The office is painted and furnished (mostly), the Big Drumming Gig is behind me (finally), and November approaches (inevitably). I have several ideas and concepts in mind for the novel I want to write for NaNoWriMo, and I've begun getting them recorded, in mind-map and outline form. Exciting!
I'm going to be author-blogging more frequently, too: now that I'm moving distractions out of the way, I'm free to focus better around here.
Should be a blast. More to come!
-Rich
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Progress on the Office; NaNoWriMo on the Horizon!
It's been a busy few weeks of late, between a full work schedule, lots going on around the house, and other aspects of Life Getting in the Way, but matters proceed apace.
I've managed to get the office cleaned out and painted, as visible here, and tomorrow I'll be moving a chair and a desk into the room, as well as hunting down a flat-panel monitor and desk chair so I can begin to get the room suitable for use in serious writing...
...Which is good, because this year I've decided (with Amy's blessing) to participate in NaNoWriMo again! For those who might not know, during the month of November of any year, participants in NaNoWriMo try to write a 50,000-word novel from scratch. It doesn't have to be good; it doesn't even have to be coherent. But it needs not to have any preexisting text written (though outlines are fine, if you swing that way), and to measure at least fifty thousand words by machine count before midnight, December 1 in your home time zone.
The goal is to teach participants that they can produce in quantity, and to overcome being intimidated by the magnitude of the task, since that's one of the most daunting aspects of novel writing for a beginning novelist. My prior efforts have peaked around 35,000 words, but I've made a lot of progress in terms of my mental writing "stance" since those old attempts, and I feel like 1,667 words a day ought to be no problem this time around, especially with the practice that Magic City Writers has given me.
The no-existing-text thing means that I'm going to have to let Oasis and Darwin Colossus lie fallow during November, but that'll probably be good for them in the long run. I have the skeleton of a post-apocalyptic story idea rattling around in my head that should do nicely as NaNo-fodder.
So, to sum up: I'm excited! I have a dedicated writing space, a new project, and NaNoWriMo participation to look forward to. I'll post more as things start to fall into place.
-Rich
I've managed to get the office cleaned out and painted, as visible here, and tomorrow I'll be moving a chair and a desk into the room, as well as hunting down a flat-panel monitor and desk chair so I can begin to get the room suitable for use in serious writing...
...Which is good, because this year I've decided (with Amy's blessing) to participate in NaNoWriMo again! For those who might not know, during the month of November of any year, participants in NaNoWriMo try to write a 50,000-word novel from scratch. It doesn't have to be good; it doesn't even have to be coherent. But it needs not to have any preexisting text written (though outlines are fine, if you swing that way), and to measure at least fifty thousand words by machine count before midnight, December 1 in your home time zone.
The goal is to teach participants that they can produce in quantity, and to overcome being intimidated by the magnitude of the task, since that's one of the most daunting aspects of novel writing for a beginning novelist. My prior efforts have peaked around 35,000 words, but I've made a lot of progress in terms of my mental writing "stance" since those old attempts, and I feel like 1,667 words a day ought to be no problem this time around, especially with the practice that Magic City Writers has given me.
The no-existing-text thing means that I'm going to have to let Oasis and Darwin Colossus lie fallow during November, but that'll probably be good for them in the long run. I have the skeleton of a post-apocalyptic story idea rattling around in my head that should do nicely as NaNo-fodder.
So, to sum up: I'm excited! I have a dedicated writing space, a new project, and NaNoWriMo participation to look forward to. I'll post more as things start to fall into place.
-Rich
Twitterfeed test
Had a glitch with Twitterfeed URLs pointing to a bad location within the new Blogger. Giving this another try.
-Rich
-Rich
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Office Cleanup, Belated Work-In-Progress Excerpt
Tonight I begin work on renovating my office, which is naturally the place I do most of my writing. Sadly the room has become completely impacted with junk and other household overflow over the years, so the time has come to fix it. Tonight I'll be throwing out all the trash I can, making it available for the neighborhood's curbside pickup service, and this Saturday I have a truck coming for the stuff that I'll be donating: ancient computers, a too-big table, my old computer desk, several CRT monitors. To replace of all of that: a small writing desk, and just enough networking and computer equipment to keep everything running. I'm absurdly excited to be getting my room back, and Amy and I have extensive plans for how we want it to look once all the crap is gone. Having a clean, spare creative space will be a real help.
Now, as promised, a segment from the rough draft of Oasis, my current work-in-progress:
Not much to report lately, aside from this past week's Magic City Writers group meeting being helpful and productive.
Now, as promised, a segment from the rough draft of Oasis, my current work-in-progress:
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Once Again Generating Prose
The deadline for submission to the Magic City Writers Group is nearly here, and my stuff is next on the critiquing block. I've been slamming text down for the first chapter as fast and well as I can. Once I get things to where I'm happier with them I'll post some work in progress, but for now I'm in very rough-draft mode. I'll be editing Friday night, so expect it then.
Feels good to be producing again. Also good to have the rest of my life handled enough to be able to do so. Going for a completely different prose style with this one, much more sparse and fast-moving. We'll see how well I do.
-Rich
Feels good to be producing again. Also good to have the rest of my life handled enough to be able to do so. Going for a completely different prose style with this one, much more sparse and fast-moving. We'll see how well I do.
-Rich
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Sometimes Life Backs Up On You
Aye, it's true. Between home stuff, work stuff, gym time, reading for Magic City Writers, writing my own stuff and composing (drum pieces for a Middle Eastern ensemble I play with), I'm overbooked, overworked and underslept. Blah.
This obviously means I need to do some focusing and prioritizing. A cluttered headspace is one that's nearly impossible to accomplish anything with.
-Rich
This obviously means I need to do some focusing and prioritizing. A cluttered headspace is one that's nearly impossible to accomplish anything with.
-Rich
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Much Happening, Under Cover of Silence
Fret not, work proceeds apace!
First, I'm taking some time away from Darwin Colossus. Some distance from the manuscript, along with all the notes I have on it, regarding changes both implemented and pending, will be good for the story, and for me. It's certainly possible to focus too much on an individual piece.
Next, I'm on to a space opera novel (!) working-titled Oasis. Don't want to give away too much just yet, but I've got it mind-mapped, plotted and character-sketched six ways from Sunday, and will begin writing soon: I've only got about a month before I've got to have at least a piece ready for critique at the Magic City Writers group.
Last, I've been encouraged to see my favorite authoring application, Scrivener, in the process of its port from the Mac world to Windows/Linux. I'm using Linux for my home machine these days (with a Windows XP computer virtualized, for access to my copy of Microsoft Word, natch), and seeing an official Scrivener port appear (currently in public beta at the link above) is balm to my soul. I've been using the beta for a while now, and it's progressing very nicely. Ever since decommissioning my old G4 Powerbook (yeah, that old), I've missed Scrivener, and it's great to see it becoming available again!
Until next time.
-Rich
First, I'm taking some time away from Darwin Colossus. Some distance from the manuscript, along with all the notes I have on it, regarding changes both implemented and pending, will be good for the story, and for me. It's certainly possible to focus too much on an individual piece.
Next, I'm on to a space opera novel (!) working-titled Oasis. Don't want to give away too much just yet, but I've got it mind-mapped, plotted and character-sketched six ways from Sunday, and will begin writing soon: I've only got about a month before I've got to have at least a piece ready for critique at the Magic City Writers group.
Last, I've been encouraged to see my favorite authoring application, Scrivener, in the process of its port from the Mac world to Windows/Linux. I'm using Linux for my home machine these days (with a Windows XP computer virtualized, for access to my copy of Microsoft Word, natch), and seeing an official Scrivener port appear (currently in public beta at the link above) is balm to my soul. I've been using the beta for a while now, and it's progressing very nicely. Ever since decommissioning my old G4 Powerbook (yeah, that old), I've missed Scrivener, and it's great to see it becoming available again!
Until next time.
-Rich
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