Month: May 2023

The Five Hundred and Fifty-Eighth Post: The One Where I Need Calamine On The Brain!

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Ooh, I can feel that itch. That new story itch in the back of my mind. While I am working on The Show Must Go On, my head is working out Your Tribe, Our Tribe. I’m going to admit, it’s hard to stay the course when I get a new idea, so I am trying to satisfy the itch by working on little things: names of characters and the basic outline and motivations of the various characters until it comes time to start writing…which will hopefully be by the end of next month. Not tying myself to a deadline – for that way lies madness. I am trying to hold onto the goal of finishing four first drafts of novels (at least) by the end of the month. A secondary goal is to get one of those titles published by Hallowe’en.

Your Tribe, Our Tribe as also one of the few times I ma going to write horror – or anything for that matter – with a explicit message. Trust me. I am the last person to be spinning a morality tale, but the idea is something worth doing, and hopefully I can do it right.

I’m also counting down the day until Gen Con and my first big vacation of the year. I’m not going to miss an update though. I might post some pictures when I get back home, but I am not going to be writing there – it’s only four days and I know I am going to be exhausted from walking around. It’s going to be a great vacation.

There isn’t much else going on – Serve Me Now is getting reviewed by the writing group and (speaking of conventions) The Show Must Go On is getting a convention chapter after I finish the current one…which I have little idea what’s going on in this one. That’s the life of a pantser writer.

Stay safe out there, and hope to talk with you soon.

The Five Hundred and Fifty-Seventh Post: The One Where I Give Away The Plot!

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So, I have an idea for a vampire novel that is going to address one of the complaints I have about vampires and how they’re currently viewed in pop culture.

I am personally exhausted with the notion of vampires being avatars for raw sex. Vampires as lovers, or objects of desire for me has been played out. I want to go back to the idea of being a vampire being something horrific in the short term.

So, I thought just how bad is it to be a vampire, but not know what to do. No sire, no instruction – just wham-bam-fanged-you-ma’am and left on the side of the road. Sure – vampire lore is everywhere, and the main character isn’t completely ignorant, but everything else the main character needs to learn is going to be on their own (haven’t decided if the main character is going to be male or female). It’s a good idea, and I am going to work on it closer to the end of the year. When I finish The Show Must Go On, and the werewolf book Your Tribe, Our Tribe, I’ll work on the vampire book tentatively titled Fang Baby.

I amazingly got up on time this morning, and not hitting the snooze button three or four times. I got a lot of work done today. The only change I had to my evening routine was I went to the gym shortly before I went to bed. Didn’t write, but I did walk a few miles. This morning, when I woke this morning, I was fully awake – not bleary minded or anything like that. I felt good. I even wrote 850 words in about an hour. I’m going to try to repeat this and see if I can develop a habit. It was just weird to wake up and get right to the shower and breakfast, If I try to repeat what I did this morning for the next morning, then I need to figure out when to go to the gym since today is laundry day and that takes a good chunk of my time.

Is there anything else going on? Not really. Still focusing on getting the current novel done in a month and a half, then moving on to the next one. I want to have at least four novels first draft finished by the end of the year with one ready for publication. Whether it’s going to be picked up by a publisher or not – who knows? Still mulling that over in my head.

Take care, and stay safe.

The Five Hundred and Fifty-Sixth Post: The One Where I Change Antagonists in Mid-Stream!

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I’m going to work on Your Tribe, Our Tribe after I finish the current work. I’ve noticed that my last few works featured female protagonists, and I should take a break from that. Well…that and Breeder isn’t coming together like I want it to, but YourTribe, Our Tribe is bubbling along quite nicely. Given the themes of identity and groups vs. individuals are really salient today, I should strike while the iron is hot for a change.

The Show Must Go On is coming along very well, even though my writing habits are becoming spotty again. I’m about to declare one of the secondary characters dead and really kick off the strangeness. I’m excited to do this, because we’re getting into the horror of the story, and I’ve been itching to get into that real deep. I am still looking forward to having this done by the middle of next month, but for my own mental health, I’m calling that a soft finish line. I guess the schedule will be that I write in the morning, afternoon and evening, but on the weekend, carve out an hour or two for re-writes for ServeMe Now. Now that the text is finished, I am getting better ideas on what I should have included. Working them in is going to be a task, but it has to get done and get done soon before I can try submitting this book to a traditional publisher.

Yes, I decided, and I am going to try to get this book out there for a small to medium sized press. I am going to try to get it published that way for a year. If nothing happens by the end of the year, I will self-publish again. I have a good feeling about this book. I can feel things coming together with it. Maybe horror is my genre? Who knows? Comedy and fantasy haven’t really worked out well for me.

Well, having said all of this, I do need to get to work. Thanks for stopping by, check out my books to the right of screen, and feel free to donate a cup of coffee to the cause.

The Four Hundred and Fifty-fifth Post: The One Where I Continue My Streak of Literary Masochism!

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I have to admit, there is a difference in writing during Nanowrimo (camp or otherwise) than writing other months of the year. With the down months, there is a little more freedom. I’m not obsessing over numbers and word count…not that seven hundred words is a lot. I’m a little more relaxed. I don’t worry over not hitting the word count for the session, and missing a session doesn’t put me into a funk for the rest of the day.

So why do it? Why do I put myself through the gauntlet now twice a year?

Your services will no longer be required…

The reason is because while I am doing it, I get a sense of accomplishment. Sadly, I don’t finish most works I start (I swear, I’ll get to them one day). With Nanowrimo, I have a goal, I have a plan and I have other people working with me. It makes it all bearable. Would I recommend doing it? Sure. The only way you’re going to see if you have the stamina to do such a thing is to do it. Okay, this isn’t like running a marathon in a physical sense, but there is some discipline to it.

So, right now I’m working on The Show Must Go On. This one is a little bit of a challenge for me since I don’t write first-person point-of-view often, if at all. This one is another horror offering to keep up with this year’s theme of horror novels only. Serve Me Now has been finished for a few days – actually finished it ahead of schedule! – and is getting ready for re-writes, of which there will be plenty. I need more conflict between the main character and her boyfriend. I don’t think I really hit the ‘cosmic horror’ vibe I was looking for, either. Look for this to come out no sooner than next year to be honest. It’s going to take a while through the writing group.

That’s all for now. I’m keeping pretty busy and hoping to get another novel finished this year. My overarching goal is to write four: Serve Me Now, Breeder, The Show Must Go On, Your Tribe, Our Tribe. I’d like to write more, but those are the only ideas I have for now. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a good day!