Why I Am Proud to be an American

I'm going to take a little break from my usual writing posts and tell you about my Grandpa Clark.

My grandfather never talked about the war. All I knew growing up was he was off to war for much of my mom's childhood. Then just a few weeks before he died back in 1994 he began to talk. We sat at his feet in his home, his family that had grown to four kids, dozens of grand kids and even a great grandchild or two, surrounded him as he told us about something that he had a very hard time putting to words. He still didn't talk a lot about the details. Even then it was still too much I think, but my impression of him and the war were forever changed.

Turns out he was on a ship just off the coast of France during D-Day. He wasn't the first wave to land, but he went in pretty close after that. Then he spent the rest of the war riding across Europe, freeing villages. I remember an old picture of him sitting in a jeep in front of a windmill in the Netherlands. Another of him and his buddies in front of a bombed out cathedral. Anyone who doesn't think we we should have been in the war, just go ask those people in that village in Holland, and all across Europe who could very well be living a very different life now if it weren't for people like William Fredrick James Clark, my grandpa.

Math is not my strong suit.

Somewhere along the line, I discovered that my calculations of the past couple days were inaccurate. I thought I was right on schedule with my Nano word count. But I realized that Saturday, to Saturday was 8 days, not 7. So I started writing tonight with about a 1,600 word deficit. Which meant I needed to write 3,200 words to get back to my target. Well, I didn't quite make it. I'm at 14,322 words, a little less than 700 words shy of my goal for the day. So I need to make up for it tomorrow. (Hmmm... actually later today since it is after midnight.)

At least I figured it out now instead of 3 weeks from now.

End of Week One

Well, I'm still keeping at it. Here we are 1/4 of the way there, and I'm almost exactly 1/4 of the way to my goal. 12,517 words out of 50,000. I have to say this target word count thing is really working for me. I'm finding it surprisingly easy to sit down and write the 1,600+ words needed every day to meet the goal. It really makes me wonder just how much I could write if this was my full time job. I begin to understand why some authors can crank out several books a year.

I'm also pretty excited because this morning, lying in bed, I figured out the ending of the story. I'm definitely a plot as I go kind of writer, but it is a little hard for me to write the story not knowing how it will end. Now that I know, I've got something to work toward. And having the goal of writing a complete novel at 50,000 words with a beginning middle and end, I now know when I need to start reaching the climax of the story in order to come down the other side with a finished story.

My son is still reading along. It is a blast writing with him in mind. "Oh, I know that'll make him laugh. I'm sure he'll think this is cool." really makes me look forward to his reaction. So far I haven't been disappointed.

Slow but steady.

Well it is the end of day 5 and I got a good couple hours writing in. As expected I didn't write at all last night. I wasn't really planning on watching much of the election coverage, but my son was studying it in his class at school, and was interested in watching. Couldn't pass up the educational opportunity. I am still on track at 8,220 words, so no problem there.

I'm still quite happy with the story thus far. Our heroes are now in 12th century Scotland. JJ (our ten year old protagonist) is not at all happy about having to wear hose.

I am thoroughly enjoying writing a sci-fi, time travel, young adult novel. I love space, I love gadgets, I love time travel stories (Crimson Swarm also has some time travel elements) and I love writing to this level. It feels so natural. I guess that means I have the mentality of a ten year old.

Well off to bed, so I'm not a total waste at work tomorrow. Also need to make sure I get up and take the kids to school since the wife is out of town on business and isn't here to wake me.

Encouragement

The story for NaNo is going well. I'm at 6,766 words so far which is a bit ahead of schedule. My wife is going away on a business trip tomorrow, so if I can get the kids in bed on time I should have some really good writing time tomorrow night. We'll see how it goes this evening, being election night and all.

I wanted to tell you what a great son I've got. He has turned into quite a little encourager. (Well not so little anymore at almost 11) He read the first 3 chapters of Noah Zarc. I watched him while he read. Several times he grinned. Then when he was all done he said, "That's really great dad." Then he proceeded to tell me some places that needed work. Let me tell you. No other bit of encouragement or advice has felt so good. He is basically the one I'm writing the story for, so to hear he liked it, is great. Thanks buddy.

GO!

1,830 down, 48,170 to go.

Man what fun. It has been so long since I just sat down and wrote, with no thought to editing, and perfection.

Well off to bed. 2AM.

National Novel Writing Month

Well, I did it. I signed up for NaNoWriMo. Am I nuts? Time will tell.

If you are unfamiliar with the National Novel Writing Month (NaNo) I encourage you to visit the link above. It is a great opportunity to finally write that novel you've been thinking about. The basic premise is you need to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. Beginning to end. The emphasise is on quantity and not quality. Just how much can you write in 30 days time? I guess I'm about to find out.

I come to this ill prepared, so I have pretty low expectations. But all that means is there is a great deal of room to be surprised. I have the basic concept of a story, but not much in the way (read none) of an outline. I may try to hammer one out tonight. My goal off the bat will be to write two hours a night at least 5 days a week. Probably 9:30 - 11:30 pm.

