Thought-Drive

Ups and downs. Yesterday, I sat down and attempted to write on the short story I've "had in the works" for months. It wasn't the best day, and wasn't the best time. I didn't finish it. A month or so back came the climax of the story's prepatory life. I should've done it then. Every day since fed a little more doubt into the system. I knew that, and still thought I could handle it. At about 10:47 I hit a wall; I wasn't prepared at all for how much all the naysaying would multiply. When I shut the door to my own head, when I went inside to pull the story out, I was frightened by all the negativity. "This story is stupid," I said to myself. That, and other things an author would be best served not saying to themselves. Acknowledge that you will right bad stories, sure, but if you're going to admit it, then admit it after you've finished it, after you've edited it. Right before publishing it. I saved what I did put down. I didn...

Be careful what you wish for. That's a good one. Succinct, curious, insidious. How getting a wish granted could possibly be bad I believe is the entire premise of several, really-terrible, horror movie franchises. A more mundane example is my Facebook page 's recent status update, my ascension to 30 likes. That had been a goal of mine for months, because it had been advertised that if one's page earned 30 likes or more, then one could view their marketing data: how many people were viewing the page, how often, how many times had it been shared, or talked about, etc. Before I hit 30, I could dream about what might be happening. Now? Well. Ignorance is bliss. Another good one. This very morning I received the first mock up for the cover art for what looks to be the August release of my fourth book in the Where Shadows Lie series (a tiny, tiny goal of mine is to say that enough so that when I start abbreviating it to WSL, people will understand what I mean). It's going ...

Sometimes I find myself in interesting, physical places to match my mental ones. Recently, I was standing in a warehouse that rented props to theaters and movie sets in the area, staring into the eyes of a giant, furry spider that someone had jokingly placed on the neck (in place of the head) of a mannequin clad in roman centurion armor. Nearby, a copse of angels of varying sizes made from foam but painted to look like aged stone did a frozen ballet. A precarious stack of chandeliers and candelabras shone under fluorescent lighting like brass of differing stages of upkeep. A friend, the reason I was there, finished his explanation about what kind of furniture he was looking for, and how it would be used. "That's weird," I said. "Why would anyone ever sit like that?" "They wouldn't" he said nonchalantly, "It's a theatrical convention the audience buys because we ask them to." And just like that, I transferred from one of those inter...

The author information page is going out today. The initial edits on the associated novel are mostly done, as well. I'm 99% sure that I'm no longer sick. It's looking like I might just land this thing this year. Yesterday I got around to having a sit down with one of my beta readers, and we talked about my style, if it could be called that. A different reader coined one of several phrases to describe elements of my stories, and I wanted to hash out if any of those things were noticeable to him. It was a bit like going to the doctor, getting that confirmation. Waking up, feeling weird, sore, or weak, then going to a medical professional who can provide a name for whatever malaise. Oh, scurvy? Really? Hm, that's unfortunate. Narrative Impatience is what the second reader calls one of the aforementioned elements. I paraphrase his explanation of the term: when proceeding through the story, I am too quick to move to the next scene, to the next moment without giving the ...

I really might have to update the tag for this thing. Weekly? Well, I wonder how accurate it could be if I have the thoughts, but don't write them down here. Once, I wrote about the concept of the consensus of thinking people determining objective reality. At least, it was one of the concepts I was toying around with in this story . I guess primarily it was about time travel. But I digress. Recently, I was hired on to a project as an editor, and that function turned into more of a ghost writing capacity. It's a strange position, with no contract or officially capacity. I'm compensated, but really, it's more of a gig than a job. Either way, I'm learning a lot about other writers, and other writing. For the first time, I'm able to use some of my own experiences in anecdotes. Not to say that they're overly helpful, but at least I'm using them. Like novelty cutlery. I submitted the contract for the fourth book, and got soft confirmation that the release...

Been awhile. I can't lie and say that my absence indicated some increase in productivity. I wrote recently, but it was an uncommon session. During the week, in the middle of doing something else, the words almost literally burst out of me. I had opened a word processor and started typing almost before I fully understood what was going on. I've yet to even save the file. It's still open, declaring itself Chapter 14. The cursor blinks like the afterthought hazard lights glowing and shading a car collission scene. It'll be awhile before anyone can come to grips about what just happened. The book came out. Feburary 1st. I did the online release event, like usual, and here is an interview where I talk about my process and the book in question. Even the book currently in progress, which just now reached what I imagine to be its half-way mark. But I haven't quite come around to getting down on myself. So long as the chapters keep coming, however slow, I'll keep p...

The one productive thing that I have been working on is interview questions for a promotional piece to coincide with the book release. There were some fifty questions, and the host was nice enough to let me choose which I wanted to answer. It occurred to me sometime later that the questions one chose to answer could tell a story, or that their selection would at least be somewhat telling. One question that didn’t make the cut because I didn’t have the answer was “what is your favorite quote?” I seem to have week to week favorites, but there is no grand, all-time thought. But if you’re curious, this week, this month, it’s “There is nothing that won’t shine if you  polish it enough.” I like it because it’s structure is eccentric. It was translated from Japanese. And in regards to that, things have been quite dull with the writing recently. That’s changing this weekend. The next chapter will be written. Thankfully, I’m getting more and more excited about it as I forcefully comm...