10.27.06
Posted in Writing, Method, Sea of Dreams, Current Projects at 8:00 am by Bryan
And probably within thirty minutes of having eaten, too.
I think I’m ready to tackle chapter two this weekend. The plan is to jump right in and spew until it’s done. I’ve thought about it. I’ve written up some notes. I know what I want to happen in the chapter and I know how it’s going to end. So now it’s time to write it.
Last weekend was something new for me. It was still the same contemplative approach to writing, where I stew on things until they gel. But this time I set a time limit for the stewing part. And then I just let things fly and didn’t stop (even though common sense says when you have to work at eight-thirty you can’t write until four, I was willing to do an all-nighter in order to finish each scene). I’ve justified the change by telling myself that I’m not really changing the process, I’m just speeding it up a little. And Gabby still seems happy, so all is good in my world.
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10.24.06
Posted in Writing, Acheivments, Sea of Dreams, Current Projects at 8:00 am by Bryan
The rewrite for Chapter 1 is complete and, I think, much better.
I’ve reduced the time scale for the book from about ten years to less than a year and a half. The beginning now contains only two scenes, though each spans a full day, and only two POVs. Ian is now much darker in the beginning, but manages to give Gabby a kick in the pants and remind her about what is important in life.
Steve, sadly, is dead.
I’ve just sent it to one of my critique partners, and will probably send the first half of the Chapter to the other two on Monday of next week. Then it’s just a matter of waiting for feedback to see if things start better than they did the first time through.
And I am unbelievably tired. I’ve been up until 4am two nights in a row. 8am comes surprisingly early when you’re old.
Sea of Dreams
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10.16.06
Posted in Writing, Acheivments, Sea of Dreams at 8:00 am by Bryan
Okay, I don’t live in The River City anymore, but I still have trouble. Big trouble. Well, maybe not trouble, but things have not proceeded according to plan. What’s up, you ask? Well, let me tell you.
First of all, my word count for Sea of Dreams is now zero of 100,000.
Well, no not really. I haven’t lost it, and I haven’t deleted it, but I do need to rethink just about everything about it. I started the story in the wrong place. So now I have to decide what needs to go, what I can salvage, and what I’m still missing. And this is just for the beginning. Then I need to figure out how to get Ian and Gabby from the beginning to the end. The nice thing about writing a romance is that you know where the end is.
So what brought me to this conclussion? Two things really. The critiques I’ve gotten back, and looking at the story fresh, as if I were doing a critique.
So what’s wrong? Nobody likes Steve, including me. I think I was not developing his character enough, because he was going to die anyway. I was treating him as a throw away character. Which means he really shouldn’t be in the book in the first place. And because I was treating him this way, his marriage with Gabby wasn’t that good either. Which had the unintended side-effect of making it hard to like Gabby in the beginning. And since nobody really liked Gabby, they didn’t want her to wind up with Ian because they did like him.
So what am I going to do? I’m going to kill Steve right away.
::thump::
Yeah, we didn’t like him anyway. Seriously, we do like him. He was great for Gabby and he quite literally saved Ian’s life. But by the time the story begins, we don’t need him anymore.
I’m not dead yet.
Shut up Steve. This isn’t a Monty Python movie.
So there it is. I’m starting from scratch, sort of. And Steve’s dead, whether he wants to be or not. And Gabby’s grieving. Well, actually she’s talking a mile a minute telling me about her trip to New Jersey and a little visit to Canada… but inside she’s grieving. And so is Ian. And Steve’s dead, so he’s grieving too.
UPDATE
Some people didn’t believe me when I said the word count was zero. Look at the graph below. That’s proof!
Sea of Dreams
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10.09.06
Posted in Writing at 3:04 pm by Bryan
10. When you return from vacation, you base it’s success or failure at least partially on the number of Starbuck’s you visited.
9. In your previous career, meetings were never scheduled before 10am in order to ensure that you had had at least two cups of coffee and were in a receptive mood.
