Remember how in my last post I tried to identify the reasons that I don't write enough? Remember how I made all those grandiose plans to rectify the problem? Well, forget about that business, because I sure did in a hurry. From August 24th to September 28th I did no writing at all, unless you count shopping lists and crossword puzzles.
I could certainly make excuses for my lack of productivity. I had a bunch of family commitments. My son got sick. My wife got sick. I got sick. I went to see half of Queen in concert. Doctor Who came back. Wrestling happened. I've been a busy beaver, just not in a way that translates into productivity.
And you know what? I'm cool with it. My current plan is to lighten up about it, because it really is difficult for me to find the time to write. So as long as I'm making some sort of progress I'm happy. Eventually things will change, and I'll get more time to myself. My son will start being able to entertain himself. My family will die off one by one (this is a joke, just in case any humourless family members are reading this). One day I'll even retire from my job. In the meantime, I'll keep plugging away at my various writing projects, and so long as they're moving forward that's good enough. It's time to let in some positivity and actually enjoy writing.
PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 559 words (49,010 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
The Marvel Timeline Project Vol. 1 by Jeff Deischer and Murray Ward
What I've Been Watching:
Not much WWE
Doctor Who season 8
What I've Been Listening To:
Queen, Queen and more Queen
What I've Been Playing:
Orthanc on the old PLATO mainframe
Monday, September 29, 2014
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Figuring Out Why I Don't Write Enough
Since my last post, I have written 728 words of The Lightless Labyrinth. That's how much I've managed to do in the space of a fortnight: an average of 52 words a day. I probably get too hung up on word counts for my own good, but that's pathetic by any standard. If it was an occasional lapse, I wouldn't be concerned. But it isn't. I started this blog with the intention of making positive reports about my progress, but it's been nothing but a constant stream of bitching about my own laziness. I wouldn't want to read it, and I sure as hell don't like writing it.
So why don't I write more? It's what I want to do with my life, and has been for decades. I think about it all the time, but thinking doesn't get anything done. It's time to lay out the things that are keeping me from getting more done, and perhaps think of some ways around them. To diagnose my problems, and find the solutions. I've tried it in the past and failed, but it can't hurt anything to try again, so here goes.
Work. I work a full-time job, which takes up most of my time. I could get a lot of writing done without this, but quitting or dropping my hours isn't an option; I do have a family to feed after all. I try to make that time as productive as I can, by listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I don't think there's much I can do about this one.
Family. I'm married, and also have a son, and I try to spend as much time with my family as I can. I don't start writing until he goes to bed, and that can be as late as 10.30 on some nights. Again, this isn't something that I can avoid. Dan Wells (of the excellent Writing Excuses podcast) has talked about how he used to get home from work, then instantly sequester himself to get some writing done. That's not something I want to do, though perhaps I could take some time out on the weekends.
Leisure Activities. I spent most of my twenties on the dole, with no job, which gave me a lot of free time. It's time that I now wish I'd spent more wisely, but it's too late for that now. Back then I could watch all the movies and TV shows I wanted, and play all the video games, and go out with my mates, and just generally have a good time. Now I'm trying to cram all of that into a five-hour window every night, as well as trying to write. My usual plan is to read for a while until I'm certain my son is asleep, then work on my novel, then blog for a bit, then do whatever else I feel like doing until I go to sleep. In practice, after I read for a bit I get distracted by the internet, or start watching some wrestling, thinking that I'll write after I'm done. I rarely do. The solution is simple: get my writing done first. It's all a matter of willpower, but that's not something I have a lot of.
Lack of Sleep. This is a big one. With everything I try to cram in at night, and a job to get up for in the morning, I rarely get a full night's sleep. I used to deal with this better, but as I approach forty I'm finding it more difficult, and the nights where I fall asleep before I can get anything done are becoming more frequent. I should probably try to get at least 6-7 hours of sleep a night, but I'm a night owl. Going to bed before midnight just sounds unnatural to me. I'd stay awake all night and sleep through the day if I could.
Lack of Motivation: This is the real killer, I think, and there's no easy way around it. As much as I want to be a writer, I find endless excuses to not write. I'm too tired. I can't be bothered. I need to watch this movie/play this game/read these comics/write this blog/stay current with wrestling. This is simultaneously the simplest and most difficult problem I have. Just sitting down to write would solve it. If changing my ways was that easy, though, I would have done it years ago.
Wow, that's a lot of whining and self-pity. So here's my plan. I can't avoid work, or shun my family. Neither of those is an option. I can sacrifice some leisure time, though. I'm going to make an active effort to write at night before starting other things. I'll also set myself a time-limit on staying awake: 2.30am. It's still probably not enough, but it's an improvement on the nights I do now, where I'm up until 3 or 4. And hey, if I'm in the middle of RAW, I can always pause it and watch the rest the next night. As for motivation, there's one simple solution: do it. Write. Forget the excuses, and just write. It's the only way I'll ever get anything done. If history is any indication I won't succeed, but that's partly what this blog is for: to publicly shame myself when I fail. I'll report back in next Monday, and let you know how it went.
WRITING PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 728 words (46,239 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Marvel Timeline Project Part 1 by Jeff Dieschen and Murray Ward
What I've Been Watching:
Loads of WWE (including Summerslam 2014)
What I've Been Listening To:
Purple Rain by Prince
In Search of Space by Hawkwind
So why don't I write more? It's what I want to do with my life, and has been for decades. I think about it all the time, but thinking doesn't get anything done. It's time to lay out the things that are keeping me from getting more done, and perhaps think of some ways around them. To diagnose my problems, and find the solutions. I've tried it in the past and failed, but it can't hurt anything to try again, so here goes.
