About five pages

I don’t feel like I’ve been overly productive with the hours I get, but I think I have it figured out. I started off with Percy the Space Chimp and finished a chapter.

Then I jumped to my solo title and started a new chapter. I wound up with one page, but all total it comes to about five. It isn’t a horrible volume, but is spread between two titles.

I’ve been virtually off for months and am having a hard time getting started once more. This time, I think I have an answer.

Beginnings are tough. When I picked up the keyboard once more I started two new stories. This is different than how I usually roll. Generally, I start a second story when the other one is about half to three-quarters finished.

Maybe you guys all start strong out of the gate, but that’s not been my experience. The early chapters are where most of the fences get built, then I have to live within them.

I honestly thought with Percy already having a book it would be simpler. This theory has not proven out.

Perhaps if I had started a Hat story instead it would make a difference. I have much more familiarity with those characters, but I doubt that would make a lot of difference.

I’m also starting to question why it matters to me. People who give my stories a chance seem to love them, but it isn’t like anyone is beating my door down for the next publication. I will get these finished on their own timetables. Joke’s on them; I won’t publish Percy’s first story until they’re all finished.

A big part of this is personal enjoyment, and I have that going for me. I’m going to focus there. I’m having a good time and that matters. I’ll enjoy the process and share them when they’re ready for the general public.

Tomorrow is for the yard. I have to spray the fruit trees and do some work with the chainsaw. There probably won’t be any writing time tomorrow.

Can’t whine about 2200 words

I got up really late this morning. I think my weeks are getting longer and more difficult. Probably a result of aging, but there it is.

Morning was loaded with interruptions. I took a call from my daughter, and we have to make some plans for a serious road trip very soon. On top of that, the dogs needed… everything. Seriously, squirrels, the neighbor dog that always leads to a game of chase up the fence, someone walking by the Ring doorbell. If it could interrupt, it did. They’re out there barking at some other dog right now.

Still, I’d reached a point in my story where things could just flow. This was Jenny’s interview with the fallen network anchorman, and you can think of it like a mini-mentor scene. I need to put some thought into how the next step is going to unfold, but now there are some tips from this mentor.

I need to find that point in my space opera. Right now, Percy and friends haven’t even gotten their ship into space. He will, but I don’t just want to repeat all the ooh-aah, moments from the first book. Readers will have experienced that, so I need to glaze over it a bit.

Maybe tomorrow, I’ll put him into space and see what happens.

2200 words is nothing to complain about, and I need to find Jenny’s next clue fairly soon. I don’t mind a bit of daydreaming before writing it down. That’s the beauty of two stories at once. If I can get the space opera to that point, I should be in good shape moving ahead.

This afternoon, I need to cobble together my next Story Empire post. The creature feature posts were popular, but it’s time for something new. I have it written out, so it’s a matter of pasting it in and finding a graphic to include. I also have the post after that roughed out, and it’s unusual for me to be that far ahead.

We had clouds and snow on Thursday. No Northern Lights for me. I got up multiple times to look last night, but I’ve missed it again. Even with the time I spent in the Arctic as a younger man, I’ve never seen them. Hope I get a realistic chance one day.

Hope all of you are finding some writing time, or forsaking that for something really fun.

No idea about word count

This was a week from hell, like so many at my workplace. Wound up putting in a bunch of extra hours and was kind of tired today. That poses a problem, because my only writing days are Saturdays in this new world order. Do, or don’t do. Thanks, Yoda.

I elected to work on my science fiction project this morning. Jenny has been spinning her wheels after her promotion. She’s trying to help her son get through college and dreaming of doing some investigative reporting.

It sounds like a lot of dragging components, but she’s uncovering important things as she pokes around. She doesn’t see the big picture yet. Hopefully, readers will want to piece some things together as they go.

I introduced two lesser characters today. One is a disgraced network anchor who might be able to do some mentoring. The other is a billionaire (on television) who wants to enter the vanity space race. It all seems unimportant right now, but will come together later.

Honestly, this one is a challenge for me. Many of my characters have an obvious problem to overcome. Jenny is working from a position of desires and kind of fumbling around.

My intention is to have a slow burn, but I don’t want to bore anyone while smoldering. This is a new method for me.

Her next move will be to find and speak with the former anchorman. I intend to have some fun with a man who doesn’t want to be found and my heroine who needs some advice.

I could have gone a bit further, but really am not at my best after the week I had. There were some family concerns in the mix as well and it was all a bit overwhelming. Everything appears to be fine now.

