J.R. Murdock

Hey Crew,

Lazy day around the Murdock Family Household. We had plans. Those didn’t happen so it was mostly a pajama day. I started watching Black Panther. NetFlix decided I didn’t want to watch that movie about 30 minutes in so I decided to write.

Cranked out 1000 words in about 30 minutes to finish off a chapter. Felt awesome. Went and got some lunch. Ate. And took a 3-hour nap. Guess my body needed it.

The thing about taking a nap. If I take a short nap, I’m good to go. When I take a long nap. It wipes me out. I’m good for nothing. I was grumpy and didn’t want to do anything when I woke up.

So, I took My Favorite Daughter to take some pictures she needed for school. Got some ice cream for us all cuz it was crazy hot today (not as bad as it has been, but ugh). And I did some bass practice.

That cleared my head and by 8:30 in the evening, I finally fired up the writing computer again. I needed to get some writing done. My fingers were flying! I had a chapter that I thought I knew where it was going, and everything went sideways on me.

One of the things I mentioned. I’m not really a plotter or a pantser when I write. I like to have an idea where I’m going (plotter), but when I’m writing, characters will take things in a direction even I didn’t see coming (pantser). That’s what happened tonight and in 45 minutes I’d written another 1500 words. So I ended the day with around 2800 words when all was done.

I also ended up with another AI in this book which I hadn’t intended to have happen. Now I’ve got 3 AIs all with similar names, but different enough. I’ve got Pi (short for Apple Pi which will make more sense when ASH1 is published), I’ve got Uni (short for Union Computer), and I’ve got Jai which is short for…something I can’t tell you because it will give away a lot in ASH1 and ASH2 so you’ll have to wait and read all about it. So Pi, Uni, and Jai. it makes me laugh how my brain works when I get out of the way and let the story tell itself.

I possibly would have kept on going, but the Mrs, and I watched Big Brother (love my TV time with the Mrs.) and now that I’m out of the flow, I’m not going to jump back in for a 3rd attempt. I’m still a bit groggy from my nap and it’s time to hit the sack and tomorrow is another day.

We’ll see if I can keep the word count up. I’m still looking to finish this book within the next 2 weeks. I’m shooting for a 90,000-word book (I just like that length) but this one may end up running long. A story is as long as it needs to be. There is much that still needs to happen and the two powers are about to come to a head.

I’m off to bed.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Early post today because I don’t know if there will be time later this evening. Going to be a busy day.

The Mrs. and I had breakfast, watched a little TV together. I wrote 500 words before my Favorite Daughter got home. We’re not getting ready to head out the door. We’re off to do a little shopping, visit my sister-in-law, and going out to dinner later this evening. So, as I said, likely won’t get to this later and I’m doing it now so I don’t break my streak.

See, I’m learning to make sure of a few minutes here and a few minutes there.

Yesterday I should have written a lot more. My Favorite Daughter was out with her boyfriend and the Mrs. was out late taking a test for her work. Instead of spending all that time writing, I did a little cleaning, watched a movie, and spent about an hour writing. I also did some bass practice and am slowly learning a few new songs.

Today, I had a little time after breakfast and took advantage of that time as the only moments I’d have to sit and write.

Tomorrow, I will hopefully have a little more time to write. It’s time to start kicking things into gear. I’m only frustrating myself by putting off the writing I want to do. Old habits are hard to break and replacing them with new ones is the only way I’ll be able to do that.

I’m still planning a couple posts in my head about my writing process and why I do what I do. I don’t have a lot of time today to organize my thoughts, so I’ll leave you with this short ramble and go get myself ready.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Got another 1100 words knocked out today. I remember when I’d be happy to write 1000 words a day. It’d be an achievement. Now I look at these low word counts and know I’m capable of so much more. I will get there. Fear not. I want to finish Almost-Super Heroes 2 in 2 weeks, so I can finish another book before NaNoWriMo, and I plan on writing an entire novel during NaNoWriMo.

Yes, I want to knock out two books before the end of November that I haven’t started yet.

For some people, that’s crazy talk. For me, it’s crazy not to try.

Speaking of crazy, I was going to talk about my writing process, but I need to vent a little. I won’t name names even though I’m certain none of the incidents I’m about to mention will be seen by people who read this blog.

First off, I was watching a video of a writer who stated “I’m almost done with my first draft and I’m so excited to begin on the first rewrite. I know it’ll be months and several rewrites before I’m done with this book, but it makes me so happy to be done with the first draft so I can start my favorite part or writing. The rewriting.”

