J.R. Murdock

Did I write yesterday? No

Long story short (or not).

Both the brakes on the Tahoe and Sputtery Truck are (were) squeaky. So I went to my friend that helps me in times of need when it comes to the vehicles. Recently we had done the rear brakes on the Tahoe and now that scraping noise is gone. We took off the front tires. Took off the brake pads. Everything looked good. The pads are less than half worn. The rotors look good. So we went to town with some brake cleaner, got a lot of gunk off them and they stopped squeaking. We then checked the fluids, found out it was not a cuase for alarm on the service engine light (seems when you let the gas get too low too often it’ll literally gasp for breath).

So no money spent there.

Then I took over Sputtery Truck. The front brakes looked alright, but the rotors looked in rough shape. Not only pleny rusted, but grooved. The rear not quite so much so we held off on those. I took the pads back (under warranty) and got new rotors. I had thought it would be a difficult job, but it was only two more bolts and bam, we had the rotors off, the pads off, and we went to Auto Zone.

While we were there, I picked up a new air filter (can’t hurt) and a needed serpintine belt. We got back and did the brakes first. WOW! Shiny new rotors look great! The new pads were THICK! Yeah, needless to say it was fun putting everything back together as it was a snug fit. Tires back on, new belt, new air filter. Sputtery truck is happy as can be now.

Then I had to get home, get cleaned up, and get my favorite daughter to club volleyball tryouts. She did great! Can’t wait for this season to start. Practice starts in December and the first game will be the second week in January. Hopefully the girls have a great season. Many of the same girls are trying out that were there last year.

So writing, yeah. Didn’t happen yesterday. I got a late blog post in and that was about it. There will be words today. I’m off from work this week so I’m going to try and not only make up those words, but get ahead as far as I can. I’ve had a couple great ideas for V&A II as wel as some great ideas for the covers of I and II. December will see me get through a lot of edits as I get prepared to take on 2013. It’s an exciting time and even though I didn’t write yesterday and only a few words the day before, I’m not discouraged. This will happen! But not until I get out there and make it happen!

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!

Friday was a crazy day. I didn’t do much. I didn’t write much. I still managed to write, though. I knocked out about 1000 words in the little spare time I had. We went to one of the local casinos and ate at the buffet with my favorite daughter and some of her friends. It was the Wife’s birthday and we had a good time.

We took the kids home then picked up the Millicans and went back to the casino. It was a quiet night and no one hit anything big. We still had fun and that’s all that really mattered.

Yesterday it was party time. We went to a friend’s house for their daughter’s sweet sixteen birthday. There was dancing, tacos, great company, and a good time had by all. The wife and I had spent the morning/afternoon shopping. That meant there was little time to just sit and do any writing. When I did finally find a few minutes, I did sit and start typing. My favorite daughter failed to mention that her boyfriend was coming over at that time. So my writing time consisted of about 5 minutes where I wrote around 150 words.

So that puts me a tiny bit behind on my NaNoWriMo goal, but the point is, I sat and typed for a little time. That really is what NaNoWriMo is trying to teach us. that by sitting down each and every day you can accumulate a large word count. It just takes a little effort.

This, of course, of what I’ve done throughout 2012. I’ve hit the keyboard a little each day and next time you know, I’ve got nearly 450,000 words written. I sat at the keyboard nearly every day this year. I had some rough starts. I had a couple lulls. But I continued on part those difficult times and I am on the breaking point of making my goal actually happen for this year.

that means I need to figure out what to do with all these words next year. Some I’ve already published, or had published. I have a lot that did not get into print. Some are in short stories. Some are in novels. All need to find a home be it in an anthology, a magazine, or in a book. Except for those words that landed in a novel or short story that didn’t get completed.

You heard me correctly. I wrote some things that never got completed. Perhaps it sounded like a good idea at the time and it failed to come to fruition or the idea was better than the story.  So I have several half-completed stories, some unfinished books, and a lot of written words that need to find completion.

Part of next year will see some of these works completed. Hopefully it will also see many works in print. I’ve got my work cut out for me and part of that is laying out a plan and a schedule. A schedule to record. A schedule to get editing completed. A schedule to get covers created. A schedule to release self-published works.  There’s a lot to do, but today isn’t the day to do that. Right now I need work on my NaNoWriMo writing. I’d better get at it.

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!

