Category Archives: Blog Post
Get Published: Talking Collaboration
Mike Plested and I have been working together for some time. Want to know all that we’re up to? Check out Episode 74 of Get Published.
Daily Update: Video Editing
Yesterday was a pretty good day for writing. I mostly did re-writing on a story that I have in the Of Gnomes and Dwarves universe, Kance Encounter. Although Kance isn’t one of the main characters in the series, he fills a needed role to help tell the history of world that leads up to where the rest of the characters will take over. Much of this history will be referenced throughout the series, but the short stories will help better define what has gone on before. I’m really excited to be doing these shots (one per month during 2012) and I’m even more excited to get back into the world that I first created when I decided I wanted to be a writer.
The roots of this story go all the way back to 1985/1986 when I played Dungeons and Dragons and these characters come to life. Actual writing didn’t begin until 1988 and, as I’ve chronicled before, didn’t get completed until 1998. The book suffered from many false starts and too many re-writes. I plan to do another re-write and this time I will be completely redoing the series as I’ve learned so much about writing.
On the walking front, I managed a good time yesterday with the new shoes. Shin splints are still happening, but are getting easier to deal with. I still want to go much faster, but still when I start to get moving a little faster than my legs want, the pain comes back. It’s more of a dull ache instead of a sharp stabbing pain so slowing down with a smaller stride still helps. I know it’ll take a few weeks before I can really move on my walk and if things go right, I’ll be able to start running in a few months. Oddly I’m looking forward to it.
I got my daughter’s video edited for her. The kid wrote the script and decided what needed to be shot. I just added the music and pieced it together. That took up a lot of my writing time over the weekend and I’ll be attacking this week with renewed vigor and a need to get caught up or even ahead of where I feel my writing should be at. I’ll post the video once I get approval from the kid and the parents of the others in the video.
Speaking of video, I learned a lot (well, enough to be dangerous) about video recording and editing. If I get bored I may start posting some video updates in place of blog posts. I had fun editing them and had a thought of recording Unorthodox Writing Tips as videos. Interested? Sound like fun? Leave me a comment. Let me know. I’ll see what I can do.
Time to get at it.
Until tomorrow
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: It’s like walking on air
Well, ok. So maybe it’s not like walking on air, but I’ve got to tell you, my new shoes are awesome. I took the kid to volleyball practice yesterday at her school and we were about 45 minutes early so we started walking around the track; a very nice rubberized track. About twenty minutes in there was a little soreness in my shins, but nothing like what I’d been experiencing. It’s pain that I know will go away with daily walks.
After 20 minutes or so, we realized that no one else had shown up for her practice. Whoops. So after checking with my phone that the practice was at a different school, we packed up and headed over there. She made it on time, thankfully, and I did another 20 minutes of walking before heading over to watch her practice. The kid is getting really good at this volleyball stuff. I’m a proud papa.
So I did a full walk today on the route I’ve been doing. I’m still taking smaller strides (something the kid gave me a hard time about yesterday) and these appear to also be helping with the pain. I’m still frustrated because I’m not really working up a sweat. I know it’ll take time before my legs catch up with the rest of my body. I also know I’m so out of shape that anything at this point will help. I’m definitely not going to give up this time.
The wife is also going to get into the walking with me. We both need it. It’ll be nice to have company on my walks.
On the writing front. I’m blogging daily, if you didn’t notice. I haven’t been writing fiction daily. I missed the past two days, but I’m going to make up for it today. I’ll be in the truck writing while the kid is at practice. I should be able to do a couple thousand words while she’s in there. I’m about to start on the monthly short story for January that I’ll release at the end of the month. Pretty excited about getting that one going. I need to bug Scott Roche and see how he’s doing.
When I spoke with Mike Plested we talked about our collaborative works. I’ve got the first piece of Gold Rush (working title) ready to go. I just need to do a little editing and record it. This, of course, put the pressure on my writing partner to get his piece recorded. Pressure is a good thing, no? Deadlines help push you into getting something done. Well, most of the time.
