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Daily Update: More words than you can shake a stick at.
Had another great writing day yesterday. I’m hopeful for another repeat performance again today, but I’m not sure if it’ll happen or not. Why?
My favorite daughter had volley ball practice (two 2 hour sessions).
I’ll be doing an interview.
I have a major release for work tonight.
I need to get things ready for camping this weekend.
If I can squeeze in a little writing time, I’ll be happy. Maybe I’ll get lucky. Who knows. I do need to get a new Unorthodox Writing Tips written and up. I had written five weeks worth some time back and those have run out. I need to take a fiction break and write a few more so I don’t have to stress about those. I need to get a couple book reviews out. Speaking of reviews…
Recently I had listened to Rendezvous with Rama. It’s a great concept, but he story is told with large data dumps and paper cut-outs of characters. The only real substance is the actual concept. So I’m onto Rama II. I remember reading this book when I was younger (I think 15 or 16) and I had liked it at the time. I’m listening to it on audio now. I’m a couple hours in an… nothing has happened yet. When I say nothing I mean there was a nearly 45 minute data dump on the Earth’s history to get us to that point in the story. Based on my experience this is most likely what Clarke added to the story. He’s great at data dumps and huge amounts of ‘telling’ a story. So far I don’t like any of the characters. There seems to be a great attempt to make them more than what they are. I’m bored with it. Seriously bored. To the point where I most likely won’t finish the story and I doubt I’ll continue on into books 3 and 4.
If you’ve made it through Rama II and the subsequent books, am I giving up too soon? Should I skip ahead? Will the books get any better? I hate books that dump information and drag the story on. So far 100% of what I’ve gotten through so far has added nothing to the story so I feel I’ve wasted my time. This book is suffering from bloat.
Sorry, just had to rant there for a moment. I think I’ll move on to another book before this one lulls my brain to sleep and starts to affect my writing.
Little tangent there. Sorry about that.
Oh, some curious news. I saw I had gotten a couple of hits when I mentioned Jay Lake in a post. My post about censorship. To his post today over at (http://www.jlake.com/blog/) he mentions a post he might not put up or will be censoring. This after I noticed someone came to my page after searching on Jay Lake. Curiouser and curiouser. Did Mr. Lake find my post? The world may never know.
HEY! Quick maintenance question. I have everything set up so if you are subscribed to the blog via email and reply to the email you get it should be adding a comment to the blog. That doesn’t not seem to be happening. If you’re getting these posts via email and have replied, I’ve never seen it and it didn’t post a comment to the blog. If you know how to fix this, please get a hold of me and let me know. I’ve already looked online and everything suggested to have checked in the options I’ve done. So color me confused.
I’ve got work to do and duck pictures to download.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: The writing on Of Gnomes and Dwarves begins
Yesterday was a good writing day. Almost 2000 words written. I like days like that. I got a tiny tiny start on Of Gnomes and Dwarves, but stopped. As soon as I realized that I didn’t want to main city to be named Wellshire anymore, I got a tiny bit stuck. So I’m going to spend a little time getting the names all in place, but the character descriptions filled out, make sure I have everything in place that might slow me down. I know the plot very well for the story.
Of Gnomes and Dwarves was the first book I had ever written. I started it in 1988 and had many false starts with it until 1997 when I actually got it done. Then I spent a couple years revising that story. It was a painfully long time to write a book, but I didn’t have the level of commitment that I have now. I also didn’t have the writing skill that I have now. I’ve written so many more words and I feel that I can now write the story that I always intended to write.
Maus, Willie, and Slick will finally see life. Reeg, Dorg, Hermin, and the entire cast of characters are just waiting for me to put pen to paper and write once more. When I had written these books (yes books) before I had written them at break-neck speed. I didn’t get them out they way I wanted. The characters took shape, yes. The story took shape, yes. But my voice wasn’t there. My storytelling wasn’t at the level I needed it to be to tell the story in the way that I wanted to tell it.
I feel I’m there now.
It’s not that I’ve run out of ideas. It’s not that I think Of Gnomes and Dwarves will be a multi-billion dollar best seller. It’s that this story is a very personal journey. I know I’ve got a great concept for the story. I’ve got fun characters. The pacing will be appropriate. I’m better at showing vs telling (something I still see in novels that will drive me nuts). I know now how to avoid the data dumps and tell the story that will provide the background of the characters. I’ll be able to get inside their heads as much as they’ve been inside my head over the years.
