Category Archives: Changes

General, Life, School, Writing, Changes, Inspiration

Week One is Done, on to Week Two!

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

My first week of classes went fairly well. I was forced to miss one discussion session thanks to medical appointments but now that I actually know my schedule that is the last such occurrence. All in all, I am satisfied with the classes I have. Given I’m going for a Creative Writing major I have three English classes and only one elective. I was worried at first at the workload from these courses but it ends up being far more manageable than I’d thought. It certainly opens up the possibility for  taking on a little more next semester. Provided I can get a better schedule of course.

Being back at school so much later in my life is a bit strange but it’s also exciting. I find I am more motivated to get the work done than ever I was in my early years. Even if there are other things I’d rather be doing, and there usually are, I don’t have much trouble sitting down and getting on with my homework. I guess that comes with age.

At any rate, it’s time to take on my second week!

General, Life, Changes

Taking a Deep Breath Before the Plunge

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

I am officially signed up for my classes. I’ve got four nailed down for sure and I’m wait-listed on one. If I manage to get into that class, and I really hope I do, I’m in for a busy semester. Way back in the day when I was first a full-time student I took six or seven classes my first two semester. Sounds crazy but they were just general education classes for the most part so they weren’t terribly difficult or intensive. They also weren’t terribly interesting. (Definitely a contributing factor for why I dropped out all those years ago.) Now though I’m basically a junior/senior so my classes should be much more involved. Having been gone from college for so long, and also not being familiar with this one, I do wonder just how big of a workload I’ve signed up for.

It’s also been a very long time since I had to deal with homework. Of course the real working world sucks a whole lot more than homework so I think all of the perspective and experience I’ve gathered since my first college try will help it suck a bit less.

Overall I’m feeling super excited, nervous, and anxious to get started. This will be my last weekend before school starts so it’s all about relaxing (if possible) and making sure I have everything ready. I’m in for some busy days.

General, Life, Changes

New Beginnings

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

So today is the day. I get to sign up for classes and all that jazz. It’s pretty strange being back at school and knowing I’m here to be a full-time student. It’s been 16 years since the list time I had the opportunity, both financially and with life obligations. Part of me wishes I could give at least some of my experience and perspective to my 19 year old self back then so that maybe I wouldn’t have dropped out. I was disappointed when I did at the time but I really didn’t know what I was going to school for. College as a place holder just didn’t work for me. Now is different though.

Today I start the process of honing my writing skills, and perhaps other skills as well if the second major I want pans out. It’s both exciting and scary to be here but I’m glad I am.

Patreon, Publishing, Unemployment, Writing, Changes, Inspiration, Career, Crowdfunding, General, Life

So. Much. Change.

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

It’s been a little bit since my last post but I haven’t been idle. Where to begin?

 

The Home Front:

Probably the best news is that my sister has started her chemo treatments and so far that is going well. I know the whole experience has been pretty awful for her but I also know we’re all feeling a little better about the whole situation. The tumor in her neck is already noticeably smaller just three treatments in. Definitely a good sign. We’re not out of the woods yet but the horrible sense of loss and depression have receded. I will be joining her on her next treatment so I’ll get a chance to see firsthand how it is.

As far as the school stuff goes I did manage to get all of the required items to the school just under the wire. I didn’t really think that was going to happen since I was waiting for one transcript that took three months the last time I ordered it. I ordered the new one as soon as we finished moving to Madison but that left less than two months. Surprisingly though it arrived just in time and now I await the school’s decision. I’ll probably be coming in as a junior so that will be nice. I might have one or two lame general requirements left but that’ll be it. I should be able to concentrate on my English – Creative Writing major. I’m actually really excited to have the chance to go back to college full-time. I never thought I’d have another chance when I dropped out back in ’99. I’ll definitely be one of the oldest students in my classes but I don’t mind that. It’ll be fun watching all of the kids run around doing their thing. Here’s hoping I get in next semester.

This Year So Far:

In other news I’ve invested a great deal of time and effort into my writing career over the past month. The print edition of Induction was finalized and is available on Amazon. This is crazy exciting for me. Despite growing up with a just-blossoming Internet I guess I still have a pretty strong connection to the physical world. So when I held a physical proof version of my first book, for the first time, it felt more special and real than when I published the e-book version back in February. I know at times I’m disappointed with my progress so far. I definitely had high hopes and set a very high bar for myself last year. I wanted to have this first trilogy done by December 2014 as well as at least 5 short stories, published individually and as a collection. For a long time it looked like that wasn’t going to happen. Between moving twice, applying to one college and getting in, then having to apply to another as well as the rough time my family and I have all been going through it’s been a crazy busy year. Actually, now that I think about it I guess the progress I have made so far is decent. Plus National Novel Writing Month will be here in just a couple of weeks. Topic change!

NaNoWriMo (Huh?):

National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo (nanowrimo.org) is a yearly contest, sort of, to get people to write a 50k word novel in just one month. Specifically, in November. So people who participate have 30 days to finish the novel. Anyone who manages to finish within the 30 day period wins. It’s free to participate and there are a bunch of groups around the country, and probably in other countries, participating. I found out about it last year but I was already writing my first book and working a day job full-time. I wasn’t about to try a second novel when I wasn’t even sure I could finish the one I was working on. This year is different though. I am currently unemployed and writing full-time. College doesn’t start (as long as I’m accepted) until January and I will hopefully have a little income coming in from my writing in the near future. Enough to get by and still eat at any rate. Hopefully. Maybe.

