ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Weston Ochse is a former intelligence officer and special operations soldier who has engaged enemy combatants, terrorists, narco smugglers, and human traffickers. His personal war stories include performing humanitarian operations over Bangladesh, being deployed to Afghanistan, and a near miss being cannibalized in Papua New Guinea. His fiction and non-fiction has been praised by USA Today, The Atlantic, The New York Post, The Financial Times of London, and Publishers Weekly. The American Library Association labeled him one of the Major Horror Authors of the 21st Century. His work has also won the Bram Stoker Award, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and won multiple New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. A writer of more than 26 books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson. His military sci fi series, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war. Weston likes to be called a chaotic good paladin and challenges anyone to disagree. After all, no one can really stand a goody two-shoes lawful good character. They can be so annoying. It's so much more fun to be chaotic, even when you're striving to save the world. You can argue with him about this and other things online at Living Dangerously or on Facebook at Badasswriter. All content of this blog is copywrited by Weston Ochse.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

GRUNT LIFE - Up Against Deadlines and War

I knew this was going to happen.

I have 33 days left in Afghanistan.

The book is due in 27 days.

I have roughly 60 pages left to complete the first draft of my novel for Solaris Books, Grunt Life.

It should be easy.

But the problem is that I have 33 days left in Afghanistan. We're trying to deal with an enemy here who wants to kill innocent civilians as well as our own soldiers. It's my job to try and protect both of them. I'm constantly busy. I'm working 14-16 hour days. I come home exhausted. But like tonight, I sit down and pump out some pages and do some edits. Grunt Life is all that I am working on. It IS my spare time.

This is going to be an amazing book. If it hits right, it's going to hit HUGE. As writers we are able to recognize such things. My internal voice keeps saying, "You got something special here. Don't fuck it up." And I'm trying desperately not to.

How am I going to finish and edit this novel in 27 days and not screw it up?

Stressed?

Who me? Stressed?

Gah!

 Enough whining.

Now I got to get back to it.

More words.

More pages.

Progress the plot.

Kill aliens.

Catharsis.

Redemption.

Gunfire.

Sex.

War!

GRUNT LIFE!

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1 comment :

  1. AnonymousOctober 9, 2013 at 5:29 PM

    Okay, so I'm not really anoymous, but those other things are too much trouble. As someone who writes much slower than you do, I am in awe of your output.

    Write Weston, write! Also get enough sleep, drink lots of water, and eat lots of lean protein balanced with fruits and vegetables. I hope you can get those in Afghanistan. If you are eating MREs, you have my sympathy.

    I hope this has been at least a tiny bit encouraging.
    Jan Harris

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