Well it was nice to get back to the hard work of this blog. Not really hard work, of course, that is just writer self-loathing blather. As the great Todd Rundgren said once in titling an album, "The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect." That is what I am going through when I whine about the hardship of writing a thousand words a day, five days a week. But I have committed to do it thanks to a book I read a few months ago now, and have done it. Well of course I have missed a few days, but with Christmas shopping, the end of the football season, vacation at the parents, hey . . . it's not my fault. It can't be. Unless it would aid my filling my neccesary quota of self loathing. Then bring it on, it is my fault. Completey, totally, one hundred percent.
I got back to my Na No Wri Mo novel this last week, and got about five thousand words done. I have another few days to transpose into the blog next week, then I need to decide what to do next. Write more on this, or start revising something else? I committed to finish this current novel by the end of January, seeing as any work in December is forsting on the cake. I had not originally planned on penning any more of this novel on the theory that I needed to take December off after the nuttiness that was November and Na No Wri Mo. But I found that I still wanted to write some about these characters to get them progessing in their relationship, and so I got the bug and kept writing for a bit. With the holidays passed, I am ready to take up the pen in earnest and with full dedication.
I enjoyed the holidays, and they were a good antidote the craziness of November. I am so glad that I did Na No Wri Mo, and am even glad that I met some of the people from my city that are doing it, as well. I met once with them, though they have met twice. We have another meeting coming up in just over a week, and I hope to attend that one, as well. There is a short story assignment that I need to give some thought to. I am not sure I am going to participate in that exercise yet, and of course if I don't then I have to decide if I am going to the meeting. I think I am going to the meeting either way. For one thing, if I go without doing the assisgnment, that will give me a chance to see their reaction to an incomplete assignment. It may get me an insight into how serious / casual the group really is, and then I can decide if that is where I want to go. This would be my first writer's group, and I want to make sure it is a good experience. Of course, half of me also says to just damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.
I have the rest of this work outlined, maybe 12 to 15 more scenes left, so there is a good chance that I can finish it by the end of January. That would be great. That would give me 2 completed novels. Well, 2 completed first draft of maybe potential novels one day down the road. But if you have to write a million words of crap to get to the good stuff, this would get me that closer to getting to the good stuff. I look forward to getting to the good stuff. I feel like I have written a little bit of good stuff, but have a long way to go until I am satisfied. The real long term goal is to get one of these manuscripts in good enough shape to begin submitting in 2004. So 2003 is to revise, revise, revise. If writing is rewriting, I am ready to write this coming year. I am not a believer in New Years' Resolutions, so this is not one. Maybe we can call it a plan, maybe we can call it a promise, maybe we can call it a dedication, or maybe we can call it a solemn oath. And this blog is part of the plan, part of the process of keping me honest, part of my self-discipline process.
I have written a few scenes for another work in process, the one about a small country church. I have a little bit of this book outlines, and have poked around a scene or two from that existing outline. I doubt I will outline any more. Because outlining more would lead to writing more, and the last thing I need is ANOTHER first draft. Two will be enough in a month's time, thank you very much. Please, man, please, please, please, no more first drafts. So I think I have one more scene planned out in that work, and I am sure that some time I will write that scene. But that is not what the next 12 months are about. They are about polisihing two manuscripts that will be completed in the next month or so. Well of course one, the thriller, is already done, and has been for a few years. The second is the relationship novel that this blog has been working on so far.
Now that I think about it, this is the 3 year anniversary of my 1st finsihed novel, the thriller. My plan was to finish it by the last day of the year 1999. I made this deadline in August of 1998, on the theory that I could do 1500 words a week! Now I am doing three times that. What a concept. Anyway, I finished the last word of the first draft of the thriller on this date, 1999. I finished two days early! How about that. So I wish myself a happy anniversary today of my first completed novel. And so three years later the end of the second one is within sight. Wow. I just thought of that happy coincidence while I was writing this. Composing at the keyboad, as it were. Very good. Thank you for reminding me, blog.
I got back to my Na No Wri Mo novel this last week, and got about five thousand words done. I have another few days to transpose into the blog next week, then I need to decide what to do next. Write more on this, or start revising something else? I committed to finish this current novel by the end of January, seeing as any work in December is forsting on the cake. I had not originally planned on penning any more of this novel on the theory that I needed to take December off after the nuttiness that was November and Na No Wri Mo. But I found that I still wanted to write some about these characters to get them progessing in their relationship, and so I got the bug and kept writing for a bit. With the holidays passed, I am ready to take up the pen in earnest and with full dedication.
I enjoyed the holidays, and they were a good antidote the craziness of November. I am so glad that I did Na No Wri Mo, and am even glad that I met some of the people from my city that are doing it, as well. I met once with them, though they have met twice. We have another meeting coming up in just over a week, and I hope to attend that one, as well. There is a short story assignment that I need to give some thought to. I am not sure I am going to participate in that exercise yet, and of course if I don't then I have to decide if I am going to the meeting. I think I am going to the meeting either way. For one thing, if I go without doing the assisgnment, that will give me a chance to see their reaction to an incomplete assignment. It may get me an insight into how serious / casual the group really is, and then I can decide if that is where I want to go. This would be my first writer's group, and I want to make sure it is a good experience. Of course, half of me also says to just damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.
I have the rest of this work outlined, maybe 12 to 15 more scenes left, so there is a good chance that I can finish it by the end of January. That would be great. That would give me 2 completed novels. Well, 2 completed first draft of maybe potential novels one day down the road. But if you have to write a million words of crap to get to the good stuff, this would get me that closer to getting to the good stuff. I look forward to getting to the good stuff. I feel like I have written a little bit of good stuff, but have a long way to go until I am satisfied. The real long term goal is to get one of these manuscripts in good enough shape to begin submitting in 2004. So 2003 is to revise, revise, revise. If writing is rewriting, I am ready to write this coming year. I am not a believer in New Years' Resolutions, so this is not one. Maybe we can call it a plan, maybe we can call it a promise, maybe we can call it a dedication, or maybe we can call it a solemn oath. And this blog is part of the plan, part of the process of keping me honest, part of my self-discipline process.
I have written a few scenes for another work in process, the one about a small country church. I have a little bit of this book outlines, and have poked around a scene or two from that existing outline. I doubt I will outline any more. Because outlining more would lead to writing more, and the last thing I need is ANOTHER first draft. Two will be enough in a month's time, thank you very much. Please, man, please, please, please, no more first drafts. So I think I have one more scene planned out in that work, and I am sure that some time I will write that scene. But that is not what the next 12 months are about. They are about polisihing two manuscripts that will be completed in the next month or so. Well of course one, the thriller, is already done, and has been for a few years. The second is the relationship novel that this blog has been working on so far.
Now that I think about it, this is the 3 year anniversary of my 1st finsihed novel, the thriller. My plan was to finish it by the last day of the year 1999. I made this deadline in August of 1998, on the theory that I could do 1500 words a week! Now I am doing three times that. What a concept. Anyway, I finished the last word of the first draft of the thriller on this date, 1999. I finished two days early! How about that. So I wish myself a happy anniversary today of my first completed novel. And so three years later the end of the second one is within sight. Wow. I just thought of that happy coincidence while I was writing this. Composing at the keyboad, as it were. Very good. Thank you for reminding me, blog.
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