Daily Update: DisneyLand!
Hey There! Did you miss me this weekend? I know I sure missed you. Okay, I’m lying. I didn’t miss anyone. I was at Disneyland and boy are my arms tired. Wait, I mean my legs. My legs are tired. I feel like I walked several miles in a short period of time.
The wife and I took my favorite daughter, her boyfriend, and three of her friends to Disneyland. We had gotten one day park hopper passes which sounded like a great idea at the time. We’d be able to see sights and ride rides at two different parks. Oh my. Disneyland is 160 acres. California Adventure is 64 acres. We rode all the major rides save Splash Mountain. We rode the new Cars ride, we rode all the roller coasters, we hit the big attractions. We had gone from DL over to CA and started riding rides there, had lunch, then went back DL to ride Thunder Mountain (it was down at one point so we decided to come back to it). It was down again and so was Indiana Jones so we went back to CA to ride the Cars ride. After that 2 hour wait (our longest of the day by far) we went back to Thunder Mountain and it was open then rode Indiana Jones.
Needless to say we covered a LOT of ground on Saturday. My knees and hips were causing me to limp and I don’t recall ever being in that much pain. The wife and I used to go to Magic Mountain multiple times a year with a season pass and we’d run through the park, ride every roller coaster at least 5 times, and still have energy to go back the next day. And the next. We’d hit every three day weekend starting on Friday after work (we’d drive up), Stay until Midnight, then stay over night and go back on Saturday morning and be in line waiting for the parking lot to open at 7am. We’d do that again on Sunday, and again on Monday, then finally go home Monday afternoon. We were crazy like that.
Yesterday let me know a few things. 1) I’m not as young as I used to be and 2) Disneyland is far bigger than I imagined 3) I’m getting old 4) I’m out of shape.
Yes, it was an eye opener. Even the kids were wiped out by the time we left the park. Sunday we went back to downtown Disney and did some shopping. I got some Christmas shopping done and we had a great lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. We didn’t get home until around 6pm Sunday after dropping off all the kids. Some quick unpacking and it was time to just relax. I wrote 1000 words, I read a few short stories, I was asleep by 8:30. Oh my was it a great weekend.
This week I will be starting my 2012 postmortem. My body and brain need a day to recover, methinks. I’ll also be starting the Jack Kane edits in earnest. I’ve got writing to finish, stories to submit, and covers requests to prepare for next year. There’s a lot to do before the end of 2012 and even more to do once 2013 gets here. I hope you’ll stick around for the ride.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: You won NaNoWriMo, What Are You going to do now?
So I won NaNoWriMo, what am I going to do now?
I’m going to Disneyland!
Okay okay, so it’s not really for me. It’s for my favorite daughter. We’re taking her and a couple of her friends up there and spending the day as long as we can at the parks (we got one day park hopper tickets) and then we’ll spend the night in Anehiem. We’ll do breakfast and some shopping in Downtown Disney where I hope to get some Christmas shopping accomplished before heading back home.
So, don’t worry if you don’t see a daily update from me for the next couple of days. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter I’m sure I’ll be posting pictures.
Okay, so on that note. I’m nearly done with the next episode of Golden West. Sorry for the delay. Hopefully that will be out early next week.
For my annual goal of 450,000 that’s already been surpassed, I’m up to 475,000 words on the year and unless something drastic happens I should be able to get to 500,000 with no difficulty. I was nervous about making 500,000 my goal for next year, but I think I can hit that. I had a lot of trouble during 2012 with just getting started, getting frustrated, getting distracted, getting restarted, all those problems that plague a writer. I could have easily done many more words than I did and we’ll see how 2013 goes. I have big plans and need to write my ass off if I’m going to accomplish all of what I’ve planned.
So what have I planned? I’ll save that for another post. I’m posting over on sffworld.com again and I started a goal thread there. I’ll be taking what I posted and expanding on it as well as building a schedule for next year. It’ll be aggressive and demanding but like I told myself at the beginning of 2012, if I don’t set ambitious goals, I’ll never accomplish half of what I want to do. I got a lot done during 2012, now’s the time to make it all pay off in 2013.
