If It appears I am clinging to winter as long as possible, then I plead guilty. 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. Image found here: http://ukka.co/pics/snow-steam-train/
April 25-27 / Days 176-178 / 1165 Words
It is the beginning of a new writing week. Which means I wrote some words, the book is near completion, blah blah blah, the end. What? Nothing from the peanut gallery?
“Nope.”
You’re kidding. You have nothing to say?
“Nada.”
So, you are saying I can end this update right now and you won’t say a word?
“That is correct.”
Oh, yeah? Then what if I say that the Irony 3 Novel train is still on the tracks?
“Sounds like a good thing to me.”
Wow, I must say, I am impressed. Wait, what if I say that I took day178 off? And that day 176 yielded 642 words, way past the 500 goal mark?
“I’d say you were on a roll with a thought and felt you needed to finish it. Good on you.”
And the day off? No slacker comments or anything?
“You’ve worked hard on the book. You have about ninety thousand words and six months' worth of character’s actions rolling around in your brain; and are trying to bring together the story lines and write a good ending. A break from the grind is understandable.”
Roly, poly, guacamole, I don’t believe it. You actually have nothing smart to say?
“I disagree.”
Ha! I knew it. I knew you couldn't play it straight for long.
“What I meant was that everything I have said is usefully wise.”
Usefully wise? Alright, what is going on here? Why are you so subdued?
“I am just being supportive to the writing efforts of a hard working author.”
Bollox and Harry Potter spells. I don’t know what it is yet, but you are up to something.
“Nope. Not this time.”
Really?
“Yep, really.”
Wow. If that’s true, then thanks a lot. I appreciate the support. Well, folks, I think that about wraps this loony pup--
“One thing, if I may, Mr. Shroud?”
Mr. Shroud? This must be bizarro world or something, but go ahead.
“I want to say to the people reading this that they should help control the pet population by having their pets spayed or neutered. As an example, just read back my lines in this post and see what the miserable hack who writes this blog has done to me.”
And here I thought you had turned over a new leaf.
“I’m out of here. This whole post blows chunks and I want no part of it.”
Okay, folks, if that doesn’t wrap this loony puppy up, I don’t know what does. Happy Writing. Feel free to see Contact page for calendar blurbs and Home page progress meter for count and mood.
April 28-30 / Days 179 –181 / 1526 Words
I understand you’re a man who knows how to get things.
“I’m known to locate things from time to time.”
I wonder if you might get me a rock hammer.
“A what?”
A rock hammer
“What is it and why?”
What do you care?
“Well, if it was a toothbrush, I wouldn’t ask questions. I’d just quote a price. But, then, a toothbrush is a non-lethal object, isn’t it?”
You smell like you need a toothbrush. What the heck have you been eating?
“Aw, come on, man. You stepped out of character.”
How am I supposed to stay in character smelling breath like that? Smells like you’ve been eating limburger cheese on a stick. Besides, it’s update time.
“Oh, well, what do you say we pick it up afterward?”
You go brush your teeth or gargle or something and we’ll see.
Alright, folks, while the peanut gallery is away, I’ll do the update. I’d like to begin by saying this book, more-so than my previous novels, has impressed me with the creative process. Let me explain. I know I have said somewhere in one of these updates that I’m a pantser. I draft a rough outline and some events before beginning, but nothing in great detail. Conversations, happenings, some twists and the pace of the book is set while writing. And, I write from back to front. Meaning, I have an ending in mind from the outset and write toward it. I am a believer in letting the book come to life as I write and following the course it takes. The rewrite handles the rest.
So, how have I been impressed with the creative process writing Irony 3? Let me tell you, there were days I had absolutely no idea what I was going to write or where the book was going. Not to be confused with the direction I wanted to go. The problem was in getting there. I don’t even think I can explain it to justice, but I will try. On those days, the book just wrote itself. I would have something in mind and begin typing. By the time I was finished the sentence or paragraph, I had written something else. No, there were no blackouts or out of body experiences. The book just wanted to go in its own direction and sometimes that direction came to me in the middle of typing something else.
Then, there were those days when a whole scene, and even chapter, as well as down the line ramifications, opened up in my mind and revealed itself. I heard Lionel Richie say once that he was but the vessel through which his art was channeled; or something like that. He would sit at the piano and not so much create as he would sit in silence and listen. No, I am not putting my writing in class with Mr. Richie’s musical genius. However, I do feel like I have experienced what I heard him explain, about learning how to listen to what wants to be created. I have experienced it before, but in this, my fourth novel, the breath of the work has become more salient.
I know, I know, this sounds all paranormal and like I am ascribing life to something most consider inanimate. I told you I probably wouldn’t be able to explain it to justice. Also, there were a lot of days of wrestling words onto the page one letter at a time. Maybe that’s just it. Maybe, the work watches and sees how committed you are to its life. Will you stick it out on the rough days? Are you willing to sit in front of your computer or laptop, full of doubt and apprehension, and type life into it anyway? Maybe, just maybe, when you show that you are in it for the long haul, and continue to perform CPR day after day between the lines, then, and only then, does it deem you worthy of its intimacy. Like a lover, it guides you to what it likes and how it prefers to be typed, until you pick up on its rhythms and soon are making beautiful story arcs together.
Okay, so, maybe I am talking way out of left field, and a book is a book is a book is a book. You write it, it gets written, and either it’s good or it’s not. And, it’s only good or not if you have any talent whatsoever. Or, perhaps, because every day I type by faith, it is the God of my choosing Who is helping me. Being a person of faith, I’d probably side with that one over any other. Still, I have experienced the life of this book more than the others I have written. That is not to say that what I have written in not a big pile of … Well, you know. It is just that the process by which that pile was created has made more of an impact on me than in the past. With that, I say thank you for reading and happy Writing. Feel free to see Contact page for calendar blurbs and Home page progress meter for count and mood.
“I’m back. You ready?”
Yeah, sure, why not, but this time I get to be Morgan Freeman.”
May 1 – Day 182 – 546 Words
End of another writing week on the Irony 3 or Bust Novel Train. Not much to say, so this will be short.
“Wait, aren’t you a blogger? Shouldn’t you have something to say? Otherwise, what is the point of blogging?
No, smarty pants, I am not a blogger. I am a writer doing a book update.
“Difference is what?”
Oh, I get it. If I am a writer, then why don’t I write something longer? Because, sometimes good things come in short packages.
“Isn’t that small packages?”
Difference is what?
“You think you are so smart.”
If I am smart, wouldn’t that make you smart too?
“Hmm, I suppose so, I didn’t think of it that way. In that case, you’re a bleeping Einstein.”
Whatever. Go pray without ceasing or something.
“What do you know? You are Einstein, because that is the smartest thing you’ve said all day.”
Alright, alright, put down the cross and nobody gets hurt. Okay, folks, here it is; the book is coming along. The end is near. I’m thinking about ten grand worth of words left. Chapter 34 is almost done and I will begin 35 shortly. All is coming to a revealing conclusion soon, and much differently than my MC suspects. Let’s hope he is not killed in the process. With that, I say happy writing and feel free to see Contact page for calendar blurbs, and Home page progress meter for count and mood.
For this week’s week end jam I give you All Of Me, by John Legend.
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