Doug Farren's Blog, page 27
January 27, 2013
2013-01-28: Time
I have tried to write a blog entry at least once every week, typically on Sunday morning. For those who follow me, I missed last week. My apologies. Peacekeeper now stands at 72,600 words. Bear in mind, this is the first draft and the second will be adding more material as well as doing a great deal of editing. The goal for Peacekeeper currently sits at around 80,000 words and it's beginning to look like it will actually hit 85,000 by the time it's ready to publish. Unfortunately, that will be much later this year.
My short story 'Glitches' has been provisionally excepted to be published as part of an anthology of stories from past Launchpad attendees. If you're inclined to follow the link you will notice that the site has not been updated in quite some time and does not include the list of Launchpad attendees from 2012. I've been asked to make some changes to the story which I have completed but not yet submitted back to the editor (Jody Nye). We had a good phone discussion and I've learned a lot about how to turn a good short story into a better one. Problem is, it's the same advice I would give to a new author only I didn't apply it to my own short story. Felt like a real beginner--but that's how one learns.
I have not been writing much at all the past week due to being on 12 hour days at the plant. I work at a nuclear power station and the plant came down last week due to an electrical problem. It's on the way back up now but I'm still working 12 hour nights next week. Doesn't leave any time at all for writing. My wife and I were at the bookstore on Saturday and I managed to throw another 1,300 words into the story. I will be working on it tonight provided I can stay awake (it's 0205 right now).
My schedule is not going to be kind to my desire to write this year. I have until March 15th to get my first and hopefully second draft of Peacekeeper done. On March 15th, I will be attending Millennicon in Cincinnati, OH. When I return on March 18 I will be working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day for the next two or three months. Prior to that, I will most likely be working longer hours as we prepare for the refueling outage. From June 28 until July 14 I will be in Minnesota attending Convergence as well as visiting friends and family. From August 27 to Sept 8 I will be in Atlanta attending Dragoncon as well as visiting family. Summer weekends this year will also be taken up by a multi-week project to replace the fence around my property.
I do have Tuesdays off during the refueling outage and I may be able to get in some writing in the morning before my wife wakes up. But once she's up the writing is put away and she becomes my priority; failing to do so could jeopardize my marriage. If I do manage to finish Peacekeeper and publish it this year, I plan on taking a short break from writing in order to catch up on a backlog of things that I've kept on hold for too long. I don't have enough time to do everything I want to do so priorities have been set. I am a writer though and the itch can't remained unscratched for too long.
What's after Peacekeeper? At this point in time I really don't know but I'm sure it will be fun.
My short story 'Glitches' has been provisionally excepted to be published as part of an anthology of stories from past Launchpad attendees. If you're inclined to follow the link you will notice that the site has not been updated in quite some time and does not include the list of Launchpad attendees from 2012. I've been asked to make some changes to the story which I have completed but not yet submitted back to the editor (Jody Nye). We had a good phone discussion and I've learned a lot about how to turn a good short story into a better one. Problem is, it's the same advice I would give to a new author only I didn't apply it to my own short story. Felt like a real beginner--but that's how one learns.
I have not been writing much at all the past week due to being on 12 hour days at the plant. I work at a nuclear power station and the plant came down last week due to an electrical problem. It's on the way back up now but I'm still working 12 hour nights next week. Doesn't leave any time at all for writing. My wife and I were at the bookstore on Saturday and I managed to throw another 1,300 words into the story. I will be working on it tonight provided I can stay awake (it's 0205 right now).
My schedule is not going to be kind to my desire to write this year. I have until March 15th to get my first and hopefully second draft of Peacekeeper done. On March 15th, I will be attending Millennicon in Cincinnati, OH. When I return on March 18 I will be working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day for the next two or three months. Prior to that, I will most likely be working longer hours as we prepare for the refueling outage. From June 28 until July 14 I will be in Minnesota attending Convergence as well as visiting friends and family. From August 27 to Sept 8 I will be in Atlanta attending Dragoncon as well as visiting family. Summer weekends this year will also be taken up by a multi-week project to replace the fence around my property.
