Reading a new novel

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 8/0.

I have had no time for the story today. Nor does the rest of the week look like it has much free time for writing. I feel exhausted already just thinking about how much I have to do.

I have halted reading A Confederacy of Dunces and started reading The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. The first was insanely funny, but I barely glanced at it when I had some spare time. The pace was just slowing down. It is a great novel and I plan on finishing it. I just guess I am not really that psyched for humor at the moment.

The Name of the Wind has quite the opposite effect. I long for the next chapter already, even though I have read four chapter tonight. The writing is exquisite in places and a little lacking in others. Chapter One was a polished gem. It sucked you in and gave you a warm welcome. Chapter two I was almost looking for my red pen ready to underline places I'd edit, but just when I thought that would be the standard for the rest of the novel, chapter three turns out surprisingly well written.

So I think I'll stick with it. It is a new fantasy novel, from 2007. The sequel is already out and the last novel of the planned trilogy will be out shortly.

Still editing

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 8/0.

I typed the rest of the story in today and I think I need at least one more day of editing before I am ready to post it online for review. I feel a bit better about the story now than I did yesterday, but I still think it needs a bit of work before I am comfortable with it.

I was also planning on reading some similar stories from authors that I love, but I don't know if right now is the correct time to start that process (if there ever is a correct time).

Life in general is busy. The days are very long and tough. The first few hours of free time I just sit and relax: watch TV or chat with my wife. It takes some time before I get any urge to work or write or do something productive.

Reading has also slowed down considerable in the last week. I don't know if it is due to the novel I am currently reading, or if it has to do with fatigue.

The editor emerges

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 8/0.

Today was a busy day. My wife was at work, with me the stay at home dad. I was tired, my wife was tired and the baby was tired, but still eager to climb everything in reach and therefore in need of constant supervision.

I am still in the process of typing in the story. The editor in me is having serious issues with what I am typing in. I probably have to keep him in check until I have heard from some reader. The ending scene is the story. Everything up till that point kind of just feels like filler. Although I have written a couple of good episodes, I think, it just reads as if nothing is happening except a slow build-up to the action.

I might have to cut everything but the ending, but the ending is easily a 1000 or 1500 word story by itself, so that shouldn't be a problem. Plenty of magazines are looking for stories in that range. My plan is to wait and see, however, until I've heard some reader response.

Wife going back to work

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 2-300 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 8/0.

I never managed to post an update yesterday and today I'll have to make a fast update so I can get some sleep. I have had two stabs at an ending for the story. I have also started to type it in. The process I hope to get done tomorrow is to type it in and then do a quick edit before I get someone else to take a look at it.

My wife is starting work again tomorrow. Me and the baby will have 8 or 9 hours or fun together. I am sure I will be full of energy to write after that ordeal. It will be hard, but I think I'll manage. How I'll fit in writing with the wife working again I don't know.

I've written a little short flash fiction thing yesterday. I didn't have any good ideas on how to end the story, so I just ended up writing something else. It was just a short little funny scene.

Ending is hard

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 50 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 7/0.

I didn't post an update here yesterday. The 50 words mentioned above I wrote yesterday and should have been part of that tally.

The 50 words were an attempt at the ending of the short story. I don't think it worked. I want to write a beautiful ending where I somehow comunicate the protagonist's epiphany to the reader. I want a ending like Joyce's "The Dead" or Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. What I got is an ending that sounds like someone trying to write like Joyce or Fitzgerald.

I went to bed sleeping on it yesterday. I think I had some ideas in the morning, but I didn't write them down. Now they are gone. I will sleep on it again tonight. In 8 hours or so my daughter will wake up and whatever I have thought up during the night will have to contend with her for my attention. Needless to say, if I don't jot it down during the night it will never find its way onto paper.

The ending doesn't have to be that stellar. I just want something original. There are a few moments in the story where I think I write something worthwhile. I figure it needs a worthwhile ending as well, not just a failed attempt at fancy prose filled with cliches.

Writing on the bus

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 320 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 7/0.

My plans for writing today went bust when I got a phonecall from a friend, with plans for card playing followed by a movie. I arived very late for the card game, the baby was determined to stay up late, but I got there and we went to see Taken 2 afterwards.

I thought, however, after I looked at my route online and found it included a 25 minute bus ride, that I would bring my legal pad, just in case. The result was the 320 words mentioned above.

