Hello, creatures of the internet,
I hope everyone's having a merry Christmas! My family and I are. Especially my daughter, who's received more toys than we can store. I definitely foresee much blocks to pick up and toy babies to switch on/off. But it's great to see her get excited about those things.
Concerning the progress of Charlie Cradle's Wonderful Existence, I'm way ahead of schedule. So ahead, in fact, that I intend on finishing it this Friday - a whole nine days early. That's only if things go according to plan, of course. I'm just a bit over 31,000 words and I'm trying to wrap it up between 38k - 40k. I hate to hold myself back from writing over 40,000 words but I want this book to be categorized as a novella, so it has to remain under that amount. But I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing. I've also already talked to an editor and starting at the beginning of February I'll begin the process of having it professionally edited.
It's back to writing for me,
Scott
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Holiday Challenge: Day 5
Hello, Creatures of the Internet,
I'm still three days ahead of schedule. Also, I'm about halfway finished and was able to outline the rest of the book chapter by chapter. And after doing a few number crunches, it might not reach to a full 40,000 words. Considering the average amount of words I'm writing per chapter, I'm estimating it'll bring me somewhere between 35,000 - 40,000. Which is still perfectly acceptable for a full length Novella and that's fine with me. So hopefully it'll be smooth sailing from here on out. But I know that's probably not going to be true.
It's amazing how many emotions a person can experience in such a condensed amount of time while writing a book. Yesterday, approximately during the span of 30 minutes, I experienced the happiness of wow-I'm-really-enjoying-this, then I hit a snag in dialogue which brought me to a depressed I-am-way-over-my-head & this-is-so-freaking-hard, then back again to an excited holy-crap-this-is-incredible! Ultimately, I think it's the stress of placing myself under a timer that's getting to me. But if I am determined to finish this before January 6th, then I got to stay focused because I knew it was never going to be easy. Although I have to admit, this might be the most rewarding experience I've had as a writer and this story might be the one I'm most proud of so far.
Your humble writing gremlin,
Scott
I'm still three days ahead of schedule. Also, I'm about halfway finished and was able to outline the rest of the book chapter by chapter. And after doing a few number crunches, it might not reach to a full 40,000 words. Considering the average amount of words I'm writing per chapter, I'm estimating it'll bring me somewhere between 35,000 - 40,000. Which is still perfectly acceptable for a full length Novella and that's fine with me. So hopefully it'll be smooth sailing from here on out. But I know that's probably not going to be true.
It's amazing how many emotions a person can experience in such a condensed amount of time while writing a book. Yesterday, approximately during the span of 30 minutes, I experienced the happiness of wow-I'm-really-enjoying-this, then I hit a snag in dialogue which brought me to a depressed I-am-way-over-my-head & this-is-so-freaking-hard, then back again to an excited holy-crap-this-is-incredible! Ultimately, I think it's the stress of placing myself under a timer that's getting to me. But if I am determined to finish this before January 6th, then I got to stay focused because I knew it was never going to be easy. Although I have to admit, this might be the most rewarding experience I've had as a writer and this story might be the one I'm most proud of so far.
Your humble writing gremlin,
Scott
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Holiday Challenge: Day 4
Hello, creatures of the internet,
I wasn't going to write a blog post today but I wanted to share a good feeling. I love being able to sit at my desk and type away on my keyboard, just to look over to the window and notice it's snowing. I love winter. It's my favorite season. I love the cold weather as the clouded skies release their white flakes of snow. For some reason, this makes me like writing stories even more.
Also, currently I'm 3,811 words ahead of schedule, placing me at 16,441 words out of the 12,600 I was expected to reach by the end of tonight, and I still have the rest of the night to add to it. I doubt I'll be able to keep up this pace during the entire holidays, considering Christmas and other festivities, but so far it's looking good. I just hope the ideas keep coming.
Your humble writing gremlin,
Scott
I wasn't going to write a blog post today but I wanted to share a good feeling. I love being able to sit at my desk and type away on my keyboard, just to look over to the window and notice it's snowing. I love winter. It's my favorite season. I love the cold weather as the clouded skies release their white flakes of snow. For some reason, this makes me like writing stories even more.
Also, currently I'm 3,811 words ahead of schedule, placing me at 16,441 words out of the 12,600 I was expected to reach by the end of tonight, and I still have the rest of the night to add to it. I doubt I'll be able to keep up this pace during the entire holidays, considering Christmas and other festivities, but so far it's looking good. I just hope the ideas keep coming.
Your humble writing gremlin,
Scott
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Holiday Challenge: Day 3
Good morning, creatures of the internet,
or I guess whatever time you're reading this at. But here I am on the third day of my personal challenge and I'm feeling pretty good. Although, I'm a bit tired as of right this moment as I sip away at my coffee (but now that I've come back to proofread my post that coffee really did the trick!), but I'm feeling good about the progress I've been making. This process has been really challenging me to practice discipline. Normally when I write, I usually think of new ideas and plot advances while I lay in bed at night trying to fall asleep. That seems to be the only time where I can clear my mind completely of the rest of the world and focus on new ideas. And usually, at least for my other books, there's no deadline reminding me of a strict schedule. I had weeks and months at my disposal to just let the ideas flow freely on their own time, but now I need to persuade them with chocolates and shiny things so that I can work faster. It's a little stressful wondering if I'll be able to finish it on time, but honestly, I find it just as much an exciting rush!
The reason I say this is because of the feeling I experience when being able to overcome a hurtle. Charlie Cradle's Wonderful Existence is proving to be the most challenging story I've ever attempted to write yet. It's got to be funny, witty and smart, much more detailed since it's not a Middle Grade book, and be a convincing love story as well. That last point is the reason I often sit and stare at the screen wondering what to type next. I like to consider myself to be at least a little romantic, but trying to create a character who is firing on all cylinders in that department is more difficult that I imagined. At least for the main character, Charlie Cradle, an awkward and shy 24 year old woman who has always lived her life without risk and mainly keeps to herself, is a little easier to write since I actually find myself having a somewhat similar personality. But that's another thing - writing in the perspective of a adult female lead is something I've never done either. I'm just hoping I am doing this right.
At the time I am writing this I am currently over my goal word count from yesterday. Today I could write a minimum of 264 words and still be on track since I wrote an excess of 1,258 words over yesterday's goal count. But I'm definitely not settling with 264 words for today. The more I write with the time that I have, then the less stress to deal with on each following day. That will also give me more time to brainstorm ideas when I fall into a rut. Now, I must be back to writing and try to avoid wasting time on Facebook at all cost.
Your humble writing gremlin,
Scott
or I guess whatever time you're reading this at. But here I am on the third day of my personal challenge and I'm feeling pretty good. Although, I'm a bit tired as of right this moment as I sip away at my coffee (but now that I've come back to proofread my post that coffee really did the trick!), but I'm feeling good about the progress I've been making. This process has been really challenging me to practice discipline. Normally when I write, I usually think of new ideas and plot advances while I lay in bed at night trying to fall asleep. That seems to be the only time where I can clear my mind completely of the rest of the world and focus on new ideas. And usually, at least for my other books, there's no deadline reminding me of a strict schedule. I had weeks and months at my disposal to just let the ideas flow freely on their own time, but now I need to persuade them with chocolates and shiny things so that I can work faster. It's a little stressful wondering if I'll be able to finish it on time, but honestly, I find it just as much an exciting rush!
The reason I say this is because of the feeling I experience when being able to overcome a hurtle. Charlie Cradle's Wonderful Existence is proving to be the most challenging story I've ever attempted to write yet. It's got to be funny, witty and smart, much more detailed since it's not a Middle Grade book, and be a convincing love story as well. That last point is the reason I often sit and stare at the screen wondering what to type next. I like to consider myself to be at least a little romantic, but trying to create a character who is firing on all cylinders in that department is more difficult that I imagined. At least for the main character, Charlie Cradle, an awkward and shy 24 year old woman who has always lived her life without risk and mainly keeps to herself, is a little easier to write since I actually find myself having a somewhat similar personality. But that's another thing - writing in the perspective of a adult female lead is something I've never done either. I'm just hoping I am doing this right.
