The Nerd Cartel Podcast

For those of you that haven’t already been listening, please check out my other content outlet (please note that this podcast is uncensored and NSFW):

Check out our latest podcast here:

 

http://nerdcartel.buzzsprout.com

Halos, Horns, and Tacos

Greetings faithful readers!

The creative juices have certainly been flowing over here at the desk of Jim T. Gammill!

Exciting things are coming very soon!

For the past several months , I have been honored to be part of the creative team at Halos, Horns, and, Tacos LLC.

A production company with three founding members (Donnie Trujillo, Peter Anthony Marshall, and your’s truly) that is dedicated to deliver innovative and unique media content. Each member of the creative team brings something unique to the table and the end result is something that is nothing short of magical!

Make sure to stay tuned here to find out the latest news about the upcoming webseries, Halos, Horns, and Tacos!

Our website will be live soon!

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Big Things for 2019

Happy New Year faithful readers!

2019 is going to be a great and active year here at jimtgammill.com!

In January, we will see the first episodes of The Heroic Wordsmith Podcast!!!

I have written the first three episodes of the podcast and will be posting reference material here to jimtgammill.com to accompany each episode as it is released. I am really excited to see how many people can get some use from the podcast as it is really shaping up to be EXACTLY what I was hoping for; A humorous, yet solid, guide on writing craft that covers everything from grammar to literary pacing to the actual publishing process.

A solid release date for my upcoming novel, The Artist and the Carpenter, should also be available in the very near future!

2019 will also bring new releases from Nothing Comics, that will pick up where the events of last year’s premiere volume, El Frio, left off.

It is a very exciting time to be a creative and I wanted to take a moment to share my sincere appreciation for EVERYONE that has shown support for me and my creative projects.

Enjoy 2019 and stay tuned for exciting updates from the desk of Jim T. Gammill.

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The Heroic Wordsmith Project

Many people have wanted to write a book at one point in their lives; whether it be a fantasy epic, a memoir, or a biography staring an exceptional family member. As a writer, I can not count how many times I’ve heard things like:

“I’ve got a story for you!”

OR

“Let me give you an idea for your next novel.”

Out of necessity, I have crafted a technique of re-directing these conversations on to the next subject. The truth of it is that most writers (myself included) don’t have enough time to capture and nurture all of the ideas and stories that they have running through their heads, let alone somebody else’s.

So, what happens to all of these ideas?

Do they fade away mere moments after the idea of their creation took place?

Do they fester inside of the creator’s head like a secret obsession?

Or do they become so huge that they can not be ignored, causing the creator to try sometimes, in vain, to get down on paper (or computer screen)?

Sadly, I think that the answer to all of these questions is a big fat YES.

I would be lying if I said that the thought of all these unused ideas didn’t bother me, in fact it is something that I think of so often that I have decided to do something about it.

Am I going to take on every piece of side work?

Use every idea that is offered to me in one of my fictional works?

Am I going to drop everything and write everyone else’s stories?

ABSOLUTELY NOT

BUT

I AM GOING TO GIVE THEM THE TOOLS TO WRITE IT THEMSELVES

This is where the newest project from the desk of Jim T. Gammill comes in: The Heroic Wordsmith Project is something that will be highlighted and featured on this page as a resource to everybody that has wanted to create and didn’t know where to begin. The soul of this project is going to be address the fears and uncertainties that everyone has before beginning, creating, or sharing their creative works. will be covering exciting things like: story, pacing, outlining, and character development.

AND

The not so exciting things like grammar, punctuation, and literary devices/techniques.

So, rest assured that those unused ideas will no longer be doomed to fade, fester, or linger.

The Heroic Wordsmith Project is underway and aims to directly assist listeners in creating more HEROIC emails at work, HEROIC essays at school, and who knows maybe even a HEROIC best seller that would have remained otherwise unwritten.

Jimtgammill.com will be the hub of the Heroic Wordsmith Project so be on the lookout for more to come!

   

Fissures, a poem by Jim T. Gammill

 

Fissures

A Poem

By: Jim T. Gammill

From the womb it grew; born from the heat of the most primal of flames.

Ignited by passion and lust and the greed of self-preservation it emerged as something molten and true.

As the flames cooled, the perception of form transformed from abstract to defined.

From defined to solid reality.

Like the core of the Earth, whose molten innards shift and change,

the thing also shifted and the thing also changed

If their molten heat were to cool, both objects would turn as hard as stone

The stone is hard, seemingly impenetrable, and heavy.

But lacks movement and fluidity.

Fissures result from a lack of pliability.

Anything solid has an innate propensity to break given enough pressure.

