I Did It!

Just like it says above! I finally finished the novella, literally about a minute ago, though the length may be more akin to a novel; I won't split hairs right now! Many months of writing, staring at this blasted screen well into the night to stain pages with the words of my story have culminated to this almost paramount feeling of accomplishment. When I'm finally published then it'll be completely paramount! And so I begin the arduous task of doing a series of read throughs and sending to beta to then reedit it once again, and then publish in the sometime hopefully near distant future-ish. I am pumped.

Simultaneously, I shall be working on the second part of the series. The story has been churning while I was wrapping up the ending of the first one. I'm hoping to publish by about mid-August, although earlier would be even gooder. I guess it depends on how the beta goes. I'm off to start my first read through. I'll be posting progress of the edits as they happen. Wish me luck. How goes it for you?

Happy 236th Year, America!

Well, it's been that long, with the hopes of many, many more to come! It could never be enough, but thank you to all you veterans. Citizen soldiers have contributed heavily to the greatness of this country we live in. With that in mind, I hope every one of you has a rather enjoyable 4th of July, what with all the fireworks, parades, cookouts, shenanigans, and goings-on! Sam the Eagle should be a prime example of being a standup guy-muppet-thingy. Seriously though, have fun, be safe, and don't forget the monumental importance of today. 

On the writing front, I've made headway on the novella, turned novel, turned novella, again: I'm nearing the end on the final chapter! I must say, it is shaping up much better than rather well, in my opinion, of course. The true test comes with my somewhat seemingly willing double blind test subjects to take the triple-dog-dare of braving said literature. I expect to be sending to beta within the next couple of weeks. It's exciting, to be this close! I know it'll be a big confidence boosting step to get that feedback, both positive and negative. 

Tentatively, I would like to publish early to mid-August, although earlier would be even better. It depends on how much surgery I may have to do to make the story better, or streamline the status quo by maintaining minor fixes and such. Anyhow, that's what's going on with me. How about the rest of you? Enjoy the 4th! 

An Idea of Genius

I've had an idea of genius, or more correctly, I mean I know somebody who's had an idea of genius. It started out as a novella, then morphed into a novel, then morphed into a long novel, then morphed into a longer novel, and then came the idea of genius, from somebody other than me. I have a very thoughtful sister who presented the simple, but profound idea of writing a novel (per se) but publishing it in increments. I understand that may not be a popular idea with lots of others, but I don't care. To each his own, right? I've enjoyed many older works published in such manner, so what better way to emulate myself and my tastes than to do as what I've enjoyed done? Ever since she presented the idea to me I've been working on how to sectionalize the novel into its own little novellas of the collected thread type.

I have to admit I tossed the idea around before when I decided to do a novel, but quickly dismissed it because I wasn't sure readers would 'get it'. I didn't want to indirectly defeat my own purpose. I can honestly say the shock I felt when she presented the idea to me was one of severely kicking myself in the ass for dismissing the idea way back when. It was a real Homer Simpson "D'oh!" moment. Meanwhile, my wife shakes her head without having to say anything, because I've developed that sixth sense of knowing what she's thinking (actually it's experience).

Needless to say, I'm re-re-building the road, because this course has just become much more defined.

A Successor

I believe I have a writing successor, or at least a sidekick. My daughter has always had an affinity for not only drawing, but elaborate storytelling as well. Like most nine year olds she has a ridiculously active imagination and vision for what she wants to tell. However, she's not always entirely sure how best to convey it, and so she asks me how best to begin or end it. Being a staunch creative independent shy away from answering. I prefer to have her say what she wants, and then later refine it with grammatical polishing and such. She's quite an artist as well, drawing much inspiration from the same catalysts as me. Often, she'll be sparked by a drawing and be compelled to write something, or vice versa. She possesses such a creative knack, virtually world building much in the same way that I do. She even shares similar tastes in reading: scary stories, science-fiction, comedy, and mystery. I am proudly impressed with her.

Having acknowledged this, my wife and I are impressing the importance of nourishing her creative outlets as we've discovered a new and local performing arts school which specializes in further honing these abilities, as well as in other artistic mediums. There are several I know she would like, but I know with absolute certainty that she would LOVE the creative writing field. Oddly enough, so do I! If only by boys could add this to their brutish resumes. My oldest son is beginning to exhibit these same-ish creative qualities, as he's emerging from the barbarous toddler years, achieving the refinement of a somewhat learned five year old; although I feel he'll possess many of the same qualities of my humorous older brother: he always knows how to make everyone laugh. He and his little brother have evolved to not quite so crude cave-like drawings. They're showing impressive potential.

Unfortunately, the above mentioned school accepts students of the seventh grade level, so she has several years to go. This will, however, play to her advantage: giving her time to work, stretch, and refine her abilities. I am excited, and fiercely proud of her. There's just one problem, my baby girl is growing too fast.

Confounded- Or Not

Inspiring authors do well to compel us to strive for excellence; or at the very least to OUTDO them! That's my mindset anyhow. I have to admit that I had hit a kind of a roadblock in my writing a couple of weeks prior. I tossed and turned on how to facilitate the further progression of my novel, winding up at that impenetrable barrier again. I was a victim of my own creativity, or temporary loss thereof. No matter how I wrote it didn't turn out the way I expected, it just didn't sound right. I even worked on a new idea for a couple of days to refresh my batteries, to no avail.  I normally write out of order, but have maintained the proper sequence because it just feels right on this particular novel, though I could progress no more. So I held up on furthering.

