Wednesday, May 26, 2010

yesterday was pretty good, today wasn't bad, tomorrow. . .

So I managed to finish reading the book I said I was going to read yesterday. It was pretty good. I didn't work on the tabletop but I did manage to knock quite a few projects off the list. It is still a long list. I didn't get any writing done other than the blog.

Today I have managed about 900 words. It could be closer to 1000 but I can't quite remember where I started. I have also managed (you know if you leave out the second 'a' it becomes manged?) to make a monster truck out of lego's and it looked pretty darn cool. We have also managed to go for a nice long walk around the acreage and do some laundry and the dishes. Sometimes days are like that. I may hit my goal today, I may not. It was still nice.

Tomorrow, we will see what it brings. I am hoping for less humid weather as I am starting to wilt. I am hoping to hear back from an editor soon. I haven't gotten a rejection since May 4th. My inbox is starting to get lonely. Maybe it is broken.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

I still find time to write, somehow

Sometimes it is amazing how the best laid plans can get thrown into the woodchipper like so many mob snitches. I have been plugging away on a new book, 8K in 5 days. Not a record but still respectable. It has gotten in the way of my meager reading time. I was all set and prepared to finish reading The Lightening Thief on Friday or Saturday and here it is Tuesday and I still have another 50 or so pages to go. I need to finish so I can read Barry Napier's newest chapbook.

In the meantime I am chipping away at my massive to do list around the house. Massive is kind of an understatement. I noticed my wife had put her to do list down on a piece of paper and I thought that it looked like a good idea. Visualize the situation. It can't be that bad. How many projects can I have going on around the house? Oh, yeah. It is bad. Many of these projects are quite involved and will take days to finish. This coming from a man who is happy to have an hour of uninterrupted work time.

I may see you all this December, after I get caught up. Who knows, I may have the time to jot a piece of flash fiction down in that time. Maybe. Now, I am going to try to finish reading a book and then I can build a table top for my patio. (seriously).

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Sorry, been busy

I really have been busy. I have been writing in every free minute I can get my hands on. The only reason I am not writing now is because I find the theme music to Dora the Explorer that is in the background a little distracting. I find the classic tunes from Tom and Jerry to be much better for writing.

Part of the reason I have been writing so much is that I have found a character I can not only relate to a little but I want to see what he will do when I throw adversity at him. I have also re-found my writing spot. I don't know why the stone hard chair in my bedroom at the tiny antique desk is the best spot for me to write. I have a perfectly comfortable chair that swivels and has a cushion and a massive desk next to a large picturesque window that I am at right now that seems just fine, but it doesn't work for me.

I think of On Writing by Mr. King and the tiny closet he tapped away on for years pounding out manuscripts. Maybe we are destined to like dark confined spaces. It seems to breed creativity and corrals our wandering minds.

Friday, May 14, 2010

TGIF

They say that work productivity declines by as much as 50% on Fridays(I really don't know who they are, but I have seen the studies). Today was not one of those days. The house got cleaned fairly well and I managed about 3,000 words in a story. It felt good. Really good. I don't want to stop good, but I had to because I was starting to reach with the material I had thought up the night before so I gave my brain a breather. It isn't used to so much activity in one day. I hope I can keep it up on Monday. We shall see.

Have a great weekend.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

A plan

Since I have finished that novella I have been sitting around twiddling my thumbs. (not really. I have actually been fairly busy since then, just not writing.) Part of that time I have been wondering what project I was going to finish next. I have several books at various stages of their life (or death) and I think I know where I want to go with some of them and which ones aren't worth scraping off the side of the road. Time will tell if I am going to stick with this plan or if it too needs to be scrapped in favor of a different plan, but for now I at least have a plan.

Speaking of plans. How is everyone's writing going? Is it what you expected it to be two years ago? Six months ago? And is that for better or worse? I have to tell you the truth. My writing of late has taken me in far different directions than I would have told you it was going to go three years ago. Maybe not 180 degrees different, but a good twenty to ninety degrees off of where I thought it would go.

