Well, it’s the first day of my vacation and I am rocking out to this. I’ve finished one chapter and have begun another. I think I have two to three more short chapters to do and then I will be done with the main draft and I will start some of the re-writes (there are a couple of scenes I left out on purpose because I had no idea what to do) and send it off to the editor to be poured over, flogged and purified by fire and word processor. When all is said and done, I am looking forward to have it ready for publication by Christmas. This one is going to get as much publicity as I can muster. Websites, word of mouth and good old fashioned guilting will be my strategy to success. Of course, I am going to buy copes to distribute to friends and see how that works. With any luck, I can get this out there and start drawing some real money for my troubles. The goal is $30,000 – enough for me to live well for a year. When I hit that amount, I quit whatever it is I am doing and write full time. With luck, I can keep putting in more than I take out and just keep going with this little enterprise. That’ll twist some gossamer.

I’ve finished one chapter and I am working on another one right now. We’re seeing the city of Rald – think of it as if 15^th Century London were scooped up and put in the middle of the Rockies with pleasant weather. That’s Rald, where one of the main characters spent much of her time there. A city of friendly peril and commonplace intrigue tucked away against the brittle blue of the autumn sky. Rald! I am going to get this finished by Wednesday evening. Today, I wrote and puttered around a little. Tuesday will be more puttering and more writing. Wednesday is going to be the mad dash for the finish line, but I will get finished. I have every intention to pick up I/O
Error next week… right after I watch the season premiere of Doctor Who. Thankfully, I got my DVR to record it, so I am not going to miss anything. J

There is very little to report in my private life that isn’t writing, TV or writing. Tomorrow is going to be an anniversary of sorts, but I’m not going to get into that right now. Today is for celebrating, which I did with some Hard Mike’s Pink Lemonade (very tasty, but didn’t get me very buzzed like Strong 68) and eating a lot of spaghetti. I know, I know – I’m a hedonist living out on the edge, but granted that today I ate when I wanted and drank when I wanted rather than shovel everything down in 30 minutes or less – it’s one of the reason why I am focusing on my writing. I want to live and work for me, not someone else.

Well – enough of that. Have a good day, hope tomorrow can be better and I’ll see you all later.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

I am on vacation enjoying some recorded Olympic coverage (don’t spoil it for me) – 16 hours of coverage which will free up some more – a lot more since it is a digital channel – and then I will be able to relax a little bit as far as worrying about losing any thing. I’m also going to do some writing after I’ve finished here… and then it’s a microwaved lunch, more Olympics and writing to be followed by finally going out to Steak ‘n’ Shake for dinner and dessert to be followed by a little more writing and finally some X-Box… now that I have an X-Box Gold account for this year. I don’t play online that much because I don’t have the fast twitch reaction that most 12 year olds have. I play for the fun of it – which also reminds me – they’ve redone “Baldur’s Gate”! It’s being released the same time as Borderlands 2 and I have a chance to pre-order it online! I haven’t played it in years – I still have it on this PC in fact. I just hope that they stay true to the form of the game and not try to update it for 4e. I’m not a fan of that system. 2^nd ed. was good, 3^rd ed. was OK, but 3.5 and 4 were horrible. I’ve got a friend who is involved in play testing 5 and by his reckoning it should be called 3.75^th which will be a big step forward in my view.

The novel will get some work today. Might even finish it – all depends how the laundry situation sorts itself out. Thankfully, I don’t have a lot, but I can’t go out anywhere until I do some laundry since I need pants – I might have to break down and get a pair of jeans with my next paycheck (but they are awfully expensive) and maybe a new shirt. What that has to do with writing is absolutely nothing – sorry, I am trying to stay on target here. I will need to get the alcohol for the vacation today… so I should start the laundry soon

… and maybe I should do something else while my clothes are getting dizzy… any suggestions?

Sunday, I am finally going to get around to getting that doorframe painted and try an experiment in using my headphones and a long recording of white noise to counteract the dogs barking early in the morning. I might get a full night’s sleep for a change. Who knows how I am going to act once I have a full eight hours under my belt? More than likely no different than I am acting now, but I will act more aware of my actions, which for some will be a gentle surprise. I like what’s happening here – the book will be finished by Wednesday and off to the editor by the weekend. I’ll need to email the artist to give them the info they need for the cover.

So – I should get hopping. Have fun today everyone.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Hello, all! By this time tomorrow, I should still be asleep! My vacation begins in roughly 14 hours and I cannot be more excited. I’m getting three days off (Monday-Wednesday) and I will write to my little heart’s content and game in the times in between. I will finish the novel and get through the most of the rewrites. I will have a drink or two… or five or six. I will play Borderlands, Halo: Reach or even Fallout 3. I will have fun even if I have to hold people hostage. I’ve earned it. The dogs are quiet. Now I can’t concentrate on what to type next. I am really starting to dislike those dogs.

