David R. Michael's Blog, page 3

The Wonky Compass

 
They say a broken clock is right twice a day. I’ve never heard anyone say anything nice about a broken compass that points whichever way, either stuck or pointing at random.
 
Yeah. I’ve (again) adjusted my ( albeit vague ) plans. Did you see that coming?
 
Rather than launch into short stories right away, I have decided to pick up a project I started (and abandoned) for NaNoWriMo 2010.
 
I had planned to reboot this project after Gunwitch3, so it’s not an entirely new plan. Just one that has been shuffled to the front of the deck.
 
It’s also not a entire reboot. I had written about 26,000 words before I dropped it for reasons I can only vaguely recall. Something to do with thinking the wrong character was the hero. Fortunately, I have since realized that I can let the protagonist continue to be the main character, and just let someone else be the hero. Sorta. It’ll make sense, I promise. Regardless: Problem solved. Especially since that solution allows me to keep just about everything I had written.
 
A small bonus for this project is that it’s almost completely different from either Gunwitch or GoSH. I think another lesson I can learn from the past 2-3 years is that I require more variety in my writing/creative life than switching back and forth between two series.
 
I kicked off the reboot Monday by creating a new category in The Journal and extracting the content from my NaNoWriMo archives. Yesterday I read through the outline (what there was of it) and began reading through and editing what I had written.
 
After a bit of pondering, I’ve decided not to complete the outline, but to let the book grow organically from what already exists. That’ll make the project somewhat experimental/different/challenging for me, as I prefer to outline novels .
 
Somewhat coincidentally, this is the Nano project that I shelved before picking up an earlier Nano project that I had shelved, which I finished soon after and called Gunwitch: A Tale of the King’s Coven . And now, here I am, picking up this shelved Nano project to finish it.
 
Maybe that’s a plan I could pursue sometime: Start a bunch of projects, just to shelve them, then pick them up later and finish them. This will make the … third? … time, I think. Yup. At least for novels.
 

 
No. I don’t want to make a habit of that, with or without outlines.
 
Anyway, time to get back to reading/editing/daydreaming of how the story will build and build and build until it ends with a Bang! And, hopefully, more than a few chuckles.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
It Was a Fun StreakOutline to Completed Novel Word Count RatioMy Longest Outline EverAnother Reason I Like How I Outline My NovelsTalking to Myself Blindly in the Dark

Actual Licks-to-Chocolatey-Center May Vary

 
I’ve commented before about how I underestimated how long it would take for my indie writing/publishing to gain traction. Now that I’m closing in on 3.5 years since I indie published my first short story (“Nostalgia”), I will now say I have understated just how much I underestimated.
 
Which was a lot.
 
So far, 2014 looks a lot like I’m starting over. Or like I never started. Or like maybe I forgot to hit the “Start” button in the first place? (Pauses to check “Start” button. Nope. That sucker is pushed.)
 
I thought I would have made it further from the starting line by now, but … No. Not so much. Evidently 1 million words spread across 9 novels and lots (dozens? dozens of dozens?) of short and short short stories is more of a General Admission ticket. Less of a box seat. Still lots of room for doing more.
 
I try to avoid feeling like I’m standing still. Because I’m not.
 
The motion is slow, I guess, but it’s motion. I’m moving.
 
With that in mind, I’ve decided to change my pace a bit for 2014. At least for the first few months. Maybe through the summer.
 
I’m going to write some new short stories. My first since early 2011–which seems impossibly long ago. It’s hard to even imagine going 3 years without writing a short story. I love short stories! Reading them, and writing them. I guess I got focused on novels–and got caught up in all the presumed excitement of indie publishing.
 
Anyway, besides writing new short stories, I’m going to be submitting those stories to paying markets. Submitting stories like this will be a new experience for me, but one I’ve been meaning to tackle for a long time. If a market picks up a story, that’s great. If not, I can figure out something to do with it, I’m sure.
 
The general goal is to write a short story each week, then get that story into the mail/submission process the week after. And just keep doing that for a while.
 
I’m not sure if I’ll keep up the short story writing until I sell something to a magazine, or until I feel the urge to take on a novel again (there are GoSH and Gunwitch books left to write). Or just … whatever. Hell, I’m not even going to promise that any given story I start won’t run long. I might end up with a totally unexpected novel. Which would be cool. Like I said above, this more about a change of pace. Doing “something different.”
 
