I didn't take a single photo on the trip. I was too busy looking at things.
On July 28 I started the new book, tentatively entitled COME AND BECOME. 2800 words in. It's surprising how easily I've slipped back into longform writing.
I'm contemplating a short story collection for electronic publication, something like Kindle. No idea how that works. Need to check into it soon.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
COUNTING AND GEARING DOWN
Two days until Lynn and I depart.
Ahead of schedule on the book. Halfway through the final scene. I should finish it tomorrow and have my desk cleared for the trip (not counting obligations awaiting my return).
I'll be taking B&W photos for one of the editing projects I have lined up. Print. Poetry/Flash on New Orleans. More on that later.
Disenthralled will resume in August.
I will most likely be out of touch from Wednesday until the end of the month. I now have a cellphone but couldn't tell you the number offhand. I may be able to check Faceplant from time to time, so you can reach me there if necessary.
Ahead of schedule on the book. Halfway through the final scene. I should finish it tomorrow and have my desk cleared for the trip (not counting obligations awaiting my return).
I'll be taking B&W photos for one of the editing projects I have lined up. Print. Poetry/Flash on New Orleans. More on that later.
Disenthralled will resume in August.
I will most likely be out of touch from Wednesday until the end of the month. I now have a cellphone but couldn't tell you the number offhand. I may be able to check Faceplant from time to time, so you can reach me there if necessary.
Friday, July 16, 2010
FIVE AGAINST ONE
Five days until we leave for New Orleans.
I submitted two poems this week. Couldn't help myself. One of them went to the best litmag online--I suppose I shouldn't name them, since I work with so many people. But they are. The other went to an anthology, for a group I admire and would like to begin publishing with.
Hit page 199 on the book this morning. Two key scenes and one transitional scene remaining. I'm halfway through the first of the two major scenes. It'll be close. I will probably have only the final chapter to complete when I head out Wednesday night. I plan to finish it on the road, either longhand or on Quin's laptop, if I can sneak it away from her.
I have a thing for black pencils with #3 lead. Keep that in mind when Christmas rolls around.
I submitted two poems this week. Couldn't help myself. One of them went to the best litmag online--I suppose I shouldn't name them, since I work with so many people. But they are. The other went to an anthology, for a group I admire and would like to begin publishing with.
Hit page 199 on the book this morning. Two key scenes and one transitional scene remaining. I'm halfway through the first of the two major scenes. It'll be close. I will probably have only the final chapter to complete when I head out Wednesday night. I plan to finish it on the road, either longhand or on Quin's laptop, if I can sneak it away from her.
I have a thing for black pencils with #3 lead. Keep that in mind when Christmas rolls around.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
SOMEWHERE ELSE
This is what I've been doing for the past two months.
When I was out in CA, a while back, I wrote a feature-length screenplay. A director expressed an interest in it, but couldn't get the project organized. I shelved it. The story has been nagging at me, though, with re-vamped scenes appearing in short stories over the past year or so.
In mid-May, I decided to adapt it as a novel. The title may no longer be available (a TV series with the same name appeared shortly after I passed the screenplay around), so I've been using the working title SOMEWHERE ELSE. It's a crime story. Noir as noir gets. "Everybody smokes, everybody dies," as I explained to my daughter.
The writing itself has been a lot of fun. The novel quickly took on a life of its own. It's not just a matter of filling in the blanks: although the basic plot remains, the pacing is different and so many new scenes have been added that the middle section bears little resemblance to the original work.
As of this morning, I'm 173 pages in. Writing a novel is largely a matter of commitment and endurance. I average 3 pages a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the momentum and how much time I have available. At 3 pages a day, however, the book should be finished by or around the end of this month, when I depart for New Orleans.
As soon as it's done, I'm going to write another--a horror novel that is taking shape--then come back for a revision.
Meanwhile, I've stopped writing poetry and short fiction. Sporadic pieces happen and I try to meet reasonable submission requests, but I haven't set out to deliberately write any short-form work since May 15. Too often things get put aside because I attempt too much at once. I'm determined to finish this book without interruption.
_____________
Over at disenthralled:
I have a new issue of Paul D. Brazill's WARSAW MOON ready to go up today and several others awaiting photography. Hopefully I'll be caught up by August or September and can decide what's next for the site.
Walter
When I was out in CA, a while back, I wrote a feature-length screenplay. A director expressed an interest in it, but couldn't get the project organized. I shelved it. The story has been nagging at me, though, with re-vamped scenes appearing in short stories over the past year or so.
In mid-May, I decided to adapt it as a novel. The title may no longer be available (a TV series with the same name appeared shortly after I passed the screenplay around), so I've been using the working title SOMEWHERE ELSE. It's a crime story. Noir as noir gets. "Everybody smokes, everybody dies," as I explained to my daughter.
The writing itself has been a lot of fun. The novel quickly took on a life of its own. It's not just a matter of filling in the blanks: although the basic plot remains, the pacing is different and so many new scenes have been added that the middle section bears little resemblance to the original work.
As of this morning, I'm 173 pages in. Writing a novel is largely a matter of commitment and endurance. I average 3 pages a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the momentum and how much time I have available. At 3 pages a day, however, the book should be finished by or around the end of this month, when I depart for New Orleans.
As soon as it's done, I'm going to write another--a horror novel that is taking shape--then come back for a revision.
Meanwhile, I've stopped writing poetry and short fiction. Sporadic pieces happen and I try to meet reasonable submission requests, but I haven't set out to deliberately write any short-form work since May 15. Too often things get put aside because I attempt too much at once. I'm determined to finish this book without interruption.
_____________
Over at disenthralled:
I have a new issue of Paul D. Brazill's WARSAW MOON ready to go up today and several others awaiting photography. Hopefully I'll be caught up by August or September and can decide what's next for the site.
Walter
Saturday, July 3, 2010
DAMN THAT HOWLING!
145 pages into the crime novel. While I finish this, I am going to immerse myself in classic horror, then use my road trip to New Orleans as the basis for a horror novel. Currently reading THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU by H.G. Wells (a nice Berkley paperback edition from 1968 with a hellish cover).
I have no desire to write short stories or poetry at the moment, but do have a strange long-form momentum going.
I won't be driving down to N.O. alone, after all. I'll be taking a friend, which will make the journey every bit as special as the vacation itself. Roughly three weeks until we set out.
I have no desire to write short stories or poetry at the moment, but do have a strange long-form momentum going.
I won't be driving down to N.O. alone, after all. I'll be taking a friend, which will make the journey every bit as special as the vacation itself. Roughly three weeks until we set out.
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