So, what now...

Now that the editing of Marton Syan is done, I'm left in something of a state of flux. I'm waiting for people to get back to me on critiques of the MS manuscript, something that I'm absolutely dying to see. I'm also ready to move on. Very much so.

I've so far written three novels. The first one might as well not count, though I'll dust it off one day. The other two are good, and they get better one after the other, but they're very serious and full of nuance and characters dealing with life and whatnot.

All in all, what could be considered 'boring literary stuff'.

I don't think it is. In fact, I LOVE the stuff that most people call 'boring literary stuff'. But I can't make a living writing that. Not unless I also write it with all the aplomb and finesse of someone who can make prose sing. Someone both brilliant and witty.

Someone like Tom Robbins.

My next novel, which I'm still not 100% ready to spill the beans on, is my attempt at a Tom Robbins-like novel, through the skein of me being me and having to do things my own way. It's not anything like a Robbins novel, but if I could write with 1/10th of the skill he puts into every sentence, I'd consider myself a victor.

Of course, I write 5x faster than he does (seriously, the man claims he aims for two pages a day). And he's been doing it forever. And he's a genius. But I want to write like that. So it's the high water mark of the moment.

Anyway, this next book is a bit of a stretch for me. It's light-hearted (sorta) and funny (supposedly). It's tongue-in-cheek and seat of the pants. It's full of piss and vinegar in the best way.

It's also absolutely terrifying to think about.

I'm feeling very lost with this one. Drama is easy, comedy is hard. But I'm going to go for it. I consider this an expansion project. Even if it bombs, it'll be a learning experience. I'm just not sure how far down the rabbit hole I'm going to go with it, or how long it'll take me. If it ends up taking longer than the expected two months, I'd be okay with that, so long as the end result is worth it.

I'll post up a plot synopsis as soon as I have ... a plot. I have a half-cooked idea and an opening chapter that I adore, but right now I'm sitting on chapter two wondering how my opening sentence took a brilliant book and drove it striaght into the ground. Such is the life.

This one's going to be a fight.

If I win, expect something amazing.

If I lose, expect me complaining about the book that never was.

I will spill the title, though. The next book is going to be called Tango Diagonal.

Off the Cuff

At work. I should keep my mouth shut.

me:Gary Gygax is dead. Who gets the exp?

Anthony: OMG
that is by far the single most...
i dont have a word for it
what happens when your jaw drops in shock but you have the overwhelming urge to roflmao at the same time, so you just end up breaking even?

me: Haha. I don't know, but I'm pleased.

Anthony: seriously, there needs to be a word
i've never been blasted into emotional neutrality so succinctly

me: Flabbergasted.

Anthony: that's probably it

me: We could make up a word.
Dumbfounded
Stupified.

Anthony: those aren't made up

me: No, those were real suggestions.

Anthony: quelligied

me: Quelligied?

Anthony: quell-ig-eed
quell-IG-eed
that's the new adjective

me: Okay.

Anthony: "Man, that joke quelligied his mom!"

me: That's what she said.

Anywho. I give you quelligied.

State of Blog (ver 1.2) Dry Spells and Priorities

I said that I would be doing periodic updates on the state of the blog, and I’m doing so in accordance with that. But first, a bit of an apology.

I’m bad about updating my blog regularly. That doesn’t mean that I’m abandoning it, or anything remotely like that. In fact, I plan to have this blog for a long, long time. Years upon years. It might eventually morph into a proper website, but it’ll still be here in some form or another.

Yet, lately I’ve been blogging less and less. Partially, I’ve been busier. Full-on editing mode took lots out of me, and I have other things I’ve been pursuing and other dalliances that have build up (friends convinced me to start watching TV shows, which is a bad bad idea when it comes to me being motivated).

Now the editing’s done and I’ll be moving on to another novel. I still don’t feel the desire to write any great articles on here. The problem is knowing what to say and how to say it. Lately I’ve felt the demands of ‘becoming better’ more keenly than before. Going through and looking at what I thought was decent work and seeing how much it lacked has driven me to improve my efforts on the novelling front. That said, I don’t really feel like spending time here, aside from the odd rant or jotting or whathaveyou.

I have a few things up and coming. The most important thing is the next novel, which I’ll start work on tonight. I will go ahead and set my word count expectation at 100000 words again, since that seems to be my standard. I’m actually guessing this one to come in at about 75,000. Just in terms of content being a lot more sparse than my usually densely narrated novels.

We’ll see. Once I’m comfortable the plan is working, I’ll throw up a plot description and title. It’s a great idea, I think. Maybe I’ll even put up an excerpt or two. This’ll be the first time I write a novel while blogging, so there are a lot of possibilities if I choose to explore them. I don’t know if I will or not. There are lot of things I could do with this blog. So many directions, and I’m only one person with a very limited amount of time and energy.

Word count goals for daily writing: 3000 words (settle for 2k), off Wednesday and maybe Friday

And it's done!

This morning I finished my second draft of Marton Syan. The final word count, a neat 15,000 words less than when I started, can be found on the right for a little while longer until I take the bar down for a new one.

The book is off to my initial readers now, where they'll look it over and tell me what I missed or did wrong. Later, in the summer, I'll gather their opinions and give it another go. For now, I'm willing to bask in life without Marton Syan hanging over my head for a little while.

I have other updates forthcoming, including the next book I'll be starting work on come today or tomorrow. I'm very excited about this one, even if I'm very unsure of how it's going to go. It's much different than my usual work.

Until then, celebration!