The only excitement I had yesterday was that I got to see how far I could travel on $3.55 worth of gas (answer: to my driveway) and listening to more Art Bell. Nothing else exciting happened yesterday and I hope for nothing more exciting than getting cut-off in traffic (yes, I set the bar low). Internet was down last night, so I was unable to check my email, so I went to bed. When I was much younger, I wanted a life of non-stop action, thrills and excitement. Now? Quiet. The greatest joy is sitting down in my living room for a quiet hour with a book (or Kindle with a book loaded in it). My younger self would have died from sensory deprivation.

Speaking of sensory deprivation, the Nanowrimo project is going to continue on whether it likes it or not. I didn’t have a lot of time to get to it at work yesterday, but since today is Thursday and usually a slow day at work, I should be able to outline the first act and maybe get into the second act. As far as Screaming Red-Haired Ushabit Orchards go… I should get into the screaming part today. I just have an issue about description – and this is something that I can take care of as far as the first set of revisions. Working with third person limited means I have one character view point to focus on. The question is that what would he focus on? Since the orchard is a common place for him, it would need not as much description as say Nysa, or her reactions to the orchard. Those are new things and would demand most of his attention (particularly the freak out). I just worry about being able to paint a complete picture. Reading things growing up I was always impressed on how some of the writers would be able to paint a complete picture in my head and that I was something I wanted to do. First, however – I have to get them down to the orchards. For the screaming.

There is little else to comment on. Haven’t gotten a chance to watch any good TV yet and someone was kind enough to give me the full final season of Dexter to watch at home, so I am going to invest some time in that. There is a series of books out that I am thinking about getting: The Laundry Files by Charles Stross. Yes, I am an unrepentant series collector. I also need to start on the Gentlemen Bastards and finally get back to Dune (don’t judge me). So many books, so little money and time… and limited space on my Kindle for all of my darling children. I might have to buy a second Kindle just for the non-fiction books.

Well, I need to torment more red-heads. I hope your day is just as productive.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

It’s amazing what one can do when trying to avoid doing one’s job. On a lark, I wanted to see if a friend of mine from my youth was still alive. Much to my surprise, he is. I am glad he is alive and doing well for himself.

Sadly, I can’t say the same for the NanoWriMo project. I was coasting along outlining the second chapter when I realized that not only was my main character reluctant, he is as stubborn as I am. There was no argument that the other character could offer to sway his position. I tried to think of something, but everything I offered up to the character was shot down. While I like the idea of the reluctant hero, there is being reluctant and there’s being a jerk. So, being bummed – I closed up shop and I am going to let it sit there for a while and go to something else. Something else in this case was the radio. I am getting some ideas (the main character is moral – if worse comes to worse, guilt could be my silver bullet) and my book is on the car, so I’ll let it unfold in my head before putting it to paper (also another break – I haven’t given them any good names yet, which is something I never do. I’ve always had to names of the characters and the settings first). I am under a bit of a self-imposed deadline. I want the outline ready and on the PC before November 1^st and the start of NanoWrimo. Yeah, I have a month and a half, but those of you that have worked with me know that I work at the pace of a dawdling glacier. A month and a half to an easily distracted person like me is like an hour to real people. I should get back to it soon… which is like a week for me.

The novel is lurching on. Nysa is in the Elder Hagan’s house and she is currently fascinated by the fireplace and will be heading down to the orchard to have her delightful little freak-out. I am torn between having Nysa as the POV character just to see how she sees everything in this house. I think it would be wonderful to get into her head and experience the wonder that she has for the most mundane things…but we would lose the chance to finally discover what these demons are and how much she’s (and everyone else) been lied to about the world at large. Right now, we’re looking through the eyes of Hagan’s son Galter (who is just a little sweet on her…awww…) and experiencing Nysa’s joy in a second-hand manner. I think I am going to finish the chapter and give it a harder look later on. Worse comes to worse, I might need to change the POV character from Galter to his mother Elke. We’ll see.

There are few other things happening – I’ve got a friend having a birthday party this Saturday and I’ve been invited. I’ve also got to get that present out the door for her. She’s going to be surprised…especially if it survives the trip.

I love podcasts. My favorite – the go-to one if I don’t want to listen to music when I am writing – is Writing Excuses. It’s fast and covers one topic fairly well among published writers and a web cartoonist. I’ve gotten a lot of good advice while travelling or while writing (the sound of screeching tires is applicable in both instances). I can’t recommend it too highly for novice writers like me.

