The Struggle is Real!
Today I celebrate the completion of my eighth full length novel, Stranglehold. Yay me, right? Well, yeah! In the pyramid of people who want to be authors I have but one step to go and that is to get published. That’s step isn’t really a part of the actual pyramid but stick with me. I’ll explain if I can remember it right. I’ll say right now I am paraphrasing this since I heard is somewhere but can’t remember it’s exact origin. First is the bottom, widest part of the pyramid. This level is the people who want to be a writer. Want in one hand and a dollar in the other might get you a cup of coffee, but probably not. Everybody wants to be something, right? If you don’t then why get your ass out of bed every day? There are millions of people who occupy this level of the ancient structure. I belonged to this level for many, many years.
The next level of the pyramid going upward are the people who have actually sat down and put words to paper… or a computer. Ther are a whole hell of a lot less people occupying this one though. Thirty-five years ago I advanced to this level when I wrote the quasi outline and the opening chapter of the book that would eventually become my first novel, Shiva’s Eye. Sadly, I let it sit for the next three decades.
Third level up is populated with those who actually finish a book. You would be amazed at how many people never make it to this stage in their writing career. I stepped up to this level in 2017 when Shiva was finished. Now here’s where it gets tricky, and I have to say I am embarrassed a little about what happened next. I walked around for three years with my chest puffed out telling people I wrote a book. Look at me, I’m smart. Some people have said I am the dumbest smart person they know, and I can’t really argue with that. Did I do anything with said book? Hell no. I was so happy with my accomplishment that I was content to strut around like the cock of the walk.
Little did I know the next level was where I had stagnated for those three years. The top level of the pyramid is reserved for those who can repeat the feat. A person writes a book has to be able to do it again. Mostly because your first one will be total shit and you have to prove that you have what it takes to repeat it. It will be a terrible book, because all first books are. I have no delusions of that fact and I intend to go back and wildly re-edit Shiva’s Eye in the near future. I kind of have to since I’ve written the next book in the series already, Paws of the Sphinx.
So, yeah. I’m standing on the top of the stupid pyramid with eight novels and seven short stories completed. I have four other novels started and seven more shorts in the works. Now to get them published, but I’m not going into that again. Refer to my previous blog entries for insights on that touchy subject. What I wanted to talk about was the fact that I finally had a hard time finishing one. I started this novel more than a year ago. Three other novels saw completion in the meantime. I knew where it started and I certainly knew where it was going to end, but the middle was a fight to get done. Usually when I get into a book, I go like wildfire and that pace only picks up when I’m closing in on the ending. not so much on this one.
This thing was a completely different animal, but a lot of that was because I got sidetracked with other projects and the fact I created some great characters in it that I couldn’t wait to write spinoff novels and short stories about. When I had written certain characters into two other books and a couple of short stories the realization fell upon me that I had to finish Stranglehold or none of these people would have origins. Father Flanders the king of all exorcists and his combat nuns needed a home. Ian Fort the cryptozoologist was begging for his own book. I really wanted to do something with Teddy the CIA guy, but alas (spoiler alert) he got redshirted.
My point is that not all writing is from that overflowing fountain of creativity that keeps you in love with the craft and sometimes it feels a lot like work. So, if you’re struggling with finishing something, take my advice and distract yourself with other projects. Eventually you’ll get the inspiration to finish that one that sticks in your craw and annoys the shit out of you.
Until next time, keep the keyboard hot. The ending is out there somewhere.
I Quit… Sort of… Not Really
The last time I posted, I talked about what a great and productive year I had in 2022 and vowed that this would be the year of editing and submissions. Well, I went down the rabbit hole and wrote another book! I just can’t seem to stop long enough to do the stuff I need to get published. I’m addicted to writing and I probably need an intervention or something, but if you plan something like that for me, please be sure to bring booze. Last night I finished the Hex Slinger novel. A weird west, supernatural tale of 100,000 words. At the beginning of the year, I wrote a short story (High Midnight) where I came up with the character Horus Sandalwood, the Hex Slinger and my readers, the Eyeballers, ate it up. It got one of the best overall responses from them of anything I have shoved down their throats yet. So, what did I do? You guessed it, I jumped in with both feet and wrote the novel staring the slinger. Submissions be damned! I’ve got a book to write!
On a positive note, I did submit Horus’ origin story to a publisher, but haven’t heard back yet.
I’m sitting here in my office looking at the big board on the wall where I keep track of all my projects and word counts. There are five novels in various states of unfinishedness that I could dive into, but I’m trying to resist the urge. The completed novels are what’s screaming at me for attention. Can you hear them, too? “Edit me, you bastard!” “Send me out so others can read me!” “Why aren’t you wearing pants?” You know, stuff like that. I have no choice but to listen to them now. At 800,000 words, seven complete novels and five finished short stories, it’s getting kind of ridiculous that I ain’t published by now. As the great podcast, The Writer Dojo, always says, the point is to get paid for what you write. Otherwise I’ve got a hell of a strange hobby that takes up a crap ton of my time. Don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying the hell out of it and if I never get traditionally published, I will still have had a great time writing all this.
So, here’s the new plan. I will only write new stuff while on lunch at work, since it is hard to do real editing there. I like to use the readback feature in Word when I’m doing serious editing. Hard to make that work when there are a lot of other people around. Writing time at home will only be for editing and submitting. That’s it! No exceptions! Wow, what a hard ass, you might say. Not really, since most of my writing for my daily goals happens at lunchtime anyway. I can crank out my thousand words a day while eating, usually without fail. When I get home, I sit down and finish whatever thoughts I had going earlier and that’s where I get most of the bonus words for each day. That’s also why I got down over 400,000 words last year when my yearly goal is only 300,000. Days off I can get several thousand on a good day as well. No more! I have spoken!
So it is written, so it shall be done!
Now where are my pants?
Holy (BLEEP)!
Soooo, another year is behind us and as everyone does, it’s time to look back and assess the situation. Overall, 2022 gets a solid B grade. There were things I blew out of the water and some things I need to focus on in the coming year.
