Category: Blog

Has it only been a week?  I swear, sometimes it feels like it’s been a month and other times it only feels a couple days.

This November has been a bit of a time filled… time… No, I don’t like that, no, no, no.  Let me just say it’s been busy.  Most of the 8th and 9th were spent getting to and from places so my writing totals took a hit.  The 10^th was an incredibly busy day but I did finally get to go to Meow Wolf in Santa Fe.  It was pretty amazing.  By the way, if anyone happens to go there make sure to check the mailbox at the very beginning.

The 11^th was an eventful day as I got to see my wife be awarded for being awesome, but then it was followed by a snow storm and us being stuck in New Mexico.  Oh those crazy winds and those narrow mountain passes.  We did get back home on the 12^th and then everything was back to a relative form of normality.

But yeah, my writing times and totals took a bit of a hit.

On the plus, I got more on this one done this one week than I did when I attempted this last year in the whole month.  So yay!  I haven’t quite doubled my overall output for last November and this April, but it’s within spitting distance.

So what have I learned?  As always, writing seems more exciting as an idea than as an activity, but the stories still want out!  Typing in a car with heavy wind and icy roads is about as much fun as it sounds.  It can get cold and lonely in the “chamber of words” as the day turns into night.

And the last lesson for now is, “I love it when my characters talk to me!”

My first week into this year’s Nanowrimo is very important to me for one gigantic, solid reason.  I am GOING to FINISH the first draft of Waltzing Matilda.

Last year was a struggle when I tried to write it.  And by struggle I mean, nigh impossible.  I thought I was prepared as I could be and I was super wrong (check out Writing My Fourth Novel Pt. 2).

But all that work from that attempt (building the timeline, character motivations, et al.) will… wait, I mean WILL pay off.  I have all the information I need… as far as I know at this moment.

Earlier this I did try working on book four but it was an even more frustrating experience than last year.  While I had written more in 2017, it was all disjointed and my brain could not make the connections work.  So I did something, I stepped away from it for many months.

This was probably the best plan, to be honest.  I got to work on a few other things, try and lock down this whole business experience, actually hang out with people and not feel like a mole man.  I had enough time to go on a trip to Ireland and actually got to get some reading done.  You see, I hadn’t read a book by someone else for a year and it was good to take my mind off of the veritable nail balanced on the table.

But as November drew nigh, I knew I needed to get back to it.  I grabbed book three and ripped through it and it was a fun experience.  I had forgotten so much that each page was almost like a new story (well except that déjà vu feeling in the back of the mind that I’d been there before).  I eagerly jumped into the notes and timeline for book four and it all made sense.  It was a tiny bit sparse here and there, but I’ve worked with literally nothing before.

I grabbed what I had written already and… it was disjointed.  Yet, I could see what sort of corrections were needed to make it click.  And that was Day 1 and Day 2 of Nanowrimo.

Here it is into the final day of week 1 and I have made progress into the middle!  Funnily enough, a lot of time is remembering character names and quirks.  It isn’t the fastest I’ve written but I don’t think it’s the slowest either.

And anyway, I have the WILL to GO and FINISH the story!

(Disclaimer: cheers and other celebrations to be set once it is completed)

Whew, what a heck of a ride.

I am super excited that I got The Matilda Season One out on Amazon and also got Nun With a Gun on other providers in these last two months.  I feel like I’m getting a solid handle on this whole thing and that makes me feel pretty darn good.

On top of that, I just got back from a trip to Ireland and we had a blast.  It’s a beautiful country and the people were quite lovely.  And while we ended up crossing the island and driving almost the entire southern coast, it was definitely a needed break before coming back to the daily grind.

On the not-so-great side, I got to bring back a new illness (I mean jeez 2018, can you please stop with that?) which I am finally getting over (and there was much rejoicing).  I also took a mighty fall due to my own stupidity and luckily escaped unbroken.  Bruised?  Yes.  Pride take a hit?  Yes.  Make everyone laugh so they had a story to tell? Also, check.

Nanowrimo is literally right around the corner and after going through my stuff, I realized I haven’t written a story of any length for over a month!  I am setting up to get the fourth Matilda story completely done for this Nanowrimo.  I haven’t succeeded at getting the first draft done during my past two attempts.

