Tonight was quiet at work. It was a nice change of pace after the past six days of non-stop running every moment I've been there. In the long lulls of nothing going on, I started mulling over what I was going to write next.
Naturally, this next writing adventure won't happen until after the new year. December is normally too busy, and this year I've got boatloads going on that I wasn't anticipating originally. I decided to start thinking about the offshoot stories I planned to eventually write, called The Human-Born Chronicles. I already wrote one (what was supposed to be my only piece for senior sem), but I'd really like the opportunity to write the other five remaining ones.
So, after I finish Arthur (which will definitely be happening!), I'm gonna start tearing into at least some of the HBCs (my affectionate nickname).
Yeah. I really want to beat my nearly 600,000 word total from last year.
Currently Writing: Nothing at the moment. Give me a few weeks.
Currently Reading: Green by Ted Dekker
Currently Listening to: "Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies)" by Chris Tomlin
Showing posts with label Arthur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arthur. Show all posts
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Hodgepodge
That's my life at the moment. Or so it feels.
As you can tell by the lovely little counter to the left of this post, I finished NaNoWriMo. With two days to spare, I finished the final chapter to Unity and began, almost immediately, trying to plan a cover. Not because it's ready for publication - simply because it's immensely cheaper to get the book printed through Createspace and then use that to edit vs. anywhere else.
Reflecting back on this month is kind of difficult. It feels like a blur. This whole past six months have felt like a blur. I mean, graduation happened and then BAM, reality. And then I fell into this sort of rhythm of life. I get up, go to work, I go home, I write. Occasionally in there, I get the chance to see some friends, though that's difficult.
So to only look back on November is kind of like asking me to look back at last week. I can barely remember what I ate yesterday, let alone what's transpired over the past month. All I know is that every night (or nearly every night), I sat at my computer and hammered against a keyboard, trying to bring still images in my head to life via words on a screen.
In spite of my efforts though, I think I've let myself down. Sure, I rewrote Unity in record time - 28 days. But at what cost? Quite a bit, I'm afraid. Even as I sit here writing this blog, I know I missed some things, forgot others, and blatantly ignored others still. It's a more coherent draft, yes, but a better one?
Well, the judges will be my friends and family that will gladly tear it apart and help me put it back together again.
Currently Writing: Nothing. I'm gathering my wits and then either attacking Arthur (and actually finishing it), or hitting Zero Point some more.
Currently Reading: Green by Ted Dekker
Currently Listening to: "Into the Open Air" by Julie Fowles (I may have spelled her name wrong)
As you can tell by the lovely little counter to the left of this post, I finished NaNoWriMo. With two days to spare, I finished the final chapter to Unity and began, almost immediately, trying to plan a cover. Not because it's ready for publication - simply because it's immensely cheaper to get the book printed through Createspace and then use that to edit vs. anywhere else.
Reflecting back on this month is kind of difficult. It feels like a blur. This whole past six months have felt like a blur. I mean, graduation happened and then BAM, reality. And then I fell into this sort of rhythm of life. I get up, go to work, I go home, I write. Occasionally in there, I get the chance to see some friends, though that's difficult.
So to only look back on November is kind of like asking me to look back at last week. I can barely remember what I ate yesterday, let alone what's transpired over the past month. All I know is that every night (or nearly every night), I sat at my computer and hammered against a keyboard, trying to bring still images in my head to life via words on a screen.
In spite of my efforts though, I think I've let myself down. Sure, I rewrote Unity in record time - 28 days. But at what cost? Quite a bit, I'm afraid. Even as I sit here writing this blog, I know I missed some things, forgot others, and blatantly ignored others still. It's a more coherent draft, yes, but a better one?
Well, the judges will be my friends and family that will gladly tear it apart and help me put it back together again.
Currently Writing: Nothing. I'm gathering my wits and then either attacking Arthur (and actually finishing it), or hitting Zero Point some more.
Currently Reading: Green by Ted Dekker
Currently Listening to: "Into the Open Air" by Julie Fowles (I may have spelled her name wrong)
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Amongst the Chaos
I'm telling ya, this month has been hard.
Initially, I thought this month was going to be cake. I'd write every day and I'd totally cream that 50,000 word goal of Camp Nano and I'd have a blast with my friends at a wedding earlier this month and I'd enjoy work and I'd do a million other things and still have time to do what I wanted.
That was wrong.
Not only am I way behind on my Arthurian lore piece (which has been a blast), but I've thrown another major weight onto my shoulders. In less than a month (WHAT?!), I am embarking on self-promoting my book hard core. I'll be attending an art show that my town does every fall and broadcasting my book as much as possible. That means coming up with marketing and advertising and figuring out if I can afford to buy everything that people need when they start a business and...and...I don't even know what else.
