This book does not mess about.
Seriously, characters start dying just a few chapters in. I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for a book that's not afraid to knock off large segments of its cast. I like a good fictional bloodbath. This is especially true when it comes to the final book of a long-running series. Rowling has spent six books building up to a magical war against Voldemort, with the series growing progressively darker during that time. It's the sort of thing you have to deliver on, and Rowling delivers in spades.
That said, between the bloodbaths at the beginning and end, this book has a tedious middle. There's a lot to be said for the structure provided by the Hogwarts school setting: it means that there is always something happening, even when the main plot is not progressing. Whether it's classes or Quidditch or just interactions with the other students, there's a sense that the characters are always doing things. This book throws that structure away, and it flounders a little. There are long parts where it's just Harry, Ron and Hermione teleporting around England with no concrete direction, and it gets a bit tiresome.
The ending makes up for it, though. It really is an amazing conclusion, and I can't think of many long-running fantasy series that have done as well as this. All the themes are tied in, all the characters get a satisfying wrap-up, and just about every element introduced earlier in the books plays a part. I can think of very little I wanted to see that wasn't included. A series often lives or dies by its ending, and I think that Harry Potter will live for a very long time.
I have only two complaints, one exceedingly minor and one that is quite a bit bigger. The minor complaint is barely even worth mentioning, as it's more a thing I thought would have improved the ending than something that is a genuine problem. I was never satisfied with Harry becoming an Auror, and thought it would have been a much more fitting wrap-up to the series for him to take the mantle of teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. Think about it: the position had six different occupants during the series. It was an ongoing subplot about the position being "cursed". Harry even starts teaching it, after a fashion, when he starts up the DA. Having Harry become a teacher would have wrapped that sub-plot up nicely, I think. But that's just me doing a little armchair-writing, trying to tell J.K. Rowling how to do her job. Because I'm so much more successful than her, you know.
The major complaint, and one I've voiced before, is about the house elves. That's a sub-plot that was introduced around the middle of the series, and the way it's dealt with is problematic to say the least. I don't want to get too deep into it (because I might write a whole essay about it in the future), but all I'll say now is that one of the very last lines of the last chapter is Harry hoping that Kreacher will bring him a sandwich. For a series that does so well in every other area, it's a shame that it stumbled here.
So where next? I'm in a re-reading mood, and I can see The Wheel of Time taking up an entire shelf of my bookcase. So I'm tackling The Eye of the World for the umpty-umpth time, but for the first time since the series finished. I'm really rather looking forward to it.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
I'll admit this up-front: I don't have a hell of a lot to say about book six of the Harry Potter series. That's not a knock on it's quality: it's really very good. It's just that I finished it a while ago, and the details have started to inter-mingle with the rest of the series. I have a few observations I want to share, though.
The Harry Potter books are generally structured as mysteries. Each book has a central question that Harry and co. are trying to find the answer to, and that the book revolves around. Who's trying to get into the Hogwarts vault? Who's been opening the Chamber of Secrets? Who entered Harry in the Tri-Wizard Tournament? One of the things that has become apparent about these mysteries is that Harry Potter is always wrong. He usually jumps to an early conclusion, often accusing someone he doesn't like, and his accusation gets slowly disproven as the book progresses. What I like about Half-Blood Prince is that this is turned on its head. Harry works out really quickly that Draco Malfoy is up to some shady business, and tries his best to stop him. This time, he's right. Draco was neck-deep in it. It didn't do Harry much good, but I did like the reversal of the usual structure.
The other mystery here involves the titular Half-Blood Prince, whose potions textbook Harry acquires early on, and uses to great effect. I was never quite satisfied by the reveal of Snape as the Prince. It makes perfect sense, but as a dramatic payoff it didn't work for me. I'm not really sure what the significance of Snape's book was, or why it was important at all for Harry to possess it. I'm probably missing something subtle here, but there's just something about this subplot that left me cold, and I can't put my finger on it. Perhaps it was Rowling trying to set up Snape's double-agent role, but I still can't see it.
Also, is this the book where Harry hooks up with Ginny? Because I always felt like that came right out of nowhere. Literally, in the space of one paragraph, Harry is suddenly smitten, with zero indication that he had any feelings for her before that. I'm not convinced by their relationship at all (to be honest, I find that romantic relationships are the weakest aspect of Rowling's writing, expecially where teenage boys are concerned).
