Still Reading, Reading, Reading...

I spent most of the day today reading, or listening to audio books while playing mind numbing video games like Atomica or Pipes or B-Jeweled or Tetris (though I don't think I ever actually played Tetris today). Topic of said books: fiction and writing fiction.

I polished off Amanda Hockings MY BLOOD APPROVES today. I think I finished the last five chapters in one setting. I love copying text over to Katie (my text to speech reader). If I tried to read that many pages with my eyes I would go batty (slow reader). Using Txt2Speech, I can burn through chapters without any trouble at all. I also finished IN STYLE, a punctuation manual - and learned very little. I also started 38 MOST COMMON FICTION WRITING MISTAKES. I would like to say I'm learning a lot, but I'm not. The closest I've come is from Stephen King's ON WRITING and I think it's more hilarious (and a nice break) than anything else. It does provide a pit of perspective, though; like I'm not trapped in a bubble all by myself with this thing called a writing career.

I have a dozen or so books I would really like to read, but I'm getting antsy because I'm neither writing nor am I editing. I have decided that when I do actually start my edits again, I definitely need to set a measurable daily goal - preferably a certain number of words edited. This is really the only way I can keep myself honest and can project with at least some level of accuracy where I'll be in said about of time on each project.

I would really like to edit 1000 words a day. I would REALLY like to get up to writing 4000 words a day, but I don't know if it's in the cards. I have several story ideas that are taking shape. But I do have some breathing time, since only one so far has been put to paper in any kind of legitimate outline form. I haven't done more because I don't yet have a dependable or effective schedule. It seems as if something always gives. If I write I dn't edit. If I write and edit, I don't work on story development. If I work on story development, then I forget to read up on marketing. It's not like I don't have the time here. I've got nothing but time. So, I know my boat is leaking, I just have to find the hole and put a freaking plug in it. 

Despite my uncomfortableness, I'm trying to give myself enough down time to get my head on straight when it comes to editing, since it is my Achilles Heel. I want to do as little work as possible for the greatest ROI, which means I have to be organized, strategic and systematic in my editing process. I can't wait until the body of work I've churned out recently is more than what I produced a year ago in my first two manuscripts. I also can't wait to have them put to bed once and for all. So far all I have to show for my new found efforts is a 100 page novella. it originally was supposed to be a 300 page novel. Yikes!

I need to get cracking. Thus explains my concern about taking time off. But, I want to do it right the first time so I don't have to go back and reinvent the wheel a third time. I'm already playing catchup to myself.

New Practice Book Cover...Odd Thomas

So I'm trying to hack book cover design because of the negative experiences I've had thus far with graphic artists and because I'm SO VERY CHEAP there is no way I'm paying $600 or more for a picture for a book. This goes double since an indie author like Hocking can sell a million dollars worth of her books with the terribly simple covers she has.

I have downloaded covers for a bunch of thriller, horror books and I'm trying to reproduce them from scratch in Photoshop. It's not the point to produce them exactly - I have neither the skill not the natural talent as an artist - but it will serve me well enough when I start designing my own covers for ebook and print distribution.

So, here is my latest Practice Book Cover for Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas. Hope you like it. Let me know what you think.

729 Words [The Calories in a Totino's Pizza]

Totino's Pepperoni Pizza is my FAVORITE frozen pizza. It contains exactly 729 calories in one box. And this is how many words [exactly] that I wrote this morning. I wrote a pizza worth today. ;-)

I will say, writing today was difficult. I struggled to get the words down and the story seems to be floundering under a lot of self-doubt and negative personal criticism. Just a part of the territory, I suppose. When in doubt, I just have to keep writing. Pizza helps. Especially Totino's.

On a brighter side of things, I added a few more things to the blog, and I think [maybe] I will be getting a top level domain soon and have a static website, along with my blog here. I know Amanda Hocking does not have a static site [yet]. I'm sure the good people at St. Martin's Press will be putting one up for her soon. So, it is probably better to say, Amanda Hocking became a successful Indie writer without a top level domain. I just can't stand the cost, even if it is only $10. And I can even get it for a few dollars the first year and I'm still struggling to get it. I think the biggest resistance is - I worry that I'm going to wake up tomorrow and quit writing again. Then I'll have wasted that money on a domain that I'll just let lapse again. I've done it before. www.stevenveach.com is available again. It used to be owned by a Steven who is an artist. Apparently he doesn't keep domains alive either.

Anyway, I figured you would like my pizza word mash this morning. It's making me hungry. And I even have Totino's Pizza in the freezer! Yum!

800+ Words But Getting Nothing Done

I jumped into it this morning and knocked out 800 words, even after getting up an hour late and having to get ready for the JWs to come by. They have been visiting for a few months now, and I love chattering with them about the bible. Not sure I agree with their eschatology [nor will I be breaking my self-imposed isolation, either], but who am I to judge, right? In the end, they didn't come after all - they had some sort of function to go to. I think their like Amway but without the cars, boats and dreams of piles of money [did you notice there I said "dreams"?].

I've noticed that I am barely able to get my routine tasks done in one day. It's not work crowding in, by any means. Actually, I think I just have too many things I'm trying to do each day, so I just get bogged down. Plus, my projects are really quite intensive. I start writing and it takes me a few hours. Then a few more hours to do edits. Then a few more hours to do research and work on outlines for upcoming books to write. Don' t get me wrong, I love it. But by the time I'm done with just that it's already noon, and I haven't touched any of my task list, nor have I read any books that are sitting on my Good Reads shelf.

Not sure how to solve the problem, either. And what's worse: there are even more things that I would like to do that I simply just don't have time for now: like work through my math books, read my the physical books I got from my sister when she moved [there's a whole box of them], etc. I wish Uberman Sleep actually worked [or, at least, worked better for my schedule], then I could have - well only a few more hours, since I only sleep about 5-7 hours now each night. So, maybe 4 more hours. But, man, does Uberman kill you during the first transition. Besides, it definitely doesn't work with my clients.

I started working on the first soundtrack for THE PREPARATION. It's got some really good songs on it - all of the best I've been listening to while doing the edits and possibly when I was writing it, though I wrote the bulk of it in Astoria, so I don't really remember what I was listening to then; a lot of John Mayer, I think. And Five for Fighting. I should probably add them to the soundtrack then. I'll be uploading it to iTunes and also to Youtube and posting both here on the blog when the book is released on Amazon.

I also watched two short interviews on youtube with Amanda Hocking. I have been reading a month of posts on her site each night. She is my moral support in a way. She gives me hope. I mean, if I could sell just a FRACTION of what she does, I would accomplish my goals and be able to live off what I make from books. In the end I'm just a rabbit living in a hole; reminds me of this guy. In fact, lets see a picture of it.

This would literally be paradise for me, though I wouldn't want to hunch down and have to crawl inside. My dream house is just big enough for a single bed [just wide enough and long enough to sleep on], with a small counter/table on the opposite wall for cooking, writing, storage, etc. Above that would be a window length opening of a spectacular view [like a lake or deep forests]. The dwelling would be under ground, ground level would be the bottom of the window. A decent sized door at the foot of the bed to get out. That's it.

You can find Dan at Moonlight Chronicles.