Feeling Lightheaded

As discussed here, I've struggled with making time to write. Set time, anyway. So I've finally come up with a plan to rectify that.

Starting Sunday, I will begin waking up at 6 A.M., then sitting down to write, the old ass-in-chair (and-don't-play-World-of-Warcraft-or-surf-the-Internet) technique. It's a drastic change considering I've been a night owl, staying up until the wee hours of the morning, for the past seven years or so. But this is the best time for my writing. As much as I like the quiet of night, I think it also lulls me into a state of inaction. I'm more productive when the sun is shining and there aren't shows like Mythbusting American Loggers of the Bering Sea on TV to distract me.

I might drink tea, too. Some horror writer I am, eh?

When I attended Necon last year, I discussed the issue of finding time to write with Dan Keohane, who said he did a lot of writing on his hour lunch breaks. This is how he wrote—at least partially—his first novel, Solomon's Grave, a fantastic and highly recommended supernatural thriller akin to—and I'm sure he's sick of hearing this—Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. He also said that he posted progress updates to his blog once a week, and this helped motivate him to make those numbers continue to rise.

Good advice, I think. So I'm also going to update this old blog each week with how many words/stories/whatever I've written. Boring for you, maybe, but hopefully it'll motivate me and put me face-to-face with proof (not that I really need it) that small amounts do add up.

And we'll see how it all plays out. I'm also going to start taking cues from other writers, doing WIP Wednesdays and whatnot. Looking forward to it, actually.

How The Hell Do You Start This Thing?

I'm a struggling writer for the wrong reasons.

Any professional writer will tell you—and you may laugh because it's so obvious—that one of the most important things a writer needs to do is write. He must do it. Write every day, for thirty minutes, an hour, until you hit 2,000 words, until your fingertips bleed. Whatever works. But write every single day. Set aside a time, and when the clock strikes that allotted time, sit down and let the words flow.

Seems simple, right? Well, why the hell can't I do it? Such an easy thing to do, but I struggle with it. I live in the moment. I can't see that saving one dollar a day will equal seven dollars at the end of the week, thirty dollars at the end of the month. I see one dollar. That's it. And it seems, to me, insignificant. In my mind, I think, Hell, I'll just start putting a hundred bucks in the bank each week. Big steps! Well-intentioned, but it hardly ever happens.

I'm trying to change this way of thinking because, while it's okay to live in the moment, it's essentially self-destructive in the long run. Unless you're smart about it, which I'm clearly not, at the moment.

So what does this have to do with writing? Well, it's the same concept. I can't see that writing a thousand words a day will equal a short story at the end of the week, a novella after thirty days, a novel after six months. I see a small amount of words today. That's it. And it seems, to me, insignificant. I keep telling myself that I'll find time to sit down and churn out complete stories in one sitting. That can happen, as it did yesterday, but it's a rare occurrence and not a good way to become a successful writer on any level.

I woke early yesterday, sat down at my computer around 9:30 A.M., and about three hours later I had a complete draft at 1,700 words. An hour after that a revision at 2,000 words. And I was pumped!

Before that, I hadn't written much in way of fiction in over six months. I'd jotted some things down, done a good deal of editing, tons of reading, but the closest I came to completing a story is the one I began writing last July while vacationing in Maine. And that story—a good story, I think—is still sitting in the notebook I wrote it in, waiting to be transcribed and completed. But transcribing a page or two a day doesn't seem sensible to me. I see a day when I have the time to sit down and transcribe it all at once. Big steps!

Did I mention I wrote it last July, over eight months ago? Funny, that.

The hardest thing about this transition is finding time. The days are simply far too short—or so they seem.

So how do I find the patience to make this change? Has anyone else out there had this problem? Anyone else struggling for the wrong reasons?

Let The Music Do The Talking

At the beginning of this year I vowed to focus on buying albums by bands that I really really dig, my favorites, rather than stuff I simply want. See, I'm a hardcore music fan and want far too much. So it was an issue of need versus greed, so to speak. Not to mention progression versus poverty!

But...

