Gardener vs. Architect

Erebus is going to be my first novel. The process has been exhilarating to say the least. Because this is my first work of fiction, I've been playing around with different ways to write the story. Even once I'm finished, I don't think I'll know my exact approach to writing books. In fact, I have a strong feeling that'll change with each book I write. 

I think George R.R. Martin put it best when comparing the two approaches with "gardeners" and "architects." I'm definitely in the gardener category.  I wrote the first draft of Erebus from start to finish without any outlining. In between drafts, I created an outline based on what I wrote and already I am far from that outline. 

And that's the thing with outlines, they are meant to be broken. For me, it's a useful tool to see how scenes are structured. But by no means am I married to them. New characters have already found their way into the stories, old ones have vanished into the background. It's exciting seeing a story take on a life of its own. 

Not everything is seat of the pants writing (although that first draft very much felt like that). I have goals. Things are placed with intent and I'm kind of just seeing where the story takes it. If it doesn't work, well, I end up revising. And that's okay. I've already had to rewrite the first two chapters of the second draft because a character found their way into the story and created a sub-plot that just didn't fit the rest of the story. 

Anyway, I found that very interesting from Martin, and considering I'm giving A Song of Ice and Fire another read, I wanted to share this.

Blackhawks Pre-Draft Thoughts Part II

                                

Moments after I posted yesterday's musings about the Blackhawks and their lack of trades (and the potential for a lackluster draft), they go ahead and do this shit:

FULL TRADE: #Blackhawks acquire Bowen Byram and Jordan Greenway from #Sabres for the 4th overall pick in the 2026 draft, the 45th overall pick (NYI 2nd), and Louis Crevier (per @frank_seravalli)

— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) June 24, 2026

So it looks like there isn't going to be a top-five pick this year and certainly not one involved in a trade that got Connor Bedard a top-six winger. That's still the Hawks biggest need this offseason. And yes, the Hawks could still theoretically grab that (although I don't see that happening, especially since they seem high on Roman Kantserov). Why not have both? Settle for the high-end defenseman prospect from the draft, go find yourself the top-six winger, GM. 

Bowen Byram makes the Blackhawks blue line better. But the price to get him was steep. The No. 4 pick, a second rounder, and Louis Crevier. And if you've read my other Hawks articles, you know how I feel about Crevier. 

Byram is also a free-agent with a contract that expires next year. The real twist in the gonads isn't that he could wait out the year and head off into free agency, it's that he can ask Kyle Davidson to pay him No. 1 defenseman money, which is north of $10 mil. He'll get to do this before he's even proved to the Hawks that he can be that guy. And by most pundits, it's unlikely that he is. 

So, what gives? Is the Hawks defenseman pipeline not as good enough as Davidson believed? 

Like all (or most) Hawks fans, I hope I'm proven wrong and that this actually pans out. Otherwise, this is a serious mark against Davidson amongst a growing list of serious concerns. 

Blackhawks Pre-draft Thoughts

                                                

It's been a minute since I've written about the Blackhawks, hasn't it?

The NHL Entry Level Draft is this Friday. I'll be honest, with work and the two books that I'm working on, I haven't had much time to devote to hockey. I didn't catch as much of the Stanley Cup Playoffs as I'd normally like. I'm sure as shit not following prospects to an in depth level. 

And that's the thing, with every year since Bedard's draft year, I've grown less and less interested in prospects. Most of these kids aren't going to play in the NHL. There's a high likelihood of Kyle Davidson drafting a player you don't like. It's just a crap shoot. 

With Gavin McKenna going at No. 1 (most likely), Caleb Malhotra and Ivar Stenberg are the two next forwards likely to be gone by the Hawks pick at four. However, there is the likelihood that San Jose drafts a defenseman (Chase Reid). See below on that San Jose pick.

The possibility of Kyle Davidson trading the No. 4 overall pick to acquire a player is also being floated around. If it's Matthew Knies, sure. Anyone else and it'd have to be a big surprise. 

Much like the end of the season where my interest in this team plummeted, I'm not all too excited for the draft. If we end up with Stenberg, I'll be happy. 

Lifting Weights: Tactical Barbell

                                  

Just around the corner is Tactical Barbell III. And I can't wait. 

Tactical Barbell has been a staple in my programming since 2016 (holy shit, that's 10 years). I used it to get fast and strong for OCS and kept it in my rotation whenever life got too busy. It's a minimalist program. The templates are simple and it follows very closely to Jim Wendler's 5/3/1. In fact, it's basically the same program with some tweaks. 

Below I dive into the nuts and bolts of my training, you can skip down to the Thoughts section if you don't want to read that stuff. There's a lot of jargon in there specific to the program.

