Category: Writing

Once upon a time

Once upon a time I called myself a writer. That was 2 years ago now. I wrote a bunch of short stories, two of which were published; the rest of them were not. I wrote one first draft of a novel based on Star Trek. I wrote a second novel in a world of my own invention. And rewrote, and rewrote, and rewrote.
My inability to wrap up my second novel to my satisfaction and my waning enthusiasm for short stories, combined with the demands of my family life and my so called career led me to put aside writing.
I figured I should concentrate on what paid the bills; my job. And on my family.
Now I find I need a creative outlet, which my job doesn’t provide. It’s time to get back on the horse and see if I still know how to ride.

So, the writing

Writing this past few months has been terrible. I could blame my job, for which I spent 2009 managing a team of writers and carrying twice the number of duties; or I could say I had to spend more time with my family because of our infant daughter (now a toddler). In the end though, I just hit a lack of motivation.

I spent much of the year thinking what I should write. I’ve grown tired of the never-ending novel; who wouldn’t? And short stories aren’t really doing anything for me.

I think then that it’s time to try something new.

Over two straight weeks of productivity

I’ve just passed two straight weeks of writing. I’ve managed to get at least some time each day to either edit a short story, or write a bit more toward my novel.

I’m hoping to keep up the pace, although part of it has been to dominate the leader-board on the writing tracking site I use with three other writers. Unfortunately it hasn’t been a production year so far for any of us.

And I’m hoping to pick up the pace here on the blog. I should be able to post something at least every other day, even if it’s not very long. But then who wants to read really long blog posts?

He’s not dead yet

From the web site I use to track my writing progress, my output graph lately looks like a patient about to give up the ghost. I’ve only managed to get a hundred or so words once or twice a week for the past few months.

But things are looking up! The patient isn’t dead yet. In fact, that pulse-like graph should be seeing more frequent and stronger spikes soon.

My new daughter is now starting to sleep through the night. And the big project I have going at work is over in a few weeks. So all signs point to me writing more again soon.

Bam!

Story gets rejected, story gets sent out again. A three day turnaround on getting “By the Side of the Road” out to the next market is pretty close to my record time. Of course half an hour is theoretically possible, but let’s not go crazy.