My Post-Holiday Addictions

So… I discovered a few things after the end of the holidays, going into the New Year.

First, there was Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.  It was a Christmas present, as I mentioned before.  And I mentioned I have a history, and a love-love relationship, with Zelda games in the past.  (There are several I may never have finished, but I loved playing them even when I didn’t beat them.)

Well, from the moment I fired up Twilight Princess, it was love-at-first-sight-all-over-again.  I was lost.  For hours.

What is it about Zelda games that so  unfailingly capture my heart and attention?  Is the comforting familiarity of a new adventure with a new-but-really-the-same Link and a new-but-really-the-same Zelda?  Is it the exciting new ways to retell the same story?  Is it just an overpowering sense of nostalgia that erupts in my heart whenever I start humming the original Zelda Theme in my head (and do at the start of every Zelda game, even if the one I’m playing eschews that theme?  I’m looking at you, Ocarina of Time, with all your wonderful, series-defining tunes except the original theme!)  (P.S. Orchestrating it only makes me salivate more.)  (Point being: you want to brighten my day?  Start humming the opening bars of the Zelda theme.)  Whatever it is, it’s like a drug.  I can’t not be in love with a Zelda game.

I had two or three sessions with Twilight Princess before I knew I had to put it away for a while, or I’d never get any writing done.  I’m still working out a reward scheme mechanism whereby I permit myself a play session after I’ve completed a certain amount of work on the book.  I haven’t settled on a firm line-in-the-sand amount that I need to do to get some Zelda time, but it’ll probably be something like 3,000 words or 4,000 words – to encourage me to exceed my proposed 2,000-words-per-week minimum.  But I’m holding off until I finish the outline, anyway.

What else did I discover after the holidays?

Cinnamon M&Ms.

Or should I call them Crack-flavored M&Ms?  Because it’s basically the same thing.

These I discovered on a trip to the store trolling for some post-holiday 50%+ off holiday merchandise deals.  You know, when the retailers go in a mad scramble to clear the Christmasy-stuff off the shelves because they have to start stocking up for Valentine’s Day.  And there they were on the left-over Christmas candy aisle.  Beckoning me.  I had never seen such a thing before.  I had to try it!

I grabbed like ten bags.  You know, the big 10-oz bags, not the snack-size bags.  Then I put all but two back.  Because, hello greedy.  Then Dear Wife and I tried them.  And it was like, whoa…

Why have I never heard of these before?

If that’s because they’re new then Why have these not existed before?

Dear Wife went back to the store herself a couple days later, as we were obviously experiencing withdrawal symptoms by that point.  She came back with ten bags.  No joke.

Since then, I’ve tried to be a little more judicious in my consumption of these, as I do not desire to experience said withdrawal symptoms again, and who knows how long it will be before we see Cinnamon M&Ms on the shelves again…

2012 Goals Update & A Request for Recommendations

Yesterday was the self-imposed deadline I had set for myself to finish my outline and prep-work to start writing the actual first draft of “Book of M”.  I thought I should report on my standing relative to that goal.

Unfortunately, I failed to reach my goal.  Failed, yes, but I’m so close.  As of last night, I believe I’ve reached somewhere between the three-fifths and three-quarter mark of the plot.  There’s a lot going on and a lot of pieces coming together.  I’m getting super-excited for writing this book, because I really like the direction the plot is going.

I think it might be amusing to also point out that as it stands the unfinished outline is nearly 9,000 words long, by itself, and is split between two separate word documents (it’s… complicated).  The length, at least, I can explain: the outline includes a lot of asides, notes to myself about changes to make to the outline, and especially a few internal dialog question-and-answer sessions that I’ve used to help me figure out some difficult plotting.  The upshot: this is definitely not a short story that I’ve blown up into a novel, here.  There’s a lot of ground to cover. 

I’m still optimistic that I can keep this a relatively short book (my target is 125,000 words, but I’m mainly hoping for anything under 185,ooo).  Realistically speaking though… at an artistic level I’m fine with a book that stretches to 250,000 words.  I enjoy works of that length.  And I don’t discount the possibility that this book could go as much as that long.  My shorter-length goal is based more on concerns for marketability – notwithstanding my prior analysis of wordcount lengths in my chosen genres, showing a distinct market preference (vis-a-vis the market of readers) for longer works, the advice of professionals in the business is still to write shorter, roughly 100K-length books.  Still, I won’t sacrifice my artistic integrity to force my book into artificial constraints.  I’m just trying to set a target, so I know what to work toward.

Considering how close I am to finishing my outline, I’m resetting my goal with a fairly short new deadline: to have all this prep-work done by January 31st, which will allow me to start the month of February diving straight into the actual First Draft.  I’ll definitely be able to finish the outline by then, and more than likely I’ll be able to tie a bow on some more character work as well.