Accept - The Final Chapter (2CD)
Almighty, The - Powertrippin'
Ani Difranco - Official Bootleg #12: Chicago 9.22.07
Bad Company - Burnin' Sky
Bad Company - Company Of Strangers
Bad Company - Holy Water
Bang Tango - Ain't No Jive Live (EP)
Blackwood Creek - Blackwood Creek
Brand New Sin - Distilled
Britny Fox - Long Way To Live!
Buckcherry - 15
Burning Point - Burned Down The Enemy (w/Bonus Tracks)
Chaoswave - Dead Eye Dreaming (w/Bonus Track)
Chris Robinson & The New Earth Mud - This Magnificent Distance
Constancia - Lost And Gone
D.A.D. - No Fuel Left For The Pilgrims
Dark Empire - Humanity Dethroned
Diving For Pearls - Diving For Pearls
Dogface - Unleashed
Elis - Catharsis (CD/DVD w/Bonus Tracks)
Emm Gryner - The Original Leap Year
Eric Stevenson - Dead Horse Town
Faster Pussycat - Whipped!
Fatal - The Law (EP) (Limited US Tour Edition) (Limited to 275)
Fatal Smile - Neo Natural Freaks
Fates Warning - The Spectre Within
Firebird - Grand Union
Giant - Last Of The Runaways
Great White - Great Zeppelin: A Tribute To Led Zeppelin
Hanoi Rocks - Twelves Shots On The Rocks (w/Bonus Tracks)
Harem Scarem - Higher
Headbanger - Ready To Strike (EP)
High On Fire - Snakes For The Divine
Hugo - Hugo
Humanimal - Find My Way Home (EP)
Ian Parry - Visions (w/Bonus Track)
Icarus Witch - Draw Down The Moon
Iron Fire - On The Edge
Jagged Edge U.K. - Trouble (EP)
Junk Monkeys - Five Star Fling
Kip Winger - Songs From The Ocean Floor
KMFDM - Money/Bargeld (EP)
L.A. Guns - Cuts (EP)
Las Cruces - Dusk
Last Autumn's Dream - Hunting Shadows (w/Bonus Track)
Last Autumn's Dream - Live In Germany
Lindisfarne - Blues From The Bothy (EP)
Lindisfarne - Untapped & Acoustic
Living Things - Black Skies In Broad Daylight
Loudness - Hurricane Eyes
Mantra Sect - The Brave Die Lonely (w/Bonus Track)
Mass - Crack Of Dawn (w/Bonus Track)
Mass - New Birth (Reissue w/Bonus Track)
Mass - Voices In The Night (Reissue w/Bonus Track)
Monster Voodoo Machine - Defense Mechanism (EP)
Night Ranger - Hole In The Sun (w/Bonus Tracks) (Autographed)
Night Ranger - Man In Motion
Night Ranger - Midnight Madness
Night Ranger - Neverland
Nikki Puppet - Puppet On A String
O.A.R. - Rise Or Shine (4CD)
One Day As A Lion - One Day As A Lion (EP)
Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR
Pallas - The Dreams Of Men
Pink Cream 69 - Electrified
Places Of Power - Places Of Power
Power Quest - Master Of Illusion
Priestess - Prior To The Fire (w/Bonus Tracks)
Private Line - 21st Century Pirates
Pyramaze - Melancholy Beast
Quill, The - In Triumph
Rebellion - Arise - From Ginnungagap To Ragnarok: The History Of The Vikings Vol. III
Rebellion - The Clans Are Marching (EP)
Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe 2
Rock Theatre - In Your Face
Royal Court Of China, The - Geared & Primed
Sahara Steel - Sahara Steel
Sammy Hagar - Cosmic Universal Fashion
Sammy Hagar - Marching To Mars
Sammy Hagar And The Waboritos - Red Voodoo
Secret Sphere - Heart & Anger
Shadow Keep - Chaos Theory
Shadow Keep - Corruption Within
Shannon Curfman - What You're Getting Into
Shy England - Misspent Youth
Sick Of It All - Life On The Ropes
Spade Ghetto Destruction - Spade Ghetto Destruction
Squad 21 - Skullduggery
Squealer - Made For Eternity
Stan Bush - In This Life (w/Bonus Tracks)
Steepwater Band, The - Brother To The Snake
Storm, The - Eye Of The Storm
Storm, The - The Storm
Strung Out - Prototypes And Painkillers
Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger
Survivor - Vital Signs
Talisman - Truth & Live At Sweden Rock Festival (2CD)
Ted Nugent - Love Grenade
Tempest - Tempest
Terrorvision - How To Make Friends And Influence People
Thieves & Liars - American Rock 'N' Roll
Thieves & Liars - When Dreams Become Reality
Timbercreek - Hellbound Highway
Tina Dico - Far (EP)
Venus Beads - Incision
Vindicator - The Dog Beneath The Skin (Promo CD Single)
White Skull - The XIII Skull
Widespread Panic - Earth To America
Wildhearts, The - Top Of The World (CD Single w/Non-LP Tracks)
Wilson Gil & The Willful Sinners - American Banned
Winger - Karma (w/Bonus Track)

That's 111 albums, all purchased since Jan 1, 2010. I think greed and poverty are winning.

The Moment Of Troof

As discussed here, the time has arrived. My story "By the Firelight" is live on 52 Stiches.

Be honest. Be brutal.

I'll be over here, cowering in the corner.

Honest Crap

The one and only Mercedes M. Yardley posted this here Honest Crap thing on her blog the other day. The point is to post 10 honest things about yourself. So why not? They can be entertaining. I mean, who knew Mercedes uses glitter as a seasoning just to make sanitation workers' jobs a bit brighter as they watch her sparkling chocodiles float on by? She's a fascinating humanitarian, that Mercedes.

And now it's my turn. Here are 10 absurdly true facts about me, myself, and my penis.

1. Most find it hard to believe I'm not always high, but I've never tried a single drug outside of alcohol, of which there is no kind I've ever liked.

2. I did two tours in United States Air Force, from 1995 to 2003.

3. I've been to 19 countries*, including the United States: Austria, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States.

4. I quit high school my senior year, immediately got my GED, and was in college before I would have graduated high school.

5. I began driving when I was 14 years old, and didn't get my license until I was 18.

6. I used to think Alaska was an island (see #4).

7. I like the movies Dirty Dancing and Titanic.

8. I've eaten cobra, ostrich, shark, kangaroo, alligator, and horse. Probably dog, too, while stationed in South Korea, but I can't confirm that.

9. Remember the movie Alive, where a plane crashes on a mountain and the survivors end up eating the dead people to survive? It wouldn't have taken me that long to think of eating those fuckers.

"Hey, Ken. Jimmy died last night."
"Hell yeah! Cut him up!

10. My peehole is shaped like an S.

So there's ten things about me. Not very exciting, huh? (I stole the next part from Mercedes.) Now let’s hear ten things about you! I tag YOU! Post the Honest Crap picture on your blog and dish your dirt. Be sure to drop a comment so that I know you’re doing it. I’d love to come and see what you have to say.

* Sadly, gallons of alcohol were had at some of these locations, thus wiping clean nearly all memories. A byproduct of being young and taking things for granted, I guess. I later learned the importance of cameras...

...with neck straps.