After 3 years, I need a change. And I’m gonna be that change.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
It Was a Fun StreakMy First Full Year as an Indie Author9 Months of Indie Publishing – Ebook Pricing Addendum9 Months of Indie PublishingShort Story Ebook Economics

Checking My Goals at the Beginning of the New Year

 
In December of 2001, while finishing up The Journal 3, waiting for our 2nd child to be born, and looking for a job (that I never found), I wrote down my first-ever set of yearly goals. Thus began a 12-year exercise where, with much thought and consideration, usually soaking up at least a week of each December, I consistently failed to predict more than about 33% of what I would actually do in the next year.
 
I’m a planner by nature, so I’m surprised it took me as long as it did to begin setting yearly goals (I turned 33 in 2001). Maybe as a younger man I was more of a realist. Anyway, I now demonstrate that while I can be a slow learner at times, I do, eventually, learn, and will finally admit the primary lesson from 12 years of setting yearly goals: I suck at it. And I will apply this lesson by not setting goals for 2014.
 
Because I have a record of all 12 years worth of goals (I use The Journal a lot), I can see my evolution of goal setting. I can see how I some of the earlier goals were poor choices, being about things out of my control. I can see where I set goals thinking a year was going to be All About This One Thing, when it turned out to be Mostly About This Other Thing. I can see where goals copied-and-pasted from the year before had gone stale.
 
It’s not all bad, though. For every year, as I pondered the next year, I would write a report of my accomplishments for the year that was ending. I had to do this. It was the only way to put a positive spin on a list of mostly un-checked bullet items. This report would remind me how, even though I hadn’t done much that was on the list, I hadn’t been a complete tosser. Stuff got done. Unforeseen targets were hit on short notice. Progress was made.
 
As I mentioned in an earlier post, 2013 went off the well-planned rails within two weeks of starting . Then refused to get back on the rails. A lot. Further, I realized that my yearly goals had become baggage. Heavy, depressing baggage. I was no longer seeing my goals as targets I could hit. They had become a measuring stick I was hitting myself with, even when there were circumstances beyond my control that had caused the perceived “failure”.
 
Setting yearly goals hasn’t been completely useless, of course. I think it’s a good thing to periodically sit down and figure out what you want versus what you’re doing and make adjustments. I’m just no longer convinced that doing this on a yearly, calendar-bound basis is particularly useful. And I’m beginning to see that the most important goals don’t have endpoints.
 
So this past December, looking back over the years, I decided I was done with this whole setting goals for the New Year thing. I cannot choose in December what I will or won’t do in the next twelve months. There are just too many days, and too many decisions, between now and then.
 
I still have dreams and goals for my various personal and professional endeavors. I’m just not going to make a futile effort to predict when the steps toward those dreams and goals will be taken and/or completed.
 
And because I am a planner, I do have plans for the first 3-4 months of 2014. But those plans aren’t exactly goals. More like … guidelines.
 
My plans/guidelines for 2014 are more about improving as a person, a husband, a father, a writer, and so on. They aren’t bullet points I get to check off as I somehow “finish” them during the year. They are organic and ongoing, possibly even neverending.
 
It’s a little scary, walking into 2014 like this, with no map at all–not even a made-up map. All I have is a wonky compass that sometimes contradicts itself and sometimes spins wildly, trying to point in all directions at once. But I’ve dropped my excess baggage (well, some of it, anyway) and I’m feeling lighter on my feet. I think I can handle whatever I find.
 
Happy New Year to All, and to All Some Good Luck! =)
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
Almost Time to be a Writer AgainA Year of Scrapping PlansThings That Loom and Goals That AdjustI Count WordsStill Planning, But Also Writing

2013 Reading List

Fiction
The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi.
I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton. (accidental reread; I forgot I had read it in 2006)
Face of Evil by Lee Goldberg & William Rabkin.
Sphinx by Robin Cook. (reread, though the last time I read this was over 25 years ago)
Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler.
The Black Box by Michael Connelly.
Fragments by Mark Fassett.
Redshirts by John Scalzi.
Dead Reckoning by Clive Egleton.
Zombies Bought the Farm by Mark Fassett.
Origin by J. A. Konrath.
The Witches by Roald Dahl.
“How to Talk to Girls at Parties” by Neil Gaiman.
Day Seven by Jack M. Bickham.
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore.
Rain Storm by Barry Eisler.
Die Trying by Lee Child.
Elric: The Sleeping Sorceress by Michael Moorcock and illustrated by Steve Ellis.
Minders by Mark Fassett.
Killing Rain by Barry Eisler.
The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney, Patrick Arrasmith.
The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson.
Deadpool Vol I: Secret Invasion by Daniel Way.
Death Without Company by Craig Johnson.
The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith.
The Dead of Jericho by Colin Dexter.
The Goliath Stone by Larry Niven and Matthew Joseph Harrington.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.
A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George.
Carniepunk by Rob Thurman.
Mr. Stitch by Chris Braak.
 