This hurt me. By no means am I a first draft and done kind of writer, but neither am I the type that will do dozens of rewrites. I write once, do a read through to fix any major issues, and another round for line edits. That’s it. Yes, some of my books are a little…raw. But hopefully the passion I put into my work is there. I couldn’t rewrite the soul out of a book. These characters told me their story and I convey that story to you. Yes, I have a vague idea where the story is going and major story arcs I’d live to cover, but sometimes that’s not the book that happens.

Again, I’ll get deeper into my process another time. I just had to share my frustration of this author who has one, traditionally-published book out. It almost makes me want to cry for this author.

Another one I saw, was an author who has a few books out, far fewer than I would have thought, saying they’d finished their latest book, and couldn’t wait to submit it to a publisher so they could tell them what was wrong with it so they could fix it.

I wish I could help both these authors break free from that mentality. There’s nothing wrong with the book. Publish it, write another one, and keep going. You will never get better at writing by rewriting the same book over and over. It’s like trying to sharper a pencil more by sharpening it again and again. Eventually you’ll lose what you started out with and have less than you wanted.

If you’re a writer and reading this blog, I’m not filled with writing advice. I can pass you on to http://deanwesleysmith.com. He’s a professional author who’s been making his living at writing books for decades. Check out his myths of writing series. It’s worth it, and there is so much more that’s free on his site. If you like what he says, you can check out his online video tutorials (those aren’t free) and he also does writing classes in Vegas with his wife (Kristine Kathryn Rusch who has also been a professional writer for decades). If you’re looking to stretch beyond your own thinking, check them out.

Thank you for letting me vent. Jay is tired and I’ve a busy day tomorrow. I’m off to bed.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Another day getting back up to speed (i.e. trying to spend more time in the chair). I knocked out 1500 words, finished a chapter, I’m happy with the progress even if it’s a bit slower than I’d like.

Why?

When I do sit and type, the words are flowing. I knew this would happen. The more I write, the more I want to write. And when I do write, I type very fast.

My only distraction today was for about an hour when My Favorite Daughter’s boyfriend  stopped by and we shared some Halloween cereal. I like cereal, but I have a weakness for Halloween cereals.

There was that, and I let the dogs out to chase him (he was hiding from me after ringing the doorbell) and the dogs, being the great guard dogs they are, took off running. So they ended up getting a walk out of the deal and I got some cereal.

Today was mostly normal. I did the day job stuff, worked out, did some laundry, and wrote. Also watched Big Brother with the Mrs. as we do on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday. The season will wrap up in a couple weeks and I will be dedicating that hour to writing.

As I said, the more I write, the more I want to write. Just need to make sure it happens on the writing computer so I’m free from distractions. Today I started out on the home PC and kept getting news pop-ups and, as I’ve said, I’m drawn into the news.

Once I moved to the writing computer, things went much faster. I recommend having a dedicated writing computer. But something that will run little more than the software you need to actually write. If I’d been on this computer the entire time, I think I could have done over 2000 words in the hour (little more) I wrote.

Tomorrow I’m on this computer earlier. Let’s see what happens. The story is coming into the final battle scene. When I blog tomorrow, I’ll talk a little bit about my process and how I plan, plot (or don’t), and think through my books. More for me than you, but it’ll give me a topic to focus on instead of my usual ramblings.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Another long, weird day. At some point things will start to even out and I’ll actually be able to get a jump on the day.

The morning started out normally enough. Got the Mrs. up at 5am so she could head off to do her workout. I sat down at the writing computer, ready to take advantage of the morning since i start work at 7am. I had lots of time to write. normally I get caught up on my reading and the news, but wanted to get some words done. I wanted to get into a morning routine.

I heard lots of car doors open and close outside. I heard someone honk their horn. Someone started banging on a door and yelling. Very loudly. It’s 6am. if the person you’re carpooling with isn’t getting up, don’t wake up the entire neighborhood.

I hadn’t even typed a single word. Not one. I had to go to the front door to see what was going on because the person (people?) weren’t getting any quieter. So, I opened the front door and saw all the flashing lights. Lots of them. In front of my neighbor’s house across the street. A handful of police stood with weapons drawn while one pounded on the door and shouted “POLICE! OPEN THE DOOR NOW! WE HAVE A SEARCH WARRANT!”