I finally got that tree trunk out of the ground and managed to sneak in some visual humor, so I can move on to Nysa and her inevitable screaming fit. This is one of those scenes that came to me relatively late in the writing (literally three weeks ago) which is why I keep my outlines somewhat vague:

• Chapter 1: Tyro created
  
• Chapter 2: The world as it is = Master flexes power
  
• Chapter 3: Stickball game, Osahar gets rewarded, Master picks other Lord to get robbed, spy dies, Tyro becomes part of group for reals.
  

For the longest time, I would steadfastly refuse to do an outline. Outlines were for the weak. Every work sprang forth from my enlightened brow fully formed like Athena from the mind of Zeus, clad in armor and ready to fight for your attention.

Then I grew up and realized that’s not how a good book is made.

I found that if I had no outline, I was all over the place. Remember – this was before Amazon and when self-publishing was limited to vanity presses that were not really worth the effort, so I ran into the notion of a word count much like I ran into that wall on my bike when I was ten…complete with scraped forehead and chipped tooth. After that, I tried the tried and true outline format to discover what I hated in 4^th grade I continued to hate many, many years later. I tried to bully my way through it knowing I needed to have some sort of organization, but not really realizing that I don’t have to do the outline the way Sister Mary Catherine of the +5 Vorpal Ruler told me to do it…until I was so disgusted I just started doing it the way I wanted to do it. Yes, I am that stubborn. After I outline the first novel, I found that this was a huge help if I combined it with a couple of other things like the Five Act Structure. Everything gets covered, I still have enough wiggle room if I get a flash of sudden inspiration, I can incorporate it into the book and not deviate greatly from the main outline. Good example of this is with Nysa – she was supposed to go with the others and buy the figurative farm at the next village rather than stick around and show up again in the third book to show us how much Tyro has changed in between books.

Be utilitarian – if it works, fantastic. Wear it out. If it doesn’t – throw it away without oxidizing another glucose molecule in your frontal lobe.

Well, I need to get Nysa to screaming. Hope your day is just as productive, but not as loud.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

I was gaming with my group last night and one of them pointed me to the logs from an earlier game. Wow – it’s nice to see a character forming, like watching a flower open. I am going to read some more and just see how much I can use for the novel, but it’s nice to look at a game that was rather enjoyable and reminded me why I like RPGs so much – the ability to take a series of numbers and give it a breath of life… even if it’s a babbling mess.

Speaking of babbling messes – I am going to try to finish the chapter this week and get back on track. I want to get them out of the village (and safety…muahahahaha…) and get them towards their destiny in Daergal. Some would say that I am lingering in the village because I don’t want to subject them to any more ill will. Well, I did change the fate of one character once they hit the village, but it is for the better since that one (Nysa) will appear again in the third book. Sadly, there will be no such changes for the others – but I hope it will make for an interesting story. I’ve gotten a better grip on the third novel, so I will more than likely start working on the outline in a couple of months (after Nanowrimo). I’m also working on the outline for the Nanowrimo project at work and since we are at the slow part of the month, I should get it done by the end of the week. As long as it’s done before 10/31, I’ll be OK. This one is going to be a quick edit on Word and get it out the door. I really need to get stuff together and get going. It’s been a while since I put one thing out, so I am very overdue. I also need to get in contact with the artist for the book cover of another overdue project. Maybe I can get that one out sooner.

Well, there is nothing else to report. I am roughly a month away from my birthday and the four day vacation that ensues. Dexter is over and I still have as of yet to watch the final season. Breaking Bad is coming to a fiery close next week. The only show I am really amped up about is premiering tomorrow (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) and I am going to buy the season pass when I get paid. Hockey starts and I am going to get the package for that. I’ve also noticed something. Since I dropped cable I am watching less TV. I usually watch an hour on the weekdays (enough for one show) and on Saturday it’s maybe two hours in the evening. I spend more time in front of a computer of some sort (listening to Sirius in the evening when I can) and trying to work on something.