Nonfiction
The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? by Seth Godin.
Guns by Stephen King.
John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood by Michael D. Sellers.
Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin.
Steal This Plot: A Writer’s Guide to Story Structure and Plagiarism by June and William Noble.
Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by George Leonard.
Antifragile: How to Live in a World We Don’t Understand by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber.
Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland.
The Democracy Project: A History, a Crisis, a Movement by David Graeber.
Ebert’s Bigger Little Movie Glossary: A Greatly Expanded and Much Improved Compendium of Movie Clichés, Stereotypes, Obligatory Scenes, Hackneyed … Shopworn Conventions, and Outdated Archetypes by Roger Ebert.
The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes by Jack M. Bickham. (reread)
Struggle for the Gulf Borderlands: The Creek War and the Battle of New Orleans, 1812-1815 by Frank Lawrence Owsley, Jr.
The Battle of New Orleans: New Orleans as it was in 1814-1815 by Leonard V. Huber.
The Battle of New Orleans: Including the Previous Engagements Between the Americans & the British, the Indians, & the Spanish Which Led to the Final Conflict by Zachary F. Smith.
So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love by Cal Newport.
Writing Novels That Sell by Jack M. Bickham.
You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You’re Deluding Yourself by David McRaney.
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey.
Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending by Elizabeth Dunn, Michael Norton.
Your Movie Sucks by Roger Ebert.
Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon.
Core Java 2, Volume I: Fundamentals.
Choose Yourself by James Altucher.
Effective Java by Joshua Bloch.
The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Writer’s Block by Hillary Rettig.
David and Goliath by Malcom Gladwell.
Write Every Day by Cathy Yardley.
The Art of Being Unmistakable: A Collection of Essays About Making a Dent in The Universe by Srinivas Rao.
The Small Army Strategy by Srinivas Rao.
Screenwriting 101 by Film Crit Hulk!
Everything I Know by Paul Jarvis.
 
Biography/Autobiography
Simenon: A Biography by Pierre Assouline.
The Fiction Factory by William Wallace Cook.
Erle Stanley Gardner: The Case of the Real Perry Mason by Dorothy B. Hughes.
Boy by Roald Dahl.
Going Solo by Roald Dahl.
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak. (re-read)
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin.
Bigger Than Life: The Creator of Doc Savage by Marilyn Cannaday. (reread)
 
71 books total, with slightly more nonfiction than fiction this year. I didn’t bother listing the books I didn’t finish this year.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
10 Years of (Getting Serious About) WritingA Bit More DavidRM Backstory

A Year of Scrapping Plans

 
Making plans–then scrapping them within a week or two–seems to have been my primary pastime in 2013, especially the second half of the year. And not just for writing and publishing. For The Journal, for my tabletop wargaming hobby, for home improvements and repairs, and more. If I can make a plan involving it, I probably have–and then promptly scrapped that plan.
 
Since I keep a somewhat detailed journal, I *could* count all the plans I’ve made and scrapped this year, but it would be depressing. And I’m trying to avoid “depressing” right now.
 
Traditionally I spend December planning the next year. I pick goals and write them up real pretty in a new entry in The Journal (for easy tracking).
 
I think I might be scrapping that this year, as well.
 
I mean, sure, I’m doing a lot of thinking and pondering right now. About this year and next year, about The Journal and novels and series and short stories and whether I want to buy a 12-inch cast iron skillet or a new tea kettle that works better on my shiny new cooktop, but I’m kinda tiptoeing around making actual *plans*. I’m avoiding specific *goals*.
 
I had 2013 pretty well mapped out last December.
 
That map was balled up and tossed by January 10th.
 
I’ve been making plans and scrapping them ever since.
 
I have actually accomplished stuff this year–including stuff I had planned for the year. But it’s hard to see it clearly through the smoking wreckage of dozens of plans, all scrapped almost as soon as they were minted.
 
