Tag Archives: Book Writing

Publishing, School, Writing, Exams, Inspiration, Method

A Quick Update

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

It is now the last week of classes at UW Madison so things are hectic indeed. Next week come the finals. My Create Writing class doesn’t have a formal final thankfully so once I turn my portfolio in on Friday I’m done with the graded work. Not done with the class though as we are putting together some of the stuff we worked on over the semester to publish as a free ebook. I offered this as an opportunity to the class and everyone was all for it. I’m interested to see how it turns out.

In other news the UW Creative Writing Award ceremony is this Thursday and since I submitted a couple of things to two different contests I will be attending. They don’t tell the winners ahead of time so you have to show up to find out. A rather devious way of making sure plenty of people attend, not just the winners. No idea what my chances are but I’m not holding out much hope. I am a very new writer after all.

I also received my very first rejection notice from the folks over at Flash Fiction. Woot! I was pretty happy to see that and I plan to keep every rejection I get as a souvenir of the work I’ve done. This may seem a bit strange but I think of it as proof that I’m really giving this writing thing my all. I hope to have many, many more rejections by the end of summer. And a few acceptances as well of course. Without classes to worry about I have some big plans. Which I need to sit down and write out. After finals.

Exams, Uncategorized, Insomnia, School, Stuck in my Head, (Not so) Deep Thoughts, Deep Thoughts

Writing into the Darkness

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

It’s almost 1 AM now and I’m still awake. Despite having morning class tomorrow and knowing that being up this late is going to make me super tired for my favorite class. This isn’t the first night this week I ended up late. Why? I’ve been asking myself that very same question and so far I don’t really have an answer.

Things aren’t particularly bad right now even if I do have a tone of work from school. With just three weeks left of classes, plus one week of finals, things are getting pretty intense. The two literature classes that were manageable all semester have become a bit overwhelming. Yet really it’s just a lot of reading. Nothing I’m not used to in the end. Except I’m having trouble sitting down and doing it. I’m distracted and I have trouble concentrating.

Dead Wesley Smith talks about writing into the dark on his blog. It’s the phrase he uses to describe writing when you have no plan, no plot, and no idea what you’re going to write about. You just start writing and go. I really like this idea and I’ve been itching to try it. Then I realized that’s pretty much what I always do with my blog entries. I don’t have a plan. Sometimes I have a thought and that’s my starting point. One little thought. Tonight my thoughts are rioting among the streets and alleyways of my mind and it’s making me crazy.

I’m sad and depressed, yet hopeful and determined. Mixed feelings describes it well. Then there’s the fear. The nagging, little voice in the back of my head fear that this is all going to come crashing down and I’m just a stupid little idiot for every thinking I could pull off writing for a living.

A poem written about fear and anxiety. By Aaron Lowe
A poem written about fear and anxiety.
By Aaron Lowe
General, Life, Publishing, School, Writing, Inspiration, Career

On Editing and Finishing My Third Novel

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

I finished my third novel, Avatars & Identity, on Tuesday! Which was good since I’m now out of town and not really in a position to spend much time writing. It’s exciting to know that I’m still pushing on with the whole writing as a career thing even if I’m not writing as quickly as I’d like to. Part of that is just how much time school takes up. As a transfer student approved at the last minute I signed up for classes less than a week before my first day. That meant my schedule has been less than ideal. Fall semester should be much more accommodating though so that’s a plus. I’ll be doing so much writing, and much of it should be publishable. Also a plus. Yet with my third novel done and it being clear that this isn’t a passing fancy it’s time to seriously look for a professional editor. Dun dun DUUUUUUUUN.

Up to this point I’ve just been using feedback from friends and family. They’ve got a good amount of mistakes but there are plenty left in. I was okay with that when I was just starting out but now I really want to put my best foot forward whenever I publish something. Thus a professional editor is necessary. Thankfully my sister pointed out we have one among our friends so I’m in the process of getting that worked out. I know it’s going to cost a good chunk of my meager income but I think having well-edited novels is worth it.

Writing, Method

A Time for (Non-Epic) Change

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

As most will be unaware, I do two Live Writing events every Tuesday and Thursday at 1:30 PM CST. This is where I write for about an hour or so while streaming to my Twitch channel. Afterwards I upload the resulting video to my YouTube channel for archival viewing. It’s not the most exciting thing ever conceived to watch but it really helps keep me writing at least twice a week on something other that school work. Yet for the past couple of weeks it has been impossible to keep to this schedule due to intrusions on the part of real life. Now it is apparent that my selection of 1:30 PM for the starting time was in error. It also got me to thinking about my schedule, for this semester I’m in, over the summer, and next fall. I knew my Live Writing would change over the summer but I hadn’t anticipated the multiple conflicts that would arise. It turns out that I regularly need my down time in the afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays for medical appoints and other things that have to get done. Thus I am led to posting my first ever poll!