Maybe I am not the type of writer I thought I was. I don't know. It doesn't matter. I am still writing.

And now, because I am a huge fan of George Carlin, I give you the seven words I try not to use in most of my writing but sometimes fail at.




N

Monday, May 10, 2010

getting down to business

The patio is all but done. I ran out of diamond dust on the wheel of my grinder so I had to get a new one so now that I have one I can finish cutting the last half dozen or so bricks to finish out the edge. I believe that when my boy gets up I will do that. I also need to get the tiller out and get some grass seed down before it starts to rain this week. Then that project will be all but done. I just have to spend a little time in the shop and make a table top to cover up the well and I will have a nice place to put my beer.

In other news I finally finished my novella, Beneath These Walls on Friday. It has been 14 months since I started it and I am pretty happy with it. I worked up a query and synopsis and have sent it out to a publisher. We shall see. I believe that the novella form is perfect for the e-book market. I could see a resurgence in the medium, especially as the readers themselves become more inexpensive (Borders is releasing one this summer with a price of around $150. I think this will spark a price war and should bring the price down for more people to pick them up, maybe even me.).

So with a couple of projects down now, and a new week ahead I am debating of which project I should tackle next. I have a couple of ideas and I may have to play with them before I settle into one but at least 2.5 tons of brick is now in its final resting spot. I will post some pictures when I get the chairs around the table I have to build. (my wife spent Saturday painting the chairs and they look great.)

Have a great Monday. Will talk at you all later.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Focus

Last week, and earlier this week, I seemed to be all over the place. Getting projects started, feeling overwhelmed. Not right now.

Things are starting to settle down. Granted the ideas are still coming but I seem to have relegated them to the back of my mind and the idea notebook that my wife gave me. The house, while still a mess is getting put back together. The patio is half done at this point. I should be sitting on it this time next week enjoying a lemonade- or something else in a glass or can. I have settled down to working on one writing project instead of trying to work on all of them and I am almost done with it- for now. I may put it aside for awhile again and see how I still like it, try to catch more mistakes. I don't know.

I like the focus. It is nice for now. More craziness will ensue later, I am sure. :)

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

not writing

I am still working on my yard and not writing (hence the title of this post). It is progressing quite nicely. The stepping stones have been set and the sand has been compacted (and then the cats decided they had a giant litterbox. Ugh.) and some of the pavers for the patio have been set. I think I can get half of it done this afternoon after my daughter gets home from school and before her t-ball practice. As of right now I have about 2 tons of pavers yet to put into place. It shouldn't take that long.

In the meantime I am editing a novella that I wrote last year and have put away. It was a good thing to put it away for so long. I have fixed a lot of the plot points that were very weak and some of the grammar that I didn't catch the first time as well. It is also going to be longer than the original 25K, but only by a few K. Who knows when I will have it ready to submit. I am venturing no guesses at this point, but I only have about 1/3 of it left to edit and re-write before I am done with this round.

Sorry, nothing new for WIP Wednesday. Maybe next week. :) and maybe I will have pictures of my yard by next week as well.

Monday, May 3, 2010

overload

I have been flitting around projects lately. Writing a page or two here, editing some there, starting a new one when the whim gets to me. This is dangerous. I now have way too many projects going. I need to sit down and finish one or two and get it into the manageable range of 28 projects at one time. Either that or I need to stop having time to think, because when I think I not only come up with new ideas for old stories but new idea for stories I haven't even started yet. Lately I have been coming up with ideas for things I will probably never get around to. I don't know what is up with that.

Spring is here I guess. The leather bound journal that my wife got me for my birthday is soon going to be filled with my chicken scratches of ideas and notions and I couldn't be happier about it. I hope that next Winter I don't have to go through what I went through this last Winter.

Have a happy Monday, I am going to be busy with everything so don't be surprised if I disappear from the internet for at least a little while. :)