Tag: Reading

State of the Dread: Cinco de Mayo edition

February 1999, San Carlos Nuevo Guaymas, Mexico. I’ll always remember this shot because I was lying on a beach in agony after stepping on a stingray and I didn’t know you could piss on it.

WRITING

I’m a contributor at UpstreamReviews, I post weekly updates at CrackerStack, and I pick at a novel in between illustrations.

Writing news! I have begun formatting/editing HOWLING WILDERNESS. This means tightening up the writing, fixing things that changed later on, and getting it sized properly to match the other books in the series, which you should purchase if you have not yet already.

I settled on officially branding this book as an Engines of Liberty novel. (I had debated calling it something else.) It’ll be the final one under that moniker, and it serves as a solid epilogue to the Calvin Adler story. Also it bridges the Liberty era with the Justice era, so I can start plotting out Engines of Justice a little more deliberately.

I…kind of surprised myself with how much better I’ve gotten doing manual art in sketchbooks. I’m finally at a level where I can put it all on paper and illustrate an entire book that way, and it’s fast and I’m pleased with the results. I will still digitally render the biggest or best pieces, but the supplemental pieces won’t take so long, and this makes me very excited.

It annoys me that I didn’t get this book out two years ago like I wanted, but whatever. It’s getting done and my process is sharpening.

READING

Go subscribe to the CrackerStack for my weekly reading updates. If you become a paid subscriber, you’re helping me support my book habit. Thanks!

Busy week, I finished four books and did six more chapters in SHOGUN. This coming week I’ve got a full docket yet again. I’m back in the groove. In the coming weeks I shall probably read more stuff from my Speechify list, I’ve got reviews to write.

DRAWING

I’m an illustrator and I post on my Instagram account. Follow me there and I will update more regularly.

Knocked out a great one last week. We’re hammering right along. This week I shall finish another, of this there can be no doubt.

VIDEO

I have over 2,700 subscribers on YouTube. Are you one?

Busy week on the channel, I posted daily, and I finally did an Upstream Update video. Best vid was probably this one, though:

FITNESS

I’m on a shred right now and I’ve kept off five pounds this week, plus I’m lifting more at the gym. Haven’t worked up to maxes yet. Right now the focus is on form and on not hurting myself after work, lol.

Speaking of work, get back to it, but tomorrow, not today. Today is Sunday. Rest, go to church, then get back to work tomorrow.

State of the Dread: Feb 25-Mar 2

This used to be “really good” for me, I’ve gotten better…

WRITING

I’m a contributor at UpstreamReviews, I post weekly updates at CrackerStack, and I pick at a novel in between illustrations.

Very pleased to announce I wrote a thousand words on my next manuscript, which you can read over at the CrackerStack if you’re a premium supporter.

READING

Go subscribe to the CrackerStack for my weekly reading updates. If you become a paid subscriber, you’re helping me support my book habit. Thanks!

I really only finished one book, which was SERVANTS OF WAR. Video coming soon on that one. Tomorrow I’ll finish TOUR OF THE PRAIRIES by Washington Irving.

DRAWING

I’m an illustrator and I post on my Instagram account. Follow me there and I will update more regularly.

Finished a piece! I think my method for this book is “I’ll touch up the backgrounds when I’m all done.” Because they’ll need it, and I can do that in batches, but for now I need to get the individual pieces ready.

VIDEO

I have over 2,500 subscribers on YouTube. Are you one?

Big week for the channel, I’ve posted consistently since Monday. I’d like to keep that up. My biggest video was the one with Current Week buzzwords, which I kind of hate, but I had something relevant to say about it, so I regret nothing.

FITNESS

Got my weight back down to 215. I took a look at some food options and I’m committing hard to zero junk this week, no excuses. I need five days of clean eating. This is a test of wills. I’m setting aside Tuesday and Friday nights as exercise nights in the shop, too. Nothing fancy, just setting that time aside to do some iso for a few sets. Gotta get consistent. I’m losing the progress from PectoCracker last year.

Get back to work.

State of the Dread: Feb 18-24

Find a girl who looks at you the way my wife looks at God’s Mightiest Trucker.

WRITING

I’m a contributor at UpstreamReviews, I post weekly updates at CrackerStack, and I pick at a novel in between illustrations.

