Posted 11:13 PM by Tim
I'm going to reactivate this blog, with a slight change to the modus operandi.  I'd started this originally as a possible place to drop some stories in progress, but I'm going to change the focus to me ranting about writing, and perhaps, also doing some writing on here.

I'm hoping it will encourage me to get some actual writing done.

Today marks 99 days left in the year, and I'm picking up a goal for myself to work on 1 creative thing every day until the end of the year.  Yesterday saw some progress on a scarf I am making, and today sees me about to do some writing.  Not much, as it is late, but some.

Posted 4:39 PM by Tim
And again, months pass. No news. No surprise there.

I'd planned on doing a monthly installment of something to post up on a website somewhere. But! I didn't factor in the incredible inertia I can muster when it comes to doing something constructive yet slightly difficult. So, the monthly story isn't happening.

I've nearly got that article done - they pushed the deadline out, so I've been even slower than necessary getting the last bit of editing on it.

I've been meaning to get the Novella edited as well. I really should be starting to shop it around. Guess I just need to take some of my dedication for everything and push myself to get the edits started. I have (or can probably find) the time, I'm just not working up to capacity on it. I suppose that's more of the same inertia.

I think I just need some refocusing time.

Posted 9:08 PM by Tim
I had this idea about doing an ongoing story on the web over the course of next year. The idea is to write between 10,000 and 20,000 words of a novel (a couple chapters), and post them to some site on the web. It's a good idea, I'm just now starting to worry about my ability to pull it off, given all my other commitments and plans and tasks and such. I have a tendancy to bite more and more till I choke on everything I'm doing. Stupid me, figure I'd learn by now.

Anyway, if the idea goes off (and I'm still pushing for it to go off), it will run under the name of "Dark Heart." It'd be based in the Warhammer 40K universe, and would be the tale of a Dark Eldar Warrior. At least, that's the plan.

On top of that, I want to get my novella finished and done (for the fourth time). Then, it's just shopping it around here and there. Hoping for it to be picked up, or rejected summarily a couple times. We'll see.

Then there's finishing the NaNoWriMo novel. It hit the 50K mark, but just started to get into the mystery (sounds very like last year, when the novel got to the mark, but was just getting going by then.... maybe I've an exposition problem). I figure there's easily another 20K or so in there, and I can reach it and get the rest out if I just get back to doing the daily writing. At least one of the rides to and from work... Shouldn't be too hard really - I know I can do it.

Plus, there's these articles. I've got to write something between 2,000 and 2,500 words for Sacred Twilight. I accepted an offer to be a staff columnist. It's a solid deal for me. I get my stuff printed, and get a good reference for other publishers. Sounds like a deal to me... if I can just write something worth reading. I've got things planned out, just need to work on them. (Anyone else noticing a trend here?)

Posted 12:12 PM by Tim
I totally dropped the ball on this NaNoWriMo blogging thing. I got NaNo done (been over the 50K mark a while now), but didn't really have the time to blog anything.

I was hoping to write about how things were going, but they went really well, and the novel got past 50K really quickly. Then, life stepped in. I took a "quick break" from the writing to get some things done, and ended up taking on a seperate work project and totally booking my time off to that for a couple of weeks (still working on it at this point, so you can see where my time is still going).

After this work project finishes, I've got another one in the works that'll demand less, but still significant portions of my evenings.

I've been up way too late, so I've been sleeping on the train. This has kept me from getting any writing done whatsoever. Bothersome to me, since I really want to finish the story out.

I've agreed to something rather daring. I've committed myself to writing not less than six 2,500 word columns on writing for Sacred Twilight. They're moving to a print edition (I suppose it's in addition to their online edition?), and they wanted me on as a staff writer. I agreed, so that's pretty cool. There's no pay, but I do get a print copy of the issue for my efforts. I've also got to work on their backend with them. After this current project - then I'll have time to do their stuff.

I've got an idea brewing in my head for writing (a couple of them actually). One is to start writing a bit of chapter-based fan fiction for Warhammer 40K. Give myself a month to write the first chapter, edit it, and plonk it down somewhere online. Maybe here? Maybe in a new blog just for the occasion. I'll figure out the details as I go. The idea would be to put out a chapter a month (maybe more?), and keep the story running. I've had a couple of ideas for 40K based fiction before, so I'd like to see if I can write some of it. If I can, cool. If not, meh, I tried and failed. Won't be the first time it's happened.

I suppose the best plan would be to start thinking about plot... and characters... and setting... hmm... maybe I will need a month per chapter...

Posted 3:30 PM by Tim
Yep. Stole thirty minutes of time. Got over the 50K mark 50,174 right now. I'll hold onto that 'till the ride home, then it's word crunching time. Yes, I've finished, but the story still has places to go - and I've got the time to actually see the rest of this out. Yay me!

Posted 11:00 AM by Tim
So close to being done now. Under 700 words. If I could only manage to get it done. Stupid work keeping me from my goals. If I could just steal like 20 minutes....

Posted 10:17 AM by Tim
Apparently, it is on.

That is, a friend of mine and I have a bit of friendly competition with the writing for NaNoWriMo. I've been ahead of her from the outset, but weekends are very bad for me and writing... so, she's caught up. In fact, she pulled ahead over the weekend. We were both at the 25,000 mark, and well... that's more than half finished in under a week. Should not take either of us long to get things done.

As of this morning, she was at just over 29,000. Which, to me, as a challenge that needs answering. I've totally thrown out my usual daily goals in exchange for the rediculous goal of 15,000 words. That, if I acheive it, would be 5K for Saturday's miss, 5K for Sunday's miss, and 5K for today's usual goal. What's the chances, you say? At this point, pretty damn good. I've made 5K this morning, on the commute in, and I've still got plot planned out for some time to go! At least another 10K worth.

Here's to hoping I can leave her in the dust again.

Just, for the record, I'm currently at 30,473. Nearly 1500 over her last posted count. Though... she's got all day to rush forward too... it could be close.

Posted 11:24 AM by Tim
The writing goals have been silly lately. I managed to get 4,000+ on the commute yesterday, so I figured I'd try to get up to a total count of 25,000. That meant adding another 5,000 words. So, the daily goal for yesterday was 9,000 words. Quite a bit, but I thought it just might be possible.

I made it.

This officially puts me into the category of the crazy people. I'm one of those few who manage to finish their novel well before the rest. I'm not done, mind you, but I don't see any reason why I can't get there quick. I've got a half-assed goal of trying to get the whole novel (well, the 50,000 words of it) done by the 10th. So, I'm really pushing for that. A friend of mine asked me what the rush was about. There's no rush, I've just been really liking getting things done.