Today is the Wife’s birthday. There was a card, flowers, breakfast in bed, and coffee. My Favorite Daughter picked out a perfect card that a teenager could give her mother. It was a good morning.

Then I had to work, but it pays the bills , right?

I kid. I love my job. Well, yesterday was a little stressful, but hey, those things happen from time to time. Not everyone works like I do and there are times when you need to just accept that and it makes the day go so much smoother. Not any easier if you’re feeling the pressure of things like demoing a product to clients and you need something done prior to that so you can actually perform your demo, but those are the little things that let me know I’m still alive.

I started yesterday at 6:20am and it wasn’t until around noon my time that this was all done. I had about an hour to be fully prepared for my meeting. Oh, sure, there were other things I could do like prepare my script and practice in my head what I was going to say, but I had my stuff pointing to a different server. I needed to swing things back and be fully prepared and make sure everything I was about to would work during the demo.

Needless to say things worked out. About 10 minutes before the call actually started I got things ironed out and was ready to go. The demo went great. Only a couple things pointed out by the client, but that’s why we’re having multiple calls so they can see what we’re doing, get buy in, and they can nit-pick. So they went away happy, my boss went away happy, and I tried not to pass out as the massive release of pressure came off my shoulders.

With all that, I picked up the kid from school, we ran off to get cards and flowers, came back home and hid the cards and the flowers. We had to wait for the Wife to come home because the Millican’s wife was last night (yes, our wives have birthdays one day apart. It’s pretty cool). She got home and we went to the Millican’s house for dinner and cake. There were more flowers and a good time had by all. Tonight we’ll be going to the buffet at one of the local casinos. I haven’t buffeted in a long time so I’m sure that will also be a good time had by all!

I didn’t think I was going to write yesterday. The stress of the demo. The stress of getting things ready for last night and this morning. The stress of stressing out.  The hiccups. All sorts of things came to a head and hit me all at once. I took many deep breaths and the hiccups went away. I had a little over an hour before the wife came home. My Favorite Daughter was talking to herself sitting next to me while doing her homework and worrying if she was going to get it all done

It’s NANOWRIMO time! I must write! I’m writing V&A Shipping II! I MUST WRITE!

So while waiting for the wife and doing the relaxation needed to get rid of my hiccups, I realized I had time. I put in my headphones and wrote for a little while.  I only needed a few hundred words to stay on track with NaNoWriMo and I sat and wrote 1700 words. I blinked, looked at the word count meter in Scrivener and tried to process that. In just a little over an hour I went from “I don’t have time to write” to having 1700 words written. I mean… wow!

I was quite pleased with how yesterday turned out. Lots of things went in the right direction. Today is a much more relaxing day. Yes, I’ve still got a lot of work to do on the project I’m working on, but I’m slightly ahead of schedule. I have vacation all next week. I’m more than 1/2 way done with my NaNoWriMo goal. I’m over 430,000 words on the year (of my 450,000 word goal). I have a cover artist lined up (I just need to write up what I’m looking for and we can start the process). I have a pair of editors lined up. I have multiple completed books ready to be rocked and rolled and pushed out. As soon as I have covers and edits on any book, I will start to record. Once the recording and editing is complete, I’ll schedule a release date.

That’s right. I’m going to get EVERYTHING done and then announce when I’ll release a give book. I don’t want to schedule something that isn’t complete and then have to backpedal if life happens and pull a book. I want to know it’s done. Send it off to reviewers. Have galleys in my hand to make sure the print editions look good. Perhaps get a book trailer together. So much work! So many books! I’m excited for 2013 to get here. After the way 2012 has been such a huge success, I know that 2013 will only be better and see more books happen and many published.

I hope you’ll be along with me for the ride. I’ll post all throughout the process. It’s going to be exciting. I can just tell.

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!

Yes, I’m still doing that NaNoWriMo stuff. I’m still ahead of schedule. I’m currently sitting on 24197 words. I had intended to take it easy last night and just write a few words. I only needed 220 to stay on schedule. Instead I wrote 1079. What can I say, once you get started, it’s hard to stop. That means I only need 800 today to stay on schedule, but that’s going to be tough. I will endeavor though.

The wife’s birthday is tomorrow so there will be things going on today that will hinder any writing happening. These things tend to happen from time to time.

428,376. That’s the number of words written so far this year. I’m very happy about that number. I mean… I’m 22000 away from my annual goal. I can’t get over that. Honestly. I’m shocked I set a goal and I’m almost there.

