Dylan Charles's Blog, page 15
November 12, 2012
A Confession
It was, perhaps, a bit of extreme optimism that made me think that I could update the blog three times a week while I was also trying to write a fifty-thousand word novel in a single month.
Now, to be clear, I am not going to completely give up on updating my blog. But, I think we will both just have to accept that there will be days like this where you’re going to be reading entries like this; short, to the point and not really what you were expecting to read.
But, surprise is the spice of lif...
November 9, 2012
Under Pressure
I absolutely hate to write this way.
My preferred method is to write a few paragraphs. Go back. Make sure everything is right. Are the words I used the rights ones? Did I use enough detail? Does this line make sense? Maybe I should take that part out.
It takes me a few hours to really write a few pages of a first draft. I want it to be researched and edited and nothing left out.
Believe it or not, this type of writing does not lend itself to getting anything done. I spend way too much time on th...
November 7, 2012
No More Excuses
Yesterday was the first day that the excuses started.
“It’s the night of the election. No-one would begrudge you taking the night off from writing to watch the election!”
“You’re a day ahead, you don’t need to write today. You can just start writing again tomorrow. It’ll be fine!”
“What’s just one day?”
The excuses trickle in and they’re insidious. They work their wiles and they chatter incessantly and brow beat you and use honeyed words. They do everything they can to just get you to back down f...
November 5, 2012
Running in Circles
Two times now, I’ve tried to take up running and both times have been miserable failures. I gave up after two or three weeks, discouraged by the fact that I wasn’t the best runner in the whole wide world after only a single week of keeping at it.
This is not really an exaggeration. I really did expect to see noticeable,awe-inspiring improvements by the end of the first week. All I noticed was that I was tired, hurting and still badly winded at the the end of each run.
So, Saturday I bought a ne...
November 2, 2012
Good Habits Are Hard to Make
I’ve gotten used to writing every day. It’s what I do. I come home from work. Get dinner and/or a beer, sit down in front of the computer and try and make words appear on the screen.
It’s been a long, long time since I’ve felt that way. For the last two years, writing has been a special occasion; something I do for holidays or events or because I really have nothing better to do.
But now writing has turned into part of my day, as opposed to something that I could do today.
But it still feels ver...
November 1, 2012
NANOWRIMO: Day 1
It is November 1st, which means it’s the first day for NANOWRIMO.
For those that don’t know, NANOWRIMO stands for National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel by November 30th. The goal is not to write a great novel, or a good novel or even an average novel. The goal is to finish writing a novel, period.
For people like me, who rarely, if ever, finish anything, just finishing a novel is a big deal.
So, once again, for the third time, I’m participating.
I have to write 1,...
October 31, 2012
31 Days of Spoooktacular: Happy Halloween
I’m drinking a beer called Vampire Slayer (brewed by Clown Shoes). This isn’t a review, I’m just letting you know that I have a dark, flavor rich beer and you should get some yourself.
No, really I’m just here to say, Happy Halloween. We’ve spent a lot of time together, you and I and it’s been a hell of a ride. There were conventions and philosophizing on fear and beer and apple picking and more philosophizing. And, now, it’s drawing to a close. Soon, people will be slapping pictures of hand-t...
October 30, 2012
October 29, 2012
31 Days of Spoooktacular: In the Path of the Storm
Storms do not scare me. They haven’t scared me in some twenty years. The thunder is so much noise and the lightning is avoidable. Hail is a problem, but only rarely and only when you’re outside. And, in the end, there’s not a lot you can do about it except button down and stay low.
When I was little, around 7 or 8, I was caught outside during a tornado. I don’t know if the tornado came anywhere near me, it could have been a mile away, because I was hiding up under an overpass, being the most s...
October 28, 2012
31 Days of Spoooktacular: The Little Things
During the Halloween season, people reach for the big scares: movies, haunted theme park rides, horror conventions, creepy costumes. And, I think, they neglect the little details that permeate our lives that are truly unsettling.
Take the following spam comment I got on one of my older entries:
“How should I tell him the bad news?He is respectful to his elders.What happened to you? Please fetch a chair from another room.Don’t forget to keep in touch.what a lovely little girl she is!what a lovel...
