You know how you have heroes who you watch take a beating from the world, and get trampled by minions who’ve taken over something they’ve created? And you watch the over-throwing bastards who trample them ruin all the good stuff they made, and make a complete mess of this wonderful thing they put into the… Continue reading ‘Twas a fine day in writing land… with vengeance…
Category: Rants & Observations
Heading in — teeth bared, knives out… because the BIG bad is coming
Rolled out of bed early — couldn’t sleep. Got the shower, drank the coffee, and cleared all the office shit first, because today I’m heading in to the BIG MIDDLE SCENE, where everything changes. I’m taking a deep breath. I have the Rock Gods going, because this section of the book needs my full focus… Continue reading Heading in — teeth bared, knives out… because the BIG bad is coming
Why I’ve been AWOL from blogging (AKA the dangers of stand-sliding on the playground)
In my first run through my five-novel Ohio series, I carefully plotted the first book, wrote it, love it… And carefully plotted the next four books. Followed by ignoring my outlines and pantsing the novels. Why? Because it was fun, it was exciting, it was like being a kindergarten kid again, standing on the top… Continue reading Why I’ve been AWOL from blogging (AKA the dangers of stand-sliding on the playground)
Civilization Versus The Full-Body For-Keepsies Panty Raid… and The Survival Value of ADD
When I was a kid and my family lived on the western tundra of Alaska, my dad took me hunting and fishing with him. We were bringing in food for the table in a place where agriculture was impossible. I loved tagging along and helping out. I was nine, so for hunting I was just… Continue reading Civilization Versus The Full-Body For-Keepsies Panty Raid… and The Survival Value of ADD
Replotting Ohio 2… The Experiment that Went BOOM!
Book 2 has a lot of salvageable material. A lot of awesome world stuff, some wonderfully funny scenes, some pretty scary scenes. It was fun for me to read, and I made myself laugh a bunch of times, got a little teary-eyed, did a light revision and passed it off to my Editor. Matt, however,… Continue reading Replotting Ohio 2… The Experiment that Went BOOM!
And more of the same… OHIO 2 (NO… THREE) Revision
I’m going through all five novels. At the moment, I’m tearing apart Book One, which I got right, to find out where I need to take Book Two THREE in the revision. It’s a complicated process, and I’m managing to give myself regular headaches going through it. And all of this is my own damn… Continue reading And more of the same… OHIO 2 (NO… THREE) Revision
Still replotting, still restructuring on Ohio 3
There’s damn little I’m going to be able to save. Ohio 3 is lost in the weeds. So at this point, I’m barely even looking for things to save. I’m just looking for the story I wanted to tell but didn’t, and if I can use any of what I already wrote, great. If not…… Continue reading Still replotting, still restructuring on Ohio 3
Here’s that Wrong Left Turn In Albuquerque… and it’s as bad as I dreaded.
The first sixty pages of Ohio 3 held up fine. Starting on manuscript page 61, I went in exactly the wrong direction, dropped the really good local character I had in place for one who broke my otherwise tight worldbuilding through two novels and the start of this one all to shit, threw in a… Continue reading Here’s that Wrong Left Turn In Albuquerque… and it’s as bad as I dreaded.
Starting the Ohio 3 Read-through/Revision
Okay. I have the manuscript printed out. I did some brainstorming in the shower on how I can save as much of what I remember of the story as possible WITHOUT breaking what I did in the first two books, or the last two. Worst case, I’ll end up writing a completely new novel. That’s… Continue reading Starting the Ohio 3 Read-through/Revision
Revelation Struck!!!
You grind. You dig. You read with increasing despair through a manuscript that seemed while you were writing it like a thing of wonder. You wonder how you could have gone so far off the mark. And you think, “How did I think this was going to work?” and consider the possibility that you’re going… Continue reading Revelation Struck!!!
