...And Looking Forward to 2017

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Welcome, friends and neighbors, to the last Misdirected post of 2016.

Been a heck of a year, hasn't it?

I am looking forward to 2017 with a considerable amount of hope. Compared to last New Year's Eve, the contrast is like night and day. I am lighter, happier, and more productive now than I was last year, and any year before this for a long, long time. Mainly thanks to an aggressive neurologist and the team at ABQ Health Partners Bariatrics.

Now, it has not been easy. I still have to shake off my disappointment after seizures. I still miss pizza and beer. I still look in the mirror and sigh wistfully over the "apron" of deflated skin I now wear around my waist. And I am still baffled at how eating an ounce each of deli meat, cheese and nuts make me feel like I have swallowed a cow. But my quality of life has never been better, and I choose to focus on that.

I may not be able to run a marathon, but I can walk 5 kilometers. I may not be able to bench press my body weight, but I am able to lift weights again. I may not see the person I want to see when I look in the mirror, but I certainly like the person I see better than the one that was reflected at me back on December 31 of last year.

So, what does 2017 have in store?

Big changes here at Misdirected, for one thing. I won't spoil the surprise for you, but on Monday things are going to look real different, I can tell you that.

I am also going to be moving away from the embedded ads, I think. I intend to convert the site over to support via the Patreon system, essentially crowd-funding the continued existence of Misdirected. I love the Patreon system, and actually am a patron of a couple of my favorite bloggers. More details to come.

Episode #1 of "Inheritance" will be releasing on Fiction Vortex in February of 2017, followed by the remainder of the novel, one episode per month throughout the year. I am seriously quivering with joy at the prospect of producing my first novel, and love the concept of being a part of the cutting edge of producing episodal fictional content. The other 3 stories that will be written as part of the "Welcome To Ash Falls" Storyverse are already excellent, and I can hardly wait to see what the authors have planned for the rest of their tales. Fiction Vortex produces great stories by excellent authors - if you haven't checked out an episode or two yet, I strongly suggest you go read a few episodes now, and get all warmed up for the release of the Ash Falls stories later in 2017.

I will be producing non-fictional content as well, of course, and will keep everyone posted as these articles are released. This will be the year that I shift gears and begin producing regular content under my own byline. I feel like I have completed my apprenticeship working for ghostwriting agencies, and am ready to move on to consistent creation of my own material.

I also intend for this to be the year that "Learning To Live In The Dark" is finished. This is the book I have been working on for a couple of years now, dealing with Adult-Onset Epilepsy. My current intention is not to seek a publisher, but to self-publish it once it is completed, and I will keep everyone posted on its progress and eventual release date.

We have travel plans for Nevada, Arizona, and South Dakota tentatively on the books for 2017. Depending on the success of Inheritance we may also sneak in a visit to Oregon, so I can spend some time near the locales where my novel is set. We will be participating in our first 5K event in May, and should both hit the "100-pounds lost" milestone in 2017.

It looks like it is going to be a full year.

Thanks again to all my family, friends, and followers here on Misdirected. If it wasn't for you, I would be jotting all this down in a journal and never sharing the experiences with anyone. I sincerely appreciate you allowing me to be a part of your lives.

Be Blessed In 2017,

- Jeremy

Looking back at 2016

313,000 words typed this year. Dang. That is quite a few. Like, if those words were put into novels, I would have written a trilogy. In one year. And I used to wonder how Robert Parker managed his output of books...

Seriously, though, 2016 was the year when I finally decided I had something important enough to talk about on a regular basis. In the past, I have written about Epilepsy - which is important to only a very small segment of the world, though I wish it was important to more people. I've written about gaming, which is important to me, but not necessarily the majority of the planet. But, this year, I finally discovered something that was important to me and a good percentage of the world: obesity, and the life-altering methods that can be required to combat it. 

Despite my terrifically bad memory, I can distinctly remember stepping on my scale in February and seeing the numbers "302" appear on the readout. I felt like my heart would stop beating. I don't know why it was that I was willing to previously put up with scale numbers like 280 or even 290. But cresting that 300-pound plateau was just too much for me. I could barely walk down the street and back (2 tenths of a mile) thanks to my blown knee. I couldn't empty groceries out of the car without gasping for air for minutes afterward. The combination of my weight and my seizures was so overwhelming that we finally had to give up being foster parents, since it was not fair to expect my wife to be raising kids by herself as well as caring for me full-time. My life revolved around my shattered dreams of being a parent and a musician, my sexless marriage, and waiting for the next batch of seizures to arrive.

And, of course, food. LOTS of that.

300 pounds is what it took to get me to accept that I had a problem that I was not going to be able to fix on my own, despite years of trying to do so. After abusing my body for 20 years I gave up my belief that it was all somehow temporary and that I could change any time I wanted to. I needed help from an outside agency - drastic, dramatic help that was going to involve radically changing my physiology, and altering my life not for a few days or weeks, but for the rest of my life. Bariatric surgery from Dr. Tyner, and the unflagging support of my loved ones, provided me with the tools I needed to finally make those difficult choices and changes.

