Short day

Today is going to be abbreviated for me. I won't be able to get much, if anything done, on my current projects. To that I am taking a page from Brian Keene's playbook and have started working more than one project in the same sitting. I can see where he is coming from. I have a problem where the first couple of pages of an ongoing manuscript go great and then it seems like a lot of time is spent looking at the curtain in front of me. Using Keene's method (and I will admit is not for everyone. I don't even know if it is for me.) I can juggle two projects at the same time, when one slows to a crawl I switch gears and get a couple of hundred words down on the other project.

So far it works pretty well. Something tells me I am going to have a problem later on with characters that weren't written in to one story popping in for a visit. I didn't say it was a perfect idea.

Today, instead of writing, and if it doesn't rain, I will be spending my time planting flowers, cleaning the garage and maybe hanging more drywall. On the top of my list is tightening a water line under my dishwasher without snapping it and making a bigger mess. I thought I would have taken care of that earlier but I grabbed a handful of wrenches and none of them were the proper size. If this is any indication of how the rest of my day will go I am going back to bed.

Have a happy Wednesday!

this is turning into a habit

Had another day where I got practically nothing done. Not completely nothing but only about a page of new material. The climax is halfway done and then the slide to the end of the book (Natalie get your mind out of the gutter :) )

Aaron brought up an interesting question in yesterday's post, he also has an interesting contest today, for which I am completely not qualified but you may be, so go read it. The question he brought up yesterday, at least in my mind is 'At what point would you consider yourself to be sucessful?'

I have thought of this a lot lately. I was, at first, rejoicing that anyone would accept a piece I had written, then they paid me for my work, now I am ready to redefine success as something different. My wife would love it if I could make a living as a writer. She would be ecstatic at this point if I could pay the phone bill every month with my writerly earnings. To be honest, so would I. I guess I have always envisioned a living where I could do nothing but write. Okay, write and maybe make some furniture on the side. If someone could pay me to shoot guns, ride motorcycles, fish and play pool that would be alright as well, but that really isn't going to happen.

I guess I am not planning on becoming rich and famous with my writing. It was not my plan. I would rather make a comfortable living, pay a few bills and do what I like. Eventually, I would like my wife to not have to work as hard as she does (Let's face it, she has a doctorate and I have a bachelors degree, in creative writing no less. She can almost aways make a better living than me, especially considering that construction work isn't as easy to come by as it used to be.) I don't consider my goals to be unrealistic or out of reach. I figure, like everything else, if I work hard and consistently, I will get to where I want to be. I hope to write a couple of books and have them published eventually (although I might have a garage full of unpublished manuscripts before I get there).

Besides, I don't need to get a big publishing contract, I am going to win the lottery well before that happens. :)

Update: I forgot to mention that a story of mine has been shortlisted for Midnight Echoes issue 3. Unfortunately, I won't know any more until late summer about it, unless they drop it before that.

Long night

So I have pretty much been up since 2:30 when my boy got me up and didn't go back down until 5:30. Unfortunately the dog didn't cooperate and neither did my weather radio (we are in a winter storm warning apparently) for letting me get back to sleep until my normal out of bed time at 6:30 so, while the boy is still sleeping, I am doing something I haven't done in a while. I am writing fiction in the morning.

It is nice actually. I have over a 1000 words in so far today and with any luck I will have an afternoon nap (the boy not me) to write on.

I am noticing that, even though I chose not to outline this particular story, my characters seem more complex and real to me than anything else I have written. I don't know why and it could be an illusion caused by sleep deprivation. I also think that the first draft of this is going to be much smoother than the last book I wrote. Just a hunch. I have actually dreamed about these characters and what happens next. And I don't usually remember my dreams, not unless they are really graphic. I hope I can keep this up.

In other news: I have six subs out to anthologies right now. Two of them I am pretty excited about the stories (okay I like all of the stories I have out but these two stand out). One is to the Return of the Raven Antho (a tribute to Poe) When I wrote the story originally it was not for any particular market and it was intentionally in the model of Poe's psychological stories. The only problem with this market is they will only contact you if the story is accepted. (I know, what the hell?) The other is for Devil's Food but I don't know what is going on with that one yet. I just know I haven't been rejected yet so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Oh well

I know at least one story you won't be seeing in the Dark Jesters Anthology. Mine. Just got the rejection last night. They said it was funny enough but not through the whole thing apparently (I am still trying to figure that one out!)

I found another market, gave it another look see and sent it off again. I should hear back by late March. (Ha!)

I just can't believe it is Friday already. The week flew by. I figure I had better make the most of my day and get about fifteen gazillion words written today. Just to be safe I will be happy with 1,500 words.

0n another note, but the same song, I am starting to get the short story bug again. This is really going to throw the novel thing for a loop but at this point I am happy to be writing what I want and when I want to. (except on weekends when my family takes over my life for me :) ) If I don't hear back good news from an editor before then I will wish everyone a happy weekend and see you on Monday.

How do we decide what we write?

Aaron posed an interesting question on his blog this morning: What is horror?

I really don't concern myself a whole lot with what I write, I personally don't care to think about "Okay, today I am going to come up with a 2600 word story on martians invading Des Moines." I am a little more free-form than that. I think my favorite story that I have written, at least in the last six months has been Lullaby and published in Macabre Cadaver (who incidentally has some exciting news on their homepage you should read) I actually just came up with a situation and ran with it. I didn't have a character in mind when I wrote it or a plot for that matter. I didn't know where the story was going to end or if I would finish it. It was just an idea. Not a very original idea but I thought I would run with it. What the character did at the end took me as much by surprise as anyone. I got done writing it, leaned back and actually went "Whoa! I didn't see that coming."

I think this is how I like to write most of my stories. Just an idea with no real clue where it is going but letting the situation or the character take over and do whatever needs to happen.

How do you like to write?

Happy birthday Dad!

I know that my father won't read this. He doesn't know the web address but if he ever looks up his own name Bill Eyberg turns the big 60 today. I hope he has a happy birthday down there in Tabor, Iowa.

Now, down to some serious business. The business that I was actually going to discuss yesterday. Writing habits. I am not talking about dressing up like a nun and sitting in front of a typewriter waiting for divine intervention, although that would be fun. I am talking about little things we all do although none of them are the same.

I for example like to dress up like a nun and sit in front of a typewriter, scratch that thought. I really don't do that but I do like to work without a radio but with the laundry going on in the background while I sit at a small desk in my bedroom away from my office space. I don't know why I am much more prone to write like that but I am. I also like to have a glass or cup of something to drink at the ready. All the time. So I will brew a pot of coffee usually or have a pitcher sized glass of water at the ready. Soda doesn't work for me. I don't know why. Beer doesn't work either, although that doesn't stop me from trying, especially late in the afternoon when I am working on my blog post for the next day.

Latest NaNo count, 20,050 and rising. Still on track to finish. Still like where the story is going. Still am not going to post it for anyone to read until I have edited it. Sorry, I can't write flowery prose like Cate on my first draft. I save flowery stuff for my second drafts. Speaking of drafts I have one, ice cold and full of foamy goodness, waiting for me so until next time, later.