I do have Tuesdays off during the refueling outage and I may be able to get in some writing in the morning before my wife wakes up. But once she's up the writing is put away and she becomes my priority; failing to do so could jeopardize my marriage. If I do manage to finish Peacekeeper and publish it this year, I plan on taking a short break from writing in order to catch up on a backlog of things that I've kept on hold for too long. I don't have enough time to do everything I want to do so priorities have been set. I am a writer though and the itch can't remained unscratched for too long.
What's after Peacekeeper? At this point in time I really don't know but I'm sure it will be fun.
January 13, 2013
01-13-2013: Peacekeeper update
Just a quick note to let everyone know that Peacekeeper has passed 70,500 words. It's looking like I will actually get to finish my first and possibly second draft before having to start working 12 hour days. We are working some extended hours now but I have been able to get a good amount of writing done each morning over the weekend. For example - I managed to transfer 1,380 words from the aging brain to the computer just this morning. The battles are beginning to take place and I've come up with a surprising twist that should make the ending interesting.
I just sent off an ad that will appear in the program booklet for Millennicon. I don't know why more authors don't do this - the advertising space is inexpensive and it get's your name out there among the type of people who would most appreciate your work. As I mentioned before, I'm not going to Millennicon as an author - just a plain old fan. I will report on my experience when I get back. After that - don't expect to hear much from me for awhile because I will be working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.
Back to writing!
I just sent off an ad that will appear in the program booklet for Millennicon. I don't know why more authors don't do this - the advertising space is inexpensive and it get's your name out there among the type of people who would most appreciate your work. As I mentioned before, I'm not going to Millennicon as an author - just a plain old fan. I will report on my experience when I get back. After that - don't expect to hear much from me for awhile because I will be working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.
Back to writing!
January 5, 2013
01-05-2013: A plot twist and unexpected editing
Hello to 2013! 12-21-12 turned out to be a bust (the world is still here) and I failed to meet my self-imposed goal of having the first draft of Peacekeeper done by 1-1-13. My new goal is to have a good draft complete before I have to go on 12 hour days for 6 days a week when the nuke plant I work at shuts down for their refueling outage. We've been put on extended hours to prepare for the outage which now puts even that target in jeopardy. But, I'm going to give it my best effort. I'm now limited to writing on weekends which sure doesn't leave me much time.
Also, I've been going over the ending of Peacekeeper in my head now for 3 days and it just doesn't have the zing I want. This morning, I came up with a cool plot twist that my brain seems to have been secretly working on for weeks. I wish my brain would share some of its thoughts with me so I could plan ahead! Anyway, the new ending will require some minor editing of parts of the story that have already been written. I could just move on and leave myself a large to-do list of things that need fixed to make it all merge together but that might end up creating a very uncoordinated mess if I can't finish it before the outage. So, today I'm going back and doing some editing. My word count is going to suck but it's got to be done.
Matthew Kressel (a Launchpad acquaintance) has a story published in Lightspeed magazine. It's a VERY cool short story. You can read it by clicking here. I wish I could write short stories like he does.
I will be attending Millennicon which runs from 03-15 to 03-17 this year. It's being held in Cincinatti - about a 5 hour drive from my house. This will be my first 'con' and I'm going as a fan, not an author. The experience of going as a fan will determine if I announce the fact that I'm an author when I go to Convergence-con in Bloomington, Minnesota and Dragoncon in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm a little nervous about doing so because I am an indie and I do not have any degrees or awards other than the fact that my books have been selling well for nearly a year now. I have family and friends in Minnesota and Atlanta so picking these two cons was a no-brainer. If my wife can stand it I might try for Readercon but that will depend on many factors. Readercon is not a high priority this year.
Time to get to writing - um, I mean, editing then writing.
Also, I've been going over the ending of Peacekeeper in my head now for 3 days and it just doesn't have the zing I want. This morning, I came up with a cool plot twist that my brain seems to have been secretly working on for weeks. I wish my brain would share some of its thoughts with me so I could plan ahead! Anyway, the new ending will require some minor editing of parts of the story that have already been written. I could just move on and leave myself a large to-do list of things that need fixed to make it all merge together but that might end up creating a very uncoordinated mess if I can't finish it before the outage. So, today I'm going back and doing some editing. My word count is going to suck but it's got to be done.
Matthew Kressel (a Launchpad acquaintance) has a story published in Lightspeed magazine. It's a VERY cool short story. You can read it by clicking here. I wish I could write short stories like he does.
