R.J. Keller's Blog, page 15

Merry Christmas

Thanks to all for your friendship and support in 2009!

Quick 4am thoughts about the new book

Rick is a lot smarter than I thought he was. And much more wounded. Wendy isn't a saint. I need to do some more research about gravel pits, particularly in winter. And I need to learn a LOT more about guns. And forensic evidence. I skated by last time by pushing everything off on Rick; but now…here's Rick, committing a gruesome murder. I love Rachel even more now than I did when writing Waiting For Spring, something I didn't think was possible. I'm worried, already, about how to market a...

Project 365 – 2010 version

Two years ago, I participated in something called Project 365. The general gist is that you take a picture every day for a year, posting the pictures on a blog. It's fun, but it also helps you to take some time each day and notice the small things.

I'm ashamed to say that I gave up on my 365 blog about 2/3 through 2008. There are a lot of excuses I could list, and many of them would be valid, but the plain truth is I lost interest in it. Hence the shame. (Here's the link to the old...

Pro-what?

WARNING: THERE BE SPOILERS HERE! (Seriously…if you haven't read Waiting For Spring yet and don't want to be spoiled – and I hope that you don't – go do something else and save this post for when you've finished the book. There's a good reader.)

 

When I get negative comments and/or reviews about Waiting For Spring, the criticism usually falls into one of two categories: Number 1, too much harsh language. Number 2, too much sex. Some people, that's just not their thing, and no amount of...

Vacation

 Due to the upcoming holiday week/weekend, family participation in a play at a community theater (if you're one of my Maine peeps, check out the Belfast Maskers website for ticket information!!!), and third shift workery, I probably won't be around online too much until the beginning of December. I know how disappointing this news must be, but try to carry on without me. And have a great Thanksgiving!

In the meantime, please enjoy this amazing video:

 

 

Rant…

…of Exhaustion, Frustration, and Some Other Word That Ends In "-tion."

Friday night, I was told by an author I'd never heard of that her ultimate goals when she began writing were to see her book in a bookstore and to sell a lot of books. She further informed me that because her book had found an agent and a publisher and was now sitting in a bookstore that it was a "real" book. My book, not falling into that category, is – naturally - not "real."

I wanted to tell her that my ultimate...

Ketchup post

I've been hideously neglectful of Da Blog, and there's lots of stuff to catch up on.

1. NaNowriMo update:

Word count:  53,744

This means I 'won' NaNoWriMo. It's actually my fourth time winning, which is very cool. (Waiting For Spring was the product of my first NaNo.) I'm not quite halfway through the story, though, and then I'll have the editing, but I'm still pretty psyched that I made the wordcount goal in so short a time. I'm also relieved that – this time – something with a cohesive story...

Ugh

Swine flu. I gots it. So here's the brief NaNoWriMo update (as stolen from last night's Facebook status update):

Word count: 35343. Crap factor: much lower than expected. Still shooting for mid-to-late summer 2010 release.

Coming soon: a rant about the nasty emails I get from irate readers on both side of the abortion issue regarding 'Waiting For Spring.'

NaNoWriMo Update

I've neglected my updates for the past few days. I can't remember which day of NaNoWriting this is. But I'm up to 27367 words, about 9000 words ahead of schedule. And for those of you who are curious, here's an excerpt. (Chosen because it's the closest thing to polished writing I've got right now.)

WARNING: If you haven't read 'Waiting For Spring,' there's a pretty major spoiler here. And I hate spoilers. Seriously. If you haven't read WFS yet, close this window and go read something else...

NaNoWriMo Days 6 and 7

Days 6 & 7

Well, the past two days are kind of a blur. I wrote, I did other stuff, then I wrote some more. Things are progressing well story-wise, with new characters and lots of angsty goodness and a WHOLE new way for Waiting For Spring readers to look at Rick. And my word count is 21870. I'm not feeling too cocky, though. The next few weeks are going to be completely insane…