I'm trying to be better about self-promoting my work, so here it is. Benregesh is a high-flying action fantasy. Think a light novel on steroids. Over 700 pages, with 30 pages of manga art included as extras. If you're looking for bombastic action, heart-warming romance, and terrifying monsters, then look no further. Seriously, there are some action scenes in this book that will make your jaw drop. Part of how I facilitate that action is through my setting. Benregesh takes place in a distinct, unique world with original races, fantastic locales, and a mind-bending sense of scale. Seriously, you've never read anything like this. At it's core, though, the characters were my favorite part of writing Benregesh. Whether it's Kaleb's scrappy wit, Rael's search for redemption, or Avia's absolute badassery, each character was a joy to flesh out and explore. If you think this sounds interesting, you can check out the book over at amazon.com/dp/B0C7L5R85V If you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, you can grab the book for free. If you enjoy it, be sure to leave a review.

Reminds me of a time on my mission when we went to go clean an old man's house. He'd had a stroke a couple months prior, and his family (who lived across the street from him) weren't taking care of him. The little shack he lived in was covered—and I mean absolutely covered—in garbage and feces. To date, it is one of the nastiest things I have ever seen. We wore full body scrubs and face masks, and we sanitized the heck out of our PPE. But everyone that came to help was gagging hard. At least one church member threw up. And once we got through the layer of garbage down to the feces-encrusted mattress that he'd been sleeping on, we found beneath it a dead Centipede. This wasn't some cute little millipede that you find out in your garden. It was a big old terrifying monster with pincers and venom that would make you miserable in eight different ways. And it was lying dead under his compressed mattress. The most galling thing was that his family came out onto the street to complain that we were doing this. That they could take care of him just fine. They were letting him live in this squalor, but what we were doing was offensive because it brought to light just how negligent and wicked they were. We didn't say anything to them. What was there to say that wouldn't result in hands being thrown? But I think the takeaway is that sometimes there's an elephant in the room. It's big, it's annoying, but it needs to be addressed. And other times there's a centipede under the mattress. It's venomous, it's dangerous, and it's rotting. But it still needs to be addressed all the more, even if you have to go digging through someone else's garbage and feces to do so. Not because you want to, or because it's easy, or because it's fun. Or even because someone asked you to. Because it's right.

"Old cards." I really do feel old because the last time I was really into Yu-Gi-Oh was right around the time GX dropped.

Friendly reminder that not everything is about min-maxxing. Sometimes, devs can add something because it's cute. Baby pokemon were a fun addition to the series, and as others have noted, highlighted the new Pokemon breeding mechanics.

Today was a good writing day. I needed to be a great writing day. Tomorrow I've gotta lock in.

Fun fact: next week, on the Carbines & Cantrips podcast with @DirtbaggeryBR, we'll be playing a session of goblins bootlegging moonshine through 1930s Appalachia. Yes, we'll be bringing goblin voices. Yes, you'll probably want to shoot us by the end of the session.

As an autodidact, I sometimes find it necessary to autoflagellate.

There's a LitRPG premise here: "I Died and Went to Another World Programmed by a Moron."

If anyone ever asks what the hardest part of writing my space opera was, I'm going to emphatically answer, "The dang Swamp Hydra!"

It's also how I approach recommendations. Just because something isn't for me doesn't mean it's bad, and if I think it'll be a good fit for someone, I'll recommend it to them.

Nick Searcy is waging a just and righteous war against mayonnaise. One could even say it's a crusade against crappy condiments.

I am an uncle. And I do like pixel art.

I learned long ago that if I reach the point where I'm ready to cuss them out, it's time to block them and move on. And for the most part, I've stuck to that rule. On very rare occasions, I'll cuss them out BEFORE I block them.

These two scenes go so well together.