Tag: writing

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Cutting Room Floor: Part 1

Scraps of papers on tiled floorFor the first time in my life I have been able to stick to a writing schedule, and I’ve been able to do it more than once. 2013 was spent writing, writing, and writing some more. I finished rough drafts of two novels, edited another, and my debut novel, Detours, was released in April. Through it all I have also been able to maintain three blogs, two of which will be getting major makeovers in the next month or so. It has been the singularly most prolific year for me, writing-wise, and I have so many people to thank for making that a reality: my wife, my children, my coworkers, my Facebook friends, my real friends, and random strangers who I’ve come in contact with who have made me ponder some things. I never know where inspiration is going to come from, and I have so many who have inspired me just this year alone.

So, with that in mind, I have an announcement to make, and I’m nothing but giddy about it. My second novel will be released on February 18, 2014. The date is as firm as it can be, and I’m so excited to be able to announce it. Of course that means that between now and then there will be a whirlwind of activity to get ready for the release. I will be updating the progress here on my Journal in installments along the way so you can travel this road with me. I wasn’t able to do that with Detours, not like I wanted to, so this time around I will revel in the adventure. Here’s where I am in the process…

EDITING

Keep in mind that I’ve gone through the manuscript with a fine tooth comb no less than three times already, from start to finish, but during those other editing sessions I was first reading for grammatical correctness, for punctuation errors, and for general understanding. Now I’m working on character and plot issues, including character and plot development and accuracy within their prescribed areas in the novel. I am basically working through each character and his/her interactions with others, and then going through each plot point and fleshing it out. If you were wondering, this part of the editing process takes a lot longer than the initial rough edits, but it’s a lot more satisfying in the end. Continue reading “Cutting Room Floor: Part 1”

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Touching Life

His elocution stuns Exact in its sense Dynamic in delivery Such perfect prose Wrapped in irony Like sweet music Lilting and melodic Untainted by rhyme And happenstance He writes by rote His words a river Flowing into sea Touching life’s pulse For mere seconds Changing on command As natural as air He breathes it out … Continue reading Touching Life

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The Uncomfortable Closeness of Narrative

A-blog-is-basically-an-online-journal.“The most important character in every novel is the author’s personal story. The anguish in the narrative, as well as the tender moments, they all derive from it and make it necessary for the entire novel’s existence.”

I write in first person. Sometimes. And every single time I write in first person I wonder how much of it is me, my own thoughts and fears, my own variances and expressions, my own essence. If we really do write what we know, then maybe all of my characters have a little of me in them, which is kind of scary but kind of comforting at the same time. My imagination is vast and varied, and my experience a bit less so, but my words take on a mind of their own. I’m sure other writers can agree with me on this, if not quite on process, because we all go about it in a way that makes sense to us, the process. But with that imagination and the potential of every single character I write, all of that influences the narrative a lot more than my own life.

Then you read my first novel, and you tell me that so much of it sounds like it’s my life. Because so much of it is directly from my own life. What the conundrum, huh? And yet, even though so much of it derives from my personal anguish and my own internal conflicts, it’s still a work of fiction. Even though it’s in first person. Even though it’s largely from my life. When I sat down to write Detours that first day, I had no idea where it was going to go, what it had to say, and where it was going to take me. And when the main character spoke to me, he used my voice. I felt like we were as close as twins, that we shared so much history, but that in the end we led our own lives for better or for worse. Continue reading “The Uncomfortable Closeness of Narrative”

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Year One is Paper

“We practice the most concealment from ourselves when we avoid sharing with others.” – Theodicus Exactly one year ago today I started Sam’s Online Journal with the singular purpose of continuing my daily writing, and it has grown into so much more. It’s easy to think about it now and think how idealistic I was … Continue reading Year One is Paper

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Day Twenty-Five

So, I did it. Five days early and I pushed past the 50,000 word mark on my novel. 50,000 words in 25 days, which gives me a win for NaNoWriMo, but more importantly it gives me the satisfaction of doing what I set out to do. Of course it’s about writing a complete novel as … Continue reading Day Twenty-Five