The story is not quite finished, but almost. I cracked open the final, dreaded scene. Although I haven't read it through yet, I think I got it to work. Now I just need a paragraph or two to end the story. I think I want the protagonist to have a realisation, a true Joycean epiphany.

I'll sleep on it tonight and I hope to complete the draft tomorrow.

The story on hold for a day

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 7/0.

I should have finished the story today. I got a break in the middle of the day, when the wife took the baby out to see a friend, but I relaxed and read up on roleplaying.

The roleplaying group met for the first time today and our first session might be in a week already. I looks like it is going to be great fun. I hope the baby will stay healthy and sleep soundly whenever we meet. I can't imagine it will be popular if I'll have to rush home or cancel at the last minute. Everyone of us has busy schedules and it takes quite some effort, I imagine, for us all to plan a meet.

The short story has taken a break for a day, but I hope to get the draft finished tomorrow. My wife is planning another trip with the baby, so there might be ample opportunity. If not, I should still hopefully have enough energy in the evening to finish the last page or two of the draft.

Goal met, I think

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 500 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 7/0.

I think I wrote about 500 words today. I did a rough estimate (about eight words per line, 69 lines, five striked out) and although I might have written more than 500, I'll round down in case I overestimate my productivity again.

It is the last scene of the story. I am almost finished with it. A few more paragraphs and I will be ready to start the next part of the process of writing a short story. Now I hope and expect that I can have a finished product by next Sunday. Sometimes, however, editing can drag out. Sometimes stories can even die during the revision process.

I have created a character for the roleplaying game that a few friends and I are planning to start. There might be a meet tomorrow and I hope to get one more idea for a character, so I will have some choice to think about.

A little snippet from the story

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 400 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 7/0.

I haven't written the final scene of my story yet, but I have written everything up to that point. A first draft of everything up to the scene, mind you, there is still plenty of editing to do.

I have kept every darling in the draft. There are lines and even paragraphs that have to be dropped that I know of, but I will leave everything in for now.

I wrote yesterday that I probably wouldn't be posting the story here. That doesn't mean that I won't be posting snippets. I wrote a little passage today that I thought you might enjoy (still writing on my Galaxy Tab and don't have many features available, so I will just post the quote in italics):

_John fished out a small metal box hidden behind some books on the bookstand by his bed. Stickers covered the box and "Top Secret" was written in bold, black letters on the top with a felt pen. Inside were a dozen items, heavy with memories enough for a dozen stories each. In this story, John pocketed a matchbox before carefully hiding away the box again_

Writing it again it seems I could thighten the passage, but I think it has potential to read quite well. Suggestions and comments are always much appreciated.

Birthday

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 100 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 6/0.

My birthday was yesterday. My plan was to write something and update the blog and then brag about being more industrious than Stephen King, who doesn't write on his birthday. I didn't write anything, went tired to bed without a blog update, and I am, of course, no where near as industrious as Stephen King.

I did write something today, but I haven't mad a count. I think it wasn't more than a couple of paragraphs, so 100 words should be a good guess.

I keep adding to the story. I keep nearing the goal of a finished draft. There is this one crucial scene that is the crux of the story and I haven't written a word of it yet. There are a few sentences and a number of words I know I want to use that have been circling in my mind for probably a month now. It is a bit daunting getting close to that scene (the end of the short story), but exciting too. Everything seems to hinge on getting that ending right.

I don't know if I will post the story here. I should and I will with other stories, but I might skip this one. Once the draft is finished, however, I will let you know the process of editing and how that goes, as well as the process of sending it in for consideration somewhere and getting a rejection slip.

An unexpected break for writing

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 338 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 6/0.

Despite the accuracy, I didn't type anything today. It was all written in longhand. I had to count, because for a while I thought I might have broken the 500 mark. Imagine my disapointment when the tally only got to 338 words. Two large sections where I had crossed out and rewritten several sentences tricked me in my initial estimate.

338 words are better than nothing. My girl took an unusually long nap today. I took a nap too, as I usually do when she sleeps, but I got up after half an hour and thought that she would wake up any minute. More than an hour later I was still writing, enjoying an unexpected break. My wife and I got our payback tonight, however, the baby had no plans on keeping to our usual schedule and putting her to sleep was a two-hour ordeal (with waking up three times in the next three hours afterwards, as she usually does, thrown in; but she is usually easy to lull back to sleep during those interuptions).

