I never got around to doing my weekly update on Friday. So here it is: I made it through several pages on story #1. I'm starting to get rolling on it. At least I was. Then I really got into reading The Stand again. Dang you Stephen King! He's my greatest inspiration and my greatest impediment at the moment. His book, On Writing, is a wonderful read and a must for any Stephen King fan with any hint of writing aspiration. It's about time to reread it. As soon as I get through The Stand, which at my current pace, should be in about two weeks.
Most of the writing I've been doing lately as been accomplished while I'm outside grilling. But I can only get a page or two done before I'm done grilling and it's time to eat. I think I'm going to have to go back to writing while the munchkin watches his cartoons. That seemed to work pretty well. Sometimes he'll let me write while he's playing outside. But mostly he wants me to play with him. And who can say no to an adorable almost three-year-old?
Weeks 11-12
With last week being the holiday, I took a break from updating my loyal readers. Not that I have any loyal readers at this point. Still haven't gotten the first comment on my blog posts. But that's neither here nor there. I'm not really writing this for anyone else other than me. If someone else likes what I've written or if something I've written has helped someone in their writing, that's great. But the main reason I'm doing this is to track my writing time and production.
That being said, I started out last week doing pretty well. I worked on my story some, got a few pages in, and then remembered a research book that I bought several years ago. I think I'm going to have to do some reading in this before I can move on with the story. Then the weekend hit. With family in for a visit and a trip to the zoo, I didn't get much done. And now I turn around and it's already Friday. I didn't write diddly on my story this week. I did get some work related writing in though, so that's always good. I'm going to try to get to that research this weekend. I'm getting close to the end of The Stand. It's taken me much shorter to read it this time than last. Of course the last time I read it, I was a sophomore in high school.
Week 13
Ah, lucky 13. It's been an interesting week. I haven't touched my fiction this week. I've looked at the book I mentioned in my last update, but I haven't read anything in it. I'm less than 200 pages away from finishing The Stand. Once I'm done with it, I'm sure I'll get back to my fiction. I'm itching to finish something. I just don't know how I'm going to get it done.
I have done some writing this week though. I was accepted as a writer for Examiner.com. I'll be writing about fatherhood focusing on Franklin County. I plan to write about what I know, which isn't much. But I hope my experience will help another father out there. You can check it out here.
Week 14
This is the second week I've been away from my fiction, but it was a busy week at work with a little opportunity to write a couple of letters and other little things
I also wrote a new article for my Examiner.com page. You can check it out here. I'm told it is rather funny. I'm hoping to get a couple more articles loaded over the weekend. I'm really enjoying this, even if I've only made 50 cents in the nearly two weeks since I set it up. I guess it's a good think I still have a real job.
I'm on vacation this week, so I'm hoping to get some good writing time in while we travel to see the families. We'll see how that works out.
I did finish the stand last weekend, but I think I may have made a mistake. Instead of throwing myself into my writing, I picked up The Gunslinger. It's only 220 some odd pages, but it's the beginning of a four book series, and each subsequent book is thicker and thicker than the last. Oh well, it's good reading. Got to love Stephen King.
Weeks 15-16
Wow. It's been 16 weeks since I started this. I really need to get busy and get something done. I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. I think my problem is that I try to just write when I have a few minutes. If I blocked out time, that might be a way to get more done on my writing. Most of the last few weeks, I've been writing as I grill up dinner. But that only lasts a few minutes, and I have to stop and check the food on the grill. All those stops and starts don't work.
I didn't update last week because there wasn't much to update. I was on vacation, travelling to see the family, and I blinked and it was over. I did get one Examiner article written last week and one this week. I'm going to post the second one today or tomorrow.
My goal for this weekend is to block out an hour on both days to write on my fiction. I really want to get one of them to the point where I can start the publishing process. Of course I have no idea how to begin, but I'm sure I can find someone who does know.