No More NaNoWriMo

In honor of Halloween: I'm baa-aack! I know, scary.

Anyway, I thought, since so many people are gearing up for NaNoWriMo next month that I'd give my two bits on the subject. You don't know what NaNoWriMo is? Stinks to be you. No, just kidding. It is an abbreviation for National Novel Writing Month. It is where writers and aspiring writers challenge themselves to write a 50,000 word or more novel during the 30 days of November. There are websites and social groups that get together to help those people meet their goals and stick to task.

I did this back in 2005 for the first time. From that 50,000 word jumble of chaos, I ended up with the beginnings of my first published novel, The Dragon War Relic. I learned a lot of great things about myself during my experience. Probably the most important thing was: what it takes to write a novel. It takes a lot of time and patience and persistence. But, if you take the time, it can be done; that was the next most important lesson. There is a great sense of pride when we take on a difficult task and persevere long enough to create a finished novel.

I've written about his before, but I also learned that I'm a discovery writer. I think NaNoWriMo caters more to discovery writers because you're just supposed to sit down and start writing come what may. And no looking in the rear view mirror and going back to fix things. Since then, of course, I have learned that if you want character arcs and plots that make sense, there does need to be some kind of planning. Oh, and it is okay to have an outline to do it, but not necessary. Fortunately for me, I didn't.

As much as I honor NaNoWriMo for the start it gave me, I don't think I'll ever do it again. Why? Because it taught me how to focus and write. I can now do that whenever I want and for however long I want. When I'm in my normal writing mode, I put out about 12,000 to 15,000 words a week anyway, which is about a NaNoWriMo pace. I don't need to see how many words I can write in a month because I now know. Just last month I completed a novel and the second draft within 30 days. Of course, I'm not always going at that pace because I also have to take the things I've drafted and then polish them up in hopes of publication. In fact, the second draft usually takes me longer than the first because I have to spend a lot of time working out some of the issues and plot holes that I discover.

So, if you aren't a writer yet and want to be, NaNoWriMo can be the right kick in the pants to get you started. Just remember to be nice to your family and take a break every now and then to let your creative juices get flowing again.

Moving forward

I've decided to turn this blog into my writing blog. I just started another one for music here: http://singlereedadvice.blogspot.com. Now, you may ask, why in the world would I be writing another blog when I don't even write in this one very often? Good question. I'm not making any promises, but I mainly wanted to separate my writing stuff from my music stuff.

Okay, so you see from my last post that progress is being made on Time Gangsters. Last that I heard, it is slated to come out in February, but that date is still subject to change. I just finished another draft of it and I am really excited about how well it's turning out.

As for other projects, I'm a little in limbo. I had my big dystopian/steam-punk project going well but I've discovered a few fatal flaws. I'm letting it sit for a while so that I can brainstorm with it more and see if I can find ways to resolve the problems. I still think its a good story, so I'm not giving up on it. And, of course, I have no shortage of new ideas, I just need to decide which ones to develop. I have a new idea for a sci-fi comedy with an adult protagonist. I think it's a fun idea, but I'm not sure how well a middle-grade type of story-telling with work with adult characters. I have no problem with it, I'm just not sure how marketable it will be.

Soon, I hope to get a few Myrick the Messenger short stories out. One will be coming out in an anthology, but I have two others I need to polish and post.

Time Gangsters Preliminary Cover Art

Here's some exciting news: I have some preliminary cover art for Time Gangsters. I'm curious to see what you people out there think. Let me know of any suggestions you may have, too.

Writing Momentum

I'm not dead. It may look like it, though, since it's been a while. It's not that I'm out of things to blog about, I'm just busy. I'm in the middle of a new project that is a kind of dystopian/steam punk/fantasy. Also, I had a lot of reading to do the last couple of months. I suppose I should get around to writing a bunch of reviews, but here are some the books I've read recently:
Imprints by Rachel Ann Nunes
Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card
Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells
The Monster Hunter books by Larry Correia.

It seems like there were more, but I can't remember them.

Anyway, I've thought about getting away from blogging about writing because, well, every writer and their dog and their dog's fleas has a blog about writing. What can I, a lowly jazz musician, say about writing that hasn't been said? Well, I thought of something: momentum.

Over spring break week, since I didn't do any teaching, I gave myself a challenge to see if I could be a full-time author for a week. I wrote 23,000 words. I probably could have done more, but it took a day or two to get my mind working. The funny thing was, the next week, in spite of being back into my normal teaching schedule, I added another 18,000 words. I was surprised when I saw that because I didn't think I could have written that much. Then I figured out the secret: my mind had writing momentum.

I thought back to when I would write sporadically. I would stare at the screen and hash out a few words here and there. I was lucky if I could get 1000 words in a couple of hours. When I have momentum, though, like over the last few days, I am able to get over 2000 words in two hours of writing.

So, the moral of the story is this: write every day. I know that's nothing new. But a big reason for me is that when I'm consistently working on a project, my mind is working on it even when I'm not writing. Then, when I sit down to write, the ideas just seem to flow. There, my two bits.

Star Scout Rising by Gary Darby

I recently received and read a book called Star Scout Rising: First Trail by Gary Darby. I always look forward to the opportunity to read young adult sci-fi since there is so little of it out there. Star Scout Rising is about the adventures of a young man named Del Baldura, where he and his team are finishing up their Star Scout training. Star Scouts seemed to me to be like a cross between boy scouts and jedi knights. Their job was to explore the galaxy and make things safe for future travelers.

First off, I was excited to see that the book was published in Alaska. I know, that's not really a big deal, except I'm a third generation Alaskan and little things like that get me excited. There were even a few Alaska references in the novel.

Something else I really liked was the fact that it was a clean read: no swearing or other stuff to have to put up with. So, this officially gets the Berin Stephens Big Toe Up award for being something, as a father, I would have no reservations about my own kids reading.

I have to admit, it took me a while to get into the book. It wasn't until about the half-way mark when I found it hard to put down. In my opinion, the book could have used a faster start by being more streamlined. I felt like there was too much time spent with the villain, Peller, and the side story with Dal's uncle. Those stories didn't even tie in directly with Dal's yet (probably in the sequel) and slowed down the read. Some of those chapters are what I call "Council of Elrond" chapters - a lot of information but no action. But, I do advise people to stick with the book, because it does get good and exciting later on.

Gary's knowledge of military procedure was impressive and well detailed. A couple of minor complaints, though, are, 1: I thought they were a little too detailed at times (slowing things down), and 2: the use of all the abbreviations. It often took me out of the story as I had to sit there and try to remember what TL, LS, and CG meant. It might have been handy to have a table in the back of the book to help those of us non-military types to remember what those things stand for.

Something else I liked, military jargon aside, was that this was easy to understand sci-fi. Science fiction has a little bit of a stigma that it is filled with complex scientific terms and principles. This book didn't have that, which to me is a good thing. It might better be classified as an adventure that just happens to take place in outer space (kinda like my book, which is really just a comedy . . . set in outer space . . . with elves).

But overall, this was a good start to a new series. I look forward to more adventures of Del and his intrepid band of Star Scouts. It reminded me of the first science fiction book I'd ever read: Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids by Isaac Asimov.

You can purchase the book here:

      Amazon

      Kindle

And here's Gary's blog: http://starscoutrising.blogspot.com/

Too good to pass up

As a sax player, I couldn't pass this up. I stole it from David West who stole it from someone else. FYI, professional saxophonists do not hold Kenny G in high regard, so the Elrond reaction shot is classic.

Mr. Monster by Dan Wells

Recently I finished Mr. Monster, Dan's sequel to his 2009 hit I Am Not a Serial Killer. Just for the record, I am not normally a fan of horror novels. The main reason why I read the first book was because it was a Whitney Award nominee. Mr. Monster is also a nominee for this year, but I actually wanted to read this one because of how good IANASK was.

Dan didn't disappoint. At first, I'll admit to a little disappointment because I wanted to get right into the demon slaying side of things. That didn't happen for a while. Instead, we got John Wayne Cleaver's struggle with the wannabe serial killer half of his psyche that he calls "Mr. Monster". And then I realized the name of the book and began to enjoy that the protagonist and the antagonist, for the first half, were the same person. Don't worry, though, a demon still shows up toward the end, allowing for John to reach into his dark side once again to defeat it.

I began to ponder John's "list" that he uses to keep Mr. Monster under control. Here are some of the things on his list:

I will not hurt animals.
I will not burn things.
When I think bad thoughts about someone, I will push the thoughts away and say something nice about that person.
I will not call people 'it'.
If people threaten me, I will leave the situation.

Okay, I don't have any temptations to be a serial killer (I hope), but how many of us have a darker side fighting to get out? Don't we all have a weakness that can take us down a dark path? We can learn something from John Cleaver. Perhaps we all need to make a list specific to our own faults. For instance, if we feel temptations to steal Hostess Ding Dongs, we should make a personal rule to stay far away from places that put out tempting displays of them and not to call them "my precious" (okay, sorry, that's a long story).

Back to the book. Once again, I was sucked into it and found it hard to put down. I did like the first book a little better but not by much. I now am anxiously waiting for a chance to get my hands on the third book of the series: I Don't Want to Kill You. I heard him read the first couple of chapters at Life, the Universe, and Everything in February and it sounds fantastic.

Warning: there is violence, some disturbing mental images, and mild swearing, so this is not a book for those who don't care for that sort of stuff.

Of course, now I need to figure out the name of my inner demon. I can't decide if he's Mr. Munster or Mr. Addams (du-du-du-dut. snap snap).