So I am tired, as usual. I am finishing my blog and I plan to, stupidly, waste half an hour of good sleep and read a chapter or two in _A Confederacy of Dunces_ before I go to bed. I am liking the book so far. It is very funny and I love the effort John Kennedy Toole has put into dialects - something I wouldn't have the skill or patience to do myself. It really makes the characters jump out from the page much faster if you can tell them apart when they speak.

Chores and plans for roleplaying

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 6/0.

I didn't write anything today. There never really was any time for it. Suddenly it's late and I have to update the blog and prepare for bed. The day wasn't overly busy. Instead, what free time there would be was just scheduled for other things than writing (chores around the apartment) and there is where it went.

I might write something if I have the energy after this, which then will appear in tomorrows tally. I do, however, suspect that I will just read something instead. Hopefully, I'll at least manage to read over the short story.

A group of friends are talking about getting a roleplaying game going. It will only be an evening every other week, so it should be no hinderance to either writing or blogging. Who knows if there might not be some inspiration to harvest from roleplaying sessions that could help with the abysmal stats above (words written and stories finished).

Almost met the goal today

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 400 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 6/0.

There are several good news: I wrote, I almost managed my goal, still developing the same story, it is getting there. There are a few bad news as well: I am still writing and rewriting the first few scenes, the set-up, the character introductions, and the opening dialogue. I never seem to get to the ending.

Whenever I get a chance to write, I have had a few days break and have reflected on the written passages. So when I do pick up the pen and pad again, I start rewriting and editing, instead of continuing on.

I think I will three more sessions like today before I see a finished draft. In order to get there, I need to continue from where I have left the story. No more edits until the draft is finished.

In other news, I feel quite good. I didn't update the blog last night. In fact, when the time came for updating the blog I had already been asleep for a few hours. My wife was out with her sowing circle. I, naturally, had great writing and reading plans, but around 9 o'clock I got tired and had a great idea: I'll just go to bed and get a decent night's sleep for once.

Started reading a new novel

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 6/0.

Today turned into another busy day. I hoped to get some writing done, but this is literally the first free minute I have in front of a keyboard and it is already bedtime.

I have started reading _A Confederacy of Dunces_, by Joohn Kennedy Toole (I think I go that right). The novel is outrageously funny so far, filled with crazy characters and colorful dialogue.

I hope that tomorrow affrods a little time to write. I would love to pick up on the story I was working on. I think I can get a draft finished with only a few hours work and then I would finally have some writing to show you guys. It is a sad blog about writing, that never has a word written.

Finished Stoner and the end of Viking-con

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished 5/0.

That's it for Viking-con this year. The event will finish tomorrow, but I don't think I will attend the last day. I didn't win any T-shirt this year, but it has been fun.

Tomorrow I would like to write something when the baby hs gone to sleep, but I know that I am a little short on sleep this weekend, so I will probably be exhausted when she finally goes to sleep tomorrow. I am exhausted already, just driving on fumes now that I am back from the convention, before I get my 6 hours of sleep (if I am lucky).

I finished _Stoner_, by John Williams. What a wonderful, wonderful book, a sad, haunting tale, written in sparse, beautiful prose. I will definetly make a longer review if I get the time. My first priority is, however, still to finish a short story.

Viking-con

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 5/0.

Today was the first day of Viking-con, so my free time was spent playing board games. It was fun. We played three rounds of Dominion, a deck building game. I won one round, came second once, and finished third (out of four) once, but it wasn't enough to land me in the final.

If you win a competition you get a T-shirt. I have two of them and hope to win another this year. I plan on playing Agricola, a worker placement game, tomorrow. Hopefully, I will land a T-shirt then.

All this means, however, that there will not be much writing done. I really feel like I wold have written something this weekend if it weren't for the convention. I mean that this weekend hadn't been spent reading, if I had nothing better to do. I hope this feeling will stay for a while, so perhaps I could get some writing done next week.

Gaming convention

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Fiinished: 5/0.

I had an urge to write today, but I let it pass. Instead I used the time to plan my weekend at Viking-con, a Danish gaming convention. Not writing when the urge is there is perhaps not something new, but doing it when I have the time to write is something I seldom do.