I'm going to try my hand at a young adult novel. There is an idea that I've kicked around with some friends for a few years, called Noah Zarc. If I get anything worth-while I'll try to get my illustrator friend to round out the story with illustrations.

So pedal to the metal. Ready... Set...

Advice from Stephen King

I saw this clip of Stephen King a while ago. He talks about a magic moment. When you put down a book and realize "I can do better than this." That moment happened for me over the past few days. (Ok that isn't a moment, but sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake.) I've been reading, actually listening on my iPhone, to Sly Mongoose by Tobias Buckell. Now I'm not going to go as far as Mr. King and say it sucked. Because it most certainly did not. I enjoyed the overall story quite a bit, and since this is the third in a series I've read, I'm pretty invested in the universe he creates, and the main character, Pepper. But as I listened to the story, I was struck quite often by the writing. It didn't seem as polished as I remembered the past two books. The author repeated words and phrases often. The dialogue and description didn't seem as crisp. And quite frankly the opening scene was the best part of the whole book. (You can read it on his website: http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/ ) But the question I asked myself was, could I do any better? I'm not sure if I know the answer, but tonight I was sitting in Starbucks editing Crimson Swarm. And several times, I said, "yeah, this is good stuff." The chapter I was working on (about half way through the story) really flowed well. The dialogue was crisp. The action clear. I don't know, I'm too big of a wuss to say it was better writing than Mr. Buckell, (and what makes it even harder is the man is really a great guy, and we've talked a couple times via email.) But maybe, just maybe I had a Stephen King moment. Whatever it takes to get me to finish this darn novel... I'll take it. (sorry Tobias)

Here's the Stephen King clip:

I'm not dead, yet.

Wow, life just has a way of taking over. I haven't posted here in so long, mostly because I haven't written in so long. Part of the problem is I've been having problems with sitting at a computer screen too long. It has been making me nauseous. That is a bad thing when you are a web developer, and a wannabe writer. I went for my 40 year old eye exam, and the Dr. said "Come back when you need me... in the next one to two years." So it's not my eyes. So I'm not really sure what is going on there. But Nuadaim has been calling. I went back and read the first couple chapters again yesterday. It still seems like there is something there.

The family is taking a week and headed to Disney World next week. When I get back, I've got a date with a manuscript. I'm so close. I'm not quitting now.

Also I'm toying around with the idea of doing nano this year. I've got a story idea that has been kicking around. A more young adult story, than Crimson Swarm. Maybe that could be my goal with the edits. Get them done before November 1. Seems doable.

Writing Too Wordy

Wow, where did March go? I can't believe it has been over a month since I posted last. It was a crazy month. My birthday came and went, and I didn't meet my goal, and yet I still don't feel too bad about it. I continue to edit. I'm plugging away at it, but life gets in the way at times.

I did have something interesting happen. I sent my first chapter off to Ray Rhamey an author and editor. He does this thing on his blog called the "Flogometer". For those brave enough, he takes what he considers the first page of your novel (the first 16 lines) and critiques it. Ultimately he says whether he would turn the page or not, looking at how well it "hooks" the reader. He flogged me pretty well, and said he would not continue reading.

Sure there was a little disappointment, but honestly I am so grateful for him for taking the time to give me good solid feedback. Also several people posted comments giving feedback as well. The overall consensus was I was being a bit too wordy. Someone commented that I used too many "highfalutin" words. Looking back at it, I couldn't agree more. I have rewritten the first chapter, and in particular the first page or so, over and over again, and it shows. I really think later stuff, that is fresher is much less likely to be overwritten. You can see all their comments here.

So, even though I said I had rewritten the first chapter over and over, I did it again. Here is the revised first page. Please feel free to comment, and let me know if it still feels overwritten.

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Chapter 1 - Birth

Burning oil and cooked meats masked the acrid smell of death. With a swollen tongue, he tasted thick dust on cracked lips. Rough stone dug into his back. He opened his eyes, and then flung hands up to shield his gaze. Dust billowed around nearly skeletal fingers, which glowed red against the painful light. Where am I?

The reek of death grew stronger. He struggled to move. His legs were stiff; his shoulders jammed between stone. He was in a cramped box. Sweat poured from his brow. He kicked his legs and grappled toward the light.

He strained against the edges of the box and pulled himself up, toward the ruddy glow. Grey dots danced across his vision and he nearly fainted. His head spun. At last, the room steadied.

He sat in a granite box on a raised platform at the end of a long narrow chamber. Stone sarcophagi lined both sides of the room. A chill prickled his skin. I have awakened in a tomb.

His mind raced, as fresh sweat rolled down his grimy forehead into his eyes. Nightmarish visions of faces filled his mind—faces surrounding him—large pale eyes watching, always watching. A need to get free of the coffin overpowered him.

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