8. When scheduled to work on Saturday mornings, and your favorite coffee shop is late in opening early (which they do because you are a good customer and they don’t normally open until you are already supposed to be at work), you begin to bargin with yourself… if they open the doors in the next two minutes you can still make it… if they open the doors in the next minute you can fill the cup less full and run to work without spilling the coffee all over the place… if they don’t open the door in another thirty seconds you’ll have to wait until 10:30 before you get any coffee. Well, you can take your break at 9:30. It’ll make the second half of your morning longer, but at least you will have had your coffee.
7. If you go two days without, you have a headache.
6. If you go three days without, you’re not even human anymore.
5. One of your most productive writing days is named after Starbuck’s.
4. Not only was the nickel increase at Starbuck’s worthy of national news, but you knew it before most reporters.
3. Your idea of heaven is a Barnes & Noble with a Starbuck’s inside.
2. Nobody has ever mistaken you for a morning person, ever.
And the number one way you know you have an addiction…
1. After spending twenty minutes looking for your favorite coffee cup, you find it sitting on the soap rack in the shower.
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10.04.06
Posted in Writing at 6:39 pm by Bryan
You know, this is the absolute worst time of year to get the bug. There’s not much you can do about it… the weather’s going to be getting nasty pretty soon. But you still have that itch. Wait a minute. What are you thinking about? I’m not talking about that!
Golf!!!!
The golf bug is what I’ve got. Since playing with my dad last Friday, I’ve just wanted to get out and play again. I didn’t really play that well, but there was promise. My drive was fairly good, my putting adequate after I got used to the fast greens, and of my two sand shots, one was just about perfect and the other was okay. Really, my mid-irons were my weakest area.
When I look at the scorecard (which I left in Dad’s car but still remember) it was the 8’s and 9’s that had me shooting 117 instead of 105… or maybe even lower. And those 8’s and 9’s were due to my poor mid-iron play and general rustiness (I hadn’t played since the last time I played my dad five years ago).
That’s the thing about golf. You can have a bad round (and believe me, I’ve had worse) and yet you’ll hit those few shots that are so sweet they have you wanting to go back to try again. That one sand shot would have been enough to do that for me. I mean, it was sweet. But I had several shots like that Friday. Shots that had me thinking, hmm… I stopped playing… why? Well, because in South Carolina I didn’t know and like anyone who played, well enough to want to play with them. But other than that… no reason.
If I played regularly, like I played Friday only a little better, I’d be better than I was the last time I did play regularly, back in Memphis. My goal back then was to shoot 108 or better (18×6=108; don’t ask). I’m within easy reach of that.
Like I said, I’ve got the bug.
And it’ll be spring before I can do much about it (unless we have days like today on the weekend… smokes… it’s great golf weather).
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10.02.06
Posted in Writing, Sea of Dreams, Current Projects at 2:44 pm by Bryan
See, I’m posting, I’m posting.
I don’t know what I’m posting about, but anything’s got to be better than rumors of being arrested on a golf course wearing a pink thong. You people. And trying to corrupt my muse and take her off to New Jersey, too!
Let’s see, I’m working diligently (regardless what Gabby’s been telling you). I got a critique posted for one of my partners on Saturday. I’m working on another, and I’ll have one more to do in the next day or two. After that I get a couple weeks to just think about my stuff and to try to get it ready for critique. I should be able to post word count updates by Wednesday or Thursday.
While I’m not going to start a new WIP for the November competition, I will “unofficially” track my progress and try to churn out 50,000 words. That would just about take Sea of Dreams to completion and allow December for polishing, and shopping it out by January. We’ll see how that goes.
Okay, you satisfied? I’m putting my head down now… nose to the grindstone so to speak (wouldn’t that hurt?). Try not to keep my muse up too late while you’re in NJ… and don’t interrogate her. I’m sure she’ll tell you anything you want to know if you ask nicely.
I can’t believe I’m going to have a hungover muse when she gets back.
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