For 25 years I’ve had them all running around inside my head screaming, yelling, fighting, and waiting for their story to be told. I have a good idea how many books it will span. I have a majority of the storyline already plotted out for the books. I’ve got backgrounds for each character. Each event will build on a past that I’ve already laid out in my notes and build on the future of the characters. It’s all primed and ready for me to go.
So what’s been the hold up?
All these years I’ve listened to the saying “Don’t write about your D&D characters and adventures.” I’m breaking that rule now only in the fact that I’m putting my D&D Characters into a story. Not just a story, but a fantasy novel. The novel could happen with any group of characters. The fact that I already have personalities for my characters will just give the story that little bit of life that it has been lacking. Knowing how to get inside the characters heads and tell third person focused narrative will allow me to let the characters tell the story instead of me telling the story with the characters. I want to become invisible and let the story come through.
To say I’m a little bit excited about this project is an understatement. I’m convinced that I will finally be able to get this story out of my head. After all these years and all this time I’ve spent writing I will be revisiting a world that I left behind and haven’t visited in nearly fifteen years. I wrote four books and trunked them all. They’re now out of the trunk and will serve as notes, a plot outline, a guide. Little else. The writing isn’t terrible, but it’s not the voice I want to use to tell these stories. I can do better. I will be better. And the stories will be better for it.
I’m off to play softball today. I did start collecting duck pictures. I’ll get to posting those as soon as I write my duck post.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: It’s the little things.
I’ve always heard bigger is better. To an extend I subscribe to that concept. But big things can come in small packages.
Take for instance two little things that can in the mail. One yesterday and one today. Both made me extremely happy. The first was a 32GB USB drive. It’s actually smaller in size than the 4GB I was using, but it’s bigger where it counts. Of course I’m only using a very small portion of its capacity, but I’ll figure out what to do with it.
The other little item I got is even smaller. It’s a 32GB Micro SD. I have a xoom tablet that I use for everything these days except for writing. I had filled up a 16GB micro sd card and have made some music and video purchase I wanted to include on the card. It’s, obviously, the same size as the 16GB in physical dimensions, but with twice the capacity.
Now why did I buy myself a couple little things? I felt like I deserved it. Why did I deserve it? Because I hit my one third mark. I’m now 150,000 words into my 2012 goal. I bribed myself with a couple little gifts for hitting a goal. A little less than half of those words are new fiction, the rest would be blog posts.I can’t remember the last time I’d written this many words in a year and I’m just getting started. I’ve got big plans and here’s what I’m planning.
I’m going to finish up My Teacher is a Werewolf. I’m only about half way with that one, but should be able to knock it out quickly. I need to record the next episode of Golden West. That story is really shaping up. Left off on a couple good cliffhangers. Then I’ll be starting Of Gnomes and Dwarves. As much as I hate to do it, To Fall From the Sky just isn’t going where I want, it’s not keeping my interest right now, and it’s slowing me down. I need to get into a work that’ll excite me again and get me fired up to sit and write.
Speaking of getting fired up, I’m getting a little ahead of myself here. I’m going to do the complete read through/edit of Jack Kane and the Statue of Liberty. I won’t count that 100% toward my word goal, but I will count the edits/rewrites as 1/4 word for each word edited. So I need to edit at least 5000 words per day to hit my writing goal. I think I can manage that. Once those edits are done, I’ll fire that over to Mike who’ll give it his once over and then it’s off to Beta Readers.
Only then will I begin Of Gnomes and Dwarves. I love everything about those books. I know that I love them more than they deserve as the writing is utter crap. I’ve done some reads of the start. It’s bloated, very slow in parts, even slower in the beginning, but has a great story to be told. I won’t be changing the story much, but I will change how it was written, paced, and make it a stronger story. I started it over 20 years ago. I think I’ve gotten a little better at this writing stuff.
Once I finish with that, I’m going to write the sequel to V&A Shipping. No, I haven’t gotten the first picked up by a publisher yet. I had told myself long ago not to write any sequels until I’d gotten the first in a series published. But I’ve got a wonderful idea for the sequel and it’s just begging to be told. If you liked the first, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the second.