I’ll have the last two weeks of the year off. That is most likely when I’ll do my 2012 postmortem as well as do all my plotting, planning, and scheduling for 2013. It’s not as easy as just wishing or hoping all this will happen. I need to take an active hand in things I let go while I hoped for certain things to happen that were out of my control. It’s time to take the reigns. It’s time to kick this pig. It’s time to use my laser-like focus and do what needs to be done to see books in print.
I’m excited about 2013? How about you?
I’m off to go make some magic happen.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Book Review: Kevin Pollak – How I Slept My Way to the Middle
I picked up this book because of two reasons. First I saw him on the Ellen show so I found out he had a book to begin with (don’t judge me for watching Ellen. She’s awesome). Second because he did so well this year on the World Series of Poker and I saw his face many times. He was funny and I knew he was an actor, I just couldn’t place him. At least not until I read the book and had a lot of “That was him in that movie?” moments.
First off he’s a stand up comic and impressionist. That I was aware of because on the Word Series of Poker he did a lot of impressions. He’s a funny guy and made for entertaining television. I had to go back and watch some youtube clips and found a plethora of videos. Far more than I was expecting, but this guys been in the business for years so it shouldn’t have surprised me.
Then he starts to talk about a Few Good Men. HOLY CARP! That was him! Standing next to Demi Moore and Tom Cruise during all those court room scenes. Now I recognized him and all those scenes came back as he told story after story of being on the set.
Let me say right now, he tells a story and everything comes across as funny. Okay, almost everything. He’s never been a major star. He’s always been second banana. So if you’re thinking he’s the guy that went off and married a model or anything like that, well, no. What’s great is that he gives insight as to what’s it’s like to hang around some of these mega stars like Bruce Willis, Jack Nicolson, Tom Cruise, Steve Martin. His take on these people will give you more insight to these actors than any biography will as I’m sure they’ll exclude many things Kevin decided to keep in.
I thought it was funny, given the number of movies he’s been in, that he’s still just an average guy doing something he loves to do. It’s obvious he’s having fun and yet he still isn’t a mega star that’s hunted down by the paparazzi. He can go to get a burger anywhere he wants or play in the World Series of Poker and people aren’t clamoring all over each other to get to him.
There are a lot of moments in the book that hand me laughing out loud and the wife kept looking at my like I’d somehow lost my mind. If you like actors, movies, and a humorous behind the scenes look at what the big stars to and how the industry (on a minor level) works, then this book is loads of fun. If you’d like to read how one boy went from doing lip syncs to Bill Cosby records to being a minor movie star without ever being a star, check out his book. It’s filled with lots of good laughs.
Book Review: Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir
If you ask Dave Mustaine he will probably tell you that he single-handedly created the Thrash Metal genre we’re so fond of. He’s arrogant, rude, and considered by many to be a self-serving jerk.
I think this is why we find him so endearing, don’t you? Why else would I feel compelled to buy his book and read about his exploits?
It’s not like I hadn’t heard most of these stories over the years during interviews, VH1 Behind the Music, and other Metallica and Megadeth documentaries. If you’ve followed Megadeth and Metallica at all over the decades (wow, really? Decades? Man I feel old now) you’ll likely know most of these stories as well. From Dave getting kicked out of Metallica to Dave forming Megadeth to Dave doing drugs to Dave fighting to keep his band together to Dave’s sobriety.
Yeah, this is a book all about Dave from his highest highs (and boy did he get high) to his lowest lows. Even through his drug induced haze he’s always kept his stories consistent so it’s impossible to say he’s lying about the events that took place. It’s not like you can just make stuff like this up.
I would tell you to buy this book if you’re curious about the man behind Megadeth. I will admit that had it not been for Dave, Metallica wouldn’t have been the band they grew to be. I don’t think they would be the band they are or have gotten there in the manner they did. Dave was going in one of two directions, a rise to stardom or six feet under. As a fan of Megadeth, I’m glad it was the former.