I will be attending Millennicon which runs from 03-15 to 03-17 this year. It's being held in Cincinatti - about a 5 hour drive from my house. This will be my first 'con' and I'm going as a fan, not an author. The experience of going as a fan will determine if I announce the fact that I'm an author when I go to Convergence-con in Bloomington, Minnesota and Dragoncon in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm a little nervous about doing so because I am an indie and I do not have any degrees or awards other than the fact that my books have been selling well for nearly a year now. I have family and friends in Minnesota and Atlanta so picking these two cons was a no-brainer. If my wife can stand it I might try for Readercon but that will depend on many factors. Readercon is not a high priority this year.
Time to get to writing - um, I mean, editing then writing.
December 30, 2012
12-30-2012: Getting the math right
I have to agree with a fellow writer whom I got to know while attending Launchpad earlier this year - the holiday time sure puts a major crimp in productivity. (You can see his post here: http://www.matthewsrotundo.com/blog/) I thought I would get some writing done this weekend but only managed less than 1,000 words. This morning I unexpectedly slept in later than I thought possible and then encountered problems when we got to the bookstore. Problems? Like what, you might ask. Well, since you asked, let me explain.
I prefer to keep the numbers I use in my books as realistic as possible. For example, if I say I want to be traveling past a certain point at a speed of 15 Km/sec then I had better be correct when I say how much acceleration I will have to apply and for how long to achieve that velocity. I have a spreadsheet that I rely on to do the math. Today, I found an error in it and it took me most of an hour to figure out which one of the equations I was using was wrong. Instead of writing, I spent time fixing the spreadsheet. Still curious? Okay - here's how it all went down...
A fleet is poised to attack a planet. They are stationed 50 million kilometers away. I first dumped in some numbers wondering how long it would take them to get there at 300G's acceleration. Simple - divide the distance in half (for acceleration and deceleration time), punch in 300 in my magic spreadsheet, and BINGO, the answer appeared - 3.6 hours. Multiply that by two for total travel time. The maximum velocity attained by this calculation was something on the order of 12% light speed. Too fast for me. So, I decided to just let them boost at 300G's for an hour and then coast for awhile and then decelerate at 300G's at the other end. I have a different set of equations for that. Total travel time turned out to be 1.3 hours - What? How can using less acceleration get me there faster? Red alert - red alert - red alert. Error - Error - Error. Must analyze.
It took a long time to find the problem and a longer time to run the numbers against several websites to ensure they were correct. The spreadsheet is now fixed. If you're interested in the spreadsheet I plan on putting it up on my web page in a few days.
Speaking of my web page. I will be uploading the new Galactic Alliance covers there as well as my spreadsheet. I've not had the time to update it recently (the darned holiday again). Check back in a few days if you're curious.
Happy new year! I hope 2013 treats everyone well.
I prefer to keep the numbers I use in my books as realistic as possible. For example, if I say I want to be traveling past a certain point at a speed of 15 Km/sec then I had better be correct when I say how much acceleration I will have to apply and for how long to achieve that velocity. I have a spreadsheet that I rely on to do the math. Today, I found an error in it and it took me most of an hour to figure out which one of the equations I was using was wrong. Instead of writing, I spent time fixing the spreadsheet. Still curious? Okay - here's how it all went down...
A fleet is poised to attack a planet. They are stationed 50 million kilometers away. I first dumped in some numbers wondering how long it would take them to get there at 300G's acceleration. Simple - divide the distance in half (for acceleration and deceleration time), punch in 300 in my magic spreadsheet, and BINGO, the answer appeared - 3.6 hours. Multiply that by two for total travel time. The maximum velocity attained by this calculation was something on the order of 12% light speed. Too fast for me. So, I decided to just let them boost at 300G's for an hour and then coast for awhile and then decelerate at 300G's at the other end. I have a different set of equations for that. Total travel time turned out to be 1.3 hours - What? How can using less acceleration get me there faster? Red alert - red alert - red alert. Error - Error - Error. Must analyze.
It took a long time to find the problem and a longer time to run the numbers against several websites to ensure they were correct. The spreadsheet is now fixed. If you're interested in the spreadsheet I plan on putting it up on my web page in a few days.
