Weird.

I just posted an entry and it has yet to hit. Maybe this dumb post will make it pop on up.

Blogger. Hoo boy.

So Things Have Slowed...Just For Now

Crazy. I looked at my last post and saw how manic I was about getting my book done. Crankin' it out, crankin' it out...never looking back, getting that rough n' rugged first draft down. I get my character to a big turning point in the book and...

Skiiiiiiid....

I slam on the brakes. Why? Well, it's pretty simple, actually. We bought a house!

We've been living in a townhouse (wife, little man and me) for almost 3.5 years and we've outgrown it by leaps and bounds. That's leaving out how 'sour' our once nice neighborhood has turned in that time.

Amazingly enough, Forbes put out an article talking about the zip code in the United States where property values are dropping at an alarming rate. Guess who lives (currently) in that zip code?

Yours truly.

So, my head has been mired in the idea of moving, uprooting all of our stuff, figuring out how to get the new house (and it's a house-house) to work with all of our possessions, and how in the heck we're going to have everything packed and ready to go by 5.19.06. It's just around the corner.

In WRITING news, I brought a chunk of Book 3 to my writer's group last week. I hadn't seen those folks for a while, so I thought it'd be good to share some a raw, unedited, fresh off the brain sample of the book. I'm pleased to report that they really liked it. They especially liked a new character that makes his debut in Book 3. The intended effect for his character worked perfectly.

Now, I know what y'all are thinking. Great, so your little critique group liked it. What about agents and stuff?

Well, I'll say this about my group. We're brutally honest with each other. So much so that we're kind of a sink or swim band of writers. There's a woman (who will remain nameless) who hasn't written much in the past year and thus, has nothing new to bring to the table. It's getting to the point where it's hard to take any kind of feedback or criticism from her. She'll suggest something and in the back of my head, I'm like:

Are you just talking to hear the sound of your own voice? What do YOU know about writing? You haven't written jack and/or squat in a year and Jack just left town.

As for 'agents and stuff' I've got a handful of things out there, just waiting to hear the good (or bad) word. I don't want to blanket the literary world. I want to be a little more careful about who and most importantly, why, I'm sending my stuff to this person or that publishing company.

Anyway...I've got much to do and I do still think I'll be able to get my book done by early summer. That's still the goal. To be up at the cabin for my 'big' vacation, sitting by the lake with a printed copy of my manuscript in hand, editing like a crazed lunatic.

It'll happen.

Almost 1/4 Done?

I realize that it's probably EXTREMELY boring to people other than writers to read about my trials and tribulations as an unpublished children's book writer. So, I'll just throw a quick update in here, and maybe share something outside of the writing world. How'd that be?

Fantastic, then.

I think that dumb little meter thing is pretty helpful. I mean, there's nothing like a stack of papers freshly printed off the printer that you can hold in your hand. You know, something with a little weight to it that makes you feel good. It's a strange sensation. When the pages number around 30 (current length of Book 3) and there's weight to it, I always end up thinking:

This stuff came out of my head. It weighs something.

That's just crazy to me.

So, yes. The book is progressing nicely. I tend to go full-bore when I'm writing. There's not a whole lot of editing done on the fly and I'll tell you why that is. If I stop and tinker with too much of my story, I get caught up in a vicious circle. I'll keep tweaking it and tweaking it until I think it's perfect and then before you know it, I've lost all kinds of time and I get frustrated and shelve it.

I've done it COUNTLESS times and I'm not falling victim to that again.

I know there are writers out there who are completely fine with picking the perfect word and staring at the blinking vertical line on their writing program of choice until it pops in. Forget that noise. Plow forward. Use the closest word you can think and move on. If you think you're just making more work for yourself for being foolhardy with some of your word or phrasing choices, well...you're wrong. Your first draft is going to stink. Accept it.

Heck, I embrace it.

I just know the ultimate feeling a writer gets. No, it's not getting published (can't speak to that, yet) and it's not being able to say 'Hey, I'm a writer, so there.' No, it's none of that. It's being able to type the words THE END at the bottom of my last page, saving my work, and printing the whole thing out to hold in my hot little hands.

It's knowing I've reached the end of part of the journey. Yes, I realize that the work has really just begun, but there's something to be said about getting the thing done, rough draft or perfect draft. I've finished something that was just a murmur in my head. The download is complete.

And yes, friends. It's all about the weight.

Okay. Can you tell I'm anxious (and after spending time with my little guy and wife) to get back behind the wheel?

Hmmm...now, something about me. Okay, how about this?

In addition to writing in my spare time (what spare time I have left!) I'm also a filmmaker. My friends and I are all tied into the film/video industry here in Minnesota in some way, shape or form. My two closest friends are video editors and sound engineers, respectively. I fall into the category of writer/director.

Now, originally, my plan was to become a filmmaker as a career. I worked on a bunch of films when I lived (briefly) in California, but when I moved back, was regulated to working on less-interesting cable tv shows and industrial stuff. Burned out, I took a joe job and ended up working as a trainer, which is what I do now (besides the firefighter/EMT side gig).

Well, every once in a while, I get the inkling to work on a film and my friends and I pool our talents and resources together and work on a project. This year, we've got 2 film/video projects in the hopper.

This might come as a shock, but the first is a zombie-sitcom-musical I'm almost done writing. It's going to poke fun at 3 different genres and is definitely not something for the kids. I've got a lot of people that are anxious for it to happen and we're looking at shooting it this summer sometime.

Also, it looks like I'm going to be writing and directing a short film for the 48 Hour Film Project. We worked on one last year, but since I had a 3-month old (at the time), I was only able to write the script. The rest of the 'magic' happened while I was away. It turned out pretty solid, but those involved wished I had been the one directing.

We didn't win the contest last year, but we had a nice, cult following. Because it's all random (read the info on the site for details) we ended up picking 'Romance' for our genre. We weren't happy and I've NEVER written a romance, but it turned out to be a pretty funny film. We were asked to headline a little film screening at a local thing called Cinema Lounge and people really seemed to dig it.

Something to look forward to and something that'll give me a break from the book, you know...since I'll probably be done with the rough draft by then.

Here's to hoping...