I think that's about it, but there was a ton of stuff I liked. The secret history of Voldemort was awesome. The whole sequence with Harry and Dumbledore in the cave trying to get the Horcrux was beautifully eerie. Dumbledore's death was perfectly done. It's a great book, and a great set-up for the finale.
The Harry Potter books are generally structured as mysteries. Each book has a central question that Harry and co. are trying to find the answer to, and that the book revolves around. Who's trying to get into the Hogwarts vault? Who's been opening the Chamber of Secrets? Who entered Harry in the Tri-Wizard Tournament? One of the things that has become apparent about these mysteries is that Harry Potter is always wrong. He usually jumps to an early conclusion, often accusing someone he doesn't like, and his accusation gets slowly disproven as the book progresses. What I like about Half-Blood Prince is that this is turned on its head. Harry works out really quickly that Draco Malfoy is up to some shady business, and tries his best to stop him. This time, he's right. Draco was neck-deep in it. It didn't do Harry much good, but I did like the reversal of the usual structure.
The other mystery here involves the titular Half-Blood Prince, whose potions textbook Harry acquires early on, and uses to great effect. I was never quite satisfied by the reveal of Snape as the Prince. It makes perfect sense, but as a dramatic payoff it didn't work for me. I'm not really sure what the significance of Snape's book was, or why it was important at all for Harry to possess it. I'm probably missing something subtle here, but there's just something about this subplot that left me cold, and I can't put my finger on it. Perhaps it was Rowling trying to set up Snape's double-agent role, but I still can't see it.
Also, is this the book where Harry hooks up with Ginny? Because I always felt like that came right out of nowhere. Literally, in the space of one paragraph, Harry is suddenly smitten, with zero indication that he had any feelings for her before that. I'm not convinced by their relationship at all (to be honest, I find that romantic relationships are the weakest aspect of Rowling's writing, expecially where teenage boys are concerned).
I think that's about it, but there was a ton of stuff I liked. The secret history of Voldemort was awesome. The whole sequence with Harry and Dumbledore in the cave trying to get the Horcrux was beautifully eerie. Dumbledore's death was perfectly done. It's a great book, and a great set-up for the finale.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
I've mentioned it before, but when I first read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix some ten years ago, I was disappointed. The previous volume had ended with some serious business going down, and my expectations were high. After all, Voldemort was back, and he was actually for real killing people. There was no way that book five could be more of the same Hogwarts boarding school drama.
And yet, when it came out, that was exactly what I got. More of Harry and his friends at Hogwarts, and very little of Voldemort and his crew. I had not gotten the book I wanted, and that, combined with this being the first in the series that I had to wait for, led to disappointment.
Here's the thing: I was wrong, because this is a cracking book. A little long in the tooth, but cracking nonetheless.
The lack of Voldemort was one of the things I criticised it for in the past, but what I've realised during my reread is that Voldemort is really not all that interesting. He's effective as a super-evil villain, but as is often the case with super-evil villains he's a bit one-note. The real villain of the book is the Ministry of Magic, particularly Dolores Umbridge, and that's a much more complex thing.
Umbridge herself may just be the best villain of the whole series. I never had a particular hate for Voldemort, despite the frequency with which he tortures and murders people. Umbridge, on the other hand, I have genuine loathing for. She just so easy to hate, much easier to hate then Voldemort, even though her brand of evil is a lot less extreme than his. I think I know why that is.
I think most of us has met an Umbridge in real life. We've all been punished by vindictive teachers, or become the victims of bureaucracy, or met seemingly lovely people who are horrible, horrible racists. Hers is a real-life brand of petty evil, whereas Voldemort is on another level entirely. I doubt many people interact with murderers and would-be despots on the regular, at least not the sort of people reading Harry Potter novels. It's not very likely that I'm going to be tortured when I go to work, or suffer from ethnic cleansing. Plus, Voldemort's a badass. He's got that I'm-a-killer coolness factor going for him, the sort that only fictional killers have. Umbridge has no coolness, she's just a terrible person of the sort we have to deal with every day, and therefore she's much easier to hate.