There is some self doubt involved in all this scrapping, but I suspect most of it comes from my struggling to deal with how my life and work have evolved over the past few years. From the addition of a new child in 2011 (who spent this year as a very active toddler) to the persistent decline in sales of The Journal (caused by the recession? caused by tablets? caused by cranky space aliens?) to the slow growth of book sales as I attempt to move to a more writing-and-publishing “day job” to turning 45 (tomorrow), all of it has combined to create, in the words of Sir Topham Hatt (the toddler is a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine), “confusion and delay.”
 
There’s a lot of change–and chaos–swirling around me, and trying to choose a path forward feels a lot like navigating the living room in the dark. Not only am I trying to avoid tripping over the furniture, but the floor has been mined with vicious Lego Duplos…
 
As I said earlier, though, I have made progress this year. It hasn’t all been flailing about. Looking back over the past couple months, I can see that the vortex of chaos is swirling slower now, the result of decisions made (and maintained) and growing accustomed to a new normal, and when I look forward, the murky darkness is paler.
 
So there’s hope for the next year. But no real plan as yet.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
December Is Not a MonthAlmost Time to be a Writer AgainMy Latest Heresy: I Don’t Want to Write FulltimeA Year of Blathering OnEgg Splat

What Works, What Might Work, and What Doesn't Work

What Always Works (for Me)

Outlining novels [1]
Writing first thing [2]

 
What Has Worked (for Me), And Might Need to Be in the First List

Brainstorming short stories
Also writing (some) on weekends, not just weekdays, during a project

 
What Used to Work (for Me), But Might Not Work Any Longer (for Me)

Tracking new words daily [3]

 
What Doesn’t Work (for Me)

The opposite of the stuff on the first list (e.g., *not* writing first thing)

 
What made me think of making these lists was realizing that I had been doing a lot of experimenting with my writing process over the past few years. And maybe it was time to stop and take stock. See what has worked, and what hasn’t, so I can do more of the former and less of the latter. And record it all for future reference.
 
I decided not to get too nuts-and-bolts in my lists. For example, I didn’t add “Writing in The Journal” or “Writing at my desk” or even “Listening to albums on Rhapsody while writing (instead of stations on Pandora)” to the What Always Works (for Me) list, because those are more preferences than requirements. They aren’t lessons I’ve learned about myself and how I do my best work.
 
I don’t think my writing process has stopped evolving, of course, and I’m sure I’ll do more experiments in the future. Right now, though, I need to focus on what I know works.
 
-David
 
Notes:
 
[1] I’ve talked before about how I outline, including how even though I don’t start writing a novel until I have an outline I like *and* how the outline continues to evolve *during* the actual writing.
 
[2] “First thing” doesn’t mean “as soon as I get up”. Instead, it’s the first “real work” I do on a normal weekday (after breakfast, workout and shower, before checking email/FB/anything else).
 
[3] Key word there is “daily”. Because I like to know, I’ll still be tracking new words on a weekly basis.
 
Related Posts:
Writing is Work"Done Enough"Talking to Myself Blindly in the DarkSigils Update and Existential Artist Personality Bullsh*tAnother Reason I Like How I Outline My Novels

Now Available – Tiger Girl Run (The Girls of Spring Hollow Book 3)

Tiger Girl Run, the new preteen/middle-grade thriller, sequel to New Fairy Moon and Living Ghost Time, is now available!
 
Under the last Full Moon of summer, in the Overlap of Worlds, the Red Moon Faire opens its gates.
 
Lupe Garcia has never heard of the Red Moon Faire. All she knows is her dream of being a dog and chasing rabbits around Spring Hollow has turned out to be all too real. She has no idea how to change back into her normal girl shape, and now the ghost of a saber-toothed tiger with only one tusk is chasing her through the sleeping neighborhood, roaring at her to return his missing tooth.
 
Eluding the ghost, Lupe stumbles into the Overlap and the Faire. She’s still a dog, but the Faire doesn’t care. Everyone–and everything–is welcome at the Red Moon Faire: six-foot-tall intelligent rabbits, tiny Elvs, lizardmen in business suits, and much more.
 
But there are also shadows at the Faire, and snares for the unwary. And a prisoner desperate to escape–even if the attempt puts Lupe in harm’s way…
 
Available in trade paperback and ebook formats at Amazon , Barnes & Noble , Apple and more!
 