Anyway, the point is I have the time and strong desire to participate this year. I’ve already signed up and am looking at getting with my local group here in Madison. They already have some tentative events planned and I’m very psyched to get the chance to meet other writers. I know writing is a solitary profession in many ways but just in my short time doing that I have already realized that my writing and my experience writing is better when I can share it with other people. That’s been limited to friends and family so far which means I’m very eager to talk and work with other writers to get their perspectives on writing, the writing life, and life in general.

As for what I will be writing next month, that is still undecided. I was hoping to get some feedback from my Patrons via Patreon regarding which of the ideas I’ve had so far they’d like to see, but that requires having Patrons. (More in the next section.) At this point I’ve got four ideas, two related to my Shrouded world, two not. The third book of the trilogy is out as a possibility because it won’t fit within any reasonable distance of 50k words. Both of the first books ran almost 100k and I’ve got plenty more story to cover. There is another Shrouded World book that’s been on the back burner for almost a year now and that definitely has possibilities. We shall see.

Patreon:

So Patreon is a thing now. I first stumbled across it when I was going through some artwork on an unrelated site. They mentioned I could support them through something called Patreon. I was curious at the time but had other things going on and forgot about it for a couple of weeks. Once I came back to it though I discovered that Patreon is basically ongoing crowd-funding for artists. The amounts pledged, either per month or per fixed unit of work completed, are much smaller than what you see on Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Most start at $1. Looking through the site I found some artists I already followed on YouTube. (Peter Hollins comes to mind immediately. Amazing a cappella music videos.) I loved the idea right then and there. Have someone creating something you love and enjoy? Give a buck a month or whatever and help them pay their bills and eat so they can focus on creating! I’m learning first-hand just how hard it is to concentrate on creating when you’re worried about paying for rent and food. So I decided to join in as well and started my own Patreon page.

It’s been up for less than a week and I don’t have any Patrons yet but I’m hopeful this will be the answer for transitioning from regular 9 to 5 jobs to writing full-time. I will say this though: I am far more motivated every day to keep writing, publishing, reading, researching, and learning. My main passions in life so far have been book and gaming. Now writing has usurped both of those as number one. Not something I could have predicted but it’s something I’m enjoying immensely. Whether or not I’m successful I am definitely enjoying the ride.

 

(EDIT)

So I spazzed out and completely forgot to include links for all of the stuff I’ve been working on. Here they are in no particular order:

Patreon (Seriously, this site is awesome. If I had the money there’s a bunch of artists I would already be supporting.): http://www.patreon.com

My Patreon Page: http://www.patreon.com/fuzzynerd

My new Tumblr blog where I post my free work: http://fuzzynerdcorner.tumblr.com/

I am now also on Twitter: http://twitter.com/FuzzyNerdCorner

National Novel Writing Month Site: http://nanowrimo.org

Career, Gaming, General, Life, Unemployment, Writing, Balance, Changes, Imagination, Inspiration, Method

Done and Done

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

It’s been a couple of quiet weeks as far as posts here go. That was mostly due to being ill. Picked up a nasty little bacteria that took up residence in my sinuses and chest. It was a lot like a mild flu mixed with a head cold. Got the fever, cough, congestion, and sore throat combo going so that was a lot of fun. Probably could have cut my sick time in half with a little antibiotic love but that requires expensive doctor visits and medicine so no joy there. Future illnesses like this shouldn’t be a problem if the VA comes through though so here’s hoping on that front.

As far as writing goes I didn’t let a little thing like being sick stop me from writing. I certainly slowed down but I’m very happy to report that book 2 was finished early today. I was working on Chapter 21 when I realized I was just dragging out the story and could easily cut it at the end of Chapter 20 plus a short epilogue. So that’s what I did. My second novel ever clocks in at just over 92k words and took an unfortunate 5 months to write. Book 1 was 4k words longer and took 3 months all while I was working 40 hours a week. Funny how it’s been harder to write when I have so much more free time. Of course moving threw a big monkey wrench into my writing time/energy so there’s a good month lost to that. The real problem was making the time and space for it. For the first book I was in a lull as far as my gaming went so it was no big deal to devote an hour a night to getting some writing done. Still, done is done.

This second book was much harder to write for me. I think part of it was just the amount of world-building that went into this one. For the first book I could get away with vague references and hints until the big reveal at the end. Book two though is all about getting down and dirty with this new world. It’s a first for the protagonist, the reader, and me. 🙂  Fun fact: I used a short story that I wrote to build a lot of the details in book two. The short story takes place in the same world and focuses on a day in the life of a secret agency office worker. I ended up going through the short story again to jot down all of the details and filled an entire legal pad with notes. I will definitely be writing more of these kinds of stories to help flesh out my world. I think it takes the huge task of world-building and breaks it down into smaller, more manageable chunks. I’m actually itching to get going on another short story. It’s nice to know that I can start a project and get it done in a week or less. Finishing a novel feels great but the slog getting there can be rough.

