Stairway to Heaven

Last night I was writing a chapter in:

     The Broken Cage

While I was listening to music on my iPhone. I happened on Led Zeppelins, Stairway to Heaven as I was looking for a motivation for two sets of characters to meet.

Suddenly I was inspired. I put Stairway to Heaven on repeat and cranked out a great chapter.

Music is an excellent motivator!

Now the song is part of this novel.

-- There's a feeling I get when I look to the west, And my spirit is crying for leaving.

Traveling

One of the things I like about traveling for work is that I have A LOT of time to write without distractions.

I will have my evenings all free. I might go see a movie but other than that, I will have a ton of time.

The odd thing about this trip is I am going to Utah, way west of here. I will probably be waking up at 2am every day and might get my writing in during the morning hours in stead of fighting jet lag.

I have books packed, laptop, iPad, iPhone, some movies and even snacks!

--I am ready for adventure!

Writers Groups

I am a member of two writers groups currently. One of them is a general writers group and one is specifically focused on Science Fiction.

Both of them are really useful for different reasons. But they have one very important thing in common. They make it easy for me to learn lessons from other peoples mistakes!

The spectrum of people that attend is very interesting. There always seems to be a someone here that is insane. Seriously. Nuts. Crazy.

--I love it when I am in a room with someone that makes me look sane.

Editors

I love writing. I enjoy doing it. It entertains me more than TV or Facebook or even reading.

I don't like to edit. It's work.

Thank the makers I have some excellent friends that are spelling and grammar Nazi's that also make excellent content remarks and recommendations. With their help I will be able to polish this thing up.

I have also lined up a professional editor:

Katherine M. Gotthardt
All Things Writing, LLC
www.allthingswriting.net

I met with her for the first time tonight over coffee. Anything that starts with coffee has got to be so good!

--This is still fun!

Tivo is a Writers Friend

There are big distractions for me that seriously cut into my daily fiction writing these days:

• Work - That whole having to earn a living thing is a real time consumer.
• Dumb TV Shows - I just cleared a lot of crappy shows off my Tivo.
• Facebook - It is easy to spend to many hours explaining how the world really works to people.
• Sleep - 30% of my life is spent on pause and I kinda love it too much.
• Food - I am trying to stop standing in front of the fridge and pantry. (Lost 31lbs so far!)

I am actually pretty lucky that I don't have a job any more that demands extra hours or work on weekends.

I will still always record and watch favorite shows. I actually use it as a reward system now. No Walking Dead until I finish writing a chapter.

Facebook reduction is easy. Just don't feed the trolls or argue politics. Bigots are my reserved target space now. Plus I read and comment lightly. I never do FB from work, but I do have Twitter up.

What's Next?

Last weekend I went to the Maryland Renfest. Any chance to not wear pants and I'm in! Some friends this photo is a good, "About the Author" photo. "It says all anyone needs to know!"

I finished my first novel last week and it went to an editor for spelling and grammar edits.

Being in the habit of working it daily, I moved right on to the next book:

     The Broken Cage

I had so much I cut out of the first book I spend the first week sorting through the sections I wanted to keep. I already have 18 chapters and 35,000 words for book two.

This book will be so much faster to finish. I have a clear plot to go on and a worthy climax already written.

Today I am also going on a photoshoot with a model that I might base one of my characters on and use for cover art. Totally bad ass...

--Now for cool cover art...


    

Done

Tonight I officially am finished with my first novel.

Now I have to get it proof read by some serious Spelling and Grammar Nazi.

Then I will have it read by some select friends for feedback and possible revisions.

Then it is off to the Kindle Store!!

--Tomorrow I begin Book 2.