Anyways – like I mentioned, I am going to finish the novel this vacation period and then I will take a couple of days off to relax, and then jump into the next novel – more incentive for me to finish the novel early. Sorry if I seem to have a one track mind, but I am excited about getting some days off and working on something that I like for a change. Let me tell you this, all you young readers out there – if you find something you’re good at: do it. Never let anyone else tell you otherwise. There, enough of the old man talking.

There is a movie getting ready to hit On Demand called V/H/S and it looks good. It’s a series of vignettes and wow – they look scary for me and I am going to watch it when it comes out.

Sorry – I am a little distracted and out of it. I promise that the next installation will be chockfull of moments.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

The day after tomorrow is the last day of work before my vacation. I am praying that I get to leave early that day – anything to speed up the vacation getting-to tomorrow. Since I’m also going to need cash for the drinks and Saturday night’s dinner, I am forgoing my usual Thursday lunch out. Right now, however – I am out of it because interrupted sleep for the past few days. I am going to buy earplugs when I go to the hardware store this Sunday to get some paint to fix the door frame. I tried to scrape off the paint, but I was pulling up wood – so I am just going to reapply Kilz and a nice fresh weather proofed paint. Hopefully, it will be the only hard work I do over the weekend and into vacation. The novel will be finished by Wednesday if not earlier. No ifs ands or buts. Done and done. Fer reelz, yo.

OK – I have an editor lined up and I need to get information to the cover artist this weekend – with those two chores done soon, I can probably relax for a few minutes before charging ahead to the next novel, which will hopefully be a better put-together success than the first one now that I know how to set up chapters in the document – something I was unable to do in my first book, but I will repair that in the next version with new short stories to boot! I need two more ideas, so I’ll have to mine my common book again or stare blankly at a window – which I’ll probably do at work anyways. If I am going to have hours of boredom, might as well be productive about it.

Oh, speaking of being completely unproductive – I am 20 cards away from completing every deck in Magic: The Gathering 2012 on my computer. The last deck is a Red-Blue deck called Cloudburst. Now, for those of you that may not know this about me, but I have been playing Magic: The Gathering since its beginning waaaaay back when. I still even have the original Unholy Blessing. 5 binders of cards and seven or eight decks that I am tempted to completely tear down and sell everything to make about $400.00 (this is an estimate, but I know I’ve got two cards worth $50.00 each), not to mention all the original CoPs. While I love the game, and I wish I could find people who would be interested in just a friendly game or two – not the ones I’ve played with who are out for blood. I hate playing with those people. Don’t get me wrong, they were interesting, but when they played Magic – they played to win and frustrate… and they made more money than me so I couldn’t keep up with their mini-arms race. Which is one of the things I didn’t like about Magic to begin with – you have to spend an obscene amount of money to really get anywhere.

Well, it’s late for me here – let me get my yogurt and a shower. Not at the same time obviously.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

With it being Wednesday, I have only two days left of work and then I skip gloriously into vacation. Yes, I keep harping on it – there is a good reason. I hate my job and I see the vacation as the one thing that’s going to save my sanity. Well, that and the half-half hard tea I will gleefully consume during the three days of vacation. I’m gonna love what little I remember about next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m going to do some work on the novel – in fact, I am going to finish it starting from this coming Saturday and finishing it up Wednesday night – and maybe even squeeze in a session or two of video gaming. My X-Box is so lonely and neglected. That and I might take a day to try to finish off the Olympics – like that 16 hours session that’s probably taking up half the DVR memory.

As I said earlier, I am going to finish the novel during my break and I intend on doing that. There is little left in what needs to be written (the end) and some scenes I need to wedge in there. My big question (and I can’t remember if I asked this or not) is that the main character is mute, but uses sign language. My question is that should we know what she’s saying or try to fumble through it with the other characters? If we should know what she’s saying, would it be in “quotes” or should I underline it like I’ve been doing in the last half of it? Personally, I vote underline – the main character has a wit about her that should be shared with everyone else, and I think that the whole ‘someone else restates what she says’ is a little played out. So – I think I’ll just maintain the current pattern and add to it in the beginning. Have no fear – it will be done. Really.

I also have a neat idea for a horror short story that I might put up here as a preview. I’ve watched enough of those ghost hunting shows to get a germ of an idea. Don’t worry – I’m still going to watch them (if my one favorite will ever get some new episodes and my other favorite will stop changing their name with every season and throwing off my DVR) because those are the only reality show that I really like. The only other reality show that I am watching right now is ‘Stars Earn Stripes’ just to get a better feel as to how the Rank would act around civilians and maybe around each other at certain points. I will get to Zeno’s Calendar after I finish the first Spooksayer novel, which comes after I/O Error. Nice to know I am going to be busy for at least the next year. That and I might try to do another 4 Bits and a Dollar. I have two short stories ready, I just need two more.