I need to get some more coffee and get back to the happy village. Y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Well, I am going to be honest. I am just here. I’m waking up slowly today, but I am going to work on this blog and get in some words so I can put some more into the chapter and hopefully finish it out for Saturday. Boy, I need to get some more Death Wish Coffee. I’d brew it with Pepsi Max if I wasn’t worried about my heart exploding out my chest with the force of a supernova. For now, it’s gonna be this little coffee cup and some music. At least it’s Friday and work has been blessedly light. I got a manga reader on tablet, so I’ve been glutting myself on some of the more obscure titles (that have been translated) until December 31^st when the next volume of Empowered is put out. I also need to remember to preorder that when I get paid in November. I recommend it highly – good art work and some not-so-stealthy jabs at the superhero genre.

Tyro. They’re still trying to pull that stump out. Hopefully it will come out today so I can get Nysa’s big breakdown done on Saturday after the writers’ group. That will close the chapter and hopefully get the story back to moving in a regular pace. It just feels like this chapter (one of the few non-ushabit centric ones) has been dragging on. I hope that feeling doesn’t come out in the work itself. As far as the romance goes, I can see that there is very little room to do any major shake-ups in the genre itself. So far, the only thing I have going for it is a squishy male and an Amazonian female. Not really sure what I can tweak majorly – I should get a couple of books about romance novels in general and maybe read a couple (the things I do for my art) and try to figure out what I can do. Obviously, I need to have the HEA ending (Happily Ever After) but what is going to happen in between the first incident and the final sentence. I have an idea of a plot (possession, sex, travelling, sex, gunplay… and something else… maybe sex?) and some nifty scenes, but I am just trying to see where I can put in a unique twist and try to avoid this book being formulaic. I’ll have to figure something out. Maybe the pair never get together in the end? Hmm…just thinkin’ on it. Thankfully, I don’t have to have the outline done until the end of October.

There aren’t many other things coming out in the theatres soon that I am rabidly looking forward to. Just the movie Gravity and We Are What We Are (yes, I have a fascination for cannibals) coming out this month. I might go see one of them in the theatre, but the other I might have better luck in waiting for it to come to DVD, unless the ‘artsy’ movie house comes through. I really miss the Vogue theatre. Saw two of the best romances ever there and got to see Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet” on the big screen. Now it’s a shoe store and if I want to find some weird films, it’s either the multiplex near Bardstown Road (the name escapes me) or this place – not to disparage it, it’s my go-to for the Christmas Marathon…which reminds me, I need to start drawing up the list for this year’s event.

Off to lunch, writing, shower and driving as summer makes a last gasp here in Kentucky. Hope y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

OK, I was having a dream and this is one of the rare dreams that I remember somewhat upon waking. What I remember the most is someone dressed in the Marine’s dress blue uniform opening a door and telling me that he had an important announcement…and then he started barking. In that dream, I said two things: ‘What the hell is this?’ and ‘Goddamn it…’ shortly before waking up to my neighbor’s dogs barking. It’s not often that I react to things in my dreams like that. Then again, those dogs get under my nerves rather quickly.

The stump continues to come out of the ground in Tyro’s novel. I am looking to finally get that thing ripped out this Saturday (this Friday I have to get a gift for someone’s birthday) and hopefully get to Nysa’s big honkin’ panic attack by next week to close out the chapter. Next up would the bandits and the ushabit hitting the road again – in other words: break’s over, back to misery. This novel is taking a little longer than I would like (I should be done by now…) but I am also trying to make this the best novel since this is going to be the Big One. As far as the Nanowrimo project, I’ve started to outline it to get ready for November. This one is going to be done at the same time the Tyro Project is being done – just to see if I can do it and I honestly get a kick out of doing Nanowrimo. Maybe this will be the first time I’ll finish it two years concurrently. I need to try to find that clipboard with the stickers from 2009. Anyways – the Nanowrimo project is a romance in the same realm as Tyro (if I had to put it into a time line, it would be in between Unbound and Unchained [books 1 and 2]), and I am trying to think of some ways where I can go a different route as far as the romance tropes – other than the main character is a mousy male and the main female lead is more aggressive. The visual reference I have for the leads is for the male Daniel Radcliff from post-Harry Potter and for the female Ronda Rousey (yes, in my head she is also the face for Marah in Tyro’s novel – it’s not like I have to pay her anything. If you have an idea for a muscular but still somewhat feminine looking blonde woman – please send it to me). I’m wandering around the idea of there being a consummation, but no lasting relationship on the part of the female lead (no names yet) and the male lead being OK with that. I just don’t want to do a by-the-numbers romance. Then again, I should probably know what the numbers are, shouldn’t I? Anyways, I am going to write and finish that during November so I can hopefully have a couple of other things out there beyond my first book.

