To those who have decided to peripherally monitor this train to see of it goes off the rails, I feel obligated to inform you that I am not a same time every day writer. It comes when it comes and the schedule allows. I would love to be a same time every day AM writer. Alas, there are days when I am a PM writer, and even late night writer. (In fact, that is most days) Happy Scribing.
Nov. 8 – Day 8 – 773 Words
I don’t know what to say about today’s writing. A chilly Saturday (my favorite kind of day) not a whole lot going on, coffee was in hand, mood was okay … Hmm, I think today’s writing can be best described as a workman’s like effort.
As you can tell from yesterday’s blurb (um, if you read it) I was setting up a surveillance thingy to catch a killer. (Yes, I do consider myself a writer and the best word I could come up with was thingy. Or, maybe it was best word my tired 773 Word mind felt like giving me. The traitor.)
Anyway, where was I? Oh, right, setting up a watching thingy. Yeah, so it was about setting up this watching thingy to catch a killer. For those who have read Irony 2, (found here) as well as a now unpublished very short tale called ‘Sociopath,’ from where I pulled him and inserted in Irony 2 to begin with, then you are familiar with the character.
So, I set up the thingy and quickly rehearsed how Detective Reginald Thomas Williams, my main character, went about discovering him and deciding he was someone to keep an eye on. (Yeah, I know, a bummer, but from the sales figures, apparently, everyone on the planet hasn't read Irony 2. Go figure.)
Okay, after recovering from laughing at myself, and that last sentence in parenthesis, I don’t have much more to say. Today was set it up and knock it down, writing day done and on to the next. Keep the Irony 3 novel train moving. Here’s the workman like blurb, and of course, happy writing.
As with the other nights, she readied herself, but felt in her gut that tonight would be the one where he effortlessly picked the locks on her apartment door and came for her. That was his M.O. The one time where he obviously didn’t have to was in the mysterious disappearance of his wife. Sad, she thought, because the man’s wife had gone missing nearly nine months ago, and apparently no one noticed.
Nov. 9 – Day before day 10 – 570 Words
Okay, first off, for those of you who may have noticed, the format is a little different. Instead of using one post for a month (Which, when you think about it, is kind of absurd. Sadly, if you read the All Aboard post that began this whole shedangle (Shendangle? Is shandangle a word? More important, am I violating some kind of writer's ethical or structural law by using a parenthesis within a parenthesis?) then you know that this wasn’t planned well.) I will be using one post for a week. Is everyone still with me? Because, for real, I feel like I left some of my senses within the parenthesis go-round.
Second, I’ve kind of gone with the whole train theme and added locomotive images to the posts; even renaming this whole shendangle the Irony 3 or Bust Novel Train. As time passes, and inspiration hits, there are probably more format changes to come. (If I even had an inkling of what I was doing website wise, it might even be better.) Stay tuned.
Anyway, on to serious writer analysis business. (yeah right) I would characterize today’s writing as “not as many words as it could have been.” Why? Because I sat down to write just around the time that my team’s football game was coming on. “WHAT?!!” I can hear fanatical gridiron fans yelling. “Then you are not a true fan! Write during your team’s game?! Ridiculous! Turn in your jersey!”
Before today, my team had lost 8, yes I said 8, games in a row. We suck! Enough said. My plan was to watch the first quarter or two, until it became a blowout, jotting words as I went, and then really getting into the meat of it once my team was behind by so many points, that I would need a calculator to determine touchdown/two point/field goal combinations for them to catch up.
In short, the moment I was waiting for never happened. They took an early lead and ended up winning the game. So, that is the reason today’s work is categorized as “not as many words as it could have been.” For the first time in 8 weeks my team won a game, and I was rubber-necking the television because it had to be some sort of accident. I am still kind of waiting for them to reverse the result and disqualify them, like in some kind of photo finish horse race.
Of course, that could just be an excuse for me having significant delays between sentences while contemplating where I wanted the book to go next. However, chugging along slowly, heavy black smoke billowing from it's chimney, the Irony 3 Novel Train is still on the tracks. Happy writing.
