My deadline is fast approaching. I gave myself all of May to read and research and tinker with writing. June will be the month that I dive in. There is no turning back. This will be the time that it sticks. It will be hard with the kids home all summer, but if I just write instead of read I should be able to produce at least 3000 words a day and be well on my way to having a complete novel by the end of the summer.
I'm tired of just talking about it and writing about. It is time to do it. I can't let another year go by with nothing to show for it but well-behaved and well-adjusted children. This year I want a stack of pages that in some way form a coherent story.
This will be the year that I decide my own fate and finally take back my life and start writing for real.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
A Tale of Two Cities vs. Under the Dome
It looks like Amazon will only give me one link per post, either that or I haven't figured it all out yet.
Anyway I think I'm going to give up on A Tale of Two Cities. I'm already on page 100 and I haven't been sucked in yet. That's usually my limit on a book. If it's not good by page 100 then it's not going to be good. But this is Dickens. Shouldn't there be a special rule for him? This is supposed to be a classic, but is it the best of Dickens? I read the first few chapters of Oliver Twist a few weeks ago and it seemed far more interesting than this one.
Making things harder is the fact that my name finally came up on the waiting list at the library for Under The Dome by Stephen King. There is no way I can read both A Tale of Two Cities and this 1100 page monstrosity. The library only gives you 2 weeks on the new books. So I've got to get cracking on this one. And you know what, it's already got me sucked in on page 10. That's Stephen King for you. Sorry Mr. Dickens. You lose.
Anyway I think I'm going to give up on A Tale of Two Cities. I'm already on page 100 and I haven't been sucked in yet. That's usually my limit on a book. If it's not good by page 100 then it's not going to be good. But this is Dickens. Shouldn't there be a special rule for him? This is supposed to be a classic, but is it the best of Dickens? I read the first few chapters of Oliver Twist a few weeks ago and it seemed far more interesting than this one.
Making things harder is the fact that my name finally came up on the waiting list at the library for Under The Dome by Stephen King. There is no way I can read both A Tale of Two Cities and this 1100 page monstrosity. The library only gives you 2 weeks on the new books. So I've got to get cracking on this one. And you know what, it's already got me sucked in on page 10. That's Stephen King for you. Sorry Mr. Dickens. You lose.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Amazon Links
Yea! I just signed up to put the Amazon links directly in my posts. Before, I was searching for the book jacket photos and saving them and inserting them. Not any more. I've stepped into the 21st century. You can now buy a book directly from my blog and I'll make a little money. How freaking cool is that?
Yesterday and today I've been doing my book transcribing. I started with Twilight. The language is so simple and easy to transcribe. It took me probably 4 hours to copy out the first chapter of 29 pages. It was fun and it really brought the story closer to me. What was most surprising to me was the placement of commas in fully edited text. I thought I used a lot of commas, but man they are everywhere, in places I never would have imagined them.
We all know that Stephenie Meyer is not the world's best writer, but she sure can tell a story. It's very interesting the copy it all down and filter it through my hands. It makes it obvious that what she writes is so simple. There are no fancy metaphors or similes. She's not going for a lot of description or even a lot of emotion. It's basically just a list of events and a series of conversations. That is pretty much what life is like if you just copy down the obvious. There are no deep insights into the human condition here. Bella's thoughts are given and described, but she is not a deep thinker. She's just a teenager and this is written from a distance even though we are supposed to be in her head in a first person narrative. It's fascinating to write it all down. It's like I'm in the book. I highly suggest trying it for your favorite books.
Yesterday and today I've been doing my book transcribing. I started with Twilight. The language is so simple and easy to transcribe. It took me probably 4 hours to copy out the first chapter of 29 pages. It was fun and it really brought the story closer to me. What was most surprising to me was the placement of commas in fully edited text. I thought I used a lot of commas, but man they are everywhere, in places I never would have imagined them.
We all know that Stephenie Meyer is not the world's best writer, but she sure can tell a story. It's very interesting the copy it all down and filter it through my hands. It makes it obvious that what she writes is so simple. There are no fancy metaphors or similes. She's not going for a lot of description or even a lot of emotion. It's basically just a list of events and a series of conversations. That is pretty much what life is like if you just copy down the obvious. There are no deep insights into the human condition here. Bella's thoughts are given and described, but she is not a deep thinker. She's just a teenager and this is written from a distance even though we are supposed to be in her head in a first person narrative. It's fascinating to write it all down. It's like I'm in the book. I highly suggest trying it for your favorite books.
Monday, May 24, 2010
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
This book looked so cute when I bought it last Friday that it jumped all the way to the front of the reading pile and I finished it Sunday morning.
I like it. I really liked it. I flew through it while reading. It didn't seem like it was going to end well, but it did more or less.
At first I thought the kid was a little slow mentally. He seemed to write more like a 13 year old than a 15/16 year old. It was almost like he hadn't really lived until he started his freshman year of high school. Everything seemed to be so new to him.
The writer seemed to me to capture what it was like to listen to music as a teenager. I think that is what spoke to me the most in this book. Music was everything to me when I was 15 and 16. It made memories and it made me feel infinite too. I don't think it works that way for everyone, but he sure as hell captured it for me.
It seemed a little unbelievable to me that so many crappy teenage things could happen to one kid, but it was all squeezed in there. The only salvation this guy had was that his parents seemed fairly normal and genuinely cared for him as did his English teacher. If only every kid could be so lucky. Usually coming of age books talk crap about both parents and teachers, but in this one they were the most caring people.
Overall a good quick read. I would recommend it and I might even read it again.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Acquisitions of the Day
Today's Book Acquisitions
1. Archaeology - David Hurst Thomas (a used textbook from Abe Books)
2. Archaeology: The Science of the Human Past - Mark Sutton and Robert Yohe (a used textbook from Abe Books)
3. In a Dark Wood Wandering - Hella Haasse (Abe Books)
4. How to Write a Damn Good Mystery - James N. Frey (Abe Books)
5.The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky (I didn't even know MTV had a publishing dept)
The first four came in the mail today and the last two were from a 15 minute run into B&N. Really I should know better than to try and kill time there and not buy anything.
1. Archaeology - David Hurst Thomas (a used textbook from Abe Books)
2. Archaeology: The Science of the Human Past - Mark Sutton and Robert Yohe (a used textbook from Abe Books)
3. In a Dark Wood Wandering - Hella Haasse (Abe Books)
4. How to Write a Damn Good Mystery - James N. Frey (Abe Books)
5.The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky (I didn't even know MTV had a publishing dept)
The first four came in the mail today and the last two were from a 15 minute run into B&N. Really I should know better than to try and kill time there and not buy anything.
Transcribing Books
The last few 'how to write' books I've read have given me and interesting tip in how to become a better writer:
Copy long passages out of your favorite books and written by your favorite authors.
So far I have chosen 5 books that were influential in me deciding that I want to write and that I have deemed worthy of spending several hours transcribing passages:
1. The Witching Hour - Anne Rice. I love this book, not necessarily for the story, but for the style. I love the long luxurious descriptions of the house in New Orleans. Those are the passages that I want to copy out. I want to learn to create a sense of place the way Anne Rice has here in this book recreating New Orleans. You actually feel like you can walk up the sidewalk and see the house and feel the humidity as you read along.
2. Ghost Story - Peter Straub. This book is haunting in it suspense. You can feel yourself trudging thru the snow at the end of the book in the final climax. You get scared shitless when the ghosts appear. You feel like an old man sitting in the library listening in on the other old guy's stories. I can't quite put my finger on what made this book so great, but it is one that has stuck with me ever since I read it. It's mesmerizing.
3. Atonement - Ian McEwan. Again this book is not my favorite story, but I love the first half of the book (before they all go off to war). The description and sense of place here again are amazing. It's like reading a modern day Victorian English novel. He writes more beautifully than any other modern author. In re-writing his words I hope to be able to suck up some of his polished use of the English language.
4. I Capture the Castle - Now this book I love the story. It's a fairy tale that has a little girl with a missing mother and a mad father living with her sisters in an old manor house next to a ruined castle. It's every little girl's English fantasy. There is something so romantic about the whole book. I want to put my finger on what it is that makes this book stand out for me. The only way to do that is to write it out.
5. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer. I know, but don't roll your eyes. This is the first book and the best book. I am going to transcribe out he first few chapters of this one so I can get a handle on dialog. There is something magical about this first book that hooked us all. To me it was the immense tension created in the first conversations between Bella and Edward. I want to take them apart and learn from them. That is the best sexual tension I have ever read.
Now as to when I'm going to find the time to actually do this I have no idea, but it theory it sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon.
Copy long passages out of your favorite books and written by your favorite authors.
So far I have chosen 5 books that were influential in me deciding that I want to write and that I have deemed worthy of spending several hours transcribing passages:
1. The Witching Hour - Anne Rice. I love this book, not necessarily for the story, but for the style. I love the long luxurious descriptions of the house in New Orleans. Those are the passages that I want to copy out. I want to learn to create a sense of place the way Anne Rice has here in this book recreating New Orleans. You actually feel like you can walk up the sidewalk and see the house and feel the humidity as you read along.
2. Ghost Story - Peter Straub. This book is haunting in it suspense. You can feel yourself trudging thru the snow at the end of the book in the final climax. You get scared shitless when the ghosts appear. You feel like an old man sitting in the library listening in on the other old guy's stories. I can't quite put my finger on what made this book so great, but it is one that has stuck with me ever since I read it. It's mesmerizing.
3. Atonement - Ian McEwan. Again this book is not my favorite story, but I love the first half of the book (before they all go off to war). The description and sense of place here again are amazing. It's like reading a modern day Victorian English novel. He writes more beautifully than any other modern author. In re-writing his words I hope to be able to suck up some of his polished use of the English language.
4. I Capture the Castle - Now this book I love the story. It's a fairy tale that has a little girl with a missing mother and a mad father living with her sisters in an old manor house next to a ruined castle. It's every little girl's English fantasy. There is something so romantic about the whole book. I want to put my finger on what it is that makes this book stand out for me. The only way to do that is to write it out.
5. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer. I know, but don't roll your eyes. This is the first book and the best book. I am going to transcribe out he first few chapters of this one so I can get a handle on dialog. There is something magical about this first book that hooked us all. To me it was the immense tension created in the first conversations between Bella and Edward. I want to take them apart and learn from them. That is the best sexual tension I have ever read.
Now as to when I'm going to find the time to actually do this I have no idea, but it theory it sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Magazine Article Writing
I know I said I was going to talk about writing magazine articles. I know nothing about it other than what I have read in how-to books. It's something I need to learn more about. It's something I need to do in order to make a little money at writing. Now even though I may never have actually written an article to be published, you would be hard pressed to find someone who knows more about magazines than I do. I currently subscribe to over 20 publications and always seem to supplement my subscriptions with an additional 10-15 from the grocery store and book store each month. I know the magazine rack like the back of my hand.
I know the audience pretty well for most home design, travel, writing, women's, and decorating magazines. Those are my genres of choice.
The next step is to actually find something worth writing about and submit it. It's niave I know to think that it will be that easy, but I have to start somewhere. I'll try and start with our local newspaper and the local Mountain Living magazine published right here in Flagstaff. Where there is a will, there is a way.
I'm devoted to this full time now. Well as full time as I can, but this is going to be my focus for the summer. I will succeed sooner or later.
I know the audience pretty well for most home design, travel, writing, women's, and decorating magazines. Those are my genres of choice.
The next step is to actually find something worth writing about and submit it. It's niave I know to think that it will be that easy, but I have to start somewhere. I'll try and start with our local newspaper and the local Mountain Living magazine published right here in Flagstaff. Where there is a will, there is a way.
I'm devoted to this full time now. Well as full time as I can, but this is going to be my focus for the summer. I will succeed sooner or later.
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