I am hitting a brick wall when it comes to the Nano-novel today. I got up early and already my day has been changed because I have to do a couple of errands that I couldn’t put off until I got home from work. I am such a creature of habit that I am out of my writing groove and it’s already after 12:00 pm here. I think I am going to declare the day over and go on to something else once my PC has done all the updates (at least this time it didn’t shut itself off before I had a change to save some pictures) and restarted. I am another day behind on the novel and I can only hope I can make it up either tomorrow or Saturday with the all-day writing event. It is days like this that I seriously wonder about the practicality of doing this full time. I say this now, of course, since I am not at my day job. After a couple of calls, I am certain that I will say even a bad day of writing is better than a good day at work.

Oh! I got the first draft of the cover from the artist back today. It looks goooooooood:

© Renu Sharma

Wow. That’s all I can say about this. The artist got the color of the cloak exactly right. This is definitely worth what I am paying her for (about a whole paycheck for me) and I am definitely going to hire her again for other covers. She has my complete endorsement. If you’re a writer and you need some cover art done – you can’t do better than her.

Well my computer is going to shut down. Surry everyone, but with everything that is happening here, I am going to call it and get my shower and lunch together. I hope your day is a little more productive than mine.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Hello, all. I am doing this a little late since I’m trying to catch up with missing writing the Nano-novel Sunday. I think I’m back on track to finish on the end of the month (whether or not I’ll be done with the story is another thing). The One thing I am trying to remember as far as writing this is something that one would think I’d have down by new: it’s the first draft. It’s going to suck by design.

Some of you are probably telling at your screen now, reminding me that I’ll need to write many, many drafts before the final novel is done and that I need to be patient so that the final product – what everyone is going to see – will be the perfect draft. No one cares how the hot dog is made, they only care how it tastes in the end. I’m obsessed with everything being right as soon as the words hit the screen. Granted this is good when I’m editing it for the first time, or plotting everything out in my head. When I’m writing the first manuscript? I need to allow myself the luxury of being sloppy. No one is going to see the rough draft outside my writer’s group or maybe a close circle of writer friends (applications pending), so I can be a little bad. I need to maybe have that cross-stitched and hanging on the wall next to my favorite Stephen King quote.

Sorry If I seem like I’m rambling, but trying to catch up has me a little exhausted today. Saturday it’s going to be a default long day for me: writer’s group followed by the NaNoWrimo write-in. Thankfully, it’s being held at a local coffee house. Sure, I’ll end up buying enough coffee to float a luxury liner and the drive home will be interesting if I get caught in a traffic jam at the wrong time (“Officer, you should know better than most people that you only rent coffee. Well, I rented a lot of coffee. Besides, it’s not like as anyone goes swimming in that river…”).

Well, the Tyro-novel is languishing where it is. My only goal now is to get the Nano-novel finished and out to rest before the first round of edits. With any luck it’s going to be shortly before the end of November and I can get back to Tyro’s novel and start outlining the horror novel. I need to start to establish some sort of ordered routine. Maybe I’ll get to that in December.  Maybe I’ll get a nap in first.

Mmmm… naps.

I hope you all have a good day and thanks for your reading patience.

Sincerely,
Seething Apathy

Hello, everyone! Today I sit down in front of my PC and admit that I have failed the letter of Nanowrimo, but certainly not the spirit. Yes, I took a Sunday off to go see Thor: The Dark World and it was worth it (stick around after the end credits). I did have my doubts at first, but they were allayed as the movie unfolded. This is definitely a must see in the theatres. After that, I had a nice dinner of chicken and dumplings and came home to some football. Nary a word written in inspiration and nary a twinge of guilt in the process; but I can’t see how authors like Stephen King have such a monstrous output and write every day without having some sort of burn-out. Don’t get me wrong. I loves me some writing, and some people say that I’m good at it – but even I need to take a break every now and then.

