Writing Update 24 Jan 2014

I have two stories vying for attention at the moment to be in the next book, which I tentatively plan to call At The Turn Of Midnight.

The Forbidden Knowledge story keeps popping into my head for some reason.  Maybe I should take that as a sign.  The latest way it popped into my head was via the main character’s name:  Nathaniel Scribner, which seems to fit a librarian character from the mid-1800s in my mind for some reason.  Maybe this weekend I’ll see if this story is serious about wanting to be written, or if it’s just taunting me with trying to stay in my mind for some reason.

Of course, at the same time, the untitled zombie story keeps popping into my mind, though not as intrusively as Forbidden Knowledge.  It doesn’t want to be forgotten either (as I wrote at the end of Vivarium), but definitely has spoken to me about changing its format from simply a “first person zombie story” to something more.

I also plan to sit and edit some.  My method for self-editing takes two forms.  First, I read each sentence one at a time in reverse order (since I’m already familiar with the story, this is the best way to see if each sentence works alone).  Then, I’ll just read through and make sure that no story/plot/character flaws stand out to me.

I need to set a deadline for editing and cover art for Dark Stories For A Restless Night so that I’m at least forced into trying to meet it.  I’ll have to ponder just when that might need to be.  I imagine it’ll take at least a good month or two to get both done.  And maybe a month after that to get everything set to pull the trigger on publishing.  Which means I should probably pick a date about three months before I plan to publish.  Whenever that is.  Maybe right at the start of summer for the available online dates?  Feedback would be appreciated.

I’m toying with the idea of using an actual photo for the cover art, or a “sketch” of the photo.  I’ve found some decent photo to sketch sites.  This one does just grayscale:  http://www.dumpr.net/sketch.php, while this one does color sketches:  http://www134.lunapic.com/editor/?action=color-sketch.  I think our concept is going to be a table set up for a garage sale or antique  store with items related to each story on it.  This stems from the story Mary’s Painting in the book where she buys a painting from an antique store that leads to the story line.  I’m not sure what item would be there from each story yet, but I like the idea.  I just don’t know which might prove to be better - a sketch of “live” photo.   

There are eight stories in Dark Stories For A Restless Night.  Some stories lend themselves easily to what the item or items on the table could be, while others aren’t so easily.  Here’s a listing of the stories included in the book:

Mary's Painting - A woman buys more than she expects when she purchases a painting on a whim

Sins of the Father - A priest defends the mission he presides over

The Fall - A young boy awakens after a bad accident while playing

Darkness - A group sets out on a rescue mission in the Mexican jungles and finds themselves at peril

Cat's Eye View - Find out why cats behave the way they do

The Viewing - Witness the last days of life on a distant planet

The Journey - A man travels exestentially through the cosmos

Un-Separation - A man's unhappy and unexpected reunion with his wife

That’s all the news directly related to my writing projects.  There has been some that affects my ability to write.  This past week saw me lose my laptop.  It also saw me figure out a way to salvage a laptop from two unusable laptops.  I took the hard drive from my most recent laptop that won’t even power up any more and put it in the older laptop that wouldn’t boot up completely and system restore couldn’t fix.  I was able to get system restore to reset the newer hard drive’s software to work in the new laptop, but also had to reinstall any software that I use regularly like Microsoft Office.  Fortunately, I still had one more install available for my last Office purchase.

That is all of the writing related news.  For those of you that are interested in other stuff, feel free to read on.

In the past few weeks, everyone in the house has gotten sick in some way or another.  Gabe and Candice have both gotten strep.  Grandma has some mystery illness but hasn’t gone to the doctor about it yet.  Donna and Megi got a stomach bug that saw them both throwing up.  Poor Megi was throwing up for the first time and was terrified.  And I had an intestinal bug the other night.  I’m hoping that the girls and I don’t catch the strep that is making its way through our family.

That’s all I have for this entry.  Thanks for reading!

Coincidence, A sign, or Just Annoying?