Day before day 10’s blurb:
“He’s in. Everyone copy? Our man just entered the building. Look alive people. The fox is in the henhouse. Let’s make sure he doesn’t kill our hen.”
Listening to the varying acknowledgements from his team members, including Sanchez, who playfully asked if being called a hen could be considered sexual harassment, from his fifth floor perch, he threw in his confirmation after the fact.
Nov. 10 – Day after Day 9 – 509 Words
Didn’t feel like writing today, and as these words are being posted a day after the fact, that should tell you how much I didn’t feel like writing. Following the count, I balked at penning this analysis. I suppose I could have just written ‘Didn’t feel like writing today, here is the blasted count and blurb.’
(Hmm, maybe next time I will. It’s not like the endeavor so far has been inundated with comments, indicating one way or another whether ppl like what they are reading. No, that is not a call for comments, just an observation for parenthesis.)
I described a previous day’s effort as workman-like. (Don’t make me go back and look for which day, please?) Anyway, like I was saying, if that other day was a workman’s effort, then this day was a workman with a fever’s effort, who should have stayed in bed. No, I wasn’t sick, I just didn’t feel like writing.
This is where I thank God for my previous two novels. Because of their experience, I know that even on days I don’t feel like writing, I can in fact get some writing done and advance the story, if I fight through the feeling. Anyway, enough writing, here is the blasted blurb:
“No. Sit tight, Sanchez. Williams, dammit, what do you see?” He heard the lieutenant, replacing the device in his ear. “If I don’t get something from you, we are converging on your position.”
Nov. 11 - Day 11 – 531 Words
Trudging along, feeding coal to the train in the engine room to keep it moving toward its destination. Some things are clearer about where I want to go with things, but as I am shaping the scene playing out, and it is trudging along, I have yet to get to those things.
You know, I suggested in the All Aboard post that began this whole shendangle, (Linked in the side panel) 650-1000 words a day as my usual output. I should have said that with a disclaimer. That estimation was taken during the last third of Irony 2. (found here) It wasn’t calculated for Irony 1 (found here), Deep Within (found here), or Sticky Buns (you got it, right here). At that stage of Irony 2, the ending was in sight and I had a very good vision of how I wanted to get there.
At the outset of 3, 11 or so days ago, it appeared that I would just about average those numbers. So, why have the numbers decreased, instead of staying the same, or increasing? Who the heck knows? You’re asking me? Like I would know something like that? Please….
Okay, let’s try that again, seriously this time. I think it is because in the outline, I basically had the first chapter written. Now, as I am on Chap. 2 and beyond, I am winging interesting filler material until I get to the events I have mapped out to happen throughout the book. Some of it is backdrop for those events to come, and some of it is character development.
In other words, I am making this stuff up as I go along and it is taking longer because of that. What I had mapped out came quicker. Geez, all those other sentences just to say that. Anyway, here is the word segue and the blurb.
His whispers hadn’t resulted in the pounding steps of a fleeing suspect, so swiftly and quietly as he could, he took a lean and look. Nothing. No Posey having trouble with an easy lock, and no suspect frozen in a paranoid stance, thinking maybe he’d heard something suspicious above him.
Nov. 12 - Day 12 - 477 Words
I have this thing.
“Which is hideous! When are you going to get rid of that thing?!”
It’s not that type of thing. It has to do with writing.
“Oh, sorry.”
No problem.
Anyway, the thing is that when I have completed a chapter, and am moving on to a total change of scenery and topic in the next, I save it for the next writing day. Exceptions are if I complete the chapter very early in the writing day. Then, I feel I have time to think about how I want to introduce everything, as well as effectively switch mental gears for what’s coming. This works for me, so this is what I do.
I can’t explain it. I may or may not be considered a good writer, (Going by sales figures….okay, scratch that, we won’t go by sales figures) however, when I am writing, I am immersed with the characters; seeing what they see, feeling what they feel, and trying to convey it best I can based on my skill set.