Today is starting FAR too early, so…

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!

Yesterday the day job started out going in the right direction. Then went sideways and I had trouble recovering as things that shouldn’t have happened and/or been surprises, were. I will recover and move on. These things happen often enough that even when 3 or 4 hit you at the same time you just laugh and roll with the punches.

That being said, yesterday was fairly stressful. My Favorite Daughter sat next to me for the better part of the day complaining about doing history notes. I offered to change seats with her. She declined and pressed on.

By the time the sun went down (wow it goes down early these days) I was beat, bruised, and had sent out emails galore. I’ve had two short stories rejected that I have yet to get back out into the wild. I had a lot of ideas of what to do with the books I have completed and want to get out into the wild next year (if all goes well). I need to come up with a list of what I’ve got done, what’s in progress, and start setting up timelines to get these things completed. Then I need to set up a schedule for next year and start pumping out books. My plan is what i always wanted to do, throw out a bundle of books, all the potential first in a series, and see what sticks.

Off the top of my head, here’s what I’ve got:

Of Gnomes and Dwarves (books 1-4 written, book 1 completely rewritten and almost ready for beta readers)

Astel: Chosen (in desperate need of an editing clean up, book 2 plotted.)

V&A Shipping (Book 1 complete and podcasted, book 2 in progress)

Billy Barbarian (Book 1 complete, book 2 plotted)

Paradise Palms (Book 1 complete, there is potential for a sequel)

To Fall From the Sky (Book 1 two thirds complete, potential for a sequel)

Almost-Super Heroes (Book 1 one third complete, lots of potential for a sequel)

A Life of Lists (one quarter complete, need to finish plotting and finish writing)

Golden West (Currently in the middle of podcasting Season 1. Lots of room to continue for at least two more seasons)

Jack Kane (Book 1 done, Mike and I have plotted Book 2, edits being done. Potential publisher interested)

Asteroid Bunnies (Book 1 started, need to plot and get moving on this one)

Like I said, so many irons in the fire, I just need to get moving on these other projects. I need to write up a schedule and write, write, write. You can see why my brain feels full all the time, but the more I work on one project, the more fun I have. I also want to write a few more stories for My Teacher is a… because there’s potential there to write more books and put out an omnibus. They’re all novella and I don’t see any one story going beyond 20,000 words.

Even as I type up this list (like I said, off the top of my head) I know there are other ideas out there for more stories and more book titles. Each one could just be the first, or I could leave it at one (well, some I could leave at one). Others demand a sequel just based on how they’re written. If one of these picks up an audience I’ll, of course, continue in that series first before either finishing off one book that hasn’t found an audience yet. More than likely, V&A Shipping will be the first, followed by Of Gnomes and Dwarves, a re-realease of Astel, and then I’ll need to figure out where to go next.

I’ve got a spread sheet to track my writing progress, now I need one to track my books, set up release dates (which I won’t do until editing and book covers are 100% complete). Only then will I schedule a book, but then I need to track it’s progress. How is it selling month to month? How much time before I release a sequel? Do I put out V&A Shipping and release a sequel in 3 months? 6 months? Once a year? So much to think about and I know I just need to spend some time sitting and working it all out.

That’s likely not going to happen in November because I’m working on NaNoWriMo, but that doesn’t mean it’s not on my mind. I’m not going to bail out of NaNoWriMo this year like I did last year.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo! I’m currently 21788 and I haven’t written yet today. I was a little behind, but I’ve more than caught up now. I’m about to jump into act II as people like to call it. The action will take a little dip, then start to ratchet back up and when we move into act III things will be moving at a breakneck pace (or so I hope). Then some wrap up and we should land right around the 90,000 word mark where book 1 came in at. I’m very excited to actually be writing this sequel. I missed Vic, Joey, June, and the rest of the crew. I know readers (well, listeners) have wanted more from these guys, and I hope they’ll be pleased.

Now that I’m thinking about the sequel. I WILL release all my books as podiobooks when I release them. I will start the audio from this page the same day the book is released. I’ll do a couple of things (at least this is the plan). I’ll post a chapter per day to read, post an audio section once per week, and have the book as ebook and print book for sale. So day one of a book’s release would see first chapter, first audio, print, ebook, all up on the same day. Hopefully this will drive people insane and make them want to go out and buy the book.