At the time I am writing this I am currently over my goal word count from yesterday. Today I could write a minimum of 264 words and still be on track since I wrote an excess of 1,258 words over yesterday's goal count. But I'm definitely not settling with 264 words for today. The more I write with the time that I have, then the less stress to deal with on each following day. That will also give me more time to brainstorm ideas when I fall into a rut. Now, I must be back to writing and try to avoid wasting time on Facebook at all cost.
Your humble writing gremlin,
Scott
Sunday, December 16, 2012
First Draft of Second Book & Holiday Challenge
Ahoy thar, creatures of the internet,
I'm extremely excited to announce that I have officially completed the first draft of The Genesis Traveler, the second book in my Sky Caller series. I still don't know what I should called the series; i.e. The Sky Caller Chronicles, The Sky Caller Trilogy, Tales of Ordica... That is still up in the air. Even though I've unofficially released The Sky Caller for purchase through Lulu.com (unofficial because I'm still working on getting it professionally edited), I'll wait until I publish it through a different publishing company before I attach one of those titles. But as of right now, I'm just incredible excited that I was able to finish writing the story for my second book.
The Genesis Traveler takes place years after the events of The Sky Caller, which follows the story of two characters who are going to be important in the next and last book. This book is just about the same length as the first, being a little more than 1,200 words over, totaling at approximately 63,000 words. I'm going to hold off making edits and corrections for a while though, because I'm in no hurry to publish it yet. I'd like The Sky Caller to get a little more recognition first. So, in the meantime, I've decided to challenge myself this Christmas break with a new project!
During the next 22 days (December 16 - January 6), I'm going to attempt finishing a novella I'm writing for my wife, Charlie Cradle's Wonderful Existence. Check out the page above to learn some about it!
My goal is to make this book total at approximately 40,000 words. As of right now I have 6,512 words, so if I subtract that from my set total and then divide it by 22, to reach my goal I will need to write a total of approximately 1,522 words a day until my end date. I chose not to participate in NaNoWriMo last month because of my college workload, but now that I have the rest of the holiday to be stress free of school, I can focus a lot more time and energy into writing. Will I be able to achieve my goal? Honestly, I have no idea. Writing about love, comedy and a female main character is going to be challenging, especially for me. But I will never know unless I try.
Every couple of days or so during this time, I'm going to post about my progress and things that randomly pop into my head concerning the challenge.
Your humble writing gremlin,
Scott
I'm extremely excited to announce that I have officially completed the first draft of The Genesis Traveler, the second book in my Sky Caller series. I still don't know what I should called the series; i.e. The Sky Caller Chronicles, The Sky Caller Trilogy, Tales of Ordica... That is still up in the air. Even though I've unofficially released The Sky Caller for purchase through Lulu.com (unofficial because I'm still working on getting it professionally edited), I'll wait until I publish it through a different publishing company before I attach one of those titles. But as of right now, I'm just incredible excited that I was able to finish writing the story for my second book.
The Genesis Traveler takes place years after the events of The Sky Caller, which follows the story of two characters who are going to be important in the next and last book. This book is just about the same length as the first, being a little more than 1,200 words over, totaling at approximately 63,000 words. I'm going to hold off making edits and corrections for a while though, because I'm in no hurry to publish it yet. I'd like The Sky Caller to get a little more recognition first. So, in the meantime, I've decided to challenge myself this Christmas break with a new project!
During the next 22 days (December 16 - January 6), I'm going to attempt finishing a novella I'm writing for my wife, Charlie Cradle's Wonderful Existence. Check out the page above to learn some about it!
My goal is to make this book total at approximately 40,000 words. As of right now I have 6,512 words, so if I subtract that from my set total and then divide it by 22, to reach my goal I will need to write a total of approximately 1,522 words a day until my end date. I chose not to participate in NaNoWriMo last month because of my college workload, but now that I have the rest of the holiday to be stress free of school, I can focus a lot more time and energy into writing. Will I be able to achieve my goal? Honestly, I have no idea. Writing about love, comedy and a female main character is going to be challenging, especially for me. But I will never know unless I try.
Every couple of days or so during this time, I'm going to post about my progress and things that randomly pop into my head concerning the challenge.
Your humble writing gremlin,
Scott
Sunday, December 02, 2012
Sequels & Chocolate Gremlins
Ahoy thar, creatures of the internet,
It's currently 11:40 pm and I'm taking a short break from writing so that I can write a blog post. As mentioned the other day, I'm working on a sequel to The Sky Caller. As of this moment, I'm currently 89 words away from having written 35,000. My progress this time around is coming along much faster than it did when writing my first book - which took me approximately 3 years! I believe I've passed the halfway mark, unless my story decides there's more to tell, and I'm feeling really good about it. It's a bit more challenging though, since I'm focusing on two different character perspectives this time around. But it's still as fun and hard as ever!
I'm hoping that by the end of Christmas break I will have finished my first draft. The three weeks off I'm getting from college is going to be a welcomed break, and I can't wait to use up that spare time to write. Next to witnessing my daughter being birthed into the world before my very eyes, watching a story unfold before me is the best feeling ever. It just feels so good to watch your story take a life of its own and even surprise you. Even if no one ever likes my work, I'll always feel good knowing I built such an elaborate universe that at least captivates me. After I finish the second book, I have one more to go to finish the series.
But besides writing, Christmas is near! However, I'm excited and nervous about this. I'm excited because of the time I'll get to spend with family and the meals we'll share together. But I'm nervous because of the weight I'm going to put on because of it! Since September I've gone from weighing 260 lbs to right now weighing 224 lbs through exercise and healthier eating. But what the heck! Tis' the season! I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope the damage isn't too extensive. I'll blame it on the chocolate gremlins spreading mischief.
Now I must return to writing.
Au revoir!
It's currently 11:40 pm and I'm taking a short break from writing so that I can write a blog post. As mentioned the other day, I'm working on a sequel to The Sky Caller. As of this moment, I'm currently 89 words away from having written 35,000. My progress this time around is coming along much faster than it did when writing my first book - which took me approximately 3 years! I believe I've passed the halfway mark, unless my story decides there's more to tell, and I'm feeling really good about it. It's a bit more challenging though, since I'm focusing on two different character perspectives this time around. But it's still as fun and hard as ever!
I'm hoping that by the end of Christmas break I will have finished my first draft. The three weeks off I'm getting from college is going to be a welcomed break, and I can't wait to use up that spare time to write. Next to witnessing my daughter being birthed into the world before my very eyes, watching a story unfold before me is the best feeling ever. It just feels so good to watch your story take a life of its own and even surprise you. Even if no one ever likes my work, I'll always feel good knowing I built such an elaborate universe that at least captivates me. After I finish the second book, I have one more to go to finish the series.
But besides writing, Christmas is near! However, I'm excited and nervous about this. I'm excited because of the time I'll get to spend with family and the meals we'll share together. But I'm nervous because of the weight I'm going to put on because of it! Since September I've gone from weighing 260 lbs to right now weighing 224 lbs through exercise and healthier eating. But what the heck! Tis' the season! I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope the damage isn't too extensive. I'll blame it on the chocolate gremlins spreading mischief.
Now I must return to writing.
Au revoir!
Friday, November 23, 2012
Remember Why You Do It
Ahoy thar, creatures of the internet,
So it's been a few months and I've updated zilch. I could blame it on a lot of stuff: like college, stress, a dancing bacterial octopus... but I'm not. It's my fault. And here's why...
Writing is one of the most fulfilling and rewarding experiences ever. Every time my fingers hover over a keyboard and start typing, and when that magic really starts to happen, my heart beats with excitement. I like to get excited about my writing. And I believe every writers needs to do so. Otherwise, what's the point? So when I was just about finishing writing The Sky Caller, I kept telling myself that no matter what anyone thinks, this is a story I've always wanted to read. I continually reminded myself that first and foremost I write for myself. But realistically, what writer doesn't want others to also enjoy it?
Initially, after I had finished my manuscript, I was going to wait to publish my book. I wanted a professional editor to polish it up before I let others read it. But then I learned of how much it was going to cost to have that done and suddenly I wasn't sure what to do anymore. It's much more than what I can afford any time soon, that's for sure. So in the end, because of some friends and family, I decided to go ahead and self-publish it through www.lulu.com with the edits and corrections I've done myself. It's not perfect, but I believe it's far from horrible, so I was happy enough with it to go ahead with the idea. And *poof* my first book was born.