Most often I feel, after a long day, that the urge to read is much stronger than the urge to write. Hopefully, that is something that will change from month to month and there will come productive periods in the future.

I look forward to the gaming convention. It will be a very busy weekend. I will, of course, still have the baby to think about from 7 in the morning to 7 in the evening, but instead of reading for a few hours after that (and then complaining here about not writing) I'll be playing boardgames and getting much to little sleep.

A busy day of not writing

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 5/0.

Today flew by. It was busy and scheduled. I had trouble even finding time to read one chapter of _Stoner_, never mind finding time to write.

This month will be busy and short if things stay the same. I fear I will be writing 8/0 soon. There have been quite a few days now where I have not read or written anything on the short story I was working on. I hope it is not iretrievably lost.

I am dead tired, so I will finish the blog and try to get some sleep. Reading one more chapter of _Stoner_ is tempting, but I know I'll be nodding sleepily over the text in a little while if I do.

Reading Stoner instead of finding time to write

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 5/0.

Today has been another long, yet unproductive, day. I could have easily scrambeled together an hour to write in, but I spent what free time I have had reading. The novel I am currently reading is _Stoner_ by John Williams. It is remarkable. I feel like reading a life story of a person I could have been and as I progress beyond Stoner's 35th year, it seems as if I am reading an alternate future for myself.

The only difference, of course, is that the eponymous protagonist of the novel has been able to write and publish a book, while at the pace things are going at my end, I'll be lucky if I ever manage to finish a short story.

Tomorrow is book with family and a gaming convention, Viking-con, will fill the coming weekend. It does not bode well for writing, but I'll at least try to write the blog each day and hopefully manage to keep the story alive that I am (was) working on.

Visiting the grandparents

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 5/0.

Today proved dreadfully, dreadfully busy again. A sign of the month to come, I hope not. Commuting from home to where my parents are staying in Denmark takes almost an hour. I'll be doing that trek, there and back again, with a baby in tow, and readying the baby carriage, packing essentials, getting the baby prepped (she hates getting dressed in outdoor wear), quite a few times each week.

Taking care of a baby all day is exhausting. Taking care of her on a lets-go-visit-your-grandparents day is murder.

I did do some writing today. I wrote a draft of a job application letter. I'll give it some thought and a fresh editing eye, when I have the time, and then I'll start sending it out.

I wonder what a steady job will do to my writing. It is hard to imagine it'll help, while any kind of handicap will bring my writing crawl to a halt. If that be the case, so be it. Writing is a luxury if it doesn't pay the bills. It'll have to wait until all the bills are paid.

What a great novel Stoner is

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 5/0.

Another week has gone by, flown by it seems, and I have not made much progress on the writing front. I still spend most of my free time reading. _Stoner_ is really good. I tried in vain to recomend it, describing the beautiful prose, but after a few tries I just gave up. If you feel like a melancholy campus novel, then give it a try. You'll be sold before the first chapter is over.

My parents are in Denmark for a month. They, of course, want to see their granddaughter, which means that quite a few days the next month will be very busy. Today I've excused myself from writing, by blaming John Williams's beautiful prose, the author of _Stoner_, but I really wouldn't have written anything even if I had nothing to read. I am just so exhausted when the baby finally falls asleep that there is not much energy left.

Besides, she has awoken three times in as many hours, forcing me to rush in to replace the pacifier or whisper a comforting, Shhh. Each episode pulls me from _Stoner_, but the reading is easily resumed once I manage to calm the baby and sneak out. I do no think that writing would survive the interuptions so effortlessly.

Lovecraft and Stoner

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished 4/0.

I typed part of my story today in preperation for some editing and perhaps posting an extract here on the blog. I didn't write anything new, though.

I read a H. P. Lovecraft story today, as well as, the first chapter of _Stoner_, by John Williams. The first chapter of the novel was great, really great, so I am sold there. The Lovecraft story wasn't that good, it was one of his earlier ones, but the way I found of reading through his works is great. There is a podcast, hppodcast.com I think is their home, where each episode focuses on one of Lovecraft's stories. The shows is recorded in chronoligical order, so every other week or so I take another story and episode. If you are anything like me then it sounds great (doesn't it?), but I found soon that one story every other week is the right pace to go. Reading a short story followed by half an hour podcast feels like a chore if you do several, back to back.

