NaNoWriMo 2013: Week 4

Some paths are better when taken slow. Photo by TL Jeffcoat

Only one more week to go in the National November Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! I’m excited it’s almost over and sad at the same time. The month has been a roller coaster of events at my paying job, and very productive in my writing. Well, productive compared to the last few months of my “writing once in a while” routine. Okay, there was no routine, I was just not writing much.

I’m excited that November is almost over for two reasons. First reason is because the end of November is one of my favorite times of the year. In the USA, we celebrate eating. Not just eating tasty food, but gorging ourselves till we explode. This year I am going to try holding back since I’ve spent a lot of time lifting weights and pedaling an elliptical machine the last three months. Okay, so we aren’t really celebrating food, but you wouldn’t know the difference if nobody told you it was about unity. Food is everywhere.

NaNoWriMo 2013: Week 3.5

I have pretty much fallen out of the race for 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo. I was frustrated last week with what was essentially word vomit from the week before and my OCD blocked me from getting very far so I took a breather and worked on the cover a bit more than I should have. It’s nearly done, but now I am way behind on the word count. I’m not giving up. I’ll continue to focus on writing the Terminator: Back to the Future story for the rest of November.

Once December comes, however, I’ll be working on Devil Dog again, as well as some other projects that are pushing their way to the front of my mind. I won’t stop writing the NaNoWriMo project but it will no longer be my complete focus.

As far as that cover goes, it’s cartoony, but that’s what I do. All that’s left is the title and a few minor details to Marty's shoe and the Delorean. I’ll finish that this week and put it up on the NaNoWriMo site. If you’re writing for NaNoWriMo, I hope you’re holding up better than I. I’ll post again later this week.

NaNoWriMo 2013: Week 2

It’s November, and after taking off last year from the National November Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), this year I am glued to my computer nearly every day in an attempt to reach 50,000 words in one month. I’m working hard to make writing more of a career than ever before. I have scheduled 5 days a week where I write or doing writing related activities, and 2 days I spend with my family. Since I work a full time job on top of writing and family, that doesn’t leave a lot of time for much else in life.

I know my gaming buddies miss me and someday I hope to return to Azeroth or wherever the RPG gamers are hanging out then… yeah everyone eventually returns to Azeroth if they are serious Role Players. Admitting there is an addiction is the first step to recovery, but Marilyn Manson once said that “Rehab is for quitters” and I’m no quitter, so I will just delay embracing my Azeroth addiction until I have more free time. Luckily I can squeeze in some fantasy football on the weekends and I give myself a couple hours during the week to tweak my teams. If you don’t know what Azeroth is, then just Google it, you’ll recognize it then by its game name. The game, not the book by Cherryh.

What's Happening These Days?

I've been pretty bogged down recently and unfortunately I've ignored my blog. It wasn't intentional, I just realized today that it was the middle of September. For some reason the NFL season kicking off wasn't tipping me off that time was flying way too fast. Let me share with you what I've been involved in lately. I filed the paperwork to create my own publishing company. No, it's not just so I can look legit when I publish through this company. The company contracts professional editors and artists, and I've got one other writer signed up to publish with me. So, long story short, I've been swamped with learning all the accounting and little details for running a business by myself. It's a little overwhelming, but I'm starting to get everything into a rhythm and create a schedule that will work to help other writers I know that don't have the connections to get professional assistance with their novels and get published. I don't have big dreams of taking on New York, but someday, this will be my full time job. Hopefully not after I retire from the day job.

Pic by Debra Kristi on WANA Commons

The thing that I need to squeeze into my schedule now is the blog. I have no intention of letting go of this blog. There aren't a lot of comments, but the number of hits is pretty mind blowing considering I'm just babbling my little thoughts about weapons most of the time. I appreciate the number of people who repeatedly return and read the weapons and warriors posts and those who haven't given up on that fanfic piece that will soon be squeezed into my schedule as well. Life feels like I'm carry a fridge up a long stairwell right now, but that's the kind of living that makes us stronger.

You might wonder why I'm so determined to write a piece of silly fanfic in the middle of all this publishing business management, holding down a daytime office job that has nothing to do with writing, and writing my own novels. It's simple. It's discipline and training. If I am going to be a professional published author, then I need to learn to write faster than I have been. I believe that forcing myself to maintain all of this other stuff as well as write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November will enhance my ability to write faster. I spent the last two years reevaluating and relearning my 20+ years of writing experience. Now it's time to enhance my speed. I need these new writing skills to became instinct and less of a thought process.

I'll be back this month with a new weapons post. I'm aiming it at the 27th. The rest of the month is dedicated to work on the new publishing company, which I'm filing a trademark on the title and logo and once that has completed, I'll announce the name here. It's an exciting time for me, and I can't wait to share everything with my readers. This weekend I'm preparing a blog that talks about some celebrity heroes of mine. I should have that up sometime soon.

I have finalized the outline for Terminator: Back to the Future. I never got any response from HISHE on using their amazing video, so I'm going to fill in the blanks for my second outline. That version took the concept but did not use the specifics in the video, which made it a lot more flexible for me and will be easier to write. I will also no longer reference their video, since I'm not sure they are interested in any publicity from my story. If I do happen to hear from them before I finalize the story, then I might consider including the exact scenes in their videos, but at this time I need to begin preparing for Nanawrimo, and I can't wait on them any longer.

See you soon.

Still Kicking It (Life and Blog Update)

Me sitting on a gold nugget.

I’m still here, despite appearances, the blog is still alive. I’ve been focusing a lot on the co-writing gig “Welcome To My Imagination” lately. I’ve been drawing weapons for the posts already out there, but I’m really slow at art. I don’t mean to neglect the blog; it’s just been extra crazy. Even my day job has gone nuts. It’s work, what can I do? I’m stuck with it at least until I’m a New York bestseller, then maybe I can move on from working for someone besides my readers. The goal is to someday match my income and benefits with my writing before I resign from the day job, unless I retire first. Retirement is 16 years away, so I’m hoping I don’t have to wait that long.

I am working on a new Weapons and Warriors article. It’s a vicious weapon that was pretty common in Medieval Europe. I can’t wait to share that. Later on I’m going to do a post or two, maybe more, about the Sikhs of India. I’ve been talking with a person who is from India and at the moment I’m reading and watching videos to get a grasp of what the Sikh is about. I’m not sure if I’ll focus on weapons as much, but I am looking forward to writing about the culture. India has always fascinated me. Someday I will have to visit there.

Writer Ramblings: Drums of War, er Gaming

“The sounds of the drums echo through my head on the waves of memories as I dream of war. I hear the battle cries around me and the roars of dragons as they fill the skies and rain their fire down on everything beneath them. We mount our wyvern, drakes and brooms and fly up to face the monstrosities that threaten the world. Fearless and proud, our nations unite under one banner. Thousands will perish, but nobody is worried about that, we all return with another life to rise up and battle again. The endless sky of leathery wings must be defeated or all will be lost. And when we are done with the invaders, we will return our attention to the weak Alliance who hate our Horde.”

I wrote this once while playing a game that I love very much. Since I’ve began writing in all of my spare time, I’ve deactivated my account and moved on, but recently I saw a trailer for an upcoming expansion to the game and I’ve began dreaming about it all over again. I played it for years and I even managed a couple of guilds. My favorite till this day was called Red Steel, and believe it or not, it had nothing to do with Russian tanks. The name came from a classic D&D module for a location on the world of Mystara which had a unique resource that was like a fine red dust, but if processed, it could be made as hard as steel and could take on magical properties.



Wrtier Ramblings: Nanawrimo!

Believe it or not, that title is not a typo.

I’ve gone and done it! I signed up for the Nanawrimo for 2011. I have no idea really what that all is other than a writing marathon, but I figure it’s a great excuse to knock out the first half of another book. Since I can’t start the writing for it till November, that rules out the horror I was going to work on, I’m still in research phase for the Back to the Future Terminator crossover fan fiction I’m planning and I’m already 12,000 words into the fantasy. So I don’t feel comfortable writing any of those for my Nanowrimo.

Lucky for me, I already have an outline set up for another project. I’ll be done with my polishing on Devil Dog pretty soon and it will be sent out to editors and beta readers this month. I’m very excited and nervous at the same time. My baby is growing up already.

So the big question is what am I going to write if I’m already going to be pretty deep into the co-written horror, the fantasy is already started and Devil Dog will be in the hands of strangers? The only real solution is Devil Dog 2! Why not, the outline is written and I have concepts and plots designed for a full seven book series. I might as well start getting the sequel drafted.

50,000 words in a month! I am very excited to attempt this and somehow my wife is ok with it. So here I come. Bring it on November because I will write you down.