The only tea selection is Lipton original that has been here for who knows how long. I try to drink it and surreptitiously dump half of it down the drinking fountain. A hotel employee wanders through the lobby, spraying cleaning solution in the air like it’s potpourri. I guess this is what he considers “cleaning”?

Another trip in the ancient, grumbling elevator and we are checking out, heading to the car to continue our trip. The hotel is behind us, and already the memory is fading. Did it really happen? Does it really exist as a physical space? Or does it join all the other liminal spaces as an amalgam of anomie, normlessness, and in-betweenness? What is it like to live and work in a place on the margins of space? Does it ever become more real? Or does it stay dream-like and elusive? Someday I may find out, but today we keep driving.

A Tale of Two Mowers

Today God taught me a lesson using two lawn mowers.

It’s been a kind of crazy year for me. It’s had ups and downs and a whole lot of in-betweens. This past fall, I applied to as many doctoral programs as I could afford (which was only 7, by the way–those application fees add up fast!), in the hopes of jumping straight from my undergrad to the big leagues in the most time and money efficient way possible. I knew I was shooting for the moon, but I knew I would regret not going for it if I didn’t at least try. The months between submitting my applications and waiting for the decisions were filled with fear, excitement, and anticipation. The world was about to open up before me.

Except it didn’t. I heard back from school after school thanking me for my application and reassuring me that they received so many highly qualified applicants that they just couldn’t take them all–you know, the stuff they tell you to make you feel better. But it doesn’t work. It sucked. Suddenly the world that was opening up in front of me had slammed closed again. There was no time to apply for master’s programs, since all of the deadlines were back when I was spending all my money applying to the doctoral programs that had just rejected me. I did get considered for the University of Chicago’s one year intensive MA program, as a consolation prize for not making the Ph.D program. This would have been better news if the MA program was funded like the Ph.D program. It wasn’t. I got in, but the scholarship they offered me was small potatoes compared to the enormous price tag of not only tuition, but also moving to and living in Chicago. I was back to square one, and I was graduating in a little over a month.

Game Master Diaries #6: Making Maps

This week is all about maps! From large-scale global maps, to city maps and dungeon maps, you should never leave home without some amount of cartographic preparation. Different GMs use maps differently, and the style of your adventure may require more or fewer maps than you typically would use, but unless your story is completely abstract when it comes to physical space, there will come a time when you need a map. If you were to peek behind my game master screen during a typical RPG session, you would see somewhere between two and five maps on average. Some of these maps are there simply for reference and may not come into play at all, but others are essential to maintaining the flow and cohesion of the game. In this post we’re going to talk about the different types of maps and how I like to use them in play; if that sounds like fun, buckle up! (If that doesn’t sound like fun, nobody is forcing you to read about it, but we will probably look down on you a little bit.)