Update: It's several years since my last update and I'm actually not dead or in prison. Real life can be a heck of a thing. Without getting into too much detail, since the last time I posted I:

got a new computer because the old one broke

got pneumonia again

got a new job that I thought was awesome

moved three thousand miles from home for said job

got an awesome cat

stopped playing Dark Heresy because my group was still back home

got bummed out and homesick every time I sat down to write

got promoted at work

got promoted again

had no time to write anything non-work related because I was literally always on call

realized at this point that the stress of the job was not so slowly killing me

got another cat

got some human room mates

got married

got laid off

went through all of the unpleasant human emotions associated with losing one's job

moved two and a half thousand miles back towards home

got another new job that respects my work-life balance, and

actually wrote something for the sheer enjoyment of it for the first time in years.

I can't promise that I'll always have prompt updates. I can't even promise that I'm not a little rusty. But I'm more experienced.

At the end of the day, experience is what life is about. Without it, there are no stories. So get out there. We'll be waiting for you.

-Geist, 2/2018

Let's see: what is there to say regarding your friendly neighborhood Geist?

I could probably wax poetic about how much I venerate the written word, about the divine, sublime flashes of inspiration that open new worlds to us, about the power of imagination and imagery, about the wrenching terror and supreme smugness and overwhelming adoration that connects an author's intent to a reader's soul through a well-balanced phrase...

But I'm sure it would be in terribly bad taste.

I'll say it now: I'm an intellectual snob. I'll take my time to write if I need to, because uninspired writing is boring garbage. I firmly believe in spell-check, the thesaurus, alliteration, repetition, and the careful placement of sentence-seasoning profanities. I don't think that something is worth reading if it lacks characterization, which is why I'm terribly wary of "John the palace guard went to kill a bunch of baddies" stories. I think a good story needs to be accessible, entertaining, and endearing.

And (yes I'll begin a sentence with a conjunction if I want to, thank you very much), I believe authors need their own voice. Some voices are clever, some are mysterious, some hysterical, and some sad; the joy of reading comes not in learning a new plot, a new detail, but in hearing a new story, in being sucked into a new world, a familiar world. The true joy of reading is in allowing oneself to be transported, if only for a time.

Also: Don't be a creeper. Don't a/s/l me, ask me for pictures or details about my personal life, or suggest we meet up somewhere. I'm here to get and give genuine feedback on my writing, and knowing about how freaking awesome I am will only distract you from that goal. If you're still reading after all that... um... thanks, I guess, but... it's over... you can go away now.