My plan, after those two, is to write the sequel to Astel. Again, this is a sequel that’s been banging on the side of my head for years and needs to be written. I put out Astel over a year ago and many people have asked where the next book it. It’ll be there soon enough.
That’s what I’ve got scheduled for the near future. I’m not going to try and plan too far out. I might sneak in another My Teacher is a… depending on how the second is received. My Teacher is a Zombie has gotten good reviews by those who’ve read it, but sadly sales aren’t there. I know I need to do a lot more about this self promotion stuff, but I feel I need a bigger body of work for people to pick and choose from.
I still have a couple short stories out there that I’m waiting on edits for. I have covers. They’re awesome! Once I get the edits, the ebook will be assembled and BANG! Out there.
But right now I’m just spending a lot of time talking about writing instead of actually writing. So…
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Today is a good day.
Initially I was Sneezy and Grumpy. I took my Doc’s advice and was Dopey and Sleepy. What I really want it to be Happy. Heck, I’d even been glad to be Bashful.
Today is a good day. My sinuses are feeling a little relief. It’s dark, it’s a little chilly (I’m still wearing shorts and a t-shirt) and it looks like rain is on the horizon once again.
My nose, on the other hand (or would it be other face, hmm) is red, raw, and sore. My ears hurt from all the nose blowing. The residual headache is a bother, but hey, I’ll get over that. At least I don’t have a leaky nose. Well, not as much as it was.
Yesterday I wanted to go see my best friend’s daughter run track. She’s really good at the hurdles even though she’s only just begun. She’s got those crazy long legs. Being that I used to run track, I miss watching all the events. I will make it to at least one of her meets this season.
I also missed my favorite daughter’s volleyball practice. Hearing her talk about it, I missed a good practice. I will be practicing with her later today and a little tomorrow. She’s got a tournament on Sunday and I want her to be prepared. From what she told me, she will be.
I’ve wanted to record. I think I’ll do that tonight or perhaps tomorrow. I need to record the latest episode of Golden West for the Action Pack Podcast. I need to record my story for Tee and Pip. I need to record the promo for the Action Pack. Unfortunately with my head as congested as it is (was) it just wasn’t going to happen. Even though I had an awesomely low voice because of all the snoring I’ve done the past couple of days, I couldn’t make it though more than a few words without coughing. That would have been an editing nightmare.
On the plus side, I knocked out 2500 words yesterday. Most of that in My Teacher is a Werewolf. This will be the next story in the Teacher series. I need to come up with a good title for the series. Something like Unnatural Teachings or something like that. I’ll give it more thought. I plan on doing more of these stories. Why? Because they’re fun to write and I can get into the story quickly. This one might be a little longer than the first, but hey, I’m good with longer. I already like where the story is going and I’m confident I’ll plow through the first draft quickly.
If I’m lucky, I’m past that little sticking point. I didn’t like struggling to write words. I still wrote every day and I know why some people might not write while sick or when they don’t feel well. But I’m happy I did it. I worked through a difficult time and I have more words. Even if some days it was only a slight amount, it was still words I didn’t have before.
Speaking of words, I’ll be doing NaNoWriMo. That should be no surprise. But I found something called JuNoWriMo. It’s basically NaNoWriMo in June. I’ll do both this year. My goal right now is to work on Of Gnomes and Dwarves book 1 in June, edit it in July, and work on Book 2 in November, and edit it in December. Then I’ll release those in 2013. Possibly sooner depending on how I feel about where the stories are at. Each book currently is at around 60,000 words. Both I wrote very quickly on the first draft so I’ll use those plot outlines as a guide, but I’m going to completely re-write them both.
These were the first two books I’d ever written and they’re rough. Very rough. But when I’d written them I had a vision of where I wanted to go and I did just that. I will revisit the universe and this time I’ll keep a character list as I go as those books have a lot of characters and I’m sure I’ll get lost if I don’t keep track. Even typing up this paragraph I’m remembering how much fun it was to write those stories. Maybe I won’t wait for June. J
There’s a lot of writing still to come this year. I’d better get on it. So…
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Action Pack Podcast is live!
