As I briefly mentioned in my last post, I did get a job in Southern Nevada, and now my summer job fighting wildfires has started. The temptation for me (and, I suspect, for many writers) would be to say "Well, I'm busy now, I guess I'll just have to write on my days off." The problem with a job like wild land firefighting is that there's no guarantee I'll get my days off. And even if I did, that's only two days out of the week for writing. And let's face it, that sort of progress would be dismally slow if I'm serious about getting books published.
So now, perhaps more than ever, it's time for me to get serious and put the writer's age-old adage into practice: "If you want to write, you've got to MAKE the time to write."
I'll be pulling eight hour days, five days a week, and if there are fires going on, I could be working as much as sixteen hours a day. In addition, I'll be spending all of my work days out in the woods in a cabin where there is no internet and the electricity is less than stable. My intent is to take my laptop out there with me and to keep working on Kricket and TSS, regardless of the situation. I plan on writing at least 1,000 words a day, except maybe on those 16-hour days (I'll need that sleep if I'm actively fighting fires). Now, planning is all well and good, but only time will tell if I can maintain my current momentum (which actually isn't all that fast right now). It's time to test my dedication to writing.
Once I transition to the other job in Southern Nevada after the fire season, I will have more regular days off (possibly as many as three a week), and it should be easier to maintain a writing schedule. Again, time will tell.
For now, Kricket's Song is progressing nicely. I reached the official 1/3 complete mark a couple of days ago. I believe it's turning out to be a fairly clean manuscript, which means at this point I don't see myself having to go back and do a lot of rewrites on it. But, that may change once I get the first draft completed and some beta readers get their hooks into it. Right now, I'm just taking it one thing at a time, and I have to get the first draft finished first. I started Chapter 11 last night; I don't know how many chapters there will end up being, but I've been pleased with the progress, especially considering all the traveling I've been doing on top of looking for work and graduating college.
As for The Serenity Solution, I've finally got a bit of progress to report on that. Following what seems to be the very successful formula for Kricket, I wrote out some detailed biographies for the main and major secondary characters for the book, just so that I have them firmly in mind when I start the rewrite. The next step is to outline the overall plot, and hopefully keep it from being too ambitious as was the last attempt. Then I'll start doing detailed outlines of a couple of chapters at a time, and it will then be time to actually start writing. I know it seems like a very structured system, but so far, that seems to be the way I work best. Once I get my skills polished up a lot more, maybe I can be more lax on the structure.
For "Exequies" and the Writers of the Future Contest, I honestly have no idea what's going on. I thought they were judging Q2 for 2011 in which the story was entered, but looking at their site, it would appear they have just finished awarding the winners for Q1. So...who knows when something will happen with that. It appears they may be a bit behind schedule right now. That's fine, I've got plenty of other stuff to be working on with Kricket and TSS.
That's about it for now. Thanks for reading!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
The Kricket Project, Part 5
Let's roll into the last of the cast from Kricket's Song, and then I'll move on to the other news related to my life as it impacts my writing.
Matroyna Demochev (Mattie): Crime Boss Lady. Mattie runs the underground smuggling and criminal ring in Gryphon's Reach, a floating city where the Guv has very little control over the people. Mattie is Katerina Kroichev's mother, but she took back her maiden name after leaving her husband, the Vice Minister of Defense for the Guv. Mattie, like her daughter, can be very controlling and manipulative, although in general, she has a good heart. She's like a mother to everyone she considers a friend, but is capable of shocking brutality if she feels someone is endangering her friends or her "business" interests.
When Katerina's clues lead Jonah and his friends through Mattie's domain, the Matushka takes it upon herself to thoroughly vet them and their motives for looking for her daughter. The Guv may be dangerous, but there's nothing as deadly as a mother protecting her child!
Admiral Evander Greystache: Legendary hero. Admiral Greystache is the Guv Navy Officer responsible for the destruction of the fleet that belong to the infamous pirate captain Morrigan. He captured the hearts and minds of the populace after that heroic battle, and he seemed to be the Guv's perfect poster child. But only a few years after that battle, Greystache retired from the Navy, and led an expedition into unknown lands, apparently seeking a fable floating city. His entire expedition disappeared and was never heard from again...