Do I buy T-shirts? What about a banner? And how about business cards? Who should I get to endorse my book? Will anyone endorse my book? What will grab someone's attention? Will what grabs my attention grab someone else's?
And all the while, I'm scraping by to meet a goal that should have only taken me a couple of days to complete. My brain feels like mush half the time and the other half I'm running rampant with ideas and thoughts and wishes and oh gosh I really should work out and I should rework my cover art and maybe I should...
This is what I've signed up for.
This is it kids. No one said it would be easy. The bills will come. The money will be tight. The nights will be long and the hours will be strenuous. You will feel stretched as you write in the odd hours. You'll feel exhausted after coming home from 9 hours of physical labor. But it's the greatest of writers, I think, that persevere through this difficulty and become something more.
Don't shy away from the challenge. Believe in yourself, even if you can't find the faith to. Somehow I do. And I think that's simply because I get by with a little help from my friends.
Currently Reading: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Currently Writing: Arthur
Currently Editing: Genesis
Currently Listening to: "Promise" by Steven Bergesen
Initially, I thought this month was going to be cake. I'd write every day and I'd totally cream that 50,000 word goal of Camp Nano and I'd have a blast with my friends at a wedding earlier this month and I'd enjoy work and I'd do a million other things and still have time to do what I wanted.
That was wrong.
Not only am I way behind on my Arthurian lore piece (which has been a blast), but I've thrown another major weight onto my shoulders. In less than a month (WHAT?!), I am embarking on self-promoting my book hard core. I'll be attending an art show that my town does every fall and broadcasting my book as much as possible. That means coming up with marketing and advertising and figuring out if I can afford to buy everything that people need when they start a business and...and...I don't even know what else.
Do I buy T-shirts? What about a banner? And how about business cards? Who should I get to endorse my book? Will anyone endorse my book? What will grab someone's attention? Will what grabs my attention grab someone else's?
And all the while, I'm scraping by to meet a goal that should have only taken me a couple of days to complete. My brain feels like mush half the time and the other half I'm running rampant with ideas and thoughts and wishes and oh gosh I really should work out and I should rework my cover art and maybe I should...
This is what I've signed up for.
This is it kids. No one said it would be easy. The bills will come. The money will be tight. The nights will be long and the hours will be strenuous. You will feel stretched as you write in the odd hours. You'll feel exhausted after coming home from 9 hours of physical labor. But it's the greatest of writers, I think, that persevere through this difficulty and become something more.
Don't shy away from the challenge. Believe in yourself, even if you can't find the faith to. Somehow I do. And I think that's simply because I get by with a little help from my friends.
Currently Reading: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Currently Writing: Arthur
Currently Editing: Genesis
Currently Listening to: "Promise" by Steven Bergesen
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Accuracy
I've never written a story that has historical fact to it.
Okay, so Arthurian lore isn't historical fact. But, there is a universally known bit about Arthur. He was king of England at some point. He may or may not have worked with Robin Hood (who is also a fictional/possibly real character from history), and his tutor/educator was a wizard named Merlin. He had a half brother named Kay and a step-father/uncle named Sir Ector. He pulled the sword from the stone and was crowned king of England at a young age. In some levels of the myth, he's a bastard child of Uther Pendragon. He has a sword called Excalibur and spoke with a lady in a lake. He married Guinevere. She may (or may not), have had an affair with Lancelot, depending on which time frame you're talking about for the lore.
It's a lot that people tend to know or have some basic carnal knowledge of. While yes, I've written of real places before, this is different. There was a lot of research involved. It's kind of how it was when I wrote my novella. I sat down and read a lot before I actually started writing. I had cheat sheets to help guide me in the story and the characters.
This is a bit harder though. At least for me. Trudging through the sludge of may haves and may-not haves is difficult. Granted, it leaves a lot of room for play. I can mess with things because, technically, there's no real hard core proof that Arthur ever existed. He had a magician call snow out in the middle of summer for crying out loud. Probably a work of fiction that acted as a good story for kids back in the day.
So I keep reminding myself to have fun with it. Take what I know (and what the world knows), and make it your own. After all, we're messing with the way the world views things already in the current world-stream from the series.
Oh yeah, this story deals with the same world as my 5 book series. At this rate, I'm never going to be done with this world. Is it alright if I say that makes me smile? I'm having some fun though. Because I'm learning more about my characters along the way. There's a flip to that and that's simply this: plot holes! There's the potential for many of them to pop on up. I'm trying to squash them though and fill the cracks before they become craters.
That may prove difficult.
Happy writing everyone!
Currently Writing: Arthur
Currently Reading: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Currently Listening to: "What Makes you Beautiful" cover by The Piano Guys
PS - The Hobbit movie is going to be a 3 parter. I don't think I like that one bit.
