nanowrimo

The Five Hundred and Eightieth Post: The One Where I am Ready To Write 50,000 Words!

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I can’t wait for tomorrow – I’m writing this on October 31st, Nanowrimo eve. I haven’t finished the outline for the novel, but I am confident that by the time I get to the last chapter I have outlined, I will have an idea where to thake the story. I think when it comes to me outlining…as much as I hate this saying: less is more. My outline for Voices Abroad is enough so that I could hand it to anyone and they could write the text based off of my notes. Sadly, I have come to a point in the outline where I don’t really feel like putting anything down. I want to get the outline finished, but I’m just daunted? Is that the right feeling? I’m chomping at the bit to get going for the main book. The outline? Not so much.

I’m also working on the Gothic horror story’s notes and outlines – speaking of chomping at the bit. I might end up starting it on January and push back the hardcore fantasy for a few months. I’m not really motivated to take up those other two novels right now. I’m not despairing right now, I have the whole year to work on them, and this Gothic novel really is hitting the right spot for me. It’s not going to be a Kellas Donovan novel – so sex and violence will be at a minimum. I’m even buying a couple of books that are literary analysis of Gothic literature just to make sure I have all my I’s dotted and T’s crossed. I’m taking my time with this one because I really want to get this one right. I can feel the fire in my bones. This is going to be a good one. I might even try to get this one published through traditional means.

I had a good birthday – got “The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires” and a new t-shirt for the gym. It was a good Sunday. I am hoping that the rest of the week and the next that I have off will be just as productive. Slept in a little…meaning I got up at seven in the morning rather than four-thirty. Working when I feel up to it, and playing some Baldur’s Gate 3 when so moved. It’s been a fun time so far.

That’s it for now. This time tomorrow, I am going to have my little ‘writer’s moment’ and plop myself down in front of my writing laptop and write away. I can barely wait. Might even take a nap and wake up at midnight to get going. Probably not.

The Five Hundred and Seventy-sixth Post: The One Where I Actually Open Up About Something That’s Bothering Me…

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Can I get real for a minute?

I’m getting ready to write the outline for my next, and last horror book of the year.

I’m going to write about a native Kenyan schizophrenic coming over to America and losing his mind. I’m a pasty white boy from Virginia who’s never crossed the Rockies, much less been overseas. I’m no schizophrenic. I’m not sane either (heh). The only thing I have going for me is that I have done a lot of research into schizophrenia – in fact, this book is based on a study I happened to have stumbled across while looking for something else entirely.

I don’t have the background for this.

I don’t even think this is my book.

I’ll just quietly retreat from all of this and go back to comedy…

Now, I have written about murder, without having committed a murder. I’ve written about elves without having pointed ears and a six-hundred-year outlook on life. I’ve written about cannibalism without having so much as biting someone in anger. Why do I feel so nervous about this particular book?

Is it the climate that this book is being written in? The fact that I have put in the kind of work that I have, and my whole career can be killed even before it gets off the ground by someone calling a racist? Even if I take the time to defend my position, would anyone bother to hear it? The pessimist in me (a loud, old man to be sure) says that no one is going to care. The label will be slapped on me and that will be that.

If only that many people *read* the book…

Should I write this book, though? I could easily hand it off to someone else. Someone who has more experience than me in certain matters. I can finish the outline, drop off photocopies of everything and say “Good luck! Remember me in the author’s dedication list!”. Being a ghost writer is an honorable profession. So is using a pseudonym. We can ask Anne Rampling how that worked out for her.

I would hand it off to someone, even offer to write it for them and give them credit…but my ego would never allow it. I could not stay quiet if I gave this away and it became a success. The bitterness would overtake me so fast, it’d make your head spin. The rest of my life would be chasing that success to reclaim it.

What should I do, then? Write it and then quietly smother the baby in the crib? Set all my research aside and hope to find someone willing to be the front face of this particular book? The pressure behind the sunk-cost fallacy is real.

The Five Hundred and Seventy-Fifth Post: The One Where I Succeed Finally!

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I finally did it! I got something finished before a (moved back twice) deadline! The Catastrophic Christmas Party is finished and off for editing and a first read through! I have a few days which I am going to use to start to do the spell-check and some lighter editing. The deep editing is going to happen during October and possibly November, but it looks like it will be ready by December, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Shown: Relief

This is good, not only for morale, but I now have all of October to get my last horror book outlined and finish up the research – which is now solely about non-drug therapies for schizophrenia. That’s all I am doing in October to get it done before November first, when I take off for Nanowrimo. This book is going to be written during November and December and will hopefully break the 100K mark, which would make it the longest book I have ever written with the objective of putting it to market.