Until now.
Okay, that's it on character. I was going to add another one, but as the story has progressed, it seems more and more likely that he will play a background role. He may not even show up at all, though his influence will certainly be felt. If you've been keeping an eye on my progress meter to the right, you can see that - when I get a chance to write - Kricket's Song has been moving along nicely.
So that leads me on to the other parts of my life that affect my writing. I'm happy to report that I've successfully gotten that job I was working for, and I should now be gainfully employed for the majority of the year, with a relatively flexible schedule. This may, I repeat may, prove to be very good for my writing. We'll have to see, as I don't actually start that job until late August. I'll be doing firefighting for the summer, as I have been the last two summers, which can be rough on writing. However, I intend to make a concerted effort to continue making forward progress on Kricket and my other projects.
I still haven't heard anything on "Exequies," although they are now apparently working on judging the quarter in which I entered it. So hopefully, I'll hear something soon.
More as it happens. Thanks for reading!
Matroyna Demochev (Mattie): Crime Boss Lady. Mattie runs the underground smuggling and criminal ring in Gryphon's Reach, a floating city where the Guv has very little control over the people. Mattie is Katerina Kroichev's mother, but she took back her maiden name after leaving her husband, the Vice Minister of Defense for the Guv. Mattie, like her daughter, can be very controlling and manipulative, although in general, she has a good heart. She's like a mother to everyone she considers a friend, but is capable of shocking brutality if she feels someone is endangering her friends or her "business" interests.
When Katerina's clues lead Jonah and his friends through Mattie's domain, the Matushka takes it upon herself to thoroughly vet them and their motives for looking for her daughter. The Guv may be dangerous, but there's nothing as deadly as a mother protecting her child!
Admiral Evander Greystache: Legendary hero. Admiral Greystache is the Guv Navy Officer responsible for the destruction of the fleet that belong to the infamous pirate captain Morrigan. He captured the hearts and minds of the populace after that heroic battle, and he seemed to be the Guv's perfect poster child. But only a few years after that battle, Greystache retired from the Navy, and led an expedition into unknown lands, apparently seeking a fable floating city. His entire expedition disappeared and was never heard from again...
Until now.
Okay, that's it on character. I was going to add another one, but as the story has progressed, it seems more and more likely that he will play a background role. He may not even show up at all, though his influence will certainly be felt. If you've been keeping an eye on my progress meter to the right, you can see that - when I get a chance to write - Kricket's Song has been moving along nicely.
So that leads me on to the other parts of my life that affect my writing. I'm happy to report that I've successfully gotten that job I was working for, and I should now be gainfully employed for the majority of the year, with a relatively flexible schedule. This may, I repeat may, prove to be very good for my writing. We'll have to see, as I don't actually start that job until late August. I'll be doing firefighting for the summer, as I have been the last two summers, which can be rough on writing. However, I intend to make a concerted effort to continue making forward progress on Kricket and my other projects.
I still haven't heard anything on "Exequies," although they are now apparently working on judging the quarter in which I entered it. So hopefully, I'll hear something soon.
More as it happens. Thanks for reading!
Monday, May 23, 2011
The Kricket Project, Part 4
I finally made it back home, after what amounted to almost a week and a half between school in Texas and Oregon, where I permanently live (for now anyway). There's more news, but first, let me continue the Kricket Project by posting a few more character bios.
The Boostmeister: Kricket's booster tech. The Boostmeister is a rather strange fellow. He's extremely short, almost dwarfish, and seems to be getting well along in years. He's still spry, however. He's fairly crazy, possibly schizophrenic, though it usually doesn't interfere with his job. His sole purpose on the Kricket is to maintain and operate the ship's boosters, which give her a sudden, temporary burst of speed when normal steam power isn't enough to outrun an enemy. The boosters are dangerous devices, and the Boostmeister always wears goggles, gloves, and protective leather clothing to guard him from the showers of sparks and flames the boosters are prone to emit.
Boostmeister's motivations are simple: he lives solely to make Kricket fly like the wind. He spends all his free time working on the boosters, which means sometimes they don't work like they should - or at all. He seems to have deigned that his current location is good enough for one of his talents, though it's uncertain what he's really attached to: the crew, or Kricket and her highly illegal, mind-bogglingly fast boosters.
