Category: Writing

This category contains all of my writing

Continuing the posts on the characters in “Conduit: The Beginning”, Adrianna is next on the list.

Beautiful, feisty, and an incredible shot with a gun, Adrianna, is not a woman to be pushed around. Though she may come across as short tempered, Adrianna is a person one would want around when times are tough.

Wife to Jack Connor, and like Jack, will not tolerate any sort of harm to those she loves. Having grown up in the country, Adrianna has learned how to get by through hard times and with little help.

Sometimes she may appear to be a cold person and slow to accept others, Adrianna loves with all her heart. Emotional and sometimes too quick to judge, people on the outside of her circle may write her off as mean and unyielding.

When the world is turned upside down and catastrophe strikes, Adrianna’s true colors show and she is shown for the beautiful and courageous person that she truly is.

I finally have taken the plunge and set up my account on Twitter.  It’s still amazing to me that I have successfully avoided the Twitter craze for as long as I have.  It also amazes me how ignorant I am to how it all works.

Setting up my profile was very easy to do with the hardest part being the process of deciding on a username that wasn’t already taken: JamesAlexander – No, James_Alexander – No (How many of me are out there?), Alexander_James – No, JAlexander – Of course not, I even tried James_Alexander1979 – No again.  At that point I banged my head against the keyboard, mashing all the keys and leaving strange indents in my forehead to get username laksdjfajofiwej and guess what?  If you guessed it wasn’t taken, you’re right.  But why would I want that for a username?

In the end, I wound up with JAlexander_2012.  I know – not extremely original, but better then laksdjfajofiwej.

With all that out of the way, I proceeded to upload my photo – which I had to resize multiple times to get Twitter to accept.  Proud, I leaned back in my chair admiring my handiwork.  And there it was.  The number 0 staring back at me for the number of tweets I have made.  I needed to take care of that immediately!  140 characters are all I need.  That should be easy!

*Crickets*

OK, 140 characters and NO followers listed.  What do I tweet about?  I never realized I’d have that dilemma.  So I thought to myself, Really?  C’mon!  You can do this!

*Crickets*

Finally, with no genius ideas coming to mind, I decided I’d do what I do when I write and hit a wall of self-doubt or a block – just write anything!  This is what my first tweet was (Get ready!  It’s amazing!):

“This is the first tweet of my life!”

Yes, lame.  I know.  But it did get the ball rolling – at least until my next tweet.  So there is my writing tip – buried in this post.  If you don’t know what to write or are in a block – write.  Who cares if it’s garbage?  It can always be edited later.  True, in my case, my first Twitter post will haunt me forever, but I’m proud of it.  First, I’m on Twitter, which I never thought I would be, second, I pushed past my First Twitter Post phobia, and third, I can’t post any worse of tweet than that.  So my only way is up from there.

I’d love some followers on Twitter where I will be posting news on my current work as well as cool things about my projects I have already completed.  Who knows – maybe someday I’ll post something witty!

Now that my book “Conduit: The Beginning” is starting to reach some readers, I’m hoping to start some discussion around the many characters in the book.  I’m anxious to hear what character people loved to read about the most.

I will be starting another category for all the characters in Conduit and will start in the order as characters are presented in the story.  First up is Jack Connor.

Jack Connor, an average man, who cares for his family above all else is the kind of person most people would want for a friend.  Dependable, easy-going, hardworking, and kind are all words that describe Jack.  Though Jack tends to want everyone to get along, he isn’t one that can be pushed.  Hurting those he loves is the worst thing you could do, because Jack will not back down from a fight.

Not to give the story away, Jack is a very important character that saves the life of Marcus as a baby, who will grow to be the only hope for humanity through an alien invasion.  Without thinking, Jack puts himself in harms way to save a baby he had never known.

My goal for this character was to show how an ordinary person, everyone can relate to, can rise to take action when necessary and how important they are to our world.  Anyone can rise to be a hero, regardless of their work or history.

Jack hates his job.  It is demeaning to him and he feels deep down that he is meant for more then what he does for work, yet he goes to work everyday because he cares about his family and needs to support his wife and child.

Caught in the usual daily events, Jack’s life takes a sharp turn when an event at a mall occurs and turns Jack from an everyday man into a hero.