Base Building

This iteration has been going on since last September. I came to the conclusion that running is the best cardio for me (despite my efforts to give it the cold shoulder since 2023, when I left the Marine Corps). So, in order to get back into running, I kicked off with base building. Here's how that went:

DAY	WEEK 1	WEEK 2	WEEK 3	WEEK 4
1	SE 3x20	SE 3x30	SE 3x40	SE 1x50
2	E 30M	E 40M	E 50M	E 60M
3	E 30M	E 40M	E 50M	E 60M
4	RECOVERY	RECOVERY	RECOVERY	RECOVERY
5	SE 2x21	SE 2x21	SE 2x41	SE 1x51
6	E 35M	E 45M	E 55M	E 60M
7	REST	REST	REST	REST
DAY	WEEK 5	WEEK 6	WEEK 7	WEEK 8
1	SE 3x50	Max Strength	Max Strength	Max Strength
2	E 45M	HIC	HIC	HIC
3	E 45M	RECOVERY	RECOVERY	RECOVERY
4	RECOVERY	Max Strength	Max Strength	Max Strength
5	SE 2X50	HIC	HIC	HIC
6	E 45M	E 30-60M	E 30-60M	E 30-60M
7	REST	REST	REST	REST

Note: E-Endurance (run) SE- Strength Endurance HIC-High Intensity Cardio

I started at 195 lbs with the goal of dropping to 185 and maintaining that. This program is not very friendly for cutting weight (as is warned in the book). But I know my body and how to slowly cut weight with this workload.

I won't get too much into what SE entails or any of that. Feel free to hit me up if you're interested. But every time I run this version of base building, I feel good. My strength takes a hit (as expected) but my running feels solid. 

When I did this for OCS, I will say that I modified this with base building for specific running programs.

Continuation

Following that, I started my two phases of Operator with "Black" as my endurance protocol. I'm currently on block two of my second phase, which looks like this:

Week		1	2	3	4	5	6
Sets X Reps		3-5 x 5	3-5 x 5	3-4 x 3	3-5 x 5	3-5 x 3	3-4 x 1-2
Session One
1 RM %		70%	80%	90%	75%	85%	95%
Squat		210	240	270	225	255	285
Bench		170	190	215	180	205	230
Weighted Pull-up		175	200	225	190	215	240
Session Two
1 RM %		70%	80%	90%	75%	85%	95%
Squat		210	240	270	225	255	285
Bench		170	190	215	180	205	230
Weighted Pull-up		175	200	225	190	215	240
Session Three
1 RM %		70%	80%	90%	75%	85%	95%
Squat		210	240	270	225	255	285
Bench		170	190	215	180	205	230
Deadlift		265	300	340	280	320	355

My endurance training is below:

Day	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3
1	S	S	S
2	HIC	HIC	HIC (Easy)
3	S	S	S
4	HIC	HIC	HIC (Easy)
5	S	S	S
6	E x 60 MIN	E x 60 MIN	E (Easy)
7	Rest	Rest	Rest

S- Strength Training

I'm coming up on week five of block 2, after which, I'll retest my estimated 1 rep max. 

Thoughts

This program is great when you need flexibility or you're trying to balance running and weight lifting. Obviously, this isn't the most optimal program for pure strength training, but that's not my goal. I needed program that fits my tight schedule. It's dummy proof. You figure out your numbers and you just run it. 

I feel a lot stronger after each iteration. It's actually hard not to adjust the numbers but that's where the magic of this program comes from. You aren't supposed to "gas" yourself out during each workout. 

The biggest negative is the repetitive nature of the weight lifting program. Squatting and bending every session gets old fast. If you like variety, this will be a challenge, although the book offers plenty of alternatives. I personally can't see myself breaking away from the traditional Squat/Bench/Deadlift holy trinity. 

As far as caloric intake goes, I've stayed consistently at 185 pounds. But this is a tough program to eat maintenance. With all of the running you'll easily fall below maintenance. So you need to make sure you're eating enough. 

Foundation: A Review

I've had this series on my to-read list for a hot minute. Isaac Asimov is such an influential author in the sci-fi genre that I'd be doing myself a disservice to not read his works. 

Asimov originally wrote the Foundation series as individual pieces during the 40s. So the first book isn't one singular story, rather it details the history of "The Foundation" through the eyes of various influential characters. The work was written to mirror the fall of the Roman Empire. 

Foundation

What a book. 

The story starts with Gaal Dornick (the first of many view point characters) arriving on Trantor, the capital planet of the Imperial Empire. Think Coruscant from Star Wars. Dornick is a doctor joining the team of renowned mathematician Hari Seldon. Immediately, Dornick finds out that the job he signed up for isn't exactly what he thought it was. 

Without giving away spoilers, Seldon has predetermined the fall of the Galactic Empire through a science called "psychohistory." He has predicted that a dark age will take place and essentially wipe out human history (not humanity itself, just the civilized part). To combat that, he has started the "Encyclopedia Foundation" to create a massive repository of human arts, history, and science. The Foundation secures a remote planet called Terminus where they are charged with preserving the Empire's knowledge.