The story I'm currently working on is a first person zombie tale.  It begins with the first death scene from Darkness, though there is no need to read Darkness before it.  It will stand alone.  the connection is just a nice tie-in between stories, where the villain from one story is also the cause of the situation in the other story.  There are a few clues in Darkness, but not reading one or the other wouldn't leave you feeling like you missed something.  (Darkness will be in my upcoming book Dark Stories For A Restless Night.)

The story doesn't have a title yet, not even a working one.  It's still in early writing phase.  For most of my stories, I have at most a vague idea of what is going to happen, if that, and I let the words for the story as they flow off my pencil.

That being said, though, I jotted down an idea back in October when Candice and I were listening to The Shining in anticipation of the new Doctor Sleep book by Stephen King.  It simply read "Not all books should be opened.  Not all knowledge should be gained."  It was inspired by a quick blurb when Jack found the scrapbook in the basement of the Overlook and something told him not to open the book because not all books should be opened.

After that, I proceeded to write a few paragraphs from that, and even got a general idea of where it might go.  I never typed it up, and came across the idea a month later, but not the start of the story that I'd written, so I started it again.  Suffice it to say, none of those ever got typed up even as a place marker to start writing the story.  In the past week, I've come across the idea again, as well as each of the handwritten pages that start the story.  It's very odd that they would keep popping in front of me at different times.

It makes me wonder if it's a sign that I should be working on that story, if it's just coincidence, or if it's just annoying.  Anyway, I've typed them up and at least saved them so that I can work on them later.  Here's the first few paragraphs, let me know what you think of the opening:


Preface

Not all books should be opened.  Not all knowledge should be gained.  I know this now, but I’d have considered those words blasphemous for a librarian to utter even a year ago.

Back then, I ravenously fed on all knowledge and reading.  I cherished any ancient text that my hungry brain could come across.  To me, there was no concept even of forbidden knowledge.

But now I know better.  Now I know that some knowledge should be forbidden.


That's the preface and likely the tag lines for the story.  I'm not sure if I'll switch over to writing more on it now, or if I'll wait, or if I'll split time between the two.

If I keep coming across "signs" to write more on the "Forbidden Knowledge" project, I might have to finally take notice that I'm meant to work on it before my first person zombie story (even though it is finally starting to come to the surface).

As for the zombie story, the preface (as I mentioned earlier) appears in a slightly different form in Darkness.  Then, when I start telling the story, it's in the form of a letter from the main character.  I'm thinking about including pictures of the scrawl along with the typed text to show just how unreadable it is, since it is being written by someone with very little control over their muscles.  What I don't know is if that is just a quick blurb of a story that'll be followed by a separate, bigger zombie story, or if it'll lead to a bigger story within the one I'm already writing.

Other projects waiting in the writing wing include my vampire story where Josef Mengele is the vampire and retells history from that aspect.  Since Josef is the main character in it, I have to find a way to make him more sympathetic, while at the same time still a horrendously horrible person from history.  I also have a werewolf story brewing in my head too, so that it appears like a big portion of the second book might be my takes on some classic horror genres.

Either way, it all seems to be coming together as long as I can keep motivated.

On a different front, here are some season and half-season premier dates we're looking forward to in the near future:

Face Off - 14 Jan 2014
Walking Dead - 9 Feb 2014
Whose Line Is It Anyway? - 21 Mar 2014

Game of Thrones - 6 Apr 2014

That's all I have for this entry.  Thanks for reading.

Close To Completion

Today, I finished handwriting the last of the latest short story I was working on for the book coming out this year some time. It was five pages and my thumb joint jot a cramp near the end, but it was worth it. I still have to type it up and polish it up some, but it ended itself pretty well. I haven't decided yet whether to attempt to write the companion story for this story before putting out this book or have it be the first story I write for the next book. It'll probably depend on how well the writing attempt goes before I make the decision.

For now, my biggest decision will be what to title the first book of short stories. I originally had one thing in mind, then another. Now, I'm leaning towards Dark Stories For A Restless Night. I might think of something more awe-inspiring later.

