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.

More purging of toys.

We've filled both garbage cans (the ones we put out for the trash trucks to dump out) with toys not good enough to donate.  We also have a huge stash of toys for ARC (thrift store that helps developmentally disabled people) and a toddler bed (since we converted Megi's crib into a daybed).  It probably amounts to multiple thousands of dollars of toys that we've removed (or are removing) from our house all at once.

We also managed to get two rooms vacuumed for the upcoming holiday visit.  The kids' rooms need to be swept or vacuumed and they'll be clean.

We still need to clean the office and kitchen before the big day.  We also still need to finish the loft (needs vacuumed still) and clean/vacuum our bedroom, and then the house will be mostly cleaned (spring cleaning style, even)!

I haven't gotten any writing done towards my book today, but feel much better about the progress towards the house cleaning project.

That's all for this blog entry, thanks for reading!

Cleaning out the House from Toys

Today, we threw away half the kids' toys from the toy room.  OK, we threw away a quarter of them and have another quarter ready for donation.  We've reclaimed a large portion of the room for walking!

We also put away the boxes for Christmas decorations along with miscellaneous empty boxes.  We're almost ready to clean for company Christmas day.  Hooray!

I'm going to label the toy drawers for the next time they go to pick up various toys, they'll hopefully put things away in the right places.

We still have the loft to go through and throw away/donate, as well as a crap load of toys we "threw away" that are actually in bags in the basement.  Almost all of it will get thrown away or donated (the rest will be kept if it belongs with stuff that we've kept before like doll house furniture, toy cooking stuff, etc).

Today's Writing Update 12/19

Yesterday, I re-started writing Darkness by throwing out 9/10 of it and starting over.  I think the new beginning is much better and flows smoother.  I saved some from the 'middle' just to see if it'll still fit.  It probably will, but will also probably be re-written, too.  Darkness is also the starting point for my zombie story too.  A few paragraphs in the second section will be the opening part of the zombie story.  I think it's a neat idea that the same scene starts two different horror genre stories.  Now, I just have to write them,  If I finish Darkness before I publish my still untitled compilation book, I think it'll be included and will also be the title of the compilation (though I still want something to do with Mary's Painting to be the book cover picture (darkness lays a role in it and most of the other stories as they're all related to dark topics).  If the book gets above 20,000 words, the book will be $2.99.  If it's less but still more than 15,000 I'll price it at $1.99, any less will be $0.99.  Those seem to be the accepted guidelines from what I can tell for self-publishing electronically.  I also think I need to edit Cat's Eye View and Un-Separation to refine them before publishing them in it.  They're still rough around the edges, and I'd hate to put out something I felt was not finished.  My goal is to get it published some time next calendar year.

Yesterday, I also discovered that I was grandfathered in to 750words.com with a free membership.  I had stopped using it because I joined less than a week after what was supposed to be the cutoff without knowing there was going to be a cutoff.  Before my 30 day trial was to be over, I stopped using it because I didn't think I could afford it (though it doesn't cost much of anything).  On a whim after Candice asked if the words I was typing for Darkness last night were for my "500 words", I went back to the website and found out that they'd moved the date to a week or so after I had joined.  So, I'll try using the site again to keep my writing momentum going.

I added a Goodreads widget to the side of my blog, but from what I can tell, I have to update the code myself to get the books in it to change.  I marked a couple more books as finished today and it still showed the old list until I copied and pasted the new code in.  If anyone knows how to modify it to be dynamically updated, let me know!

We're all ready for Christmas (though we still haven't mailed out stuff to my family back east - we'll do that tomorrow most likely).  The only shopping we still have left to do is to buy a few more groceries for the Christmas meal, and some boxes for the aforementioned stuff that needs shipped.

That's about all for this blog entry.  Thanks for reading.

Getting on the Publishing Trail

When I originally started writing, I never intended to have it published.  I was writing for me, to release emotions, since I didn't (and if I'm honest with myself I still don't) know how to deal with most emotions.  Then, I felt brave enough to let a few friends read a couple of my stories.  That was a pretty big breakthrough for me.  But still, I never really had any desire to sell any of my stuff.