This is the plan, but first I need to get a lot of things done. So much on my mind and so many things to do before this will see the light of day. I’d better get at it!

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!

First of all, Happy Veteran’s Day to all those who have served or are serving in the Military. Thank you for your service and dedication to your country.

Second, I didn’t write a lick yesterday (except for my daily update. I’m sorry about that and I’ll strive to do better today. I was more than a day ahead so tonight I’ll be able to do some writing and get caught up and perhaps a little bit ahead of where I was. I didn’t need a break, it just sort of happened.

We’d planned on doing some shopping yesterday. So we all got ready and we didn’t go shopping. These things tend to happen from time to time.

My Favorite Daughter had a tryout for Club Volleyball and a party to go to. We wound up working on a present, buying cards, and going to the try out. Then there was the getting ready for the party, dropping her off, watching some TV with the wife, reading some more of Frankenstein, a couple short stories in a couple anthologies, a couple short stories in Lightspeed and Apex, and then picking up the my favorite daughter from the party.

It wasn’t that I didn’t think about writing or what I could be writing, or coming up with new ideas for short stories (which will have to wait), but I didn’t sit down and write. It was nice just to spend the day with the wife and my favorite daughter.

Today is another day. I don’t have the day job off so I’ll be getting through that first and then it’ll be onto words! Or so I hope. We’ll see what life throws at me as the day goes on. I’m sure there’ll be something that will demand my attention.

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!

Yesterday was a great day for writing. I managed just over 3000 words. I’m currently a day ahead (again) on my word goal for November. I’m not only happy with my progess, but happy with the words I got down. The tension is ratcheting up nicely and hopefully I’ll get the crew into a new, unexpected situation soon. I’m having a blast.

I still need to work on my plan for going indie (self-pub) on my books and I need to determine cost. I have a lot of books and I just need to get working on it. I mean, I have 6 books in various stages of completion meaning I could release 6 books next year if I felt truly ambitious, but I think that’s running a little too fast. I had planned to do four when I released Astel, but things fell apart, life happened, and the books didn’t get out. 2013 will be a year a lot of things will happen.

My Favorite Daughter spent yesterday at Sea World. It was cold, it rain but no at Sea World. I thought that was funny. It was 50 degrees by the home, and 60 down by the ocean. That’s totally backwards. But her, and her friends, had a good time.

Today she had club volleyball tryouts. It’ll be an exciting day.

The wife and I have a few things to do, so writing won’t happen until much later in the day. We’ll see how many words I can get done on a busy busy day. I know I can get at least 1000 words, I just need to find some stay minutes.

First I have to get through the day unscathed.

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!

Yes, I’m still doing this NaNoWriMo thing. Guess what? I’m still on track to get my 50,000 for this month. I’m only guessing here, but I think I might make it this year. Yesterday I got another late start and still got 1820 words. This puts me just a tiny bit ahead of schedule and I like that feeling. I’ll be doing some words today, but I don’t know that I’ll be able to knock out nearly as many as I would be able to. Just so much going on this weekend.

I’m still using my one sentence per chapter as an outline. I know overall what’s going to happen in the book and it’ll be fun to write the end. Just like with the first book everything that happens in this book will happen in a compressed timeframe. I’m still making references to things that happened between the two books and this will give me potential fodder for short stories. The joy of this is that I could potentiall write a collection of short stories between the two books if there is any demand for it.

One thing I’ve given a LOT of thought to is going the Indie Route for V&A Shipping. I’m coming up on the one year timeline since I first sent out my books to the publisher I’d met at World Fantasy Con. I’m a very patient person, but I think, now that I’m getting a sequel written, it’s high time to get V&A Shipping a book cover and get that one out into the wild and see what happens. It’s not that I don’t want to see my books published by a publisher, it’s that I feel I can get more traction getting the books out there.

I still get email from fans who’ve found the podcast and they wonder where the sequel is. Well, I’m writing it and now I’m going to self-publish the first. I’ve already had editing done on the book, I just need to get those edits compiled and get a cover. I’ll work on the layout which will be fun, and I’m off to the races. Then it’s a matter of getting the second done.

Beyond that, I also have a few other books that are ready to go. Not just done,but I’ve gotten edits back from friends and I’ll send them off to a pro editor and we’ll see what happens. If I play my cards right, I could potentially have 5 or 6 books out next year. Yes, that’s  highly ambitions, but I’ve already written them. I’ve already had editing done. I just need book covers.