Speaking of my web page. I will be uploading the new Galactic Alliance covers there as well as my spreadsheet. I've not had the time to update it recently (the darned holiday again). Check back in a few days if you're curious.
Happy new year! I hope 2013 treats everyone well.
December 17, 2012
12-17-12: New covers are out
Today I uploaded all new covers as well as minor updates to all 3 Galactic Alliance books (Translight, Chroniech, Honor Thy Enemy). The updates take care of a few additional grammatical errors discovered by a few readers as well as myself. The new covers are available now on Amazon.com (U.S.) and should be available on Amazon's foreign sites in a few days. I've also done the same with all the other distributors via Smashwords. It generally takes them a bit longer to upload changes so if you're a Nook or iPad user you won't see the new covers for a few weeks.
I keep a list of words I have a tendency to screw up; words such as: border vs boarder, ore vs oar, loose vs lose, its vs it's, accept vs except, and their vs they're. For some unknown reason, I like to mix those up. I've also been guilty of over using the dash - you know - the little line you can use to break up a sentence - like this. Not to mention the fact that I don't quite use it right--you're not supposed to to have a space surrounding it. Another blunder I tend to make is to always put 's after the name of an alien species when referring to them. "Tholtaran's are an interesting species." I cleaned up a few of these hanging errors in the new release.
I want to thank Heather Zak, wife of my very good friend AJ (Arnold J. Zak) whom I've known since high school for doing the new covers. Her artistic skills with a computer are very good. If you want her to do a cover for you let me know and I'll put you in touch with her. Price is VERY reasonable.
In other news, Peacekeeper has passed 60K words. I've ironed out the last minor wrinkle in the story and it's smooth sailing from here. All I need do now is to finish putting the words down. Then it's back to the beginning for a second run through. I hope to have that done before the new year hits although it's going to be very close. Of course, I'm not sure why I'm working so hard on this since everyone knows the world is going to end on 12-21-12 anyway. Anyone know of someone who's throwing an end of the world party?
Comments on the new covers compared to the old ones are welcome.
I keep a list of words I have a tendency to screw up; words such as: border vs boarder, ore vs oar, loose vs lose, its vs it's, accept vs except, and their vs they're. For some unknown reason, I like to mix those up. I've also been guilty of over using the dash - you know - the little line you can use to break up a sentence - like this. Not to mention the fact that I don't quite use it right--you're not supposed to to have a space surrounding it. Another blunder I tend to make is to always put 's after the name of an alien species when referring to them. "Tholtaran's are an interesting species." I cleaned up a few of these hanging errors in the new release.
I want to thank Heather Zak, wife of my very good friend AJ (Arnold J. Zak) whom I've known since high school for doing the new covers. Her artistic skills with a computer are very good. If you want her to do a cover for you let me know and I'll put you in touch with her. Price is VERY reasonable.
In other news, Peacekeeper has passed 60K words. I've ironed out the last minor wrinkle in the story and it's smooth sailing from here. All I need do now is to finish putting the words down. Then it's back to the beginning for a second run through. I hope to have that done before the new year hits although it's going to be very close. Of course, I'm not sure why I'm working so hard on this since everyone knows the world is going to end on 12-21-12 anyway. Anyone know of someone who's throwing an end of the world party?
Comments on the new covers compared to the old ones are welcome.
December 12, 2012
12-12-12: Peacekeeper update
It's the middle of the week and I just remembered I had not provided an update for some time. Current word count is 57,900. Looks like I'm on target for finishing the first draft by the end of the year.
I've started doing something I never thought would work out for me - I've been carrying a notebook around with me so I can write a few paragraphs when I have some idle time. My job often has periods of idle time. In the past, I've used this time to work on problems of my current project in my head. Recently, I decided to start carrying a notebook around with me. Yesterday was a particularly slow day and I managed to write nearly 900 words! All I had to do was to type them into the computer. Now that's a good use of time, so guess what I'll be carrying around with me from now on.
Last night, I visited a mentally challenged individual who lives in an adult care facility around the corner. He had seen the article in the newspaper about me and wanted to see me. A nurse at the nursing home where my mother-in-law stays also works at this other place. She talked to my wife and the arrangements were made. I presented him with two books and we sat and chatted for about an hour. He has been diagnosed as a schizophrenic with complications. He seemed very intelligent and well-versed in science fiction. He seemed pleased to see me and this morning I learned that he talked about the visit for hours after we left. It's good to do something like that for others.
