A Bunch of Book Talk and Writing Nonsense. Prepare Thyself.

Ah, the weekend again.

I seem to be settling into a "twice a week" update schedule here in my little corner of the world. I guess that's ok. It gives me a few days to accumulate things to talk about. The problem with that is, I don't take notes. I know there have been some things I've seen and/or thought since last Tuesday that I wanted to mention here, but doubt I'll be able to remember. I kind of make this stuff up as I go...

Guess I'll start with the book news. Don't worry, I'll keep it brief! In fact, I'll write it while only wearing briefs, just to make sure...

Of course, the big announcement was the long-awaited publication date for GRRM's next beastly book, A Dance With Dragons. By mid July, I'll have it in my grubby hands, ready to dive in and see what's been going on in the North, and across the sea with Dany, and Tyrion, etc. In preparation for that time, I went ahead and purchased digital versions of the four previous books, since they were cheap ($5 to $8 each). I shall try to read them through again between now and July - a daunting task, if you are aware of the sheer size of these books.

Likewise daunting when I factor in the other great books I have yet to read, including the recently-arrived Wise Man's Fear (by Pat Rothfuss, who is in San Diego holding a signing at Mysterious Galaxy as I write these very words!), and The Hammer (KJ Parker) and The Way of Kings (Sanderson) as well as other titles that have been beckoning for me from my shelf. I had such a great time tearing through The Heroes (Abercrombie) that it has reignited my reading bug...

I'm trying to discipline myself enough to get my work done first before starting a new book.

Ah, having too much to read is a good problem to have!

Our good friend Josh Wood posted an awesome tale of daring-do over at his Post Calvinism blog. Go read it and marvel at his manliness! HERE is the link! And if you're in the mood to get your blog read on, I found another quality blog (through a commenter on Logan's blog) called Human[cubed] that I've bookmarked. Of course, the content is right up my alley (games, movies, music, books, etc), so if that sort of thing piques your interest as well, check it out. HERE is that link!

ASIDE: Whenever I see someone say "peek" instead of "pique", it annoys me! Whenever I see someone say "mute point" instead of "moot point", it annoys me! I am easily annoyed, it seems...

I went to my weekly Writer's Meeting in Vista this morning. I've done the final proofing of the "book" I'm writing for Eldest Daughter. Now I need to try to decide if I should let another trusted soul read it before I send it to Eldest Daughter, just so I can get an objective, third-party opinion on whether what I wrote crossed any lines or pushed any envelopes, and should be tweaked before sending it off. It really is just between my daughter and I... and yet I know how, even with the best of intentions, I tend to inadvertently step in stuff sometimes. I'd hate to set off to do something positive, only to have some unforeseen negative consequence bite me in the patoot.

Meh, I have a few weeks left to decide.

Next on my project list is to work on the adaptation of a friend's Easter script, which was written for the stage, and turn it into a version that can be filmed as a movie instead. That will be fun.

The same folks that organize the NaNoWriMo thing every November also do a similar event in April of every year, called Script Frenzy. NaNoWriMo focuses on novel writing, and Script Frenzy focuses on... poetry! Nope, I kid... it focuses on scripts (TV, Film, Stage, etc.). Since April is "write" around the corner, I think I'll make the Easter script adaptation my April project. The cool thing about Script Frenzy is that they allow two writers to collaborate on projects (as opposed to "every man for himself" in NaNoWriMo), so I've been contemplating asking a person or two if he/she would be willing to participate with me! We shall see...

I was also referred to another site called Book In A Week, which has a monthly program that writers can participate, where they work on short pieces of fiction (up to 200 pages) written in a week. Every month, they have prep-time where you gather notes, prepare, and then bear down and crank out a "book" in one week's time. I was thinking about getting both my "books in progress" to a point where I can prepare chunks to be written, thinking about each section of my book as a little book in and of itself. Just something new to try.

I'm tired of feeling like I'm just spinning my wheels. I want to finish some of these big projects. The funny thing is, I finish small projects all the time. Yet because I have a couple big projects laying around unfinished, it makes me feel like I never finish anything.

I also recently stumbled upon a cool piece of writing & project management software called Celtx, which shows great promise. I've tried yWriter and FreeMind before this, in an attempt to find aids in writing my projects, but they didn't really click with me. I'll let you all know how this one goes, since I know you're dying to find out! (eye roll!)

Time Marches On!

Wow... this just might be the most boring post of the year thus far... good grief, when I get my ramble going, there's no stopping me.

Well, I better post a funny picture and bring this bad boy to a close... Here's a two-part pic of a cat and his first love...

Come on, admit it... you have a stuffed animal from your youth that you still sleep with... admit it...

Adios for now. If I think of anything interesting to tack on here, I'll edit it in...

Dave