Got a lot of editing done this weekend. I probably reached the halfway mark. I am getting back into the routine of working it. Vacation is over. I started dieting. I'm back to work. Running in greased grooves.
--I set a new deadline for this draft: October 31
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Saturday, August 16, 2014
It Figures
When I opened Scrivener, the excellent tool I am using to write this thing, and received a message that an update was available for download and installation. I have updated like this dozens of times so I clicked ok.
Somehow the update failed.
When the program comes up, it gives me a scarey error message, it tells me to uninstall the program and reinstall.
No guts, no glory. Why not, I have backups.
I uninstall, download the current version, install it, open it up, got to the menu and I see a "Backup Link".
There is no "Restore" menu option.
I drink way more coffee before continuing. I tried several things that didn't work. More coffee was the only thing that worked.
I finally figured out that I needed to unzip the backup manually.
--It only took me an hour. Back to work!
Friday, August 15, 2014
Back from Vacation
I have decided to cut it back even farther and move the climax to a different point.
I had to cut A LOT more.
I am saving it all. Some retooling remains to be done before I can have some people give it a read.
Back on the stick. No more excuses. I will have to write a big post about procrastination. But later... ;)
--Slacker!
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Procrastination!
I have been a horrible slacker for the last month. Trying to get back on track again!!
I saw this great list on OpenCulture.com
1. First write for yourself, and then worry about the audience.
“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you
rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.”
2. Don’t use passive voice. “Timid writers like passive verbs for the same reason that timid lovers like passive partners. The passive voice is safe.”
3. Avoid adverbs. “The adverb is not your friend.”
4. Avoid adverbs, especially after “he said” and “she said.”
5. But don’t obsess over perfect grammar. “The object of fiction isn’t grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story.”
6. The magic is in you. “I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing.”
7. Read, read, read. ”If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.”
8. Don’t worry about making other people happy. “If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.”
9. Turn off the TV. “TV—while working out or anywhere else—really is about the last thing an aspiring writer needs.”
10. You have three months. “The first draft of a book—even a long one—should take no more than three months, the length of a season.”
11. There are two secrets to success. “I stayed physical healthy, and I stayed married.”
12. Write one word at a time.
“Whether it’s a vignette of a single page or an epic trilogy like ‘The
Lord of the Rings,’ the work is always accomplished one word at a time.”
13. Eliminate distraction. “There’s should be no telephone in your writing room, certainly no TV or videogames for you to fool around with.”
14. Stick to your own style. “One cannot imitate a writer’s approach to a particular genre, no matter how simple what that writer is doing may seem.”
15. Dig. “Stories are relics, part
of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer’s job is to use the
tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground
intact as possible.”
16. Take a break. “You’ll find reading your book over after a six-week layoff to be a strange, often exhilarating experience.”
17. Leave out the boring parts and kill your darlings. “(kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.)”
18. The research shouldn’t overshadow the story. “Remember that word back. That’s where the research belongs: as far in the background and the back story as you can get it.”
19. You become a writer simply by reading and writing. “You learn best by reading a lot and writing a lot, and the most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself.”
20. Writing is about getting happy.
“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates,
getting laid or making friends. Writing is magic, as much as the water
of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink.”
Monday, June 9, 2014
Just Read Silken Prey by John Sandford
"A Minnesota political fixer has hit the jackpot - or so he thinks. Hired to take down the incumbent U.S. senator with a vicious smear, to open the way for an ambitious, take-no-prisoners heiress who sees the Senate as merely a stepping-stone, he decides his payoff should be larger. The blackmail demand should yield some pretty large numbers, he thinks."
"Instead, he gets only a small one - 9 millimeters, to be exact. In the heart."
"Davenport is investigating the smear when the trail leads to the man's disappearance, then - very troublingly - to the Minneapolis police department, then - most troublingly of all - to a woman who could give Machiavelli lessons. She has very definite ideas about the way the world should work, and the money, ruthlessness and sheer will to make it happen."
