There are some things that harder for me to write, but I never thought that one of those things would be describing dancing. Maybe it’s because I have a rare medical condition.

It’s a crippling disease

I will, however, try to do my best to get through this scene so I can get Tyro and her beau Ghislain to their attempted train robbery on time. What’s more Wild West than a train robbery? What’s more Weird West than having the train robbery foiled by Frankenstein’s Monsters?

The novel is coming along as well as it can. I really don’t think I can hit the deadline, but then again – are we surprised? If you are, you must be new to this blog. Welcome! Hope you have fun here. I’m not going to stress this one because I have a good excuse this time: I’m editing The Show Must Go On for agent viewing, so it’s work related. I am double checking every detail, reading over every line to tweak it to be the best it can be. Regardless whether or not I get a favorable pitch in April, I am going to send it out to every agent and publisher that’s dealing with horror. It’s time to get serious about these things.

I’m also working on fleshing out my vampire novel Forever Junkie. I really like the notion of blood being like a drugs, and that each vampire is affected differently. The main character gets it like a hit of heroin, his maker is like a meth head and the big bad villain gets a PCP-like effect. I am trying to really make my vampires stand out from the field, but since I’ve played this game that’s a little harder than usual. I don’t want to give anything away, so that’s all I am going to say about this for now.

Speaking of editing, I am about 20% (give or take, I’m not a math wizard) into The Show Must Go On and boy…am I a bad typist. I know it’s a running joke here, but how many times can I misspell ‘the’? Don’t answer that. I realistically can’t count that high. I’ve also found out I repeat things. I think in one chapter, I brought up the same factoid three times. They say that re-writing is the real writing, and I am starting to believe them. I just need to have a free weekend to enact those changes, since I want to have the first ten pages ready for reading.

I think that’s all for now. I’m going to go to bed and try to work out some things. Good night.

See what’s clogging my YouTube feed. Fascinating, I’m sure.

I really don’t know what to blog about today. The Tyro novel is coming along in drips and drabs because none of my characters seem to want to follow the outline I so generously gave them. It’s weird, isn’t it? Figments of my imagination are dictating to me the terms of the story that is my creation. Is this a sign of schizophrenia? Should I get better drugs and take more counseling?

My wife is reading it, and I have to wonder if she’s going to come to the place where they went off the map, as it were, and say “Ah – this is where it started!”

It started innocently enough. I was writing a scene, and it didn’t feel right, so I asked myself, as I do when I don’t like how a scene is developing, what’s the least likely thing to happen now? The idea hit me, and I wrote it down and now I’m here in a city I had no designs other than the name with a side character who is getting more screen time than the main character. I should trust the characters, as one of my writer friends put it. I do have to admit; this is a little more exciting than what I had planned. There are scenes that are going to get put into the novel because I am not going to let Tyro completely derail everything.

I honestly wonder if any other writers have moments like this. Moments where the characters derail the story unfolding in their head and now, they’re trailing behind their main character shouting at them to slow down so they can catch a breath. It’s wonderful, because it maintains interest in the story for me to write it, but it’s also frustrating because the writing pace slows down if I have no idea what to do next – which having an outline was supposed to fix. I think I’m going to just wing my next book. That does seem to be the best way for me to write.

Other than the side-mind mutiny, there isn’t a lot going on here. I watched the movie HIM, and to be honest…I’m glad I didn’t buy a ticket for it. Maybe in my advanced years, I am looking for more realistic horror. I can see what the movie was aiming for, and I can appreciate the message. I just thought the ending was a little…ill-conceived. I’m not going to spoil it, if you’re still interested. It’s a movie that definitely is worth viewing, but don’t take it too seriously. Especially if you’re a football fan.

Well, I think that’s all for now. I need to get back to the novel and see what they’re going to give Barnabas to eat. At this point, it could be a rabbit stew, it could be candy, it could be a handful of grass. I don’t know, but I can’t wait to see his reaction. Ta-ta for now.

These Story Engine cards are like crack for me. I;ve gotten then, and if I’m not writing the current project, I’m slapping prompt cards together and writing down the results. I’ve actually gotten three good prompts. One of them could be…a literary novel? *Gasp*

All of these prompts have given me an idea. Since I’ve cranked out nine so far, and there are some that are giving me fits of creativity, I am going to flood the zone in a literary sense. I’m going to work on cranking out books every month to every other month. Don’t think that I am going to sacrifice quality for quantity. I’m going to come up with a few more prompts in various genres. I’m not going to look for a hit book, or a genre that is popular. I’m just going to write. I’ve got access to editing software, so I can make a pipeline. Write a novel in a month – I know I can do this through my time with NanoWriMo – the following month can be editing it down while writing the next one.