Publishing, Writing, Changes, Imagination, Method, General, Life, Love

Back from the Break

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

The move is done though we’re not quite done unpacking everything at this point. I have to say that moving an apartment full of four people’s things with just of those people is not a whole lot of fun. I did some counting and discovered that this was something like my 17th move in 14 years. Yikes. I have to say I’m getting pretty sick of it too. I guess that’s what I get for volunteering for the service but I’ve definitely learned my lesson. Never again volunteer yourself! 😉  Anywho, on top of the move we had a road trip to the east coast for a family visit as well as a stop by some friends to say hey and pick up the last of my things. (There were three crates or so I couldn’t fit in my car when I left the coast.)

Now that all of that is done though I’m diving back into the second Shroud novel and I must say I am super happy to be writing again. I don’t know if other writers experience this, but every time I stop writing for a week or more I have this fear that I’m never going to write again. Pretty irrational really but there it is. The worst part about this fear though is it makes me feel really intimidated by my plans for what I want to write and accomplish with said writing. Silly really since I don’t have to magically write ten books in the next ten days or anything. I haven’t managed to write as much as I wanted to in the first year but I’ll definitely have the second book done and published before my first year of writing is done. That’s not bad at all for a noob.

Oh, I’m also really excited about having a room to myself to do my writing in. It’s playing the role of temporary storage until we finish unpacking but I have some awesome plans for it. I picked up a white-board paint kit to turn two of the walls into a giant white board. I’ll be using part of the space as a calendar so I can set and track my writing and publishing deadlines. The rest will be scratch/idea space. I may be a super computer geek but even the larger screens of today just don’t hack it for presenting and working with a whole lot of ideas at once.

Just about done with my writing for today and I actually surprised myself by a sudden turn in the story I had no idea was coming. Two of my main characters were just having a small alone moment together and my plan was for one of them to bring up an uncomfortable subject. Instead they just started making out. I was all, “Whut? That’s not what I meant to happen.” Still, it’s an amazing experience to be writing something, letting the flow come, when BAM! Surprise, your story is going somewhere else. I’m happy with this sudden change though. It’s high time these two got things out in the open.

Imagination, Method, Career, General, Insomnia, Writing, Changes

The Big Push

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

Day 1, Entry 1:

3:04 PM: It’s been awhile since I’ve done a whole lot on this blog or my book. Finally finished Chapter 10 the other day. Had a real hard time finishing the scene. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what I wanted the characters involved to do. I was actually getting pretty annoyed with them which is probably why by the end the decision was made for them. 🙂

Anyway, this will be the first of multiple entries on a daily basis as I make a big push to finish this book by my deadline. June 15th is right around the corner and I’m not quite halfway done with the book. As always there have been life events that have taken a lot of my attention. The biggest one is that we are moving very soon. That changed a whole lot of plans and has involved a lot of work, travel, and planning to figure out where we’re going to live and such. I’ll be going to a different college now of course, but the good news is this one has an actual Creative Writing major, not just English with a Creative Writing focus. As it is a much larger school it should also have more opportunities to meet other writers and find writer activities. Definitely something to look forward to. Now, on to the progress so far:

Woke up a little later than usual given we had such a crazy late night. You know it’s time for bed when the sun starts coming up. Had breakfast, worked on my WoW auctions, set up my boxing team to sit and farm for a couple of rare mounts then dove back into taking notes from my first completed Shroud short story Another Day at the Office. I’ve thought about doing this for that story and my first book before but hadn’t gotten around to it. While I was writing Chapter 10 I realized that someday soon I absolutely have to do it for the first book and probably this one as well. There’s too much going on for me to remember it all just yet. I’d actually forgotten that I came up with a real name for the mysterious Agency in my short story. Not to mention a whole lot of juicy facts about one of the races in my world.

Day 1, Entry 2:

5:12 PM: Managed to get about a thousand words down for Chapter 11. Finished one scene and started another. A good start to the day so far. I definitely delayed starting for a bit with some chores around the house. I realized I was worrying too much about what was going to happen in the book instead of concentrating on just what was happening “now”. I was also worrying too much about how good a job I was doing and that’s never helpful. I’ve read it over and over from other writers, ignore the worries and the inner critic and just write. Easier said than done though. Still, progress has been made! Time for a quick break and then diving back in.

Day 1, Entry 3:

8:37 PM: It was a slow start diving back into the book. Sometimes it’s easy for me to pick up a scene where I left off regardless of how much time has passed since I started it. In this case it was probably only a little over an hour. I stopped to heat up some lunch, catch up on my favorite YouTube channels, snag a shower and then take out the trash & recycling. Thankfully it started picking up about halfway through and I got another 1,500 words down. That puts me about halfway to my minimum goal for today of 5k words. I technically only need to do about 4.5k per day to hit my target of 100k words for this book, but I’d rather do a little more and get done sooner if possible. Anyway, today has been pretty productive so far. Time for another break.