Ricky-Tick: Kricket's cabin boy. Ricky-Tick was an orphan before Skip picked him up and gave him a job aboard the ship. Like most young boys, he's simultaneously curious, adventurous, friendly, and sometimes rebellious. He regards Skip as something of a mother, much to her chagrin. He's very smart and resourceful; he obsessively eavesdrops and he remembers every thing he hears, even from long conversations.
Ricky-Tick wants to do just about everything. He wants to see the whole world, become and accomplished gunship pilot, blockade runner, smuggler, army commander, president, etc. Skip is trying to train him to be her navigator and cartographer, but Ricky-Tick merely tolerates her efforts to educate him along those lines.
Katerina Kroichev: Jonah's missing fiancee. Katerina was a fellow student of Jonah's at the University in the Capital. She has a penchant for getting into other people's business, and as the daughter of the Vice Minister of Defense, she's got more access to such business than the usual person. Unfortunately, her attempts to expose the Guv's many secret plans has landed her in trouble, and she's gone missing. She fancies herself as something of a revolutionary, and she can be very manipulative on top of that. Her disappearance is what prompts Jonah to get into all sorts of trouble in the first place.
And I'll go ahead and stop there with the characters for now. I'm listing them in order of descending importance to the story, at least as it stands right now. You may have noted there seem to be quite a lot of characters. Honestly, one or two of them (maybe more) may end up being dropped out of the story and saved for other works. I've got three more to list, and those will show up in the next post.
As for other news, I already mentioned that I've returned home after a long trip home from Texas. However, the rest of this month and the first part of June is going to remain extremely busy for me, apart from writing. I've got an Instructor's Course for a possible job to attend starting next weekend, and I probably won't be back home until the following weekend. Getting that job is about 50/50 for me right now; until I know, I can't say for sure what my schedule in the coming months will be. However, I hope to keep writing and keep updating this blog as regularly as possible.
I'm looking forward to word on how "Exequies" has fared in the WOTF contest any day now. Not much else to report in my other writing projects at this time.
Until next time!
The Boostmeister: Kricket's booster tech. The Boostmeister is a rather strange fellow. He's extremely short, almost dwarfish, and seems to be getting well along in years. He's still spry, however. He's fairly crazy, possibly schizophrenic, though it usually doesn't interfere with his job. His sole purpose on the Kricket is to maintain and operate the ship's boosters, which give her a sudden, temporary burst of speed when normal steam power isn't enough to outrun an enemy. The boosters are dangerous devices, and the Boostmeister always wears goggles, gloves, and protective leather clothing to guard him from the showers of sparks and flames the boosters are prone to emit.
Boostmeister's motivations are simple: he lives solely to make Kricket fly like the wind. He spends all his free time working on the boosters, which means sometimes they don't work like they should - or at all. He seems to have deigned that his current location is good enough for one of his talents, though it's uncertain what he's really attached to: the crew, or Kricket and her highly illegal, mind-bogglingly fast boosters.
Ricky-Tick: Kricket's cabin boy. Ricky-Tick was an orphan before Skip picked him up and gave him a job aboard the ship. Like most young boys, he's simultaneously curious, adventurous, friendly, and sometimes rebellious. He regards Skip as something of a mother, much to her chagrin. He's very smart and resourceful; he obsessively eavesdrops and he remembers every thing he hears, even from long conversations.
Ricky-Tick wants to do just about everything. He wants to see the whole world, become and accomplished gunship pilot, blockade runner, smuggler, army commander, president, etc. Skip is trying to train him to be her navigator and cartographer, but Ricky-Tick merely tolerates her efforts to educate him along those lines.
Katerina Kroichev: Jonah's missing fiancee. Katerina was a fellow student of Jonah's at the University in the Capital. She has a penchant for getting into other people's business, and as the daughter of the Vice Minister of Defense, she's got more access to such business than the usual person. Unfortunately, her attempts to expose the Guv's many secret plans has landed her in trouble, and she's gone missing. She fancies herself as something of a revolutionary, and she can be very manipulative on top of that. Her disappearance is what prompts Jonah to get into all sorts of trouble in the first place.