Work. I work a full-time job, which takes up most of my time. I could get a lot of writing done without this, but quitting or dropping my hours isn't an option; I do have a family to feed after all. I try to make that time as productive as I can, by listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I don't think there's much I can do about this one.
Family. I'm married, and also have a son, and I try to spend as much time with my family as I can. I don't start writing until he goes to bed, and that can be as late as 10.30 on some nights. Again, this isn't something that I can avoid. Dan Wells (of the excellent Writing Excuses podcast) has talked about how he used to get home from work, then instantly sequester himself to get some writing done. That's not something I want to do, though perhaps I could take some time out on the weekends.
Leisure Activities. I spent most of my twenties on the dole, with no job, which gave me a lot of free time. It's time that I now wish I'd spent more wisely, but it's too late for that now. Back then I could watch all the movies and TV shows I wanted, and play all the video games, and go out with my mates, and just generally have a good time. Now I'm trying to cram all of that into a five-hour window every night, as well as trying to write. My usual plan is to read for a while until I'm certain my son is asleep, then work on my novel, then blog for a bit, then do whatever else I feel like doing until I go to sleep. In practice, after I read for a bit I get distracted by the internet, or start watching some wrestling, thinking that I'll write after I'm done. I rarely do. The solution is simple: get my writing done first. It's all a matter of willpower, but that's not something I have a lot of.
Lack of Sleep. This is a big one. With everything I try to cram in at night, and a job to get up for in the morning, I rarely get a full night's sleep. I used to deal with this better, but as I approach forty I'm finding it more difficult, and the nights where I fall asleep before I can get anything done are becoming more frequent. I should probably try to get at least 6-7 hours of sleep a night, but I'm a night owl. Going to bed before midnight just sounds unnatural to me. I'd stay awake all night and sleep through the day if I could.
Lack of Motivation: This is the real killer, I think, and there's no easy way around it. As much as I want to be a writer, I find endless excuses to not write. I'm too tired. I can't be bothered. I need to watch this movie/play this game/read these comics/write this blog/stay current with wrestling. This is simultaneously the simplest and most difficult problem I have. Just sitting down to write would solve it. If changing my ways was that easy, though, I would have done it years ago.
Wow, that's a lot of whining and self-pity. So here's my plan. I can't avoid work, or shun my family. Neither of those is an option. I can sacrifice some leisure time, though. I'm going to make an active effort to write at night before starting other things. I'll also set myself a time-limit on staying awake: 2.30am. It's still probably not enough, but it's an improvement on the nights I do now, where I'm up until 3 or 4. And hey, if I'm in the middle of RAW, I can always pause it and watch the rest the next night. As for motivation, there's one simple solution: do it. Write. Forget the excuses, and just write. It's the only way I'll ever get anything done. If history is any indication I won't succeed, but that's partly what this blog is for: to publicly shame myself when I fail. I'll report back in next Monday, and let you know how it went.
WRITING PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 728 words (46,239 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Marvel Timeline Project Part 1 by Jeff Dieschen and Murray Ward
What I've Been Watching:
Loads of WWE (including Summerslam 2014)
What I've Been Listening To:
Purple Rain by Prince
In Search of Space by Hawkwind
Monday, August 4, 2014
A Quietly Productive Month
It's been a while since I last posted, but these things happen. I haven't had a particular urge to update things on here for a while, nor have I really had anything to write about. Some people can bang on about there own writing endlessly, and never run out of interesting things to say. I'm not one of them, so I decided not to force it.
To be honest I don't even have much to say in this post, but I decided to make an update anyway. In ding so I compiled my word count, and I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised. I've been quietly plugging away at The Lightless Labyrinth, but I wouldn't say that I've been working hard. Even so I've racked up a respectable total by my own standards. If I did this much every month, I'd have a good-sized novel every two years or so. That's not bad.
The best thing about this is that I know I can do better. This is me on autopilot, writing a little bit here and there when I find the time. There was a period of eight days in there where I did no writing at all. The effort I need to put in to increase my output is negligible. I can do it, and I can do it without killing myself. That's good to know.
WRITING PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 6,242 words (45,501 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Marvel Timeline Project Part 1 by Jeff Dieschen and Murray Ward
What I've Been Watching:
Loads of WWE
Planes
What I've Been Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
To be honest I don't even have much to say in this post, but I decided to make an update anyway. In ding so I compiled my word count, and I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised. I've been quietly plugging away at The Lightless Labyrinth, but I wouldn't say that I've been working hard. Even so I've racked up a respectable total by my own standards. If I did this much every month, I'd have a good-sized novel every two years or so. That's not bad.
The best thing about this is that I know I can do better. This is me on autopilot, writing a little bit here and there when I find the time. There was a period of eight days in there where I did no writing at all. The effort I need to put in to increase my output is negligible. I can do it, and I can do it without killing myself. That's good to know.
WRITING PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 6,242 words (45,501 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Marvel Timeline Project Part 1 by Jeff Dieschen and Murray Ward
What I've Been Watching:
Loads of WWE
Planes
What I've Been Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
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.
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.
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)
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