Still behind, but gaining

So this weekend was spent running around. I managed to make it into the largest cities in two states in two days and still managed to write about 3400 words. 1700 of them were in the car yesterday on my way to Des Moines, where, thanks to an old college buddy I obtained Office Pro 2003 (I know, it is already years old, but it should be able to transform .doc files into readable .rtf files which is all I really want to do with it). Hurray for friends with more tech gadgets than me!

In other news I am still behind on my NaNo project, but only by a day so I can catch up to that, I hope. Still, other writing stuff needs to get done in the meantime, I have a short story I need to finish and submit (thank God for the new program). Also my story threw me another twist last night. I will be curious to see how my characters cope with this latest wrench thrown in the works.

And if anyone needs a laugh, I mean a really good belly laugh and you even vaguely remember the 80's then go to Carrie Harris's blog today and watch the video she has posted.

Friday, Thank goodness

I would post a flash story today, but I don't have any to post. Sorry.

Instead I will post my progress on my NaNo book. I am 100 pages into it and not quite to the 20 K mark. I should hit that pretty easy this morning if the boy and his propensity for puzzles doesn't get in the way.

I have been amazed how I keep thinking of stories for the second and third tier characters in this book and giving them complete lives. these lives are only in my head so far and not on the page. They only have lives on the page as long as it moves the other characters story forward. It has me thinking of books like John Dos Passos's Manhattan Transfer or Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio. Both are excellent books that deal with the intricate natures of our lives and the way they intertwine with those around us. (Yes, I had to study both of them for English Lit classes in college.)

I am still hoping to get caught up and perhaps get a little ahead over the weekend, but I don't know if that is going to be a pipedream or reality.

Have a great weekend.

Keepin' It short

I am a full day behind on my NaNo book. Taking a three day vacation will do that to you I guess. I plan on catching up completely over the next couple of days (I think I have started that before). So as of yesterday I stand at 78 pages of text and 15,094 words. I think I use big words or something because at that rate I will be at just under 300 pages before I am done. Doesn't matter, it will get done.

Anyway, this book isn't going to write itself, although it is trying its best and is going pretty smooth. Still, the computer insists that I actually pull up the program and type words into the file to accomplish my goal. Thank you to all of you cheerleading out there, it means a lot and it seems to help.

I gotta go. Later.

Sunday

I am writing this from my hotel room. It is a nice room, a suite actually. The Fairly Oddparents is on the television and my boy has had me awake for an hour. I would take him downstairs for breakfast, but I need to get him dressed and his clothes are in the other room where his mother is trying to sleep.

My word count, while a little behind schedule is not so far behind that I can't catch up again (only 300 words as of last night). I am really getting into a lot of subplots that I wasn't expecting. They work well in the story and I am glad they have been found. It is giving the story a much more rounded feel to it than the linear story I wrote last year.

As long as we are talking well rounded stories, you should head over to Aaron and Jameson's blogs to find the locations for their newest published stories. Both are excellent little reads this fine Sunday morning.

NaNoWriMo, Barns and other flammible objects

Okay, so I am roughly 700 words ahead of schedule now, which means I only have about 950 to meet my goal. The writing is going amazingly well, and is probably amazingly bad by the same token. I would be amazed if this storyline is anywhere near publishable. It should probably be punishable.

Still, the story keeps on rolling. Words keep getting put on the page and I am having a good time. I hope to hit 10K by tomorrow morning if I am lucky. I have a feeling this weekend will put me behind again, but if this week has taught me anything it is that playing catch up is kind of fun.

In other news, my wife called on the way to work and the neighbors barn is on fire. It wasn't being used for anything other than storing some old farm equipment, but she met the fire trucks so she is thinking it is an accidental fire and not a purposeful one meant to get rid of an old building. Either that or they are trying to contain it from getting into the dried corn fields.

Have a good day. Until later.

NaNo, day 2

so I, like many others, am two days into NaNo. My word count is a little lacking, but I am not concerned. I was down 600 on day one and I am only down 400 as of last night (a net gain of 200). This isn't too bad considering I am only writing in quick bursts of 5-10 minutes at a time throughout the day. The strategy seems to be working and I should be ahead by the end of the week, just in time to go visit my sister and her new son (My nephew is a brute at 9 pounds 3 ounces). I am hoping the hotel time is productive time, following the same strategy of bursting. We will see.

In other news, Halloween was fun. The local funeral parlor had someone dressed as a zombie out front. I should have taken a picture, but I am not that quick. I promise if they do it again next year I will snap away.

Also I found out that the issue I have with my word processing software could be costing me sales. When I format in .rtf it does wonky things to the spacing, some of it is doubled, some of it isn't. Things that are centered aren't anymore and my headers are gone completely in some cases. Lucky for me I have a friend who is an IT guy and is giving me his old copy of Office 2003. I look forward to it.

Happy NaNo, everyone!

October in Retrospect

I have managed to blow my record by not getting acceptances in October. This is the first time since November I believe. As they say, all good things must come to an end. I did receive seven rejections and managed to write two new stories and start on another (I still need to finish up that Zombie Western). I had two stories published. Beneath the Willows was published in Bards and Sages and The Glass Jar was published in Fissure. In an uninteresting side note both of these publication managed to get my name wrong. Bards and Sages fixed it but as Fissure is a chapbook form and has already gone to print I will be known in there as James Eyberg.

Today is the first day of NaNo and I should be working on that, but I am using this as a writing exercise and trying to loosen my stiff fingers (because getting old stinks). Good luck to everyone doing it and to all of you out there cheerleading us on, thank you.