Then I married an artist.  And she started selling some of her stuff (Granted, she produces much more than she lists and the sales aren't burning any barns.  Yet.), and this crazy notion got into my head that maybe I should sell some of my art, too.  Then came the "now what" phase.  I didn't have enough for a full book, and wasn't producing anything except a multitude of ideas (many of which I forget by the time I can write them down - or I lose the slip of paper I write them on), so I kept pushing it off.

Then I found that I can publish on my own through Amazon for the Kindle for free, so I started thinking of the basic concept I'd publish with.  Since the vast majority of my stories and story ideas are all short or ultra short, I should focus on short story compilation books.  I don't concentrate on any single genre, so maybe I should split the stories into categories and concentrate on a compilation story for each genre.  Horror, Science Fiction, Mystery, Drama (basic fiction that doesn't fit into the other three genres).  I then set about doling out stories to each book and had a pretty good idea of what goes where.

But still, I didn't do any work on anything new.

Then I found out about Smashwords, which will publish to just about every other electronic book medium except Amazon and also for free.  So, I could have my books for sale for the Kindle, and also for Nook, Apple Itunes, and a couple dozen other places.  Then I started reading in forums about pricing books and approximate number of words for each pricing scheme and I realized that I could put six of my stories that are already completed in the same short compilation novel and price it at about $0.99 or $1.99.  If I get good results, I'm pretty sure that will get me motivated to start putting my pencil to paper again (yes, I do all my first drafts the old fashioned way).

So, I'm putting the following stories in a short compilation book for less than a dollar:  Mary's Painting, Sins of the Father, The Fall, Cat's Eye View, The Viewing, and The Journey.  The only thing they have in common is that they're all darker stories.  I still need a title for the compilation, but as soon as I get that and artwork to design the cover with, I plan to publish straight away.  Who knows, if I get another story finished before then, I might include it also.

Better Late Than Never

Here's the promised pictures of the Halloween decorations.  I plan to have a writing related post soon.  Seems fitting, since that's supposed to be what this blog is for.

Thanks for reading.

We need more RIP signs

We've put out the bulk of the Halloween decorations already (I'll put the pictures up on or after Halloween of the full look of the place with all the stuff out including what we haven't put out yet).  This year, we're adding a grave mourner, a remote controlled zombie crawler, a lined coffin, and the beginnings of a homemade zombie to the "production".  We've also added some red Christmas lights inside some of the coffins that have "risen" from the ground to give them an "inner glow."

I've made some more shelves.  Here's the ones I mentioned that I made for Donna's room, we hung them asymmetrically:

I also made some for Gabe's room.  We stained them since it went better with his room colors (and we hung them differently):

I just finished some for Megi's room.  We made one a rectangle instead of two squares, and we painted them diagonally (The two colors are dragon fruit and a sort of teal variation).  I haven't hung them yet, because we still need to finish painting her room:

Speaking of painting Megi's room, she gave us an "ultimatum" recently to get it done.  She, on the first attempt we know of, managed to climb out of her crib and fell to the floor, so we need to finish her room soon.  Here's the colors from the beginning of it, they're a plum color for most of the walls and a light blue for the accent color:

We like the dragon fruit color from the shelves I built so much, we plan to buy more and paint the closet doors that color.

I still haven't followed my own advice on writing, and as such, I haven't done any writing.  I'm taking the week off for Halloween, maybe I can at least get some progress made on something.

If you're wondering about the blog title, "RIP signs" is what Gabe called headstones the other day, and yes, we do need to make some more for our cemetery this next off season (just like I need to work on the hearse, etc)

Also on the list of projects we need to do is to go through the kids' toys and eliminate some that they never play with by either throwing them away or giving them to charity.  Gotta make room for the next cycle of toys and get rid of some of the clutter.

The furniture savings is coming along nicely, though we keep vacillating between which project to approach first:  a new desk for the office, a new bed/mattress for our bedroom, or hardwood floors for the whole house.  The first two cost about the same (about $2400 each), and the flooring will probably cost about ten times as much for as much space as we need done.

 That's all I have right now.  Thanks for reading.











And send happy thoughts to my wife.  Just because.  She's wonderful and all that, and I love her.