Day 1, Entry 4

1:39 AM: A rather long break this time since dinner and catching up on the day needed to happen. Once everyone else was in bed it was time to get back to it. Managed to dive right back in sometime after midnight and banged out another 1.3k words. I’m sitting pretty at 3,800 for the night so far and I’ve still got a good couple of hours to go. Chapter 11 is done and I’m super stoked that I finished an entire chapter in one day. After the snail’s pace of my writing for the past couple of months this big push feels pretty exciting. Time for a quick break though.

Day 1, Entry 5

3:54 AM: I could probably write for a little longer but I feel like I’ve done exceptionally well for the first day of this big push. In the past two hours or so I’ve managed to lay down another 1.3k words or so bringing me to just over my 5.1k mark. I started and finished Chapter 11 and now I’m well into Chapter 12. Things are moving faster now as well, probably because I’m excited about what’s happening. I’ve finally made it past the bits I was having trouble deciding on and now I get to make up the history of my world whole cloth as the big secret is revealed to Stephen. Only took 1.5 books to get there. 🙂 Time to veg out for a bit doing one last round of auctions and call it a night.

Day 2, Entry 1

3:20 PM: Started the day a little later than intended but I was also a little more worn out than usual. Not surprising given the amount of work I managed to put in yesterday. I have to say I am very happy with my progress so far. It definitely provides some positive motivation to keep going. So I was up a little before 2 PM, grabbed some breakfast, picked up my roommate, snagged the mail and a shower, checked my auctions (slowly but surely seeing a positive cash flow trend there), and now it is time to get down to business. Let’s see what I can get done in the next hour or so.

4:14 PM: Less than an hour later and I’ve done a little over 1k words. This chapter is definitely coming easy, though not quite as expected. I’m feeling much better now about the story since I’ve managed to put myself back in my characters’ shoes. I definitely find that my writing tends to flow well when I’m living in the moment with my characters. And to think I used to believe that I lost a lot of my imagination as I grew up. 🙂

Day 2, Entry 2:

7:55 PM: Time is certainly flying by today! Things are definitely a little more lively with another roommate home, but that also means more interruptions. Nothing too bad though and I’ve managed to hit just over 2.7k words for the day with plenty of time left to get to my 5k minimum. I had a bit of a time falling asleep last night as my mind was very awake with ideas and imaginings for this book. I was actually tempted to get back up and keep writing but sleep is important too after all. 🙂

I took a small break after hitting 2.7k and sat around for a bit wondering what I should do. Normally I would check my auctions but it’s a bit early and the last thing I want to do during this push is get sucked into a game before I’ve finished my minimum writing quota for the day. Then I realized I still had a ton of blog entries up from Dean Wesley Smith’s site about self-publishing and writing. He is an absolute gold mine of information for new (and current) writers by the way (deanwesleysmith.com). That led me to another blog he linked with a discussion between another self-published author who has been very successful and the CEO of one of the few remaining large traditional publishers. I’m only about 10% of the way through the whole thing but it’s definitely an eye opener. It doesn’t hurt that reading about all of the other successful self-published authors out there gives me real hope that I can make a living off of my own writing within the next couple of years. Maybe sooner if I can keep up a good pace. Anyway, here is the link to the post, I would advise anyone even remotely interested in writing and self-publishing for a living to check them both out:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2014/01/questions-from-steve-zacharius-ceo-and.html

And now, back to the story!

Day 2, Entry 3:

2:04 AM: I didn’t get back to the book right away. Ended up reading a lot more of the blog post I linked in the last entry. Still not even halfway done so it’s quite the post. Then the Cat got home from work and it was time for dinner and catching up on our days. I always enjoy this part of the day. It’s a nice break from whatever I was doing and the only chance we get during the week to spend time together. Put her to bed around 1 AM and went back to the book. Managed to get a little over 1.5k done but I’m starting to feel a little worn out. I’m not too worried about hitting 5k though since I’m only about 700 words shy of the mark. Chapter 12 has been a pretty big emotional roller coaster for Stephen. It’s been a lot of fun, but tough to do. Definitely time for a break.

Day 2, Entry 4:

4:31 AM: And that’s all she wrote. Stick a fork in me, I’m done. Got stuck for a bit after the break so the break got longer. It wasn’t a real ‘oh crap I’m stuck’ moment, more I’m getting too tired to think of anything stuck. Still, inspiration struck before it got too late and I managed to churn out another 1100 words. This brings today’s total up to 5,435. Somehow managed to do more than yesterday despite more interruptions and less time to write. I’m sure I’ll be more impressed and happy with myself when I wake up well rested tomorrow. Ta ta for now.

Day 3, Entry 1:

4:01 PM: Didn’t sleep too well last night. If I thought it was difficult getting to sleep the first night, last night showed me what real trouble was. Didn’t help that I woke up around 9 AM because it was too hot in the place and had to turn on the AC. Took almost two hours to get back to sleep. So now I’m a bit tired, but I’ve had breakfast, handled my auctions, and did a little research for the upcoming move. The fun really started when I decided to scan through my book as it stands so far. I realized my chapters jumped from 7 to 9. Definitely had a bit of a freak out there as I didn’t know if it was a simple numbering error or if I’d managed to delete an entire chapter out of the thing. I had to skim chapters 6, 7, and 9 before I was satisfied it was just a numbering error. Not sure I would have been able to stick with this big push if I had actually managed to delete a good chunk of my book. Regardless, this just points out that I need to keep separate files for each chapter. I did that with the first book but decided to try it a bit differently this time. Well, the experiment is over and the verdict is separate is safer. With that little bit of drama behind me it’s time to figure out where the hell the story is going to go now.

