Monday, January 30
Chapters Two and Three
I spent a bit more than four hours over the weekend (while waiting for the kids) at Margie's Java Joint in Greeley and the Cheyenne, Wyo., Public Library editing chapters two and three of my last year's NaNoWriMo novel. After Saturday's effort, I was sky high thinking "I've done it, I've finally done it" and there's no freaking doubt that I am working on The Great American Novel (no mid list delusions for me, I dream b i g ). After Sunday's longer effort, I was like, "ick. What am I thinking?" That's partly because last November I was writing the novel in a different way for me, outlining very heavily then skipping around, writing in an often nonlinear manner, and Sunday I started to see first hand the messy result of some of that. Still, I think it's saveable if not publishable.
So, I'll stick with it, and I now have 40 pages of pretty clean copy that I'm pleased with, and another 50 pages to edit and probably another 80-100 pages after that to still write (which pages exist currently in outline form, so I know [I think] what's coming).
So, I'll stick with it, and I now have 40 pages of pretty clean copy that I'm pleased with, and another 50 pages to edit and probably another 80-100 pages after that to still write (which pages exist currently in outline form, so I know [I think] what's coming).
Sunday, January 29
An inspiring tale
Max Berry "wrote his first novel, Syrup, one 40-minute lunch break at a time." I've read Jennifer Government and liked it quite a bit. I'll have to go find his new novel.
Tuesday, January 24
Celebrate
Well, the run behind me, I can report what I thought about the whole time while out there in the warmish 50 degree dusk: success. The year is about 5 percent over, I figure, and I'm happy to report I'm still on pace to make all my writing goals for the year. I've got a couple of short stories mostly finished, I've worked on the novel a bit (with locked in plans to work about six hours on it this weekend when I drive the kids up to Cheyenne for a Unitarian age-appropriate youth group human sexuality class) and I'm on pace to spend much of February sending out stories to small magazines. See? Progress. And success. Celebrate!
January on the Edge of Nowhere
Just back in from a sublime dusk run here on the Edge. An easy, loping three-miler with Westley pulling at the leash for the first mile, the rosy sky drifting west over the snowy mountain tops, a midnight blue flowing in behind. Down to the creek about a mile west of us, stopping once to pull a fistfull of cockleburs from Westley's paws, the air colder down there in the draw. Badly Drawn Boy, acoustic Billy Bragg and a couple Flogging Molly tunes to keep the pace up. Both Dippers light up as darkness spreads, and Orion rises up off the high prairie. Nothing like a bit of exercise to put you in a good mood; well, I guess I don't know about you, but nothing like a good bit of exercise to put me in a good mood.
Friday, January 20
Reading
I've read four (three and a half, if you want to get calendar technical on me) quality and amusing books so far this year:
- Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
- Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace
- Mission to America by Walter Kirn, and
- The Pirates! In an adventure with Scientists by Gideon Defoe.
If I had to pick a literary career to copy, right now today I'd trade Nick Hornby's for Walter Kirn's. But I don't have to, because I'm pursuing my very own one-of-a-kind literary career in my own voice. So nevermind. Still, you can't go wrong with the above books.
- Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
- Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace
- Mission to America by Walter Kirn, and
- The Pirates! In an adventure with Scientists by Gideon Defoe.
If I had to pick a literary career to copy, right now today I'd trade Nick Hornby's for Walter Kirn's. But I don't have to, because I'm pursuing my very own one-of-a-kind literary career in my own voice. So nevermind. Still, you can't go wrong with the above books.
Home again
Back home on the edge of nowhere after spending the most of three days earlier this week down in Arizona on business. The highlight was getting to hang out for a wihle with Jeff, Mr. 100 year picnic and getting a listen to his new song. So I haven't been able to write or work much this week on things besides, well, work. I guess that's all I've got to say this morning.
Wednesday, January 11
Two and four stories
I've written 2 and 4 short stories over the past three weeks, kind of at the prodding advice of Jeff who challenged me to finish something (just as he plans to finish an album this year) because I was whining about not ever finishing a project, me being too much in love with the process but avoiding the hard work of the completion.
So I've written two complete stories -- one about 3200 words, the other on the shallow side above 5,000 -- and have four other stories -- well two of them are closer to sketches than stories, I suppose -- that are in various stages, each well over 3,000 words. I've also edited the first chapter (as noted below) of the '05 NaNoNovel and done a few passes over the second chapter. All involve people who live in and around Utopia and work for All Seasons Financial, the home of so many of my stories.
In other words, I would rate the first 11 days of 2006 a success on the fiction front. I'm happy with what I've accomplished, which if you know me is a rare state of mind for me. So. There you go.
So I've written two complete stories -- one about 3200 words, the other on the shallow side above 5,000 -- and have four other stories -- well two of them are closer to sketches than stories, I suppose -- that are in various stages, each well over 3,000 words. I've also edited the first chapter (as noted below) of the '05 NaNoNovel and done a few passes over the second chapter. All involve people who live in and around Utopia and work for All Seasons Financial, the home of so many of my stories.