As for writing: I. Should have written something today, but I felt more like reading. Even though it is late and I am tired, I can't help but want to sneak a peek at the second chapter of _Stoner_ before I go to bed.

Finished 'Citadel of the Autarch'

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 4/0.

I was going to skip posting on the blog tonight. I haven't written anything and I am dead tired. But some neighbour is partying and I can't sleep. As I write, however, I hear the music has stopped, so I'll make it brief and go to bed.

I have finished 'Citadel of the Autarch'. It is quite a decent end to a great series, but I wouldn't give it more than 4 stars, out of a possible 5.

I think I will do a more in depth review of the series sometime, but for now I will try to finish the short story. I hope to get a decent night's rest tonight, so I'll have more energy tomorrow.

Keeping the story alive

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 50 words.
Sundays/Stories Fiinished: 4/0.

I wrote a little scene today, it couldn't have been more than 50 words, but it keeps the story alive in my mind. At the rate I am going, I take the amount of time that one would use to write a novel to write a single short story. If I do get it finished, sent to some publisher and rejected, however, I think I will be quite content.

My baby has started crawling. A month ago she started on the first steps towards crawling, trying to get her balance on her hands and knees. I thought, at that time, for sure she would be whizzing around in a couple of days. The days, however, went by with almost no improvement. If you would have asked me a week ago, I would have been sure that she would never crawl and was just going to skip the stage and start walking.

Then suddenly yesterday and today, she started putting one hand a little bit out and found she could edge slowly forward. All her energy seems bent on it now and she is making great improvements. She still looks like a chameleon (I am sure I didn't spell that right) rocking a bit back and forth with each step, but I am extatic. I am sure she'll be whizzing around now in no time.

I hope my own journey into writing shares some of those traits. The slow climb seems dreadfully difficult and slow; but, hopefully, there will come a plateau where I can see I've made some distance and gotten to another stage.

A day wasted watching a movie instead of writing

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 4/0.

I didn't write anything today. I had ample time, but I wasted it watching a movie. Now I am too tired and think I will perhaps read a chapter of Citadel of the Autarch before going to bed.

Perhaps I will read through what I have written so far of the short story and that way keep it fresh in my mind. For me there seems to be a point of no return that if you leave a story for a certain amount of time it is, perhaps not impossible, but at least very difficult to get into it again.

My parents are coming in a few days. I am excited about how their arival will change my daily routine now with the baby and all. Hopefully there will be more hours every week for writing, but I fear there will be less. But who knows? Perhaps this October will turn out a good, productive month.

Keeping the story alive

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 100 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 4/0.

My wife and I watched a movie tonight. There is almost no time for reading or writing left, but I had to write something to keep the story fresh in my mind. I think I managed about 100 words. I need to keep adding to it each day, even if I don't meet the daily goal. If I skip a day or two, the story stands the risk of dying.

I am still reading Citadel of the Autarch, by Gene Wolfe. I only manage a couple of chapters each day, since my free time is spent writing or socializing, instead of reading. I am thinking about doing an article or a review about the series (The Book of the New Sun of which Citadel of the Autarch is the fourth volume)  once I am finished with it. I don't know if I will ever get that far, but I do plan on finishing the short story before turning to reviews and articles.

I think I am going to squeeze another chapter in before bedtime. Tomorrow is looking to be another one in this series of very busy days, so I better get some sleep. Hopefully, it will be a short chapter.

I wrote an opening scene

Daily Goal: 500 words.
I wrote 200 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 4/0.

It worked quite well tonight. I just told myself that I can't read anything until I've written 500 words, and updated the blog. I never finished the 500 word goal, but now I am going to bed, so I'll update and perhaps sneak in a chapter to sleep to.

I wrote two versions of the same opening scene for the short story. I guess if I counted all the words up, they would come to about 400. I guess a rewrite shouldn't count, or should it?

My days are still terribly long, terribly busy. There is so much to do and no time to do it in. I used to wonder about the old man character you encounter in movies, that sits in a rocking chair at a tank station and just does nothing all day. Now I get it. If my everyday life will have this tempo until I turn 70 and retire, then I don't think I will have any trouble sitting on a chair doing nothing. In fact, sometimes, I look forward to it.

I am glad I wrote something tonight. I hope I will continue the story tomorrow. Perhaps I'll even have more time and energy to update the blog, so I can share what it is I am writing.