Day 3, Entry 2:

8:49 PM: I have definitely hit a story wall of sorts. Only managed to put down 750 words so far today. One scene basically. That was when I realized I didn’t have much outlined for the rest of the book and I didn’t have any real details on the ending, just some vague ideas. Thankfully with a little thought I’ve come up with an ending that I like as well as a list of things that need to be covered before the book can be done. The previous chapter revealed a whole lot of new info to the main character and reader both and there will be even more coming in the next couple of chapters. It’s fun but also challenging since I’m making up a lot of background for my world. Specific details now that I didn’t explain or reveal previously. At this point I need to just remember to go with the flow and let the story proceed naturally. I do like having a couple of brief points to reference when I write something this long but I also don’t want to rely on them too much. It will be time for dinner very soon so I’ll have to pick the writing back up afterwards. Hopefully things start moving along nicely. I’ve still got a ways to go today.

Day 3, Entry 3:

3:26 AM: Almost bed time and I’m only about 2,600 words in for the day. That will have to do though as I’m pretty well done now. The word count is definitely a little disappointing, but things should be much less distracting around the house after today so I’m hopeful I’ll be able to make up the difference pretty easily. I do really like the new ending I’ve come up with and I am very ready to be done with this book so the push will continue!

Day 4, Entry 1:

6:28 PM: This day started much earlier than the others mostly because I woke up far too early and couldn’t get back to sleep. That will mean either a nap soon or an early turn-in tonight. Still, it’s been a fairly productive day so far. Went out to get some errands done and then came back to bounce ideas I have about where this book is going off of my Cat. We came up with some refinements that I think will work very well and I’m feeling much better about where the rest of the story is going. I definitely have enough items to cover to provide a satisfying story so even if the book doesn’t make it to the 100k word mark it should at least be more than 80k. Definitely a respectable number. Just have to keep reminding myself that most authors don’t write 1,000 page novels like Robert Jordan did. 🙂 About 1,300 words down so far and it’s early yet. Things are looking good for today.

Day 5, Entry 1:

4:47 AM: Ended yesterday at just under 1.4k words. I little disappointing but I found I just couldn’t manage any more. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the point where I’m putting down 4 or 5k words a day like some authors do, but right now I’m just trying not to over do it. To that effect, I’m not putting a minimum requirement on my daily writing. I’m still pushing to finish this book on time, but I’m not going to kill myself to do it. I ended up going to bed very early yesterday and was asleep before midnight. I slept until almost 3:30 PM so I was definitely exhausted. I ended up going down for a nap around 6 for an hour or so. Not sure why I’m so tired, but I definitely felt better after the nap. Didn’t get to the writing until almost 2 AM but did 1.7k words in one go.

I wasn’t real sure how to start chapter 13 so I just picked up where I left off and decided to see where that would take Stephen. He was sitting in the agency cab getting driven to the airport for his official Induction. So I wondered what I would do in his place if I was stuck in a car with two people who weren’t talking to me going somewhere I didn’t know anything about and I’d just discovered there are non-humans in the world and that I’m basically a very rare human empath. Then it was obvious: try out my powers of course. Who wouldn’t?

So far I find this works pretty well for getting the specifics of a scene down. I have a general setting and I know what the next scene is but I have no idea just how the story is going to get there. I still get stuck at this point pretty easily until I just put myself in my character(s)’ place and reason it out from there. I rather enjoyed this scene though I hadn’t thought of what actually happened at all until I started writing it. Then it was a game of, well if he does this, what happens then? And then? The scene just flowed from there. It’s getting pretty late (early) now but I’m tempted to continue while I’m on a roll.

Day 6, Entry 1:

1:01 AM: I got a to a little over 2k words last night when the Cat woke up and came to get me for bed. Who was I to argue? Another very late start today but with the Cat home we were busy with regular life stuff. Dinner was a particularly amazing affair with extra spicy stir fry. I ate far too much of that for comfort but it was too tasty to leave alone. The Cat is in bed now so it’s about time to get back to Stephen. I did finish the scene in the cab for the most part and now they’ve made it to the airport. I short transition there should bring him up to the Induction. Then it’s off to meet Riah’s father and learn more about Stephen’s abilities. The pace is definitely picking up and there aren’t a whole lot of major plot points to cover before the finale. Not sure this book will make it to 100k words but I’m okay with it whatever length it ends up being.