First the upside. All of my words to paper goals were met and then some. Yay, me! I proposed to finish three novels and I turned out four. I set a goal of writing my first short story and I wrote four of those as well. My daily routine of writing has become ingrained, and I can usually crank out over a thousand words every day on my lunch hour at work. On my days off I can get as many words on the page as I have in my head. Sometimes I just hit my daily goal of one thousand and other days it just pours out with several thousand appearing on the page. My goal for last year was 300,000 words and I totally crushed that shit coming in at over 450,000. So, box checked on productivity!
Now the downside. While I did submit a couple of my short stories to publishers and sent off a manuscript to another, my querying is a weak spot. To seriously sit down and submit novels to agents and publishers is such a grind that I have avoided it, for the most part, in favor of writing. Love writing… hate querying! The sad truth is, if I don’t get an agent or a publisher interested in my stuff, I’m just entertaining myself and the beta readers. Put aside all the artsy fartsy idealism of writing and the ultimate goal is to get paid for all the hard work and even though I can put words to page like nobody’s business, it’s still hard work. We have discussed my desire to get traditionally published and the fact I’m putting off the self-publishing thing as long as I can. Hell, any monkey with a computer can self-publish. The loads and loads of terrible books on Amazon and Kindle prove that every day. Call me old school, call me antiquated, but that’s how I look at it. Just because everyone can do something, doesn’t mean everyone should.
So, I am declaring 2023 the “Year of the Query” overlapped by the “Year of the Edit”. Yes, that’s right. Editing! Or as I like to call it… slow words. The molasses of writing. Of my six completed novels, I have only edited one of them using my new method of combining the Pro Writing Aid program and having Word read it back to me. At the same time addressing continuity issues and the notes my beta readers have given for each book. The same can be said for the short stories, having only edited two of the four.
My process for the last year was to get my thousand words in at lunch and then do some editing when I got home. Obviously, that didn’t work as far as getting the polishing done. The that end, I am going to reverse it, trying to edit first and reward myself with the fun part later. We’ll see if it works. So far, it’s going pretty well and in the first week of the year I edited about a third of one of my older novels. A new short story has also been completed that is the origin story of a character in one of the books I plan to write this year. Think old west supernatural bounty hunter. The short story is called “High Midnight” with the novel tentatively titled “Hex Slinger”.
That’s where everything stands and I haven’t changed my output goals for the coming year even though I killed them last year. My goals are not easy by any stretch of the imagination, so I would rather keep my production where it is rather than up the quota and not hit them. This is supposed to be fun and failing repeatedly will take the air right out of your sails. Anyway, that’s all I have for now, except to tease the next blog… the rabbit hole that is AI art programs for book covers!
Don’t forget to check out the rest of the web site for updates on projects, what I’m reading at the moment and other such nonsense. Also drop me a line if you would like to be one of my beta readers (The Eyeballers). I have several and will probably only take a couple more. For demographics sake, I am looking for a couple of older readers, say in the middle age range. You know, some old farts like me!
Happy New Year everybody!
The Roller Coaster Ride
Hey, kids. Hope everyone is doing well and had a great thanksgiving with friends and family. The end of the year is upon us, and I have to admit this was an incredibly productive one for me. I’ve knocked off so many things from my 2022 goals list and will hit somewhere around 450,000 total words for the year when it’s all said and done. I’m using the last few months of the year to do some of the tedious editing work that has to be done. I’m also getting a lot of great suggestions from my Eyeballers (Beta Readers) as well. At this point I have seven people who are willing to read my stuff and give me some great feedback. Every comment is helpful, and I take them all very seriously. Some have even spawned ideas for things to put in future books.
So, anyway, I’ve also been getting a head start on next year, working on a few other novels so I will be in good shape to finish those three that will be on my 2023 goals list. The problem is, I have a problem. I can’t stop writing. I’ve created a habit and a routine that I couldn’t break now even if I wanted to. At this point I have four novels in the works for next year: Stranglehold is at 51,000 words, Halfway to Nowhere is at 11,000 words, Chopped is sitting at 27,000 words and finally, Witch Hunt (Sequel to Of Scarlet and Sable) sits at 72,000 words. Yay, for me. Mr. Overachiever, right?
Well, as I was driving home from work tonight, I started thinking about the process of my writing. Not the nuts-and-bolts stuff like I’ve talked about before like pantsing or outlining, but the big picture. What is it really like for me. Where am I right now? What I realized is that a novel, for me, is like a rollercoaster. Yeah, I know. Stick with me here. When I start one, I have big ideas and come out of the gate like a rocket ship. The words are flowing like water down a mountain. That’s those initial twists and turns of the roller coaster. Those tunnels and side spins that get your blood pumping. In novel terms, I equate that to the first 30 to 40, 000 words. Then all of a sudden, you’re at the bottom of one of those super duper, sky-high climbs that take forever. Clack. Clack. Clack. You progress slow as molasses running down a wall. Each word is a challenge, and the production slows down. I was turning out 10,000 words a week, but now I’m lucky to hit my goal of 7,000 each week. This is what other authors have termed the swampy or murky middle. Believe me when I tell you, it’s a pain in the ass and there’s no way around it. Everyone hits this wall somewhere in the middle of their tale. Clack. Clack. Cack. Slow but sure, you keep climbing and then, as if the fog lifts and the sun comes out, you’re at the top and you know it’s about to get real up in here.
From my vantage point on the tip top of the highest mountain of the roller coaster, I can see the end. It sits down in the valley, waiting patiently for me to get my ass down there. Then the damn breaks and the words hit me like a tornado. I can’t type fast enough to get them on the page as quick as they come into my brain. We are on the downward slope, now. It’s hands up, feet off the floor as the wind whips through my hair (well, if I had hair). I would scream if I didn’t want to frighten the dogs. I just broke a sweat thinking about it. Exciting stuff!
Anyway, that’s where I’m at on Witch Hunt. That peak usually comes around 70,000 words and it’s exhilarating. So, the fact is, that book will probably be finished by the end of the year, and I will have finished four novels in 2022. If someone would have suggested that eleven months ago, I would have laughed in their face.
So that was my big revelation on my own process. I’m going to keep getting on that roller coaster and screaming like a little girl when it clack, clack, clacks up that steep hill that is the harbinger of the ending. It’s fun for me each and every time and soon, I hope it will be fun for everyone to read.
Happy Holidays Ya’ll!
Reset and Re-assess
Man, have I been on a hell tear. Last blog I mentioned that I had started another novel, Labyrinth. I have re-named it Of Scarlet and Sable and here’s the surprise… I finished it this morning! It sits at 97,000 words and as I go back and edit, that number will most likely go up as I fluff the thing a little. I was at 17,000 words at the time of that blog and here we are just over two months later, and that mother is done. All the while I have been writing on the other projects as well, so I have conservatively written around 100,000 words in that time. That’s crazy production for a guy who has a day job.
So, here I sit with five complete novels… well, four since I want to go back and beef up Death’s Construction. It’s done, but I think it needs a little something else. I can expand on some things I didn’t spend enough time on. The point is, I gotta get this crap out so the peeps can read it. I went back to my giant clipboard of goals I set for myself this year and here’s where I stand on a few of them seven and a half months in. Complete three books this year: Check! Write a short story: Check! Get an agent by the end of the year: NO Check, yet!
The reason there is no agent, is I haven’t tried hard enough. I always feel that the time it takes to query agents is time away from my writing. Chicken before the egg, half dozen one way… excuses, plain and simple. I therefore am going to reset my time allocations for the rest of the year. It’s all about getting my stuff in agent’s hands. I will probably go straight to publishers as well. It can be done. These days you don’t necessarily need an agent, so I’m going to explore all my options. I will still write while on lunch at work because I have gotten into a nice rhythm with that. On the days when I have normally been coming home and finishing whatever thought or chapter I was working on at lunch, I will now put at least two days a week towards the querying process. The rest of the year will also be devoted to going back and doing the final edits on the last two books. When I say going back, I am not re-writing. I don’t do that. What came out of my brain is what hit the page and that’s that. What I’m talking about is reading from the beginning and correcting any spelling and grammar issues, and there are plenty of those, writing a lot of words fast tends to produce them, but I have Pro Writing Aid to help with that stuff. At the same time, I’m fixing any continuity issues as well. The whole process is mind numbing, but it has to be done. I don’t want to submit something that isn’t pretty clean.
So, there you go. Total brain reset. I hope it works out. I have proven I can write novels, now I just got to get them in your hands. Until next time, keep on doin’ what you love.
Squirrel Much?
In my last blog I mentioned how I like to write multiple projects at a time to keep myself at peak interest level. Well… I’ve gone completely out of control. I need help. Some real professional help or maybe someone to sit beside me and when I try to start another project, just slap the taste out of my mouth. Ok, maybe that’s a little harsh but I’ve done it again. I had a really crazy dream and woke up with a plot and I tentatively titled it Labyrinth. (I know. I’m going to have to retitle the thing since everyone knows that to be the kick ass movie from our childhoods.) It started out as a boy meets devil tale and quickly morphed into a shattered witches coven yarn.
So, to get you up to speed, I am 70,000 words into Death’s construction. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on that one. Stranglehold is sitting at around 50,000 words. The murky middle has been a challenge on this one. The newest one, Labyrinth, is already around 17,000. This one is a departure from my normal, smack you upside the head beginnings like I normally deliver. I’m also working on the short story, Bluetooth, which I have now decided is going to tie in with the Chopped series I have yet to do much with. See, I have some self-control. There are several other titles for short stories that I’m keeping just out of arm’s reach.
Even though I know I am squirreling a bit, there is some method to my madness. I have enough discipline to keep myself on track. My daily goal is 1,000 words and most days I blow that out of the water. I keep the focus on the two main projects, Death’s Construction and Stranglehold and make myself knock out the thousand on one of those two. Once I’ve accomplished that, I find a good stopping point and then reward myself by jumping into one of the other projects. Some days it may be the new novel and others it could be one of the short stories. This method keeps everything moving along and nothing gets left behind.
Well, that’s what is going on in this writer’s life. I hope life is treating you all well, too. Next blog I think I’ll talk about genre. I might be writing urban fantasy…
Outline, Shmoutline…
I haven’t made a blog post in quite a while, but it’s ok because I have been really productive. I have figured out that I need to be working on multiple titles at the same time. I know, sounds screwed up, right? You’re probably asking, how do you stay focused on a project doing that? Aren’t you jumping around too much? NO! I am currently writing my fourth and fifth novels simultaneously while diving into short stories as well. Death’s Construction is currently sitting at 44,000 words and Stranglehold is at 23,000. But before I get into that, let’s go back in time a little and revisit my comments on outlining.
I tried it! I sat down and outlined Death’s Construction from beginning to end. I was so proud of myself. Best day ever! There was the whole plot for the thing. This was going to be so easy. All I had to do was sit down and write the damn thing. Point A to point B, rinse and repeat. The next day I wondered if it was a fluke, so I did the same thing with the novel Stranglehold. Bang! Lightning in a bottle! This was easy. So, full of my own bullshit, I sat down and began to write.
I have trained my brain and fingers to put out around a thousand words a day. I don’t go out to lunch at work but sit at my desk and eat while writing. In an hour, minus the time it takes me to make the food, I can almost always crank out a thousand in that amount of time. I started both of the new novels somewhere in mid-January, so that means I have written around 67,000 words in less than four months. Not too shabby. That isn’t including the short stories I have thrown in for a nice distraction when needed, but we’ll talk about those in a few. The big take away for me is that I need to be able to switch channels, so to speak, to keep my brain energized and interested. I’ll write for a while on one novel and when I hit a slow patch where I need to get it flowing again, I switch projects. the project I sat aside is always on my mind and while I’m working out the kinks internally, I go to town on the other one. It’s like turning the channel while watching TV. Don’t get me wrong, I know exactly where both novels end. I’ve written the final chapters in my head, but how they get there is a complete mystery until I puke it out on the page. It’s working for me. Try it. It may work for you too.
Now, back to the outlining. Here’s what happened. I started writing the stories and about six chapters deep into Death’s Construction I was totally off the rails. I started the Stranglehold novel and guess what? Yep, a few chapters in, I was completely out of what I had put down on paper for the outline. None of this held me back, though, and I am perfectly happy with the direction both novels have taken. The big lesson here, for me, was that we are all discovery writers (or pantsers, if that’s the term you prefer). When you’re writing your outline… you are pulling it out of where? Your brain and your butt. Discovery! When you have the outline done and start writing the book, where is that coming from? Same damn place! If you write a perfect outline and stick to it religiously, I will argue that you are still discovery writing. Each chapter might have a basic road map in your sweet little outline, but what’s in that chapter, what you’re writing is discovery all the same. When you wrote that outline you were discovery writing! I know, mind blown. Its’ like when as a musician you finally reach that place when you realize everything… is everything. (Oh, crap! I just let out the super-secret key to all music. There’s bound to be an Illuminati type musician’s society gunning for me now.)
But I digress.
Each day when I’m making my lunch, I’m wondering where the story is going to take Nikola in Death’s Construction or what the hell is going to happen to the team in Stranglehold. I don’t freakin’ know until I sit down and put my fingers on the keys. It’s improvisational jazz kids. That’s what makes writing fun for me. Hell, I may never get traditionally published, but I had a great time writing this crap and I hope someday you have as much fun reading it.
Now, let’s talk about those aforementioned short stories. I have mentioned in a much earlier blog that I enjoy listening to some writing podcasts and one of my favorites is the Writer Dojo. The hosts, Larry Correia and Steve Diamond keep it real and give some great nuts and bolts advice about writing and getting paid for it that you won’t get anywhere else. I get up on Wednesdays and immediately wonder what today’s topic will be. They had talked about short stories on several episodes, and it made me want to write one. Problem was I didn’t know how, so I dropped them a question about it at questions@writerdojo.com. What do ya know, they answered it! You can listen that episode on Spotify. The title is “How to Tell a Story in 5,000 Words”. They read my question and had some really great, encouraging things to say about me and what I’m doing. Talk about getting re-energized!
In the time between when I submitted the question and when it aired, I realized that I didn’t know how to write a novel when I sat down and wrote Shiva’s Eye. What the hell! So I wrote a short story called Drive Thru. I think it turned out pretty good. I may post it someday if I can’t get it published in the future.
I highly suggest if you are an aspiring writer, go and listen to the Writer Dojo. You won’t be disappointed. Go and read their books too. The Monster Hunter series is what put Larry Correia on the map and is one of my all-time favorites. Steve has some great horror stuff out there like the novel Residue as well. When, I started thinking about writing a short story, one of the first ones I read for inspiration was Steve’s, A Single Samurai from the collection, The Baen Big Book of Monsters. Great stuff!
Anyway, I think I have spouted on long enough. I’ll try to write these things more regularly in the future, but right now I am curious what kind of shit Nikola is going to face in Death’s Construction… back to the word mines!
So Many Words, So Little Time
I have come to judge how good a day was by how many ideas I get onto my little voice recorder or how many words I put on the page. If given time, I can sit down at the computer and crank out thousands of words in a session. Words and ideas are not the problem. Time is the enemy. Thankfully, we are past the holidays now. Christmas is a fading memory in our rear-view mirrors. The trash bins on our curbs are full of empty boxes and crumpled wrapping paper. I hope that each and every one of you had a wonderful time with your families and friends.
That being said… Bah Humbug! I can’t help but wish for the time back that I spent shopping and wading through the seas of people. We are like sheep being herded around on a mission to buy a bauble for everyone we know. Hell, I could have written another novel in the amount of time I spent standing in lines and spending money that, I’m sure, like many of you, didn’t have or need to spend. That is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my drift. Such is life, though. If you don’t get something for everyone or forget somebody you are the Grinch. Wow, I feel much better getting that off my chest. On with the blog!
Last night I looked up on the wall in my little nook I call my office and saw the tote board on which I keep a loose word count for all my projects. Having passed the 65,000 mark on the current project, Prepared, I realized that I am well past a quarter of a million words if you total all my projects. I read somewhere that a writer doesn’t really know what he or she is doing or get good until they have put down a million words. Hmmm, that means I have about five more novels to go before I can say that I have grip on this writing thing. I personally believe that is a load of horse shit. Everyone is different and making an arbitrary statement like that is just talking to hear your head rattle as my mother would say. I believe my newest stuff is better than my older stuff, that’s for sure. That is the natural progression of things. It is to be expected. One does not go out and hit a three-hundred-yard drive on the golf course the first time out.
The great thing is that I have at least that many more books rattling around in my head. In fact, I have one in there that is screaming at me to write it, but I have to be patient and finish the current project before going down that rabbit hole. One of the biggest failures of want to be authors like me is that so many of them don’t finish what they start. Can’t sell a book if you don’t finish a book. As I close in on the finish line of my third book, I don’t see that being a problem for me. I enjoy the process too much. Even the book I am writing now, which I intended to be a stand-alone novel, has presented a cool way to do a sequel with someone other than the main character as the protagonist. That’s the way these things happen, though. You just have to be receptive to it when it comes. When the idea for the sequel smacked me in the brain, my first thought was, “Fuck, I don’t have time to write that. I have so many other projects that I want to do first.” So that one will go into the notes program on the laptop where it will stay until I am ready. Kind of weird to be upset that I got a good idea, but I’m a complicated man.
An example of time getting away from me is the fact that I am behind on my self imposed deadlines from my last blog. I am still on track for most of it but the final edit on Shiva’s eye will bleed into the new year instead of being done by January 1st. Oh well, I’ll adjust and it will get done, just a little later than planned. No biggie.
I just wasted half an hour writing this blog!
As I always say to my team at my real job… Less yak, more attack!
I’ll talk at ya later.
Self Imposed Deadlines
Happy November everybody! I hope your Halloween weekend treated you well. (See what I did there?) I have a day off and thought I would give an update on where we are in this crazy author’s world I’m swimming in. The year is almost over and I have to look back and decide if I am proud of what I have accomplished. The answer is a resounding yes. In 2021 I completed my second full novel (Paws of the Sphinx) and have gotten the Prepared project moving in high gear, so I have put in quite a bit of work.
It’s not good enough! I believe that if you are not constantly trying to improve yourself then why the hell do you get out of bed? What are you striving for? Maybe a question we should all ask ourselves going into yet another new year. Time waits for no man. Just ask Fin, The Immortal Templar. (A character from Paws of the Sphinx. If you are intrigued, just drop me a line on the contact page to become one of my Beta readers, “The Eyeballers”.) Anyway, to that end, I have set some deadlines for myself for the rest of the year and 2022.
The first one is to finish the Prepared novel by March 2nd, my birthday. A little gift to myself. I am currently cranking out over a thousand words a day working on my lunch hour, after work and my days off. This is a very doable goal since I am already almost halfway through if you put any stock in word counts. This one is centered around the twelve year old son of hard core preppers. A disaster occurs killing almost everyone. This story is about how this kid (Gavin) deals with surviving after his parents are gone and the relationships he forms. They left him with the necessary tools but how will he cope with the sudden life or death reality? This is a big departure from the adventure tales of Indigo Oats but fun to write. I actually started this one back in 2017 but felt I wasn’t ready for it. Now I am.
Next is to go back and use all the writing things I have learned over the last year or so on my completed novels. I have discovered a great editing tool called Pro Writing Aid that goes into the grammar and structure things that are such a pain in the ass. I didn’t know I hated passive verbs so damn much, but here I am. I am in a unique position (or at least I think its unique) where I will have several books completed by the time I get published. One truth of being a writer is that your first book sucks. Everyone’s first book sucks. This is because it’s your first book and writers only get better with practice of their art. So, to that end, I will be going back and doing a final edit on Shiva’s Eye and Paws of the Sphinx. I have set the end of the year as the deadline for Shiva and April 2022 for Paws. I will be doing these as a side to the actual writing that I do everyday.
Another goal is to have three more novels completed by the end of 2022. This will include Prepared, so I have a head start on this one. Still, it’s a very high bar that I have set for myself. I am not a full time writer and have a day job. I haven’t decided what the other two books will be yet. I have been working on an outline and plot points for some titles. Chopped is about a celebrity chef turned spy. I envision this one becoming a series. There’s Death’s Construction about Death’s right hand man opposing his boss when he decides to up the quota on killing everyone. Who knew Death had an assistant? This one will cover everything from ancient battles from history right up to present day. Another one is tentatively titled Stranglehold where a team of scientist come up against an ancient force buried deep within the earth. The twist at the end is something I am really looking forward to writing. One of the characters in this one is a cryptozoologist and I can see this guy becoming a spinoff series. Who doesn’t need more cryptozoology fiction, right? Imagine an adventurer going after Big Foot or a Chupacabra and meeting them face to face. Then there is the book Rules: So You Don’t Look Like a Jackass! Basically a humor book full of the things that piss me off. This one is my self therapy. I write it down and it goes away.
Jump on the contacts page and send me an email telling me which ones you think I should work on first. I have been having a lot of fun brainstorming these titles and there are more popping into my brain everyday. I now carry a voice recorder with me at all times so that I don’t lose them when they smack me up side the head.
Some other miscellaneous goals for 2022 are: Attend one writers conference. If you’ve read the blog post on this subject you are probably saying WTF? I have decided to try another one but I’ll go into it with open eyes this time and less gullibility. I am also planning on attending at least on Con this coming year as well. It might be a comic con or a scyfi con or something else but I’m just ready to get out of the house and it not be to go to work.
The last, but not least, goal for 2022 is to be agented by the end of the year. This means sending out a lot of query letters and sample chapters to try and get an agent’s attention. Thick skin is a must during this process. I have sent out several of these over the past few years and have a nice pile of rejections. That is not such a bad thing, however. Everyone gets rejections. I read somewhere that Stephen King was rejected over three hundred times before getting a yes. One of my favorite authors, Larry Correia, was rejected over a hundred times. This is the least entertaining aspect of being a writer but must be done if I am to get traditionally published. I know, I know. You’re saying why don’t you just self publish to Amazon or Kindle? Well, the short answer is… Any jackass can do that! Maybe I’m old school, but I want to hold my book in my hand. I want you to hold my book in your hands. The publishing industry is in a huge state of flux right now and traditional publishing may be a dying dinosaur, but until I am forced to go the self pub route I’m going to try to do it the old fashioned way.
Remember, if you would like to join my growing army of beta readers (The Eyeballers), go to the contacts page and drop me a line via email. The projects page gets you only one sample chapter. The Eyeballers get the whole enchilada.
Anyway, go out there and set some goals for yourself. Otherwise your just killing time until it kills you!
Pants or No Pants
So, I’ve written two complete novels now and to be honest with you I had no idea what I was doing. I just decided I was going to be an author and took off like my ass was on fire. I think that now, having done it twice, I should probably learn a little about my craft. You know, see if I’m on the right track or not. In that regard, I have been listening to several podcasts devoted to writing and reading some books on the subject as well.
First off, let me say that the selection of podcasts devoted to the subject of writing is huge. Secondly, I’ll say that the majority of them suck ass! I have a lot of time at work doing boring paperwork and have tried out an huge number of them. I have found, maybe, four or five that I continue to listen to. The pretentious, boring and overall craptastic selection has led me to seriously consider starting my own damn podcast. I’ll call it ‘The Average Dude Writing Podcast’. It would basically be me talking about my journey into the writing world as a complete know nothing nobody. Having been a musician my whole life, I already have all the equipment to outfit a professional studio, so that would be the easy part. Listening to myself talk would be the hard part. Everyone sounds like a dork when you listen back to your own voice. My point is that I want a podcast that teaches me something while entertaining me at the same time. Is that such a hard thing to do? I have found a few good ones and I will list those at the end of this blog. Check them out.
Anyway, one of the things I have learned is that there are two kinds of writers: Outliners and Pantsers. Pantser refers to the act of flying by the seat of your pants. Full disclosure, Shiva’s Eye and Paws of the Sphinx were both written in full on pantser mode. I had an idea and I ran with it. There was a very loose framework in my mind but as far as writing something down like an outline… didn’t happen. These two books were very organic and to be honest, very enjoyable to write. Things happened as the story evolved and I created characters and events that furthered the plot on the fly. I knew where each story was going to start and I knew where I wanted them to end. What happened in between sprouted from my brain as I went.
Now let me tell you, if someone ever comes up to me on the street and calls me a pantser, I may throat punch them. The term sucks. It’s just stupid. I prefer the term discovery writer. Sounds better than something a school kid would do to another kid on the playground.
I have now started using some of the things that I have learned from listening to podcasts and reading and will be going back to do some tweaking and re-writing on my first two books. The beauty of not being published yet is that I can do that. I do, however, have a timetable in my head as far as getting my books out there so I will be doing this as I am writing the next book.
Next book, you say? What’s the next book?
Well… I am going back to the book ‘Prepared’ that I started immediately after finishing Shiva’s Eye. I put down 30+ thousand words about a kid who finds himself alone during a pandemic type disaster. I started this book three years before the current Covid crisis. Talk about missing the boat! I put this book away because of the emotional impact that it had on me as I wrote it. I felt that I wasn’t good enough to do the concept justice. I now feel that after 200,000+ words, I may have a better handle on the basics of writing. But here’s the rub, I’m going to outline this bastard! One of the great things about being a new author is that I don’t know what I don’t know. Do I write better if I outline? Do I enjoy writing as much if I outline? I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.
I have gone back and read what I originally put down on paper for ‘Prepared’. I needed to catch back up to the story I wrote over three years ago. Now, I am going to sit down and plot it out to it’s inevitable conclusion. I already feel that this is going to take some of the fun out of it but I don’t know. Feels a lot like homework. We will see.
Just so you know, I normally wear pants while I write but in the spirit of exploration, I will not be wearing pants as I write this next book. Your welcome!
Podcasts I like:
Writer Dojo - a relatively new podcast from authors Larry Correia and Steve Diamond. Correia is one of my favorite fiction writers and I am now discovering Steve’s stuff. These guys are trying to give us the basic nuts and bolts of writing and getting paid to do it. They both have personalities which leads to some entertaining banter. I can’t wait till Wednesdays to get the new episode.
Dead Robot’s Society - Hosted by Paul Elard Cooly and Terry Mixon. Not a lot of nuts and bolts stuff here but a great deal of entertaining discussions of larger concepts of writing, mostly pertaining to science fiction. These guys are mostly self published with some traditionally published stuff. FWI, too many fucking cats!
Author’s Stories - This is becoming one of my favorites because the host, Hank Garner, gets some great authors on his show. You get a good insight into what these professional writers are thinking when they write their books. He has been at it for so long that there is bound to be some authors he has interviewed that will peek your interest.
King Goat Writer’s Club - Ok, not a lot of learnin’ going on here but these dudes are just straight up fun to listen to. Nathan Hull and Sean Conway deliver humorous content every time. Each episode they challenge each other to write short stories about random subjects. These guys are Australian, so everything they say is funny due to the accent.
Another One in the Bag
Well, perseverance coupled with the lack of a life and extracurricular activities finds me with another finished book. The sequel to Shiva’s Eye, Paws of the Sphinx, is complete. A feat with an added degree of difficulty since the last 20,000 or so words were typed with one hand since my recent reconstructive shoulder surgery. I now begin the editing process where I will add some shit, kill some shit and basically rethink everything as I go. This is also when I fluff it with more descriptive, flowery scenery stuff that I tend to gloss over in my first breakneck pass to get all my ideas down on paper. I am not the best at the descriptives. I’m telling a story, not painting a picture. Hmmm, I just read that back and am sure I’ll get crucified by nerd authors and wanna be writers arguing that I am indeed painting a picture, of a sort. Shut up! You do you, I’ll do me.
On a positive note, however, I am aware of some of my shortcomings as an author (as mentioned above) and will only get better as the words pile up. Trolling nerds and jackasses on the other hand will not because they are too busy busting my balls and not worrying about their own crap.
I would like to thank the couple handfuls of people that have been actively reading my books and giving some very constructive criticisms. These “Eyeballers” are even bringing ideas to the table that I hadn’t even thought of in writing these things. It is amazing how different everyone’s brains work. I will get texts from one of them saying “What about this character or that character? Are they going to do such and such?” or they will guess at what will happen next as I feed the readers only 5 to 10 chapters at a time. Ninety percent of the time they are completely wrong and that is fun for me. One such suggestion has made me rethink a very ancillary character from the first book so I may give that one a bigger roll in an upcoming follow up to Paws.
I now plan on changing gears and getting back to Prepared. A book I started at the same time I was working on Shiva. After about 30,000 words I felt that I needed to narrow my focus and get better as a writer before I could finished it. (Check out the sample chapter on the Projects page.) I have had a hell of a lot of fun writing the first two Indigo Oats adventures. I even feel like the guy is a real person since he has been with me for so long. I’ll come back to him and his pal Googs later. I only have about six or seven more adventures already in the conceptual stages for these guys.
If any of you out there would like to become an Eyeballer and tell me how bad I suck in a very constructive way, drop me a line from the contact page and I’ll send you some chapters to scrutinize.
Now where did I put my agent? Wait, that’s right, I don’t have one. I should start working on that. See you kids later.
Routine
I sit here in my office on the morning after a major shoulder surgery. I haven’t posted a Blog entry in a while, so I thought it would be a good exercise to, 1) See if the pain meds effect my writing and 2) See how fast I can type with one hand. On a good day when the juices are flowing and ideas are coming easy, I have been known to throw down 100+words a minute… it just took me two minutes to write these three lines…hmmm. I will, however, not let it stop me so this brings me to the subject of this Blog: Routine.
I try to write something everyday. It doesn’t have to be a whole chapter. Just something… anything. I even count writing notes down that have come to me during the day in my ideas book. These may not be fully hashed out or ready to go in the book, but I am taking the time to put something to paper. For however long that takes I have been a writer and to me that’s what it’s all about.
I have written a book. I am nearly finished with the sequel to that one and I have produced large chunks of other, free standing projects. While it is true that I have yet to be published, I am a writer. I do it everyday and I am amassing a catalogue of work. The most important thing is that I believe I am getting better at my craft. Or so I think. (So far the reading team that is made up of volunteers who have gotten in touch with me through the contact page haven’t said I totally suck. So that’s something.)
As stated in a previously posted Blog, I treated writing my first book as a job. By doing that, it was easy to produce a complete, hundred thousand word manuscript in three months. The real challenge came after that. I strutted around like I was big stuff, proud as a peacock. Now what? I had many many pages of ideas but I hit a wall. Mentally I had achieved a goal that I had been nursing for the majority of my life. Some days I would sit in front the computer like a constipated man trying to squeeze out a turd. I needed some writing Ex Lax! Building a routine was just what the Doctor ordered.
In my opinion, and it is only that, you have to become obsessed with the project at hand. I was with the first book so I needed to re-wire my brain to be that way with the next project and the next and so on. It is this mental toughness, mental stick-to-it-iveness that makes great athletes, great chefs, great anything! It has to hold true for writing, right? So with that in mind I made myself do it every freakin’ day. Some days I may come home after a shit day at work and just not feel it. Early on I would have probably let this be an excuse for skipping writing that day. Now I use the writing time as therapy after that kind of day. I look forward to sitting down at my desk and decompressing. I’ll admit that some days writings are better than others but that is not the point. I… or you… can always edit that pile of shit you wrote at some other time. What I just wrote above came off the top of my head and may be the biggest pile of drivel ever, but I wrote something, didn’t I. What did you write today?
Word Counts… Why Should I Care
When I first started writing, I scoured the internet trying to get tips on how others do it and what was required. I wondered what makes a novel a novel. Several sources I found referred to word counts. The consensus being that a fiction novel should be over 100,000 words with each chapter being around 2000 words. Since I believe everything I read on the internet, I kept this in the back of my mind as I cranked out chapter after chapter of Shiva’s Eye. When finished it measured a whopping 101,000 words. I felt like I had just hit the green with a perfect chip shot on a par 4. All I had to do now was tap that sucker in the hole.
Easy, right? Not so much. I began to edit said book , trimming and tightening each chapter. While doing this I didn’t pay much attention to the counts. I was just trying to making the damn thing better. After two passes though the editing process I looked at the count. 95,865 freakin’ words! This wasn’t a novel after all! Had I written an extremely long short story? I was a failure. I now had to shit 5,000 more words or the jig was up!
I was in the pit of despair. Whoa was me. It made me mad and frustrated that I was beholden to the status quo when it came to word counts. I feel like my book is good despite the count. It may be the biggest piece of shit ever written, who knows. (BTW, I am currently seeking peeps to read said piece of shit so that I can get some real world constructive criticism. If you would like to participate please give me a shout. Go to the contact page and shoot me an email)
After much consideration and meditation, I have come to a realization. That realization being that I don’t give a shit about word counts. It is a distraction at best and an arbitrary measurement at worst, put forth by ‘the man’. In the interest of full disclosure though, I have to admit that when I cross 2,000 words in a chapter a little voice in the back of my brain says ‘wrap it up!’
I am currently working on the follow up to Shiva and two other unrelated books. My total word count for all of my projects is up around 300,00 words and I am learning with every syllable. Knowing this, I will probably take another pass at Shiva so that I can put in some of the descriptive, flowery junk that I am not so great at. What I will not do though, is give a giant shit about how many words there are.
BTW, the above has exactly 453 words in it and nobody gives a rat’s ass!
My First Writer’s Conference Experience
So right after I finished my first book, Shiva’s Eye, I found out that a writers conference was coming to a city very near me. I was high on life. A novel was in the can. I had several ideas for sequels and even more ideas for unrelated books. I was a writer, dammit! I had no idea what I should do next. Hadn’t planned past the actual write a book thing so I started researching the process. Everything I read said that I needed an agent. I wanted to hold my book in my hands. Call me old school but anybody can and does self publish. I have a kindle app and very rarely use the thing. I do, however, have about a thousand actual paper and ink books, and I read from them almost every day.
So the dye was cast. I was going to pay the couple of hundred dollars and attend this writers conference. There was also an option, for another fee, of course, to have the opportunity to present your book to an actual agent. A real life person that would tell me if my stuff was worth the effort or a total load of shit. I gave up the extra cash to have ten whole minutes with said agent. I was so excited. I was on my way to the top. Move over Gaiman. Get out of my way Baldacci.
Then the shoe dropped. The agent that I had picked out to pitch my book (for an extra fee), unfortunately, couldn’t attend. I had picked this particular agent because she was specifically looking for the type of book I had written. The email stated that she would be sending her assistant instead and everything would proceed as scheduled. I was disappointed but talked myself off the ledge. Maybe this was a standard practice. Charge someone for a thing and then substitute a lesser thing at the last minute, but whatever. This assistant worked directly for the actual agent and surely this person knew what her boss was looking for. It would be fine. Right?
The week leading up to the big event was excruciatingly long. Had time ever moved at a slower pace. I think not. People would ask, “What are you getting into this weekend?” I would puff my chest out and reply, “Why I’m attending a writer’s conference.” Proud as a peacock.
The night before the big event I went through two ink cartridges printing off my four hundred page beast. Another huge expense seeing as how printer ink is worth more than freakin’ gold. I didn’t sleep much that night, my brain was in overdrive. I got up super early. Didn’t want to be late. It was an hour and a half drive but in my typical fashion I left an hour and a half earlier than that. A cup of coffee, fast food biscuit and metal music blaring through the speakers. It was going to be a good day.
I arrived an hour early and sat in the parking lot of the hotel where the conference would be held. As the time grew nigh, I assessed each and every person who parked and went inside. They looked normal enough. Most carrying a notebook or bag of some kind. I had brought my laptop, a note pad and a hard copy of Shiva’s Eye. I finally decided it was time. I was nervous but I try to live with the philosophy that you should enter every room as if you had just kicked the door in. I owned this. The world was about to be exposed to my genius. Get the fuck out of my way.
The conference was enjoyable with several topics discussed by various speakers from the writing and publishing industry. I was particularly anxious for the segment where the esteemed panel would critique the first page for our books. We turned these in at the registration table that morning. I was, however, disappointed to learn that they would be drawing these at random and only a few would be assessed. After each brutal shredding of the drawn pages, I just knew mine would be next but alas it was not to be. I really wanted them to draw mine. At this point in the writing journey I was desperate for someone, anyone, to give me feedback.
The panels went on and on. Each drawing a bullseye on some aspect of writing or publishing. I took notes. I was a sponge, but I was just counting the minutes till my appointment with the agent’s lackey. I entertained myself by making fun of the overdressed dude that would stand and have a know-it-all question every time the panel opened the floor. Don’t be that guy. Just sayin’.
Finally my time came and I exited the main hall. I entered the room where the scrutinizing would take place. There were several tables dispersed throughout the room. An agent on one side, the wanna be writer on the other. I had envisioned a completely private meeting. What if the writing nerd at the next table heard my pitch and stole my idea? This was my first time, so I let it slide. Maybe this was the norm at these events. I moved on to the table were my non-agent was waiting. She looked as if she might be a year out of college, maybe. I knew that I had little time to get my pitch in and let loose with an enthusiastic and eloquent description of my project. Her response was that of unbridled excitement for my book. Oh joy! I was in. I went on to tell of the subsequent books in the series I was working on as well as the other projects unrelated to the book I pitched. The young lady seemed over the moon exited about my submission. She handed me a card and asked if I could send her the first fifty pages of Shiva. I reached into my bag and dropped the entire thing on the table with a profound thud. She seemed impressed as I pealed off the first fifty and handed them over. She handed me her card and said that they would be in touch. I floated out of the room. I had hit a home run.
The conference ended and I returned home where my wife asked, “How did it go"?” I said, “It couldn’t have gone any better.” I told her the whole story sure that it was just a matter of time before the phone would ring and an offer would be made.
One month went by, then another. No word from the agent or her minion. Patience is a virtue, right? I gave it another month before I finally emailed the nice young lady who had given me her card. I gently reminded her that we had met at said conference and that she was in love with my book. I was anxiously awaiting her reply. I could send her the whole book if she needed. Nothing. No response what so ever. I gave it another month and sent another email… same result.
I was crushed. How could someone be so over the top enthusiastic about my books and not even respond? Did she even pass it on to her boss as she had promised? Probably not but who knows. I now am imagining her playing that role for everyone who pitched their books to her that day. Then I imagine her throwing my first fifty in the trash along with anything she had collected from other authors. I felt like I had been had. A rookie writer getting fleeced because I knew no better. I have a small glimmer of hope that that is not the way it actually happened but I still hold a little bitterness over the whole experience.
I am not saying that I will never attend another writer’s conference but you can bet your sweet ass that I will have a whole new perspective on the way it works. There were hundreds of people at this thing. Someone made a crap ton of money and it wasn’t me.
Where to Start…
Having never written a blog before , I find myself wondering what a reader might want to hear or learn from reading this. I put myself in your shoes and then realize I would rather be me. Not that you are a bad person or anything but I am very comfortable in my own skin. So this first one is going to be about when I really (or finally) decided to be a writer and how I went about writing my first book, Shiva’s Eye.
I had been in the construction/restoration business for over two decades and got laid off a week before Christmas. Merry F’ing Christmas to me, right? Throughout my life I have tried to re-invent myself every now and then and it was about time for a change anyway. I sat around feeling sorry for myself through the holiday. I’m sure my wife was a little tired of the moping about the house. Finally, she asked, “What do you really want to do?”
There was no hesitation. I didn’t even have to think about it. I just needed someone to ask it. I replied, “Write a book.” Instead of asking if I had been smoking crack, she said “Then do it.”
I had toyed with outlines and concepts throughout my life but had never sat my ass down and done the deed. Now I had the time. Now I had no excuses and for the love of Pete, I had said it out loud… to another person. It was like I had been double dog dared. So this is how I sat about doing just that.
For the last two plus decades I had lived a routine. Get up at an ungodly hour and start work at 6 A.M. Put in a 10 to 12 hour day screaming and yelling at subcontractors or insurance adjusters (they are the worst!). Then go home and try to be a pleasant person again. Most evenings I would go to my office and practice songs for whichever band I was currently in. A subject for another blog entry someday, perhaps. I have always believed in the concept of Yin/Yang. The notion that balance is key to everything. I did something I hated all day so I had to do something I enjoyed when I got off. The point is that I was like a machine. Day in and Day out.
Now I was going to be a writer. How? The same way I had done everything else in my life. A thousand miles an hour and never looking back. I got up every morning, made a giant cup of coffee, sat down at my desk and regurgitated the book that had been trying to get out for most of my life. It wasn’t as hard as I had imagined and if I had known that, I may have started many, many, many years earlier. I have always been excellent with a keyboard, sometimes topping a hundred words a minute. I was trying to impress the girl who sat next to me in typing class while in high school and had gotten very good at it. I had gotten the girl too, but that is a story for another day or blog entry. Maybe this blog thing isn’t as hard as I thought. But I digress. Where was I? Oh, yes the process.
Everyday I cranked out words upon words. On three occasions I hit 10,000 words in one day. My dog didn’t quite understand. I was home. Why wasn’t I playing fetch non stop? I was focused. I was like a laser. The main story line of Shiva’s Eye had come to me a long time ago in a dream and I had been smart enough to write it down. Over the years I had gotten the bug on occasion, pulling out a notepad and furthering the story. So when it was time to puke it up onto a page all I had to do was stick my finger down the throat of my mind and there it was.
Three months went by and Bob’s your uncle. “Shiva’s Eye” 400 pages of blood sweat and tears… actually none of those things had happened, but it sounds good. I was and am proud of myself. I sat my mind to it and made it happen… now what?