I don't have a lot of other notes about this book, except to say that it really is better than I remembered. I finished it ages ago, so the details are hazy. Hopefully I'll do better with book 6, but I finished that a long time ago as well. As usual, I've been slack.
And yet, when it came out, that was exactly what I got. More of Harry and his friends at Hogwarts, and very little of Voldemort and his crew. I had not gotten the book I wanted, and that, combined with this being the first in the series that I had to wait for, led to disappointment.
Here's the thing: I was wrong, because this is a cracking book. A little long in the tooth, but cracking nonetheless.
The lack of Voldemort was one of the things I criticised it for in the past, but what I've realised during my reread is that Voldemort is really not all that interesting. He's effective as a super-evil villain, but as is often the case with super-evil villains he's a bit one-note. The real villain of the book is the Ministry of Magic, particularly Dolores Umbridge, and that's a much more complex thing.
Umbridge herself may just be the best villain of the whole series. I never had a particular hate for Voldemort, despite the frequency with which he tortures and murders people. Umbridge, on the other hand, I have genuine loathing for. She just so easy to hate, much easier to hate then Voldemort, even though her brand of evil is a lot less extreme than his. I think I know why that is.
I think most of us has met an Umbridge in real life. We've all been punished by vindictive teachers, or become the victims of bureaucracy, or met seemingly lovely people who are horrible, horrible racists. Hers is a real-life brand of petty evil, whereas Voldemort is on another level entirely. I doubt many people interact with murderers and would-be despots on the regular, at least not the sort of people reading Harry Potter novels. It's not very likely that I'm going to be tortured when I go to work, or suffer from ethnic cleansing. Plus, Voldemort's a badass. He's got that I'm-a-killer coolness factor going for him, the sort that only fictional killers have. Umbridge has no coolness, she's just a terrible person of the sort we have to deal with every day, and therefore she's much easier to hate.
I don't have a lot of other notes about this book, except to say that it really is better than I remembered. I finished it ages ago, so the details are hazy. Hopefully I'll do better with book 6, but I finished that a long time ago as well. As usual, I've been slack.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Project Round-Up
Okay, so I haven't updated this blog in close to a month. Okay, so I've barely done any writing in the last month. I'm not going to dwell on those facts, as it doesn't do anybody any favours. Allow me to continue with my post and pretend that I'm not a complete screw-up.
So what I really want to do today is give an update on the various projects that I've been promising since I started this blog. I have a tendency to get high on an idea, go at it full steam for a day or two, then drop it. Let's check my track record for 2013-2014.
The Lightless Labyrinth: This is the big one, and it's been my major project since early this year. I would estimate that I'm about 1/3 done with the first draft, which puts me a little bit behind schedule. My plan was to get the first draft done by the end of the year. There's still time, if I pull the proverbial finger out.
Jack Manley Sequel: This could be either Jack Manley and the Interchronal Deathmatch Tournament or Jack Manley and the Fist That Punched the Devil, depending on which takes my fancy when it comes time to begin. I had previously said that I wanted to do it as a serial, but to be honest I'm not sure that I can create a first draft I'll be happy with, and anything I release as a serial would by necessity be a first draft. I'll tackle this as my next novel after The Lightless Labyrinth, so probably some time next year.
Marvel Guidebooks: I'm getting there, at least with volume 1. That said, volume 1 only covers the year 1961, and is more of a test for myself than a genuine book. It's only going to cover three comics (or perhaps just two, I haven't decided yet) but for such a complex project I want to get the format down before I embark on the guidebook for 1962. Volume 1 should almost certainly be out before the year's end.
Ug and the Giant's Backyard: This was the children's book that I had published through a small press about a decade ago. I want to make it available via print and digital again, but before I do that I want to add colour to the interior illustrations, and create a new front cover. This is another one I think I can get done by the end of 2014.
WRITING PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 1,627 words (39,598 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
Harry Potter books 5-7
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
What I'm Watching:
Loads of WWE
What I'm Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
So what I really want to do today is give an update on the various projects that I've been promising since I started this blog. I have a tendency to get high on an idea, go at it full steam for a day or two, then drop it. Let's check my track record for 2013-2014.
The Lightless Labyrinth: This is the big one, and it's been my major project since early this year. I would estimate that I'm about 1/3 done with the first draft, which puts me a little bit behind schedule. My plan was to get the first draft done by the end of the year. There's still time, if I pull the proverbial finger out.