And then, bam, the scene is done, whatever it was, and I need time to move on to the next one.
The best comparison I can come up with right now is wine tasting. It is suggested to cleanse the palate, after a (scene) wine, before moving on to taste the next. You don’t want the Merlot screwing up or influencing the Bordeaux in your taste buds. (I know nothing of wines. If you do, and I just fu-barred that comparison with my example…Um, sorry?)
Regardless, you get the point. With that said, today’s lower than average number is in part due to the start of chapter 3, and in part due to me switching gears, in the middle of the writing day, about how I wanted to end Chapter 2. And you know what? I am still ecstatic over it, because it advanced the dream. Never Stop Believing.
The day had been a long and hard one, working his regular shift in addition to the surveillance. Completing the details on his ‘good report’ had taken until 3AM. He was bone tired, and though he preferred cooler temperatures over their warmer brethren, the chill in his bones he could have done without.
Nov. 13 – Day Unlucky Number – 548 Words.
First, for those of you who haven’t noticed (I mean, how could you not? The site only has three pages, and no subpages or anything like that. Well, not yet, that is. Having my own site, as opposed to just a plain blog for my writing, is a new thing for me) there is a just added feature on the About/Home page.
“What, Robert? What could it be?”
My, we are enthusiastic, aren’t we? And if you’re not, then for the purposes of my ego, I will author in my head that you are. Author? Get it? Because I am…Fine, it is an Irony 3 or Bust Novel Train Calendar. If you are rubbernecking here periodically for word count and blurb, there is most likely where I will update first. The analysis sometimes is penned hours later, and the twitter/facebook status is updated, of course, following the post.
Okay, on to the breakdown of the day’s work. I wrote some words that eventually amounted to five hundred and forty eight. The End. Seriously, though, the writing day was a smooth one, not many hiccups. I had a direction, followed it, and output a flowing 548 Words. Why wasn’t it more? Allotted time prevented that. I wrote for less time today, but gained a comparable result to other days.
It was the kind of day that felt like I could have kept writing for hours. I wanted to, I really did. If you are a writer, or perhaps you are not, but have written things before where the text flowed with some thought, but for the most part effortlessly, then you know what I mean. I am minorly tweaked about it, because I didn’t take as much advantage of it as I would have liked. However, all in all, I am happy that the Irony 3 Novel Train is still on the tracks. Happy writing people.
He hit the lights on his newly parallel parked town car, which sputtered its customary choke before settling in for the night, and exited its cozy confines for the chilly spring night. The only way to silence the noise coming from his pocketed cell was to either let it ring out or answer it. He chose the latter.
Nov. 14 – Day After Unlucky Number Day – 635 Words (End of Week 2)
Sometimes the only thing to say about a writing day is that you got the job done. That was today. I suspect that will be the case on a lot of days, as it was with all my other books. (link to all other books) As for the subject matter written about, I can say that it was a pleasing effort. I was introducing a quirky character, who will play more of a role in the book than just being quirky. After that particular role is done, however, he will go back to just being quirky.
If you are a plot person, or just have a feeling for such things, then you will be able to extrapolate what I mean from the blurb. Anyway, today was a good writing day. Could have been worse, I could not have written at all, which is what I was thinking. “Nothing wrong with a break. Thirteen days is a good run. Start another one tomorrow,” I told myself.
Needless to say, I didn’t listen to the bonehead giving me the suggestion. With that said, it’s blurb time. Oh, end of week 2. Um...Yay? Um…yay?Um…yay?Final word count for the week - 4043. Wait, maybe I should say something about the week in general. Perhaps, an overall assessment? Hmm...Honestly, I am just happy my caboose is still in motion. Happy writing people.
“Yeah, I do. One day when I am not doing anything, or just bored out of my mind, I’ll invite him over and hear every crackpot theory he has. I mean, just encourage him to give me the whole kit and koboodle, from who really assassinated JFK, to the government putting fluoride in the drinking water as a mind-controlling agent.”