I decided to read one of my most favoritest authors of all time, H. P. Lovecraft. That was a very intelligent decision; the results were overwhelming. His novella, At the Mountains of Madness was a huge inspiration for Call of the Gods, along with John Campbell's novella, Who Goes There. While I'm not an avid horror fan, I stick with what I love. Lovecraft's poetic descriptiveness of people, places, feelings, and times literally immerse you to the point that your mind becomes saturated with the realness of the  story he's telling you. Anyhow, my creative reactor was refueled to maximum capacity that I broke into a feverish writing frenzy, all the while suffering from a nastily congested head cold. I didn't really know what I was writing at the time until I had finished the scene and recouped enough to reread it. What I read was stupendous! I was excited with what I created during such an incoherent lapse of several days. Now I'm back on track, the barrier overcome. How do you deal with such obstacles?

What To Do

What does one do when writing one story while an idea for a completely different story sneaks into your head? What about when you're already bouncing between two stories already? This is the quagmire I've encountered. This new idea has got me all hot and bothered; I'm considering putting one of the two on the back burner while I develop this new one. I just feel so compelled. It's a new spin on an older idea, and I LOVE IT! That and I think it's brilliant! Any-who, it is a story that I've wanted to tell and wasn't quite sure how to execute. But now I've got it.

On another note, more excitinger to be exact, I feel I've finally chosen a title for my sci-fi novel. I spent the last couple of weeks kicking two ideas around after sorting through half a dozen others beforehand. I have chosen to title it Call of the Gods ©. I'm playing an epic fanfare each time I say it because everything's better with theme music. Okay, not really, but it sounded good. The title is one I've held onto since I began writing the first words of what was to be a novella, but morphed into a huger piece. I wasn't sure if it would fit though, until I asked a couple of reliable people: my unbiased wife and my learned sister, both opinions I value above all others.

One obstacle overcome, but now I struggle with the above stated. What to do, what to do...

Forward!

I am back in business! Finally figured out how to pull the writing up on the new computer (triumphant fist-pump). Actually it was my tech-savvy wife. Love ya Hun! Now I have a good two weeks' of writing and suffering to catch up on. It figures, when I'm incapacitated be technology is when the creative floodgates not only open, but multiply tenfold. It has been torturous waiting for the this moment.

Now back to business; I'm still rattling around several title ideas for the sci-fi novel, and it's MADDENING! to say the least. I know the right one will present itself, but the suspense is killing me. If only that easy-button thing really worked. Oh well, that would take the fun out of it. I'll be contented to keep spilling the story onto the page until it happens.

What thoughts do you have on choosing a title? Does it just come to you or is it more like an epiphany? Happy writings!

Another Check In

Got the new computer(iMac) up and running, and I love it! It's different from what I'm used to(dell PCs), but it is a huge improvement from the aged dinosaur I had which was prone to random crashes and viruses, despite the anti-virus stuff in place. It'll take a little time becoming more familiar with how it handles, but no complaints yet! I'll be resorting to the ancient process of handwriting until I figure out how to successfully and completely transfer all of my work to this new and fantastic device. There's still a lot more to learn, but it's gonna be fun! Plus!! I've got several more ideas of stories to write that just tickle my fancy. I'll be checking in again with my progress of re-situating myself. Hope everyone else is faring well.

A Quick Check-In

Well, these last few weeks have been frustrating with the computer acting up and not wanting to work right. My writing has been hindered by this confounded piece of junk. Until we upgrade(hopefully within the next couple of days) I'll be writing as much as I can until the computer decides it doesn't want to cooperate with me again. It's been driving me nuts all of the scans and anti-virus software we've used, especially the super-duper crap from Geek Squad that was uber-expensive. I hope this piece of junk limps just enough, because I don't want to lose anymore writing time.

Apart from the computer troubles, so far, this year, everyone has been physically better(knock on wood), except for the colds and 24-hour bugs we've been passing back and forth. My son's last surgery was immensely successful, he goes for one more test in six months. I'm still doing very well, aside from the computer afflicting me. I am hoping the new one will result in less problems, we've read many great reviews on that particular model.

The writing I have been able to accomplish has been leading to the main subject of the plot, and I'm ultra-excited! How's it been going for the rest of you? Better, I hope.

And So It Begins

2012 is here, and there are probably some people who feel itchy about the whole doomsday thing. There have been numerous doomsday predictions throughout history, and each one just gets swept under the rug. While I believe that God does have certain things planned for this world, mankind's free will shall determine what happens when, though maybe not to a specifically foretold day.

Anywho, our holidays were excellent, save for the chest colds and 24-hour bugs some of us contracted at the last minute; alas, we're all gooder now. How were all your holidays? I've worked on both WIPs these past few days, and have made some minorish adjustments. Nothing drastic like I promised myself, just some tweeking. A lot of it what I'd written on a whim sounded much better than what I had expected. This is a new protocol for me, and so far, it works! (triumphant fist pump) I guess you could say it was an early resolution for me, though I don't really believe in them. Live your life without regret, meaning: don't do what you really don't want, because it ain't helpin' anybody.

How about the rest of you? Have you made any writing 'resolutions' or are you maintaining the same old same old?