The book does retell many stories that Dave has told before, but their told in much greater detail. I don’t know if Dave has a mind like a steel trap and he could actually recall all the names and places in the book or if someone had to help research these for him. The amount of drugs he was taking and as high or as drunk as he was during certain events, I’m sure someone had to assist along the way, but it’s great to see just what the band went through to get to where they are today. There’s no doubt in my mind that Dave is smart and brilliant, but drugs and attitude got in his way so many times and he could have been something greater.
Are you a fan of Megadeth? Are you a fan of Dave Mustaine? Unlike Ozzy’s book I Am Ozzy, Dave doesn’t have the stories that make you laugh so hard you think you’re going to pop an eye out, but the book is filled with a lot of stories that make you wonder how the man is still alive after all these years and still playing guitar at break-neck speed.
Daily Update: Cruise Control
Yesterday went from being a better day (far better than Monday or Tuesday) to a really good day. I wrote up another Unorthodox Writing Tip for Mike Plested’s Get Published. I also knocked out 1400 words in the next episode of Golden West. It was a good day to write. I sat, typed, and magic happened. I love it when days like that fall into my lap.
It’s funny the way I’m writing Golden West considering the UWT I just wrote. I discuss writing as a recursive process with several steps to get to a completed manuscript. I threw all that out the window for Golden West and the story is a very ‘seat of my pants’ story with only a vague idea where it started and where it’ll end. I did no plotting or anything else that I normally do for a book length work. So it’s funny that I wrote the UWT, then proceeded to throw my own advice right out the window and just start typing.
I do have an idea in my head where the story is going overall and I know it’ll advance through three seasons. After that I’ll have to figure out what I plan on doing with the story. Rather than pants seasons 2 and 3, I’m confident that I’ll be plotting those out ahead of time before I write them and I’ll likely write them in one shot rather than do one episode per month. I’ve got a good feel for how long each episode should be and how long it’ll take me to record and prepare the podcast.
I still need to sit and start some editing. That will likely happen after this weekend. I’ll be silent all weekend due to being out of town. I’ll be off visiting my relatives in DisneyLand. Goofy and Donald will be happy to see me again. I’m sure they’ve missed me. If you follow me on twitter or facebook I’m sure I’ll post more than one picture.
Next week I’m excited about the release of the first Hobbit Movie. I WILL be seeing this movie in the theaters. I’ll be buying it on DVD. I will own this movie without a doubt. I don’t care they made it into three movies, that just means that every little detail in the book will come through, right? Peter Jackson did a great job with the Lord of the Rings and I know he’ll do right by the Hobbit. I’ll probably re-read the book as some point between now and then just so I can in with a clear perspective. I’ve read many blog posts by folks I follow and I know I’m not alone in my excitement. I’ll, of course, review the movie after I see it.
There’s a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it. So many words, so little time. I’d better make something happen.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Back to the Trenches
So there I am just sitting there minding my own business when BAM! Monday happened. And they Tuesday came in rapid succession. I mean, really? Did you have to go and happen that fast?
Monday was a horrid day for productivity at the day job due to a major server outage. Oh, nothing related to production servers, there were all development and test servers. Sadly I develop on development and test servers. So my Monday was spent taking care of a couple admin issues, helping a couple people out, and whining that I could get any ‘real’ work accomplished.
Tuesday was more of the same until around 2PM. Sadly around that time most everyone that could actually help me when I ran into an issue was gone for the day so we’ll call Monday and Tuesday a wash.
Thankfully I had reviewed my code, had my questions prepared, and this morning I was able to get a lot accomplished in a short period of time. We’ll see what the rest of the day holds.
Needless to say, stress on the day job translates to difficulty getting started when I sit and want to write. Monday I didn’t sit until 9PM and only wrote for 30 minutes and last night was the Millican’s birthday and anniversary celebration so after much awesome food, cake, and great company it was time to head home and sit and stare at the screen and dare it to try and stay blank.
Both nights I only wrote for about 30 minutes, but I was able to knock out around 1000 words each time. I’m happy with the words and we’ll see what happens today. I need at least another 2000 to get through the latest episode of the Action Pack Podcast. Then I’ll work on the January 1st episode and then I’ll get back to V&A II.
