Archive for December, 2009

Book One, Update One

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Post ImageAlthough I've posted bits and pieces of information about the latest book, and even uploaded the opening paragraph to tease you for your reading enjoyment, I haven't really said much about the book itself. Unfortunately, that's not about to change today. The good news is, though, I thought I'd at least tell you why.

Have you ever gone to a job interview but didn't tell anyone about it? Or maybe started a diet and not said anything to anybody? Or perhaps even started writing a book and never told anyone what it was about? Why do people do this? I have one answer for it. In a word: embarrassment. If you announce something and it doesn't turn out the way you promised/expected/hoped then you kinda feel stupid. Therefore, at certain times in your life, you really want to make sure something is fer real before divulging too much information about it.

I've had one or two people in person ask me, "What's it about?" In response, I hem and haw a bit and usually just say, "Well, it keeps changing." Then I mumble a few odd and vague words, sounding like a sit-com character caught in lie while trying to cover up for his roommate who's dating two girls at the same time. (How was that for a hideous simile?)

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7
Posted in Progress |

Just Keep Swimming

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Post ImageDory: Hey there, Mr. Grumpy Gills. When life gets you down do you wanna know what you've gotta do?

Marlin: No I don't wanna know.

Dory: Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.

Ah, were truer words ever spoken? I think Dory deserves a place amongst the great philosophers of the age, right up there with Socrates, Descartes, and George Carlin. "Just keep swimming!" just about sums it up, doesn't it? And do you know what's even better? Simply substitute almost any verb for "swimming" and you've got a template for life.

Take, for example, a little thing I like to call writer's block. Ouch. Yeah, you know what I mean. Blank page. Blank head. Fingers not moving . . . except when they stray back to Solitaire. It's a bad, bad thing, and it happens to everybody at one point or another. Writers great and small all succumb to its icy grip eventually. Most usually get past it, which is why we have seven Harry Potter books. Of course, once in a while, the writer gets stuck forever, which is why we don't have eight Harry Potter books.

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Posted in On Writing |

NaNoWriMo Final Results

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Post ImageHere are a couple unbelievable facts. In fact, they're so unbelievable, you might not even believe them. First up: it's December. Yes, it really, really is December. Second, and somewhat related, NaNoWriMo is officially behind us.

A week ago I called myself a winner, but strictly speaking, this isn't true. Why? Well, I'm glad you asked. The idea behind NaNoWriMo is to start (and finish!) a minimum 50,000 word novel in a single month. I disqualified myself from the very beginning since I started on November 2nd with 30,450 words already under my belt.

It had taken me three months to write thirty thousand words. (Or sixteen years, depending on when you start counting.) So the thought of actually writing fifty thousand in a single thirty-day period was beyond my comprehension. So I had two goals: 1) a very lofty goal of adding 50k words to the existing manuscript; or 2) add 20k words to bring the grand total to 50k.

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Posted in Progress |