David R. Michael's Blog, page 29

I Always Wanted to be Elvis Costello

 
Not the man. But what he represents. To me, anyway.
 
Here's a singer/songwriter that never became hugely popular. I'm sure he's done OK for himself, but outside of certain circles, that is, flowing along with the mainstream, not a lot of people have heard of him. Or, if they have heard of him, and even remember he had a popular song, they won't remember what that song was. Even if you play it for them.
 

 
But if you watch "Behind the Music" or read interviews with musicians, when those musicians list their influences, many, many of them mention Elvis Costello.
 
He was never popular with the mainstream. But he was influential.
 
And that's what I've always wanted to be.
 
Rich, too, of course. And famous would be cool. But, really, influential.
 
Preferably within my lifetime.
 
-David
 
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A Lighter Tone

 
So far, just shy of 10K words into Sigils, I've found I'm using a lighter tone than I expected. The blood is still there, the bodies of sacrificial victims are stacking up, and the manifestations of pissed-off, angry demon-things have penciled in their appointments with power-hungry, delusional, megalomaniacs. But I've had some fun hitting lighter notes in the middle of the gore.
 
Didn't see that coming.
 
I don't think I've written anything uproariously funny. I don't think I'm going all Buffy with the dialogue. This is still going to be a dark book. I'm writing more or less straight.
 
I think I'm taking a tone similar to what I used in Demon Candy. Which makes sense, I guess. But I didn't expect to do that when I started writing. The two main characters didn't start off all grim and gritty. They started out like, well, themselves. Almost normal people. And they're not–or weren't–grim and gritty. They aren't dark characters at the beginning. But they're getting there.
 
Maybe it will seem even darker with the little patches of lighter color for contrast. Not sure.
 
So far it feels right to be approaching the book this way. So maybe it's a good idea.
 
-David
 
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It's Not Writing per se…Demon Candy – Now Available!Win a FREE Signed Copy of Demon Candy!

Writing Progress Report

 
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, April 18, 2011.
 








Writing Project


Words




Monday


Sigils


1513




Tuesday


Sigils
Started editing "Roxy Overload".


1511




Wednesday


Sigils
Finished editing "Roxy Overload".
Line edited "Enamored".
Line edited "Until Death Do Us Part".
Line edited "Roxy Overload".


535




Thursday


Sigils
Created base ebook doc for TWWT.
Create TWWT ebook doc for KDP, PubIt, & Smashwords.


843




Friday


Sigils


1534




Saturday


Sigils


1098




Sunday


Sigils


527














Total



7561




YTD Total: 117073
 








Publishing/Marketing




Monday





Tuesday


Announced "Sweet Tooth" to G&M, 4CL, FB.
Announced "Sweet Tooth", "Evanescent", "The Perfect Hiding Place" to KB, NB & MR.




Wednesday





Thursday





Friday


Uploaded TWWT to KDP, PubIt, Smashwords.




Saturday





Sunday





 
Reading List

Do the Work by Steven Pressfield.
The Forts of Colonial North America: British, Dutch & Swedish by Rene Chartrand.

 
Related Posts:
Now Available – "Sweet Tooth"Now Available – "The Perfect Hiding Place"Now Available – "Evanescent"

Now Available – "Sweet Tooth"

 
"Sweet Tooth" – A new horror short story by David Michael!
 
Ted Millet, divorced and broke and tired of getting up at 2 am, shows up for work anyway at the Jenny-Buns Donut Shop. If he doesn't make the donuts, no one else will. This morning, though, he has a new customer waiting for him that makes his ex-wife seem almost human. (3100-word short story)
 
"Sweet Tooth" is also available in the collection, Demon Candy.
 




"Sweet Tooth" Edition


Price




Kindle edition (Amazon)


$.99




Nook edition (Barnes & Noble)


$.99




Ebook (Smashwords)


$.99




 
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My Other Fidget

 
Yup. Freecell. On XP, because my laptop is old.
 
As someone who lost 2 weeks the last time he installed Civilization III, Freecell is the only video game I let myself play. But that's beside the point.
 
Freecell games go fast enough that they are a momentary, mental distraction. Almost relaxing. Tarot-like sometimes, because I'll start a game right after a decision to see if I'm thinking clearly–and to see if the decision still seems like a good one when I'm finished with the game a few minutes later.
 
The trick is to not let the mental fidget become all I do when I'm supposed to be writing.
 
