As Sonja pointed out, I have been AWOL, thus denying you your not-quite-NaNoWriMo voyeurism. Sorry! Here’s my best estimate of the current word count. I’m still behind on typing because Wednesday was busy, Thursday was weird, and today I’m just tired.
Word Count – Aug 14, 2009:
The bright spot has been adding 2 new Kindle/iPhone/iPod Touch offerings and seeing some sales growth.
and
My friend John says this most recent Twenty-Somewhere cover is responsible for the growth. ;P
Actually, several people this week have purchased the entire 20SW series, which says to me that they like it, which says to me that I don’t completely suck. Woot!
I also updated the website buttons, the Writing page, and the Twenty-Somewhere page. I’m happy with them, even though it means more manual work for me.
Anyway, time for bed. I probably should be writing, but I’m giving myself a holiday. The bags under my eyes insist.
The author says he used to care about being a “literary novelist,” but now all he cares about is telling a good story.
ME TOO.
Me. Freaking. Too.
I don’t want to go into a rant, because that’s too easy. It’s too easy to blame other people for my former pretentious hangups. The truth is, I lost sight of what is important to me. But now I have it in mind again, and I’m working harder than ever to achieve my goals:
Tell stories that people enjoy.
Positively impact the lives of young people through my writing.
Earn a living off the work I love doing.
With that in mind, I have started to tweak the website (moving the writing out of the blog and onto separate pages, as well as integrating the Amazon store like I said I would linking to my Amazon Author page) which means I’m not sure a real redesign is necessary… So much for that reward. Maybe I’ll just gorge on Yagööt instead!
That is, IF I reach my goal…
Word Count – Aug 11, 2009:
That doesn’t include everything I wrote today, but it’s still a little behind where I ought to be. Then again, it’s farther than I would normally be without this challenge!
Can I write 42,000 more words in the next 20 days? We’ll find out…
I’ve always had an interest in mythology and history, which has seeped into my writing. What I love about ancient cultures is that you don’t need to go to another planet or another galaxy to discover people who are utterly alien to you: it’s amazing to see how mankind, over the course of a few millennia, can think of so many variations on the basic blocks of society-building that you’ll have trouble apprehending everything.
It was a loooong weekend, but I survived. First, Date Night on Friday at Via Vite, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite restaurants here in Cincinnati. It has great ambiance and service, a convenient and engaging downtown location, and of course amazingly delicious food at good-sized portions. (How you like dem adjectives?!)
Then on Saturday: dance class, 9 holes of golf (in ridiculous hot/muggy weather, ugh), and the Darius Rucker/Rascal Flatts concert. Darius was fabulous! And the Rascal Flatts were pretty good. But the drunk guy next to Andy? Not so much. He kept apologizing to us (at first for nothing, but I think now that it was preemptive) and trying to engage us in conversation. He also jerked his fist wildly (AS A DANCE MOVE) causing Andy to edge away. And he smoked. And he asked if we were 17 (Andy) and 13 (me)…
But he may actually have been less annoying than the 14-year-old TEAPOT behind me. All her friends could scream at normal levels, so I’m not sure why she felt the need to practice her dog whistle impression. I mean, it was the Rascal Flatts, not the freaking Jonas Brothers. For a second or two, I really, really wished I had a taser that I could “accidentally” stun her with when I “accidentally” fell back over my seat onto her.
Sunday we had a picnic for our local Carnegie Mellon alumni chapter, which was fun but draining due to constant socializing and more heat/humidity. (I know I’m from Houston and should be able to withstand it, but look, it’s been 6 years since I really lived there. I’m out of practice, okay?!)
So with all that going on, I barely had any time to write. I DID write, but I didn’t type anything up. Thus, no word count tonight, although it’s probably around 7,500, which I know is not where I need to be to meet a NaNoWriMo pace…
But instead of dwelling on my imminent failure, go vote for my friend Joe’s funny analogies at Writer Unboxed! They are #1 and #2, although you can only vote once and currently #1 is ahead. Seriously, all 11 entries are great laughs. But Joe’s are the best. ;)
No, I’m not schizo. But I am finding that certain characters speak to me more vividly than others. Today, for example, I hit a stride when I introduced the main character’s best friend. She just flowed out of me, fiesty and over-the-top and oh-so-easy to write.
Similarly, Reggie from Twenty-Somewhere is always a blast to write. In fact, he’s so much fun that I named my iPod after him. (YES, I NAME INANIMATE OBJECTS. But only the awesome ones.)
I suppose the danger in this is that these characters can become addictive. Because they’re easy to write, I like them, and because I like them, I write them more. Even when they don’t deserve it! But if it’s not their story, they shouldn’t get the most words on the page. No matter how awesome they are, or how many Chipotle burritos they can stuff into their mouth.
So anyway, that’s lesson number 28391872b. You’re taking notes, right?
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