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Sunday, August 31, 2008

We should teach creationism not evolution because, for goodness sakes, we're a country with mostly Christians.
We should teach that the sun revolves around the Earth. People have been burned as heretics for saying otherwise.

Gravity, like evolution, is only a theory. Let's all just fly.

Monday, August 04, 2008

I had no idea anyone could write so badly!!!
Broke 3,000 words here on August 4th. About where I should have been at the end of the first, I'm afraid.
I shouldn't be surprised to discover that I'm rusty.
That last week is looking like it will be brutal for sheer quantity of words. Hopefully, I won't be reduced to typing "it it it it it it it" in order to make count. Though I could pass that off as the closest translation to the aliens' language or something. Yep. Card and Gaiman ain't exactly shaking in them boots of theirs.

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Saturday, August 02, 2008

Nano Day Two  

Day two: 678
Total: 1358
Average: 679

It feels good to write again. I'm not sure why. The trick for me is to figure out how to make writing not optional. (And to accept that I was never all that and that being all that ain't all that or even any of what it's about.)
A company we just terminated our relationship with has as its unofficial motto, "We suck less." Nevermind that it turned out they didn't - the important point here (and I do have a point. Really. Trust me....) is that I suck less at short stories than I do at novels. The ADD thing, wouldn't you know? 
Soooo, has anyone constructed a Nanowrimo equivalent for short stories? How would that look? A short story a week is old hat for many, even game a week geeks program video games in a week. So what about two? Eight short stories of 3,000 or more words in a month. With a minimum of 32,000 story words written. I like it.
Now, back to reality. I've only written 679 words per day so far. How the heck am I going to write a 50,000 word novel much less dream about 32,000 words spread across 8 short stories? Beats the living hell out of me.
You can see that the high of producing 300 words of turgid prose tonight has me in full delusional mode. Go with it. Feel that endorphin rush overwhelm all logic and reason. 
Wait, have I felt a touch of the exuberance? I am a Nano guy, after all!

Friday, August 01, 2008

 

380... This is gonna take awhile!

Exuberance was never my strong suit
So, the wrimo hath begun!

Wordcount August 1: 284.

This is very tough for me as some one who has not written in many years. I thought then that I was good enough - or almost - to make professional sales. But, in truth, I made only one to Writers of the Future - which has its detractors who call it all amateur work (not to say that they're wrong, mind you).

The important thing for me to remember is that I'm not writing to publish, I'm writing to increase the likelihood I can stand looking at that guy in the mirror in the morning. The Nanowrimo founder suggests "exuberant imperfection." Annie Lamott, author of novels, religious books, and "Bird by Bird" the bestest book for beginningest writers, calls for "shitty first drafts." [What do you suggest, Annie, that I do about my shitty seconds and thirds?!?] Stephen King says whip out 2000 words a day. What's her name says write some bones and journal tll your fingers are nubs.

Everyone agrees. Write energetically and let it be rotten writing. It's still forward, better than paralysis.

Can I comply? I don't know - I'm a pretty judgmental guy. I'm also stealing time from Fictitious Force, not to mention family, wife, self-pitying bouts of back pain, secretive junk-food binges, and work which would like me to be all theirs 24/7, to write. Can I actually keep my commitment to myself to write 50K words of crap in the face of all this, especially when they really turn out to be crap?

I sure as hell don't know. Let's find out, shall we?

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