Oh, the print cover for the first book, Induction, is finished! That is an incredibly exciting thing as it means that I can work on the final formatting of the file, perhaps send it out for a quick edit, and then send everything off to the POD service and wait for the sample. We are on track for a July release in print. 🙂

Day 7, Entry 1:

7:41 PM: Yesterday ended up being another 2k day. Definitely not the pace I was originally hoping for but double my old daily minimum. Part of the issue is just not having a separate space to write in. The new place we move to will have that space so I’m definitely looking forward to that. I’ll be keeping distractions to a minimum with just writing/homework stuff in the room. No TV, gaming PC, etc. Also a door that closes. 😉  We looked at moving trucks today. The new place is fairly close so that’s going to be the cheapest part of this experience. Oh, found some excellent paint to turn an entire wall into a whiteboard. Really looking forward to being able to scribble out all kinds of story notes on such a huge space. I’m also going to block out a calendar as well so I can track deadlines and such. Obviously there won’t be a whole lot there just yet but I’m sure it will help inspire me to write more.

Day 7, Entry 2:

8:49 PM: Only managed about 500 words so far but the fact that I’ve started writing BEFORE 2 AM is a big plus. There was also the break to do dishes so not a bad word count for less than an hour’s work. The Cat is bored now so work will have to wait for a bit. Almost done with Chapter 13. The story is progressing nicely. I’m hoping the next three days will be very productive since I’ll have the place all to myself for a good part of the day.

Day 7, Entry 3:

4:32 AM: Today was almost par for the course. I ended at just over 2.5k words, and that’s only because of the 500 I got done before dinner. There were a whole mess of distractions between that first 500 and the rest. Still, chapter 13 is done and I have a new character that I really really like. Already. It’s funny too because this new character was completely unplanned. I knew I was going to end the chapter with Stephen meeting the Shroud envoy, but I’d originally planned it to be Riah’s father. By the time I got there in the story though, he really didn’t fit the scene so I had to make up a new one right there. I switched out Riah’s father because I wanted someone sympathetic. I decided that the Council wasn’t likely to send the person who’d pestered them into the Induction request in the first place. Of course, this envoy is a bit more important than anyone yet know. 😉

Every time I think I’m getting bored with the writing or this book (and it happens pretty often), I surprise myself by loving the experience. I hate how long it takes and wish my fingers could move at the speed of my imagination. Well, I also wish my mind could come up with the language to match my imagination as fast as I can imagine scenes and such. Dream on I suppose. 🙂

The best part about this last bit I’ve put down is how smoothly it will lead to the next important point in the story, though I think it’s time for a little interjection so we can find out what’s happening back on the ranch.

Day 8, Entry 1:

3:59 AM: Not much progress made today. Only put down about 1,500 more words. I let myself get distracted by too many little things today. Though if I weren’t pushing to meet my deadline I’d be perfectly happy with my progress. I’ve written more in the past 8 days than I have in the last 2 months so that’s definitely an accomplishment. At any rate, tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to really kick some butt.

Day 9, Entry 1:

1:57 AM: I’ve done about 2,100 words to far in two separate sessions. Took a break after the last one to re-post my auctions in WoW. That particular experiment has so far had only mediocre success but is steadily earning funds for future adventuring. 🙂  Due to laziness all 900+ items come up for re-posting at the same time. Funny enough that’s been more efficient than logging in 3 or 4 times a day to do more posts. Now I just log it to see how much I’ve sold.

Back in writing land things are still moving along. The current chapter switched to Stephen’s friends worrying about what the bad guys are up to. The ever-paranoid and devious Leon has postulated a very dire possibility that the rest of the gang is pretty upset about. Next up we get some more Kara action to keep her relevant to the story and then it’s back to Stephen for the actual Induction ceremony (maybe, I might just do a quick blurb where he’s thinking about how anti-climactic it was.) More fun world-building and information revelations await Stephen. 🙂 I’ve got just enough in me for one more session so I’m going to try and make it count.

Day 9, Entry 2:

2:38 AM: Chapter 14 is now done and this is definitely a good place to stop. I need to figure out what I’m doing about the ceremony since that will likely be the start of 15. There are only a handful of important plot points left until the big finish. The book should break 80k words easily but I don’t know how much longer it will be. I think it will depend on just how much action and mayhem happens at the end and I’ll be playing that by ear. Of course, I play the whole thing by ear so that’s not saying anything significant. Anywho, it’s about time for an early bed since I’ll be getting up far too early for my taste.

Day 10, Entry 1:

6:01 PM: Time is running short since the deadline is approaching quickly. I did end up doing the actual Induction ceremony for Stephen. Mostly because it gives more insight into how things work between the Shroud Council and the government. After that it will be time to get Stephen some much needed training. Somewhere in there will be the meeting with Riah’s father as well so that should be interesting. I’ve managed a little over 1k words today so far so I’m off to a good start. I’ve got a lot of computer maintenance to perform today as well so that should actually help since a lot of it will be sitting around waiting for the computer to finish its task.

Day 10, Entry 2:

12:25 AM: Going to have to call it early today. Feeling pretty sick to my stomach and I managed to pull something in my shoulder. I’m sure the nausea will pass but until it does it’s impossible to concentrate on anything.

Day 11, Entry 1:

12:59 AM: Another day with little progress. Managed to do about 1,500 words but I’m falling asleep at my keyboard and mistyping almost every other word. I’m not too disappointed though as I’ve almost doubled the word count for my book over the past 11 days. No small accomplishment considering it took me several months to get the first half of the book down. As Mr. Dean Wesley Smith is constantly saying in his blog it just takes a little daily dedication to make big things happen when it comes to writing. I’m thankful that this big push has reminded me of that.