Anyway, something became clear to me last night (which I tweeted about) as I was adding scenes - both new scenes that occur earlier in the book to foreshadow and support the direction the plot is moving, and additional scenes that moved said plot closer toward the climax and the end of the book.  At this point, I’ve got 4 POV characters.

A Map of Fantasy

Just a quickie link for today.  Because I know you’re going to love this as much as I did.

The Fantasy World Map

Who knew that all the world’s fantastic tales all coexisted in the same secondary world?  Now we know.

Not Exactly the Apple Of My Eye

I’ve talked a lot about Amazon on this blog.  I haven’t said much about Apple.  Mostly, that’s because the subjects of “Apple” and “Writing” rarely cross paths in the news.

But they’ve crossed paths, recently, with the reveal of the new EULA for Apple’s iBooks Author platform.  And the early reviews are, shall we say, not stellar.  Says techie guru Ed Bott from ZDNet (a prominent tech industry web-zine), this EULA is “mind-bogglingly greedy” – effectively forcing the users of Apple’s iBooks Author platform to sell publications created in that platform exclusively through Apple’s iBooks/iTunes store. 

To follow that up, they appear to be taking aim at ebook publishing standards with the probable goal of removing the open standard EPUB version from competition with their new iBooks format.

And of course… you’ll need a $500 iPad to buy those fancy new iBooks.  Because, hey, cool, interactive books!  Who doesn’t have half-a-grand to drop just for the right to maybe purchase interactive books sold exclusively by Apple?  (Answer: I, for one, do not yet own an iPad, nor any other variety of tablet/slate computer.  So do a lot of other people.  And I’m not exactly on the “poor” end of the rich-poor spectrum.  I’m not on the “rich” end, either, but I’m still on the “can’t afford to spend frivolously on an iPad” end.) 

So lest it be said that I’m simply an Amazon-hater because of the many posts that I’ve written about Amazon that are potentially read as negative, let it therefore be shown that it’s not Amazon, per se, that get’s me: it’s anything that hurts writers and/or readers and favors corporations who have nothing to do with either and/or which is anticompetitive.  Those sorts of things?  I’m not a fan of them.  I’m a really huge un-fan of them.

Writing Progress: Week Ending January 21, 2012

Well, I had a really good writing week, and all-things-considered, I’m feeling pretty good:

Book of M:

• Background Notes Wordcount: 3,495 words

Grand Total: 3,495 words

My progress for the week was pretty well-distributed across several good writing days – despite having several other days off due to other ongoing committments.  And I made good strides toward my goal of finishing this outline process by the 25th – i.e. by Wednesday.

At this point, I anticipate that I’ll miss that deadline/goal.  But not by much.  I’m still learning, at this stage, about what I can accomplish in a given time period, and about how fast I actually write.  This will have been at least the third time I’ve missed a self-imposed deadline on getting the prep-work for “Book of M” done so I can start the actual draft.  This time, though, I’m really close.  In my outline I’m at approximately the 50% mark, or just a little short of it, for the novel. 

I’m guesstimating, of course, because I’ve reached a very murky part of the plotting for this novel.  The weird thing about this story is, since the very beginning I’ve had a very clear vision of how this story starts, and that vision has only gotten clearer.  But I’ve never been entirely certain where it goes from there.  I had a small catalog of scenes and goalposts in my head, but no connecting thread.  The hard work I’m doing now is sussing out that connecting thread to see where it leads.  So I still don’t know how this thing ends.  I’m finding out as I go.

I suspect that means, as I reach the end of the outline, that I’ll actually have to go back and revise some elements of the outline earlier on.  Actually, I’ve done that already – going back and adding notes about things I want to show or foreshadow at earlier points in the story.  And that’s before I’ve gotten past the halfway.

As things progress, I’ve also become aware of two peripheral things: (1) I’m really in love with this world.  It feels rich and alive to me.  That’s probably consequent to the long time I spent writing out it’s whole history. (2) I’m really worried about the direction of the plot, as a whole, and about the potential reader’s attachment to main character.

A Writer’s Ambitions

Author David B. Coe recently blogged about the topic of writing and ambition on the Magical Words blog community.  It was a thought-provoking post.  As it happens, this is a topic about which I’ve spent some thought, myself.  And as it further happens, when I see a thought-provoking post on a topic on which I’ve already spent some thought, I decided I should subject you, my faithful readers, to the rest of my thoughts on the subject.

Coe suggests three kinds of ambition in his post, and I’m going to address the three types with regards to my own ambitions. 

Fame! Fortune! Critical Acclaim! Bestseller Lists!