Is it going to be a grind? Hell, yeah. Writing a novel in a month is hard. Doing is month after month is going to be grueling for me. Is it a goal that I can meet? I don’t really have a choice. I’ve seen that quantity that’s the key, but quality and quantity are not mutually exclusive.

Am I going to abandon the Ushabit trilogy? No. That’s the big project for this year, and I am going to finish it. While the other books are going to be done to be done, the trilogy is going to have the attention it deserves…even if I have no idea what’s going to happen next in the novel.

Well – if I am going to do anything, I should wrap this up and get back to work. Have a good day, everyone.

As much as I wish the Olympics wouldn’t end, I need to get back to work. I don’t think I’ve written a full day’s work of words since the opening ceremonies. I want to write, I really do – but when I settle down in front of the TV, I get sucked into the drama of the sports. Even curling, and I don’t understand curling at all. Is there a beer frame? If you’re playing the Japanese, is it a sake round? All I need to know is that I need to get back to it soon. After hockey – I think all the speed events are wrapped up.

Someone who has a much better work ethic than I do is the author Erv Klein – a fantastic, writer, good friend and an all around great guy. You would do good to check out the link. He’s got a couple of books out there that are well-written…better than what I could put out. Grab one of his books – I recommend this one: Squat. It’s very well done and has garnered attention from critics. Seriously – give this man some attention.

I got something called The Story Engine and is looks good. It’s a bunch of cards to prompt story ideas. They’re divided into agents (characters), settings, and conflict. You mix and match them to get a good idea They also have booster sets for various genres like western, cyberpunk, gothic and horror. This will be good for me when I want to think of something, but my mind is stuck on something like cannibalism or genius loci…like I am. Is using it cheating? Not really. This is nothing more than what I do by cruising tvtropes.org or watch the news. Not that this is a contest or anything. I’m just making sure that the well doesn’t dry on me too soon. That’s really it for now. If you’ve heard any interesting Olympic news, feel free to drop a comment. Y’all have a good day

I am sick (not the cool ‘sick’, but the puking ‘sick’), and I am watching the Olympics – to say that I am distracted is an understatement. I haven’t written in a couple of days. I might try to do something today, but I am not holding out a lot of hope. I mean – I’ve got the Olympics on my computer right now as I am writing this. USA! USA!

I’m still editing The Show Must Go On, and I’m about halfway through the first pass – which is just checking for errors in typing, of which there are legion. The next pass is going to be more artsy – re-writing sentences that are clunky, trying to fix some plot holes. I need to get the first ten pages ready for April and the review. After that, I am definitely going to shop this out to agents and publishers. I’ve never felt so certain about a book like this one. I know that it’s not going to be the big money grab that I wish it would be, but it’s a start. I need to flood the zone as it were, and that I know I can do.

Ugg, I think I am going to sign off early. I am not at 100%, and I am tired of seeing the same three commercials on Peacock, with one of them being a commercial for Peacock. I hope that by next week I’ll have better news.

I don’t know what happened. I had a perfectly good outline for the fantasy novel – incomplete, sure – but it was perfectly serviceable one. No one was going to die (yet), and the main character was on her way to learning a trade.

The next thing I know, the main character gets some idea that she doesn’t have to follow along with the plan and makes her escape – literally. The big escape happens with her alone and now she’s wandering a field with little idea where to go, and I’m sitting behind my desk like a schmuck desperately trying to figure out how to get back on track.

An outline is not an opinion…

Does this ever happen to anyone else? Is it just me?

As much as I joke about how my characters are almost living things – this sort of stuff happens to me. I don’t even know why I write outlines when they’re going to get tossed aside like an old newspaper.

Wait — where are you going? I’ve got a very important plot point for you to do! Come back here!

It’s not like I’m against pantsing, but when I do that, I tend to write myself into a whole I can’t get out of. Plotting things gives me the chance to work out problems ahead of time. I’ve got novels I haven’t finished because I can’t think of what happens next. That’s what delayed Tribal. I don’t know how to end it with something that’s satisfactory.

I’m afraid that will happen with this – the big fantasy project that’s going to put me on the map. I don’t want that to happen. I want everything to go as planned. Dammit.

Hopefully, I’ll think of something to get her at least to the village, and from there have her learn the language so I can get over that particular hump. Not how I wanted it solved, but here we are.

Other than that, I am just waiting for April to pitch The Show Must Go On to an agent. I still need to the novel down a bit more and hopefully get some feedback. Anyone interested in being a beta reader? Say so in the comments.

That’s all for now. If you’ll excuse me, I have to get the slave back on track.