"No matter who gets in the way. "
--It was OK. I would rate it 6 of 10.
Murder,
scandal, political espionage and an extremely dangerous woman. Lucas
Davenport's going to be lucky to get out of this one alive.
A Minnesota political fixer has hit the jackpot - or so he thinks. Hired to take down the incumbent U.S. senator with a vicious smear, to open the way for an ambitious, take-no-prisoners heiress who sees the Senate as merely a stepping-stone, he decides his payoff should be larger. The blackmail demand should yield some pretty large numbers, he thinks.
Instead, he gets only a small one - 9 millimeters, to be exact. In the heart.
Davenport is investigating the smear when the trail leads to the man's disappearance, then - very troublingly - to the Minneapolis police department, then - most troublingly of all - to a woman who could give Machiavelli lessons. She has very definite ideas about the way the world should work, and the money, ruthlessness and sheer will to make it happen.
No matter who gets in the way. - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.co.uk/Silken-Prey/John-Sandford/9781471129629#sthash.Psg2e8qJ.dpuf
A Minnesota political fixer has hit the jackpot - or so he thinks. Hired to take down the incumbent U.S. senator with a vicious smear, to open the way for an ambitious, take-no-prisoners heiress who sees the Senate as merely a stepping-stone, he decides his payoff should be larger. The blackmail demand should yield some pretty large numbers, he thinks.
Instead, he gets only a small one - 9 millimeters, to be exact. In the heart.
Davenport is investigating the smear when the trail leads to the man's disappearance, then - very troublingly - to the Minneapolis police department, then - most troublingly of all - to a woman who could give Machiavelli lessons. She has very definite ideas about the way the world should work, and the money, ruthlessness and sheer will to make it happen.
No matter who gets in the way. - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.co.uk/Silken-Prey/John-Sandford/9781471129629#sthash.Psg2e8qJ.dpuf
Murder,
scandal, political espionage and an extremely dangerous woman. Lucas
Davenport's going to be lucky to get out of this one alive.
A Minnesota political fixer has hit the jackpot - or so he thinks. Hired to take down the incumbent U.S. senator with a vicious smear, to open the way for an ambitious, take-no-prisoners heiress who sees the Senate as merely a stepping-stone, he decides his payoff should be larger. The blackmail demand should yield some pretty large numbers, he thinks.
Instead, he gets only a small one - 9 millimeters, to be exact. In the heart.
Davenport is investigating the smear when the trail leads to the man's disappearance, then - very troublingly - to the Minneapolis police department, then - most troublingly of all - to a woman who could give Machiavelli lessons. She has very definite ideas about the way the world should work, and the money, ruthlessness and sheer will to make it happen.
No matter who gets in the way. - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.co.uk/Silken-Prey/John-Sandford/9781471129629#sthash.Psg2e8qJ.dpuf
A Minnesota political fixer has hit the jackpot - or so he thinks. Hired to take down the incumbent U.S. senator with a vicious smear, to open the way for an ambitious, take-no-prisoners heiress who sees the Senate as merely a stepping-stone, he decides his payoff should be larger. The blackmail demand should yield some pretty large numbers, he thinks.
Instead, he gets only a small one - 9 millimeters, to be exact. In the heart.
Davenport is investigating the smear when the trail leads to the man's disappearance, then - very troublingly - to the Minneapolis police department, then - most troublingly of all - to a woman who could give Machiavelli lessons. She has very definite ideas about the way the world should work, and the money, ruthlessness and sheer will to make it happen.
No matter who gets in the way. - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.co.uk/Silken-Prey/John-Sandford/9781471129629#sthash.Psg2e8qJ.dpuf
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Getting close
This weekend my wife is taking a trip so I will be able to focus.
I am such an optimist.
I will be going to see Godzilla with my brother and I am also having some friends over for beer, burgers, bourbon, cigars and firepit.
--The light at the end of the tunnel might be a firepit!
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