I haven’t has a successful year like this in a while, to be bluntly honest. It’s rare (sadly) that I finish a rough draft, and here I am sitting on three right now (Serve Me Now, The Show Must Go On, The Catastrophic Christmas Party) and gearing up for a fourth one to be finished before year’s end. Could I be maturing as a writer? I’m certainly not maturing as anything else….

As much as I would like to bask in the afterglow for a few minutes, I have to keep going. Next year is going to be fantasy, with the intent of finishing two long standing projects: Unbound and The Marvelous and Malefic Doomsday Medicine Show. I am hoping that finishing the untitled schizophrenia project will give me enough confidence to finish these two books over the course of the year. Maybe even tackle a third one? Who knows? If there is a third, I don’t know if it should be a sequel (Unbound is a part of a trilogy) or a new work (of which there are dozens…dozens I tell you).

Maybe this is a good idea – dedicating a year to a genre, getting things done and moving on? It worked with horror, and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work with fantasy and then the year after that with romance. Maybe that’s the best balance. A year gives me a chance to work on something but doesn’t really tie me down if my choices change. I can clear four books a year – long ones if I can hold steady, and if needed be, I can whip out a short one (like another Evan book) to keep ym name out there. I think I am going to run it that way.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m looking forward to getting started on a new project and completing it before year’s end. Check out the titles on the right if you’re curious as to how good I am, or how good my friends are. Until next time!

The Five Hundred and Seventy-Third Post: The One Where I Need Two Matches for One Candle…

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I am so ready to end this current project. It’s not boring, it’s that I am ready to start my Nanowrimo project, even though I am not anywhere near finished with the research. I’m going to finish the current one first, obviously, because I can see the finish line – I think I have to write two more chapters and touch up at least one – and the other one is really interesting to me. I don’t think I’m going to finish it in a month. I’m aiming for 90,000 words, and I don’t think I can get that done in a month, even if I go into ‘burning candles on all three ends’ mode.

Shown: November

This is why it’s so hard for me to finish projects. I get so entranced with the next one, I abandon the unfinished one. I’m a dog on a highway – there are so many tires to choose from! I’m honestly surprised I finished two books this year and I am very close to finishing a third one. I have to focus. I have to hunt down that one car before I take off after that eighteen-wheeler.

Shown: Next Project

I’m also trying to look it as this: the fact that I finished two books is a sign that I am learning and growing as a writer. I also see it as divine influence, and I really need to get back to other projects. Next year is definitely the year of Fantasy with finishing The Deadly Barrow and The Marvelous and Malefic Doomsday Medicine Show and working on something else if I get those two done before the end of the year. Don’t know what – might be Unbound…might be something new. I might rob a bank. I might get ice cream. I’ll decide in the car.

I think that’s it for now. I just have to put the screws to my thumbs and get finished with this disastrous Christmas party so I can torment people with schizophrenia. The joys of being a writer!

The Five Hundred and Seventy-second Post: The One Where…am I Getting Stuff Done?

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I’m getting close to finishing The Catastrophic Christmas Party. I’ve hit the main scene I’ve been wanting to write ever since I came up with the idea. If things work out, I should have it done before the end of this month. Nancy can read and edit it September and October, edit it out in November and put it up for sale in December. I am considering making this a Kindle only offering. I say that because getting it formatted to paperback is a pain in the butt.

I’m having some fun researching for my Nanowrimo project. I had no idea that the voices schizophrenics hear are natured by the culture of the afflicted. Voices in America and Europe tend to be horrifying, while India and Africa tend to be gentler. I took this off of a single study I read about, but it’s nice to see that this study has been replicated. The problematic nature of this book has been solved for me, at least. I can continue forward with some confidence.

If I can finish these two works, I would have written four rough drafts in a year. This is unprecedented for me! One book is a minor miracle for me. Possibly having four rough drafts? Inconceivable!  And that I’m getting one book edited to be put out next year (I am being optimistic for this)! Things are looking up for me writing wise.

My Agent agrees with me

Next year, I am going to switch to fantasy – which means I probably won’t get to the werewolf story any time soon. The first thing is going to be to finish The Deadly Barrow and get it edited, then work on Medicine Show and get that edited. I’m slowing down a little, or it’s going to look like, but these books are huge. The Deadly Barrow is the first book in the series and that’s going to be a minimum of 80,000 words. Medicine Show is going to be over 100,000 words. If I have some time, I might work on the sequel to The Deadly Barrow…which I can’t remember the title to right now.

For the immediate future, I’m going to throw myself into outlining and researching my schizophrenic book project once Christmas Party is over, which should take me through the latter half of September and through October. November is going to be writing and maybe the first half of December. Editing won’t be for a while, but it will be done.