Like I said, I’m patient. I need to work on a release schedule, I need to get covers done, I need to make sure edits are complete, and I need covers. All of this is a time and money investment at this stage. It’s all in my head and I need to write everything down and get a calendar and just go for it, I think.

It’s not something I’m jumping into lightly (as I did with my first book, Astel, which I still need to get some good editing done on).

What do you think? Is it high time to start pumping out book? I am thinking of not just getting the books out there, but also podcasting, doing print editions, setting up a store from my site where I’ll sell signed copies. There’s a lot to do. I thought of doing KickStarter for this, but I think I can do this on my own without a kickstarter. I’ll be assuming all the risk. I have no gaurentee. But I’ll be able to sell ebook, print, signed, and audio versions of anything I release.

Yes, I know this isn’t a new trail. It’s been done by many, but by going out on my own (without an agent or publisher) I’ll also have full control of everything I release. All with no gaurentee that I’ll see any results. I just need to give it time to grow. Time and a little bit of money. That’s what I need to do this.

I think I’m beyond the actual thinking stage of this. I think I’m about to enter the planning stage. 2013 is just around the corner and I think it’s the year I go for it.

Let me know your thoughts. I’ve got words to write.

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!

Yesterday was another one of ‘those’ days. Work was a little stressful with the demo I had to do. I’m not sure why, but I find those to be the most stressful of my job. Especially when I need to demo to a client with higher-ups watching my every move. Even though I ran through my script multiple times, I still had a minor error that made me pause for 5 seconds before realizing what happened and why.

Immediately after work I was off to an advisory board meeting for the Grossmont Union School District. My Favorite Daughter’s digital arts teacher invited me. It was fascinating to see how advanced the computer art classes are, the video technology available in the schools, the photography class. I was impressed and this was just one school. We went over the proposed curriculum and wish list purchase items. It was a great process. I’ve been invited back to sit in on their IT advisory board.

One of the things I found amusing in the meeting were the wish list items. I work for AT&T. When we need something, say software licenses for 8 servers, the cost could be $8000-$10000 dollars. This is a small amount of money when you look at a company as large as AT&T. We might spend $100,000 on a server farm. These are just the cost of doing business. The amounts aren’t anything that cause me to pause. SO when we were looking at the wish list items and the amounts ranged from $1700 for software and gear up to $10,000 for advanced video production, green screen equipment, and the like.

I didn’t think anything of these amounts. They were so small why would they need advisory board approval? But then I needed to think in terms of school budget. The teacher that invited me said that they needed approval for anything greater than $500 and just because it’s on their ‘wish list’ doesn’t mean they’ll actually get the equipment. For what they’re putting into these classes, I’m impressed they can do the work they can with such small budgets. It would be nice if classes and classrooms like this were spread across the country, but I know that they’re not. I’m glad I live in the area that I do that my favorite daughter has every opportunity to learn in these class rooms and learn the skills she’ll need to be successful.

After that it was home for about 15 minutes to gobble down some food and take my favorite daughter off to a private volleyball lesson. I stayed for the hours, helped shag ball, and was impressed that even though she was sore and tired, she did well. I’m impressed with her as always. I might be biased, but I’m still impressed.

Finally got home. I had a headache again. I watched Big Bang Theory with the Wife (the one with Wil Wheaton and Levar Burton). Easily the funniest episode so far this season.

I wasn’t going to write. I didn’t have the energy to write. I didn’t want to write. I hadn’t written the day before what did it matter if I didn’t write? My headache wasn’t getting any better, I was tired, I just wanted to go to bed.

I hadn’t written the day before meaning I’d used up my day ahead I was in my NaNoWriMo word count. If I skipped I’d be playing catch up. I would fall behind. I didn’t want to fall behind, I wanted to at least stay on track. I’d been doing so good. I was at an interesting point. I might as well and try and write something. Even if I just wrote for a little bit I’d be better off.

So I wrote 1972 words yesterday. I still had a headache (it rained again) but I felt really good by the time I went to bed. With no demo scheduled and just regular work stuff to deal with, and the rain out of the way, and my favorite daughter no having anything planned (that I know of, that could always change by the time she gets home from school, or in five minutes) I should be able to stay on track today or maybe even get ahead. We’ll see what happens.

I’d better get the day job out of the way.

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!