Thursday, August 16, 2012

New pics tomorrow?

There may not be an act in the world I hate more in the world than taking pictures. Yet, me and the boy and the camera will be here, so why not present or more friendlier face than the one posted right now. 

Plans for next week

I feel great even mentioning this: If I finish this second draft b4 the JOB kidnaps me for the weekend, I can edit over the weekend and hopefully submit this for publishing Monday morning. I always give Amazon 12 to 24 hours to place a new item on their site. My ultimate goal is to place Waiting back in the free category for Tuesday and Wednesday and have the new one there as well piggybacking off of Warren Sapp's release on Tuesday. When people google Sapp for Warren's book my name actually appears magically before his.

I think I can do this.

I think I can. 

NCAA Report

It's late. But the NCAA writing went better than expected today. I completed over 5600 hundred words with my one more hefty section still to write. Even after a careful edit this weekend I wouldn't be shocked to see this run past the 8000 clip which will be just about right for publishing.

Doing it like a blog has done the trick for me. It made it more personal and not so detached. I will have to lessen the number to 50 down from 100.

Tebow update

One reason I got so discouraged the other day, was seeing someone had published a similar Tebow article to mine with almost the same title. Is it my fault they beat me to it? Probably. Still didn't mean it didn't hurt a little especially with the article appearing to sale pretty well.

The obvious difference of course it his article was praising Tebow's religious messages. Mine steered more towards on and off the field football with a little religion mixed in.

I'm not sure how relevant my article is AFTER the regular season starts. But I will think long and hard about if I will finish this article using my 100 formula. It just might work...

Non Fiction

This 50 question or 100 question thing is working pretty well for me. I think I will adapt it and use it for writing these articles about sports. I think I like the feel of something that is alot less formal. My writing flows more naturally.

One article a month is a fine equilibrium. It gives me a chance to find, research, write, rewrite, and publish an article without being overwhelmed with work. Don't ever question this IS work. It may not be slaving at the JOB but its not serving the web, watching movies, or napping either.

And yet that one a month is still 12 posted works by this time next year. Something to say that I accomplished. I believe that I can write well enough to sale at least some. The more stuff I have posted the more I become real to readers.

Writing this as a 100 question has been a good idea for me. Maybe...just maybe I can still have an article posted on or before the 21st.      

Where are our children?

As any reader to this blog, my plans change by the day, if not by the hour. For now I've lost my fictional voice. I don't know how to get it back. No matter how much I outline or template a story I can't see it through. I won't say never on this front but for now fiction is out except...my novel. The first draft is done as I've stated before. I seem to have success with rewrites and I'm interested in what could become of "Where are our children"if I completed it.

Rewriting it might not be as big of an effort as even doing "Waiting"because the first draft is on my kindle. Easy Access. No back and forth. No trying to read my handwriting. I think I can do this. Right now the plan is to attack 3 chapters at a time. I haven't finalized the how, I mean George R R Martin method, traditional, or even John Sanford quirky short paragraph styles that I thought worked well in "Waiting".

My biggest fear was working on something exclusively that could take anywhere from a month or six months without seeing readership. Be brave, Gary. Be brave. I think it is a wonderful story. I think its a poignant story. I'm going to write it and take give it the time and voice it so richly deserves.

The time I truly deserve.

the ncaa playoff

Man, if y'all only knew what I've gone through in the last 24 hrs. I practically gave ALL of this up. I even deleted this blog. I threw all of my physical notes away. I deleted all of my Internet means of advertising. To be honest I don't know if I'll be able to recover most of it. I was really lost. Scared. I doubted my ability and voice. I still don't KNOW that I can do this but I have tried and that's a step in the right direction.

Anyway, I've done over 3000 words on the NCAA playoff today. I'm trying a new format on it totally, trying to bring some fun back into it. Less templates. less planning. Just writing from my previous notes. It seems to be working. I'm enjoying it some. I've got to find some JOY in this if I'm going to continue.

More coming...