What time do you think my Live Writing should take place on the T-days of the week? I’ve put in some time possibilities but left an open answer you can fill in as well:

[polldaddy poll=8747366]

 

 

If you like these and other posts, feel free to check out my other work:

My Fiction on Tumblr: http://fuzzynerdcorner.tumblr.com/

My Fiction on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fuzzynerd?ty=a (Some activity requires Patron Status.)

My Live Writing, Editing, and other videos: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFZHBRlGb3-RFEr2BXQPi-Q

If you’d like to help a budding author you can also support me on Patreon:

kaGh5_patreon_name_and_message

 

Life, School, Writing, Inspiration

Writing and Shyness

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

Although I’m not quite certain, I don’t believe I have ever submitted my writing to a contest. I know they existed when I was in high school but I was far too shy to even consider it then. Now though I’ll be submitting the poem from my last post along with two more, and a short story, to a couple of contests for undergraduates at UW. No idea what my chances of winning one of them might be of course. Just from the quality of work in my creative writing class there are undoubtedly much better writers at the school. Plus these things are all so subjective that anyone’s work is fair game. I’m just excited to be participating for once.

I’m nervous too but not as much as I thought I would be. I know when I started writing my first book it was really hard to let anyone read what I’d written. I wanted to protect my writing like it was some kind of secret treasure. Silly but true. I was also envious of the other writers whose blogs I followed. They wrote so easily and were very open about discussing it, sharing it. They were unconcerned with reviews, positive or negative. Then my first book was published, just electronically, and it wasn’t an overnight success. No magic book lottery picked my story out and made it super popular. I was disappointed of course, but it was a good thing really. It made me face the reality that switching to a writing career was going to take a lot of time and effort. So I had to ask myself what I really wanted.

In the end I took the plunge. I gave up a very lucrative career that made me miserable and now I’m back at school full-time as a poor student. And loving it. I have before me possibilities that I couldn’t have dreamed of back when I was working my butt off for a job I hated. I’m still enjoying writing, enjoying school despite the sometimes annoying work that comes with it, and most of all enjoying the exploration of my life in a way I never anticipated. I never expected to get a chance to start my life over in this manner. Especially not so far into my life. But that just means I’m going to push myself to make the most of this chance. Not everyone gets a first one, let alone a second.

Method, General, Life, Publishing, Writing, Dreams, Inspiration

With Apologies to School Girls

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

There are now three total auditions for my two books that I posted on ACX last night. Late. Three auditions. I’m still listening to the first one at the moment and I have to keep pausing to squee. I find myself giddy as a school girl. (See apology in title.) I don’t know why this is hitting me so hard. Perhaps part is I never expected to get a response so quickly. I think also it is strange and awesome, in the fullest sense, to hear someone else reading my work out loud. It’s like seeing my own work from someone else’s perspective and is both exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. Like probably every other author out there I want people, some people, any people, to like what I do. And just this little bit is enough for me to dance around the room. So yeah, um, I’m going to go back now and hopefully finish listening. Without pausing to squee again… ::deep breath::

 

My previous post on trying out this whole audio book process: http://fuzzynerdcorner.wordpress.com/2015/03/04/the-audio-book-process/

 

If you like these and other posts, feel free to check out my other work:

Fiction on Tumblr: http://fuzzynerdcorner.tumblr.com/

Fiction on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fuzzynerd?ty=a (Some activity requires Patron Status.)

Live Writing, Editing, and other videos: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFZHBRlGb3-RFEr2BXQPi-Q

If you’d like to help a budding author you can also support me on Patreon:

kaGh5_patreon_name_and_message

Insomnia, Writing, Imagination, Inspiration, Method

Back to it at Last

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

Finally finished Chapter 13 of my NaNoWriMo novel. My protagonist found herself back in the hospital and for some reason I found the scene very difficult to write. When I took my extended writing break I was probably only halfway through the chapter. I knew what I wanted to happen but couldn’t seem to work it out when I sat down to write. I managed to put a couple of sentences down here and there but nothing significant. Until tonight.

Or course the whole thing was made more difficult because everything leading up to this scene wasn’t fresh anymore. I had to stop to look up details more than once, which is always annoying. For the past two novels as long as I kept up a steady pace I could generally keep track of all the important names, details, and events. Guess that’s what I get for letting my doubt demons get the better of me. Oh well, the chapter is done and I can FINALLY move on to more fun and exciting scenes.

Publishing, Reading, Writing, Method

Re-reading (Re-watching, Re-playing, etc.)