Only those that burn hot and stay liquid are immune.

Whether it be from passion alone or the convection of pure heat

the fluid and pliable remain unscathed.

Solid rock may crumble.

And a fissure in a frozen heart will only lead to its breaking.

The Mirrors, a work of flash fiction by Jim T. Gammill

 

The Mirrors

It has been a while since she left, but when I lie down to sleep I can still feel her next to me.

 I can smell her.

 I can hear her.

 But when I turn over,

to put a hand on her back,

 there is nothing,

 but the sheets and the air.

Sometimes I roll over to the spot she once occupied and sniff hungrily; in the secret hope that she would be there one day and the air would smell sweet and inviting.

The way that she once did.

I say sometimes, but it could more accurately be described as often, maybe even nightly. It’s fine though, because the ghost of her keeps me company, the life we shared, the kids we had, and the lives we were honored to be a part of. I can still hear the laughter in the hallways and see the hints of dancing shadows on the walls.

One night I awoke to find her next to me.

The image was something that I had been longing for, but it felt so wrong in the moment that it happened. My first instinct was to:

 Engulf her in my embrace.

To hold her close.

To never let her go again.

 But instead, I chose to watch her for a short while and try to remember what it used to feel like to have someone that I could call my own. I didn’t want to fall asleep, because I knew that it would only mean that the dream would come to an end.

A glimmer of light flashed in the corner of my eye. I ignored it and looked back at the woman sleeping next to me.

The light flashed once again, and I knew that it was useless to resist, I stood up from my bed and walked to the source of the light. I looked back at my sleeping partner and saw her form consumed by shadows.

 I smiled when I thought of her return.

 I frowned when I saw her leave yet again,

The mirrors were something different altogether, I walked into the bathroom area of my master bedroom and was taken aback when the doorway sealed behind me. Nothing but mirrors surrounded me and in them I saw not my own reflection, but images of people.

People that I knew.

People that I loved.

And some that I had never seen before.

I watched them doing things and saw that the people that I had known were all different somehow, some were thinner, others more muscular, while others had put on some weight. As I watched them I saw that they were all happy.

I felt mischievous.

Like a Peeping Tom.

Like someone that didn’t have a right to be watching.

And then it came.

I saw my wife.

The woman I had yearned to have by my side with another man.

He looked like me.

He was me.

But, on the other side of the mirror.

I saw her laughing.

I saw her loving him.

And realized that it was me that had left.

Me that had disconnected and gone away.

I watched the other people in the mirrors and saw the reflections of people that I knew as living souls.

They were the same but, better.

Happier.

I turned to go back to my wife and saw that the doorway was blocked by another mirror. I saw all the images behind me and realized that my desire for their happiness was stronger than the desire for my own.

I took one last glance over my shoulder at the images of all the lives that I might change.

I thought of how I could help them when I returned.

And then I smashed through the glass and crawled back into bed

With her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

El Frio is NOW LIVE!!!!!

 

This day has been a long time coming!

Nothing Comics has officially released its first illustrated book!

El Frio is listed as a graphic novel on amazon, but is really something of a hybrid.

As co-founder of the Nothing Comics label and Co-Author and Co-Creator of the company’s first book, I really wanted to bring my visceral and lean story telling style to a platform that could also showcase some great art! My partner, Michael Perez, and I were determined to create a story that wasn’t just for die-hard comic book fans, but for anybody that enjoys riveting stories.

Like anyone in the middle of a new project, it was difficult at times to keep the details under wraps, so I found myself reciting vague elevator pitches to give people an idea of what to expect and to this day, I still feel like it does the job.

“Imagine Netflix’s Daredevil meets Narcos and Breaking Bad”

I mean, how could you go wrong with that?!

As always, I am extremely grateful for all of the support given to me by my faithful readers over the years and I hope that all of you will take the time to enjoy El Frio, now available in print at the following url:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1720464537

PLEASE REMEMBER TO LEAVE A REVIEW TO HELP US RANK HIGHER IN THE AMAZON STORE!

BIG PROJECTS FOR 2018!!!

It has been a very exciting and eventful 2018!

My novel, The Artist and the Carpenter, is finally in the editing stages. For those of you that have been following my blog, you know that this day has been a long time coming! The project came from a very personal place for me and as I mentioned in one of my last posts, I did hit a bit of resistance, which seemed to grow stronger and stronger as I got closer to wrapping up the project.

I am a firm believer in writing a first draft as fast as possible to get the bones of the story down and then working to flesh out whatever is missing in later drafts. Like giving birth to a baby who crawls at first, learns to walk, gets nurtured, and eventually grows into a healthy adult.