Jack Manley Sequel: This could be either Jack Manley and the Interchronal Deathmatch Tournament or Jack Manley and the Fist That Punched the Devil, depending on which takes my fancy when it comes time to begin. I had previously said that I wanted to do it as a serial, but to be honest I'm not sure that I can create a first draft I'll be happy with, and anything I release as a serial would by necessity be a first draft. I'll tackle this as my next novel after The Lightless Labyrinth, so probably some time next year.
Marvel Guidebooks: I'm getting there, at least with volume 1. That said, volume 1 only covers the year 1961, and is more of a test for myself than a genuine book. It's only going to cover three comics (or perhaps just two, I haven't decided yet) but for such a complex project I want to get the format down before I embark on the guidebook for 1962. Volume 1 should almost certainly be out before the year's end.
Ug and the Giant's Backyard: This was the children's book that I had published through a small press about a decade ago. I want to make it available via print and digital again, but before I do that I want to add colour to the interior illustrations, and create a new front cover. This is another one I think I can get done by the end of 2014.
WRITING PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 1,627 words (39,598 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
Harry Potter books 5-7
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
What I'm Watching:
Loads of WWE
What I'm Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Thursday, June 26, 2014
The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
I have a wonderful job. Because I'm able to spend most of my day isolated from humanity, I get to listen to hours and hours of podcasts and audiobooks every week, which is much better than engaging in fascinating conversations about politics, the weather or the local sportsball teams. The latest book I finished listening to was The Chessmen of Mars, the fifth in Edgar Burroughs' Barsoom series.
Burroughs is better known for creating Tarzan, but his Barsoom books are much superior. The first few in the series focus on John Carter, a former Confederate soldier who finds himself transported to Mars, and gradually works his way up to ruling the whole planet. The series was the originator of the planetary romance genre, and a direct progenitor of things like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. The recent Disney adaptation was decent, but you might have missed it; given the box office, it seemed most people did.
By the fifth book, the story is focused on the daughter of Carter and Dejah Thoris, the princess whom he married in book three. Princess Tara finds herself stranded in alien civilisations far from home, and with the help of her love interest Gahan of Gathol fights her way back to her family. As is usual with Burroughs it's action-packed, and a hell of a lot of fun. As is also usual with Burroughs, it has severe structural problems.
In researching the background of the book, I'm not surprised that it was originally serialised. The constant stream of cliffhangers lends itself to that, as does the abrupt change of setting halfway through. For the first half, Tara is a captive of the Kaldanes, a strange race of spider-like beings that ride around on headless humanoid bodies. After about ten chapters of that, Tara and her crew escape, only to fall into the clutches of the Manatorians, a people whose justice system consists of chess games - to the death!
Now, let's get this straight: both of those premises are rad. Either one could have sustained a whole novel. Burroughs could even have combined the two with little difficulty. Instead they're cobbled together, joined only by the presence of a friendly Kaldane named Ghek in the second half, and the Tara/Gahan romance that runs throughout. The result is a book with a lot of creativity and imagination, but a real lack of focus. As I said, it's not surprising that this was a serial; it probably worked really well in that form.
This is a structural issue that's popped up in more than a few Burroughs books that I've read, and I sometimes wonder if he's just too creative. Make no mistake, he is undoubtedly one of the most vividly imaginative writers of his era. Very few writers can construct a weird, alien civilisation as efficiently as he can, let alone multiple such civilisations per book. But sometimes that tendency to include all of his ideas can work to a book's detriment, as it does here. The Kaldanes were a fascinating creation, and Burroughs abandoned them too quickly to move on to the next cool thing.
The result is that The Chessmen of Mars is ultimately an unsatisfying book that barely hangs together. It's fun to read, it's highly creative, but it's ultimately unsatisfying.
Burroughs is better known for creating Tarzan, but his Barsoom books are much superior. The first few in the series focus on John Carter, a former Confederate soldier who finds himself transported to Mars, and gradually works his way up to ruling the whole planet. The series was the originator of the planetary romance genre, and a direct progenitor of things like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. The recent Disney adaptation was decent, but you might have missed it; given the box office, it seemed most people did.