Well, I need to go catch dinner. Hope y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

The seasons are starting to turn here in the land of bourbon, horses and basketball. I can tell because I am not waking up in a pool of my own sweat. Sorry, but I am fat and the summers here are a little harsh on me.

Me and my twin brother Enrique enjoying an afternoon ride.

Those poor mopeds…

Taking advantage of the cooler nights, I have started walking again – not like the multi-mile affairs I did when growing up (Saturdays had me walking no less than nine miles) but just 2 miles in about 40 minutes. A little exercise here and there to hopefully get down to my fighting weight of below a teaspoon of neutron star for the swimsuit season next year and I promise you no speedos.

Enough of that – as I was walking last night, I was trying to work on a system of magic that would be fairly unique. With that in mind, I wanted to think of another way of categorizing magic – particularly magic that involved the human body (this is for my so-bad-it’s-gonna-be-great s&s books), and I had the idea of organizing everything into elements – yes, I know about the four classical elements and even about the five Chinese elements (wood, metal, fire, air, water). I thought it would be a good way to organize other magical abilities: The Ways of the Body (breath, blood, bone, flesh) or The Trials of Darkness (speaking, holding, calling, summoning). There would be different groups that would be better at such things than others, and would control that information similar to the guilds in Medieval Europe (or like the modern crime families). That would work out in giving the character known only as The Woman a bit of a rep as someone who’s very talented and the only one who could speak to these different families as equals. Just something I am tossing about.

Tyro continues along at its mopey pace. I’m going to try to get the tree out of the ground this Saturday and maybe write a little something involving Nysa and Galter to show the fear of the ‘demons’ to the normal people:

IT WILL SWALLOW YOUR SOUL

There’s your spoiler for the first novel: Tyro and the other ushabit think that trees are demons that the Master keeps at bay to protect his servants. Interesting story behind that idea – which I think I’ve already discussed. If I haven’t I will tell it to you tomorrow. Right now, I just need to get that stump out of the ground, get the apples harvested and await the coming of the bandits to close out the chapter. With the writing group coming this Saturday, I am hoping that I can use some of that momentum (or sleep deprivation) to carry off this chapter and try to get back on track.

October 1^st marks the beginning of the hockey season, I’ve got my money ready to buy the season from NHL.com and finally enjoy watching all the games. My favorite team? The Phoenix Coyotes. You have to admire a man who came out to the deserts of Arizona and said: you know what this place needs? A pro hockey team!

Well, I need to get to work. I hope you all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

… and it was magnificent! I was turned on to Art Bell when I begin working third shift for an insurance company as a tape librarian (one of the best jobs I had as a temp). I brought in a radio and I was just cruising through the AM dial and I heard someone talk about the JKF conspiracy (conspiracy theories are a bit of a fascination with me). I stopped at that point and I continued to listen to the Art Bell Show whenever I got the chance. When he left the air, I was hurt and slightly confused – like discovering that your best friend had moved away by going to his house and finding it boarded up. I tried George Noory and the whole Coast to Coast thing…but it wasn’t the same. Seriously, he went into topics that I didn’t stomach at all. I had some older episodes recorded, so I’d listen to those when I got the chance – but now he’s back! I was able to use my subscription to use my subscription to Sirius for what it was intended for, but there are some problems I am going to have to try to fix:

1. Sirius will log me out automatically if there is no activity on the computer. This makes no sense.
   
2. My internet connection has been spotty and as a result, I am getting dropped and have to restart the player. I should call the cable company about that.
   

Other than that – I like what I have! I’m going to try to listen to it on the sly at work and see if I can record it on my main PC.

As far as Tyro goes, I am going to get that tree ripped out of the ground and hopefully move on to some other parts of the novel. I am ready to work now and I guess that I will have to take the low yield days with the high. I am still tinkering in my head as far as the Nanowrimo project goes – I’m going to hammer out an outline this weekend (in between writer’s group and groceries) and get everything lined up for it so I can start running on 11/1 at 12:00:00. I am going to try to keep up Tyro’s novel and the Nanowrimo at the same time and complete the Nanowrimo novel within the time frame (11/31). If I am lucky, I’ll get one done and get it out there by next year. It is a goal to get a novel finished and out there in the wild after the first of the year. I can do this. With one, I just need to finish the editing, get someone to beta read it and get some artwork together. More than likely that’s the one that will hit Amazon, but I would like to see the Nanowrimo novel get out as well. I just have to focus and get through it.

