Finished Blood Meridian

Daily Goal: 500 words.
Yesterday I wrote 0 words.

I think I might have to pick a new title for the blog: 'How I Don't Write Short Stories'.

I have just finished Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy. I think it was great. It is like a serious movie, if you want to give it a go - like, say, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - read it when you feel like taking on a serious read. Don't go into it lightly or you might just stumble. It really grips you a third of the way in or so. First you feel much like the kid, the protagonist, surrounded by strangers, just along for the ride. By the time you finally get some information about the characters, you find you already know them, since you've been alongside them for so long.

It is very bloody. I think even Shklovsky would have called it bloody.

Now that I have finished the novel, I plan to read short stories for some time. I hope to I will be able to steal more from reading short stories, than from novels and that the practice will fuel some motivation to write myself.

It is getting late here, so I will leave more blogging for another day.

Another zero

Daily Goal: 500 words.
Yesterday I wrote 0 words.

My plan is to write a more detailed outline for the short story, but I haven't written anything for two days now. Of things relating to literature, I have been doing plenty. I have read and watched videos about writing. I have almost completed Blood Meridian. I have been looking for what book to start next. However, I don't really feel to up for sitting down and writing much.

Today it even seemed like a chore to sit down and write this blog. Once I got started, however, it felt great. A daily blog is a guaranteed thing that will force me to think and work with literature each day at a specific time. I think that in the long run these sessions will provide the structure and discipline that will facilitate a more rigid work ethic.

Two days off won't kill me. Neither will three and I seriously doubt that I will write anything more than this blog tonight.

On YouTube in suggested videos this one turned up:

He comes across as a bit pretentious perhaps, but I do like his approach to writing. In a few blog posts back, I wrote about how he said he managed 500 - 800 words on good days. In the above video and the rest of the series, he goes into a bit more detail about how he writes.

Doing everything else

Daily Goal: 500 words.
Yesterday I wrote 0 words.

I had a long break today with plenty of time to do some writing, but instead I did all the other things that had piled up. I didn't write anything after the blog update yesterday either. I did think about writing something down in a hurry, before doing this update, but that would be cheating. Since there is no one reading this blog anyway, I would only be cheating myself.

I have been reading a chapter or so each day these last few days: Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy. The man can write. I don't think I approve of all the elements of his style, but a few chapters in I could safely say that I will never write that well, so I have no authority to fault his writing. He has that kind of raw, sparse American style of writing. Yet, he doesn't make it simple, he says just enough that you can follow it all, if you pay attention.

I don't know if I will write anything else today. My faith in the last short story is flickering now. Perhaps I should plan or outline better. I have a few things I want to try with outlining of short stories. When I find what works, I'll be sure to write about it. Outlining is something I think I need before I can craft a decent tale - not just when it comes to novels, but also short stories.

For now I think I will relax and read some more. Another day will dawn tomorrow. Perhaps I have some energy to write more then.