Greg Van Eekhout's Blog: Writing and Snacks - Greg van Eekhout's blog, page 32

To dither or not to dither

I have to admit, I'm just a little bit afraid to start this book. My normal process, which involves writing tens of thousands of words that take the story off in wrong directions and must be deleted and replaced by tens of thousands of new words, is getting a bit old. It's also a waste of time, and I foresee a 2010 in which I'll have to get more work done in a shorter span. So, I want to get this book right the first time. More right, anyway. Pretty right, at least. Less wrong.

I've got by fa...

Robinson Crusoed

Twitter says my account is temporarily locked after too many failed login attempts. I'm to "chillax" and wait it out. I just changed my password and now I'm worried I mistyped it twice. I bet you're all having a ton of fun over there without me.

Daily deficiency

My thinking is too rigid.

From Last

Same coffee joint, twelve hours later

No, I haven't actually been sitting here for twelve hours. I did other things today. Among them, working and drinking coffee at home.

I also went to Mysterious Galaxy for the launch party of Steven R. Boyett's new book, Elegy Beach.

Steve taught just about the only good writing class (not counting workshops) I ever took, and he largely informed my idea of how a writer thinks, what a writer does, and what a writer is. I'm delighted he's got a new novel out, and it was great to catch up with hi...

Day 1 commences with a yawn

Adapting my synopsis into a workable, detailed outline. This is not what I would deem a thrills-a-minute task, but Future Greg will be very happy Past Greg endured the tedium and challenge.

From Last

Game on: Last

My awesome editor at Bloomsbury just gave me the go-ahead on the outline for my next book, so I can now commence with the writey-writey! It's a post-apocalyptic upper midle-grade called Last, and it's about the last boy on Earth, a broken robot, and a cloned pygmy mammoth.

You may expect many entries over the next several months consisting of content such as this:

From Last

World Fantasy Con reading: 11:30 AM

Hey, I'll be giving a reading at World Fantasy Con:

Saturday, 11:30 AM
Garden Room

Schedule:
11:30 Begin reading, probably something from Norse Code, maybe also some Kid vs. Squid
11:35 Glare balefully
11:37 Gnash teeth
11:40 Cluck like a chicken
11:43 Sing a song, but only inside my head where only I can hear
11:51 Still singing inside my head, but now with swaying
11:57 Repeatedly scream "AAAAGGGGGHHHOOOOOOOOOGAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" as loud as I can
11:58 Try to pull the taser darts from my chest
11:59 Nic...

I grew up out in the shed.

Sherman Alexie on ethnicity:

"People's ethnicity is the first floor of their house," he says. "But the real interesting stuff is in the cellar and the attic."

Exaggerating

OMG I HAVE THE MOST AWESOME PUBLISHING NEWS BUT I CAN'T TELL YOU!!

(Actually, that's not true. I don't currently have awesome publishing news, and if I did, I would tell you. I just always wanted to type one of those awesome-but-can't-tell-you posts.)

(Actually, thinking about it, maybe I have posted one of those kinds of posts in the past, but being the internet exhibitionist blabby mouth I am, it would have been uncharacteristic of me, and I sometimes blot out my own uncharacteristic behavi...

Why, just for variety's sake

God, I'm boring.

This would be maybe a little more exciting if you could hear the alarming zap of of the proprietor's scary electrified fly swatter (not pictured, because I was afraid).

From Osteomancer's Son