Category Archives: Writing

The Sacrifice of Mendleson Mooney, Writing

10 Day Novel Challenge

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Starting tomorrow morning, I am going to go internet dark for ten days, except for a couple things. I will check support email for StoryBox at the end of the day, at which time I will also update the progress bar on the new project that you can see listed to the right.

I am going to spend the next 10 days writing The Sacrifice of Mendleson Mooney. “Ten days?” you ask. “That’s crazy!” you say.

Yup, ten days. And it’s not as crazy as you think. While I’m writing, I typically average about 750 words an hour. I typically sit at my computer for ten hours a day, too. I spend a great deal of that time reading the news, answering email, talking with friends (which wastes not just my time, but my friend’s time) and reading all sorts of things about writing. I’m just wondering, what if I spent ALL that time writing? What could I get done?

There are countless writers who have written books in short periods of time. Some of the most beloved books in history were written in a near blink of an eye. I read a book recently, Afterthoughts by Lawrence Block. In it, he describes, several times, writing books in anywhere between a week and a month. I wondered if I could do that.

Combine wondering what I could get done if I just wrote with wondering if I could emulate Lawrence Block in some fashion, and I end up here, at the beginning of a challenge. Write a complete novel in ten days.

I think I can do it. I have the plot mostly fleshed out. The cast of characters is set. I know (unlike some of my other works) where this one is going. If only I can keep my kids out of my office. Ideally, I’d go to some remote location and try this, but I don’t have the money.

Here I go, head down. See you in ten days.

Questioner's Shadow, Writing

Questioner’s Shadow Draft Done

So, my edit of Questioner’s Shadow is finally done. Editing my work is not my favorite thing to do, but I think the effort improved it.

Here’s the tagline that will be on the front cover:

A fugitive with a dangerous secret discovers a town suffering unbelievable horror.

Now, it goes off to beta readers, at which point, I find out whether or not I managed to create a decent story. While I’m waiting, I’m going to try to bust out the first draft of another book.

Fragments, Questioner's Shadow, Writing

Questioner’s Shadow Draft Finished!

With 4200 words today, I tagged the end on to Questioner’s Shadow. It feels good to have it in the bag. For the past three weeks, I’ve wondered if I’d get there, and now, I’m there.

You’ll notice, if you were playing along at home, that it’s a little shorter than the length I’d estimated, but the target numbers on the progress bar are always a guess. I’m not writing to a length. I’m trying to guess the size of the story from some very fudgy data. The fact that I came within 1500 words is awesome to me.

What’s next?

It’ll sit alone in the StoryBox kettle for a couple weeks to cure, and then I’ll pull it out and start working it into shape, adding whatever I missed, and basically trying to sort out any really egregious errors. Then, I’ll send it to my readers, and a month later, they’ll return it with all my failings pointed out. I’ll fix the problems they show me, and then I’ll work on publishing it. If all goes well, a few months from now, you’ll be able to read it in its final form.

During that time, I’ll be working on the draft of Fragments – the second book of A Wizard’s Work. I’m excited to get to work on it.

Now, off to watch a movie or something and relax.

Questioner's Shadow, Shattered, Writing

Shattered Paperback Now at Amazon!

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Now you can get the Shattered paperback from Amazon.

I don’t have much else to say today because I have to go get some tires changed, but you can see that I’m making progress on Questioner’s Shadow. I started Act 3 yesterday. It’s all downhill from here, I hope.

What that means is that I get to start on Fragments, the sequel to Shattered, soon. Maybe early June.

Off to get the tires changed.