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.