Today I broke 20k words for the running seven-day total. According to my records, the last time that total was over 20k was Monday, June 8th. Despite the fact that I moved into a new apartment today, I managed to finish with just over 4k for the day. You should have seem me at the… Continue reading Breaking 20k/7day and a new apartment
Tag: On Writing
Thoughts after finishing Legend by David Gemmell
I just stayed up a bit late, finishing Legend by David Gemmell. Wow. According to his wikipedia entry, Mr. Gemmell wrote Legend in two weeks while waiting to hear if his cancer diagnosis was terminal. After reading this book, I can definitely see how that influenced the writing. This book is incredible, one of the… Continue reading Thoughts after finishing Legend by David Gemmell
“Why people read”
Dave Farland puts out this great e-newsletter called “Dave’s Daily Kick-in-the-Pants.” For the kick today, he suggested the following exercise: You probably have a good idea about what you want to write—horror, mainstream, fantasy, historical, romance, westerns, religious fiction, and whatnot. Sit down for ten minutes and on the left-hand side of your paper, list… Continue reading “Why people read”
something
So…I figure it’s been a week and I should probably post something on this blog. Wow. Well, work is underway on Ashes of the Starry Sea, and I’m starting to have a love-hate relationship with it. Most writers say you first novel isn’t that good, and you just need to get it out of your… Continue reading something
Heaven’s library
2,943 words today, even though today was the first day of Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers. I’ve reached the major climax of the book–the moment I’ve been replaying over and over in my head. Perhaps this novel is not as bad as I’d thought–perhaps I can pull this off. The current incarnation is terrible,… Continue reading Heaven’s library
Outlining for a discovery writer
I’m almost finished with the rough draft of Bringing Stella Home, but I can’t shake the feeling that this draft really sucks and is full of holes. Part of that is probably that I wrote the whole thing out of the top of my head. The only part that I really took the time to… Continue reading Outlining for a discovery writer
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
Breaking 90k and other mundane excitements
(I almost always have trouble figuring out titles for these blogs posts. I mean, my writing life isn’t all that exciting–I just write. Check out my study abroad blog from last year for true (if old) excitement). I broke 90k words in Bringing Stella Home today. According to my goal of 120k, that’s the 3/4 mark.… Continue reading Breaking 90k and other mundane excitements
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
4k a day
It’s late, but I really need to write something of my recent thoughts on this blog, so this is going to be a stream-of-consciousness word-vomit sort of post. But please keep reading, it probably won’t be uninteresting. I haven’t been posting much on this blog recently, but I’ve been thinking a lot about my writing… Continue reading 4k a day