Last week my review of THE VINLAND SAGA #1 went live on Upstream. I posted a chapter on the Stack, and also posted my reading update. This week I’m setting aside time (late Friday night) to knock out a thousand words on a manuscript for next year, one that I’m tremendously excited about. I will also write a video script for the channel (TBD).

READING

Go subscribe to the CrackerStack for my weekly reading updates. If you become a paid subscriber, you’re helping me support my book habit. Thanks!

I have a few review books to read, I’m behind on those, but first I’m going to reread a fantasy from last year. I should be able to knock out four titles this week. Generally I can read a book in a day (trucker, audiobooks, etc) but I’m also following a few podcasts and streaming shows, I like to vary it up.

DRAWING

I’m an illustrator and I post on my Instagram account. Follow me there and I will update more regularly.

Didn’t get as far as I wanted on this week’s piece, but here’s my progress so far.

I’ll finish this and start another one. With a few long nights I can increase production.

VIDEO

I have over 2,500 subscribers on YouTube. Are you one?

If Rumble’s mobile interface was better, I would upload to that one regularly as well, but right now I don’t have the time to worry about it. I need them to improve their tech so I can post videos from my phone without delays.

Solid week on the channel, knocked out a video every weekday and I have a few audio files that just need video put to them. Very pleased with that. My best video was a recap of the “Year of Sanderson” novels.

FITNESS

Gained some weight back and only did the AbWheel once. I am deeply ashamed. Judge me for my fatness, and also for my weakness. This week I shall repent of both.

Get back to work.

State of the Dread: Feb 11-17

Go 49ers, I suppose. I’m happy for the Chiefs, I like Andy Reid and stuff, but the Patriots just finished their run and I don’t want to watch another dynasty unless it’s the Colts. Thus, on this go-round I hope Brock Purdy does the deed.

I was on vacation this week so I managed to finish up some projects.

WRITING

Over on the CrackerStack I posted the 26 riders in HOWLING WILDERNESS and their bios. I also posted some premium chapters from THE KORBADELL JOB so check those out and consider subscribing. In addition, I drafted a few pieces for Upstream.

This week I am mostly back on drawing, though I might draft some more video scripts.

READING

Since I was on vacation, I caught up on some print stuff for a change! This includes THE ELLIMIST CHRONICLES and a boat load of comics. Some will get videos, some will get posts. I also (finally) finished XENOS, a Warhammer novel.

This week I have another Reacher to read, as well as some new Audible pieces.

DRAWING

I didn’t draw as much as you might think. Being off work meant being off my schedule. I was awake alongside my kids a lot more, and that necessitated changes. I did finish a HW piece and started a new one.

Calico Hind takes his shot

This week I will finish that one and start another.

VIDEO

Jeez, I think I posted one video and went live once. Recording was about as difficult as drawing, and I wanted to spend time with the kids anyhow, so it is what it is.

I’m back on daily vids this week. Subscribe to the channel or public school kids will lose their love of reading.

FITNESS

Maintained my weight, hit the Ab Wheel twice, and fixed the pull up bar in the shop so I can spend some time out there.

Get back to work.

State of the Dread: Jan 21-27

Things I don’t miss: screwing around with chemboxes in the snow. (2019)

WRITING

Through my artwork on HOWLING WILDERNESS I realized I’ll need to explain certain things about the riders, so I came up with the idea of actually typing out their individual profiles and including them with the illustrations as excerpts from the in-world newspaper. So I’m picking at that when I’m stymied elsewhere.

Check out my Amazon page and buy a book.

READING

I powered through DISQUIET GODS by Ruocchio. Hefty series, almost impossible to summarize. I’ll do a writeup at UpstreamReviews in the coming weeks. Check the CrackerStack for my other reading updates.

DRAWING

Didn’t finish this piece, I stupidly picked one that required me to draw two feathered animals, and I had a few lost nights along the way. I’ll finish it by Tuesday of this week, and from there I will probably pick a simpler one to make up the time.

VIDEO

Had a few new ones on the channel, and the success continues. I’m happy and grateful. Should be purchasing some new channel tech in the next week or so.

The big news is that I’m openly declaring what I’ll no longer put up with in the comments. This has been the case for a while but racist histrionics are popping up a lot on my Mayflower stuff, so I’m putting it out there for everyone to know.

Talk dumb, get punted.