Anyway, it’s time to drag the kid off to practice. Time to get a good chunk of writing done. Later tonight I’ll post my weekly numbers for walking and writing. They’re not overly impressive, but they’re numbers nonetheless. Hopefully they’ll both go up as the weeks go on.
Until tomorrow
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: New Shoes
Today I’m about to head out the door and get a new pair of shoes. I tried walking in the old pair I had and they’re terrible. They’re tight, stiff, and just plain uncomfortable. So I’m off to go buy new shoes. Something I haven’t done for myself in a very long time.
See, I’m a flip-flop wearer. I hate the feeling of shoes on my feet. If I don’t have to wear shoes at all I’ll be barefoot in a heart beat. I don’t really even like socks.
But I’ve now learned that walking in flip-flops isn’t doing my feet, my legs, or my pace any good. My feet hurt when I’m done. My shins ache (at least the sharp pain is going away) and I can’t walk as quickly as I’d like as my feet sweat I slip and I’ve gotten blisters on my feet.
So today it’s off to get new shoes.
On the writing front, yesterday was a wash. I did get a blog post up, and recorded an episode of Get Published with my friend Mike Pested. I didn’t actually get any WIP writing done, though. Will I do so today? I’m not sure at this point. I’m off to get new shoes. After that I’ll be at another friend’s house (also named Mike) working on my truck. After that I’ll probably end up at another friend’s house (not named Mike) where our wives will be doing hair and making dinner. We did the same thing last night (minus the doing of hair) and didn’t get home until after midnight.
I did plan on getting up early, but my wife and I stayed up watching Gold Rush. I hate to love that show because so much goes wrong, but I’ve found inspiration in their perspiration. Seeing so many things go wrong has really fueled my work on my own Gold Rush story (a western/steampunk).
Well, all these errands aren’t going to run themselves. So I’m going to fire up the truck, sputter off down the road. Get my shoes, fix the sputtering, and hopefully get home before the wife and kid so I can 1) walk and 2) write.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: It always feels good
I sat down last night around 8PM. I had been up and down and had trouble finding the mood to write. The previous day’s output wasn’t anything to write home about. In fact writing home about it would have been higher on my word count than what I wrote.
So last night I helped my daughter shoot a little video for her English Class. She needed to re-enact a scene from a book, but more one she wrote instead of directly from the book. I had encouraged her to read October Sky and one of her friends from her reading circle also stopped by. The other we shot this morning. So I had to learn a little bit about video editing as I’d never done anything like that before.
When I did actually sit down to write I read through what I’d written the day before (all 300 words of it) and it was pretty much explainy garbage. I didn’t throw it out. I’ll have to go back and fix it, but I left it there. It does serve a purpose. What I needed to do was to get my villain moving. Once I got him from point A to point B with several mishaps along the way it became easier and easier to write. I had found his motivation and ran with it. In thirty minutes I had written nearly 1100 words. I ran out of steam, but I felt good with the output. I now had the motivation of my protag and antag. This will make writing go smoother as I progress and I already know all the key plot points I intend to hit with this story.
The one I’m talking about I will be doing in a monthly podcast with co-author Mike Plested. We will probably have a podcast out soon discussing the project. Speaking of Mike, we’re also in google docs in the edit phase of editing out Jack Kane novel and we’re about to start the process for plotting out book two. We’re both excited to get going with the editing as it’ll allow us to start shopping it around. It’s a fun book, quirky in its humor, and we should be able to find it a home.
On the walking front, yesterday was a little easier. I’m still taking the pace slow for now. Once I get going my legs want to stretch out and lengthen that stride and when I do the pain in my shins flares up and slows me right back down. Tonight (or tomorrow) I’ll be getting new walking shoes. I intend to go to a sporting goods store and ask the shoe person what’s a good shoe for walking for a person with shin trouble. Regardless of the pain, I was still able to do nearly 3 miles in 45 minutes again.
