Be True To You

This is a bit of a jolt from my regular blog posts in that it has little to do with writing. Indeed, what prompted this had nothing at all to do with writing, or reading. Instead, it is about life. Just life.

An old friend texted me out of the blue the other day. Basically he told me he wanted to get his life together and figure things out. Well good for him, I thought. I believe he is soon to graduate highschool, or perhaps he may already have graduated, being homeschooled, I'm not sure.

I feel a tad hypocritical giving out advice on life, as I don't have my own life under control or understood yet, but I did my best. My advice to him was to focus on the concrete things, like saving money to buy a car, first and foremost. My reason for this, I told him, was because 'figuring out who you are' is such a nebulous, almost impossible task. I still am not sure who I am, but I feel I am closer every day to that realization.

I asked him why he wanted to change, and what he wanted to change about himself. He quoted be a "shut-in" and having "social issues" as things to change. That struck me as a bit odd.

I will tell you what I told him. Don't worry about being a "good person", as everyone's definition of "good" is different. Instead, focus on being a person YOU like. Be a person you can stand to look at in the mirror every morning. And most importantly, be a person you would like to be friends with. If you don't like you, how on earth can you expect other people to like you?

I guess there is a way I can tie this into writing.

Write What You Love

Whether you are just starting out or have multiple drafts under your belt, there's one piece of advice that can't be said enough. 

Write the book you want to read. Don't worry about trends, don't worry about fads, chances are by the time to get it finished and published, the trends will have changed. Vampires will be out of style, and choose your own adventure books will be the way to go. Don't worry about it. Don't fret. And most of all don't feel pressured to write anything that you are not in love with. 

If you like your book, readers can sense that, and your writing will be all the better for it. If you don't like your book, or the characters, readers pick up on that even faster. They will be less likely to care about your story and what is happening and if they don't care they won't read it. It's that simple. 

I read somewhere (I don't remember where) that you feel something like 10x more emotion for your characters and what is happening than the readers ever will. This is due to the fact that much is lost in the translation from your mind to paper. You will never get it said or shown exactly the way you see it. That's just a fact that all writers have to live with. But you HAVE to care. If you don't care, your readers will care even less. 

~C.R. Trumbo

Writing Goals

Optional Title: Keep Your But In The Chair

Deadline's can be seen as a dirty word. Almost as dirty as a four letter. But that's what I'm here to talk about today. So, if you don't like the word 'deadline' let's call them 'goals'.

I was speaking with Katy-Rose yesterday and she made the comment about not liking having a 78k book and an 80k one. And we got to talking about goals.

NaNoWriMo is great for writers. It gives you a Word Count goal (50k) and a Deadline (November 30). Combine those two, and it's the kick in the rear most people need to keep going. The community attitude about NaNoWriMo helps as well. You've got other writers not only doing the same thing and aiming for the same thing, but they are also their to hold you accountable.

Any WriMo does this.

But what if you don't participate in a WriMo? Or are writing outside of the boundary of a WriMo? That's okay! Set yourself a personal goal. Is that not enough? Talk to other writers, you can find them by the dozen on twitter, or troll the NaNoWriMo forum at practically any time of the year.

Talk to them, and find an accountability partner. Katy-Rose and I are keeping each other writing, because after edits we are going to exchange books and be each others first readers. I really want her to finish because I want to read it and vise-versa.

A family member is a good choice, if you have a mother such as mine. But I'm guessing few of you do. If you have someone in your family that likes to read, and they like to read what you write, tell them a bit about your book. Not all of it, mind you, just a little bit. Get them interested. And then tell them what date you would like to finish by. Normally, they will bug you and bug you and bug you about it. That's good. But I wouldn't go to a family member for a beta reader. More on that in another post.

Also! In case you haven't already seen it, I have a gadget up at the top right hand corner of my blog where I'm keeping track of my editing scene by scene. Watch as I trudge along, and don't hesitate to post a comment bugging me about it if you don't see it change often enough! You an ALL be my accountability partners!

Editing and Non-Writers

Since finishing the first draft of my novel, and letting people know, I've figured something out.

There is a big misconception about the editing process. And I think it's not just non-writers, but possibly for new writers as well. We need to clear this up RIGHT now. Whether you are just planning your novel, are currently writing it, or are already finished.

To show you what I mean, here's how quite a few conversations have gone.

Me: I finished my novel!

Them: Oh yay! Now all you have to do is proof read and-

Me: Bahahaha! No. At least the first half of my story needs a complete overhaul.

Or, alternatively.

Me: I finished my novel!

Them: Oh yay! Now all you have to do is go through, fixing small mistakes and-

Me: Bahahaha! No. I'm not even worried about spelling or grammar right now.

Get the picture?

I think this misconception can be blamed on the public school system. Yes. The public school system. In school, "editing" a paper WAS just reading through, catching small grammatical errors and spelling errors. That is what people define editing is. It's not. That, my friends, is proofreading, or line reading. However you want to define it.

Editing, especially the first few rounds of editing, is for CONTENT. Does the story progress smoothly? Does it make sense? Are there any extraneous characters? Plots? Red herrings that are never followed?