Day 12, Entry 1:

3:01 AM: This is the last day of the big push. I won’t hit my original goal of finishing the book but I have effectively doubled how much of the book is done in 12 days. No small feet that considering my snail’s pace before the push. I’ll be taking a day or two off for recovery & life stuff that needs to get done. I’m also still pushing to have this book finished before we move so I’ve still got a couple of weeks for that.

So to summarize:

Book words finished during big push:

Day 1 – 5,151

Day 2 – 5,435

Day 3 – 2,600

Day 4 – 1,396

Day 5 – 2,000

Day 6 – 2,000

Day 7 – 2,582

Day 8 – 1,500

Day 9 – 2,860

Day 10 – 1,379

Day 11 – 1,500

Day 12 – 1,400

Total words in novel to date: 66,404

Inspiration, Method, General, Writing, Changes

He’s heating up!

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

Just finished up Chapter 9 of Induction. Finally. Things are more chaotic that usual as we are preparing to move. I did some figuring and realized that counting this one, I have moved a total of 17 times in the past 16 years. No wonder I’m ready to stay in one place for awhile! Hopefully this next move will be the last for a year or two. It certainly won’t be the last until we’re in a position to buy. Rent really is like throwing money away with nothing to show for it. Still, gotta have a home.

Chapter 9 was tough to write for me. Things came to a head for Stephen with the guy who has been messing with him. I actually finished the encounter last week but I really didn’t like it. The whole thing felt too brief and it was definitely not serious enough. This encounter brings some of the changes Stephen has gone through since he was attacked and is supposed to push him into the world of the Shroud. I didn’t really have to re-write it so much as enhance what was already there. I liked how it started and ended, it was the fight itself that needed some work. This should be the catalyst for things to really pick up. I’m looking forward to finding out what happens next. 🙂

Changes, General, Insomnia, Life, Unemployment

Too Late?

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

I sometimes wonder if I’ve waited too long to figure things out. Looking back to when I was much younger than I am now, I was a pretty confident kid. Not with the other kids around me or social situations in general, but with what I wanted and what I was going to do with my life. I know a good part of that was just lack of exposure to and experience with the world as it is. We all dream about what we want to be “when we grow up”. (at least I hope we all get a chance to do so) The problem with this though, is that we have no clue what it really means to grow up. Society has a pretty good idea, but that’s just a mixture of expectations, upbringing, and various pressures put upon us. We have our own ideas of course. For me, it was all about getting a great job. That seemed to be the key to happiness, stability, and well-being.

I was confident in this path I’d set myself all of the way up to college. I had some big expectations for my college experience. Fun was definitely a part of the equation, but more importantly I expected that I would be excited and satisfied that I was finally learning about my chosen vocation (Computer Science in this case). Of course, the reality was something else entirely. After putting up with all of the learning requirements in high school I was looking forward to choosing just what I wanted to learn. Well hold on there buddy, you’ve got a bunch of general education requirements you have to meet before you can even think about taking classes actually related to your major! Yeah, that was the first slap in the face. It’s not that I don’t understand why this is the case, but I was very impatient to get on with the whole process. Still, I decided to take my medicine and loaded down with the damn things. I took upwards of 18 credit hours my second semester in order to get the crap out of the way. So that first year was a big review of a lot of the crap I’d just got done with in high school. The biggest difference was just how little anyone cared if I showed up to my classes or not. Most of my classes didn’t take attendance so it was on me to make sure I showed up and learned enough to pass my tests. It was also a lot less busy that high school. It was a strange adjustment.

So it wasn’t until the second year that I finally had my first programming course. I was excited for that and I was also excited to have a room to myself. Like most schools, it was nearly impossible for a freshman to get a single room. I was a sophomore now though. These turned out to be two things I would regret. For the room thing, I hadn’t realized how much my roommate and friend from my freshman year had kept me on point. We’d encouraged each other to go to classes when we would have rather stayed in bed or whatever. Without that encouragement I had a much harder time making myself go to some of my more pointless classes. Still, now I had a course for my major. Great right? Well, no. I don’t know about anyone else, but having a programming class in an auditorium with hundreds of other students was not conducive to learning such a complicated progress. I wasn’t new to programming or anything, but I was all self-taught up to that part. I had (and still have) a lot of holes in what I knew. So the class was already a struggle. Add the terrible format onto that and I was horribly discouraged. As that first semester drew to a close I realized I couldn’t stick with my plan. It wasn’t what I’d expected at all. I didn’t want to do it anymore. So I left. Dropped out and joined the work force.

This was a big decision for me but the job market was much better back then. With my computer skills I was still able to land decent, but not great jobs. I bought a house at 20 or 21 and had a steady job for several years. I worked, saved for retirement, paid my taxes, tried to exercise and eat right, etc, etc, etc. I played by the rules and followed the herd. I did okay for awhile, but it became evident that my position was a dead end. I got little raises but I was never going to have the big success I’d dreamed of there. I didn’t stress too much about it most of the time though. I had plenty of time after all. Then the company I worked for was bought out and the layoffs started. I lasted a little over a year after that. I was one of the last people to leave in fact. The whole thing was a depressing experience though, watching the new parent company destroy everything piece by piece. I heard later that they eventually sold off what was left a couple of years later. Fun times. So after that, I wasn’t able to land another decent job that would support my house. I had to sell it, cash out my retirement to pay for the closing, and moved to another state with my sister. I bummed around for about a year doing short contract jobs, trying to find something good while I waited to go back to school. That didn’t happen though and I ended up joining the Navy.