If you’ve been to the actual blog (not sure if you read this with a reader or hit the blog) but you’ll see I have my numbers up on the side for projects I’m working on as well as my yearly goal. Each Sunday I’ll post where those words were written and mileage walked. I’m also planning on including a daily writing prompt in each post. I think I will start those next week.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Ow! Just, ow!
Way back when I was in high school, I did Cross Country in the fall and Long Distance Track running in the summer and one year we even had Cross Country Skiing during the winter. I ran a lot. We usually ran six miles a day plus a hour of sprinting. On my better races I could do the three mile run in just under 18 minutes. I wasn’t the fastest on the team by any stretch, but I was quick enough.
So I went walking again yesterday. As I said before, my old friend shin splints were back in full force. It was incredibly painful. The first part of my walk takes me uphill and when I walk shorter distances I have a long stride. After doing some reading online it seems this is my problem.
I haven’t worked out in a few months and when I was working out before I had an elliptical trainer so I didn’t pick my feet up and put them down. I’m also walking on concrete. After what I read I’m doing a lot of damage to the muscle on the front of my legs. So after my walk and after reading this information I started stretching and doing some simple exercises to hopefully help with the problem. I really do want to walk every day.
Yesterday’s walk I had to stop several times due to the pain. It really was that bad. I tried to push myself forward, but my legs just weren’t having any of it. I turned around and headed back to the house. Even though I had stopped several times and didn’t feel like I had made it that far, I did1.65 miles in just over 24 minutes.
The worst part about that was I didn’t even work up a sweat. My pace was so slow due to the pain in the front of my legs and I stopped so many times that I didn’t feel like I got a good workout. I will, however, try again today.
I’m not a subscriber of the no pain, no gain. I understand weight lifting and know that motto and the stiffness involved with a good workout. This is highly different pain. This pain tells me I’m not doing myself any good. So today I’ll take smaller steps and likely go for a shorter distance. I still need to get better walking shoes. The ones I have are hard and didn’t help much.
On a positive note, I had a great writing day. I went to my daughter’s volleyball practice and stayed to watch her practice and talk with a couple of the other parents. I had brought my netbook and did intend to write, but once it was open the girls either started spike practice or serving practice. Each requires certain evasive skills. It was not an environment conducive to writing. I was still happy with yesterday’s output.
Today I strike out once again.
It felt good getting back to work. Today will see more productivity both at work and on the writing front. Speaking of which, I’d better get at it.
Until tomorrow.
WOO WOO!
Just me, and my shadow.
Hey! Look! It’s the Third and this is my third daily post. I know, I know. Hold you applause.
But seriously, I know many people blog multiple times per day. What I’m doing is just trying to get into that habit of writing a quick blog post each and every day. I’m only a couple of days in, but I’m on track. That’s what matters, right?
So yesterday, after lots of eating over the holidays, I decided to work on one of my unpublished goals. This one is simple; to have less of me around. Ever since we moved last year I’ve been sitting on my duff and getting little done. Adding on somewhere between fifteen to twenty pounds has done wonders with lowering my energy and lowering my motivation.
I was writing yesterday and decided, HEY! I can go for a walk. So I did. Perhaps it wasn’t the brightest decision to go walking for nearly an hour in flip flops during the hottest part of the day (it got up to 75 yesterday) but I did it anyway. Why? Because I need to. I know to have more energy I need to get some exercise. I need a good pair of walking shoes as my old nemesis from my running days, shinsplints, came back to haunt me. I puffed and wheezed more than once. All in all it was a terrible experience.
But I’m going to keep at it. I know the only way to get back into shape is to do something as often as possible. So I’ll be walking and tracking my progress. Yes, I walked for nearly an hour yesterday, but I have no idea how far I walked. I asked on twitter for a walking app for my Atrix and got the recommendation for RunKeeper. It tracks your time and distance using GPS. I love technology and this will be an awesome way to tack my time, distance, and progress. From what I can tell it remembers for you. At some point I’ll get a scale and start weighing myself, but not anytime soon. I want to worry more about my fitness level instead of my weight. With this little app I’ll be able to post weekly distance and times. Just another thing to keep me honest. Maybe I’ll do one of those maps to show how far I walk in a month or year. That’ll be fun.