Though, don't get me wrong, editing for content isn't the ONLY means of editing, but if this is your first draft, it's the only one you should be worried about.

Six Sentences Sunday Seven

Okay, so last week, I found out where Six Sentences originated from and apparently last week was the last. So, well that doesn't really affect me, does it?

Just know that this is an unofficial Six Sentences and is in no way connected to SixSunday.com I am not trying to rip off their idea or anything, I am merely using it as a means to share snippets of my work.

However, I have no ideas what else to call it. Perhaps Short Snippet Sunday? Beginning next week, I shall call it that. Perhaps.

Anywho! The snippet this week is from my (now finished) Mortality. Fight scene!

“What? Don’t you want to win? Why aren’t you taking this-” Damon dodged another swipe, but he didn’t get far enough, Damien grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him against the wall. “-seriously?” 

Damon heard a roaring in his ears and a pounding in his head. It wasn’t being thrown into the wall that caused it, either. Damon saw red, pain and heat spread from his center to the ends of his fingers and toes, and rational thought ceased. 

That's a nice little piece, isn't it?

Happy Sunday All!

The End of the Night, a Short Story

Okay, I was going to do a second introduction post of Amaya, but I think she handled that rather well on her own, as well as already having an About Her page set up, so I don't need to.

But I didn't really have a post set up and ready for today. As I thought, I remembered a short story I wrote last years for a writing/critique group I was a part of down in Texas. Yes, I worked in fast food at the time, and no, I never imagined doing the following to any customer. I'm a complete angel. *malicious grin* *evil hand rub*

The title of this short story, as you have quite probably gathered, is The End of the Night.

It's nearly midnight. The end of my shift and this tub of lard in front of me has changed his mind for the third time. It's hard to refrain myself from telling him to just order all three, because he's eating himself into an early grave anyway. But I don't. Management tends to frown on that.  

He's changing his mind again, and the last of patience has gone out the window. I finger the pen in my pocket and examine the walking heart attack standing there. He has no idea the wrath he's about to incur. Taking the pen out of my pocket, it's surprisingly easy to pretend about his changing order.  

Wait, that's not right, either. He's changing it again. That's it. Lunging across the counter, the pen sinks into the fleshy part of his neck like a fork through jell-o. The carotid artery is severed and the spray of blood covers my chest, face, and arms. I take a deep breath and stand. 

Everyone is staring. No one has moved or said anything, though. There is no reaction at all. Wiping my hands on my pants, I walk calmly around the counter, clock out, and leave. My car starts smoothly for once. Every light is green as I pass. Tonight's a good night. Gathering my stuff from the trunk, I head around the back of this beaten up duplex and kick the back door open because my hands are full.  

A chorus of voices greets me as I step into the poorly it basement. As we pull out our papers and prepare to pick up the game from where we left off last wee, Alex looks at me.  

"How was work?" 

I look down briefly at my unstained hands and clean conscience.  

"Oh, you know. Same old."

Written by: C.R. Trumbo
25/4/2012
302 words

Just Another Beginning

This may come off a bit writer-ish, but it's just my style sometimes. Teehee.

We all start things, all the time. And I believe this is just another beginning for me, one that I plan to pursue.

This time, I have decided to begin on creating new things and seeing how far I can stretch my imagination, within my ability, of course. This led me to the idea of beadwork. While I have yet to find it quite as captivating and expressive as drawing, I believe that I can find a way to capture one's own personality into the art, and then be able to hand them that captured work.

Most jewelry and other accessories are just something we see and think is neat. Sure, a lot of it can have some meaning, but personally I would love to have something that can actually express what I believe in, what I feel.

Cultured to your specific taste, I can make you nearly anything that you can come up with. I've taken it on as my own sort of mission, to create for you something that clearly expresses the person that you are.

The End of a Journey

I begin this post by apologizing for the past two non post days.

Yesterday I woke up feeling sick and light headed to the point every time I stood I felt as though I would fall right back over again, and barely had the strength to hold my head up for long periods of time. I was awake for about two hours before I told a coworker I would not make it in to work. There was no way I could do manual labor in that state.

The day before yesterday, which would be the 30, I meant to write up a blog post for the 31, but I was eyeball deep in writing. Which brings me to the purpose of this post.

*deep breath* I. Finished. Mortality.

It's only draft one, but I finally did it. I've been working on Mortality on and off for ten years, and that is WAY too long to be working on something like that. I know that now, and it will never take me that long to finish something again.

But give me some credit, I was around the age of nine or ten when I first hatched upon the idea and started writing. I stuck with it for that long, it's kind of sad to see the end come.

However, whether it's the first draft of your first novel, or the first draft of your tenth, it's only the end of the beginning. After the first draft, comes editing.

I was going to begin my own editing yesterday after I finished changing my (flat) tire, but I decided after my shower that I was too tired to stand, much less look critically at my book. I went to bed. And woke up sick as mentioned above.

Now, however, I am feeling somewhat better, meaning I don't feel as though I am going to pass out any time soon. I plan on diving right into editing after only a days rest from it merely because I can't stand to wait!

This is a good feeling, one I hope every writer will persevere until they finally feel it as well.

I now can call myself an author, and not just a writer.