My good buddy Kiersi tagged me in a new blog meme titled My Next Big Thing, wherein writers talk about their current projects. She’s a pretty cool and super talented lady, so I thought I’d keep the meme going and answer some questions about the book I’m working on.
As many of you know, I’ll be traveling to Los Angeles this weekend to attend the Writer’s Digest West Conference. The main draw of this shindig is to get a chance to bounce the idea of this book off of some industry folk. Just getting my feet wet a little bit, in my attempt to do this writing thing some justice. We’ll see how it pans out. Continue reading →
I suck at writing novels. I’m not being down on myself, it’s just a simple truth. Unfortunately, I would like to write novels for a living one day. So yeah, those two things kind of collide in the worst way possible.
In many ways, being a writer is like being one of those dudes that spins plates. I’m not really sure if there’s a technical name for that, and I really don’t feel like Googling “that dude who spins plates”, but I’m sure you get the gist of it. Basically, with first drafts, there’s always something else to fix. Whether it’s general copy, something thematic, a dumb character, a bad piece of dialogue or just terrible story crafting, some plate is always going to be wobbling. You might drive yourself mad trying to keep up with it all. Continue reading →
As a dude that used to weigh 300 plus pounds, I think I can safely say that sometimes I bite off more than what is necessary or smart. I do this both literally and in my creative life. Although in the last couple of years, less in both.
Part of what kept me from writing for the longest time was that I was always overambitious in what I wanted to accomplish with a story. Continue reading →
I believe I’ve said it here before, but starting things is always the most difficult part of any project for me. I tend to freeze up when it’s time for anything new in my life, mainly because I’m worried about getting the ball rolling improperly. I don’t know why, but somehow I feel as if a project that gets enough bad mojo behind it is going to crush me like that huge boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Which, coincidentally, is one brilliant way to start a movie. Continue reading →
What follows is a post I wrote about a month ago, but never published, ironically, out of fear of looking like a dork. Thought I’d finish it and put it out there.
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A few weeks back, I watched my brother play the game Dead Space 2 and squealed in dread for the majority of the experience. I’ve always maintained that scary anything isn’t my cup of tea, and it really shows when I’m met with jaw-busting and bladder-loosening terror.
The whole ordeal got me thinking about fear in general. I was shocked to realize just how much it rules my life in other, less funny ways. Continue reading →
I’ve been anticipating 2011 as the year of the revision, much like 2010 was the year of the first draft. As such, this means that I’m now tackling the lengthy process of printing, reading and revising, and so far it’s been a mixed bag.
Oddly enough, I actually decided to revise the most recent book first, the fully fleshed out version of In the Blood (although that will not be the final title). I came to this conclusion for a number of reasons. Continue reading →