In other words, I would rate the first 11 days of 2006 a success on the fiction front. I'm happy with what I've accomplished, which if you know me is a rare state of mind for me. So. There you go.
Tuesday, January 3
Chapter 1
The first chapter of the new year, and I was able to spend about an hour giving a final edit to the first chapter of last year's NaNo novel. I also wrote the first 3000 words or so of a short story. (And, for the record, I wrote the first big chunks of two other short stories last week.) I'm happy to report progress.
Sunday, January 1
The best of 2005
Now, remember, your correspondent lives on the edge of nowhere, so his access (particularly to movies and live music) is fairly mainstream and limited. With that caveat, here's my rankings of the top five of 2005:
Movies: A year of big events and fairly high expectations and for once I must say I wasn't disappointed by any of the movies I saw: Wallace & Grommit; Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, King Kong, Harry Potter & the Fourth Film; Star Wars Ep III. I even liked The Hitchhikers Guide the Galaxy. I'll add to this list the eight or nine snippets of work by my son.
Concerts: Again, we didn't see that many. Topping my list is the dozen or so times we saw our son and the 6 or 8 times we saw our daughter perform. Beyond those 20 concerts, however, here's the Top Five (well, the only 5 we saw) concerts we saw last year: Green Day, Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing Trio, Jimmy Eat World, Bobby McFerrin, , Bela Fleck and Edger Meyer and several jazz concerts by a local outfit featuring Dana Landry, Eric Applegate and Jim White out of Greeley and their friends
Television: The Office and My Name is Earl are the only two newish shows I watched. Otherwise, enjoyed Curb Your Enthuiasm, the Simpsons, Most Extreme Elimination and, of course, laughed too much at funny home videos.
Dog shows (as if anyone but I care): We hit the dog show circuit with Westley for the first time, and these were the five best: Greeley, Kansas City, Brighton, Denver and Fort Collins.
Local restaurants: I found myself eating out most often at Daz Bog, the Border's Cafe, Abo's, Qdoba, Red Robin and Noodles. Remember, I live on the edge of nowhere with two teen-agers. It shapes everything.
Movies: A year of big events and fairly high expectations and for once I must say I wasn't disappointed by any of the movies I saw: Wallace & Grommit; Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, King Kong, Harry Potter & the Fourth Film; Star Wars Ep III. I even liked The Hitchhikers Guide the Galaxy. I'll add to this list the eight or nine snippets of work by my son.
Concerts: Again, we didn't see that many. Topping my list is the dozen or so times we saw our son and the 6 or 8 times we saw our daughter perform. Beyond those 20 concerts, however, here's the Top Five (well, the only 5 we saw) concerts we saw last year: Green Day, Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing Trio, Jimmy Eat World, Bobby McFerrin, , Bela Fleck and Edger Meyer and several jazz concerts by a local outfit featuring Dana Landry, Eric Applegate and Jim White out of Greeley and their friends
Television: The Office and My Name is Earl are the only two newish shows I watched. Otherwise, enjoyed Curb Your Enthuiasm, the Simpsons, Most Extreme Elimination and, of course, laughed too much at funny home videos.
Books: This one's harder, because I didn't read too many new releases, and of course reading is so personal. But here (I think, at least for today, this moment) are the best books I ready last year, in random order: U & I by Nicholson Baker; Chronicles by Bob Dylan, The Twenty-seventh City by Jonathan Franzen, Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer and The Diviners by Rick Moody. I read several Baker books, and I liked 'em all, but none stands out more than this one for me. Dylan's a good storyteller and he was certainly there in the middle of it all. Franzen's book may have been the best one I read, most complete and lacking in any caveats. I like two-thirds of Foer's book an awful lot, but I want to scan other parts (disclosure: I started reading this in April from the library, and quit in one of the (to me) boring sections; then I bought a paperback on the 3 for 2 table at Borders in mid-summer, and last week started reading it again so I'm not quite finished yet....). And I really liked the ambition in Moody's book, but it took me almost three months to read it because I kept putting it down, so it hads its problems.
Trips: Norway. Nothing else we did compares to nearly three weeks in Norway, not the weekend drive to Kansas City for a dog show, not the three business trips to Arizona, not the trip to Ohio for my aunt's memorial service and not the day trips to the mountains or Denver, not even the Pikes Peaks Writer's Conference last April.
Dog shows (as if anyone but I care): We hit the dog show circuit with Westley for the first time, and these were the five best: Greeley, Kansas City, Brighton, Denver and Fort Collins.
Local restaurants: I found myself eating out most often at Daz Bog, the Border's Cafe, Abo's, Qdoba, Red Robin and Noodles. Remember, I live on the edge of nowhere with two teen-agers. It shapes everything.