Okay, so Arthurian lore isn't historical fact. But, there is a universally known bit about Arthur. He was king of England at some point. He may or may not have worked with Robin Hood (who is also a fictional/possibly real character from history), and his tutor/educator was a wizard named Merlin. He had a half brother named Kay and a step-father/uncle named Sir Ector. He pulled the sword from the stone and was crowned king of England at a young age. In some levels of the myth, he's a bastard child of Uther Pendragon. He has a sword called Excalibur and spoke with a lady in a lake. He married Guinevere. She may (or may not), have had an affair with Lancelot, depending on which time frame you're talking about for the lore.
It's a lot that people tend to know or have some basic carnal knowledge of. While yes, I've written of real places before, this is different. There was a lot of research involved. It's kind of how it was when I wrote my novella. I sat down and read a lot before I actually started writing. I had cheat sheets to help guide me in the story and the characters.
This is a bit harder though. At least for me. Trudging through the sludge of may haves and may-not haves is difficult. Granted, it leaves a lot of room for play. I can mess with things because, technically, there's no real hard core proof that Arthur ever existed. He had a magician call snow out in the middle of summer for crying out loud. Probably a work of fiction that acted as a good story for kids back in the day.
So I keep reminding myself to have fun with it. Take what I know (and what the world knows), and make it your own. After all, we're messing with the way the world views things already in the current world-stream from the series.
Oh yeah, this story deals with the same world as my 5 book series. At this rate, I'm never going to be done with this world. Is it alright if I say that makes me smile? I'm having some fun though. Because I'm learning more about my characters along the way. There's a flip to that and that's simply this: plot holes! There's the potential for many of them to pop on up. I'm trying to squash them though and fill the cracks before they become craters.
That may prove difficult.
Happy writing everyone!
Currently Writing: Arthur
Currently Reading: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Currently Listening to: "What Makes you Beautiful" cover by The Piano Guys
PS - The Hobbit movie is going to be a 3 parter. I don't think I like that one bit.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Where'd July Go?
Holy crap it's almost August.
You know what that means: another month of Camp Nano! And, crazily enough, another wedding! My August looks packed and I'm actually not sure if I'll reach my 50,000 word goal for the month. With a wedding, a sister coming back from a summer gone working stage design for a theater, and a week down at Ocean City with my family...
It'll be tough. But I think I can do it. So long as I'm dedicated. And that's the important thing. Just keep plugging away. My breaks will become time to scribble notes, small scenes and what not down while I'm away from my computer and I'll just learn to drink coffee.
July has truly flown past. It's been good, but shockingly busy. With getting into a stride having regular work (and with that, regular money), and all of the craziness at church with Philly Extreme and VBS, it's been hard to get into a routine. It also doesn't help much that despite the many ideas floating around my head, I took this past month off to not write.
I'm itching to get back to it. Writing the outline for the Arthurian tale has been fun, but a lot of it is foggy. There's a lot that I really don't know what's happening. It's kinda how I felt when I started trying to figure out my fifth book.
Well, as always, happy writing everyone! Anyone interested in Camp Nano should check it out. I highly encourage everyone to embark on it. You never know what you're capable of until you try.
Currently Writing: Absolutely nothing (sing it again!)
Currently Reading: The Once and Future King by T.H. White
Currently Listening to: "Idumea" by the Millikin University Choir
You know what that means: another month of Camp Nano! And, crazily enough, another wedding! My August looks packed and I'm actually not sure if I'll reach my 50,000 word goal for the month. With a wedding, a sister coming back from a summer gone working stage design for a theater, and a week down at Ocean City with my family...
It'll be tough. But I think I can do it. So long as I'm dedicated. And that's the important thing. Just keep plugging away. My breaks will become time to scribble notes, small scenes and what not down while I'm away from my computer and I'll just learn to drink coffee.
July has truly flown past. It's been good, but shockingly busy. With getting into a stride having regular work (and with that, regular money), and all of the craziness at church with Philly Extreme and VBS, it's been hard to get into a routine. It also doesn't help much that despite the many ideas floating around my head, I took this past month off to not write.
I'm itching to get back to it. Writing the outline for the Arthurian tale has been fun, but a lot of it is foggy. There's a lot that I really don't know what's happening. It's kinda how I felt when I started trying to figure out my fifth book.
Well, as always, happy writing everyone! Anyone interested in Camp Nano should check it out. I highly encourage everyone to embark on it. You never know what you're capable of until you try.
Currently Writing: Absolutely nothing (sing it again!)
Currently Reading: The Once and Future King by T.H. White
Currently Listening to: "Idumea" by the Millikin University Choir
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