Well, I’m going to listen to the first hour and a half of the show and have some late breakfast. I hope everyone has a good day for a Tuesday.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

ART BELL IS BACK TONIGHT!

I’ve gotten my SiriusXM membership active and I made sure that I could record it when I went to sleep (I’m going to be at work when it comes on, so I can only get the last two hours, but it repeats again at 2AM). I have been waiting for this all month. I am so excited about tonight – still tempted to call in, but I know that means I would have to give up one of my remaining vacation days, and I am not going to sacrifice my birthday week. Really looking forward to it tonight. Yeah – my life is like that. Doesn’t take much to get me excited.

Anyways – I am going to go back to the Tyro novel, but I’ve been thinking about another swords-n-sorcery idea, but I am trying to find something original to it. Something about a mercenary company, but I’m trying to think of a new angle – something that hasn’t been done before. I was thinking about the main character being a new draftee sent to the paymaster for training. Y’know – something like Gilroy: Tactical Accountant!… but not as lame sounding. As far as I can tell, there has been nothing about what really runs a mercenary company: the money. A lot of fantasy when dealing with the swords and sorcery parts stick to just that: swords and sorcery. I am looking for something different to hang the story’s hat on. Sure, there will be the usual cavalcade of fantastic creatures, spells, enchanted weapons and chainmail bikinis – but I am looking to tell a different story. I have the plot itself from a game I’ve been wanting to run for a while, but I have never been able to find people to hang on long enough for it. I don’t want to say anything else right now because I don’t want to spoil it. Now, if you’re panicking that I have forgotten about Tyro – let me assure you that I haven’t, but I have found this to be the best way to corral plot bunnies.

Gah – I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep lately, mostly because I’m more of a night person and the neighbors down the street feel the need to start their arguing early in the morning to get it out of the way. Seriously, I hit the sack at 2:30 AM (and that’s me going to be early, kids) but I’ll end up waking up a couple of hours later and I can’t get back to sleep until 6 or 7 AM… about when the sun starts to rise and the Joads get their yell on. I might experiment with getting some earplugs and using that to block out the morning and set my alarm to vibrate and sleep in a t-shirt with a pocket in it to make sure I get up on time. Well, enough of this, let me watch Breaking Bad and get ready for work.

I hope y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Today is Thursday the 12th, so you all know what that means. Yes, National “Not My Fault! Day” will be here before you know it. Black cats are lined up to waltz across your path in a conga line of misfortune at the stroke of midnight.

This week as far as writing has been concerned, but I am going to take this weekend and shrug it off. I think that one of the issues that has been plaguing me has been the little things in this one book and casting an eye towards NaNoWrimo in a month and a half. I am thinking about writing “Heart of Clay” (a romance, stop laughing) and trying to get that one finished in time for some light editing over the holidays. I’m still going to finish the Tyro novel in the same breath. So, I will be dividing my time in between the two books and hopefully get them both into some sort of working order.

Speaking of working order, Tyro’s third novel totters towards completion. I like having some sort of musical theme for the novel I’m working on. With Tyro’s first novel, it’s “Truth and Reconciliation Suite” from Halo. The second novel has “Sorceror” by Marilyn Martin. For the third novel, and this was found by happy accident, I have this piece as the theme. It really hits on Tyro’s quandary in the third novel: she knows that she has more to do, but she isn’t sure as to how to get there or even if she can (or should) ask for help. Give it a listen, leave an opinion or tell me to get bent (I’m lonely).

I get paid tomorrow and I think that rather than living it up, I am going to lay low as it were. I want to save up some cash to get myself a Chromebook (the gadgets are my vice) for my birthday. Besides, I’ve got some plumber issues to take care of this weekend. I would love to put that off for later, but this is one of those things that isn’t going to wait. I will spare you, dear reader, the grisly details.

Oh, with Thanksgiving coming, my idea for dinner is going to be simple: home made pizza. Yes…turkey pizza. Simple, quick and its going to be delicious. If you ask nicely, I’ll even save you a slice.

Well, have to go back to work and finishing reading this “Order of the Stick” archive. How y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,
Seething Apathy