As for writing, yes, I wrote a nearly 3000 words yesterday. I’ll be writing more today. I plan on writing tomorrow. I don’t want to lose my momentum. I’ll post my weekly word count (and walking distance) every Sunday. I also put a word count meter on the main site to keep track of where I’m at with hitting my yearly goal. It’s painful to see that I’m still at 0%, but it won’t move much on a daily basis unless I really crank out some words.
Speaking of writing, today is my first day back to work after a couple of weeks off. That will bite into my writing time I was enjoying over the holidays, but I still have the evenings. Words will happen. Speaking of words, I need to get back to work. During lunch…
Until tomorrow
WOO WOO!
Chipotle Chicken and Mini Pies
Yesterday was a good day. Not for writing, but it was a good day. I watched the Chargers eliminate the Raiders from the playoffs (always a good time). My wife made some awesome chipotle chicken that we took over to our friends house. There was much eating to be had and great company. Then I realized I hadn’t tried out my Christmas present.
Each year on Christmas with my wife’s family we do a white elephant gift exchange. Everyone buys one gift rather than trying to buy something for everyone. You have the option of opening a gift or stealing. I was second and didn’t want the first gift opened. I had opened a mini pie maker. I love pie! I really wanted this gift. The fourth person to open a gift also got a mini pie maker. During the course of the game, his pie maker got stolen and then mine got stolen. So I had to go steal the other pie maker locking the gift as mine. Happiness was also mine.
So after we had eaten dinner I remembered that I had gone to the store shortly after Christmas and purchased cherry and peach pie filling as well as pre-made crusts. I hopped in the car and went back hope to get the everything and in doing so I remembered that during our trip to Oregon over the summer we had gotten a couple jars of homemade apple pie filling. I grabbed one of those as well.
Making the pies was easy enough. The two packages of pie crusts was enough to make twelve little pies. We also realized that we could pretty much make any filling to put into the little pies. Pot Pie filling, eggs and ham, eggs and bacon, eggs and sausage. I think we may be making breakfast pies soon. I know this little toy will get a lot of mileage. It’s quick, easy to use, and makes yummy little pies.
Time to do some writing.
Until tomorrow.
WOO WOO!
A Post a Day
That’s one of my goals for 2012; to post at least once per day. Just a quick ‘hello, here’s what I’m up to’. These will be separate from anything else I post such as Unorthodox Writing Tips, Weekly Word Counts, Guest Posts, Book Reviews, and Announcements. I may even post a picture from time to time. I love to take pictures of birds and clouds, so if you think that might be interesting, I can post a picture from time to time. Just let me know.
As for how the New Year is starting, well, I’m writing this post. I’m currently watching the Chargers trying to beat the Raiders. During Half Time I will write like a mad man. During commercials I will write like a mad man. After the game I will also be doing some more writing before we head over to my friend’s house for a New Year’s day dinner. Before I go to bed I hope to get a little more writing in.
Oh, I’m also helping my wife while she’s making chipotle chicken. I love being a taste tester. The house is filled with the smells of onion, garlic, and chipotle. Dinner tonight is going to be awesome!
I will keep these posts short. Even though I have the ability to ramble, I will endeavor to keep these posts under 500 words. I just want to try and get into the habit of writing something each and every day even if I don’t have the ability to work on my WIP. I have a xoom tablet and a smart phone so I should have no excuses for not posting daily.
If I get annoying with these posts, let me know. My hope is that I’ll be able to gain more followers. My blog and podcast have never had more than 150 and if I do things right I hope to double that number this year. That’s one of my other goals. Yes, I have a lot of them and I’ll keep you posted, every day.
Until Tomorrow
WOO WOO!
New Short Story available.
I have a new short story available at Smashwords and it’s currently FREE!
J.R. Murdock 