I still have much editing to do and I’m still riding the high from NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month where you attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days). I’m also astonished that I’ve written 470,000 words at this point in the year. I know I’ll clear 500,000 without breaking a sweat. That’s just the way it is and the way my words are flowing out.
Speaking which, I need to write words with a fury so I’ll be ready for 2013. Next year is going to be a big year. If I don’t put these words in the right order, no one will! We can’t have that, now can we?
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Finding my groove
So I took the weekend off from writing. I spent lots of time with the fam. It was great. Relaxing even. I didn’t stress about word counts or edits or anything like that.
Yesterday I did my NaNoWriMo postmortem and that got me to thinking a lot about what I did all throughout 2012. The ups, the downs, the trips, the falls, the spills, the good days and the bad. It’s still on my mind and I will be writing it up.
What I hadn’t thought about was momentum. I didn’t sit down until after 9PM last night to actually write anything. I had intended to sit and write a lot earlier, but the way the day had gone and the amount of stress from things going wrong at work to a degree that had me flustered all day left me drained. So when i sat to write I did something I haven’t done in a long time. I stared at a blank screen.
I didn’t just stare. I couldn’t figure out what I was going to write. My mind felt as blank as the page I stared at. I went back, re-read the previous chapter and…
blank
So I did what I always recommend if the words aren’t coming. I hadn’t had to do this in a long long time. I got up and poked my head outside. I listened to the cars go by. Took a deep, cleansing breath, felt the chill in the air, listened to the dogs bark. I just let all the days stress go.
I went back inside, I sat, and I typed one word. Then I typed another. Slowly at first, but I built up speed. After roughly 35 minutes of typing I had nearly 1000 words and I felt good about that. I have a good idea where things will go in the next scene and things will explode. A character will reappear. Things will move more than they have in the previous couple of chapters. I hadn’t written Golden West in over a month so it was tough to change gears.
But like I said, this reminded me about momentum. Yes, I can type fast. Yes, I can write many days in a row to build up a large word count. But momentum here worked in two ways. One was against me, the other for me.
Against me because I was working on one piece, V&A Shipping II. I was full steam ahead and cranking out words like nobody’s business. I was writing nearly every day and putting out some great numbers.
It was working against me because I needed to write something completely different. A different era, different characters, different genre, different point in the story, different tensions. Everything about Golden West and V&A Shipping II was different and it wasn’t easy to break stride and change gears. Yes, writing is writing, but momentum is everything.
This got me thinking. Once I finish V&A II, I’ll be working to finish Golden West Season I. Then I’ll do Golden West Season II. This will clear that off my schedule for next year. I know how long each episodes needs to be now. I know how long the season should be. I know what will happen next year. It’s just a matter of getting the words written. This is how I’ll use momentum in my favor. This will free up my mind to focus on one task and one task only instead of trying to jump around.
At some point this month I need to work on my writing schedule. I know how much I can write in a given month now. I know how long it’ll take me to complete a novel. I know what those novels ARE! I just need to get my schedule set and start writing to that schedule.
Then I need to plan what I’m releasing and build a loose schedule for that. There is a lot to do. I’m glad I’ll have the last couple weeks of the year off. I need to do so many things in that time. I think I’d better get at it.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: NaNoWriMo Postmortem
First of all, I ‘won’ NaNoWriMo. That was one of my many goals for 2012 was to finally win NaNoWriMo. I’d only done this once in 2007 when I was working on the first V&A Shipping novel. This year I was working on the sequel to V&A Shipping and I had a blast writing it. Writing goals I’ll discuss later this month when I do my 2012 postmortem. There’s a lot to discuss on 2012 and NaNoWriMo is just one small piece.
Coming into NaNoWriMo I was trying to finish up Of Gnomes and Dwarves Book 1. I’d written and re-written and edited this book to death over about a ten year span. One of my goals for 2012 was to use the first book as an outline and write it from scratch and not try and edit the book to be better. I started that effort in mid-September and thought I would be able to finish prior to NaNoWriMo starting.