And I'll go ahead and stop there with the characters for now. I'm listing them in order of descending importance to the story, at least as it stands right now. You may have noted there seem to be quite a lot of characters. Honestly, one or two of them (maybe more) may end up being dropped out of the story and saved for other works. I've got three more to list, and those will show up in the next post.
As for other news, I already mentioned that I've returned home after a long trip home from Texas. However, the rest of this month and the first part of June is going to remain extremely busy for me, apart from writing. I've got an Instructor's Course for a possible job to attend starting next weekend, and I probably won't be back home until the following weekend. Getting that job is about 50/50 for me right now; until I know, I can't say for sure what my schedule in the coming months will be. However, I hope to keep writing and keep updating this blog as regularly as possible.
I'm looking forward to word on how "Exequies" has fared in the WOTF contest any day now. Not much else to report in my other writing projects at this time.
Until next time!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
The Kricket Project, Part 3
Well, here we are again for the continuation of the introductions to the major characters of The Kricket's Song.
I'd just like to say that I appreciate the response to the project so far. Several people seem to have been reading the posts, and some have left a comment, which I always enjoy. Please do comment if you read the post, as it lets me know it's not just bots phishing for information or something. And of course, if you just can't live without the updates from my blog, click the follow button on the left-hand side. Thanks!
But I digress. Characters!
Ayemdhi: Kricket's first mate. Ayemdhi (pronounced ay-em-dee) has been Skip's best friend since before she came to own the ship. Ayemdhi is a silent fellow; he never talks. No one even knows if he can, or if he just doesn't feel the need to. He communicates just fine, though, and the huge automatic mass driver that he carries around as his weapon of choice ensures no one crosses him. He's loyal to Skip and the Kricket's crew, to the death. Despite his silence, he exudes wisdom and experience, and when he does seem to offer an opinion on something (usually through expressions or hand gestures), it's wise to listen to him.
Ayemdhi's motivations are, in large part, Skip's. He often treats her like a daughter, but she's also his boss, and what she says, he does. His job is to keep Kricket flying and her crew as safe as possible. Nothing is out of bounds when it comes to accomplishing that mission.
Blazer (Blaze): Kricket's gunner. Blazer is a bit of an enigmatic fellow. He doesn't share much about his background at all, but his mannerisms and knowledge of weaponry indicate some sort of formal training in the past, possibly with the Guv Navy itself. He was recruited by Skip and Ayemdhi shortly after they got Kricket up and running. He's generally a quiet sort, and despite the fact that he enjoys blowing things up with the biggest weaponry possible, he likes to have a good reason for doing so. He's definitely not the average weapons tech.
Blazer tries to keep out of things that don't pertain to him. His job is to make sure Kricket "has the teeth to fight with the big dogs" if and when it comes to that. He's loyal to Skip and her objectives, but he's been known to voice opposition on rare occasions, usually with good reason.
Shove: Kricket's stoker. Kricket is a steam-powered airship, and that means she needs coal. Shove is the man that makes sure her fires are hot and her full steam capabilities available for Skip's command. Shove is the newest member of the crew, recruited about two years ago. He's outgoing and friendly, and enjoys sharing stories of his life in plying the trade lanes of the skies. His open and carefree demeanor is good at getting people to open up to him.
Although Shove appears to be a loyal member of the crew, he always seems to be missing at certain critical times. Is he everything he claims to be? Or is he even more?
Well that's it on characters for this week. More next week, working our way down from most important to least important, at least as things stand with the story right now. It's always evolving.
In other news, I finally graduated from college today, with a B.A. in English Language and Literature, "Cum Laude." Somehow, a two-hour ceremony seems anti-climatic for four years of work (spread out over nine years with a stint in the Navy in between), but I'm glad to be done. Time to move on and try to get that next awesome job that will not only be fun, but perhaps educate me and inspire me for my writing.
The next few weeks are going to be a bit crazy, as I've mentioned in previous posts. I start my journey on Friday, and it'll take me around a week to get home, as I've got a stop along the way. I'll perhaps try to post before the trip starts, otherwise I'll probably miss posting over the weekend. However, I'll keep writing, and I will update this blog as best I can until things settle down again.
Comments are welcome, and so are followers! Thanks!
