Fog and Friction

If you happen to follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed that I’ve been retweeting (wow, I just realized that my Spell Check recognizes “Twitter” and “retweeting” as words)  a number of tweets from @FogAndFriction. If you took a look at the name behind it, you’ll then have noticed that I actually use that handle. So what gives?

I made a deliberate decision when I first launched The Weathered Journal to keep it focused almost exclusively on writing and reading. The only deviations from this are for Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day, and occasionally Christmas. But for the most part, the Journal was meant to showcase my fiction writing, and to connect with other readers and writers with similar interests. The last thing I would do is sandwich in a post on, say, Syria, between two posts about Fantasy Warfare and a book review of The Time Machine.

Now here’s the rub: because almost all of my available time outside of work is being consumed by my graduate school work (I’m putting off work on an assignment as I write this), I’ve found very little time to connect with readers, writers, or anyone else. Almost all of my writing is geared toward my master’s degree in military history. So how do I continue writing for readers when all I have time to write is history? The question sort of answers itself: post articles and research that are generated while I work on my papers.

So this has given birth to a new blog of mine: Fog and Friction. The research required for this program is extensive, and I’ve found that with a little tweaking, material that never makes it into my academic work can be turned into what I think are fascinating articles on military history. And it’s only a short walk from these kinds of articles to contemporary analysis on warfare, international relations, and (shudder) politics. In short, Fog and Friction will be the home to my nonfiction writing. I’m inviting you, if you’ve any interest in that sort of thing at all, to join me at this other blog, and to follow me on Twitter (@FogAndFriction). I can promise you that no matter the topics addressed there, you will find thoughtful, and more importantly, respectful discussions. I can’t predict everything that might show up there, but it’s a point of honor for me to eschew the partisan fear mongering so common with any blog that has a political flavor to it.

I hope to see you there!

One last thing: stick with me here at the Weathered Journal too. Fantasy and science fiction are my passions, and I will continue to update (albeit a bit more sporadically than I like).

WEL