Heh heh
So as it got closer to November and I needed to get an episode of Golden West written and produced as well as assembling the Action Pack Podcast I had my work cut out for me. I still had a ways to go with Of Gnomes and Dwarves and I also needed to get a plot written up before I began.
I finished Of Gnomes and Dwarves on October 30th by writing 4000 words per day the last few days. It was a blast to write the end of that book and coming off that high I needed to be ready for another marathon of writing all of November. I honestly wasn’t sure I would be able to pull it off. I was spent after the end of re-writing the first book I’d ever written, but I was excited to write V&A II.
October 31st 2012; Halloween. Lots to do as it was a work day, Halloween, and much to do that night. I had a rough plot in my head and I had a vague idea of where the story was going to start and where it was going to end. I knew I was going to be introducing an unexpected romance, a new character from Earth, and a Dyson Sphere in trouble. I even had the first line in my head.
“It’s kind of hard to lose a planet, kid.”
This, of course, would be Vic talking to Joey. What did Joey do wrong? How’d they lose the planet? Where was the planet going? How was B.T. Justice going to be involved? How were they going to get out of this pickle? So many questions.
I wrote 25 sentences to get me just over halfway through the story and a few questions that I knew needed answering in the long run. Some answered in Book 2, some will carry over in the series. I didn’t have any names for anything. That was a major frustration, but I’m good like that and I’ve gotten better in not letting something like that slow me down.
So the day before NaNoWriMo I wrote around 400 words of plot. That was it. I felt weak in the knees. I felt like I rushed Of Gnomes and Dwarves. I didn’t think I could pull off 50,000 words in November with Thanksgiving, volleyball games, practices and everything else going on. It’s a short month and so much going on.
Here’s a screenshot of my excel spreadsheet to show the NaNoWriMo word goal. You can see I had a great first day, then nada the second day. Yeah. I was worried, but I knew I could pick up the slack. I did great for most of the month. You can then see things fell apart toward the end of the month and a couple days where it was touchy and others where it was plain nose to the grindstone and go for it writing. This is just how I work even though I try to write daily.
It wasn’t an easy month. A lot happened. I lot went on in my head thinking about things I needed to take care of. Plans beyond December into 2013 and so many things I need to take care of. But this was one goal I promised myself. I was going to knock NaNoWriMo out of the park. I didn’t knock it out of the park, but I had a solid showing and I’m proud of that. A hit is still a hit even if it wasn’t a home run.
One of the biggest things I learned in NaNoWriMo that I’ve tried to stick with throughout the year is to keep on writing. Don’t worry about what’s broke, just keep going until you hit then end and THEN worry about what’s broke. I can always re-write scenes, chapters, sections, and in the case of Of Gnomes and Dwarves, entire books. Everything is fixable. Pushing ahead in spite of your internal editor and your own self doubts is what matters.
I’ll admit one thing. Before NaNoWriMo I deleted all the games off my tablet and phone. Angry Birds, Temple Run, couple tower defense games, everything. Gone. Zap. Done! It wasn’t easy, but I did it. This was the best thing I could have done for my productivity during November. No longer did I have the excuse of “Oh, I’ll just get three stars on this one level and then I’ll get to writing. Okay, one more level.” That kind of mentality ate away many hours prior to NaNoWriMo and I wasn’t about to let it eat away my time during November.
I also got back in the habit of “I’m not feeling it” and forcing myself to get up and come back in five or ten minutes and start over. Basically doing a reset in my brain so I would not focus on a blank page, but start typing. I even started with my Daily Updates again which are a great primer to get all the funk out of my head. It helps me work through what I’m doing, keeps my goal in front of me, and forces me to address the day at hand.
If I looked at 50,000 words, that was overwhelming. I won’t lie. It’s daunting. But when I look at 1667 that’s not a daunting number. I can type that many words in one sitting no problem. I’ve done 2500 words an hour before if I’m excited enough or motivated enough. I just need to focus on the task at hand and go for it.
Looking at something so big in smaller chunks helps even when looking at my annual goal, but we’ll cover that when I do my 2012 breakdown.