My failure was in hearing Pirates of the Caribbean music from the living room. Old What’s Her Face almost always watches Harry Potter, but apparently he wasn’t available today. The Pirates films were alway among my favorites, so here we are. Time for my Davy Jones fix.

Word count feels somewhere in the neighborhood of 1100 to 1200, but I didn’t keep actual count.

Still fumbling

I decided to work on Percy the Space Chimp today. Getting both these stories flowing has taken me more time than I anticipated.

Honestly, since Percy involves a sequel, I thought it would be up and running a little faster. I feel the need to at least do some minor reintroductions of the characters, because there could be someone out there who reads them months apart.

Prejudice is one thing that kind of sets Percy off, so that’s where I went. It allowed me to revisit his relationship with Buffer Dole, and the clones got some page time, too. They managed to obtain their course from the spy network and avoided throttling the crap out of some people.

All I have to do is get them to their ship and send them into the unclaimed part of the galaxy.

I might have been better served to get my Earth based science fiction tale to the point where it’s really flowing before starting Percy back up. Doesn’t matter now, because they’re both underway.

It came to a little over 1000 words today, but I might take a crack at some more this evening. Old What’s Her Face is watching Harry Potter once again, and I’ve kind of seen enough of it.

I’m generally used to higher word counts than I’ve been getting lately, and my winter break might not have been the best idea.

Either way, this is where I am right now. Might even get a small chance tomorrow. Hope all of you are safe from the major storms and getting to do something fun.

Writing away

I’m up to 6900 words now. Might get a little more time tomorrow. I’m still getting used to these characters and trying to find a balance in the early going.

Basically, Jenny is a TV news woman who does local interest stories. She’s aging and her station wants to diversify and get younger at the same time. They promoted her to Assignments Editor, which is off-camera. Also makes room for a targeted replacement.

She would like to do hard news, but the deck is stacked against her. I know where this is all going, but am trying to find a balance. She’s a single mother of a college student who is also a major character. There are the workplace struggles. Plus a plot I want to get into.

I want the plot to unfold slowly, but am afraid if I don’t call it out in the first two pages I might bore some people. I want to challenge myself with a mystery-box style, but it’s obvious to me there’s going to be a learning curve. I’m trying to use some subtle imagery to call things out, but I don’t think it’s working too well. Things like an image on a kombucha bottle, a restaurant sign, and a few others.

I’m using a lot of workplace tension to try to keep the interest up. Jenny is trying to get her former cameraman used to her replacement. Struggling to find a schedule that keeps all the reporters busy, that kind of thing. She’s also haunting the basement to look through old files from various newspapers her conglomerate absorbed over the years. Maybe one of those will bring the kind of news she wants to dive into.

Finally, I sent Jenny on a day trip with her son. He’s failing Geology and has the opportunity to do some extra credit with a scintillator. This is basically radioactive prospecting. Her news research is starting to come together with his research paper.

I really should start my other story, but I’m dwelling on this for a while. It would probably help to get two going so I can bounce back and forth.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Might return to outer space with Percy the Space Chimp. Might stay where I am for a few more chapters.

Something unexpected

Old What’s Her Face and I drove to Twin Falls to buy our daughter lunch back in August. Before that, the last time I saw her was May.

She came walking through the door last night, completely unexpected. It was about the first time she’s gotten two adjacent days off in all that time. After griping about her car troubles, she settled in and opened her Christmas presents. The auto issue was a simple fix, it seems.

I put a halt to every plan I had mapped out. Family comes first, and she stayed until just before noon this morning. We wound up having a great chat and I loved seeing her.

This ate up all my quality writing time, but I don’t care. I finally bit the bullet, pulled on my headphones and starting writing the aftermath of Mari’s big shootout in the afternoon. Red Dead ambience is great for this story.

My scene involved a big chunk of dialog as Mari went through processing at the local jail. I need to do a bunch more if I’m going to save her from the gallows.

I’m going to try to add that bit tomorrow, but it’s also the day I call my mother. Like I said about my daughter, family first. Even a little bit will move the pegs, and I like what I’m getting down.

Mari needs to go through some soul searching about her ox and her dog. If she’s going to die, she will want to guarantee they are cared for. This next section of the book will be less action, but I want some gut wrenching bits to it. She’s still having her PTSD dreams, and I might get some mileage out of those.

I also have another hard blow planned for Mari, but that will be several chapters down the line.

Word count is way down today and I don’t care. I’ll gladly park a manuscript to spend the day with my daughter. It was like a late Christmas present for me.