And, so far, it is working. I can walk 5 kilometers without falling to pieces afterward. I go to the gym almost every day. I have a social life again. I have a sex life again. My increased health even seems to have had a positive effect on my seizure activity. A year ago, I was sitting around the house waiting to die. Today, I am constantly in motion, and planning for 5, 10, and even 20 years down the road. Obesity was killing me, and I have now sprung back to life.

And, in the place of being passionate about food, I have discovered new passions. I was able to get a quill and inkpot tattoo back in April to celebrate becoming a published, professional writer. I am halfway through writing my first novel. I have begun work on not one but two non-fiction books. I even went so far as to buy a house, fully expecting to be around when it is paid off in my 70s.

97 pounds lighter and 300,000 words later, I am still discovering new things I want to experience.

Thanks For Joining Me On My Journey,

- Jeremy

Real Life Takes Over Misdirected!

Have you ever had that sensation of wanting to undertake a new project or life change, but being unwilling to make that final step? You look at it, you read up on it, you analyze it, but you can't quite bring yourself to make that life-altering decision. It is like looking through the store window at the object you desire but never walking through the door. Or standing at the edge of a diving board looking down but not quite being able to muster the courage to make the jump.

Until, of course, life comes up behind you and gives you a shove.

I've been slowly developing my contract writing business since last year, but have never quite made the jump over to pursuing it full-time. There are so many things to worry about. Sure, this blog is popular, but trying to actually re-enter the workforce as a contract writer is scary stuff. What if I can't find enough clients? What if things start off well but then peter out? What if I suddenly lose my drive to write? (It happens, it is referred to as "Writer's Block".) What if, what if, what if...The voices ring through my head like an out of tune orchestra. So, instead, I remain safe by keeping up with Misdirected and creating a few ghost-writing posts a week for content mills like TextBroker. No way to make a living at it, but no fear of rejection or major impact to our lives should I suddenly stop.

But yesterday, life threw us a curve ball. One of our sources of secondary income just dried up, with no easy way to replace it. There is no real way to slash our expenses, either - we are already budgeted down to the last penny of my SSDI income, and as it is we receive some help from family members every single month. I briefly considered getting a part-time job, but I can vividly remember my last experiences with the regular work force - everything is fine until I start having seizures at work. Then, suddenly, things are not so great, and I am shortly looking for another minimum-wage job. It is a depressing and humiliating cycle.

No cure for Epilepsy yet: there is a reason I am on SSDI.

So, having been pushed off the diving board, I am either going to have to get myself into position for a dive or else go splat when I hit the water. This writing thing is going to have to turn into a regular revenue stream, like, now.

Accordingly, I turn to my "network" - the loyal readers of Misdirected. If any of you know anyone who is looking for contract writing, please let me know! I've written blog posts, magazine articles, product reviews...pretty much any kind of writing you can do on the Internet, I have done. Just some contact information for the person (or people) I should talk to would be great - I am happy to sell myself, but just need to know who I am selling myself to.

(Reading that last sentence creates so many opportunities for misunderstanding, but I think I will let it stand. Mock if you will.)

Thanks again to my loyal readers, and we'll be back to talking about bariatric surgery and all that pertains thereunto on Thursday!

"Thereunto" Just Means I Am Practicing Writer-ish Words,

- Hawkwind

We Interrupt This Broadcast...

On any given day, we spend some time here chatting about bariatrics. We talk about surgery, about obesity, about trials and tribulations, diet and exercise. Folks keep coming back to read more, so apparently there is some interest in the subject matter.

However, there are actually other things happening in my life that are not directly tied up in my "weight loss journey" (as the cool kids on the bariatrics websites like to call it.) Most of the time, they sort of happen off camera, unless they are directly tied up with my weight, i.e.: nearly falling off my roof because I was too heavy for my old ladder to hold me.

Today's subject has no relation to weight whatsoever, but is kind of a big deal to me anyway, so I am going to talk about it. Most of you know that I have been writing to supplement my disability income for several months now. I write reviews, blog posts, Twitter feeds - whatever is available from contractors on any given day. It pays almost nothing, but it keeps me off the street :-)

However, for several months now, I have been working with the folks over at Fiction Vortex to produce a serialized novel. They are the leading online source for serialized fiction, and when I proposed my dark fiction world to them back in June, to my astonishment, they agreed. We've now got 4 authors (3 of them great, one of them me) working in my bleak fictional city of Ash Falls. The Ash Falls "Serial Box", as Fiction Vortex calls them, is scheduled for weekly release in February of 2017.

