10 Things I've Done That You Probably Haven't

John Scalzi and Mary Robinette Kowal did this on their sites so I thought I would do the same.  Some of you may have done some of these but most of you probably haven't:

1. Broken the Sound Barrier
2. Wrote a poem for my wife
3. Commanded a flying squadron in a deployed zone
4. Won a poker tournament
5. Piloted a jet more than 6 miles above the Earth
6. Killed a deer with my car (Not on purpose)
7. Attended an Art Auction and bought paintings
8. Sold something on eBay
9. Qualified as a marksman with an M-9 Pistol
10. Created jewelry for my wife


I wanted to add wrote a Novel, but it's not done yet.  Let's hear some of yours!

Writing Guilt

      I started down this writing road about 3 years ago, or was it 4?  Slowly but surely I've learned the tools of the trade.  I've also slowly become more immersed in the act of writing.  I have a day job still and will for at least 9 more years, but I'm preparing myself for writing success and a career after my current career.  I write more and more in my spare time.  When I'm not writing, I'm thinking about writing or blogging about it.  I recently saw a quote:

"Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else." - Gloria Steinem

I find that to be very true.  Then there's this one:

"Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life." ~ Lawrence Kasdan

      LOL, it's so true.  I used to like to watch a few TV shows or catch up on DVDs of movies that I missed at the theater.  Now I just write in my free time and if I'm watching one of those TV shows or a DVD I feel guilty, that I really should be writing instead.   Anyone else have this issue?


Clear Ether!

Just finished an Incredible book! Shades of Milk and Honey

     I heard Mary Robinette Kowal on one of my favorite podcasts several months ago and was taken with her remarkable views on writing.  Her take was so much different than those that I had been hearing that it stuck with me and I put her upcoming novel on my wish list as a curiosity to see how her approach translated to reality.


     I was in the middle of a long series by CJ Cherryh and wanted to finish what I had started, but went ahead and ordered the book when it came out and told my wife that I thought it might appeal to her, as it was a period setting.  My wife and Mary Kowal are both fans of Jane Austin, who was the inspiration for the book, Shades of Milk and Honey.  She adored the book and it is one of the best books she has read this year according to her.

Making Progress

It's been a slow week at work and fairly stress free.  Lack of stress is a good thing for my muse, and I've been able to make good progess this week.  I did around 4,000 words this week, not bad, and the good part is my primaries are finally meeting each other at the 80k mark.  I have a novel length book now for the Sci Fi genre and have a ways to go yet to the end.  Editing will likely cut it back again, since I want it to be tight.


I'm targeting 1 March to be completely done and I work better with a deadline.  I'm enjoying some down time and filling it with shopping and writing and time with family.  It just doesn't get much better than that.


Merry Christmas everyone!

Rules for Writing for the Novice Novelist

A friend of mine asked me if I could pass along some of what I have learned over the past couple of years about trying to write a book.  I’ve tried to distill that info here.   I am focused on novel writing, so all of these ideas may not apply to poetry writing or something other than Novels or Novellas.  Please feel free to add in some comments that will help refine this.  This is all from the perspective of a novice unpublished writer, but I have done my homework, and learned a few things along the way.

The Publishing Landscape Has Changed

The publishing landscape has changed dramatically in the last two years and continues to change.  Distribution was always tough for a small publishing house and forget it if you were trying to self-publish.  But that's all changed now.  Dean Wesley Smith has a section on his website devoted to debunking the myths of writing and publishing a book.  Here is one gem I found in the comments section below his post about self-publishing:

More on the future of publishing

          Just after I finished my last post Jane Fancher posted that she had run into Patty Briggs this weekend and mentioned that she was releasing a new book and posted a link to it.  In that post Mike Briggs, Patty’s husband who runs her website, linked to another post by Kristine Kathryn Roush about the very subject I had posted on earlier.  Her blog is usually focused on the business end.  She knows the publishing industry from the inside and from the writer’s perspective and she is in the middle of a series of articles trying to define where the industry is heading and what it means to writers.  I am linking all the posts below that she has already published as of today.  They are lengthy and very well researched and very informative.

The future of book publishing

     I don’t know where everyone gets the idea that the costs of publishing eBooks are zero.   I see that comment all the time.


     If you want someone to edit the book or prepare it for the zillion formats that eReaders use it comes with a price tag.  That stuff doesn’t happen all by itself.  If you expect the author to do that stuff you are going to see a lot fewer books coming out or coming out in limited formats.  The biggest complaint most people have about eBooks is the poor quality of editing, so if you think you are going to selfpublish without the proper number of rounds of the editing process you are setting yourself up for failure.

Rearranging day

     I renamed the book and rearranged the format of the Blog today.  I 've been waffling on the title for awhile and finally made the plunge.