All in all I wrote 67,830 words during the month of November. 50105 of those words were new fiction. I’m excited about that number. I’m looking at November and I know I won’t write 50,000 words for a couple of reasons, but we’ll get to that in another post.
I took the entire weekend off from writing. I read a lot of short stories. I read a good chunk of a new book (How I slept Myself to the Middle by Kevin Pollak) and I relaxed as much as possible. The new few weekends will be PACKED and even though I have the last two weeks of the year off, I will not be getting as much writing done as I’d like.
That being said, it’s time to do the day job.
Until Tomorrow!
WO WOO!
Daily Update: NaNoWriMo Day 29
Before I start, let me mention that I have a free story out there for your enjoyment. A twitter discussion went from “What was just done” “Comparing weasel stories” to “What to do next?” I didn’t participate in the weasel stories, but they were great fun. Once I discovered there was going to be another round or flash fiction and we were discussing the topic, I was intrigued. It went from lost in the woods, to mermaids, to sirens, to zombie sirens. There were likely more iterations than that, but Zombie Sirens? Pfft, sign me up.
Yes, Yes. I know it’s NaNoWriMo and I was behind on my word count and all that, but I still decided to write a story. Man cannot survive on Space Opera alone. There are seven stories live so far (mine being number seven). Check out the story here! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Also be sure to check out the other stories. They’ve run the gamut of what could be done. It’ nice to be included in such company 🙂
So That NaNoWriMo stuff. Yeah. I was behind a couple thousand words a couple days ago. What did I do? Did I panic? Did I freak out? Did I freeze up and say “To Hell with it”? NO! I sat my butt down and wrote and wrote and wrote until my fingers bled ink! I made the keyboard dance my dance. I whipped that story around until it couldn’t spin no more.
I wrote 3000+ words yesterday not just getting me caught up to my NaNoWriMo goal, but getting me ahead. Tonight I only need to type out 1300 words and I will have achieved my NaNoWriMo goal. Heck, I could probably do that during my lunch time.
How did I write so much yesterday? I hit an exciting part in the story. It’s all out action from here to the end. Well, the end of the action anyway. Once the crew solves the two dilemmas I’ve thrown at them they’ll have some work to do, a brief down period. There will be a wrap up chapter or two and then it’s over. Yes, I’m at the 50,000 word mark that I wanted to hit for November, but there’s still a lot of story to go. I’ll be trying to get this done during December while I’m working on a dozen other things to prepare for 2013. Exciting times are ahead. I can tell you that.
So am I still excited about writing after so many words during 2012 and a grueling NaNoWriMo? Oh hell yes. I think I’m even more excited now. I don’t just want to write more books, but I’ve got more ideas for each series I’m going to be working on. I’m loving the creative freedom I feel when I type. I can’t imagine not writing now.
I’ll try and contain my excitement until I write my NaNoWriMo postmortem and my 2012 year in review. As I keep saying, I learned a lot this year. I hope you’ll enjoy (and have enjoyed) what I’ve shared.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: NaNoWriMo Day 28
NaNoWriMo is coming to a close. There are only two days left. How am I doing? I’m sitting on ~46000 words. That means just around 4000 words to go to hit my target for November. I’m probably 15000-20000 away from completing the novel. I’m having great fun with the story. I can already see where it needs beefing up, corrections, deletions, etc. It’s funny that the deeper you get into a book you realize where you short changed and where you overspent. As I said, there will be a NaNoWriMo postmortem coming in December.
As for yesterday, I managed around 2500 words to get me partially caught up. I should be able to do about the same today leaving Friday to finish up. I’m building toward a fun climax for the story and there will, of course, be another show down between Vic and Buford. That was inevitable, wasn’t it? Of course it was. Just how will Vic outsmart the good Sheriff is yet to be written, but it’ll be a fun ride getting there. Just need to take care of this mini-dyson sphere first.
So not much to report today. I think tomorrow I’ll have a little story available for you. I participated in a flash challenge and it was fun. I wrote a zombie siren story (this all started from a discussion on twitter). I’ll post all the details about it tomorrow.
First I need to get through the day job and there’s a lot to do. Another big project coming to a close. I’d better get at it.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
J.R. Murdock 