This project, on the other hand, was more like assembling a fully functional adult, who came complete with their own history, memories, and plenty of emotional baggage. With that being said, I think that the editing process will go much faster than with any of my past projects because many of the chapters are ready to go, with the exception of maybe minor wordsmithing and double checking for flow and continuity.

A summer 2018 release is eminent!

I will keep everyone updated here and on social media with any developments.

In addition to the book release, I will be releasing the first in a series of collaborative projects published by Nothing Comics! My business partner/collaborator and I will be reviewing proof copies of our first graphically enhanced novelette within the next month.

This project also took some time to nurture from its infancy stages to finished draft, but has been a labor of love. The prose is clean, the story is captivatingly gritty, and the illustrations are amazing!

This project is also slated for a Summer 2018 release.

 More to come and as always, thank you for reading!

Thanks for Reading

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone that downloaded my novel, Whispers of the Wakinyan earlier this month. I am always satisfied at the thought that my stories are finding their ways to readers and are (hopefully) being enjoyed.

Like any author, I try to write stories that are different, compelling, and entertaining, while interlacing some creepy and bizarre tidbits of things that I’ve actually experienced to keep them authentic.

For those of you that know me personally, you know that many of the things that occur in Whispers of the Wakinyan  are things that were re-imagined from my own life. I’m not saying that I was tormented by a Native- American spirit monster by any means, but in reality, some the things that I remember from some of my early childhood years isn’t explained much easier.

I waited to post this for a couple weeks for a reason and many of you may have already guessed why that is.

If you have read and enjoyed Whispers of the Wakinyan, please leave me a review on Amazon.

The Amazon search algorithm is pretty sophisticated, but one thing that is sure to bring my work up in more searches is more interaction from readers and positive reviews!

Your interest and readership means the world to me and I honestly hope that you enjoyed the story as much as I did when I was writing it. My new novel, The Artist and the Carpenter will be dropping soon and I am hoping to have some good momentum in order to launch it at a higher level in the Amazon search algorithms.

Also keep in mind that Joey Gordon is returning soon and his summer vacation this year is going to put him and his family face to face with something darker, stronger, and more resilient than even the Wakinyan!

THANK YOU AGAIN AND TAKE CARE– Jim

Here is the link for anyone who has yet to leave a review for Whispers of the Wakinyan :

Viva la Resistance… No wait– That’s Bad!

 

As I found myself typing some of the final chapters of my latest novel, I noticed something that I never had before. I was experiencing a unique type of what Steven Pressfield would classify as “resistance”.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that there is a writer out there who hasn’t experienced “resistance” in one way, shape, or form; the most common forms being procrastination, self-sabotage, and the dreaded (somewhat generic and all-encompassing) writer’s block. We all have been guilty of checking emails, or browsing social media when we could actually be throwing down some words on the page and occasionally, we may find ourselves wanting to write only to find that our creative wells are in need of filling.

The type of resistance that I found myself contending with was simply NOT WANTING TO FINISH THE BOOK! Now, I had heard of some writers having a bit of post-project depression when they are trying to decide what their next project is going to be, but this was something new for me altogether.

If, anything I have more projects than I do time, so when one is completed and I still have words to type to meet my daily goals (currently 1500-2000 words a day depending on work and family commitments) it’s on to the next story I go.

I think the best way to describe the feeling that I was having while nearing the end of the project was like coming to the end of a binge-worthy Netflix series, I wanted to finish it, but just didn’t want it to be over. The only reason that I could think of this project being any different from any of my past ones is that save for maybe one, (my novelette, Not Only the Dead) it is the most personal.

It was because of these feelings of personal attachment that toward the end of the novel, I found myself consulting my mental checklist almost as much as I was writing. This feeling was one that I was more familiar with, because regardless of the level of attachment I feel to a project I try to check all of the open story arcs in the earlier sections of the book/story/screenplay and make sure that they are either effectively resolved or that every bit of them are removed from the manuscript so as not to leave any loose ends.

Some people use whiteboards or computer programs for stuff like this, but I prefer to keep them all jumbled and quasi-organized in my head, so that I have an excuse to act brain-dead for the last two weeks of any project.

Is there a better way?

Sure, but I still manage to get the job done.

So with all that being said…

I have a confession, faithful readers   —

I still have one chapter and a prologue to write before I can wrap up The Artist and the Carpenter.

See how this particularly annoying form of resistance works? I ended up writing a blog instead of wrapping the project! Either way I hope that you enjoyed my little “creative detour”.

 

Until next time, faithful readers!