Speaking of the novel, I am getting ready to run Danny into Rhonda and get the main plot finally going along. I think that since I have a set word limit, I am trying to hit all the major points on the plot line, which is frankly what I should be doing anyways for the first go-round since it’s easier to add than it is to take out…or that’s how it is for me when I write the first draft. When I go for the first set of edits, I’ll start cutting things down and try to get close to the final word count. Speaking of final word counts and all of that, I also need to get to the first novel and get that edited down. I think that should be a weekend thing, since I want to have time to do it without feeling any more pressure than what I’ve already put on myself now. So, for the weekday, it’s the Nanonovel and then Tyro’s novel if I have the time, on Saturday it’s the re-writes for the first novel and the Nanonovel. Yeah – Tyro’s novel is getting the short end of the stick this time, but since I am so far ahead as compared to what I am bringing to the writer’s group, I can slack off a little bit. Besides, I just want to be able to finish the Nanonovel on time for once. I’ve also been trying to figure out what to do once the Nanonovel is done, and I think I am going to get back to I/O Error just to write some horror. Get back to what I hope I can really shine in: horror fiction.

Week after next, I get another long vacation: 6 days off and after that, I think I get another long weekend. I am going to use them for writing and trying to get some more stuff down on paper (or Scrivener) for the New Year. Is it just me or has this year seemed to fly by?

Well, I need to get to Nanowrimo and regain the lost ground. Hope y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

One of the few times you will hear this and not shrink away! I’ve gotten the novel back from one of my beta readers and there are a lot of changes that need to be made, but I can work on those during the weekend since I still have Nanowrimo and Tyro’s novel to work on during the weekdays (still maintaining the pace to finish the Nanowrimo novel a few days before the end of the month). I’m a little bleary eyed right now, but I am going to perk up with some caffeine in a few minutes. Working double duty is hard, but if I can keep it up for the duration of the month and finish something then I will be sitting very pretty as far as getting stuff to print. I am married to the goal of getting three novels finished in 2014 and getting at least two of them printed in that same year. Slowly, I am tottering towards getting out of my current predicament. Right now, I just need to focus on getting one thing: finishing a novel.

Speaking of novels, I am getting to the next good scene in the Nanowrimo novel in which Danny and Rhonda meet. Don’t know how that’s going to happen – should I make it light hearted or a bit more serious? Well, either way there’s going to be a dead horse involved. I’ll have to think about that. I am trying to work on another project a work which I am calling Eat me, Drink Me and it’s about the feeder fetish. I don’t know where these ideas come from, but I am going to work on them all. My philosophy with this is pretty standard and can be summed up with the notion of the golden BB. I just need that one novel to get me going, so until that one hits – I’m gonna keep throwing out everything but the kitchen sink. I need my kitchen sink because where else am I going to do the dishes? If I did dishes… I kid. I do some dishes. Cups, saucers and the occasional cooking utensil on the rare times I do cook. What is the key to success for all of you writers out there? Two words: paper plates.

Pro tip: if you’re slow to wake up like I am, don’t put on ambient music like Brian Eno. I almost slipped into a coma listening to him. I think I’ll buy the album (was listening to it on my YouTube channel) and have it on standby if I am suffering from insomnia. What’s more my steam (ha-ha) as I am finding out is bands like Abney Park and Dr. Steel – which I should break down and buy one of their albums soon.

Oh! Almost Human premiers next week on FOX. I am a bit of a Karl Urban fan, so I am looking forward to this. I also hope this won’t get in the way of any future Dredd movies… if there are going to be any. Let’s face it, Urban was far better than Stallone. Seriously. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, go buy it on iTunes or Netflix and watch it in HD. It’s well worth it.

Well, I need to get to the Tyro novel and get our main character out of the village. As always, feel free to leave a comment. I’ll answer them as long as they’re not spam (mmm…Spam…).

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Today I go back to work. *sigh*…. I had a rather productive vacation. Got back in contact with someone from my Twitter feed and they were nice enough to promote my book here:

I can now say that I am an internationally known writer…without laughing… and oh, yeah—I’m on Twitter, too: @admiralnowhere

I’m well into the second chapter of the Nano novel, which I am going to work on more when I get home. The Tyro novel is going to star back up as soon as I am done here. Some time with Borderlands 2 and time spent with a good friend on my birthday made for the best vacation in a while. I’m off back to the grind with a renewed sense of purpose (finish something and get it out there). The Chromebook I have is amazing. It’s fast to start, dependable and I actually don’t need an Internet connection for it to work (but it helps). It’s a really good, lightweight laptop. Yes, tablets are the way of the future and I have finally gotten down the Swype keyboard so that I could use my Kindle in a pinch, but I really like the feel of a keyboard. When I go the Galaxy tablet, I bought a Bluetooth keyboard so I can use it at work (pointing back to the renewed purpose) and try to fill those empty six hours I occupy at the desk.

