Day -01 Zero Hour

Okay, people... its the last day before the new WriMo. Working on my outline. Getting the tools ready for work and comfort.

Nervous and interested.

And FINALLY I am DONE with the writing of my WriMo book. Finishing up on the cover. Feeling good about it. Art and book are going out for review by my editor and art friend.

Then, I'm an author. Yeah!

Day -02 Music, the Soundtrack of your life....

So, when I write I tend to zen out. That is, I focus on the work I'm doing and attempt to not acknowledge the world at large.

I love radio in general and podcasts (or netcasts) specifically. I love all things talk in recorded media... news, discussions programs, review shows, etc. ... and I love to keep myself semi-in-the-know about the world... or at least my corner of it.

But I found last year that I couldn't write and listen to the normal array of podcasts (Morning Steam, Red Centre, Roderick On the Line, Back to Work, Tech News Today,  and TWiT... to name but a few). I either just listen to the podcast, or an hour later I can't remember a thing about what I just heard.

So, I have subscribed to several podcasts that feature either DJ movements or music for programmers. I find the programing podcasts really interesting and fairly good. So, try subscribing to Music For Programers or Headphone Commute, those podcasts have over an hour each of good solid blocks of... music? Sometimes it is just a droning or clips and such, but it is really cool and very stimulating for work.

Also, being a big anime fan, I also like foreign language soundtracks. My two favorites are Yoko Kanno and Susumu Hirasawa... A few of the albums are Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex (any of them really) Cowboy BeBop (Tank! being the most famous cut) and soundtrack for Paranoia Agent and Paprika.

I'm looking for recommendations for interesting soundtracks and podcasts as well. If you know of any, please comment below.

For the rest of today, I think I'll working on my final, final, final... my GWODS this is the last, draft for Molly... and finishing up my cover, logo, and getting it off to Amazon.

Then, we start the process all over again!

Day 08- "Scrivner and Poser"

I've been infected by stories for about 40 of my 47 years on the planet. Ideas and concepts of light and fancy for most of my life. I've wished these stories, I've played them with dolls action figures, I've told them to my friends, passing acquaintances and even a few pets.

But, I never did anything about them until I took pen to paper, keys to electrons, and placed them down in writing. Now, I love visuals... motion pictures, comic books, even a good painting... everything that portrays visual data in an appealing manner, that is my life's blood. But, last year, I tried my darndest to create a novel in the WriMo. 

And, you know what? I did it. Yes, I did it! I'm about to come out with that book in a few days. Literally  a few days (more on that in a later post), I'll have published a book!

Some people on G+ and other places on the web, you know who you are Evo, have stated that I and others of my ilk are people totally wasting their time producing a book and not getting the "premium" service that they or their company will give... for a percentage of the revenue. This is an interesting point of view. I have listened and read their propaganda sales pitch, and it totally depressed me. Was this true? Could I totally have wasted my time and fallen into this abyss of wasted time and forgotten dreams? Is it possible that I've upset an apple cart, never to have righted  it again?! 

I took me several months to figure this out. I won't say that it didn't cause me to fall into a rather deep depression. I mean, all these guys had big pro-looking websites, and here I was... just a guy that barely got out of high school and college, no big skills, no large ideas... Who was I to think that I could write a story, or even make a book. I mean, sure, I'd gone to design school, worked for several companies making flyers and design ads. I knew a desender from an EM dash. I'd even designed a few typefaces... just for fun, mind. What did I know about designing books... well... there was that booklet for the old Capricon Anime that I designed, but that was ages ago. 

And on the writing side I had written several screenplays, short stories, and a lot of notes and such for comic book series. I'd been a writer and editor for NOW comics, only for a second , mind, but I had done the work.

And then it hit me. What the frak do these people know about anything? Do they know my skills? Do they know what is lurking inside my mind? (Hell, do I know what the frak is hiding in my mind?!) 

I have skillz. Crazy whacked-out skillz! I know my way around a metaphor, I know a few things about a few things... I can, and did write a novel. I can, and will do it again. 

Frak them all if they can't take the joke. 

So, remember, if you mention to someone that you are writing a novel and they start making excuses as to why you can't do it, pay them no mind. Just smile and say, "you are probably right." And then go write on and write your novel. 

If the person who comes to you and says, "You can't do it. Its impossible to make your book because of... your kids, your home, your education, your lack of funds..." or whatever. You can either tell them to take a flying leap off of a very tall bridge, or tell them to go frak themselves, or just quietly agree... and just keep right on working. 

Especially if that person who keeps telling you it can't be done is you. 

Remember, you don't know if you can do it because you've never done it before. If you had done it before, you would know that you can do it. So if you just take the first one as done, you can forget that you hadn't done it and go on from there. 

And if this isn't your first Wrimo, then you have done it before. You know you can do it, of course you can. Even if you've been delayed and not come up with enough words, you have put most of them together, right? Well, there you are then.

Writing is difficult. Not impossible or VERY difficult, but there is a knack to it. But it can be done from anywhere by anyone... thanks to laptops and tablets. You just need a place you can do it. In bed, on the couch, at Panera or Starbucks... a place you can go daily and take your two or four hours and just write. So... find that place. Find that time... do it. 

It is important that you do what you need to insure that you write your novel. Actually, you think of your favorite novelists, Douglas Adams, Dorothy L. Sayers, Arthur Conan Doyle, going into a literally-styled zen sort of state before creating the amazing works that they did. 

Bullshit. 

Each one took pen to paper to make money. It was, ultimately, a JOB. Not too heavy lifting, but still a job. If you want to do this; write a story, be an author, sell a book, you can do it. No permission, no fees... you can do it today. It can be your job, or part time job...

It all depends on what you think you can do. I wish I could tell you an interesting magic word. Okay... on November 1st, buy a bag of Jelly Babies... or peanut butter cups, or even almonds. Everyday, have one, and only one, of the treats. Only agree to have the next treat from the bag when you finish your daily quota. There! Works everytime! No? Well... you are correct. 

The secret is to write. When you are tried, write. When you can't think of something, write. When you are blocked? Write! Write, write, write... and eventually, you'll be 50K words better. And the REAL fun can begin... 

You can write some more.

Day -13 Decisions, Decisions....

Okay... I've decided to go on the Steampunk story. I've been trying to write the thing since early Spring, and I've stopped twice. This time for sure!

Actually, I'd started and stopped with "Molly" (or whatever it is called when it escapes is released) about five or six times before I even started it as a novel.

So, steampunk... in the future... "The Sun Will Never Set on the British Empire," keep that in mind...

Day -14 - ...& The Replicants

Hello all.

So, this is it. The beginning of the latest NaNoWriMo Month... if that's not too redundant, like AIDS Syndrome... and I've been discovering an amazing amount of tools and readying my new hardware.

This is my new NEXUS 7, called PRIS, and its Motorola Bluetooth Keyboard (aka. Motoslave, if you will. Figure THAT reference out)! It is ridiculous. A very mobile system, light as a feather, and ready to rock. I have a stand on which Pris is sitting, and I also have a mouse from my (very old, very heavy) MacBookPro. This is my new laptop. Well, my Android Tablet notebook... thing. 

Using the (free) WRITER App, which counts words (!) and links with Dropbox. This will allow me to walk to the local Place of Writing (Starbucks, Panera, or McDonald's), write a bit... well, a lot really... about 2K of words a day, and then send it to Dropbox. Dropbox would then allow the files to then be relayed to all my computers. 

I'll be using the amazing word processor Scrivener. This word processor actually is more of a concept processor, an idea processor... it allows you to make an auto-backed-up series of snipets, chapters or sub-chapters, than can be manipulated on the screen, compiled for export or print out. And that only touches the surface of what this program can do... Basically, you can create a file, or binder, for a project and then write in that same binder. It will do auto calls to Google or Spotlight. Again, it is simply amazing.

If you want a NaNo version of Scrivener, or to view the other tools that sponsors have donated to the festivities, you can check out the Special Offers page.

Still have to workout which story I'm going to do? Maybe it will be the one with the Gods among us, or the Steampunk one.

Decisions,  decisions...

Day 288 - No, the last post was NOT an April Fools Joke

And... we're back.

How are you doing?

How was your summer?

Ready for Halloween? Good. Good... fine...

Still haven't released the book. Still have to decide on a title. Still need to actually decide what version of an ebook am I going to do. Kindle? Apple Books? Nook? No, not Nook... ;-) Still don't know.

But I am close. So VERY close...

And it seems that as I look at my calendar it is almost frakking November again! GWODS, I've got to get my writing ass in gear! I have about 5 ideas, including a steampunk version-ish story, a story of Gods on Earth, and a story about a girl called Dancer.

Boy! I need to get a move on. Also, I hope that I will be able to continue from November 1st as a writer everyday. I'm going to use the daily word quota as a way to shove me off into doing it every day.

This year has been very informative, exciting, and a bit scary. But, I'm so tired about people who get in the way of you, as an individual, from selling your book. I think that many of the companies are trying to put their sent... their stink, if you will... on your work. (For a slight fee, of course.;-\)

One of the best things about epublishing is that there are no limitations, no rules at all. You can break all the rules. I don't have to make my stories your way, or the conventional way. I can do what I want to do.  I'm not going to make a series of 18, 700+ page tomes... that, ultimately I decide NOT to complete! (Now... splitting a novel into 3 or 4 pieces for a $1 each would be fine.)

I don't think that I'll charge more than $5 for a book. Just seems that is the right price.

So, I'll start it in the next week or so to restart the blog, maybe under a different title...

Well... back to work.