Good news on the weight front! I am down to 252 pounds! This new medicine is working great for me with no side effects. It’s just a single injection that I have to do once a week, which is better than two pills twice a day. Did I mention I have no more embarrassing side effects? I couldn’t have comfortably gone to GenCon without this shot. I am so thankful for it!

That’s all for now, hope you all are doing well. Catch you on the next one.

The Five Hundred and Seventy-first Post: The One Where I Need Help with Moving These Goalposts Down a Few Yards…

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Okay, I did this one to myself, but I have… well, no good reasons. I’m doing overtime at work and that’s cutting into all my time. GenCon wasn’t going to be conductive for writing and the week after was spent doing odd jobs around the house and certainly not writing. So, with all that being said – I am about two-thirds through the book, so it’s looking more like the end of September is going to be the new deadline. I have nothing happening to me, with me or near me to interfere with finishing The Catastrophic Christmas Party. October will be for reading and re-writing.

I’ve also begun looking at research for my NanoWrimo project. I am enthused about this one, since I am continuing to write horror and with any luck, this one will be finished and get me some notice. I need to get back to outlining the werewolf story and start that soon. I might get to that one for December – which isn’t that far away. Yikes. Well, at least this has been a productive year for me. I got two novels finished with their rough draft, and a third on the way (fingers crossed!). I might even be able to squeeze out a fourth, but that might be a little dicey.

One of the things I was worried about when starting the research was that I was hanging my literary hat on only one hook – a single study that could have been easily refuted. Turns out, there is a lot more evidence to back up the claim that voices in schizophrenics are dictated mostly by culture. The African continent and the East having voices that are gentler and more chiding than their Western counterparts is the whole plot point of this story. I know I am going to have issues when race is brought up (and I can see that it’s going to be), but the last thing I need is to be hamstrung by bad science.

I think next week, I am going to take a break from overtime and try to get back to writing twice a day. My home gym is also doing some renovations, so I’ll have to go to the one down the street after work. Maybe I can get steadier with gym-going and writing with a shorter workday. The money’s good, but I’m feeling funky not writing. I can’t explain it better than that.

That’s all for now. I am feeling tired, but I can solve that with more caffeine. Hope your week goes well, and I’ll see you in the next one.

The Five Hundred and Sixty-seventh Post: The One Where I Am on a Roll!

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Well, I have good news! I finished The Show Must Go On, at least the first draft. Now it sits aside for a couple of weeks, and then I begin the re-writes on it. I’ve finished two drafts in one year – and the year isn’t over yet! I might be able to get a couple more out. I think I am going to take a bit of a working break from writing for a week or two. I’m still working on the outline for Your Tribe, Our Tribe – my werewolf novel. I should have that done in a couple of weeks and I’ll start on it and try to get the rough draft on that one finished before November and Nanowrimo. I’m still going to do Immigrant Voices for that, and that might be the last horror novel I do for the year.

Next year, I am going to make it the year of fantasy and finish up two projects and try to have them ready: The Marvelous and Malefic Doomsday Medicine Show and The Deadly Barrow to have them done and in the hopper for being reviewed by my writing group after the horror is finished up.

I really feel that things are coming together now. I’ve gotten a cover artist for The Show Must Go On and if things work out well, I might have her do the covers for Serve Me Now and maybe Immigrant Voices if I can afford her. She’s getting $1,000 for the first cover, and I hope this isn’t money misspent.

This is not me…

What I really need to do is churn out something for immediate consumption. Something that doesn’t go through a strigent review process. Maybe go back to Catastrophic Christmas Party? I think I had most of that done, I just needed to pad it. I might do that now and work in the werewolf outline on Sundays, work on re-writes for Serve Me Now on Saturdays and dedicate the weeks for Christmas Party with an eye for December release.

Did I just make a plan? Am I going to follow through with it?

Yes to both of those.

Wish me luck.

Oh, in case you didn’t know – my first novel The Quietest Heart is free for the remainder of the week. So snatch it up before you have to pay for it. Also – I have a couple of other books, ranging from comedy to horror written by me and several dear friends. Check them out and send some love their way.

Stay well.

The Four Hundred and Fifty-fourth Post: The One Where The Cat in the Box is Reading My Novel…

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I can haz review?

Apologies for the lateness, but I had finished the book as far as word count goes – wrote 60,000 words in about 22 days – but as far as the story goes, I need to finish one chapter and then I am completely done. It’s turning into quite the Schrödinger’s Novel – both done and undone. There are a couple of chapters that I might pad, but there is definitely one chapter I need to finish. I don’t know if I want to pad them or not. I might bring them it up to the writer’s group. So far, it looks like the whole novel is going to end up with a fist draft of 62-63,ooo words. After that I need to trim off 10% and then bring it to another group (if it’s still there). I am leaning towards getting trying tradpublishing this so I really want to get the word count down to something that is appealing.