More details about Nanowrimo novel you ask? OK – it’s coming along quickly. I’m finding that getting the minimum is easy now. 2K is a good possibility to hit consistently now that I’m getting to the meat of the story with Danny finding out what’s happening with is body and running into the wraiths. The next big thing will be running into Rhonda and learning more about that. As far as Tyro goes, we’re still in the village, but that’s going to change quickly if I can get to it today. I’ve got so many irons in the fire right now (Tyro, Nano and the First Novel), I hope that I am not spreading myself out too thin. Well with the First Novel, the only thing I am waiting for now is the beta reader to finish making the recommendations and getting them done so I can at least hit the 80K limit so the artwork can fit. After that and the giddy moments of knowing that I have 2 book out there to blabber about, I will put my focus on getting Tyro’s novel finished and maybe getting the Nano novel edited down. After that… I might change direction and work on that old chestnut I/O Error and get that ready for more hard work. It might be good to take a bit of a break from fantasy/romance to get back to horror to cleanse the palate before I work on the second Tyro novel.

There is little else to say here. The vacation is over, but the next one is in 2 and a half weeks and I hope to be in the home stretch for Nano!

Well, I hope y’all have a good day. Thanks for reading and always feel free to leave a comment or a tip.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

… because I have to go back to work tomorrow. So today I intend on watching one last guilt-free hockey game, write some more on the Nano novel and Tyro’s novel and try to get back into the work swing of things. It was a good vacation and I only have to wait a couple of weeks before I take my last one of the year on Thanksgiving day week (I don’t know how I got that one either, but hey…). On a bit of a down note: this was cancelled. On a bit of an up note: I got the invoice for the cover art, so I can get that paid and get everything together before the end of the year. My beta reader is working to get the last chapter done. So – perhaps the first book of the New Year? We can only hope.

Speaking of hope: the Nanowrimo novel is coming on a little bit faster now that I’ve gotten over that expositionary stuff and I am getting into the meat of the issue: the possession. This is turning out a little better – I’ve really found a way to show how inhuman the possessor is with a couple of lines of dialogue (of course, taking over someone’s body doesn’t really hurt either). Now we just have to introduce the wraiths and get some of the ground rules down. Once that’s done, we can get going with the main story and get poor Danny introduced to Rhonda and get after Black Bart (yes, these are all placeholder names…the first order of business once the main work is done is to get all those names changed.). I am fairly confident that I can get this novel finished in November, so far it’s 8K words and I’m in the beginning of chapter two.

The Tyro novel is taking a bit of a back seat – doing double duty with both novels, but right now I am going to focus more on the Nano novel. Tomorrow, I go into the regular work set: Tyro in the morning, Nano when I get off work. Tyro’s novel needs at least 1500 a day, Nano needs 2K. Normally when I get off of work, all I want to do is shoot stuff and go to sleep, but if I want to get productive, then I’ve got a set aside some time in the evening to work. Those midgets are going to have to wait until Saturday evening to get their head shots, I’m afraid. I just have to tell myself that this is a first draft for either project: it is supposed to be horrible. That’s what the revisions are for.

Well – Thor: The Dark World opens this Friday. Thankfully, I get paid, so I am going to see that Saturday and I will give a review of it when I get back. Oh – I am going to write another installment of “I Would Have Done That Differently” for two series: Sleepy Hollow and Dracula. In one, I intend on pointing out that they there is enough history for everyone to use without getting really weird and in the other I rail against sexy vampires… again.

I need to get to Nanowrimo – so I hope you all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Hello, all! I have still a couple of days left on my vacation (everything ends on Wednesday, including optimism), but I wanted to take a week off and completely relax. It was fun. I got some neat stuff for my birthday, including this wonderful thing which I am now using just for writing. Unlike the other two laptops I have, this is possible because I can’t play any games on the Chromebook that are worthwhile – no offense Google…but if I want to play Angry Birds, that’s what I have a cell phone for. I also started NaNoWriMo and if you look to the right, there will be a counter to show how far behind I have gotten. I am going to a write-in today and I hope to get past the bare minimum today. I’m doing the project I was spit-balling earlier, so we’ll see how that goes.