My win ratio on Freecell, BTW, is 80%. It would be higher if the XP version of the game had a real "Undo" feature, but that's just me grumbling…
 
-David
 
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A Milestone

 
With today's 1500 words in the can my total word count for 2011 (111K) has passed my total word count for 2010 (110K). And there's still a lot of 2011 left. I'm pleased.
 
I don't know where I'll be at the end of 2011, but I'm hoping I'll set a new, personal one-year word production record.
 
Today is also the 28th day of my current streak of writing every day. I'm happy my streak survived the completion of one novel (GoSH1) and the start of another (Sigils). Now to see if I can keep the streak going to the end of Sigils.
 
Onward! (Or, perhaps, on-word!)
 
-David
 
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This Is My Main Fidget

 
This is a 65mm d20 (20-sided die). Green. Just a bit smaller than a baseball but a perfect fit for my hand.
 
This die has never been rolled in anger, or in a game (I have an ivory version which I use for gaming). It's sole purpose is for me to pick it up while thinking (usually when writing or programming) and, well, fondle it. Sometimes I toss it back and forth, from one hand to the other. Sometimes I fumble and it goes flying to bounce off the wall or a file cabinet. So far I've managed to do no serious damage to myself or my belongings. Believe me, this thing could do damage.
 

 
I love this thing.
 
I first learned these monstrosities existed when a friend of mine bought one for herself several years ago. Over the next few months, I bought five, one in each color available. My son has the red one. My wife claimed the black one. I use the ivory one for gaming. The blue one sits on a shelf in my office looking all glossy and cool.
 
The green one, my fidget, one no longer looks glossy, and the numbers have been worn off from lots and lots of fidgeting.
 
I used to twirl ink pens. Or roll my wedding ring around my fingertips in a way that seemed to fascinate people I used to work with. That is, when they weren't being scandalized that I was using my wedding ring as a fidget.
 
These days, for the past three years I guess, it's been this ridiculously huge green d20.
 

 
Best. Fidget. Ever.
 
-David
 
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Writing Progress Report

 
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, April 11, 2011.
 








Writing Project


Words




Monday


GoSH1


1555




Tuesday


GoSH1


1619




Wednesday


GoSH1


1567




Thursday


GoSH1 – FIRST DRAFT COMPLETE!!!
Edited "Enamored".


2233




Friday


Sigils
Edited "Secondhand Coffin".


521




Saturday


Sigils


513




Sunday


Sigils
Created base ebook doc for "Sweet Tooth".
Created "Sweet Tooth" ebook doc for KDP, PubIt, & Smashwords.


1156














Total



9164




 








Publishing/Marketing




Monday





Tuesday





Wednesday





Thursday





Friday





Saturday





Sunday


Uploaded "Sweet Tooth" to KDP, PubIt, & Smashwords.




 
Reading List

The British Army 1660-1704 by John Tincey, illustrated by Gerry Embleton.
British Redcoat 1740-93 by Stuart Reid, illustrated by Richard Hook.

 
Related Posts:
Demon Candy – Now Available!Now Available – "Insanity"Now Available – "The Perfect Hiding Place"

Opining About Short Stories

 
I'm over on Book Brouhaha today, opining about short stories.
 
-David
 
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Underway Again On Another Twisted Path

 
Today I wrote the first 521 words of my new novel project, which I will refer to as "Sigils".
 
Those first 500 words have been a long time coming. I wrote the first notes for this novel back in July of 2005. Which makes it one of my earliest ideas for a "post-modern, nonlinear" story–more than a year before I structured and wrote The Summoning Fire.
 
The Summoning Fire was built in the shape of a spiral, four storylines spinning out (both forward in time and backward) from a single, explosive event. (You can read more about that here.)
 
Sigils was built as parallel lines. The beginning of the first storyline is the end of the second, with both storylines told in parallel. Unlike The Summoning Fire, though, the parallel storylines both go forward. The viewpoint switches back and forth–then, about halfway through, forth and back.
 
I blame the movie Memento for making me see the possibilities of oddly structured stories. There are other examples of convoluted storylines, of course. Like Twelve Monkees and Sliding Doors and Slaughterhouse Five. So it's not like I'm inventing anything new here. Nonlinear stories go way back. But I find them fun and challenging.
 
Hopefully that's what Sigils will be: Fun and challenging. And, hopefully, my readers won't get too lost at the beginning.
 
-David
 
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