FITNESS

I am finally, for the most part, over whatever gunk had plugged up my lungs for the first two weeks of the year. On top of that I managed to lose two pounds. This week I’m hitting the ab wheel every day after work, it’s time to make AbCracker happen with a vengeance.

Back to work.

State of the Dread: Jan 14-20

Little bit cold out here.

WRITING

Zero this week. You’ll see throughout this report that I was waylaid with nasty throat gunk all week long. I had a productive Monday/Tuesday, then after that it was “work and survive” until the weekend. I’m not thrilled about it. This week I’m setting Wednesday and Saturday as my writing days.

READING

Naturally more productive on this front, but it’s easier to do so. I finished two books and punted on three, and I also caught up on some of my comic book reading. More on that over at crackerstack.substack.com.

This week I’m finishing a western called THE LEGEND OF PERLEY GATES (yeah) and tackling DISQUIET GODS by Ruocchio.

DRAWING

Finished another piece for HOWLING WILDERNESS. I’ll do a touch-up round on all of these when they’re done, I know (for example) that I’ll want to make the firework look more convincing and that will take some practice. I’ve never tried that effect before.

Gonna finish another piece this week.

VIDEO

I did manage to get a few out before my voice disappeared, one of them covered a book I didn’t finish. SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL.

FITNESS

The sickness has only exhausted me, and the cold makes it worse, so I haven’t been out to the shop. I freaking hate this time of year. On the positive side, I’m still under 215. Back at it.

Get to work.

State of the Dread: Jan 7-13

Okay, the New Year hangover is behind us, it’s time to solidify the process and see how the first week went. For me, it was about 50/50.

WRITING

I drafted a semi-long piece over at Upstream, comparing the film and novel versions of Jurassic Park. Going forward, I’ll have one writing night where I do an Upstream piece and a CrackerStack piece, and another night where I pick at CODE NAME RAZOR. Other than that, I am in drawing mode.

My next Upstream piece is a review of Godzilla Minus One, which goes live on January 11th. A little behind the curve, but the schedule was already full when I wrote it.

READING

Finished three books, including the fifth Sun Eater book. This week I will read at least three more. I have two titles I need to get to on Speechify, then Shadiversity’s book. I also need to pick a reading night with my family. Might be Sundays, now that I think of it…

Make sure you’re following the CrackerStack for full updates on the reading anyway.

DRAWING

Good news! Knocked out the first piece for HOWLING WILDERNESS. I have maybe 20 on the docket. This week I want to finish another one. Tall order, let’s see what I’ve got up my sleeve.

VIDEO

This week has been plagued with audio problems. I recorded a lot of segments but most of them have feedback issues so I can’t use them for decent videos. I’m trying to fine-tune that process, sorry for the lack of production. I did get one book review up, though.

The really cool part about last month is that the channel made a few dollars, and I can invest in some equipment to improve said channel. I’m putting together a list right now.

FITNESS

After spending a year doing push-ups, my brain is molded to that exercise as a preferred workout. I don’t want to lose the ability to do powerful sets like I have been for the last few months, I just want to work in other stuff.

Every day when I get home I’ll take the kids straight out to the shop and we’ll do some workouts. I’ll hit the ab wheel and the pull-up bar. That’ll be the start for this week, to just log reps and see what I can really do.

Aiight, get back to work.

State of the Dread: End of 2023 Report

Well gang, we survived. I won’t recap the entire year month-by-month, that is Dave Barry’s job, and he’s been at it for decades. In my more partisan days I would bristle at the jabs directed against My Side, but as I (hopefully) mature a little, I realize that Both Sides are dumb as dog $#!+ and nobody should be in charge of anything.

(Except for me. I have a secret plan. Make me president and I’ll fix it all.)

Anyway, here’s what I got up to in ’23, and what I’ll do in ’24 to build on it.

READING

I read 170 books.

This year I’m on deck to read another 150. I don’t care, this is my life now. That said, a lot of this stuff will be content fuel for the channel, and that gets me paid, so it’s a replenishing habit. Lol.

WRITING

I finished the manuscript for HOWLING WILDERNESS and published the print editions of SHERIFF PORTER and SIC SEMPER TYRANNOSAURUS.

My streak of at least one new publication per annum remains intact. Next year I will publish HOWLING WILDERNESS as well as the print edition (revised) of ANSWERABLE COURAGE.