For now, the book consists of the following stories (And a quick blurb about each):

Mary's Painting - A woman buys more than she expects when she purchases a painting on a whim
Sins of the Father - A priest defends the mission he presides over
The Fall - A young boy awakens after a bad accident while playing
Darkness - A group sets out on a rescue mission in the Mexican jungles and finds themselves at peril
Cat's Eye View - Find out why cats behave the way they do
The Viewing - Witness the last days of life on a distant planet
The Journey - A man travels exestentially through the cosmos
Un-Separation - A man's unhappy and unexpected reunion with his wife

That's all I have for this entry, thanks for reading.

Connections

Today I created my author page on Facebook (It already has 74 likes in around 5 hours! Thanks), so I have most of the social media outlets covered in case anyone actually reads my book and decides to "follow" me.  Here's the list of ways to follow or connect with me so far.  Let me know if there's any other ones I've missed that are mainstream enough to be considered (i.e. not MySpace):

Connect with Me

Follow me on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/TAllanBishop

Follow me on Twitter:  @TAllanBishop

Follow my blog:  http://anblicksanamorphosis.blogspot.com/

I’m also on Tumblr:  http://tallanbishop.tumblr.com/

Favorite me at Smashwords (This will be the publisher for all the sites other than Kindle):  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/TAllanBishop

Find me on Google +:  http://plus.google.com/+TimBishopTAllanBishop

Putting more squiggly lines on the paper

Well, I worked Mid Shifts (overnights, 3rd shifts, etc. for those of you not familiar with the term) for two nights at the end of this week, and hoped that it would result in writing some of my story.  Instead what I found was that Mid Shifts are not at all conducive to writing.  They are not conducive to any creative thought, unless it's the ones that keep you awake when you're TRYING to go to sleep instead of trying to stay awake.  Well, aside from that, I did get a few hundred more words written towards Darkness.

I hope to write some more towards it later today or tonight.  Either way, I did at least make progress towards finishing it.

On the non-writing front, we got the curtain rod and curtains for Megi's room today when we went out for a flag pole.  I'll likely hang them this week some time, which will leave paint touch-up, painting doors (both closet and main bedroom door, carpet cleanup, and moving in the dressers which we will likely sand and re-stain after the weather turns warmer (April time frame).  I'm not sure what the next actual project is for getting the house the way we want it, but I suspect it'll become the master bedroom.

Anyway, that's all I have for this blog, thanks for reading.

Christmas Day So Far In The Bishop Household 12/25/2013

The day started at three o'clock in the morning.  Gabe actually woke up around twelve thirty, but we managed to hold him off for another two and a half hours.  The morning proceeded for about a half hour for Donna and Gabe to see what Santa brought them (and for Mom and Dad, too).  We then convinced them to take some of their stuff upstairs to their room to play with while we tried to get just a tad bit more sleep.  We then got up at seven for Megi to see what she got and for the immediate family to open presents from each other (and from family that would not be in attendance later today).  She handled it much better than I expected.  I expected her to be so overwhelmed that she'd shut down, but instead, she, though overwhelmed, took it mostly in stride and really got into the unwrapping part.  She was not at all pleased with the "quality" job that toy manufacturers do at securing the toys in the packaging.  Neither am I.

Then mom made French toast for everyone for breakfast, which was quite good.  We finished watching A Christmas Carol that we tried to watch last night (until dinnertime interrupted the movie temporarily and then Grandma commandeered the television to watch ID).  Then the kids played for a while as Candice and I cleaned and made preparations for the meal later today when the extended family arrives.  And now Grandma is making more finger foods and nick-knack foods that no one wants just because.

Candice was totally in the Christmas mood this year (for the first time in a while) right up until Grandma started adding to the menu last minute and taking over the space in the kitchen we needed to prep for the meal (along with monopolizing her time that we needed, too, because her "it won't interfere" line was total crap.  It turned into "do all this for me.")  Now Candice is completely out of the mood and dreading the rest of the day.  Grandma is completely oblivious to this fact.  And now, instead of having too many leftovers for the fridge, we're almost certainly going to have too many leftovers for the fridge, plus a bunch of other stuff that no one wants to eat, and it'll sit around until we throw it away in a week and a half.

