Here we go Krakens, here we go (clap-clap!). It’s almost on, my fellow Junkies! In just a couple short hours, Scott Sigler’s The MVP goes on pre-order sale!!!

Star quarterback Quentin Barnes has spent three seasons putting together a hard-hitting, hard-fighting team that combines all-stars, rejects, young players and seasoned veterans from all five sentient races. He has fought against racism and bound his team together through shared sacrifice, blood, tragedy and victory. But this season Quentin faces the biggest challenge yet — the deadly threat of the Prawatt race, which has captured him and the rest of his Ionath Krakens teammates. Quentin and his friends must overcome impossible odds to escape this deadly and unknown race.

The GFL series is described as “STAR WARS” meets “THE BLINDSIDE” meets “THE GODFATHER.” Join the Krakens as they fight to take the title and achieve immortality.

“THE MVP” PRE-ORDER: Feb. 4 — SUPER BOWL SATURDAY!

Fellow Junkies, it’s nearly time to pre-order Book IV of the GFL series. Set your alarms for Feb. 4th at 9am Pacific Time, noon Eastern time, 5pm GMT. “THE MVP” is the fourth in the series that includes “THE ROOKIE,” “THE STARTER” and “THE ALL-PRO.”

“THE MVP” EBOOK FOR FREE

But wait, don’t order yet! If you pre-order “THE MVP,” the Dark Overlord will throw in the $9.99 eBook for free. Yes, that’s right, FREE! You can get the eBook for your Kindle, Nook, iPad, iPhone, Kobo, Sony eReader and any ePub device.

WHY YOU SHOULD PRE-ORDER ON FEBRUARY 4

Limited-edition hardcover: When they are gone, they are gone. “THE ROOKIE” is no longer available.Signed and numbered: The earlier your order is in, the lower your book’s numberPersonalization: Every book is signed and numbered, but if you want the FDØ to personalize it he’s only doing that for pre-orders.Pre-order insanity: Each of the first three books in the series sold 1,000 copies in the first three hours. The books go fast, so be ready at 9am Pacific, noon Eastern and 5pm GMT.

ORDER YOUR COPIES OF “THE STARTER” AND “THE ALL-PRO” HARDCOVERS NOW!

Remember, use the following pre-order codes to support some of the folks I support:

• “ROBOT” (supports the Dead Robots Society)
• “MUR” (supports Mur Lafferty)
• “mech” (supports Jake Bible)
• “Fiend” (supports Paul Cooley)
• “nerdist” (supports Chris Hardwick’s NERDIST podcast)
• “evo” (supports Evo Terra)
• “hutch” (supports J.C. Hutchins)

There are some days when I wax poetic about the simpler times.

I’m not talking about the Old West, the Roaring Twenties, or even the Age of Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll. Really (although there is something to be said about THAT simpler time), it’s a matter of looking at my own life from the various perspectives I have acquired over the years and seeing just how much a proper balance is needed and has been needed over the years just to keep the sanity.

Take my early twenties, for example. Right after I joined the navy and was stationed down in Orlando, Florida, for the first year and a half of my navy career life was challenging but pretty straightforward. I was training at the time to operate nuclear reactors as an electronics technician, which, while intellectually challenging, was pretty straightforward. It was the military after all, so everything was regimented, from which classes you took, to when and where you ate breakfast, to even the required study hours. If you were willing to do as you were told and you had even a little technical smarts, you were sure to make it through the program provided you applied some effort. Simple. the only things I had to balance back then were the nightly festivities (i.e. where we were going to drink), the delightful companionships (i.e. who we were going to try to coerce into some amorous encounters), and my hobbies (i.e. which back then only consisted of pencil drawing and comic book collections… and the occasional role-playing game session).

Yep, being a geek in training was a pretty easy life to balance.

Fast forward about 15 to 20 years later. At this point, I’ve been out of the military for approximately 11 years. I’ve been in the civilian section as a technical trainer and developer for that entire time. It’s not as regimented as the military, of course, so a lot more thought has to go into the daily activities. I now have a family, pets, a house, cars, bills, and my normal life that has to factor into my daily activities. Not to mention the extent of the creative outlets I currently engage in as a freelance designer and my hobbies. Looking at it strictly from a number of activities in a given week, I now juggle about twenty times the things that require my attention compared to that younger sailer in his twenties.

It’s not easy. But then when is life ever?

For me, it comes down to finding the balance, in all things. Back in the 90′s I could “wing” it, work things on the fly and still have time to spare. Nowadays, it comes down to factoring in all the impacts on the given day, balancing all the things I want to do with all the things I have to do, and scheduling it practically down to the half-hour.

Balance.

Does this mean that my younger self had more fun? No, not necessarily… I now know what fun is while back then I was still discovering what would amuse me.

Does this mean that as a younger man I had more freedom? At a glance it may appear to be so, but in reality I was broke all the time and was hampered to the extreme in what I could and could not do. Now, I make a decent buck and don’t have to worry if I’ll have enough cash to buy a book.

Does this mean that the man who I was had more free time. Probably. In fact, I know I had a ton of free time that I wasted and squandered… free time I would gladly take back now that I am more mature.

Today, I know the value of a free hour, or a vacation day, or a moment of alone time. I know how to make the most of the time I have, knowing full well that a moment wasted is a moment lost forever. I want to make the most of every moment I have, improving and perfecting my skills that I love (creativity, art, photography, graphic design, etc.) and filling it with things that matter, like friends, family, and hobbies (reading, hiking, etc.) that will give me a lasting memory and an impact that will last me until my dying days.

Does this mean that for me to do everything I love and have to do that I have to be more diligent in planning and scheduling my life?

Most definitely.

Does this mean that it’s a waste of time and a pain.

No way.

To me, the balance and the work behind finding that balance is what allows me to be me. Finding the ability to strike a balance was perhaps my greatest accomplishment. It has given me opportunities to LIVE instead of merely surviving. Without that, my life would literally be out of whack and off-balance, spiralling beyond my control. For me, the balance is all about planning.

How about you… how do you find your balance?