The book follows the Foundation through history as it faces a series of crises that threaten to destroy it. Each event has been predetermined by Seldon—to an extant—and the reader views how certain influential characters respond to each event.

My Thoughts

I loved it. My favorite part of the book is the world building. I really enjoyed exploring the idea of turning science into a religion in order to control potential rivaling "kingdoms" and the parallels with the Roman Empire.

I also really enjoyed the structure of the book and the different viewpoints. I felt that it made for a fun read by trying to figure out what the next crises was and how the characters were going to respond (although it became somewhat predictable).

On the flip side of that were the characters themselves. I felt this was a weak point. Because each viewpoint is constrained to specific time in history, we don't get fully fleshed arcs. But the characters aren't the point of the story, it's world. The idea of what the Galactic Empire and the Foundation represents is the focal point. And we have to remember that this book was written as standalone short stories. 

Some of the dialogue might come across as dry, but I didn't mind it. It's the idea of what the Foundation is that is engaging, and because of that, there aren't big action scenes (there's a couple). So if you're looking for a Star Wars-type story, you might be disappointed.

I gave the book a 5/5 which I reserve for really influential pieces of work. I really found the idea of this book fascinating and can't wait to continue the series. 

Writing Updates: June 1, 2026

This month's newsletter is now out which is where you can find my latest updates on the books I'm working on. Click the link here, or just read ahead for the main meat. 

Book Updates

Afghan Memoir

The first drafts for both deployments are complete. I still need to add other people’s perspectives. Here’s what’s next:

• Interviews: Hitting the homies up for phone calls.
• Revision: Working on a second draft. Once that’s done, I’ll be adding non-1/7 81s stories. 

Erebus

The working title for my first science fiction novel is Erebus. It’s basically my take on Halo: Combat Evolved told from the viewpoint of a Lance Corporal. The first draft was finished last month, and I’ll be working on the second draft later this month.

Starhammer: A Review

I've thought about doing book reviews and I'm torn on the idea. One, I don't think very many of you will read these (and that's okay... I get it), and two, I don't want to spend an insane amount of time drafting a full blown book review. That takes time away from the real work.

So instead, I think I'll do something like this when I finish a book worth reading. Christopher Rowley's Starhammer was a hell of read. And you should try to get your hands on a copy. You'll be a little hard pressed to find one, however. The book was first published in 1986 and is out of print. You'll have to snag a copy on Amazon. 

Why should you read it?

Well, other than this being a direct inspiration for Halo: Combat Evolved (the direct inspiration for my book), this is fun, pulpy Sci-Fi that'll take you out of this world. 

Starhammer

Thousands of years in the future, humanity ran into another space faring race called the laowon. The laowon are far more advanced than humans and decided to enslave a large portion of them. Both races live in their corners of the galaxy, but the laowon used humans to breed their own slave population and created new human breeds to fill certain needs (like pinheaded guards). 

Jon Iehard is the protagonist and is from one of the slave populations in laowon controlled space. He escapes the Laowon Imperium, settles on a human space hub, and eventually finds work in the police—specifically work in the Murder Squads, who eliminate serial killer terrorists. 

Iehard is tasked with finding a wanted man in the Laowon Imperium. A man who is linked to a religious terrorist group. It's this job that sends Iehard on the run and on a journey to uncover an ancient super weapon known as Starhammer.

The Connection to Halo

Without giving too much of the plot away, the inspirations from Rowley's work is evident. The main protagonist named Jon to John in Halo, the floating mote named Rhapsodical Stardimple to 343 Guilty Spark, the super weapon Starhammer to Halo, the ancient race of batrachians to the Forerunner. 

The biggest draw, however, is the Vang: a parasitic life form that Starhammer was created to destroy. Much like the Flood in Halo and how Halo is used to kill the Flood's food source (ie. life). 

The Vang is more fully fleshed out in the follow on books, but they make an appearance here. And man, are they good. The way that Rowley introduces their history and lore sent chills and when you eventually do encounter the Vang, you want more. 

My Thoughts

The book itself is solid. I gave it a 4/5 stars on Goodreads. At times, it felt like it was a 3.5 star book. The pacing of the plot is solid, although at times it can feel a bit too fast (which I'll take over a slow book anyway). The world building is phenomenal and clearly the strength of this book. Because this was written in the '80s some of the Sci-Fi tech might seem dated, but that adds to the charm of this book.

Where the book struggles is character development. Most of the characters aren't fully fleshed out, some I wish were explored more but are literally just tacked onto the plot. There's a lot of names to keep track of. Anything laowon was difficult to follow since there's always new laowon characters introduced inside a complex political structure. 

The ending also felt a bit rushed. The climax is fine, but then it just sort of... ends? The questions raised at the beginning of the book are answered, but some of those answers felt rushed.