Sick

My apologies for not posting for over a week. I can chalk it up to a number of things, including writing, fatigue, work, sleep, and gaming (which goes hand in hand with procrastination). I bought myself a late birthday present last week in the form of an Xbox 360, and I’ve been enjoying the hell out of it. For the curious, my gamertag is wordmachine, so feel free to be social and kick my ass at a game of Team Fortress 2.

I’ve got about 20 or so handwritten pages of imagiNATION. Not sure what the equates to in terms of word count, and to be honest, I don’t even want to know. The story is moving, though, albeit at a much slower pace than I’m used to because of writing it all by hand, but it’s a much different experience. Much more organic, and the language has improved because of this.

Unfortunately I’m sick today. So is Erica. We both went to work, and by 10:30 I had a fever and feelings of nausea. She was up and down all night with a fever, but insisted on going to work anyway. So much for that. We slept for almost four hours this afternoon; now we’re going to have soup and sandwiches for dinner and turn in early tonight. For now, in lieu of a real blog post, I’m going to go eat, take some medicine and settle down for some mindless fun.

But before I go, to keep it somewhat writing-focused, here’s something I meant to post months ago. A friend of mine gave this to me. I forget where she found it, but that doesn’t matter. Give it a look-see.

Until next time,

tags: gaming sick writer things

April 28, 2008 | Filed Under Blog | Leave a Comment

The Ritual

I’ve been thinking over the last few days about my own habits that facilitate my writing process, and some patterns have emerged.

For starters, there has to be music playing somewhere in the background. Lately I’ve found that when I can’t focus and have to turn the music off, it’s better to stop writing for the time being. When I can’t tune out the music and channel it, there’s really no point in trying. Conversely, I need silence in regards to my surroundings. The music is for the ambience, and “silence” refers to everything else. I can’t write with a TV in the background. There can’t be a lot of movement or commotion going on around me. If I’m writing at my computer, I’ve probably got my headphones on and am completely oblivious to everything else.

There is a ritual of sorts, though. Before writing, I get a glass of a non-alcoholic liquid (usually soda), I turn up the music, and then I pace. I’ll walk around and occupy myself with something else for a few minutes. I’m not really conscious of what I’m doing during this phase – my head is a million miles away in the moment of the story I’m about to enter. I’m focusing, channeling, seeing what I’m about to write happening before me like a slow motion movie. I’m hearing the words these people are saying. After a few minutes of this, I close the door, sit down and crack my knuckles (a bad habit I can’t shake). And then I either start pecking away at the keyboard or pick up my pen and start scribbling.

That’s another thing – if I’m writing by hand, I have to write with a pen. Never a pencil. I find I become too preoccupied with the lead and having to resharpen the tip every page or so (I’m particular about my writing utensils, and I absolutely must have a fine, sharpened point). My pen must have a good flow but not prone to bleeding and smudging. My current favorite is the Uniball Jetstream. I write in print. Never cursive. I underline for italics, and double-underline for, well, underlining. Titles are in all-caps.

On a good day, two or three hours will pass without my awareness. The album that’s playing will have repeated three or four times and I’ve listened to none of it but heard it all the same. That’s the beauty and necessity of the music - it’s a channeling technique much like a seer goes to a stone. Think of it like a form of meditation. Once it clicks and you fall into that wonderful creative space, time ceases to exist, and you’re off on a journey of your own creation. And this is all while you’re sober.

I’ve started writing the second draft of imagiNATION. It’s going more smoothly than I imagined it would. And, the best of it is, it’s moving along at its own pace. I’m not forcing it. That in itself is a relief and a blessing. It was upon my reflection of my own writing ritual that I decided to set some parameters for myself. These are little quirky things to which I must adhere every day when I sit down to work on this story.

So now we come to the rules:

Write by hand in that snazzy notebook and nothing else. Don’t type a single word until it’s done.
Listen to whole albums only, and only one album on repeat per session. Mixes don’t work very well for me.
Headphones are preferred.
Minimum of one hour writing time per day, every day. More if possible.
And finally – let the story be what it wants to be, and not what I think it should be. I broke this rule before, and that’s why I’m rewriting a 108k word novel from scratch.

And with that, I am off to write for my second hour today. I’ll most likely be listening to the album Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright by ASHES dIVIDE, though I’m also in the mood for something by TOOL as well, so we’ll see. Oh, and I’ll probably light some candles, too.

For now, it’s your turn. What’s your writing ritual? Hit the comment box and let me know. Happy writing and weekend, folks.

tags: imagiNATION rituals writer things writing writing process

April 18, 2008 | Filed Under Blog | 5 Comments

Careful not to jinx it.

I wrote something today. It’s what you think it is (if we’re all on the same page), and it’s only a paragraph long to start. I wrote it by hand in a nice, new notebook with which I spoiled myself, as I’ve never had a nice notebook before. I figured now was as good a time as any, and to mark the occasion I should write it in something more elegant than a simple spiral notebook from my college days.

So there. One paragraph down. Many, many more to go, written in a pompous mixture of blood, tears and ink, and I’m okay with that.

I do have to say, though, it didn’t start the way I thought it would. And that’s okay, too.

More on that development very soon.

For now, here are two writer things courtesy of Fiction Scribe.

The first:

Ghosts In The Machine, edited by Aitch Jae Esse of Phoenix Imprints Presents, an original collection of short stories focused specifically on the supernatural as relates to technology, most particularly with the Internet/Computers but other areas of technology will certainly be considered.

Literary submissions should be less than 7000 words and, while authors are encouraged to ‘push the envelope’ with their submissions, excessive sexuality and violence are acceptable only to the degree that they serve the overall story. Successful submissions will be those stories that tell a genuinely scary, original tale with memorable characters and story arcs. If you have questions about submissions, policies, etc., please email the address below.

*Submission Deadline: June 1st, 2008
*Anticipated Publication Fourth Quarter, 2008, First Quarter 2009
*Submission Details: 1000-7000 words
*Authors’ Recompense: $20 per story accepted, publication credit and contributors’ copy

And the second:

My marketing and promotional plan is unusual to say the least. I have never really done things the normal way; instead, I take what I have learned from others and put my distinctive spin on it. To be honest it’s hard to describe what I do, because I never really stop. When I go out into the world, I am nearly always on and ready to promote.

Then there’s this funny little piece from GalleyCat about a Canadian author who released his novel as a free e-book because no agent or publisher would give him the time of day. Then he decided to lash out against them because of this, which is rather funny, and it reminds me of the time I was first rejected by an agent at the ripe old age of 17. Oh, the horror, the horror. Still, the article’s author has a point:

Well, Burns, if your intention was to burn bridges with the publishing world, I think you have done just that. What I would have suggested instead was to use the buzz and reviews generated by your free e-book to garner interest from genre publishers and approach them with your grass roots effort. Oh well, too late.

I recall something about biting the hand that feeds. Funny, that.

On that note, I’m off to bed. Enjoy your weekend folks.