Nanowrimo 2015

As I'm nearing the end of the second week of Nanowrimo, I'm met with a mounting sense of apprehension mingled with doubt. Can I finish 50,000 words this month? 

You would think that since I managed to finish my first book already that that would provide a way to move past the self-doubt, but it doesn't.

Here I sit at a little under 16k words. 5k of those don't count because I wrote them in June. So, that leaves me with just 11k and I'm almost feeling unequal to the task. To get it done evenly for the 30 days in November, a writer should write the recommended 1,667 words per day. That makes me 9,000 words behind! Sigh.

Wish me luck!

Developmental Edit Part 2

I am so grateful for today--this moment. Suffice it to say that I am reeling from the beautiful compliments that my editor paid to my writing. 

She found dozens of errors that I need to correct, and I was beginning to worry about the integrity of the story. Then she wrote 3 pages of comments about how I could strengthen the story, and I cannot help but feel touched when she mentioned several times how much she loved the story.

Doubt, as any writer will tell you, is a plague that we are never fully rid of. Doubt makes us believe that what we have spent months or even years crafting is just a steaming pile of shit that was once our hopes and dreams. 

My editor gave me hope after pointing out all my flaws. I will be forever grateful.

You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.       -- Johnny Cash

Developmental Edit Part 1

So I finally found a good editor and just received my first half of the developmental edit. Seeing as it has been read by about fifteen people now, I was surprised that she found things that are glaringly obvious. How could I miss those?!

Example:

He made his way in the direction of the shout. After a few moments of dodging the traffic of mages and witches[AG1] , Keiron reached the boy.

---

 [AG1]This is the first mention of witches. Are they different from mages?

It was upon reading this comment that I realized that I had completely forgotten to explain the differences in classes of magic users. Thankfully, this will be corrected, and I'm glad that this wasn't published with such an erroneous lack of clarification.

I was beginning to lose faith in finding an affordable, reputable editor, but I think I finally have. Not only has she renewed my faith in the editing process, she has made me realize how indispensable editing is to the entire manuscript.

Catching Up

Well, time has just flown by and it all seems mostly wasted to me now. Life happens and you just have to roll with it.

To sum up, in September, I got married to my beautiful wife, Angela. On October 16th, my father-in-law, Steve, lost his battle to small cell lung cancer. I take comfort in the fact that he was able to walk his daughter down the aisle. It was his last great wish, and he got it.

I have put off my writing for so many things, and now I'm determined to get back to it. Everything flows into our writing, both our joys and our sorrow. I can only hope that the result will be worth a tenth as much as the memories that inspired them.

Longing For Melancholy

It is indeed a strange thing to feel nothing. I can usually pick up on other's emotions if I focus which only makes my predicament stranger still.

I feel nothing,  not happiness nor sorrow. It is a curious emptiness that lies in the infinity between emotions.

Whenever this happens to me I'm left wondering at the lack of emotion. It's so calming and peaceful. I'm fascinated by it, and yet I wonder how long it will last this time.

From Jurassic Park to Skies of Madness.

I've been thinking a lot about dinosaurs lately and yea it's because Jurassic World came out in theaters yesterday. BTW, if you haven't seen it, go. It's awesome. Why are you still reading this? Go see it!

I was 11 years old when I finished reading every dinosaur book in the children's section for the second time. Resignation to the fact that I would have to start reading older kids' books struck me hard. Surely they wouldn't have a single dinosaur in them. 

Looking up and down the library, I remember frowning at the situation and yearning for just one more dinosaur book. Then suddenly I remembered the most famous dinosaur movie of all time. 

Jurassic Park.

I wondered if maybe there had been a book that had been written about the movie. Of course by now, many of you are probably laughing at me because of course Jurassic Park was written by Michael Crichton 3 years before the movie was released.

But I digress.

From the moment I began reading Jurassic Park, I knew that something incredible had just happened. The picture books about dinosaurs were great in their own way, but in Jurassic Park there was a world that my imagination crafted along with the story that was as complex as it was riveting. I couldn't put it down and as soon as I was done with it, I wanted more so I read the sequel: The Lost World.

Where am I going with this?

Jurassic Park was my stepping stone into the world of adult books, novels that wove stories that drew me in. That was when I truly wanted to become a writer. In that moment, I wanted to write something that could captivate a reader as I had been captivated by a park where dinosaurs thrived.

As I've gone on to other novels, my mind always goes back to that first one. It was my entrance to the magic of imagination through the written word. It's all thanks to Michael Crichton.

And dinosaurs.

Fast forward 17 years. I still love dinosaurs, but I've found something even better.

Dragons. 

You'll be hard pressed to meet someone who doesn't love dragons. They're everywhere! In games, movies, comics and novels. Beyond the old myths, generations are falling in love with dragons. 

And dragons are at the heart of the issue in my debut novel, Skies of Madness. It'll soon be available for purchase on Amazon when I get everything squared away. You can read an excerpt here.

You see, I never outgrew my love for dinosaurs. I just discovered that some of them could have magic. Because as any boy or girl will tell you, the only thing better than a dinosaur is a dragon. Dragons are basically dinosaurs with magic. Who could say no to that?

And dragons are to dinosaurs what a novel is to a picture book. The magic of a good story is what bridges the gaps of our sad moments into a glimpse into the infinite world of imagination. Not just a reprieve from a stressful day at work or a long night with the kids, a good novel will take you to a place that only exists for as long as you keep wondering about it.

So keep wondering and keep reading. You won't regret it.

Whispers in the Dark: 10K Mark!

Whispers in the Dark is the sequel to Skies of Madness, and I have high hopes at reaching my goal of finishing the first draft by the end of the month. 

I have just passed the 10,000 word mark. It will probably be about the same length as Skies of Madness so about 65,000. 

I think it's a good stopping point and doesn't leave the reader bogged down with too much reading time. That's another reason why I like separating my chapters by scene. If something comes up while someone is reading my book, I want there to be a good stopping point. 

That being said, there will always be cliff hangers at the end of chapters to entice the reader to keep reading. I always loved that when I read books that I love, and it seems to be the perfect thing to do in my own novels.

I think once I have this novel finished, I will finish up the novella that takes place between the two books. Then I'll self-publish all three to Amazon. I just need to decide if I want to space them out--maybe by a couple weeks each--or publish them all at once.