The Tyro novel hasn’t been tended to in a while and that will be taken care of sometime soon. This is a vacation for me, so I took a week off and walked away from everything (except Borderlands 2, to be expected). The first novel is still getting the beta treatment and should be done by the middle of the month, or so I hope. I got in contact with the artist and we agreed on a price ($550 for everything) and I am waiting to hear back for the payment information and to get the covers taken care of. After this, it’s getting the ISBN number and deciding on how many platforms to put it on. After that, I will try to settle down into a double duty sort of thing: working on two projects one in the morning and one in the evening. “Quantity has a quality all its own” and all that.

I did see the movie Gravity. Wow – that is an intense film and I loved it. I am not a fan of 3D, but this is the one film you should see while it’s in the theaters. This is one of the few times where 3D is crucial to the movie experience. You get a real idea of the isolation the main character feels in space, especially in a scene where a tool goes floating off. The peril is a real risk that could happen whenever we go up (if we go up…). Sure, some people are complaining about the physics or some of the dialogue…but unless you’re an astronaut, or a physicist or an astronomer – there is nothing so glaring bad to pull you out of the movie.

Well, I should go get showered and all that. I’ve got a write-in to attend and I live on the other side of town… a side of town that I normally don’t go to, so I’ll have to warm up the GPS and make sure the dogs know where to go. I hope y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

I sent the information off for the artist and now I begin the delicate art of stalking my inbox until I get a response. I thought that as you got older you were supposed to get more patient. When I was younger (and yes, my skin crawls at the use of that phrase), I seemed to have infinite patience. Now? I think Twitter takes too long. Maybe it’s because I am surrounded by things that can get me access to my email account: my phone, my PC and my growing family of laptops (and we’re getting an addition today!). Oh – my team is playing tonight against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Thanks to the lax attitudes concerning listening to music and other devices (otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten SiriusXM), I can catch this game and hope that the Panthers can carry themselves to victory. They had better since the Bucs are floundering this season… then again; the Panthers are at 3-3 and barely hanging on to the hope of a play-off spot.

Anyways – the novel continues along with the group hightailing it out of the village with their newest companion Looks-Afar. It’s time to put them back into peril. I need to get them onwards to the rest of the tale. As much as I am looking forward to getting them to the next point, I know what’s going happen and I’m not really happy about it. But, hey – it’s in the service of the story, and they’ll get over it in time.

Nanowrimo is starting up next week and the first party is on the 27^th. I am looking forward to this since I am going to try something new: double duty. I am going to continue working on Tyro’s novel, but when I get home from work, I am going to try to crank out the Nanowrimo novel as well. The idea is to see if I can do such a thing and if it doesn’t liquefy my brain too much, I will try working on two projects on a regular basis so that I can get more going and get more out there to be bought. After all, I need to get as much out there as possible. I know some people have told me that the answer isn’t going to be writing more books, but I would beg to differ on that opinion. As long as I am producing new things – and I don’t have a shortage of ideas right now – and I can use what’s new to point people to what’s older, I can hope to maintain a cycle of discovery. I doubt I am going to get Stephen King levels of production, but I am definitely going to try. Really, it’s either that or I lose my mind.

Oh – I’ve been giving Sleepy Hollow
some thought and I have an idea on what I would do differently. I am going to flesh it out a little bit and post it on Saturday – try to bring that little thing back.

Well, I should go to sleep, since it is going to be a long time before I get any good deep sleep… at least December 1^st.

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

I just finished watching the latest episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and it’s coming along. There are some little quibbly things I have with it so far (Agent Colson empties his whole clip into a guy on fire. Even I would have stopped after two shots and said ‘plan B – get me a fire extinguisher’, then douse him with CO2 and hit him on the head with the empty extinguisher. Seriously, you’re working with someone who shoots fire and you have electrical equipment. Ever hear of Halon? It’s not like they want him alive for a long time), but it’s a good ‘sit-back-and-watch’ show. This weekend after getting in a few hours of writing, I am going to get caught up on hockey and maybe Sleepy Hollow time permitting. This is going to be the one ‘vacation’ day where I do very little. The actual vacation, I intend on getting something done with the writing job. I’ll also need to get a model for some cover art.