Also, I’m going to get at least a first draft of CODE NAME RAZOR wrapped up. (Working title.)

Final cherry on top, not that it’s going to take a lot of my attention this year, but since 2026 is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, as well as the 10th anniversary of PATRIOT’S GAME, I’ll be releasing a hardcover omnibus of Engines of Liberty complete with some minor revisions, some new material (a trilogy of novellas called Engines of Winter) and most important, improved artwork.

“But Graham, you said you weren’t going to do that!”

Yeah well, guess what? I do what I want. But in seriousness, I do want to release better art, and I’ll be in a position to make it. The old stuff will still appear in the back of the book, in an old gallery. The new stuff will be digital and better.

DRAWING

I illustrated SHERIFF PORTER and did some other doodles along the way.

In ’24 I will fully illustrate HOWLING WILDERNESS, fully illustrate ANSWERABLE COURAGE, and post at least one drawing per week to my Instagram account.

As part of my ongoing artistic development, I will also read at least three of the art books that I have in my library, that I have not yet read.

AUDIO

I finished Radcracker with over 300 episodes in 5 years.

Now the podcast is done. What replaces it? Keep reading.

VIDEO

The channel has grown significantly in ’23. I finally got monetized, I more than doubled my subscriber count, and I’m getting regular engagement on a handful of videos.

I have added a second channel that I will build up in ’24. It’s called The Graham Hammer and it’s for all of the videos I want to do about things that aren’t book-related. That’s what the main channel is for. This is the outlet that will replace my podcasts, because Spotify has nuked the viability of that outlet by absorbing Anchor.

You can subscribe the channel here on YouTube. I’m still working on the Rumble side of things, but the plan is to have my videos post to both channels so I have a backup outlet. Building it up will be slow, but content will be regular, as I’m doing the exact same thing I did with Radcracker all these years.

FITNESS:

I hit my goal of 25,000 pushups. I missed my goal of weighing 200lbs. In 2024 I commit to doing a few things different.

First, I will renew my focus on intermittent fasting, which I have had success with in the past. This year I allowed poor discipline and excuse-making to creep in with regard to my half-graveyard shift, and I was more or less constantly eating. Even though I log ten miles a day at work on my feet I still didn’t lose weight so I have to change. My hard eating window will be 12 hours, and I will adjust it month-by-month in response to my actual work schedule.

Second, I will continue my habit of daily pushups but I don’t think I will do them at work any longer, like I did this year. I should knock those out at home with my children. Further, I’m not aiming for volume in ’24. I’m aiming at variants. I want to be able to do 10 handstand pushups, 10 one-armed pushups on each side, and 1-3 other difficult types, including diamonds. I’m still brainstorming on this one, but basically I want to do 5 different types of push-ups.

Third, I am going to master my Ab Wheel. I have been extremely sporadic with that thing and it’s time to go whole-hog. This will require me to focus more on core exercises, which is good. There was a time when I actually had six-pack abs (it was 21 years ago…) and I can do it again. I’m just sloppy.

These three things are within my reach. I will do other fitness-related things, this is simply the foundation I will lay beneath it all.

CONCLUSION

2024 will be just another year in a lot of ways. But so was 2023, with the caveat that I accomplished much of what I set out to do, so I will carry that momentum forward and get better in measurable ways.

Get back to work.

State of the Dread: December 10-16

WRITING

Worked more on the outline for CODE NAME RAZOR, the working title of Intrepids no 1.

READING

Finished a couple of good ones that will soon get video reviews. This week my big focus is on knocking out a couple of chonkers, namely BEN-HUR and HERETICS OF DUNE. Oh, and a Christmas Western I have.

Also I have a ton of comics to read, lol.

DRAWING

Working on my family Christmas card. Also did a few doodles in my SketchWallet. Nothing to post here.

Once I finish the Christmas card, we are whole-hog on illustrating HOWLING WILDERNESS. That is the main project to knock out.

AUDIO

The most misogynistic episode of Radcracker yet! Listen to it before your woman does! Only 3 of these left!  Subscribe on Apple, Google, or Spotify.

VIDEO

Recorded a while back and published just this week. This last Friday I went to the movies and saw Godzilla Minus One instead of recording anything new, and it was excellent.

FITNESS

Down to 213, and I hit 24k on PectoCracker. Onward to victory! Get back to work.