By the fifth book, the story is focused on the daughter of Carter and Dejah Thoris, the princess whom he married in book three. Princess Tara finds herself stranded in alien civilisations far from home, and with the help of her love interest Gahan of Gathol fights her way back to her family. As is usual with Burroughs it's action-packed, and a hell of a lot of fun. As is also usual with Burroughs, it has severe structural problems.
In researching the background of the book, I'm not surprised that it was originally serialised. The constant stream of cliffhangers lends itself to that, as does the abrupt change of setting halfway through. For the first half, Tara is a captive of the Kaldanes, a strange race of spider-like beings that ride around on headless humanoid bodies. After about ten chapters of that, Tara and her crew escape, only to fall into the clutches of the Manatorians, a people whose justice system consists of chess games - to the death!
Now, let's get this straight: both of those premises are rad. Either one could have sustained a whole novel. Burroughs could even have combined the two with little difficulty. Instead they're cobbled together, joined only by the presence of a friendly Kaldane named Ghek in the second half, and the Tara/Gahan romance that runs throughout. The result is a book with a lot of creativity and imagination, but a real lack of focus. As I said, it's not surprising that this was a serial; it probably worked really well in that form.
This is a structural issue that's popped up in more than a few Burroughs books that I've read, and I sometimes wonder if he's just too creative. Make no mistake, he is undoubtedly one of the most vividly imaginative writers of his era. Very few writers can construct a weird, alien civilisation as efficiently as he can, let alone multiple such civilisations per book. But sometimes that tendency to include all of his ideas can work to a book's detriment, as it does here. The Kaldanes were a fascinating creation, and Burroughs abandoned them too quickly to move on to the next cool thing.
The result is that The Chessmen of Mars is ultimately an unsatisfying book that barely hangs together. It's fun to read, it's highly creative, but it's ultimately unsatisfying.
Monday, June 9, 2014
Word Count for 2014
I thought it would be interesting to look back on my writing progress for the year and see how I've been doing. Below are the totals that I've reported on this blog since January 2014. I've probably done more than this, as I go through patches where I can't be bothered blogging, but for the most part it's a good indicator of my progress:
Feb 7 - 1,948
Feb 24 - 871
Mar 19 - 1,794
Mar 24 - 2,794
Mar 31 - 2,514
Apr 6 - 2,080
Apr 22 - 1,521
May 7 - 2,144
May 19 - 1,080
May 26 - 1,200
Jun 1 - 1,993
Jun 9 - 2,349
Total - 22,288 (This is a bare minimum; I've probably done a good 10,000 to 15,000 that i haven't recorded on the blog.)
That's quite a way off where I had wanted to be by mid-year. My best patch was from mid-May to early April, where I had a 14-day consecutive writing run. As much as I'd like to keep that up, writing every day isn't something I feel I can sustain. Currently I'm probably doing 4-5 days a week, but I'm trying to get my writing in earlier. I'm finding that if I start writing after midnight I genuinely can't be bothered, and I'm lucky to eke out 500 words in an hour. When I start earlier my total comes out closer to 700, which I'm happier with. It's not a lot, but I find it difficult to wrote for sustained periods, unless I'm doing action scenes. I'd like to think I'd get more of my novel done if I just stopped blogging, or writing about comics, or watching wrestling, but I enjoy those things. The important thing is that I am progressing. It could be quicker, but I'm getting there.
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 2,349 words (37,998 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Marvel Timeline Project Part 1 by Jeff Deischen and Murray Ward
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I'm Watching:
Turbo
Game of Thrones season 4
What I'm Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Feb 7 - 1,948
Feb 24 - 871
Mar 19 - 1,794
Mar 24 - 2,794
Mar 31 - 2,514
Apr 6 - 2,080
Apr 22 - 1,521
May 7 - 2,144
May 19 - 1,080
May 26 - 1,200
Jun 1 - 1,993
Jun 9 - 2,349
Total - 22,288 (This is a bare minimum; I've probably done a good 10,000 to 15,000 that i haven't recorded on the blog.)