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

I’ve only spoken to a couple of friends and acquaintances about re-reading books but the majority have said that they don’t re-read books. The exception seems to be when they’ve stopped reading a series and feel the need to refresh their memory. I’ve always that was strange because I love re-reading books. My favorite is when it’s been long enough (many years usually) that I don’t remember what happens anymore. Or I’ve forgotten some of the bigger plot points. It makes the book an even newer experience. Even if I do remember a book well that won’t stop me from re-reading and re-enjoying it. 🙂

I think one of the reasons I do enjoy re-reading so much is because though the book doesn’t change, my perspective does. As a teenager I had a voracious appetite for book and read a whole bunch. I started on Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time epic when I was 12 or so and there were only a couple of books in the series. Admittedly they were a tough read for a kid my age but I muddled through and really loved the books. Other favorite authors of my youth are David Eddings, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Mercedes Lackey. I’ve added plenty of other favorite authors but sometimes I just want to read something I loved reading previously. And the amazing thing is that I get something new out of them every time. Every time I re-read one of those books I’m at a different point in my life with different things influencing how I read and process the books.

Probably the biggest differences looking back are my shift into real maturity (something I’ve only managed to just barely snag in the past decade) and now that I’m writing for a living. As an adult my tastes have changed somewhat and I find I have no patience for situations and things that I may have sympathized with as a teenager. (A big example here would be angst. Having been through my fair share I don’t have a lot of patience for it.) And now as an author I find myself with a split view of everything I read: one as the laid-back reader I’ve always been and one as an author examining word choices, formatting, publishing quirks, etc. It makes for an engaging experience even when I’ve read the book many times before.

Anywho, just some food for thought.

Writing

NaNoWriMo and Live Writing

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This entry is part [part not set] of 5 in the series Live Writing

So I decided as a way to both motivate myself and get the word out about National Novel Writing Month I would do a series of live writing events in which I would live stream as much as possible while I write my NaNo novel. I had originally planned to start early this afternoon (11/3/14) but ran into a whole bunch of issue.

First up was my music playlist. A lot of the music I have on my old writing playlist is commercial and I plan to post all of these videos to YouTube. That meant making a playlist that wouldn’t get my videos flagged. So I spent a couple of hours downloading the music library for OCRemix.org (a most amazing video game music remix site) and then selecting tracks for my streaming playlist.

Once that was done it was time to set up the Hangout. Unfortunately while it was extremely easy to stream my writing window it was a complete pain in the ass to stream my music at the same time. I ended up installing a piece of software that created a virtual sound device that I could send my music player’s audio stream to and then select that as my microphone in Hangouts. At that point I thought I was done. Then I discovered Hangouts audio quality is pretty terrible. I could have just stuck with it but I really wanted the whole experience to be as good as I could make it. That meant switching venues. On to Twitch.tv!

Twitch is typically used to live stream someone playing video games. I’ve used it for this before and it’s actually easier to work with than pretty much any other streaming site I’ve used (including LiveStream, YouTube Live, Justin.tv (RIP), and Hangouts on Air). The audio quality is excellent, I don’t need any special software, and I already have a stream casting program from my video game streaming days. Viola!

So now everything is set though it took FAR longer than I wanted it to. It’s been a long and frustrating day but my work has paid off. It is now time to do my very first live writing event for NaNoWriMo!

If you read this in the next hour or so you can join the live stream on Twitch here:

http://www.twitch.tv/fuzzynerdcorner

Once the stream is done the video will also be uploaded to the FuzzyNerdCorner YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGJ__pNL7A3BFsbRBJEmCKg

Writing, Inspiration, Method

The National Novel Writing Month 2014 Kickoff

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

The Madison, WI NaNoWriMo group met last night/this morning at a local restaurant to kickoff the 2014 National Novel Writing Month. I was surprised at just how many folks showed up. At my last count we topped out at 14 or 15 people. I may have missed some folks since I was tunnel visioned into my Nano novel though. We started at just after midnight. I have to say it was pretty awesome to write with a bunch of other folks. The closest I’ve come to that experience in the past was just writing assignments in class. Definitely not the same kind of energy. This was much better.

For myself I managed to finish the prologue for my new novel: Avatars & Identity. It takes place in the same shrouded world universe as Stephen’s trilogy but involves completely different characters and some very scifi elements. I’m not completely satisfied with the prologue as it stands but I’m feeling pretty good about this whole thing overall. Having all of these other people participating in the event is very motivating.

Now though it’s time to try and get a bit of sleep before heading back out later today for the MadNaNo launch party. Hopefully we’ll have a better chance to meeet and greet as well as discuss all things writing. I’ve been itching to get other folks’ opinions on various writing matters and this is the ideal opportunity. Also hoping we get the whole writing buddy thing set up for this month. I think it would be helpful for everyone if we had at least one other person to chat with about this on a regular basis.

Last but not least, I will be doing live writing for this novel almost every day using Google Hangouts. It will be open to the public if anyone is interested. I plan to do the first live session on Sunday. If you miss one, don’t worry. I will be doing this as much as possible. The videos will also be automatically uploaded to my YouTube channel so you can always check them out there.

Now, off to dream land! Hopefully.