Sorry about the delay--it was a crazy weekend, full of family visits, egg coloring, and the seemingly endless cycle of cleaning. Really, I don't know how anyone with kids has time for anything in life other than cleaning. If I quit my job and devoted myself to it full time, I think we could just keep up with those monkeys...
In any case, I've written all of about 3,068 words this month so far, meaning I need to complete some 17,000 words in 13 days. Not a problem, really, but I do need to pick up the pace if I'm going to get done here. I will try my best to get in here daily to keep up the numbers. We're approaching finals, so it's getting a bit hairier to make things work, but I'll do my best.
Our Easter, by the way, was very nice (if a bit cold and rainy--excellent for me, kind of depressing for others). We saw both families over the weekend and the boys received approximately 45.67 pounds of candy each. No idea how that will be shared out in the coming days. Honestly, can't we start a tradition of giving rice cakes and wheat germ shaped into gerbils for some holiday? I hate to put an end to the candy I so loved as a child, but it's insane. Old Man's Syndrome, long a condition I knew I was afflicted with, grows worse each year. It just isn't like when I was a boy, gol durn it...
Oh--wanted to share The Order of the Stick. If you're a fan of roleplaying games at all, this site is for you. It's usually pretty amusing and sometimes downright hilarious, as here, here, and here. Be warned--it's easy to get sucked into reading many, many strips one after another, as each is so simple and goes down smooth. You can waste a lot of time here, especially because it's best to start with the first strip...
I wanna play a homicidal halfling ranger...
Monday, April 17, 2006
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Whoops
As might have been predicted, all my grandiose claims about continued scribing have fallen apart. I am full of shame.
For this post, and much else that's appeared here this year, I am indebted to the unceasing badgering of young Chris Slater. He's always poking me about getting off my duff and actually doing something, and he's both straightforward about its execution and not put off by my dodges and whining. I have many of you to thank for encouragement and accountability, but despite how it bugs me when I don't want to hear it, Slater's smack-downs have been instrumental.
So there's a little mash note for you, Chris.
In discussions with said Slater and looking over the wreckage of my claims to further authorship, I've come to realize that I've not yet internalized the "habit" of writing, partly due to the strange, uneven nature of the writing task last month, and partly due to my own really ugly personal faults. I think I'm going to have to keep my attempts public for a while, until I can get myself established in the routine of writing.
I am not asking for the kind of massive encouragement and/or punishment I demanded for the March Writing Project, but I will be keeping tabs of my continued progress here. That doesn't make for thrilling blog entries, but it should keep me honest. And I suppose that means actually posting here both with successes and failures; during March, you'll note the long gaps when I wasn't producing and I didn't post out of shame. Now my shame will be yours.
In that spirit, I'm proposing to write at least 20,000 words in the rest of this month, and the 50,000 standard for the month following. Those are the kinds of minimums I think I have to maintain to make a go of this job.
On that note, I had actually decided a while ago to postpone my next "new-novel-in-a-month" project until June, so if any of you want to take on this zany project with me, you get an extra month (and a little more time for those bound to school schedules). Since I'm already aiming at 50,000 words per month, in June I'm shooting for 60,000.
This all reads like madness as it comes off my keyboard, but what can I do but jump?
For this post, and much else that's appeared here this year, I am indebted to the unceasing badgering of young Chris Slater. He's always poking me about getting off my duff and actually doing something, and he's both straightforward about its execution and not put off by my dodges and whining. I have many of you to thank for encouragement and accountability, but despite how it bugs me when I don't want to hear it, Slater's smack-downs have been instrumental.
So there's a little mash note for you, Chris.
In discussions with said Slater and looking over the wreckage of my claims to further authorship, I've come to realize that I've not yet internalized the "habit" of writing, partly due to the strange, uneven nature of the writing task last month, and partly due to my own really ugly personal faults. I think I'm going to have to keep my attempts public for a while, until I can get myself established in the routine of writing.
I am not asking for the kind of massive encouragement and/or punishment I demanded for the March Writing Project, but I will be keeping tabs of my continued progress here. That doesn't make for thrilling blog entries, but it should keep me honest. And I suppose that means actually posting here both with successes and failures; during March, you'll note the long gaps when I wasn't producing and I didn't post out of shame. Now my shame will be yours.
In that spirit, I'm proposing to write at least 20,000 words in the rest of this month, and the 50,000 standard for the month following. Those are the kinds of minimums I think I have to maintain to make a go of this job.
On that note, I had actually decided a while ago to postpone my next "new-novel-in-a-month" project until June, so if any of you want to take on this zany project with me, you get an extra month (and a little more time for those bound to school schedules). Since I'm already aiming at 50,000 words per month, in June I'm shooting for 60,000.
This all reads like madness as it comes off my keyboard, but what can I do but jump?
Sunday, April 02, 2006
The Final Proof
I said I'd provide proof yesterday of the word count. A bit late, but here it is:
So whence from here? I mean, the big number was reached, but the book isn't remotely done. There are a number of short novels of about 50,000 words, some of them quite good--Of Mice and Men and The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy among my favorites--but this isn't one of them. Much still needs to be added to fill in gaps, both in the plot and character development. So I'm planning on adding more writing, trying (after this weekend) to continue to pound out about 2,000 words a day. After all, if this is really a calling and something I'm planning on doing for a living, I'd best get in the habit now.
Once the largest gaps are filled, I'll ask a select group to do me the great good favor of looking the thing over and giving me useful feedback. And we'll see what happens from there.
The book suggested that this is supposed to be a time of intense celebration, when one would be overwhelmed by the great accomplishment one finally achieved. Personally, I have more a sense of free-fall (since the tale has not been fully told) and some quiet contentment--as if I'd finally done the thing I should have been doing all the time. Odd, that.
By the way, I'm planning on taking this on again in May, so any of you nervous Nellies who bowed out on this one, you'll have another chance in a month or so. And if I could get it done during this crazy month, you have no excuses.
So whence from here? I mean, the big number was reached, but the book isn't remotely done. There are a number of short novels of about 50,000 words, some of them quite good--Of Mice and Men and The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy among my favorites--but this isn't one of them. Much still needs to be added to fill in gaps, both in the plot and character development. So I'm planning on adding more writing, trying (after this weekend) to continue to pound out about 2,000 words a day. After all, if this is really a calling and something I'm planning on doing for a living, I'd best get in the habit now.
Once the largest gaps are filled, I'll ask a select group to do me the great good favor of looking the thing over and giving me useful feedback. And we'll see what happens from there.
The book suggested that this is supposed to be a time of intense celebration, when one would be overwhelmed by the great accomplishment one finally achieved. Personally, I have more a sense of free-fall (since the tale has not been fully told) and some quiet contentment--as if I'd finally done the thing I should have been doing all the time. Odd, that.
By the way, I'm planning on taking this on again in May, so any of you nervous Nellies who bowed out on this one, you'll have another chance in a month or so. And if I could get it done during this crazy month, you have no excuses.