Organized - Mostly

OK. My three notebooks are now an array of brightly colored coded post-it notes.

Orange for Novel related items.

Neon Green for not needed items.

Pink for short story items.

Kinda dissapointed I didn't end up using the blue post-its too.

So, a bit of typing and I can be back on track. I found the missing novel parts that I was looking for the other day. I really thought I had already typed that stuff up, but apparently not. Fortunately, it is all in one notebook. That's good because once I get it down to just this one notebook, that's all I'm working on until I'm done. (well, except for the occasional short story that pops up here and there.)

If you're interested, Flogging Molly makes for awesome organizational music. Or maybe it's just awesome music.

Now to get some typing done before Alex gets up from his nap.

Too Much

I have too much.

I have several different versions of documents (draft 1, draft 2, draft 3 starts after the party that is in the blue notebook), text files, abiword documents. Somethings are saved privately on livejournal.

Some of is written out in a notebook. Some of that is even typed on pages that were printed out and stuck in the middle of my notebook at what is likely their corresponding spots.

Man what a mess. I have three novels in various states. One, some portion through it. A second, this conjumbled mess of things everywhere. A third that is mostly outline notes only in my notebook. Probably some printed pages to go with that.

That's just novels. I'm not even sure I want to look into the short story folders. Though fortunately all short story stuff is typed up. None of that floating around notebooks. Can thank Liberty Hall for that, they're responsible for the bulk of my short story work, and it's all be done at a PC.

It's driving me nuts. I need to organize this all, somehow.

Everyone has Dreams

I've started reading Storytellers Unplugged. It's a great blog by a lot of different writers. They have a lot of great tips there. On the 30th, Alma Alexander had a great post called Second Fiddle.

Which falls in line with things I've been thinking lately. Everyone has dreams, hopes, goals, desires. The janitor. The guard. The stablehand. The intergallactic a/c repair guy. These people are more than the sum of the tasks that we asign them. While not everyone can be center stage, they can do more than just assist the protag with getting to his/her final goal. This is something I've been trying to keep in mind in my own writing.

Update

I did a flash over at Liberty Hall last Friday. Response was descent, considering I didn't have time to finish the story and just kind of dropped it off in front of the door. Literally and figuratively. Oddly, having a dog in the story has gotten a good response. So I was working on that, but now it's time to watch Castle, one of the few shows I make it a point to watch. (The other being Dollhouse, and now maybe The Mentalist.)

But until this post had been working on some more of that story, and listening to Floyd. By and far my favorite writing music. Anyway. the story is a Pittsburgh where a virus has broken out and the people left there are trapped within the city. So that's you know, coming along.

This is very random... kind of all over. Lot going on right now. Too much cleaning to be done around here. Never done.

Two More to Edit

That leaves me with two other stories to edit and send out. One a fantasy, the other a modern magic/mysticism story. One, the modern story, is my bingo story that I submitted to Shimmer sometime last year. They liked it, but pointed out some things that need a change. I'm finally getting around to that. I agreed with their assessment, I just wasn't sure how I wanted to change the ending. So I left it sit for a while. I think I have that ending now, just need to execute. They are accepting submissions again, so maybe I'll shoot it back to them and see what they think.

The other story was one I'd written for a game world and had been accepted until the magazine folded. I've edited it and made it truly my own. So, I'm excited to get that one out too. It ties in to my novel(s).

So that's you know, coming along.

One story out the door - tomorrow

I just need to do another read through tomorrow (when I'm hopefully less tired) and I'll send this one off to a contest. I'm hopefully. I like the story. We'll see how it goes.

Naming the Unnamed

I used to have such an easy time figuring out a name for characters. Now, more often, I sit there and stare and stare and stare at it, trying to figure out what to use. I think part of it us I'm over thinking it. at the same time, I know there are some word combos I repeat a lot. Since I've noticed I do that, I try to avoid it. Maybe try too much.

Updates

I must start by first thanking my wife. Thanks babe. Thanks for watching the kids. I totally wasn't expecting any quiet time right now, I promise I'll make the best of it. So, no blowing off the morning playing WoW.

Of the 7 stories in the short story cycle, I finished 2. That's not very good. They have probably both come in around 5000 words, so extrapolating that would give me 35,000 words which is considerable. Nice little novellette going for me. Toward the end of the second story, I was rushing it. I don't think it came out good at all, and need considerable work. But the story is done. I got my hero to the point that he needs to be. And the rest of the crew hungering for revenge. Sorry for blowing that deadline Mike, I'm just not a fast writer. It seemed so doable when I started. We all write at different paces. Mine, a bit slower than most I'd bet.

I still need to edit Lost Pages. I want to get that out to the markets, see if it can find a home. I like the story. I think too in writing this last story for the Cycle, I've decided I like writing fantasy a lot more than sci-fi. I love reading sci-fi, but I'm not so good with writing the science side of things. Mostly just ends up an adventure in space. Not that there is anything wrong with that, other franchises have seemed to pull that off pretty well (Star Wars?). I have a lot of themes in the Cycle that I'm trying to tackle at the same time. Maybe too much.

I still want to tell the story of the Vhor (my aliens in the Cycle), but I think for the immediate future I'm going to take a break from that, and write the follow-up story to Lost Pages.

I've also decided I write much better when I have some kind of outline before me. It gave my cycle a lot more direction. I have a loose outline for the Lost Pages stories. Once I finish both (Lost Pages, and Cycle) I need to look seriously at writing up an outline for the novel. It's still rolling around in the back of my head, but I haven't worked on it in a few months.

So, that's where I am. Time to get to writing.

Writing Along

I was wrinting along last night, all was going well. Then I dozed off and completely lost my train of thought. Picked it back up this morning and all is well again.

This challenge is 7 interconnected stories. Yet they need to be able to stand alone. ABDCE. While I am enjoying the project, it's certainly not turning about to be short by any stretch of the imagination. Then of course is the worry about whether or not I'll be able to sell it later. Maybe pick the best and send that one off, hoping a mag would pick up the others afterwards. Or try and sell it as a group. We shall see. I really am enjoying writing the story. I guess that is the main part. I'd just like to see something come of it after I'm done. Something more than my own satisfaction at seeing it completed.

edit: I guess I should worry about getting this done more than I should worry about whether or not it will be published.

Friday the 13th!

I haven't updated this in a bit. I had Strep and I'm recovering from that now. Life keeping me busy. Knocked out taxes last weekend. Kids keeping me busy. You know, that kind of stuff.

The story for the challenge is still moving along. Mike moved the deadline back to the end of the month, but I still don't know that I'll be able to finish it. I don't write short short stories (at least not well) nor do I write fast. I'm almost to the end of the second story. I like the way it's coming together, just need to put the time into making it happen.

Joss Whedon's Dollhouse is premiering tonight, so we'll definitely be watching that. In Joss We trust.