Blood everywhere today

I’ve been writing a little for the last four days. I haven’t really tried to keep a word count for a couple of days, but it’s substantial.

Today, Mari caught up with the people that murdered her entire family, and left her for dead back in the swamp. She’s been through hell getting to this point, so I didn’t spare the details of what it’s like.

There were seven men opposing her, but at least she got to deal with them in chunks. This section is gory, bloody, and painful.

I figure if she could hang in there for this, maybe readers were deserving a payoff, too. There is plenty of blood, shit, and snot to go around in this section.

Part of me is already thinking of toning it down, but I decided to write this post before I did something stupid. Even a month from now, if I figure it’s going to offend someone’s sensibilities I can make a change. No sense ruining it this afternoon.

I ended it with Mari surrendering to the local sheriff and looking forward to her hanging. The other side is where her family is now. I need to keep that mindset for tomorrow’s writing session.

I think it turned out well, but I have other things that need tending. I have some Story Empire posts to schedule, and I need to write out my business plan for next year.

Since slacking off for a couple of weeks we haven’t had a Pinterest board to check out. This is almost like a notebook for me. This one is tough for me to share. I call it The One I May Never Write. It’s been on my mind again, but I need something special to make it one of my stories. Witch doctors come to mind, but it still needs reasoning and thought behind it. Check it out and let me know what you think. https://pin.it/7zOWWN2

A little writing

It’s nothing earth shattering, but it all counts. I’ve managed around 5400 words in the last two days. I took this week off, mostly because I deserve it.

We didn’t do much of anything during the holiday other than watch the prequels to Yellowstone. I never had much interest in the main series, but Sam Elliot and Harrison Ford have some draw for me. These were good, and I’ll try to keep up with the Ford/Mirin version as the new episodes drop.

Old What’s Her Face returned to work yesterday, so I cracked open my manuscript. I only have Mari’s swamp story going right now and need another one to balance things out. I decided not to start something else until I finish this one.

Most of those new words came today. I’d stopped at a tough point to get going again, but muscled through it yesterday. Today I had one difficult trial for Mari to get through, but it blossomed into so much more that I had to keep going.

She wound up closing the gap on the men she’s following, but got trapped on a crumbling bridge at night. No food, no water, and no grazing for her animals. The bridge isn’t trustworthy in daylight, so it’s deadly at night.

For whatever reason, she took some injuries and I left her trying to heal up where the animals could drink and feed. I think it turned out to be a pretty decent section.

With holiday leave included, I don’t have to return to the office until next Tuesday. I might even be able to finish Mari’s story, but am not counting on that. This one needs a bigger denouement than some of my others and I’m not going to rush just to get done.

At some point, I’m going to have to do some serious editing. I have the Space Chimp story, one for Lizzie and the hat, and Mari’s story that will need some attention.

This needs to get done, so that will be my task after I finish this draft.

I’m finding some neat things to include using Google Maps. This is a post apocalyptic tale, so ruins of those places can make it into my stories. I had her stop at the Stennis Space Center, but need to flesh it out a bit more.

There is a cool dinosaur park just ahead of her. The kind with a trail that has Dino-statues in the forest. It isn’t a day away from where she is so I might have to miss that one. Her mission won’t allow her to slow down and goof off without a good reason. She would pass it around noon and wouldn’t normally stop. Including it might feel kind of forced. I know of one thing that might work to include it, but need to sleep on that.

I’ll get back to the manhunt tomorrow.

Crisis of Confidence

I never got to write at all last weekend. We never had a drop of rain from May to October, and when we finally did, the skylights decided to leak.

This led to getting on a contractor’s list, and waiting our turn. The house is over twenty years old, so we decided to replace the roof and skylights rather than make repairs. It was time.

They started last Friday and had about six guys on the job. Two elected to work Saturday, but didn’t finish. It snowed Sunday, and that killed Monday. I had to take Tuesday off, because they needed inside. Somehow they’d lost one of the roof vents. I get it, they removed the part, slung the underlayment and lost track of it. That all got sorted out and the job was finished on Wednesday.

It snowed again Thursday, so I’m grateful, and the roof looks awesome.

I managed to add somewhere around a thousand words to my WIP, but my mind has other things going on.

I tried to fill this with a bit of storyboarding. I have one idea that’s going to require magic and artifacts and putting them in the right order to make a discovery. A storyboard is needed. My brain is still focused elsewhere.