I did six years in the service. When I came up for re-enlisting I wanted to switch jobs. That wasn’t an option though so I got out and ended up doing the same work as a civilian. That was a strange experience. It was nice not being in the military while still doing the job, but my experiences with the contracting companies were pretty bad. I spent the first two months of this year waiting to get paid. Never a good sing when your company can’t afford to pay its employees. So yet another layoff later, I came to the decision that I was going to take this opportunity to make some changes in my life. I’d gone with the flow for a long time. A really long time. I’m more than a little tired of that. So here I am, back home near my family and friends. I’m living with two of the greatest people I’ve ever known and we’re all making a real go at this. I have a chance to go back to college. (Let’s hope H.R. 357 passes soon!)  I also have the chance to do something I enjoy doing and possibly make a living doing it. I just wonder sometimes if it’s a bit too late?

I suppose I’ve been having a crisis of confidence for a couple of weeks now. I have a hard time sitting down and getting any writing done. Part of it is I’m just not happy with the section of the book I’m in right now. I’m struggling to bring it together. I know where it needs to go and I have a pretty good idea for the climax, but getting there has been tricky. I’m happy that I still have a feel for my characters. When I do manage to get into the flow of things I have no trouble being right there with them as things happen. I guess I just feel a bit overwhelmed at times. There are so many things I want to do, not just with this book or Stephen’s story, but with my writing in general. I’m almost certainly dwelling too much on the big picture instead of concentrating on the day to day tasks. Self-publishing is fun but very intimidating. Writing a book is the same. The funny thing is, I had an easier time writing the first book when I was working full time. At least it seems that way.

I’m not going to let this self-doubt beat me though. I truly am looking forward to getting back to school. It will be strange being the old guy in the class. I remember sitting with and older guy in my math logic class back in the day. He was actually in the military though I don’t remember which branch at this point. He had a wife and kids but was also doing the college thing. I do remember being impressed. I guess I get to see what it’s like on the other side.

I just hope I can pull this all off.

General, Insomnia, Life, Writing, Changes

Getting Back to Business

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

Now that I’ve had a chance to get settled into my new home as well as get many of the little but important tasks done that come with moving, I’ve decided that it’s time to get back to my writing in earnest. Since moving back to the Midwest I’ve only dabbled at writing the second book in Stephen’s trilogy. Until today I’ve only managed 4,675 words over upwards of 7 sessions. Definitely not as much as I was managing with my first book and I still had a full-time job. There were days I wanted to really sit down and write but there were too many other things that needed to get done.

One of those tasks was to apply to college. Yes indeed, I am once again going to attempt to finish my first degree. It was funny (definitely funny sad) when it came time to fill out my education history. It turns out that not counting this newest school, I’ve attended a total of 6 colleges between 1998 and now. By far my most successful attempt up to now was the first one. I finished a grand total of three semesters at SIU Carbondale. My major back then was Computer Science because I thought I’d loving programming or designing computers for a living. The first year went well, but I didn’t get to take any core classes. I loaded myself down with the general education crap the first year to get as much of that out of the way as I could. So when the second year rolled around, I was excited to finally be taking some classes related to my major. Unfortunately, once I was in those classes I ended up very much disliking them. My long-time dream of a career in computers was suddenly broken and I had no idea what I wanted to do.

After my third semester at SIU, with no real direction anymore, I decided it was better to just work until I could figure out what to do with my life. It was a reasonable enough idea at the time. So now, 5 more colleges, many, many jobs, and one tour in the Navy later I have finally found something that I think (hope) I can do: writing. To that end I am returning to school for an English degree with a focus on creative writing. (I don’t believe it is necessary for any writer to have an English degree or any derivative thereof, but I’m tired to shooting for degrees that I think will get me some high-paying salary. This time I’m going for something that I am truly interested in.) I’m pretty excited to be going back to school full-time too with no other distractions. This is only possible thanks to an amazing unicorn and my Richard. 😉

Still, school is a long ways off since I’m not starting until the fall. That being the case it is my goal to get the second Shroud novel done, and quite possibly the third one as well. To that end, I will be keeping a daily writing log here as a way for me to keep track of what I do each day and maybe how much time I spend working on writing and/or publishing. At the very least it will help me stay accountable (to myself anyway) as well as give me a sense of accomplishment. This is something I did very briefly for the first book, though I only recorded the word and page count for each chapter as I finished it rather than what I did every day. I will also be tracking what kind of writing I do each day since blog posts, emails, and homework all take time and energy.

 

Writing Log – Day 1, Month 1

Transformation (Second Shroud Novel) – 5,728 words to date (1,053 today)

Other Fiction – 1,094 (Yesterday for the Bits and Pieces book)

Blog Entries – 638