That's quite a way off where I had wanted to be by mid-year. My best patch was from mid-May to early April, where I had a 14-day consecutive writing run. As much as I'd like to keep that up, writing every day isn't something I feel I can sustain. Currently I'm probably doing 4-5 days a week, but I'm trying to get my writing in earlier. I'm finding that if I start writing after midnight I genuinely can't be bothered, and I'm lucky to eke out 500 words in an hour. When I start earlier my total comes out closer to 700, which I'm happier with. It's not a lot, but I find it difficult to wrote for sustained periods, unless I'm doing action scenes. I'd like to think I'd get more of my novel done if I just stopped blogging, or writing about comics, or watching wrestling, but I enjoy those things. The important thing is that I am progressing. It could be quicker, but I'm getting there.
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 2,349 words (37,998 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Marvel Timeline Project Part 1 by Jeff Deischen and Murray Ward
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I'm Watching:
Turbo
Game of Thrones season 4
What I'm Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Sunday, June 1, 2014
A Change of Tactics
I had something of a health breakdown recently. It was nothing serious, just a bout of flu that knocked me out for a week, but it got me thinking about how I schedule my life, and whether it's doing me more harm than good.
Like most people my age, I have a lot of things that drain my time. The most prominent of those is a full-time job and a family. I work every week-day until around 7.00pm, and when I get home I spend the time with my son until he goes to bed. By the time I get to do my own thing it's usually about 10.00pm.
That's where I hit a snag. I could quite easily get in a couple of hours of writing before going to bed, but not only am I trying to write, I'm also trying to cram in all the leisure time that I used to have in my twenties. I try to read a book, then some comics, and I try to watch a movie or some wrestling, or play a video game. Then, having exhausted myself doing those, I write some of my novel, try to crank out a blog post, and write about the day in my journal. I get to bed somewhere around 3.00am, and get up around 8.00am to go to work. Consequently, I'm a grouchy, unsociable bastard most of the time, running solely on a blend of caffeine and disillusionment.
So I've decided to change things up. I need to read after my son goes to bed, because I don't want to have the laptop open should he decide to wander downstairs again. But after that, I'm going to hit the writing straight away, and the blogging right after that. Whatever leisure time I can squeeze in after that will be a bonus, and I'm going to try to be asleep by 2.00am.
I kicked it off pretty successfully last night, with my most productive writing session in a while. Normally it takes me about an hour to write 500 words, but yesterday I broke 700 in 40 minutes. I got in some secondary writing work (currently I'm transferring my old journal to a word document, which is sort of pointless but important to me), I read a chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I read a few comics, I played a sessionof The Game of Dungeons, and I watched an episode of WWE Smackdown. All that, and I was asleep by 2.30am. I woke up in the morning feeling pretty refreshed, and I'm happy with the result. Hopefully I can keep it up going forward.
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 1,993 words (35,648 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I'm Watching:
Lots of WWE
What I'm Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Like most people my age, I have a lot of things that drain my time. The most prominent of those is a full-time job and a family. I work every week-day until around 7.00pm, and when I get home I spend the time with my son until he goes to bed. By the time I get to do my own thing it's usually about 10.00pm.
That's where I hit a snag. I could quite easily get in a couple of hours of writing before going to bed, but not only am I trying to write, I'm also trying to cram in all the leisure time that I used to have in my twenties. I try to read a book, then some comics, and I try to watch a movie or some wrestling, or play a video game. Then, having exhausted myself doing those, I write some of my novel, try to crank out a blog post, and write about the day in my journal. I get to bed somewhere around 3.00am, and get up around 8.00am to go to work. Consequently, I'm a grouchy, unsociable bastard most of the time, running solely on a blend of caffeine and disillusionment.
So I've decided to change things up. I need to read after my son goes to bed, because I don't want to have the laptop open should he decide to wander downstairs again. But after that, I'm going to hit the writing straight away, and the blogging right after that. Whatever leisure time I can squeeze in after that will be a bonus, and I'm going to try to be asleep by 2.00am.
I kicked it off pretty successfully last night, with my most productive writing session in a while. Normally it takes me about an hour to write 500 words, but yesterday I broke 700 in 40 minutes. I got in some secondary writing work (currently I'm transferring my old journal to a word document, which is sort of pointless but important to me), I read a chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I read a few comics, I played a sessionof The Game of Dungeons, and I watched an episode of WWE Smackdown. All that, and I was asleep by 2.30am. I woke up in the morning feeling pretty refreshed, and I'm happy with the result. Hopefully I can keep it up going forward.
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 1,993 words (35,648 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I'm Watching:
Lots of WWE
What I'm Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
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