Speaking of writing – I managed to hire an artist for the cover of the novel, and the revisions are being done as we speak. This will be the final pass. After this and when the cover art is ready, I am sending it off, washing my hands of whole matter and looking forward to the celebratory dinner at a nice restaurant across the river. Tyro is coming along (she’s one of the things I am going to work on during the vacation) and Nysa has managed to stammer out that she wants to stay – granted, she picked a bad time to say that she was leaving the group and Marah is not taking this well. Well, that’s not going to be a problem for much longer. Heh-heh-heh…

It’s Wednesday – meaning the half-way point until my vacation. If I can get through today, I can make it to the end. Thankfully, Tuesday wasn’t as arduous as it usually is in the first week of the month. I’ve found a message board for Kindle authors and I’ve been reading it and getting some advice on how to proceed with a lot of things…and it helps to see other people working at this and being successful enough to do it full-time. I’m sure I can get to that level of success. I just need to get something done and get going. Hopefully, I can get the novel out and done before too long. Personally, I will just be happy to have it out and no longer haunting me. It’s becoming like a houseguest who’s overstayed his welcome. It is time to give it a hat, coat and a friendly shove out the door to face the world.

Speaking of Wednesdays – I should get going and shower up for work. I hope everyone here has a good day. Thank you for reading this.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

I got it! Well… not got but I pre-ordered Empowered volume 8! One – I like the character. Empowered is not just a pretty face. She’s someone committed to a cause, even to the point of personal embarrassment (you would be too if your suit was described as ‘wearing a soap bubble’) and she’s a lot more honest and forthright about it. Sure – the OEM has its Cinemax moments, but I can look past that and see a story about a courageous woman trying to defy all the odds. If you like comic books, then I highly recommend Empowered (follow the link to get volume one).

OK – that’s out of the way. Back to Tyro and the babbling. I am having a hard time with Nysa’s dialogue when she’s trying to tell the others that she wants them to go and she’ll remain behind. Writing Nysa is a three step process – a fun process at times, but a process nonetheless. Here’s an example: Nysa wants Tyro to share a milkshake with her (no, I am not thinking about McDonald’s chocolate milkshakes. Not at all… move along…). First, I think about what she wants to say:

“Give me some of your milkshake.”

As we can see, Nysa isn’t one for the subtle social niceties. Now, we fit in the code: Nysa refers to other people with a descriptive word. Tyro, in this instance, is always referred to as a body of water: river, ocean, wave… or a puddle is she’s being insulting. Another thing about Nysa’s speech is that she never refers to something by its name; it will be talked about in reference to the subject. The milkshake in this case will be referred to as sweet seafoam. If she was speaking to Mara, there would be a reference to metal. Nysa always refers to herself as fire – whether it’s a reference based on the fact that she’s a redhead (and in my head this woman portrays her), or that out of the group she’s the most volatile or that she has the most magical potential. Now this:

“Give me some of your milkshake.”

Becomes this after rewording:

“The fire wants to boil away the sweet seafoam and drink the steam from the sky.”

Yes – Nysa refers to herself in the third person. Trust me, this is the least irritating part of her personality. Now, Nysa has an odd syntax – and thanks to the Yoda Speak website I can just type in the dialogue and get it back in the right order. Once that’s done, now we have Nysa speaking in all of her babbling glory:

“To boil away the sweet seafoam and drink the steam from the sky the fire wants.”

So now we don’t know if she wants some of Tyro’s milkshake, or she wants to destroy all the water on the planet for a big steam bath. Isn’t Nysa just silly? With the scene I am trying to write, she wants to say this:

“The Master’s soldiers are coming! You have to run right now! I’m going to stay behind because I can lead them away from here if I have to, and I’m in love with the village elder’s boy. Now, go! Go!”

So, this is going to take me a little time to work around, so I might just focus on the other characters and come back to it during break so I can dedicate some hours to it.

I need to get to work. Nysa can’t babble to herself all day…well, she could, but that would be a boring story.

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy