Long ago, in the days of yore, or more specifically, on December 31 2013 I announced my intention to gather a bunch of short stories into a collection I would self-publish. Here is the relevant part of that post as a refresher:
In 2014 (one day from now, though this is not something that will actually be happening tomorrow, barring some kind of time travel trickery) I will be self-publishing my first short story collection. After looking over the collected stories I have written and weeding out those either not ready or not up to par I have settled on twenty for a collection that will be titled 10 Pairs of Shorts. Clever, eh?
And now, here is an update as of September 3, 2015, in convenient list form:
I have not published the collection
20 stories is a lot of stories to read, revise and in some cases, also write
I still like the title
I still intend on doing this, however scaled down the effort might be
The good news is enough of the stories are ready to give me a little momentum. Apart from that I promise nothing except to report back in exactly one year with a progress report. Actually, I have offer one more promise: a more detailed status report sometime in the next few days, barring illness (I am in fact, not feeling well. I blame mass transit as always).
I have tried to find ways to motivate myself to write regularly because I know if I do it builds momentum that carries me along from one writing project–however big or small–to the next. I have done what many aspiring writers have done. I’ve read books designed to educate, to inspire, to prod and nag and drive you to the computer, typewriter (ho ho) or quill pen and legal pad (HarlanWrite™), I’ve tried the stick approach (“No cookie until I finish this page”), I’ve tried the carrot (“If I type a paragraph, I get a kitten. Yay kitten!” This is an actual thing, by the way. See here: Written? Kitten!), I’ve tried pretty much any approach one might come across in a few decades or more of cranking out words.
In the end I don’t have any magical, surefire technique to motivate myself, but somehow I always fumble my way back to writing. Sometimes I lapse for a few days or weeks, sometimes for years. The fallow years make me sad but not regretful. If I had written during those times it probably would have been about werewolf sex.
After hurting my right leg on August 3rd–three days into my vacation–I knew I would probably not run for the rest of the month and possibly longer. This bummed me out. Running is not only good exercise for me, it’s also great stress relief. When I’m out on a trail running on a warm summer day, serenaded by the music piping through my earbuds, I feel good. Not even wayward cyclists can bother me. To have this activity suddenly shut off made me think, “My blog isn’t going to be filled with jogging posts for weeks.” I had a choice–let the blog go dry until I started running again, fill the blog up with complaints about how I wasn’t running or, perhaps, actually write about things other than running.
I vowed then to write something every day. I didn’t actually start until August 19th but every day since then I have written something. Some days it’s been slight, other days it’s been a bit more substantial. I am tending toward the inane as I get my proverbial sea legs. But for now the momentum is back. It feels nice, like a good run.
(This is post #17 for the month, my best monthly output since July 24, 2014. I am both delighted and horrified by this.)
Another batch of updates for my National Novel Writing novel writing thing:
Day 16: none (due to illness)
Day 17: 3625 (+1,958)
Day 18: 2296 (+629)
Day 19: 2151 (+348)
Day 20: 2153 (+448)
Day 21: 2056 (+389)
Day 22: 2009 (+342)
Day 23: 2051 (+384)
As you can see, Day 16 was less than productive due to a bout of the flu. I made up for it by writing over twice the required text the next day while recovering. After that I maintained a 2,000+ word pace through to the 23rd when I officially passed 50,000 words and was declared a winner and got an imaginary ticker-tape parade. It’s impressive because ticker-tape isn’t easy to come by any more. My word count on Day 23 is 50,562, though the NaNoWriMo website counted a few words WriteMonkey did, so my total there is 50,677.
My current plan is to keep forging ahead and do some thinking about the plot, which is still a tad on the loose side. I’m not going to stop writing to get the plot into better shape, though, as that seems fairly begging for trouble.
Plus I’m curious to see what my word count will end up on come November 30. If I stay on pace it should be around 65,000 or so, which will still be well below what the first draft will ultimately be, for the story is a bloated and meandering thing. Come second draft it will go on a crash diet. One Cheerio per day, no more.
Another bunch o’ National Novel Writing Month updates as I chug along:
Day 9: 1,769 (+102)
Day 10: 1,717 (+50)
Day 11: 2,304 (+637)
Day 12: 2,015 (+348)
Day 13: 2,603 (+936)
Day 14: 1,924 (+257)
Day 15 (halfway point): 1,806 (+139)
At the halfway point I have written 34,221 words, which is 9,221 above the minimum of 25,000. Much of the prose would make [insert name of any beloved, well-known author here] either weep openly or roll in her/his grave as appropriate, but that’s what you get when you steamroll through a novel in 30 days without any editing along the way.
I’ve come to terms with editing, though, so the thought of having to go over this sloppy story to hammer it into shape is, in a weird way, kind of exciting.
Onward to the second half of the month and a hopeful Big Finish™.
Despite the lack of updates, I have been working diligently away at NaNoWriMo 2014. I’ve stopped updating daily because it feels like post-padding without having something unique to say about a particular writing session, like “I was writing today when my left foot suddenly fell off and the stump starting gushing blood all over the place.”
Note that my feet are currently intact and otherwise fine. Here is a summary of the last five days. The number in parentheses is how much I exceeded the minimum of 1,667):
Day 4: 1,668 words (+1)
Day 5: 1,720 words (+53)
Day 6: 1,801 words (+134)
Day 7: 2,257 word (+590)
Day 8: 1,966 words (+289)
Total after 8 days: 20,083 (+6,747)
The story is still a bit formless and I have little doubt the pacing is all wrong but I’m content to keep pushing and letting it find its own way, with the thought in the back of my mind that a lot of revision will be needed to get it into shape afterward. Such is the way of putting the emphasis on quantity over quality.
Still on track on Day 3, with 2,003 words written and a total of 10, 671 (minimum to stay on track after three days is 5,000). The story is flabby and slowly warming up, with most of the primary characters introduced and there broad hints of spooky shenanigans to come.
I’m not sure what I will write on Day 4 but that’s all part of the nutty fun. Just writing regularly again feels good, like rolling naked on a furry carpet. Or so I’ve been told.
I trimmed away 200 words from my previous day’s writing, which is a big no-no in NaNoWriMo but I’m a rebel. It meant that while I wrote more than the daily minimum (1749 words–the minimum is 1667) it calculates the total for the day at a shameful 1549 words.
I’m not entirely sure where the story is going next but I am sticking with my guiding principle of “go nuts.” On to Day 3!
National Novel Writing Month 2014 begins today and the first pep talk of the month has been posted by author Chuck Wendig. It can be read here: Pep Talk from Chuck Wendig
Wendig misses being an awesome name by a mere single letter. But would I actually consider clicking “Buy” on an Amazon book by a Chuck Wendigo? Possibly. I imagine Chuck has long ago weighed the pros and cons of this.
Here are two things he writes in his pep talk, completely taken out of context, because they better serve as bizarre totems of inspiration this way:
Crack open your chest and plop your heart onto the page.
Donuts in an empty field.
The first brings to mind the ritual seen in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. That ritual did not end well for the heart-offering participant. I recommend plopping out a less vital organ, like your appendix, if you still have it. I’m not sure what kind of story you would write after looking at your appendix soaking into a sheet of paper on your desk. Probably not a romance.
The second conjures an image of abandoned donuts, stale and windswept. What kind of monster would abandon donuts in a field, anyway? Possibly a monster watching its waist. Those poor donuts, left to the uncaring elements or ravenous coyotes. Now imagine running into a pack of coyotes hopped up on these donuts, their blood racing thanks to the ingestion of deliciously smooth Boston creams and sticky honey crullers. Is this what Chuck Wendig wants? For would-be writers to be eaten by coyotes fueled by bakery treats? I don’t know, I can’t peer into Chuck’s heart. Mainly because he’s yanked it out of his chest and put it on a sheet of paper on his desk.
Anyway, here’s hoping I work on my novel today instead of watching clips of all the Indiana Jones movies.
After flailing about I have come to a decision on what to write for National Novel Writing month 2014 with a week to spare: Road Closed.
As with 2009, I am taking an unfinished short story and expanding it to short novel-length. There are a few differences this time. I am actively working on the story “Road Closed” while “The Ferry” had been abandoned many years prior. I also had planned on completing “Road Closed” before November 1, using it as my warm-up for the contest.
But with it already clocking in at 7,000 words and only just laying the foundation for the grisly meat of the story (ho ho) I realized I might be able to turn it into a novel by expanding certain aspects of the story while keeping the basic plot/framework in place.
I can’t say I’m optimistic about my chances of being successful, as my writing has floundered for most of the year. “Road Closed” began as a writing exercise back in January before being abandoned and it was only a few weeks ago that I dusted it off, chucked most of what I had written and dove back into it. But the intervening months did give me time to think about the story and I found a hook that eluded me. My intent is to keep the story light while dealing with alcoholism, death and dismemberment. We’ll see how it pans out in 36 days.
For the first time in many months I sat down and wrote. I decided to take another shot at a writing exercise I’d started on my now-moribund writing site. The story is called “Road Closed” and rather than picking up where I’d left off or polishing what I had already written, I just plain started over.
Four thousand words later I am pleased with how easily the words started flowing once I got rolling.
I’d like to thank Green Day and The Bee Gees for musical inspiration while I clacked away on my mechanical keyboard. Yes, punk and disco, back to back, just as nature intended.
My plan is to write every day and to wrap up this story before National Novel Writing Month begins in 18 days. I think I can pull this off.
engadget is described as a “news, reviews and opinion outlet with obsessive coverage of cutting edge gadgets, consumer electronics and the science and technology they’re built upon.”
The news, reviews and opinions are all presented in a chronological list without much to differentiate one from another apart from the title of the article. I read the site on a near-daily basis and appreciate that it takes a lighter and less technical approach to electronics and gadgetry than, say, anandtech.com and its half dozen pages of benchmarks illustrating how the latest Android phone is slightly better or worse than other phones at rendering blobs and bits.
Reviews and opinion pieces on engadget are always going to have a little more personality injected into them, but I’ve noticed lately the writing of these pieces seems to be skewing more informal, with some resembling forum posts rather than something you’d expect of a professionally written article.
Take this opinion piece How would you change the Nintendo Wii U? I’ve included the entire thing below, not because I’m a plagiarizing so and so, but because it’s quite short, as its main intent is to foster forum discussion (which does not justify the tone used, in my opinion):
The Wii was, undoubtedly, the success story of the previous console generation, encouraging millions of novice gamers to wave their arms around like a crazy person. The Wii U’s big gimmick, touchscreen gaming, made plenty of sense, considering the quantity of mobile and DS users out there, but it never seemed to take off in the same way. Launching well ahead of the Xbone and PS4, the general opinion of our reviewer was that it simply wasn’t ready for the big time, and sales seem to have backed that up. A year has passed now, so it’s high time that we asked you what Nintendo should have done differently? Sign up at the forums and talk us some change.
I realized as I was reading this I was mentally editing it. Here’s the version I cobbled together (with mark-up, such as WordPress allows):
The Wii was, undoubtedly, the success story of the previous console generation, encouraging millions of novice gamers to wave their arms around likeacrazypersonpeople. The Wii U’s big gimmick, touchscreen gaming, made plenty of sense, considering the quantitynumber of mobile and DS users out there, but it never seemed to take took off in the same way. Launching well ahead of the XboneXbox One and PS4, the general opinion of our reviewer was that it simply wasn’t ready for the big time [without substantiation or at least a link, this assertion is meaningless and should be rewritten or removed], and sales seem to have backed that up. More than aA year has passed since its launchnow, so nowit’s highis a good timethat we askedto ask you what Nintendo should have done differently.? Sign up at the forums and talk to us aboutsome changes.
Cleaned up and with a previous engadget article linked that shows the poor sales of the Wii U:
The Wii was the success story of the previous console generation, encouraging millions of novice gamers to wave their arms around like crazy people. The Wii U’s big gimmick, touchscreen gaming, made sense considering the number of mobile and DS users out there, but it never took off in the same way. Launching well ahead of the Xbox One and PS4, Nintendo was forced in January to slash sales expectations of the Wii U for 2014 from 9 million to 2.8 million. More than a year has passed since its launch so now is a good time to ask you what Nintendo should have done differently. Sign up at the forums and talk to us about changes.
Is this better? Sign up on this blog and let me know.
It’s time for another update on my short story collection 10 Pairs of Shorts.
This thing is taking a lot longer to assemble than expected. I wish I had a sassy writing robot to help me. Or a million dollars. Both would be neat.
As of today I have these stories more or less ready to go:
Cervidae
Learning to Die
The Cobalt Sensation
The Chicago 8 vs. Armageddon
The Chicago 8 vs. Time
Slice of Life
The Lunch Gnome
The Sometimes Island
Even if I add another to the list at the rate of one per week that still means the collection won’t be fully assembled until around May. Not that it’s a race. But like Kirk to Khan, it tasks me.
I’ll pick the next story for revision tomorrow and hopefully find it perfect as written.
