Looking back at 2017: Top 5 articles on Super Powered Fiction

I did not publish as much this year as I have in the past. Things came up that derailed just about everything, from battles with intestinal issues (three times) to depression and money issues. It's been a rough go and that meant sometimes this blog suffered. But here are the five high points of my 2017 blog publishing schedule, even if they came as sometimes low points for my life.

I rarely need a ton of excuses to post a picture of beautiful women, but I'll use this one 
to give another look at the lovely (and inspiring) Ginary Suicide. Imag: SuicideGirls.com.

• Where I've been, or when life leaves you with no lemonade
  
  This is the post where I covered some my issues in the first half of the year. I won't pretend they're all fixed, but a job change and (relatively) better health have helped a lot.
  
  
• A few thoughts on Wonder Woman
  
  I didn't catch the Gal Gadot vehicle until it hit VOD, but I threw out a few of my thoughts on why it succeeds while other DC releases have not.
  
  
• Succubi and sucky jobs
  
  I still haven't quite wrapped my urban fantasy project, but this article talks about a few of my plans there as well as those aforementioned positive job changes.
  
  
• Star Wars, divisive pop culture and entitlement
  
  Because it needs to be said again and again, I wrote this article on why it is okay to not like the new Star Wars while still letting everyone else love it and it continue in the direction Lucasfilm has chosen.
  
  
• On Cornell
  
  I wrote this one after Chris Cornell took his own life. I have to be honest that while I was never at that point, I was certainly spiraling towards it. His suicide was a sobering moment for yours truly and it still leaves me with a spirit to fight. Godspeed, Chris. 

We will end the week of looking back (with one last article on 2017 in the wings for next week) with Chris Cornell's last major hit, one whose Old West music video has been removed from online. Featuring Cornell escaping a hanging, it seems it was deemed too dark in the wake of his death. But "Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart" is an amazing song from an immense talent that needs to be heard.

A change would do you good...

Sang by Sheryl Crow in 1997, those words now pass a certain level of judgment on Super Powered Fiction. It is simply time for this sight to change.


As a writer with a full time day job, time is of the essence. And as I continue to blog here and at The Wrestling Weekday, I have realized I am desperately cutting into the time I have to write actual fiction. Mixed with depression issues, I have often found my writing slowed to a crawl and that stops today.

Opale Suicide remains a perfect icon for time
in my eyes. Copyright Suicide Girls.

Time has become a terribly important commodity for me as I seek to have enough time to write, to spend with my family and to stay mentally healthy in 2016 and beyond.

This doesn't mean the site will dry up or go away. In fact, I hope it means it will become better focused. I will drop the content from five updates to an average of one to two a week. And while I will stop in occasionally for a new installment of Best Character Ever or Kickstart the Week, most of the site will focus on my personal projects, just as my writing time is now focused on those projects.

If you just can't get enough of my blogging, first thank you, and second, I'll still be out there. I will continue to update The Wrestling Weekday with three updates a week minimum while Walking Shadows will continue its Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday release schedule for the foreseeable future.

Additionally, I will be adding more extra content to the Patreon over the coming weeks as I will have more time to directly communicate with my supporters there. I have tons of plans in place should that program start to take off both for more content here as well, so please consider donating even a dollar a month to the program to help support my writing.

I will have a final way to contact folks interested in my content, but it will debut a bit later in the month. I will have more details on that one shortly, after I'm sure everything is set up correctly.

Writing and life

Image copyright Suicide Girls.

Sometimes life just gets in the way of good writing. We have all faced that problem. Family events, illnesses of loved ones, physical injuries. I've covered the first two quite well in the first six months of 2015 and this month I get to experience the third.

I have been dealing with extreme back pain for over a week now and was finally diagnosed today with a herniated disc between my sixth and seventh vertebra. With the level of damage it has sustained, my best bet is for its removal and fusion. If all goes as planned, I will be in surgery before this weekend, then have a day or two of recovery at the hospital before a long stay (a minimum of a month) at home.

Thankfully my day job does have a short term disability plan that will keep me covered for the weeks I am away from work. It doesn't offer my full pay, but it will provide enough to get buy on our bills and keep our family afloat.

It will also give me plenty of time to write, albeit in a neck brace, but still a lot of time. I am going to try my best to complete a few projects during that time off my feet and on limited movement, but who knows what complications will come with it.

I write this not for pity, but to show a bit of the struggles that a less-than-full-time writer deals with it on a daily or monthly basis. And maybe to tell everyone out there to take good care of your neck. You never know when it will just give out on you.

Today's image is of the Suicide Girl named Revenge. Because if I'm going to talk about the harshness of being a writer at times, I can at least show this super-idealized image of the life.

Time for a brief hiatus

There is only so much time in this world.

Something about this image of Opale Suicide
 just perfectly encapsulates the fleeting
nature of time to me. Copyright SG.

As I continue to try and push for more time on my current writing projects (book three of Lightweight and my Kindle Worlds G.I. Joe release), I have found myself losing time to keep updating here and abroad. Because of that, I figured it was time to announce a few days away from posting on Super Powered Fiction.

Don’t worry too much though. My plan is to only be away for two weeks as on June 8 I will return to start ramping up for the release of the collected Lightweight: Black Death on June 12.

So keep reading. Keep loving superheroes. And keep fighting The Good Fight.