Today I received two packages that have made my day. I am now the proud owner of every episode of FarScape as well as Star Trek The Next Generation. Lots of things to watch when I decide to take a break.
Finally, I thought I would include the new covers for the first two books of the Galactic Alliance series. Heather Zak, the wife of my best friend from high school, has been working very had at creating new covers for the entire series. She is working on the last one now and I hope to have them all out by early next year. So, here they are:
I've started doing something I never thought would work out for me - I've been carrying a notebook around with me so I can write a few paragraphs when I have some idle time. My job often has periods of idle time. In the past, I've used this time to work on problems of my current project in my head. Recently, I decided to start carrying a notebook around with me. Yesterday was a particularly slow day and I managed to write nearly 900 words! All I had to do was to type them into the computer. Now that's a good use of time, so guess what I'll be carrying around with me from now on.
Last night, I visited a mentally challenged individual who lives in an adult care facility around the corner. He had seen the article in the newspaper about me and wanted to see me. A nurse at the nursing home where my mother-in-law stays also works at this other place. She talked to my wife and the arrangements were made. I presented him with two books and we sat and chatted for about an hour. He has been diagnosed as a schizophrenic with complications. He seemed very intelligent and well-versed in science fiction. He seemed pleased to see me and this morning I learned that he talked about the visit for hours after we left. It's good to do something like that for others.
Today I received two packages that have made my day. I am now the proud owner of every episode of FarScape as well as Star Trek The Next Generation. Lots of things to watch when I decide to take a break.
Finally, I thought I would include the new covers for the first two books of the Galactic Alliance series. Heather Zak, the wife of my best friend from high school, has been working very had at creating new covers for the entire series. She is working on the last one now and I hope to have them all out by early next year. So, here they are:
December 2, 2012
12-02-12: 50,000 words and counting
I am making good progress on Peacekeeper with 50,000 first-draft words complete. This morning, I was up at 0430 so I could get some writing done in the morning. Later today we are going to the bookstore where I should be able to throw more words into the electronic box. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to be able to publish the novel until around May of 2013. Before you start screaming at me, let me explain how this works.
The hardest part of writing a novel is getting the first draft done. Once that's complete, you have an entire story written. I hope to finish this part by the end of the year. Next comes the rewrite. For me, this is a very important stage because it allows me to go back and fix parts of what I wrote earlier to better conform to what was written later. I have a to do (todo?) list of things I need to enhance, change, and fix. The entire rewrite can take a month or longer depending on how much time I have to work on it. Let's assume the best and it takes me a month - now we're into February.
At this point I have a fairly complete, well-structured novel. Since changes have been made, I will read it again and make more editorial changes. That usually doesn't take more than two weeks. Next, I read it yet again but this time at high speed to ensure that the entire storyline holds together. Once that process is done the book is pretty much complete. Two final steps remain. My wife (who is also my copy-editor) does her magic on my sometimes terrible grammar. I am getting better though and she finds fewer and fewer mistakes to fix. She is not a science fiction fan and her detailed look at the book will take a month. This puts us at the middle of March.
In March, the nuclear plant I work at shuts down for a refueling outage. I shift into 12 hour days, 6 days a week, for about 2 months. During that time I will not get any writing or proof-reading done. Immediately after the outage, I will incorporate my wife's changes and make a final pass through the book checking with her before any other changes are made. Then it can be published. Oh - hopefully by then I will have a cover for it as well. The wife of my best friend from high school days is redoing all my Galactic Alliance covers and she will also be doing the cover for Peacekeeper. I'm sure she will have it ready by the time I'm ready to publish in May.
Sorry - but that's just how things are turning out.
One more item before I go back to writing. One of the unique advantages of being an indie publisher is I can count daily book sales as well as monthly totals for each book. I used to use an Excel spreadsheet to track these and generate graphs. As the number of books I tracked rose, the spreadsheet became more of a pain and I shifted over to using an Access database. Graphing from Access wasn't working out and so I looked for alternatives. Since I use Quicken to track the financial end of writing I thought I could use it to track book sales. I created two accounts, one for Amazon and one for Smashwords. At the end of each month, I simply make an entry for each book (Translight, Chroniech, Dragonverse, etc.) in the appropriate account and put down one dollar for each book sold. Quicken graphing can now show me graphs of monthly sales by book or by seller. When tax time comes, I hide the accounts. I still use the Excel spreadsheet to track daily sales.