The first type he calls “Material Ambition“, by which he means the ambition to win awards, make tons of sales, gain recognition and fame for our work, to make more than a comfortable living on it, and so on.  Of this type I say: what writer doesn’t have this sort of ambition, and in spades?  I’ll tell you at least one who does: this guy.  And by “this guy” I mean me.  Yeah, I’m sure it comes as no surprise.  I want to win awards.  I want to be recognized for my writing.  I want to be a bestseller.  I want to live off the income my writing generates.  But I frankly take this as a given.  Nobody sits down to write and says: “I want to labor in total obscurity and anonymity.  I don’t want anyone to read this, and heavens forbid anybody should praise it as being of value or worth!” 

Making It Work: The Financial Life of a Neo-Pro Author

Author Myke Cole (Shadow Ops: Control Point, an urban fantasy book about military special ops in a post-return-of-magic Earth) recently blogged about how he stretches his finances and makes things work on the income of a first-time author.  His post was very instructive, and you should read it here.

The points that stand out to me:

• He’s living a very spartan life.  Not just “no cable” spartan (Dear Wife and I live without cable, for example) but “no TV” spartan.  Run-down appartment spartan.  No car spartan. 
• He’s single
• He lives in a dangerous urban area in a run-down appartment, which he makes work by being a physically imposing individual (seriously, check out the author photo on his bio page: he’s significantly more ripped than your average doughy author (yours truly included – I’m fairly thin but I’m all bone and squishy bits, and you’d be forgiven for laughing if I tried to “flex my muscles” for I have none to speak of)), meaning nobody messes with him
• He makes healthcare work by being a military Reservist

I think about the finances thing a lot.

Writing Progress: Week Ending January 14, 2012

Based solely on wordcount, it was a pretty good week – not spectacular, but pretty good.  However, for me it was really something of a home run:

Book of M:

• Background Notes Wordcount: 1,446 words

Grand Total: 1,446 words

I’ve mentioned a few times over the past several weeks that I was struggling with something of an intractable plot problem.  I’d reached the start of what I plan to be the eleventh chapter of the book… and I wasn’t sure what to do next.  I wanted certain circumstances to force the protagonist and co-protagonist apart in chapter 11, but I needed to solve a world-building question in order to explain how it came about.  And I struggled for weeks to find a solution.

You could say I had writer’s block, but I don’t.  I still made progress, I just switched gears to focus on other things – the character profiles, primarily.  In the intervening time, I let my subconscious work on the problem, expecting a solution to come to me in a flash of brilliance.

At this point, I’d already discarded a couple simple half-solutions – ideas that seemed like they could be good ideas, but which didn’t feel right for the story.  But I was ready to sit down this week to continue working on my outline, and yet the real solution still hadn’t presented itself to me.  I resolved to write.

I’ve discussed before how I don’t really “believe” in writer’s block.  How it’s a convenient fiction, or an excuse: a phrase we use to describe a number of different creative challenges that writer’s often face but each of which can be solved and overcome.  If there is one great panacea to that malady we call “writer’s block”, it is this: to just sit down and write.  BICHOK, I’ve heard it called: Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard.  This, then, is what I did.

And I solved my problem!

But you saw that coming, didn’t you?

2012: Goals, Plans, Dreams

It is customary, as the old year slips into the new, to make resolutions regarding the accomplishments one hopes to achieve in the coming year.  Since January 1st, I’ve been thinking over my own goals and resolutions for 2012.  The month is nearly half-over, now, so this may not seem timely.  But a good plan for the year shouldn’t be taken so lightly.

 2012 promised to bring many changes and opportunities for me and my family.  Many of these are private matters, of course, and suffice to say Dear Wife and I have a few important changes and goals in mind for the year to come.  But there are some big changes that are pretty clear.  2012, for instance, will be the first full year in which I will not have any MBA classes, owing to my graduation from the program last May. 

This being the blog of an aspiring author, though, most of what I want to talk about, with regards to my goals, plans, and dreams for 2012, concern my writing.

One thing I want to clear up: 2012 is not the year that Stephen A. Watkins gets published.  First, as a technical matter, that year was 2011, anyway.  But I don’t anticipate repeating that success in 2012.  It could happen, but I’m not planning on it.  And how could I?  It’s not exactly in my control.  Which gets to the point of how I want to think about my writing goals and plans for 2012.  I want SMART goals.

Why Yes, I AM a Fan of the Old Rankin & Bass Hobbit Movie, And I’m Not Afraid To Admit It

And it looks like I’m not the only one.

I’m pretty sure this:

is at least in part an homage to this:

Partly, of course, that’s because both utilize the same source material.  But the style of the song in the Peter Jackson/Howard Shore version of The Hobbit is strikingly reminiscent of that of the song in the Rankin & Bass version. (It’s also a bit reminiscent of Aragorn’s song in Jackson’s version of “Return of the King”, but that’s probably because it’s the same composer.)

The lament of the dwarves, as portrayed in the Rankin & Bass version, was actually a big inspiration to me. It became the model for a particular culture in my currently-shelved novel-I’ve-been-working-on-since-forever, “Project SOA”.