You may have noticed that my posts have been growing in days of separation. For those of you that actually like what I write here, I'm sorry for the infrequent new work. For those of you that think I'm a clown and that what I write is an offense to society, you're welcome. The reality is that I have a lot on my plate right now and this part of my life has taken the biggest hit of my time.
So, what am I so busy with that I can't find a few minutes to post something new more often?
First, we do own a house and it does need things done around it so that keeps me busy just keeping up with those projects. Then of course there are the endless doctor appointments. I also spent the past Thursday thru Sunday with my fat butt plastered to the couch as I watched hours of The Players Championship on TV with "limited commercial interruption from our great sponsors." I am still writing and taping my weekly few minutes on The Breeze. Then, the HOA roped me into being on the finance committee to work on the new budget again and I reluctantly said yes. So now I'm in the middle of that mess. Finally, of course, there is the cooking, cleaning, shopping, and various other things that happen throughout the day and week to keep me running.
Oh, and I'm one hundred pages and forty thousand words into writing my second book.
My first book was fifty years in the making so I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to write. Once I got started it happened fairly fast and it was pretty easy peasy for me. This one has been like child birth, if I knew what that could possibly feel like. I had twenty ideas to start with and that confused the crap out of me. Then I narrowed it down to a half dozen and asked a few friends their thoughts and as expected I got a half dozen different answers.
I finally selected the idea I was leaning towards all along and started to write it but after about thirty pages I knew my heart wasn't in it so I put it aside and started on another idea. I was loving this story and once again, about thirty pages into it I realized, who the hell is going to want to read this? And the answer was maybe six people, so I put that aside.
I then did nothing for about a week as I pondered should I or shouldn't I do another book. Then an idea started to come into focus and I completely revamped one of my original ideas for a book into the one that I'm now writing. I started off like gangbusters on it, following my outline, until I veered into a completely different direction than I had planned and suddenly I was at a dead end.
I thought about it for a day or so and figured out how to get back on track, or at least how to get onto the new track I was headed and since then I have more or less followed my fifth outline, with the occasional swerve and quick left turn to keep me on my toes.
My test for anything I write has always been, when I go back to read it after I wrote it do I still find it interesting. If the answer is yes then I did good. If the answer is this sucks, well you know the answer to that. So far this has kept my interest so I plow ahead each day. I won't spoil it for you but it is a fiction piece that involves, long time friends, a reunion, and the NSA. How's that for vagueness?
I will tell you that writing the first book, a memoir, was much easier than writing a fiction book. My first one was following history and writing anecdotes about the times. Having to literally make up every detail is not as easy as you would think. Little things like street names, shops, secondary characters, etc. are the details you don't think about until you are in the middle of writing it and suddenly you need some names. It is a tester for sure.
Anyway, for those who have asked what I've been up to, this is your answer. For those that haven't noticed anything different, keep ignoring me. Based on my current pace I should be done writing this around Memorial Day. I will probably be done around my birthday but then my brother will take a look at it and send it back with his usual instruction, nice short story, write some more. I will then have to go back and fill in some things to expand the story and do a better job of telling the tale. Then Linda will read it and give it back to me with two hundred and forty six post-it notes with corrections and editing information that I will need to fix. Then it will be ready to be sent to an editor who will make even more corrections. Finally, I will send it off to my formatter who will put the finishing touches on it and have it ready for Amazon to print. It should be ready to hit the Amazon book section by Labor Day or more likely Halloween.
Please don't take it personally if I don't get back to you if you text or email me, it just means that I'm in a zone and am not paying attention to anything going on around me. Hang in there, I will continue to post things here as I either get pissed off or something exciting happens that I want to share. Thanks for your understanding.
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