Taylor Hohulin's Blog, page 2

Trying Not To Try

Planning a book is such a different experience from every other part of the process. At least, for me it is.

Everything that comes after that completed outline is so much easier, because every other part boils down to trying really hard. And, not to pat myself on the back too hard, but I’m good at trying really hard. I enjoy the discipline and ritual of sitting in front of the computer, knowing what I have to do next, and then forcing myself to do it.

Writing a rough draft? I have an outline....

The Weirdest Phase

The more I think about it, the more I think I might in the weirdest phase of my writing cycle.

I go through these phases over and over, usually over the course of twelve to eighteen months, and every time I get to this point, I find myself more than a little off-balance. Without breaking down the whole stinkin’ cycle, I’ll tell you I’m at the phase just after I finish the rough draft of a project.

Oh. By the way, I finished the rough draft of a new book. More on that later.

At this point, the...

Little Steps and Big Deals

When I’m writing a book, getting those first 10,000 words under my belt is a Big Deal. Capital B. Capital D. It’s the first time I feel like I’m working with something substantial instead of a hapless collection of paragraphs.

The next Big Deal is 50,000 words. At that point, the story starts to crystallize and I have feel for what exactly I’m working with.

After that comes 100,000 words.

And 100,000 words? That’s a Biggest Deal.

For the uninitiated, 100,000 is the standard number thrown out...

The Hard Hobby

2017 was the year I considered finding a new hobby.

It started when I hit the Writer’s Block Perfect Storm. Halfway through the rough draft of a new book, I realized the story was fundamentally broken, and would need some major changes to be workable. On top of that, I took on new responsibilities at work, making my days longer and more draining. And on top of that, my wife and I bought a house.

The discouragement and busyness all came to a head shortly before we closed on the house, and I ca...

New Year’s News Dump

2017 was a weird year of writing and publishing for me. I did manage to pump out a short story, but other than that, I felt like I spent a lot of the year on pause. I’m hoping 2018 will be a different story – and I have a lot of reasons to believe that’ll be the case – so here’s a little bit of what’s on tap for the year so far.

Alpha on Audiobook

This happened completely by accident. The original plan was just to create audiobooks for each entry in the Marian Trilogy. Chris Goodwin, my progr...

2017 Favorites Part 3 – Books

Here’s the deal: I’m a slow reader. Unlike my music and movies lists, the entries on this post will not all be from 2017. Forgive me if you’re a year-end-list-purist. But I read these this year, so that counts in my book.

Here are my favorite books of 2017:

 The Last Days of Jack Sparks – Jason Arnopp

My jeans remain unsoiled. My heebies are jeebie-less. There are no willies up me.

I listened to this one on audiobook during a road trip from Iowa to Texas. The audiobook was long enough that I...

2017 Favorites Part 2 – Movies

I’m wrapping up 2017 with a few of my favorite things from the year. Yesterday, it was albums. Today, it’s movies.

Forget any preamble. Let’s do this.

The Shape of Water

If I told you about her, the princess without voice, what would I say?

Full disclosure: I just saw this a couple days ago, so it may fall out of my top five in a few months, but right now I can’t get over what a great movie this latest offering from Guillermo del Toro is. Take the charm of Amelie, add the visuals and histor...

2017 Favorites Part 1 – Music

2017 was my first year away from JesusWired. It wasn’t an easy decision to leave, because I truly enjoyed the column I wrote there, but as the year progressed, I knew more and more I’d done the right thing. Besides freeing up space in an overpacked schedule, shedding that obligation allowed me to get back to listening to music for the pure joy of it. I wasn’t listening to twenty to thirty albums every month, but I was truly enjoying and spending time with the stuff I did find.

All that to say...

Four Years Later

Four years ago, I self-published Alpha, and if I’m perfectly honest, it was an admission of defeat.

I wanted to publish through one of the Big Six. I wanted an agent who would book interviews with Craig Ferguson and shop movie rights to Wes Anderson. I wanted the book to be a smash hit that turned me into a celebrity author, and why not? If you’re going to dream, dream big.

Of course, things didn’t turn out that way.

I barely even got a nibble on that story. I got plenty of form rejections an...

In Which I Pretend to Know Literary Criticism Terms

I don’t know if you’ve heard about this or not, but [a book or movie] came out [sometime recently], and there’s all kinds of controversy within the Church because of [theological issues].

I’m being as generic as possible here, because if we wait another month or so, this post will be applicable to something completely different. There’s always some piece of entertainment being deemed deeply flawed or dangerous. Numerous blogs and articles pick the piece apart, showing just how heretical it is...