Edited to Add: Beta reading on the first draft of The Serenity Solution is complete! Although The Kricket's Song is going to be occupying most of my time for now, I will be starting to brainstorm and plan for the new, rewritten version of TSS. Using what I've learned from the first draft and aborted rewrite, as well as with what I've been learning on my latest projects, I think I can keep the spirit of the story and characters, but make it much more powerful and hard-hitting. And hopefully not take 179K words to do it! Keep watching for new information regarding The Serenity Solution Project soon!
I'd just like to say that I appreciate the response to the project so far. Several people seem to have been reading the posts, and some have left a comment, which I always enjoy. Please do comment if you read the post, as it lets me know it's not just bots phishing for information or something. And of course, if you just can't live without the updates from my blog, click the follow button on the left-hand side. Thanks!
But I digress. Characters!
Ayemdhi: Kricket's first mate. Ayemdhi (pronounced ay-em-dee) has been Skip's best friend since before she came to own the ship. Ayemdhi is a silent fellow; he never talks. No one even knows if he can, or if he just doesn't feel the need to. He communicates just fine, though, and the huge automatic mass driver that he carries around as his weapon of choice ensures no one crosses him. He's loyal to Skip and the Kricket's crew, to the death. Despite his silence, he exudes wisdom and experience, and when he does seem to offer an opinion on something (usually through expressions or hand gestures), it's wise to listen to him.
Ayemdhi's motivations are, in large part, Skip's. He often treats her like a daughter, but she's also his boss, and what she says, he does. His job is to keep Kricket flying and her crew as safe as possible. Nothing is out of bounds when it comes to accomplishing that mission.
Blazer (Blaze): Kricket's gunner. Blazer is a bit of an enigmatic fellow. He doesn't share much about his background at all, but his mannerisms and knowledge of weaponry indicate some sort of formal training in the past, possibly with the Guv Navy itself. He was recruited by Skip and Ayemdhi shortly after they got Kricket up and running. He's generally a quiet sort, and despite the fact that he enjoys blowing things up with the biggest weaponry possible, he likes to have a good reason for doing so. He's definitely not the average weapons tech.
Blazer tries to keep out of things that don't pertain to him. His job is to make sure Kricket "has the teeth to fight with the big dogs" if and when it comes to that. He's loyal to Skip and her objectives, but he's been known to voice opposition on rare occasions, usually with good reason.
Shove: Kricket's stoker. Kricket is a steam-powered airship, and that means she needs coal. Shove is the man that makes sure her fires are hot and her full steam capabilities available for Skip's command. Shove is the newest member of the crew, recruited about two years ago. He's outgoing and friendly, and enjoys sharing stories of his life in plying the trade lanes of the skies. His open and carefree demeanor is good at getting people to open up to him.
Although Shove appears to be a loyal member of the crew, he always seems to be missing at certain critical times. Is he everything he claims to be? Or is he even more?
Well that's it on characters for this week. More next week, working our way down from most important to least important, at least as things stand with the story right now. It's always evolving.
In other news, I finally graduated from college today, with a B.A. in English Language and Literature, "Cum Laude." Somehow, a two-hour ceremony seems anti-climatic for four years of work (spread out over nine years with a stint in the Navy in between), but I'm glad to be done. Time to move on and try to get that next awesome job that will not only be fun, but perhaps educate me and inspire me for my writing.
The next few weeks are going to be a bit crazy, as I've mentioned in previous posts. I start my journey on Friday, and it'll take me around a week to get home, as I've got a stop along the way. I'll perhaps try to post before the trip starts, otherwise I'll probably miss posting over the weekend. However, I'll keep writing, and I will update this blog as best I can until things settle down again.
Comments are welcome, and so are followers! Thanks!
Edited to Add: Beta reading on the first draft of The Serenity Solution is complete! Although The Kricket's Song is going to be occupying most of my time for now, I will be starting to brainstorm and plan for the new, rewritten version of TSS. Using what I've learned from the first draft and aborted rewrite, as well as with what I've been learning on my latest projects, I think I can keep the spirit of the story and characters, but make it much more powerful and hard-hitting. And hopefully not take 179K words to do it! Keep watching for new information regarding The Serenity Solution Project soon!
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