On other news, I think I have a werewolf story to round out the four for the year. I was

going to do something along the lines of “My 300-lb Conjoined Twin” to throw in some body horror and a light poking fun of reality shows. However, this werewolf idea is too good to pass up. The title (taken from lyrics to a Soulfly song called “Tribe”) is Your Tribe, My Tribe. I hope I’m breaking some sort of new ground…because I am bored with shifter romance. I want to bring some sense of madness back to werewolves. We’ll see what happens.

There’s not a whole lot going on here to be honest. I’m just trying to finish this book before the end of the month, and me being the procrastinating type will probably not get it done until 11:59:59.99 PM April 30th. Here’s to writing while one’s hair is on fire!

The Four Hundredth and Fortieth Post: The One Where I Pop In To Say ‘Hi!’

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Hello, everyone! I’m sorry I’ve been gone for so long, but I decided to step away from the keyboard after Nanowrimo just to recharge my batteries. I’m hoping that I can re-capture the energy of Nanowrimo and make it last a little longer (19 books longer to be exact). I won Nanowrimo as in I wrote 50,000 words in 22 days. It was a matter of getting few done during the morning, afternoon and after work. On the weekends and write-a-thons is when I could pull down some big numbers. I’m going to try to keep this schedule up with the help of caffeine.

Shown: Nanowrimo Energy

The book is coming along well, with the characters surprising me at almost every turn, but sticking (kinda) to the outline I wrote. I’m not a hardcore outliner. I’ll just have something to keep me going, and some note of good lines to fold in at appropriate times. I haven’t had a lot of writer’s block this go around. Mostly, if I got stuck, I would just skip ahead to another scene and figure it out later. This rarely happened, so I got most of the story done. Right now, I’m trying to write a convincing speech for the characters to rally behind and outlining the second book.

I’m feeling really good about this one. I’ve got a model for monetizing it, hopefully to get some breathing room and get this out of the ‘fervent hobbyist’ level. Most of the other things that I had I could only monetize when I was done with them. With this, I can submit it a chapter at a time and give out various short stories (provided I can write them. Short stories aren’t my strong suit) and build a subscription model through Patreon. At the end, I can gather all the chapters together and sell it as a complete book. I might even do that with Dirt Elf – once I get rid of the lame character aspect. I’ve got on already in the current work and I really don’t like repeating myself.

Well, other than that – everything is good here. I’m going to put up another posting soon, then take two weeks off for the holidays. Again, sorry for the spotty posting, but with Nanowrimo and December there really isn’t going to be much time for me. First of the year, however, I am going to go back to regular Thursday posting. Hope you all have a good holiday season and look forward to seeing you in the first of the year with good news!

The Four Hundred and Thirty-Ninth Post: The One Where I Raise the Black Flag…

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I am working on Nanowrimo this year and I’ve got to say it is pleasantly exhausting this time. I’m managing to average two thousand words a day (in spite of skipping a day) and I’m back to waking up at 4 AM to get a majority of my writing done. I have a good feeling about this one. I really think I could hit the 50,000-word goal by the end of the month. I’m working on the series I am going to put on Royal Road, so I’m not really working very hard on this as it’s really a boiler-plate fantasy setting.

I’ve decided to live by the words of Charles Bukowski: ‘Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it drain you of your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness. Let it kill you and let it devour your remains. For all things will kill you, both slowly and fastly, but it’s much better to be killed by a lover’. I love writing. I love the process. I love sitting in front of a computer or sitting at a table with an open notebook and feeling the possibilities rattle in my head like eager dice in a cup. I love giving an idea of a person the breath of life and seeing them do amazing things.

It’s taken me a major milestone to say ‘fuck it’ and go for it. To let everything go as best I can and reach for the sun as my wax wings melt. I know I’ve said this so many times, but there is some sort of energy behind this. Most of the time, I say it all the time, but it sounds hollow in my ears – like I need to sell the idea to myself first before I can sell it to others. Maybe it’s the success I’ve had with Nano so far. Maybe reconnecting with the Nano community has warmed some long cold ashes in me.

Maybe it’s because I didn’t win the Powerball and I need to do something else with my life. Who knows? I just need to get something done and I am definitely not getting any younger sitting here and fiddling around. So, my advice is to go for it – whatever that ‘it’ is. Kiss that girl, write that novel, make that film. Live the life you know you were meant to live.