Okay - enough blogging. Back to writing...
The hardest part of writing a novel is getting the first draft done. Once that's complete, you have an entire story written. I hope to finish this part by the end of the year. Next comes the rewrite. For me, this is a very important stage because it allows me to go back and fix parts of what I wrote earlier to better conform to what was written later. I have a to do (todo?) list of things I need to enhance, change, and fix. The entire rewrite can take a month or longer depending on how much time I have to work on it. Let's assume the best and it takes me a month - now we're into February.
At this point I have a fairly complete, well-structured novel. Since changes have been made, I will read it again and make more editorial changes. That usually doesn't take more than two weeks. Next, I read it yet again but this time at high speed to ensure that the entire storyline holds together. Once that process is done the book is pretty much complete. Two final steps remain. My wife (who is also my copy-editor) does her magic on my sometimes terrible grammar. I am getting better though and she finds fewer and fewer mistakes to fix. She is not a science fiction fan and her detailed look at the book will take a month. This puts us at the middle of March.
In March, the nuclear plant I work at shuts down for a refueling outage. I shift into 12 hour days, 6 days a week, for about 2 months. During that time I will not get any writing or proof-reading done. Immediately after the outage, I will incorporate my wife's changes and make a final pass through the book checking with her before any other changes are made. Then it can be published. Oh - hopefully by then I will have a cover for it as well. The wife of my best friend from high school days is redoing all my Galactic Alliance covers and she will also be doing the cover for Peacekeeper. I'm sure she will have it ready by the time I'm ready to publish in May.
Sorry - but that's just how things are turning out.
One more item before I go back to writing. One of the unique advantages of being an indie publisher is I can count daily book sales as well as monthly totals for each book. I used to use an Excel spreadsheet to track these and generate graphs. As the number of books I tracked rose, the spreadsheet became more of a pain and I shifted over to using an Access database. Graphing from Access wasn't working out and so I looked for alternatives. Since I use Quicken to track the financial end of writing I thought I could use it to track book sales. I created two accounts, one for Amazon and one for Smashwords. At the end of each month, I simply make an entry for each book (Translight, Chroniech, Dragonverse, etc.) in the appropriate account and put down one dollar for each book sold. Quicken graphing can now show me graphs of monthly sales by book or by seller. When tax time comes, I hide the accounts. I still use the Excel spreadsheet to track daily sales.
Okay - enough blogging. Back to writing...
November 25, 2012
11-25-2012: I made the newspaper
This morning was a day I've been waiting for all week. The local newspaper (The Ashtabula Star Beacon) decided to make me their feature in today's Neighborhood section. I ran down to the local gas station to pick up some copies and received a very nice surprise - my picture was on the front page of the paper! I did not expect that. The newspaper has an online presence and here is a link to the article if you would like to read it: http://tinyurl.com/c924oph
Peacekeeper is moving along quite well with over 47,000 words written. I've passed through a lot of the hard stuff and all the rest is just waiting to be written. It's getting late in the year and I don't think I will be able to have it done, edited, proofed, and ready to publish by the holidays as I had originally hoped. I must, however, at least finish the first draft by March. I am planning on attending Millencon in Cincinnati on March 15 and 16 (as a fan, not a writer). On March 18 I begin working six days a week, 12 hours a day as the power plant I work at shuts down for refueling. This will last for at least two months and I will not have any time to write, edit, or proof. My writing gets put on hold.
I've been on vacation this week and I've managed to get a significant amount of writing done. Thanksgiving is behind us but Christmas is looming ahead. Lucky for me, my wife is a master at buying Christmas gifts all year long and most of our shopping was complete a long time ago. Unfortunately, since I spend my time either working, writing, or spending time with family, I have not yet purchased a gift for my wife. I really don't like malls especially this time of year but I will have to endure them to go on my quest for the perfect gift. Wish me luck.
Peacekeeper is moving along quite well with over 47,000 words written. I've passed through a lot of the hard stuff and all the rest is just waiting to be written. It's getting late in the year and I don't think I will be able to have it done, edited, proofed, and ready to publish by the holidays as I had originally hoped. I must, however, at least finish the first draft by March. I am planning on attending Millencon in Cincinnati on March 15 and 16 (as a fan, not a writer). On March 18 I begin working six days a week, 12 hours a day as the power plant I work at shuts down for refueling. This will last for at least two months and I will not have any time to write, edit, or proof. My writing gets put on hold.
I've been on vacation this week and I've managed to get a significant amount of writing done. Thanksgiving is behind us but Christmas is looming ahead. Lucky for me, my wife is a master at buying Christmas gifts all year long and most of our shopping was complete a long time ago. Unfortunately, since I spend my time either working, writing, or spending time with family, I have not yet purchased a gift for my wife. I really don't like malls especially this time of year but I will have to endure them to go on my quest for the perfect gift. Wish me luck.
November 19, 2012
11-19-2012: 42.5K Words and counting
Writer's block is extremely frustrating! I sit at the keyboard knowing exactly where the story needs to be. There are piles of words that are just waiting to hit the keyboard. But those words can't happen until I get past the point I'm at now. I write a sentence, pause, then delete it. I stare at the screen then rapidly bang out 3 more sentences. My fingers hover over the keyboard then those sentences hit the trash as well. If I had been using a typewriter there would be a pile of wadded up paper on the floor next to me. In situations like this, I've found it's best to just walk away and do something else.
This is what happened to me a few days ago. I wrote many sentences and all of them ended up in the bit bucket. Frustrated, I closed down Scrivener and fired up the latest Star Trek movie. My wife was out and I had the house to myself which made the whole situation even more frustrating. I had lots of time to write and I was spending it watching a movie. Poor use of time. But the movie was what I needed to allow my brain to work on the problem behind the scenes. As the Enterprise sailed off with Kirk in command I had my answer. Scrivener reappeared and the word gates opened. By the time my wife came home I had written 3,200 words with plenty more ready to roll. All in all, a great day's worth of writing.
Peacekeeper is moving along quite well now. I have a clear vision of how it will progress from this point forward. I have notes of things that need added earlier on as well as things I will have to revise but I'm not going back now to fix things. I will press forward until the novel is finished. Only then will I go back and fix what needs fixing. After that, it's second pass editing time.
I do have one bit of exciting news to report. Last week, I received an email from a reporter at a local newspaper, The Ashtabula Star Beacon. Apparently, the paper wants me to be the feature story of the neighborhood section of this coming Sunday's edition. I've already done the phone interview and sent some more details answers to the reporter via email. A photographer will be showing up at the house today. I'm quite excited, especially since I did not solicit this interview. The paper contacted me.
One more piece of information and I will get back to writing. Sales have been slowly slipping for months. I do expect sales during the holiday season to drop as people focus on buying presents for their families. It was the slow slide up to this point that had me concerned. Well, not really concerned, they're not my primary source of income. I've always been a bit skeptical of how much advertising affected sales - until now. My wife sent off 250 cards using VistaPrint. Two weeks later, there was a small, but statistically noticeable increase. Was it the cards? I think so. Did I get a good return on investment? Maybe. Sometimes advertising works, sometimes not. I'm still on the fence.
This is what happened to me a few days ago. I wrote many sentences and all of them ended up in the bit bucket. Frustrated, I closed down Scrivener and fired up the latest Star Trek movie. My wife was out and I had the house to myself which made the whole situation even more frustrating. I had lots of time to write and I was spending it watching a movie. Poor use of time. But the movie was what I needed to allow my brain to work on the problem behind the scenes. As the Enterprise sailed off with Kirk in command I had my answer. Scrivener reappeared and the word gates opened. By the time my wife came home I had written 3,200 words with plenty more ready to roll. All in all, a great day's worth of writing.
Peacekeeper is moving along quite well now. I have a clear vision of how it will progress from this point forward. I have notes of things that need added earlier on as well as things I will have to revise but I'm not going back now to fix things. I will press forward until the novel is finished. Only then will I go back and fix what needs fixing. After that, it's second pass editing time.