Well, I should scurry off and get ready for my job. For today is Wednesday… the halfway point in the week. Two more days… two more days….

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

I am getting closer to my vacation with every day – but oh, my – are the days long. Today is Tuesday, and yesterday was a little bit of a madhouse for a Monday. Tuesdays tend to be a little hairier, but the end of the month tends to be a little quieter since merchant services won’t have as many calls to dump to us. No – I’m not bitter or anything. Not at all. But those three days are going to be so nice – especially since I will have these little friends with me during the day. I am ready for this little break. After this, it’s a couple of weeks and then Borderlands 2 break!

The novel is creeping towards being finished. I’m trying to get the small points done and make sure that everything is linked together well. I am going to have all of this done by the end of the vacation next Thursday. After that, it’s on to the next one and trying to get that finished before the end of March. I don’t know what to do after I/O Error, but I’m sure I will find something to occupy my time.

I also have to start on my Halloween costume soon. I am going to go as Robert Baratheon, so I need to put together the costume. Thankfully, I have the body for him; I just need to whip of a bunch of fabric, boots and a shiny sword. Shouldn’t be too hard – I mean; I took a semester of Home Ec, so I should be able to stitch together a shirt and leggings from a picture… or something along those lines. The sword will be the most expensive part, so if the deadline is looming, it will be the first to go – but I need to get a stein with a stag motif on it. This might be the best costume ever.

I am still feeling tired. At first, I was considering waking up at the same time I do on the weekdays during my vacation, but… you know… I would like to try to get enough sleep… meaning I want to sleep in a lot. So, I figure that as long as I work very hard when I am awake, I should be able to sleep in a little. Lord knows I could use the extra sleep. Might even be more productive for these three days… or dead on my feet – either way, I am not going to be at work and that’s all that matters in the end. Tee-Hee.

Well, speaking of work. I need to get ready to get this day over with. Wish me luck as I cut this blog a wee bit short.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

I am getting three days off next Monday. I can’t be any happier. My vacations break down like this: 3 days off next week, then Sept. 17^th and 18^th (to celebrate the release of Borderlands 2), after that I’m off for October 15^th and 16^th (for what would have been Bioshock: Infinite) then another work week and then my birthday week / Halo 4 release for a week and a half and that’s it. I’ll still have a day off for illness, but I’ll try to use it before the end of December. I will be productive during these vacations, working on with this novel or the next (hopefully the next one by October’s vacation) with an eye on starting the New Year with a finished work under my belt. This coming the year will be the year I gain traction on this whole writing thing.

Speaking of the writing thing: I am going to work to finish everything off before my vacation this month. Since I have to go nowhere this weekend, I should be able to finish the rough draft and start the fill-in work (there is are a couple of scenes that need to be written and inserted) and I want to have the editor look at the work and see whether or not I should keep the ‘spoken dialog’ that the main character signs. I’m not sure if I should keep it – the other character does understand it, but I am trying to stay away from various sign language tropes. So – I will let the editor make the call. All I need to do is finish the thing. Which I will do this week – seriously, just need to settle down and get stuff from my Nook Color over to one of the laptops and link everything together.

Did I mention that I am anxious to get my vacation started? Yes, I am ready to go. Gonna back my car into the parking spot Friday afternoon and tear out at Midnight to have five days of fun and relaxation. I might even try to catch a movie (maybe on On Demand). I might even try to finish a couple of Olympic Games I have recorded – yeah, I am going to be watching a lot of Olympics for a while, I still have a 16 hour chunk to go through and that’s going to be broken up Saturday and Sunday to make room for the upcoming football season. The season that I might also listen to on the NFL audio so that I can finally monitor the whole season of my favorite team for a change rather than blindly hope to find a broadcast channel. Which is so frustrating for me – since I follow a team that gets hardly any TV coverage, even if they play a more popular team. I can’t win to lose.

Oh, well. At least I have the Olympics.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

I don’t know if anyone here has been so tired that they fell asleep as soon as they sat down, but that’s what happened to me today. Got up early on today to make sure that I was able to get to the hotel where the meeting is being held, and actually relax for a second before I have to get stuff printed. I stayed up a little later than I wanted to do get the assignment ready. So, I went to bed at 2:30 AM and got up at 8:30 AM – six hours of sleep, not a problem. Woke up, had a breakfast of a glass of milk and went to the meeting. Got there at around 9:00 – got a Pepsi and an apple pie. That was the last of the good things before the meeting. I went to Office Max and they were having problems with their copier system linking to their network. I’m sure that you’re just as confused as I am – apparently the person getting something printed had to get it pulled off the Internet, with me and my primitive flash-drive waiting. Apparently I was more tired than I had considered, because I just said “I’ll come back later” – code for: “not doing this again”. I’m kinda disappointed because I wanted to get this done and read because I am doing it in first person which is something that I am not really comfortable with writing. OK – I went back to the hotel, less than enthused. Rather than hang out in the lobby, I thought I would jump ahead and go to the back, maybe work on something else and see if I could get into the local network to print something.