Last night the Action Pack Podcast went live. The three of us involved with this endeavor are quite excited. The concept is serialized fiction spread out over a year. Each story will end on a cliffhanger and a new episode will come out each month. There will also be print editions available over at Flying Island Press. You can pick up the podcast at Action Pack Podcast. Stop by and let me know what you think.
My fellow authors, Mike Plested and Scott Roche, are also helping generate noise (buzz?) about the podcast. Stop on over at their sites and see what they’re all about. All three of us are quite busy podcasters and writers. Don’t forget to check out Dan Dan the Art Man, the man responsible for our artwork!
As for writing, it was another productive day. Got another 2000 words out. It nice when I hit a flow and can roll with it. Hopefully I can keep this pace up during Lent and carry it on beyond. I’m already 4 days ahead of my yearly writing schedule. This is important because the last thing I want to do is fall behind again. I was able to get caught up and now ahead. I see no reason to stop now.
I finished a short story and sat on it for a couple of days. I had three or four ‘ah-ha’ moments and those went into the revisions. I’m now waiting for a response and requested edits (edits will always be requested, I’d be surprised if they weren’t). I’m quite happy with how the story turned out. I can’t want to see how it does once it makes it out into the wild.
Now more about how I got to where I am today.
After spending nearly five years as a starving musician, I decided that being in a band just wasn’t in the cards. It was a good run, but unfortunately I could not motivate the guys beyond small clubs and it was all on my to do any promotion, book gigs, etc. Combine that with the lead singer wanting to be the only creative force in the band, and I felt stifled. I had creative ideas that I needed to get out.
I did not explain this in earlier updates, but this was when I really had to take a look at what I wanted to do with my life. In high school, I played D&D. Sean and I both played and continued to play as adults. I loved the game. I had decided to write a book based on our characters. Yes, one of ‘those’ books. There were many stops and starts during high school, in the Navy, even while I was in a band. I just could not get the story going.
After leaving the band, I had a great idea for the story. Yes, the characters were still based on the D&D characters, but everything D&D was out of it. Well, to some extent. There were still monsters and random encounters, but I had decided to make it more of a story and less of an adventure. I had to get them to meet in a way that made sense. I had to have a story that I could tell.
Well, suffice to say it sucked. I trashed it again.
Then I met a comic book artist. He was just getting started and he was GREAT! I had gone back to school at ITT Tech to get a degree and I wrote pages at night. He agreed to pencil the work. I got cranking on the script. I was excited. I was going to write a COMIC BOOK! WOO WOO!
The guy was really good. He went on to write Warrior Nun Arela, moved on to be an intern with Jim Lee (I got to go to the studio and meet his entire crew, that was awesome) and eventually moved on to Marvel and last I heard he was doing Catwoman for DC. He’s done well and I’m glad he did. I don’t know that doing a little independent comic with me would have helped him that much. Check out Pete Woods as he’s done great things in the field of comics.
So after this period of time, I kept on writing Of Gnomes and Dwarves as a comic. I had decided that the first run would be 15 issues telling one storyline and then I’d move on to the next storyline. I wrote 48 or 49 issues before i ran out of steam and could not find another artist. I tried submitting my work, but it was rough and I go no interest.
I dove back into school. It was very easy for me because it was basically a rehash of my Navy ‘C’ school. Getting ‘A’s was as easy as staying awake in class. My comic had been shelved, but I was still happy to talk about it to anyone and everyone who would hear about it. They all thought I was nuts, but that it was cool that I’d written something even if it wasn’t published.
I got to work on 8080s and 8088s and we even upgraded an 8088 to a 286. This was at a time when a 386 was cutting edge. If you don’t have any idea what I’m talking about, don’t worry. These were IBM computers and the PC was just starting to take hold. It was before the computer explosion of the mid-90s. These things weren’t cheap, but they were getting there.
Then I met the woman who would become my wife. More on that, tomorrow.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Yesterday was a Good Day
Yes, I said it. Yesterday was a good day. Not just good, but awesome!
Knowing that we were going to pick up Sputtery Truck made me happy. Driving it home made me even happier. Writing made me elated.
Sputtry Truck:
It runs quieter than it had, but it was already warmed up because they were ready to close and were moving it .Regardless it felt smoother on the road. The wife and my favorite daughter followed me home. I did have to pull over and stop at one point. I had looked at the engine after pulling out and I didn’t secure the hood all the way. I got a call “Oh no! What’s wrong?” Fortunately I just had to re-open and slam the hood closed.
I did hit a bumpy patch on the road that made the whole truck shimmy and shake and I thought for just a moment that something may be wrong. I took my foot off the accelerator and all was fine once again. So SPuttry Truck, as it will no and forever be known as, is back home. The person who replaced it for me said he’s replaced this engine in other vehicles before which made me feel better about doing the entire engine vs the head gasket(s). I asked him about the Tahoe and he said those engines were beasts and I shouldn’t have any trouble with it at all. The transmission, on the other hand. I may be seeing him again, just hopefully not any time soon.
Writing:
I put out a couple of blog posts yesterday. I’m having fun writing some of these and the memories that come up while I write. It’s a great way to purge some information. All in all yesterday was a 3000 word day. Today should be similar. Or so I hope. It is Friday after all.
While lying in bed last night I decided to not play angry birds or read while I went to sleep and instead decided that I’m going to write a little on a story before I go to bed. I didn’t want to work on any of my WIPs and I had an idea for a new story. It’ll mostly likely be around 15,000 words when done. It’ll be more YA/Middle Grade. Just putting down the first 100 words before I couldn’t keep my eyes open was fun. I’ll be working on this a little each night and we’ll see where it goes.
Other WIPs are also progressing. Now that Sputtery Truck is home I feel much more relaxed. Words just seem to flow now. This makes me happy on several levels. The end of last month was a bad one for trying to write and looking at my word count, it’s reflected there.
I still need to get Kance Encounter out and begin work on Second Kance. I’m excited for the sequel. This one will be a little longer than the first. These stories are helping fuel my brain to get back into the Of Gnomes and Dwarves universe that I created so long ago. I can’t wait to begin the re-write (and by re-write I mean starting over from word one, not editing what I had before). I’d written four books and I will be self publishing them. I hope to start putting them out next year.
I have so many projects I’m working on now and many all at the same time. It’s difficult NOT to be excited about sitting and writing. If I feel stuck on one and need to think about a resolution I can hop to another and put words down to get it moving along. I wasn’t a fan of working on multiple projects at one time, but I’m seeing the allure. Now that my brain is mostly stress free, words should flow!
Holy Carp, this post is getting long. I’ll save some words for tomorrow.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Progress is progressing
WOO! I have updates today.
1) I have music for my piece of the Action Pack podcast. It’s not what I was looking for. It’s BETTER!
2) I have a cover going for Of Gnomes and Dwarves. It’s looking great! Freaking love it also
This means I really need to get my rear in gear and this week I need to have the first short ready to go for the end of this month. I’ll get on that tonight/tomorrow and start assembly so I’ll have everything ready to go for this weekend. The story will go up on Smashwords.com and be free for the frist 30 days where I’ll post it up on the kindle and nook for .99 and change the smashwords price to .99 as well. At the same time I’ll be releasing the second story up for free 
That’s also the same time that the first Action Pack Podcast will drop. A whole lot of excitement going on around here. I LOVE it. All of this going on has me really excited. I mean, I mean, I mean…
Sputtery truck will go into the shop this week. After much deliberation and discussion the wife and I came to the conclusion that it’s better to fix it and hope for the best rather than drop back ten and punt (buy a new vehicle). It’ll cost. It’ll hurt. But in the long run will be better. Just means we’ll be eating top ramen for a couple of weeks.
My favorite daughter has another volleyball tournament this weekend (Saturday this time) and we’ll be heading back up to L.A. The night before it’s a late practice. 7pm-9pm so we’re torn over heading up late or driving up early. We still don’t have a time for when they’ll start play. My assumption is that it’ll be 8am like the last one, but I’ve been known to be wrong from time to time.
Even though I was up early today, I still feel better. I got a lot of rest over the weekend. The house is clean. I knocked out a few thousand words on To Fall From the Sky. This week is going to be a GREAT week. It’s only Monday and already great things are happening. I’m off to go make sure it stays awesome.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