I was dumb yesterday.  I wrote over a thousand words towards my story Darkness, and then forgot to email a copy home.  It was mostly just rewriting myself back to the point where I was a few months ago, though it feels much better to me now.  There are two less characters and I have a better feel for how the story will progress.  The first death in the second party has occurred and they're trying to figure out the best approach for the immediate future.  Logically, they should turn back and take the body to town, but they're farther away from the town than they are to their destination, and with an unknown predator that they can't be sure where it is, they are essentially stuck until they can decide.  They find that the backpack with the satellite phone is also missing, so calling for help is out of the question.  They're going to decide that there is probably another satellite phone at the campsite they're heading towards, which will push them forward and into the climax of the story.

In a few minutes, I'm going to put the sweet potatoes in the oven, since we're planning on having everyone eat dinner around three in the afternoon.  After that, I guess we need to start boiling the mashed potatoes (I've already peeled and diced them) and make the stuffing.  Then it's get dressed for the big event and enjoy the afternoon.

Venialia

Today's obscure word of the day is venialia.  It means minor sins or offences.  I might need to find a way to work that word into a story, I find it to be a neat word.

So, as you may have noticed previously in my blogs, I prefer to write all my stories by hand first.  I have a logical reason for that.  If I'm typing on a computer, I tend to make immediate corrections, and edit, and edit, and edit as I go along.  This slows down the creative flow, and often causes me to lose focus on what I'm actually writing.  As a result, the first time I get my story typed up, it's actually my second draft.  I find that the edits and corrections are more suited to the story after the segment is already written, and therefore does not detract from it as much as not getting the segment properly written would do.  It also helps me attempt to keep up with my creative mind.  Granted, neither method of input comes close to keeping up with my mind.  Some stories I write the entire story before typing anything up, others I will write a few pages at a time before typing it up.  Either way, the only personal writing I do directly to computer are items like this (my blog posts, Facebook statuses, etc).  I've also tried to have a portable recorder of some type to dictate, but that doesn't work for anything except ideas.  I don't "see" what I've dictated, and have a tendency to lose focus if I'm trying to orally state a story.  Also, if I'm orally stating a story, I have to be in the mindset with a story in mind already to tell it, otherwise, my creativity completely drains out (often for days at a time).

My wife will hear me when I start typing something long, because I have a strong typing method when I type fast.  When I'm typing something short, the keystrokes tend to be softer.  When it's longer, though, my speed and intensity increases, which sounds harsher on the keystrokes.  It's especially noticeable with the space bar on most keyboards, probably a result of how the space bar takes input and is much larger with more hollow area underneath it for a sort of echo sound.  She often thinks I'm typing up a response to someone being an idiot online, because until recently, I haven't been doing much writing (also, as noted above, I tend to hand write most stories first).

Lately though, I've been using http://750words.com to try and keep momentum going.  It's a sort of challenge to use it for my intended purpose of story writing, but I use it as follows:  I type up my "second draft" of my stories there before cutting and pasting them into the Microsoft Word document the words will eventually call home while they wait to be published.  I also type up my blog posts there before copying them to my blog site.  I have noticed that I need to copy it on the same day I type it, because once it goes into the archive, if I "export it" it no longer has carriage returns, etc. to mark paragraphs, so I either need my hand written version to use as a guideline, or I need to figure out where they are on my own.  It's a real pain to do after the fact sometimes (unless there's lots of dialog, in which case it isn't quite so hard).

I've made some changes to my blog site recently.  I've put a picture behind the blog title.  Currently, it is Michael Konrad Hirt's A vanitas still life with a candle, an inkwell, a quill pen, a skull and books.  I might change it up from time to time.  Also on the side is recent books I've finished reading (which usually, though not always, means unabridged audiobook).  I also have struggled to figure out how to get my blog posts to automatically post to my other social media sites, then I found "If This Then That" (http://IFTTT.com) where you can set up a "recipe" that, in this case, says "Anytime there is a new blog posted, create a post on <Facebook> or <Twitter> or <Tumblr>" (I had to set up three recipes for it.  It seems to be working so far, so I no longer need to post a link, or copy the text and paste it anymore to accomplish the same task as I used to do.  In theory, every blog post I make will be linkd from each of those sites (and any others that I join in the future).

That's all I have for this blog post.  Thanks for reading.