Musings from the basement...

MUSIC: Some new drones & tones by Eric

Last week I wrapped up my latest collection of guitar soundscapes, tones and drones. Part of my m2 project, these are long instrumental pieces made up entirely of droning guitar sounds. Sometimes they’re soothing, sometimes they’re abrasive. It’s not for everyone. I’ll be adding it to my music archive blog soon, but for those who enjoy this sort of thing you can give these swirls of sound a listen here. Thanks for listening. m2 The Endless Twelve 1) Sunday Bliss Can’t Lift, Can Only Pretend (7:05) 2) Falling Back Into It (10:38) 3) Etched On Me Is A Waiting Demon (7:38) 4) The Endless Twelve (24:54) 5) Sobriety (5:02)

WRITING: Some excellent blogs and resources

In a previous post I mentioned a few blogs and resources you should consider following if you’re interested not just in the craft of writing, but getting paid for it. ‘Cause doing something you love is nice, but getting paid for it is even nicer. Well, here are a few more. The Swivet is a mixed bag of odds and ends, but it always returns to writing. It first caught my attention with an excellent piece about self promotion that all aspiring writers ought to read, ESPECIALLY if you’re about to be or have just been published. Plenty of good advice in this blog. It also frequently returns to oft-asked questions such as how long your novel should be. It’s largely all about promoting itself,…
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Did you forget about Pitched 2?

I may have grown up with the heavy burden of everlasting shame on my shoulders, but I’m not so full of shame that I can’t remind folks about awesome things like Pitched! 2: Seven More Stories, the excellent (if I do say so myself) comic anthology my collaborators and I dropped on the world last fall. I’ve already done plenty of blogging about it and have posted lots of early samples. Plus, if you surf over to my website you can see finished pages from great stories like Voice of the Universe (done in collaboration with Rick Lundeen) and Some Time With The Family (featuring artists Logan Reilly and James Pipik, and letterer John Mietus), just two stories created in collaboration with a group of…
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Pay it forward

I don’t normally use my blog for this sort of thing but felt like this was something I wanted to share: A little real life story about doing good things for other people. The story has been kicking around for a while now — in fact, this blog post was written back in December, I just never got around to pushing it live — but if you haven’t yet read it, I urge you to. It’s one of those beautiful real life stories that give you some faith in the inherent good in people.

Win a copy of STUFF EVERY HUSBAND SHOULD KNOW

Stuff Every Husband Should Know

A wonderful blog/website called Baby Budgeting is currently holding a contest to win an assortment of five great family books, including the latest from yours truly, Stuff Every Husband Should Know (Quirk Books, April 2011). You can read about the contest and learn how to enter at their website. (How to enter is at the bottom of the blog post.) The contest ends on Friday, so get over there and enter!