Related Posts:
The Girls of Spring Hollow(Middle-Grade/Preteen Novels)Books: Preteen/Middle-Grade/Young AdultNow Available – Living Ghost Time (The Girls of SpringWhat Have I Been Doing the Past Month or So?Now Available – New Fairy Moon

Tiger Girl Run (GoSH3)

Tiger Girl Run by David Michael

Novel (The Girls of Spring Hollow Book #3)

Under the last Full Moon of summer, in the Overlap of Worlds, the Red Moon Faire opens its gates.

Lupe Garcia has never heard of the Red Moon Faire. All she knows is her dream of being a dog and chasing rabbits around Spring Hollow has turned out to be all too real. She has no idea how to change back into her normal girl shape, and now the ghost of a saber-toothed tiger with only one tusk is chasing her through the sleeping neighborhood, roaring at her to return his missing tooth.

Eluding the ghost, Lupe stumbles into the Overlap and the Faire. She’s still a dog, but the Faire doesn’t care. Everyone–and everything–is welcome at the Red Moon Faire: six-foot-tall intelligent rabbits, tiny Elvs, lizardmen in business suits, and much more.

But there are also shadows at the Faire, and snares for the unwary. And a prisoner desperate to escape–even if the attempt puts Lupe in harm’s way…

Available in trade paperback and ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords and more!

How to Make Proper Rice Krispies Treats

 
You’ll need:

Bowl big enough (about 2 qts or more) that is microwave safe
13×9 pan (or similar), sprayed with oil
1/2 stick butter (unsalted, you philistine)
10-oz bag of marshmallows (I like Jet-Puf)
6 cups of Rice Krispies (or similar cereal)
Sheet of wax paper big enough to cover the 13×9 pan

 
Melt the butter *completely* in the bowl.
 
Dump marshmallows in the bowl and *toss* them to coat the marshmallows in melted butter. Resist the urge to eat a buttery marshmallow.
 
Put the bowl with buttery marshmallows back in the microwave for about 90 seconds. Let the marshmallows get all swelled up. Laugh at them because they do look funny. Don’t melt the marshmallows completely, though. That way lies madness–and treats tough enough to scour copper pots.
 
Use a silicon spatula to whip the mostly-melted marshmallows into a smooth cream. This is very important.
 
Stir in the 6 cups of Rice Krispies. If you’re not careful, this *will* make a mess. Enjoy it, I say.
 
Dump the mix into the pan. Spread with spatula. Let your favorite child have the bowl and spatula since you don’t need them any more. Tell them, “When you start tasting plastic, you have scraped too far.”
 
Take the sheet of wax paper. Spray one side with oil. Use the sheet of wax paper, oiled side down, to press the mixture until firm and level. This is also very important.
 
Let cool for awhile.
 
Slice into oversized squares and enjoy. Maybe even share.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
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How to Make Proper Rice Krispie Treats

 
You’ll need:

Bowl big enough (about 2 qts or more) that is microwave safe
13×9 pan (or similar), sprayed with oil
1/2 stick butter (unsalted, you philistine)
10-oz bag of marshmallows (I like Jet-Puf)
6 cups of Rice Krispies (or similar cereal)
Sheet of wax paper big enough to cover the 13×9 pan

 
Melt the butter *completely* in the bowl.
 
Dump marshmallows in the bowl and *toss* them to coat the marshmallows in melted butter. Resist the urge to eat a buttery marshmallow.
 
Put the bowl with buttery marshmallows back in the microwave for about 90 seconds. Let the marshmallows get all swelled up. Laugh at them because they do look funny. Don’t melt the marshmallows completely, though. That way lies madness–and treats tough enough to scour copper pots.
 
Use a silicon spatula to whip the mostly-melted marshmallows into a smooth cream. This is very important.
 
Stir in the 6 cups of Rice Krispies. If you’re not careful, this *will* make a mess. Enjoy it, I say.
 
Dump the mix into the pan. Spread with spatula. Let your favorite child have the bowl and spatula since you don’t need them any more. Tell them, “When you start tasting plastic, you have scraped too far.”
 
Take the sheet of wax paper. Spray one side with oil. Use the sheet of wax paper, oiled side down, to press the mixture until firm and level. This is also very important.
 
Let cool for awhile.
 
Slice into oversized squares and enjoy. Maybe even share.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
How to Bake BaconThe Pique of EfficiencyI Can Haz Story?Focus-ishWriting For Fun; or "Oh, so that's what it looks…