Let me first say, I don’t know the people across the street too well. I’ve talked with them a few times, and they seem like very nice people. Their mother passed away a couple years ago and the son, daughter, and daughter’s husband moved in. I see them every day walking the mom’s dog up and down the hill. Once in the morning, once in the evening. They have garage sales every few weeks. But as far as I can tell, they’re normal.

They pulled all three people out in handcuffs and kept them in the driveway while the house was cleared. After that, they all went back inside. A few police remained outside. I wasn’t overly concerned until I saw the FBI show up. Lots of them. So many more cars all but blocking the street. A couple police vehicle left. move FBI showed up. They weren’t in with large, black cases.

An hour later, it was all over as if nothing had happened. No one was arrested. An hour after that, as i was working, I saw the couple walking the dog.

My assumption is there was some white-collar type crime committed and they were collecting evidence. I honestly don’t know. All I could do is speculate.

So that was my morning. Hope yours was far better.

The rest of the day was work, my weekly writerly meetup, exercise, dinner, going over book cover ideas with my Favorite Daughter, watching Big Brother with the Mrs, and getting down to writing.

I got roughly 1100 words done. I’m hoping to increase that word count greatly tomorrow. I will be up early and hitting the keyboard straightaway. Much as I had planned this morning.

It’s fascinating just how many things can throw you off your game and how quickly your day can turn into something you hadn’t even planned.

I’m off to bed.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey crew,

Another, odd, day. I’m almost back into a schedule. Still trying to figure everything out. I won’t bore you with too many details. Today was the day job, ran a bit over. did my workout. Was planning on getting straight into writing. The Mrs got home, we went and did a couple errands.

Got back home. We made dinner, ate, talked. My Favorite Daughter got home. We talked with her. She and I watched Penn and Teller Fool Us. I watched a bit of TV after that and thought it was still far earlier in the evening than it was.

Whoops. It was already after 10pm.

So, everyone went to bed. I fired up the writing computer to type for at least 30 minutes. I got 800 words done and I’m feeling tired and dumb for letting the evening get away from me.

Sometimes you just need to spend time with family. More words will happen tomorrow.

Until next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Ah, Labor Day. The day before was crazy busy ending with My Favorite Daughter coming home at 3am and leaving to go hiking at 6am. I’m not young and spry anymore so I was tired. I took a couple of naps. Watched a couple of movies (I love me some Sinbad the Sailor). I practiced bass for a couple of hours.

I also write 1100 words. I would have written more, but it was a lazy day and I spent more time reading than writing.

Two things an author must do. Read, read, read. Write, write, write. I did both today. Just not in volume. Tomorrow I will strike out again in earnest. I’m deep into the latest book, nearly at 60,000 words. I’m building up to the big batter where there will be betrayal on both ends. I already know what will happen and I’m having great fun writing my way there.

I did some reading about Amazon Ads today. I may be utilizing those next year, but wanted to see what others are doing and what kind of success they’re seeing. I won’t start using them until I have a better offering new book covers across my series. V&A Shiping 1 will re-release later this month with V&A Shipping 2 next month. I’m excited to be doing this and I can’t wait to get those book released as well as GRPC1 so I can begin releasing the new books.

Yes, I’m going slow right now. You may not think 1000 words a day is slow, but for me, it’s painfully slow and I know my speed will only increase as I get my butt into the chair more and more. I’ve already written more in 3 days than I wrote all last month. Last month was only a handful of days, but I didn’t get as far as I should have. I know exactly why and I’m taking steps to rearrange my schedule so there is more time for writing and less time for excuses.

One of the big things I need to do is get a good night’s sleep. I’m off to do just that and maybe read for a touch longer before crashing.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

As you can tell by the time on this post, it’s late. Much later than I would normally post. But post I am 🙂

Crazy busy day today. Got up early, or so I thought, and realized I had slept in. I had wanted to get up early to get a jump on my writing knowing the day was going to get away from me quickly. Well, it got away from me.

We took the dogs to the park for a couple of hours. Let them run free while the Mrs. and My Favorite Daughter ran around the track. Jay can’t run because his knee sucks and is actively trying to kill him. So I walked with the dogs and tried to keep them corralled. Mostly successfully.

Came home. Dealt with doggie droppings out side. Cleaned the back patio. Watered the plants. Cooked some fish for the Mrs. Had breakfast. Wrote a few hundred words. Got ready, and we went off to have lunch with family.

Great lunch. We did some shopping. My brother-in-law and I found some nice chairs by a corn hole game. So rather than walk around looking at clothes we weren’t going to buy, we stayed put and talked.