To back up - what is serialized fiction? If you are of a certain age or geek-like disposition, think comic books. Otherwise, think of things like soap operas/Novelas instead. We have an overarching storyline that switches between groups of characters, all operating in the same environment. Comics, think the Marvel Universe. Soap Operas, think Port Charles of General Hospital. Lots of different storylines whose characters are maybe marginally aware of each other, but all operating in the same place/time.

With me so far? Each of our authors is producing a novel-length story - about 100,000 words, which works out in the neighborhood of 300 pages or so. However, these novels are being written in episodic format, like your favorite TV show. Each novel, then, works out to the equivalent of a "season", with a new episode being released every month. These episodes are then released on a staggered, weekly basis for each author. Since we have an assortment of authors and storylines happening, this means you get a new story/episode in this shared world every week.

Short version - you will never run out of things to read again. New content is being delivered every single week.

Now, after the conclusion of a certain storyline, you can purchase the book in its entirety, like a novel or trade paperback, if you prefer. I have done this for several wrapped up storylines myself. The authors are excellent, the stories are compelling, and the writing is at least as good as anything you will find available in the science fiction/fantasy section of Amazon or your local bookstore, and I am flattered and humbled that I have been invited to participate in their project.

On Monday, Fiction Vortex opened up a writer's contest to entice new talent into the fold. Prospective writers can submit a 3,500-word story that would fit into any of the currently existing "serial boxes", and winners will be given the opportunity to write a novel of their own within that shared world.

Ash Falls, the setting I created, is one of those potential serial boxes. And, as an introduction to the setting, the editors at Fiction Vortex have released Episode #1 of "Inheritance", my serialized novel, to the world.

As of the opening of this contest, I am not only a contract writer, but a published author as well.

If you have any interest in dark fantasy (vampires/werewolves/things that go bump in the night), feel free to read through Episode #1. If you have the slightest interest at all in science fiction or fantasy, I would encourage you to take a look at the other existing storylines and serial boxes already out on Fiction Vortex and try a few. We have over 30 authors producing premium content, and I can hardly wait till my stories start selling next year, so I can buy out the entire library at Fiction Vortex as my first "I am being paid to be an author" purchase. The stories and settings are that good.

Thanks for sharing my excitement with me! I'll be back to health-related news tomorrow.

You Have Now Been Returned To The Normal Internet,

- Hawkwind

Seeking: One Fat Hero

Photo Credit: Tolagunestro via Compfight cc

In the time when I am not gaming, creating blog articles, or reading, I write fiction. Like, quite a bit. Since being fitted with a C-PAP a couple years back I tend to have incredibly vivid dreams, and the last ones before I get up in the morning always seem to involve the same set of characters. So, I have created a mythology of sorts around these characters, and write little vignettes involving them. But, after I woke up and wrote down my notes this morning, it struck me - there are no overweight characters in these stories.

For that matter, I am hard pressed to think of overweight central characters in any story I have read, and I read a lot. I can think of fat and jovial innkeepers, large menacing bikers, and a bunch of lazy and obese programmers - but not a single overweight hero. It is as if the burden of carrying the story forward is so great that it acts like a constant cardio workout for these people, ensuring that they stay slim (or, in some cases, muscular.)

Even the oversized secondary characters in most stories aren't treated well. They are frequently used as a kind of comic relief - a mental visual gag if you will: Let's all laugh at the fatso as he tries to run away from danger. (Example: Any "slasher" horror film ever made.) Other times heavy individuals are used as more sinister characters: the overweight person is too lazy to achieve his goals as normal folks do, so uses treachery instead - the mercenary programmer from Jurassic Park is an excellent example. Very rarely, obesity is treated as a threatening quality - the previously mentioned "huge biker" would qualify. The original "Kingpin" character from Marvel comics comes to mind in this category. (Though a fine actor, Vincent D'Onofrio can hardly be described as obese, so his depiction of the Kingpin does not qualify here.)

In a sense, I get it. When we experience stories, especially when we read, we want to idealize the characters. We want to take their positive characteristics and find them reflecting off the fractal planes and edges of our own lives, hoping to recognize something "heroic" in ourselves. We do not necessarily want to see that which we don't like about ourselves highlighted in our entertainment. But seriously - in the "real world" of the United States more than half of us are overweight. Why don't the demographics of our entertainment reflect that?

More to the point, why don't my demographics hold up? Why are my stories filled with active, muscular men and size 6 women? In real life I like large women - I do not prefer the body style that "looks like a teenage boy with plums in his shirt pockets." (Spider Robinson) So, why am I not creating these characters? What flaw lies in me, and apparently in other authors, that does not allow for the creation of more realistic body types?

I am still troubled by this, and still don't have an answer yet. But, the next time I sit down to write, I know I will be aware of my previous failures here, and hopefully can begin to correct them. Maybe spotting this weakness now, before any of my fiction is ever published, is the best outcome I could have hoped for.

Still Angry At My Subconscious,

- Hawkwind

PS - Just thought of an obese central character: Don Corleone, from The Godfather. But he isn't exactly heroic, is he?