     I really should be writing instead of goofying around with this blog, but I am easily distracted.  I'm happy to be back to writing the first book, I missed the characters and they are anxious to get going with the story.  I really need to buckle down and just write.  I was doing a little editing today and was happy with a lot of what I had written.  It's always nice to go back and say,"Wow, did I write that?  It's not bad."  It's a hellava lot better than, "I really suck, I should just quit writing."  I know there are weak areas, but I hope to clean those up on the edits. 

Small Progress

I found some time to write some today and really enjoyed getting back to this story, I missed them.


Hopeful to get more in later this evening.


Also thanks Michelle for being my first commentor!


I posted the second chapter of Vim Dicaré today also, be advised it is still raw, and needs editing.

Habit not so much formed

Well, its now the 4th of December and I haven't been writing for the last 4 days.  I'm disappointed, but it's been a busy week this week.  Hoping to get some writing in tomorrow on Vim Dicare.


I've been getting into twitter a lot more since NaNoWriMo started.  I am following enough interesting people that its worth it to stop in and see what's going on.  Just updated my background with some original artwork that I made with Photoshop.  I love me some Photoshop.

NaNoWriMo 2010 is in the can

     It's over at midnight tonight, but I hit the 50k mark last night around 11:30 pm.  Big win for me!  My first attempt and it was not horribly hard, although there were times I wasn't sure I would make it.  The entire trick is to be consistant.  I have no idea how people write 15 to 20 thousand words in one day.  My best day was about 3500.  I had several days over 3k and several under 1k. But I only skipped 4 days I think in the entire month.


     I want to congratulate everyone that gave it a shot!  At least you wrote something.  Starting is more than half the battle with writing, IMHO.

NaNoWriMo coming to a close

Only 4 days left on NaNoWriMo.  It's been an interesting experience.  I've learned that I am only good for a couple of thousand words a day no matter how much time I set aside.  I don't have a good answer as to why, except that maybe I'm easily distracted.  I will ahve a different plan for next year.  This year I have been almost perpetually behind the curve.  I started out just over the line for the first week, then fell back and have been trying to catch up ever since. 


I have less than 8,ooo words to go, so I should be able to do it and I'm not close to finishing the story.  That's ok, I just wanted to get a leg up on the story, so I would have something to work on after I finish Vim Dicare and the editing thereof.


I think I will try again next year, I don't think I've been too horrible to my family during this time.  Next year the plan will be to get as far out in front early on as I possibly can.  I am also hoping that doing this for 30 days will create a new habit of writing, that will propel me to finishing the first novel. 


Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Halfway through NaNoWriMo

     Well today marks the halfway point and I am slightly behind, at 22, 000 words, but I getting confident now that I will make it, especially with the four days off around Thanksgiving.  It's the slowest moving novel I've written so far, but the rewrite will make it all better.


     Week two lived up to the hype, I fell behind and thought about quitting, but perservered. 


     Week three is supposed to be magical, I can't wait for the magic to happen.


     I'm thinking about putting some of it up here, but I need to actually have some good stuff, so far not much good stuff I think.

NaNoWriMo

     I made it past week one without any trouble and week two is living up to its reputation as being the toughest week of the month.  I've fallen behind a bit due to work, but I have a long weekend and hope to catch up and get a little bit ahead.  It's been fun and I've been happy to see that I can put out some content fairly quickly if I push myself.  I have a little over 14,000 words so far on day 11.


     It is frustrating to see some people "win" on day 3.  I'm not sure what the msot I can do in one day is, but I think the most I've done so far is about 2500 words in one day.  I'm hoping to pass that sometime this month.

Happy Halloween!

     I hope everyone is having a fantastic and productive All Hallow's Eve.  I added an experpt from Vim Dicaré, it's Chapter One of the novel.  Realize it is still in draft form.


     NaNoWriMo starts at midnight!  I'll be working to get a few hunderd words in tonight before I go to bed.  Good luck to all the WriMos out there!

The Podium

     This is my writer's podium so to speak. I've been at this for several years but it's been in fits and spurts. My first novel is nearing completion of the first draft and I'm starting the second one as part of National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo for short. The idea is to try to write at least 50,000 words in the month of November. I figured it would be a good chance to start on the second novel even if it won't likely be very good prose. Quantity over quality is the idea for NaNoWriMo. The plan is to have at least a working kernal of a novel or novella by December. Then, hopefully take that momentum into finishing my first novel draft and start seriously editing it, I've done some along the way but it still needs a thorough going over.


     Vim Dicaré is the working title for my first book and I will be tracking progress on the Vim Dicaré - Progress page.


     The second book is tentatively titled Revelation Void
It's my NaNoWriMo entry for this year and I'll be posting updates of how that going on the Revelation Void - Progress page.