LISTENING TO: Joan Baez – “Ring Them Bells” After a brief bit of derailment, I’m back to writing a new short story. I keep thinking I should be plugging full-bore on the novel, but I’ve had two ideas clashing around in my head for a week now and they’ve come together the past two days. […]
Read More ...Pressing Forward
A few words a day makes a difference, though in truth this morning saw very few actual new words. My story is global in nature and takes place in a fairly short span of time, so time zones make a difference. Under the guidelines that one should write like mad when the fire is burning, […]
Read More ...Progress
Listening To: Laura Love, Led Zeppelin (I know, not a pair that would jump to mind) Good progress this morning. Probably only 1,000 words, but I needed to get some research done, too. These things sometimes take serious thinking and reading time, and this morning gave me that opportunity. I was recently reading something about […]
Read More ...Exposition
Restructuring this novel has been interesting. I like its pace now, I like its transitions. I was thinking about this a couple days ago while I was mowing the yard. What was it that made me realize I hadn’t started in the right place to begin with? What was it that made me uncomfortable? It […]
Read More ...Do the Work
Good progress so far this week. It’s a simple equation: do the work. It’s part of a phrase a co-worker and I came up with to keep spirits up on times of high stress, but it fits here–no matter what, do the work and things work out. Somehow. In my case, doing the work each […]
Read More ...Elipses … Sees “The End”
It was a banner morning in the Collins basement. “Elipses …” is together, and through second draft. I really works for me, though I feel that the last two or three paragraphs need to be crafted a bit more. Yesterday I was also thinking the title might need to be reworked again, but this morning […]
Read More ...On Stranglehold and Relativity
It’s fair enough to say that the first draft of “Holes in the Ground” is complete–though I’ve decided its new title is “Ellipses…” We’ll see how that works for a bit. I think I like it. As can happen, finishing this draft has caused me a little set-back because I learned a little more about […]
Read More ...Another day …
… another thousand words. “Holes” is moving along well and may perhaps be done through first draft tomorrow–maybe Friday. It’s now a matter of time rather than raw creativity. I’ve again found it works for me to write in the basement. I know, I know. I knew it before, why did I go away from […]
Read More ...Focus
I was at lunch yesterday and overheard a few snippets of conversation between four guys at the table next to me. They were talking about health care, and apparently having a great time swapping scenarios and complaining about various things. I admit I tried not to listen, focusing instead on the story I’m working on. […]
Read More ...Further into the Modern Age
I’ve been going back and forth about how I should get back to managing my “web presence.” At one point I think I should can the WordPress thing and go back to the old stuff that I loved so much. Then I think that would be silly–the arrow of time points only one direction. At […]
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