BACK FROM THE BACK OF BEYOND

Some new work out...

THE STRAY BRANCH, Vol. 3 Issue #6: Fall/Winter 2010, contains my poem "this house is haunted," along with plenty of other poetry, art, fiction and photography. $9.00 via Createspace:

THE STRAY BRANCH

Quite a delay between acceptance and publication, but worth the wait. There's a recording of Quin Browne reading this poem that I would like to hear before I die.
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COME AND BECOME, the novel based on my recent trip to New Orleans, had to be put on hold.

After setting it aside, however, I began the first in a series of Young Adult novels based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft. It's tentatively entitled THE CALL. Unlike my previous attempts at YA, this one hasn't turned so dark that I've had to abandon it (my son has been begging me to complete a vampire novel, written primarily for my children, that got out of hand by the end of the second chapter). I'm only writing four days a week now, due to a change in schedule. I wrote ten pages a day for the first week or two, then decided to push myself a little; I am now averaging twenty pages a day. This morning I hit page 224. Once it's finished, I'll write three chapters and an outline for the second novel, WITCHHOUSE, along with a series overview, tidy up the opening of THE CALL and see if I can get anyone to bite.

I still have this spring's crime novel, SUMMERLAND, to revise, but don't feel the urge just yet.

Not sure what I'll write while I'm waiting to hear on the Lovecraft project. Maybe a dark contemporary fantasy, as Rizzy Rodham. If someone's interested in the YA series, though, I'll probably just focus on that for now.

I've been dabbling with a paintbrush lately; there a few pics on my facebook page. My first poem in over a month is up there, too. Banging on my new drum set every day. I also have a phonebook-thick stack of poetry I need to submit, if I can make time....

COME AND BECOMER

More about the new book.

I started it on July 28. It's a horror novel entitled COME AND BECOME, based on my recent roadtrip to New Orleans. The first thirty pages read more like a mainstream novel, but I have planted several things that will come into play later on.

As of this morning, I am @7400 words in.

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Major differences between C&B and the novel I wrote before my trip to New Orleans, SOMEWHERE ELSE (aka SUMMERLAND):

I had a feature-length screenplay and several short pieces to work with for SE, so the framework was already there. For the new book, I am just running with it. Deliberately. No notes. An idea but no set structure.

SE was stripped to the bone.

C&B is much more descriptive. Atmospheric. Broad. I'm allowing myself to write, rather than report. Reeling in invention. And one of the two main characters has become the most fully-realized I have ever created.

For SE, I wrote three pages a day.

C&B has no daily goal, but I am averaging more. More densely-written pages. SE was probably 3/4 dialogue.

I had a completion date in mind for SE and hit it on the head. I have no idea when I'll be done with C&B and don't care, but it probably won't go more than three months, at this rate.

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Once I complete the first draft of COME AND BECOME:

I will rewrite and shop SE, then come back and revise C&B--possibly sending it out as soon as the rewrites begin. And once C&B had been revised, I will begin another.

Questions? Want to talk shop? That's why I'm writing this post, so comment if you have something on your mind.

HOME?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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

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.