I do have one bit of exciting news to report. Last week, I received an email from a reporter at a local newspaper, The Ashtabula Star Beacon. Apparently, the paper wants me to be the feature story of the neighborhood section of this coming Sunday's edition. I've already done the phone interview and sent some more details answers to the reporter via email. A photographer will be showing up at the house today. I'm quite excited, especially since I did not solicit this interview. The paper contacted me.
One more piece of information and I will get back to writing. Sales have been slowly slipping for months. I do expect sales during the holiday season to drop as people focus on buying presents for their families. It was the slow slide up to this point that had me concerned. Well, not really concerned, they're not my primary source of income. I've always been a bit skeptical of how much advertising affected sales - until now. My wife sent off 250 cards using VistaPrint. Two weeks later, there was a small, but statistically noticeable increase. Was it the cards? I think so. Did I get a good return on investment? Maybe. Sometimes advertising works, sometimes not. I'm still on the fence.
November 11, 2012
11-11-12: Peacekeeper on a roll
Last week I was working 12 hour days and was unable to write even a single word. But, that did not stop me from at least working on Peacekeeper. During idle moments at work, while taking a shower before bed, and while trying to get to sleep, I was thinking about the book. Consequently, I made significant progress this weekend. I get my best writing done early in the morning. As long as I can stay away from all the other things I could be doing in the morning I can get a lot of writing done. Saturday and Sunday I was up at 0500 and made good progress on Peacekeeper.
Peacekeeper is turning out to be a very different sort of science fiction for me. It is more of a mystery than a knock-down drag out space-warfare novel. There will be battle scenes but there's a lot of stuff leading up to it. I've been trying to develop my characters a bit more as well as explaining the cultures of some of the races who are members of the Alliance. It's difficult to develop a whole new culture because we tend to always think that all alien cultures will be like our own. But how can they? They're aliens!
I have also mentioned a planet that could easily get me in trouble. My coworkers have jokingly been trying to get me to write a book titled 'Porn Planet'. Of course, they want it to be an adult XXX style novel with all sorts of imaginative futuristic ways for adults to have fun. I have graciously declined. But, the possibility of such a planet intrigues me and so I have mentioned it in Peacekeeper. I've not yet decided if my main character will actually go there or not in this novel but it at least opens the door for a future adventure with a more adult theme - something I've tried to avoid. Science fiction, however, can often be pretty racy and now I've opened the door a bit to let some of it appear in my writing. Peacekeeper has a bit more adult situations in it than my other novels and might not be appropriate for the very young.
In more personal news, I am now back in touch with another of my best friends from high school. This guy is totally off the grid. He does not own a cell phone, does not use banks, and only drives trucks that are older than 1986 because they have distributors and no computers. He lives in Washington State up in the mountains. He was one of 3 best friends I had in high school. The other one still lives in Minnesota and I video chat with him at least once a month. The last was not doing so well last I heard and I haven't spoken to him in 6 years.
Peacekeeper is turning out to be a very different sort of science fiction for me. It is more of a mystery than a knock-down drag out space-warfare novel. There will be battle scenes but there's a lot of stuff leading up to it. I've been trying to develop my characters a bit more as well as explaining the cultures of some of the races who are members of the Alliance. It's difficult to develop a whole new culture because we tend to always think that all alien cultures will be like our own. But how can they? They're aliens!
I have also mentioned a planet that could easily get me in trouble. My coworkers have jokingly been trying to get me to write a book titled 'Porn Planet'. Of course, they want it to be an adult XXX style novel with all sorts of imaginative futuristic ways for adults to have fun. I have graciously declined. But, the possibility of such a planet intrigues me and so I have mentioned it in Peacekeeper. I've not yet decided if my main character will actually go there or not in this novel but it at least opens the door for a future adventure with a more adult theme - something I've tried to avoid. Science fiction, however, can often be pretty racy and now I've opened the door a bit to let some of it appear in my writing. Peacekeeper has a bit more adult situations in it than my other novels and might not be appropriate for the very young.
In more personal news, I am now back in touch with another of my best friends from high school. This guy is totally off the grid. He does not own a cell phone, does not use banks, and only drives trucks that are older than 1986 because they have distributors and no computers. He lives in Washington State up in the mountains. He was one of 3 best friends I had in high school. The other one still lives in Minnesota and I video chat with him at least once a month. The last was not doing so well last I heard and I haven't spoken to him in 6 years.