Which would have been a great idea had the printer there been working. So – no dice on my piece. Oh, well – there is next month when I should have the whole novel finished by the net meeting and just get some feedback on some of the shakier parts… like all of them. So – I got there and apparently, there is drama. Someone quit or something, or dumped people. I don’t know, because I am not in the main e-mail group. One of the members made a comment that I hadn’t made any sort of RSVP in a rather accusatory tone. I reminded him that no one bothers to e-mail me anything and that I assume that there is going to be a meeting unless someone bothers to tell me otherwise (please see prior point). This is one of the things that made me reconsider using a group in the first place. While I understand there is going to be politics, but… really? I’m not here to wade through bullshit; I am there to improve my craft. I’m going to see how everything shakes out in the next couple of months. Seriously, if I have to put up with a lot of this sort of crap, I will leave. I have no time for this grade school crap.

Speaking of the novel – I am getting the last ice cream scene finished tonight and will work on the bridges during the week. Oh – and I have a vacation coming up, so there are going to be three days in which I can really pour it on and maybe even finish early to have a genuine day off or two to play some games. After that, I am going to go on to the next novel and get that going to have that one finished by the end of the year and have the first one out there in the wilds by Christmas. I am hoping that I can do a novel (50K-60K) every three months. If I can’t have quality, I’ll take quantity.

Well – all of this day was rather exhausting for me. I’m going to sign off and get some sleep.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Where I live, we have loud people. Normally, this doesn’t concern me, but it becomes an issue when I’m only getting five hours of sleep. Which means I have to double up on the caffeine to try to wake up for writing and the morning (yaaa… second shift!) so I can be ready for work in the afternoon. Bleh. I’m still a little sleepy, so I got the caffeine here and trying to get going. Tomorrow is the writer’s group, so I am going to write 2K in first person when I get home – and I sincerely hope to get out early. I have movies to watch, words to write and maybe some ice cream to eat. I have priorities after all.

I’ve finished the first ice cream scene in the final part of the novel, and now proudly moving on to the second scene.

I can’t get going this morning. I apologize. Saturday will be better, I swear.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

While I like getting my paycheck automatically deposited into my account, I don’t like that it’s not a consistent affair as far as time goes. Sometimes, it comes in during the pre-dawn hours and I get to wake up with it. Other times, I check my bank statement online like I have OCD (these times are usually predicated by my gas tank hovering a micrometer above ‘E’) to know when I can head out and get my errands run before the work day begins for me. Today, I have to get a new cyan cartridge for my printer as well as get gas for the beast and I might get myself a Barnes and Noble gift card for the Nook. Also the bills need to be paid and I have yet to terrorize my favorite restaurant. Ahh… payday Thursday – it’s like Friday, but you have money to spend (at least after the bills are paid – I’m looking at you cable company).

I’m still working on the ice cream scenes on my Color. Tomorrow evening, I am going to work on a short first person piece for the writing group from an idea I had called “Image: Maker”. I’ve never written that much in first-person, and I have been asked to stretch myself in the group (well, it was a request made for the group, but I am taking it seriously). Oh – I’ve also found some really neat software for writing! Well, two websites and software: here, here and here. I’ve tried them and they’re basic as far as editing goes: adverbs, repeated phrases, grammar – still no substitute for a flesh-and-blood editor (like mine), but for someone just starting out this is an invaluable resource.

Well, the summer is winding down here. It just seems like only yesterday I was complaining about the heat and nudging the AC closer to zero centigrade. Now, the temperature are on the warmer side of pleasant and the dogs are going crazy over the kids walking to school – unlike them going crazy because the kids are heading to a friend’s house, or just going crazy. Of course, the end of summer means my birthday is creeping closer. It also means I am going to have a short vacation coming up, followed by a nice long one. For both of these vacations, I intend on not being completely sober for several of those days. Which also reminds me: I need to preorder this game, since my long vacation is going to fall on the release date. Between that and Borderlands 2 – the last quarter of the year, I don’t think I am going to be very productive. Which means I should get to work now, or close to now – I do have to go to Penn Station and make sure they haven’t forgotten their fear of me (just kidding – I love that place).

Since I have to go, I will wish all of you a good Thursday and hope your weeks are good.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy