My night-vision optics surveyed the valley for the 1,056th time since my unit and I had arrived 17 minutes and 36 seconds ago. Since the last sweep, 72 humans had altered position from 1 to 3 meters and 6 gun turrets along the walls of the fortress had elevated position in anticipation of air attack. The humans were not expecting us to attack on foot, a fatal tactical error on their part.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, I come before you today to, once again, apologize. You see, as was pointed out to me earlier today by a family member, I am a failure.
Yes, it’s true! I am a failure. You see, I have a successful business, my house is 1/3 of the way paid off, and my truck will be paid off this month, months ahead of schedule thanks to always sending a little extra with each payment.
I don’t normally talk about work. I keep Twitter separate from my work because Twitter is a joy that brings me peace and work is not very peaceful. However, I’m going to go ahead and break the rules today. I’m going to tell you about two separate incidents today that just bugged the shit out of me and made me glad it was Friday.
The day started off good. I saw two clients, one of which I got her Netflix and Hulu Plus working on her DVD player. She was all happy and didn’t expect me to do that. I figured I was already there and she was paying. Besides it was only a few minutes of work.
Yesterday my friend @JamieOehring and I were discussing a pair of bad movies. She has the horrid taste to actually like Battleship (ironic since my last blog post was on said movie) and I have the impeccable sophistication to like Sucker Punch.
Wait! What’s that you say? You didn’t like Sucker Punch? What is wrong with you people? It has a dragon chasing a B-52! How can you not like that?
Okay, in all seriousness the movie does lack some things like great acting and whatnot but the existential question of the movie is what draws me in. The question of what is really real and how do we view our lives.
I watched Battleship last night. For those of you who haven’t seen it, I highly recommend watching paint dry. While the explosions were pretty, the acting and writing leave something, anything at all in fact, lacking. Having said that, this was the perfect movie to use in an example about characterization.
The main character makes his first appearance hanging out in a bar with his brother. It’s his birthday and we need to establish these two are brothers through drinking and a smack in the face. Cliché but we can let it slide since it’s just the beginning of the movie.
I have a story I worked on for a long time. Over the course of months, I wrote about the survivors of a zombie apocalypse. They grew as people, they fought hard to survive in a world overrun with zombies, and they suffered their share of setbacks but, through it all, they kept moving forward.
And that was the problem. They just kept going. At first they were fun to write about but, as the story grew, I began to dislike these people. Writing the story became a chore. I don’t know when it was but, at some point, I couldn’t take these people anymore so I gave up. I moved on to other ideas.
Then, after a few months of absence, I came back to my little zombie story. I poked around with it, got another chapter or two in, and, just like before, I started hating these people again.
I have never had a story do that to me. I have never fallen so out of love with a story in my life as I did with this one. I knew I couldn’t go on but I had to finish it. I didn’t want to leave it open-ended, constantly reminding me that I hadn’t finished it.
End of the Year.
It’s that time again. We’re just a couple of days away from saying goodbye to 2012 so that means resolutions for 2013 have to be made.
I hate making resolutions. Most of the time I make them too hard to achieve and wind up disappointing myself. So this year I’m going to lower the bar a little. I’m going to make some resolutions that, while difficult, aren’t going to be impossible.
First, I’m going to write. A lot. Lots and lots, in fact. I’m setting a daily goal of 1,000 words. For those of you that don’t write this may seem like a lot but, for me, that’s only about an hour of good writing or two hours of poking at the keyboard making words.
The thing about this goal is, I’m going to be fluid with it. If I write 3,000 words on Sunday and then have to pull a 12 hour day working on Monday, I’m not going to freak because I’m still at my goal. The only part of this resolution that freaks me out is, if I can stick with it, I will hit 365,000 words written by the end of next year. That’s, of course, before the insanity of NaNoWriMo.
The next goal is another writing goal. I am tired of not being published. Whether it’s short stories, or a full on novel, I will be published by the end of next year. This is the hardest of my goals as I don’t directly control it. I can write a good story but can I get it published? That’s the question.
My other goals are all the usual ones. Lose weight, eat better, blah, blah, blah…
I’m thinking I’ll put up a word counter or project counter on my website so I can keep track of my goals and others can get on my case if I’m not achieving them.
So here we go. Once more unto the breach, dear friends…
Why Writing Sucks Part 1
If there was any one thing I would do for the rest of my life, any one career I would choose, it would be to be a writer. I love writing. I love the way the words flow out of me. I love how I can make a world and shape it to my every desire. There is a joy in creating something and sharing it with others but, at times, writing is a freaking nightmare.
I’m going to share some of my thoughts and experiences in writing with you. Some of you who write will understand every word I’m saying. To you I say, we’re in this together. I know your doubts, your triumphs, your anger, and your depression. You are not alone.
To those who don’t write, I’d like to share my experiences so you can see into the mind of a writer. It’s a weird place and some of you will, more than likely, feel that I should be committed to a place with Jello and padded walls. You’ll get no arguments from me there.
So let’s go take a look in my head. I must warn you before we enter to watch out for the Gorgon. She’s in a foul mood tonight.
The Next Big Thing
What is The Next Big Thing? It’s a blogging chain where I answer ten questions about what I’m working on and then tag in five other authors to do the same. Two people have asked me to do this. Jamie and Cheyenne .
(Sorry, Cheyenne, I didn’t even see you’d tagged me. Yes, I suck and humbly apologize for my impertinence.)
Let’s get down to the question and answer portion of our show.
No updates since July? Where the hell have I been? Oh yeah! Busy!
And therein lies the problem. I should never be too busy to write. I should be doing a little a day, every day.
Now, for missing all of November I do have a really good excuse. Almost 60,000 words on the story I’m working on did drag me away and, since that’s a lot of writing, I’m going to cut myself some slack.
But, now that we’re in December, it’s time to get back to multiple writing ventures. In addition to the story that keeps on being amazing fun to write, I’m going to be hitting all of you with, at least, two blog posts a week. I’ll go on about my writing, things I think are cool, reading lists, and any number of other weird things that catch my eye.
So sit back and let’s see where the crazy train takes us.