Fistful of words

I’ve recently developed a taste for Ennio Morricone’s music. My writing process these days consists of me sitting down and watching this youtube clip: After that, I’m all gunned up and ready to work! Holy crap, today I sent out the first three chapters of Genesis Earth to the other two editors from the BYU… Continue reading Fistful of words

Quick update

Haven’t been writing as much in Ashes these past few days. With my new goal, I need to be doing about 2.5k per day in that work, but things have slowed down considerably. I need to rekindle some excitement for this project. I will finish it–I’ve made the goal, set the deadline, and determined that… Continue reading Quick update

Goal shift for Ashes

These past few weeks, I’ve been killing myself trying to write Ashes of the Starry Sea. I’ve made some good progress, as you can see on the sidebar.  Today I broke 200 pages.  Not too bad. However, the pace has just been killing me.  4k words per day is something I can do…but 4k words… Continue reading Goal shift for Ashes

Thank you readers

I appreciate my first readers very much, even when it hurts.  Especially when it hurts. Today I got the comments back from a longtime Quarkie friend on Genesis Earth, and she told me that, in her opinion, the book still needs a lot of work.  However, she made it very clear when (and why) she was bored,… Continue reading Thank you readers

Twenty percent, Writers of the Future, and the INTERN

I am now 20% finished with Ashes of the Starry Sea. Huzzah!  The story is definitely picking up steam. In related news, my seven day totals has peaked higher than it’s been in the last two weeks, up above 17,500 words.  Inshallah, that number will rise to +24,000 befoore the end of the week. In… Continue reading Twenty percent, Writers of the Future, and the INTERN

Bringing Stella Home 1.1 is finished

A few minutes ago, I finished the rough draft of Bringing Stella Home. This is my third completed novel. Huzzah! It needs a ton of work, too…there’s no way I’m going to let this thing see the light of day, not until I finish the second draft. In fact, I should probably set down tomorrow… Continue reading Bringing Stella Home 1.1 is finished

Genesis Earth pitch and other assorted thoughts on writing

Today I got together with Charlie after her work and discussed how to pitch my novel Genesis Earth.  We did it in the following way: I took a few minutes to explain what the book was about, while she wrote down the words that stood out and excited her.  Later, I took the words and… Continue reading Genesis Earth pitch and other assorted thoughts on writing

The second wind of inspiration

The more I write, the more I’ve come to realize that in order to finish a novel, you have to rediscover something powerful about the story that motivates you to tell it.  The thing that motivates you to start the story is rarely the thing that drives you to finish it. Around the second half… Continue reading The second wind of inspiration

New directions

This past week, I’ve been going through Bringing Stella Home at quite a good clip.  I’m going through the rough draft as I had it at the end of April, making some major revisions that hopefully are going to make it easier to write the middle section.   I’ve been going along at a good clip,… Continue reading New directions