So, do I feel prepared? No. Am I going to do it anyway? Hell to the yes!

• Amazon
• Barnes and Noble
• Kobo
• Apple itunes
• Scribd
• Playster
• 24 Symbols
• Tolino

(image courtesy of Ryan McGuire of http://www.gratisography.com/)

These past couple months have been… ridiculous.  Between being stuck in the middle of an enormous work project that seems to have no end, me being as sick as a dog for weeks on end, I’m now fighting my laptop from trying to bite the big one.  As an added bonus, my last release did not go smoothly.

The release of The Matilda, Episode 3 was troublesome.  Everything appeared to go properly for it to only end up as a mess.  And I will give props to the Amazon tech team as they worked with me daily to get it corrected.  It took quite a few days for the whole process, but they kept me in the loop until the end.  I appreciate that quite a bit.

And I know, I know.  No one wants to hear about the job.  It’s one of those necessary parts of life that most of us have to deal with.  But you know what?  I am going to briefly mention it because this project I have been slogging through for months has completely killed my interest in looking at a computer screen by the time my workday is over.  While there is light at the end of this thing, it aint over yet.

On top of that, my very old pc is trying to give up the ghost.  It and I (me and it?) have been battling almost daily with keeping it running so I can keep doing this whole writing activity.  Those fights, along with everything else, have taken it out of me.

And lastly, I’m hip deep into my fourth week of illness and it sucks.  I ran two obstacle course races while dealing with this nonsense and it definitely robbed a lot of the fun out of them.  Luckily, I think I’m finally on the way out of this and I can’t wait!  Good God, I can’t wait.

You know what, though?  Even with all of that, I finally got this post done after struggling with everything.  And progress is progress… right?

I keep checking my personal calendar and I am falling behind.  I need to make some notable progress on one of the writing projects on my docket, but the muse… she has left the building.

I know life can get crazy, but right now it feels like crazy is the norm.  With so many “must do’s” piled up in front of me, it makes brain time for word-smithing a highly sought after commodity.  And while I have chipped quite a few of those tasks down to either completion or waiting on some other piece of the all consuming puzzle to arrive, the pile remains unconquered.

The Puzzle! 

As you click the pieces together, it separates you from your soul…

Hmm, fun idea for a soul trap or demonic possession story.

Err, well so I guess the muse is still hovering above me.   That means it’s just me and my harshly used gray matter that is the stop block to the floodgates of my imagination…

and the fingers to put the words down…

What does the future hold, you ask?  Why everything, of course.

Things are moving along at a decent pace. I have my next release mostly set up to go and my timeline for all that fun stuff has been updated. As far as I know right now, I have all my T’s crossed and my I’s dotted.

With the next one essentially prepped, I am now working through the next set of releases.  And they dearly need the attention.  Editing, editing, editing, oh as far as the eye can see…

Oh, and I am back to work on the last of the Matilda series as a first draft, because it wants to be done and I want it done too.  My collaboration story with Tyson K. Lane is making its way along as well.  Whew.

On top of all that, I have a few new stories in the works with a plan to revisit some older ones and flesh them out a bit more.

Why?  Well… because they won’t leave me alone.

Progress, progress, progress…

While there were still a lot of the legal steps to go through, things are slowly moving forward.  I have released my first novelette!  I also have some releases that are mostly ready to go (not just yet, though.  There’s a bit of license agreement bits to work on).

And to make all of this happen, I have become a business!  Well, as far as the government is concerned.  This turned out to be much simpler than I had expected and then much more difficult than I had anticipated.

So, celebrations are in order.

Next on my long list is the creation of the rest of my seller licenses.  The first one was easy, but there are multiple ebook store fronts out there.  And while these appear to be simple, if I have learned anything, it’s that taking things at face value will leave you unprepared.

I have my notes and numbers in a huge bundle and all the bits and pieces I believe that I need ready to go.  Here’s hoping this isn’t like a visit to the DMV where you stand in line only to find out you forgot that one form at home.

Anyway, here’s to taking these last few strides forward and setting this bird aloft.

Woo!