Wednesday, July 19, 2006
I was in bed
by 3am and passed out right away but woke up around 4:45am to do the cbi thing. I think I got 2 hours sleep there. I passed out as soon as I got back to bed and I woke up various times to pee. So I figure I got 7.5 hrs of sleep off and on here and there.
Not much going on today other then more work on NW. Hopefully I can get another scene sheet completed today and of course make my Blog rounds.
If I can complete 2 scene sheets/day and 3 on the weekends I should have the outline ready and on pace to start the novel Labor Day weekend. I figure at 10k/week. At that pace I should have the rough draft completed by Nov 11th weekend. Which falls on a Saturday this year. The first draft "Underworld" wasn't bad but had more holes then a salt shaker. I restarted the book and titled it "Earth tones" but it went downhill fast. Now I'm more focused then ever and I know how to proceed the "proper way" of writing a novel. If there is such a thing. I worked on "AV" to the tune of 210k before I had my cataract operations but the story concept as good as it was petered out. I realized it was trilogy material but I wasn't working from an outline and I was running out of ideas. Also I had to make some drastic changes in the book and that slowed me down. Right after AV I worked on "RB"/ This was another work similar to AV. Again not working from an outline and I admit in parts it was getting pretty silly. I started work on another novel, "Lodge brothers" but again no outline and the premise was a bit murky. Vauge, kind of like my Blogging :-) Several short story rewrites and other stalled short story ideas later things were beginning to go nowhere fast. Something was going on. Something not working. The comon denominator here folks was lack of a story outline. I realized I needed some education. I got a couple of books (Swain/etc) and now I feel more confident. I've got the tools.
I'm working the 3rd attempt at "Underworld/Et/Netherworld." (UEN) This time the characters are more defined and are even motivated. The story goal is sharper and so is the over all theme. I know how to proceed and what I've learned from the other two attempts of UEN I know where the story is going and how to get there this time. I hope. I'm still in the planning stages of NW. It's slow going but I'm getting somewhere. I've got maybe 70% of the story outlined and I know how the story ends. There's still lots of work ahead but I don't mind doing it but you know the old cliche' "it's not about the road your on but the...."
Thats all for now.
e.Jim
by 3am and passed out right away but woke up around 4:45am to do the cbi thing. I think I got 2 hours sleep there. I passed out as soon as I got back to bed and I woke up various times to pee. So I figure I got 7.5 hrs of sleep off and on here and there.
Not much going on today other then more work on NW. Hopefully I can get another scene sheet completed today and of course make my Blog rounds.
If I can complete 2 scene sheets/day and 3 on the weekends I should have the outline ready and on pace to start the novel Labor Day weekend. I figure at 10k/week. At that pace I should have the rough draft completed by Nov 11th weekend. Which falls on a Saturday this year. The first draft "Underworld" wasn't bad but had more holes then a salt shaker. I restarted the book and titled it "Earth tones" but it went downhill fast. Now I'm more focused then ever and I know how to proceed the "proper way" of writing a novel. If there is such a thing. I worked on "AV" to the tune of 210k before I had my cataract operations but the story concept as good as it was petered out. I realized it was trilogy material but I wasn't working from an outline and I was running out of ideas. Also I had to make some drastic changes in the book and that slowed me down. Right after AV I worked on "RB"/ This was another work similar to AV. Again not working from an outline and I admit in parts it was getting pretty silly. I started work on another novel, "Lodge brothers" but again no outline and the premise was a bit murky. Vauge, kind of like my Blogging :-) Several short story rewrites and other stalled short story ideas later things were beginning to go nowhere fast. Something was going on. Something not working. The comon denominator here folks was lack of a story outline. I realized I needed some education. I got a couple of books (Swain/etc) and now I feel more confident. I've got the tools.
I'm working the 3rd attempt at "Underworld/Et/Netherworld." (UEN) This time the characters are more defined and are even motivated. The story goal is sharper and so is the over all theme. I know how to proceed and what I've learned from the other two attempts of UEN I know where the story is going and how to get there this time. I hope. I'm still in the planning stages of NW. It's slow going but I'm getting somewhere. I've got maybe 70% of the story outlined and I know how the story ends. There's still lots of work ahead but I don't mind doing it but you know the old cliche' "it's not about the road your on but the...."
Thats all for now.
e.Jim
// posted by E.Jim Shannon @ 12:46 PM 