After that, took My Favorite Daughter back home since she had plans, and went to my father-in-law’s house. Watched some baseball. Had some snacks. Took care of my sister-in-law’s dog.

Got home, and the Mrs. and I watched Big Brother. Then I realized how tired I was and I hadn’t even gotten to 1000 words. So, I fired up the writing computer and started typing. Got to 1151 words total for the day, and called it a night. I’m now typing up this post and trying to keep my eyes open. I’ve typed aaaaaaaaa several times as I’m falling asleep at the keyboard. So…

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

Today I decided to stop making excuses for why I’m not getting as much writing done as I should. So…

I did some laundry. I spent an hour and a half on the phone with my brother. I did the dishes, cleaned up the backyard, practiced bass for an hour. Went to my nephew’s 5th birthday party.

But before I did any of that, I wrote. I pounded on the keyboard and made words happen. I knew I needed to get those words done early before the day took hold of me and didn’t let go. I had planned for a lot more words than, I got, but I’ll take all the words I can get.

And did I get some words? Yes. I got 2300 words done before the day ran away from me. We just got home from the party (these things tend to go late and I’m surprised we’re home as early as we are). I would write some more, but Jay is tired and needs to go to bed.

I plan to try the same things again tomorrow. More time sitting and writing, less time making excuses.

Oh, that reminds me. One of the excuses I’ve been using is distractions. I dug out my NetBook and spent about an hour getting it ready to go. Updated Scrivener. Updated Google Drive. Synced my files. It wasn’t cooperating.

Why did I do this and spend the time doing it?

Because my NetBook is really a piece of junk. It’s slow. It barely brings up a web page. About the only thing I can do on that little thing is type really fast and Scrivener runs excellently on it. Basically, it’s a distraction-free device. I can’t really do much of anything else on it which makes it a perfect writing computer. When I bought it, it was around $200. It’s not in the computer room, but in a chair downstairs. Now, instead of turning on the TV to watch the news, I’ll put that computer on my lap and type, type, type.

2300 words was a slow day today. I was hoping to get closer to 4000. I only had about an hour to an hour and a half writing time. Words were flowing. It felt great. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

For now, I’m off to sleep.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!

Hey Crew,

End of the month. So how’d I do for August?

Pfft, I’m not going to put out my numbers for August. Let’s just say the’rea little over 5k and leave it at that.

I did manage to get a thousand words today. Still working on getting my butt in the chair for a longer period of time, or at least more often.

I used to be able to sit for 15 minutes, crank out words, and go do something else, come back, write for another 10-15 minutes. I’m working on that as right now I get up for a few minutes and lose track of time. I sit, write for a little bit, get distracted, and…

Well, let’s just say I’m getting back into the habit. As I said, I won’t shy away from saying where I’m lacking. I’ll own up to it.

Tomorrow is the first of the month. I’ll start posting actual daily word counts. I had a couple good days this week. Time to start really running up the numbers. I need to get this book done, and I’d like to finish another before NaNaWriMo (which shouldn’t be too difficult). Then I want to write a complete book (not just 50,000 words) during the month of November. If I can do that, I’ll be in great shape going into the New Year with a couple more books under my belt for releasing a book a month.

Speaking of that, the date for Jack Kane 2 (which I just signed the contract for) won’t be out until February. There was a scheduling conflict and we got pushed back. That means the schedule I posted a while back will change. This is why I want to have a backlog 🙂

What that means is you’ll be getting GRPC2 and ASH1 before JK2 comes out. After JK2, I’ll be dropping ASH2. That will complete all the books I have currently written (or nearly complete). I’ll be writing V&A Shipping 3 next, followed by GRPC3, and ASH3. Obviously, I’ll be doing the 4th books after that, and with those 12 books done, I will have done all the set up needed to write the Military Sci-Fi Trilogy. Those 15 books will be one entire story arc.

I’m excited to be writing again and can’t wait to start dropping books. My Favorite Daughter will be finishing this semester of school in the next couple of weeks. We’ve already started rough drafts of the book covers. As soon as I have V&A Shipping book 1’s cover in my hands, I’ll be dropping the re-released version, putting it on sale, and see what happens. I’m not expecting a big bump since it’s already been out there for a while. In fact, I don’t expect much of a bump with V&A2, or GRPC1 either. It’s when I drop GRPC2 that I’m hoping the needle moves a bit.

Tomorrow I’ll discuss a little bit about my goals for the coming year. They’re modest but hopeful. 🙂 Right now, it’s time for bed.

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!