I’m going to write about it here. Maybe it will get some of these thoughts out of my head. Maybe it will help me reach some conclusions.

I typically do a yearly wrap up post, followed by a new year business plan. It’s time to be thinking about this, but my thoughts aren’t good.

Both of my 2022 publications performed dismally. Reviews seem to be down, too, and I’m trying to draw some conclusions. Add a few of what I call drive-by one-star ratings, and I may never sell another copy again. You know the types, they never bought the book, never read it, but drop a one-star rating, because it amuses them. Amazon is so picky about reviews, and heaven help you if a family member gives you one, but some random stranger who never read the story gets to destroy your rating and they leave that up.

It’s hard to draw conclusions here. I was getting a majority of five-star reviews three years ago, but not now. I’ve either gotten worse at this, or I’ve worn out my welcome. Don’t know how else to take this.

It’s possible that people are sick of Lizzie and the hat. There are millions of choices out there, so I understand.

I listened to my first dramatic podcast recently. Something to fill the commute time with. It was pretty bad with pregnant pauses and poor dialog, but the story was so compelling I’m going to listen to season two next. Tells me that small foibles aren’t enough to put someone off. There’s also a book, but I wasn’t going to pay $16 for an ebook. Price does matter at some arbitrary point.

Giving up isn’t an option for me. I love writing and will always do it. Publishing, on the other hand could be on the chopping block. I already feel like most of my readers are there because of me and not any deep interest in the story or my creativity. My readers mean a lot to me.

I also need to assess my membership at Story Empire. I’m the guy who watches the stats and most of my posts perform well. I struggle to come up with fresh content over there, and now I’m wondering why anyone would pay attention to a guy who can’t get his own books out of the cellar.

I’ve known many an old timer who makes beautiful things, but really doesn’t have a place for them. Old men still whittle, and grannies keep knitting afghans, even though they’ll never wind up at Christie’s Auction house or in the Louvre.

Going wide, and trying to make everything free has limited merit. Amazon is still where all the action is, and Kindle Unlimited is only available if the work is exclusive, so I’m torn on this.

Blog tours used to be my bread and butter, but those failed, too. I know why, and it’s hard to change. It’s complicated. I sold more books by announcing the publication here, than I sold on the subsequent tours. Maybe I’ll blog about new publications, then forget about them. Birds and turtles leave the nest and are on their own. More turtles hatch in a year than I can publish books, though.

The financial difference between selling 500 copies and 5 copies is negligible. Neither situation is going to pay for a week of groceries.

If I stop doing a lot of promo, I don’t really need Lisa Burton anymore. I love commissioning her art, but it was all for promo purposes. That offers some savings, and it matters. She’d probably look good in post apocalyptic armor, or floating around at zero-G with Percy the space chimp, but to what end?

We’re in a phase of getting everything ready to start living on a fixed income. There are a few years left, but that promo money could be directed to paying things off, and doing deferred maintenance on our house.

I need to figure out what I’m going to do moving forward. While it would be nice for my year end posts, that’s not an absolute requirement either.

I’ve been sharing Pinterest boards and people seem to be enjoying them. This one is about promotion, but it’s not my promotion. I call this one Friend’s Books. Check it out https://pin.it/QrAhbO1

My new normal

I started kind of late today. I wanted to write and had a fun scene in mind. It required me to have Mari do something nice for a kid, then make it dark and dismal right after.

I’ve probably been under a rock somewhere, but recently saw the term PTSD dreams. These sound kind of like what Mari is going through, but I won’t use that term in the story. If I don’t have it absolutely right, I could inadvertently offend someone going through this issue.

Mari will continue to have her dreams, but I’m not putting a name on them. This time it got weirder than they have previously, and her dead son made an appearance.

I’ve put her in a strange position of discovering some good in the world, but getting sucked down by her own past at the same time.

Her life now involves one gigantic ox, who she doesn’t exactly love, but has grown to respect. There’s also a coonhound pup at that gangly stage where she’s all legs and enthusiasm, and Mari loves her dearly.

I need to milk this for some emotion between her own suicidal quest and concern for her animals after she’s gone. Must remember to do that.

As far as the word metrics go, it came to 2000 words today. That sounds wonderful until you realize it’s also 2000 words for the week.

I no longer have a flex day I can dedicate to writing, so this is my new normal. Things will slow down, but I can still push out something every year.

My Pinterest boards have been getting some wonderful comments, so I’m going to keep sharing them. Today, I’m going to share one that is a subset of locations. I call it “Decay.” https://pin.it/E5d3QUa