At that point I was real excited. And I thought, why not ask a stranger to give it an unbiased review? So I did. I had a couple friends read and love it - which made me feel great! But I also wanted someone with no connections to me to read my book so I could see what they thought.
Long story short: the review ripped me to shreds and tossed the pieces to the wind.
The reviewer had actually given it a 3/5 stars, and did say she liked the story, but a lot of the comments hit me quite hard. It really felt more like a 0.2/5 star review from what the critiques had said. And even though I accepted them gratefully and thanked the reviewer for an honest review, I let the negative feedback control me for a while and stopped everything. I forgot that I had wrote the book for myself and that I love it.
Now that a few months have passed, I've had lots of time to reflect on her words and my feelings. Every person has a different opinion about everything. I had to drill it into my head that some people will love it, some will like, and some will hate it. That reviewer did say some things that made me more aware of some areas in my writing that I want to fix. So more than anything, I'm grateful for that review. I need and want to improve. This is my first book, after all. But needless to say, I'm feeling a lot better and more confident now. I've even started writing the sequel to The Sky Caller and have 10 chapters written to date. Hopefully I will have the first draft finished by Spring! That means I'm going to have to get back to blogging my thoughts and experiences while I go through the process all over again.
So what I've learned from all of this is that no matter what medium you choose to express your art, whether it be through writing, painting, filming, etc, there's always going to be people out of the many who enjoy it who will say negative things about it. The important thing is to remember why you chose to bring it to life in the first place.
So it's been a few months and I've updated zilch. I could blame it on a lot of stuff: like college, stress, a dancing bacterial octopus... but I'm not. It's my fault. And here's why...
Writing is one of the most fulfilling and rewarding experiences ever. Every time my fingers hover over a keyboard and start typing, and when that magic really starts to happen, my heart beats with excitement. I like to get excited about my writing. And I believe every writers needs to do so. Otherwise, what's the point? So when I was just about finishing writing The Sky Caller, I kept telling myself that no matter what anyone thinks, this is a story I've always wanted to read. I continually reminded myself that first and foremost I write for myself. But realistically, what writer doesn't want others to also enjoy it?
Initially, after I had finished my manuscript, I was going to wait to publish my book. I wanted a professional editor to polish it up before I let others read it. But then I learned of how much it was going to cost to have that done and suddenly I wasn't sure what to do anymore. It's much more than what I can afford any time soon, that's for sure. So in the end, because of some friends and family, I decided to go ahead and self-publish it through www.lulu.com with the edits and corrections I've done myself. It's not perfect, but I believe it's far from horrible, so I was happy enough with it to go ahead with the idea. And *poof* my first book was born.
At that point I was real excited. And I thought, why not ask a stranger to give it an unbiased review? So I did. I had a couple friends read and love it - which made me feel great! But I also wanted someone with no connections to me to read my book so I could see what they thought.
Long story short: the review ripped me to shreds and tossed the pieces to the wind.
The reviewer had actually given it a 3/5 stars, and did say she liked the story, but a lot of the comments hit me quite hard. It really felt more like a 0.2/5 star review from what the critiques had said. And even though I accepted them gratefully and thanked the reviewer for an honest review, I let the negative feedback control me for a while and stopped everything. I forgot that I had wrote the book for myself and that I love it.
Now that a few months have passed, I've had lots of time to reflect on her words and my feelings. Every person has a different opinion about everything. I had to drill it into my head that some people will love it, some will like, and some will hate it. That reviewer did say some things that made me more aware of some areas in my writing that I want to fix. So more than anything, I'm grateful for that review. I need and want to improve. This is my first book, after all. But needless to say, I'm feeling a lot better and more confident now. I've even started writing the sequel to The Sky Caller and have 10 chapters written to date. Hopefully I will have the first draft finished by Spring! That means I'm going to have to get back to blogging my thoughts and experiences while I go through the process all over again.
So what I've learned from all of this is that no matter what medium you choose to express your art, whether it be through writing, painting, filming, etc, there's always going to be people out of the many who enjoy it who will say negative things about it. The important thing is to remember why you chose to bring it to life in the first place.
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