Reading Only Recipes, Writing only on Cakes
Aaaaargh! We are entertaining family tomorrow and I am cooking instead of writing! The upside is that cooking is meditative, so maybe I will dream up some new ideas. Off to write . . . I mean, cook!
My daily reveries and rants on reading, writing, authors, and the writing life and all its frustrations and celebrations.
Aaaaargh! We are entertaining family tomorrow and I am cooking instead of writing! The upside is that cooking is meditative, so maybe I will dream up some new ideas. Off to write . . . I mean, cook!
Despite being in my twenties, I am one of those old-fashioned types who feels that we have lost the power of written communication via e-mail. I am enlisting all of you to write a letter at least once a month, and I pledge to do the same. Do not e-mail it. Sit down with a quality pen that does not smudge and some nice stationery, and write a letter to a friend, family member, or significant other. Mail it with your favorite stamp or slip it under your lover's pillow. I think sending a letter snail mail helps one focus and really think about what is going on in his or her life. It is a good way for one on reach out to someone else. Try it, once a month. Before your know it, you mailbox will be filled with something besides junk mail!
Please take a couple minutes to review my blog on Blogarama.com. Just go to the Web site, enter "Screaming Writer" in the "Search Blogs" box and my site will come up. Then click "Reviews" and then "Submit a review for this site." Then, go nuts! I would greatly appreciate it. I will also keep the link to Blogarama.com on the right column of my blog. It is a great site to search for other Web logs of all types. Thanks, all!
I have attached a piece of dialogue from my novel below. The two characters are Jake and Lois Barnaby. Jake is a city slicker turned drifter who just breeze into this tiny Midwestern town. Lois Barnaby is an aging middle-aged overweight school bus driver that gave Jake a lift to the bar that they now occupy at 9 in the morning. Let me know what you think: Questions, criticisms, accolades, and observations. All are welcome.
My cousin, James C. Ferguson is out in California writing and producing. He has worked on a lot of great comedic material, and his projects have been praised by critics and have won awards. You can check out his Web site at http://www.scalepluspoints.com/
Despite a heaviness in my head, I did 641 words tonight. Not quite my goal, but I am happy with the results. I introduced two colorful new characters to my novel. I wish I could tell you all more but I am paranoid with this public venue of people stealing my ideas (I am not talking about those of you near and dear to me, of course. However, what I am going to do is share a snippet of my work every week. This week it was "The Stolen Grave."
Lately, a lot of the ideas I have been getting have been in the realm of historical fiction. This is obviously has to do with my profession, where I work on history and social studies books all day. Every event I come across holds promise of being fictionalized, every person the promise of a great character. I am astounded that a lot of world history has not been fictionalized yet, especially the ancient era. The Aztecs alone hold promise of murder, intrigue, high society, and clash of cultures. More later . . .
No work done on my novel today. I am trying this new thing called actually getting a decent night's sleep. My hope is that is will make me more productive and less likely to drag throughout the day. If not, it's back to vampire time. "Wolves, children of the night; what beautiful music they make."
I thought I would share with you once of the worst pieces of writing I have come across in a long time. It comes from Masters of the Vortex by E.E. "Doc" Smith, a science-fiction novel from 1960. I would like to clarify: I DID NOT WRITE THIS:
What an improvement just carrying around a pad and pen has made in my writing life. I use a 5 x 3 inch memo pad that fits easily and comfortably in any pocket. Today, at work, I got a great idea for a screenplay and wrote it down. I probably won't start this for at least a year and may never follow through on it. However, capturing the idea in the moment ensured that I would not forget it. I wrote down every detail. On a weekend when I feel particularly ambitious, I intend to take all these scraps of paper and put them into an Excel spreadsheet, so I have a readily available bank of ideas.
When I was stuck in a computer consulting job, the environment was rife with acronyms. One of the most blatant, I felt, was RFC, which stood for "request for comments." However, at the risk of being ironic, I would like to issue my own request for comments. I encourage all my visitors to voice their views on each and every post. Further, if you have general comments on how the site could be improved, please respond to this post. Thank you!
Part of writing is reading and have I got a great read for all of you. An ex-professor of mine has this great blog called Professor Kim's News Notes that has "Reporting and commentary on race, class, religion, gender and sexuality in the news." it is a great place for nonfiction writers to get info and perspectives. And fiction writers, you never know where a story idea may linger. Please check this site out. You will not be disappointed. I will be adding this and other links to the right sidebar of this page. Links will be added and updated daily, so keep visiting!
Tonight I actually met and surpassed my writing goal. Perhaps I should inform you all of what my writing goal is. Until the end of July, I want to do at least 1,000 words a day and starting on August 1, I want to do 2,000 words a day. It may sound ambitious, but it only took me 30-40 minutes to do 1,000 words tonight. It really flowed ,and I thought the writing itself was very good.
Someone asked me what books I recommend for someone who is interested in writing. Though I am not as well read as most writers, here are the volumes I can offer:
I hope these are helpful. I'm off to write!
The bad news is: I only wrote 250 words tonight. The good news is a started a book map for my lastest project. I haven't mapped out the whole plot line yet but I have enough to get me to the first turning point. Now if I just wasn't so tired . . .
Trying to get that in that extra read. Much to the chagrin of the other New Jersey drivers, I've started reading at stop lights. I'm little less quick on the gas pedal when I get that green, but the worst I get is a curt honk and I'm reading a lot more. I even find myself slowing down at yellow lights. This from a guy who used to treat all Stop signs like Yield signs.
Now for some shamless promotion. Below is an excerpt from an unpublished horror story of mine entitled "The Stolen Grave." BEWARE: This except is kind of gory. Let me know what you think and thanks for letting me SCREAM!
Lately, I have been very unmotivated, and I am trying to find out why. I have been playing the always-dangerous blame game: "I can't write because of the housework," "I can't write because I had to bring day-job work home," "I can't write because I need to publish a blog." :) The blame game is not fun. There is no Chuck Woolery or Wink Martindale to flash a plastic smile and give me a parting gift. Usually the blame game only ends in me hurting someone else and feeding into my lack of motivation, which is the real reason I don't get to writing every day.
Yes, that is what I aim to do: To draw you into my brain's microcosm of one, so that you may see what hell it is to have a flood of ideas, but have a lack of motivation drive you upstream like spawning salmon, fighting against the current. I know I should instead just relax and ride the wave, but alas I do not.