The journey of a career IT Security expert into the world of writing. Follow along as a geek learns what it means and what it takes to be a writer.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Back In The Writing Swing
I am using Wattpad as my posting place and where I write the most. Here's my profile.
All the little ideas I have I am putting into collections or writing them as stand along short stories. My goal this year, like last, is to ramp up and participate in the NaNoWriMo this year. Either complete my Emerald Event novel or start a new one. I may trash and re-write The Emerald Event but between now and then I may get motiviated on something else in my journals of ideas.
Either way I am getting my routine and loving it again. I have finally figured out how to let go and stop over analyzing my works to an impossible goal of 'perfection'. Create, mold, then let it go.
WOOT!
Time to turn the page.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Hello 2015, Not starting New But Readjusting Focus
I didn't make resolutions I made plans.
Plans to write 500 words a day. Instead of locking myself into 500 words of fiction or 500 words of my projects, open it up to 500 words in general. Everything I write can be counted except for emails, texts or other communications. Journals, blogs, stories, brain dumps, or just free writing with absolutely no purpose all count. The only sub-rule is that my writing style or approach is slightly new each time. Whether I use alternative language, rely on a thesaurus for new ways to say the same thing or change the tone. That's the only way you can grow, stick to the same and you will remain the same. How do you know if another way is better for you unless you try it?
That's my year. Rebuilding my routine but opening my walls to a less restrictive approach and that may sharpen my other focuses on the things I do want to get really good at. Fiction writing.
You don't know unless you experiment. You really don't know unless you actually do it.
Time to turn the page.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Writing Is Fun Even Though It Isn't
I used to write thousands of lines of code, computer programming, hours and hours of pumping out creativity using computer logic. There are many times when I go back and see what I built and I am amazed that I came up with that a built it. Writing is no different.
You can plot, plan, sketch, flow, chart, diagram all you want around a story or idea but until you put words on paper it will never be realized. That's the fun part.
Writing is also one of the the most frustrating, complicated and confusing abilities humans can do. One moment you can be on a roll then your creative processing center shuts off. Disappears. This could happen for any number of reasons, emotions, overthinking, it's raining outside or it's too sunny out, the baby's crying or you're hungry. Mind over body, creativity over analysis, free-flowing or planned. Writing is a battle.
That's why every book, author, blog, speech, class everywhere tells you to write everyday. A writer writes, always. Write daily. Don't stop writing. Keep the mind going, leave it free, create with your words, paint that picture, introduce new worlds and people, express yourself. If you don't write, you can't do anything.
Accept frustration, anger, obstacles. Accept success, creation and accomplishment. Regardless on how 'good' your stories are, at least you wrote a story. Then next one will be a little better and the one after than better than the first. That's the enjoyment and also the hatred of the process. If you are like me nothing will ever be good enough, you just need to learn to love creating and let it go when you are done.
Time to turn the page.
Friday, January 24, 2014
I Blog To Update Not To Create A Diary
Since the NaNoWriMo my second child was born so that has been the focus of a majority of my time and the drain on my energy to keep up the pace that I did during the NaNoWriMo. I have a 50,000 word draft of a novel sitting in my Scrivener binder ready to be continued. I am working on finishing another short story called Chance Encounter, actually I will finish it today.
I am writing more and more I am just not blogging about it as much. The main reason is that blogging takes time, time that I could be spending writing. Blog writing is very different than fiction writing and I want to craft the latter. Blogging is just a nice way to stay connected to whatever regular readers are curious enough to read my posts.
During the NaNoWriMo there was a website that I was introduced to called Wattpad. If you are a serious writing either by hobby or trade you are probably familiar with it. Instead of sharing my stories on my own blog I will be using Wattpad to share to the community. There are a few other writing websites that attempt to do the same thing but not as nearly as popular and I will be pulling out of those and going all in with Wattpad. Here's a link to my profile.
My resolution in 2014 was the year of productivity. A new baby in the house makes that more challenging but not impossible. I am using my disgust and frustration of the bureaucratic BS of the world I built my career around as fuel to build worlds and tell stories my way without someone who thinks they know better to suggest it's done this way.
Stay tuned, I will be updating well thought out constructive posts from now on rather than posting for the sake of posting. At least one a week for the rest of the year, maybe more if the week has activity.
Time to turn the page.
Monday, January 6, 2014
New Year Bring New Writing Focus
The routines are settling in, the holidays are over, the New Year has arrived and in 2014 I am moving forward with my writing. I am going to be integrating my writing during the day, I have to. With a 5 year old and 3 week old in the house, wanted to sleep at some point, writing when I used to later at night isn't a good option. Instead I will write over my lunch hour at work. I'll find a dark conference room and tuck myself away and write in silence.
Using the gift cards I received as gifts I picked up a pretty good book, so far, called Writer with a Day Job. It is more about creating a writing schedule and routine around other busy aspects of ones life whether it's a job, family or other responsibilities. Consistency, consistency, and writing always.
The NaNoWriMo showed me that I can do and I love it. Like everyone else I need to find time to do it because writing isn't going to replace my day job any time soon. Odds are it never will, but that's an assumption I hope I get wrong. But I will never get close to that until I write more often than I do now.
Time to turn the page.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Perspectives Project
There may be 7-9 stories of about 30 pages each. That should make for a novel length read yet broken up into non-sequential, non-connected stories that can be read easily on the bus or in bed at your leisure. Then the reader, the casual reader, doesn't feel obligated to commit so much time into novel where you have to keep the story in your head and the longer the gaps are between reading sessions the easier it is to forget sub-plots, side characters, or even what is happening at that moment. With perspectives you are enthralled into a short burst and can read them in any order.
That's the idea anyway. We'll see how it starts to pan out as I write them. The first overall Perspective I am calling The Emerald Event. But you can apply this approach to any topic.
Time to turn the page.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Greetings From The Geek
Lots has happened since I started up this side persona of the Geek to Author. Life happened as we were blessed with another child set to arrive at the end of the year. Work happened. Healthy focused lifestyle happened. Writing as much as I wanted to and what I wanted to write did not.
I was re-reading this blog and saw more posts about excuses and false starts than productive posts about my writing and things learned along the way. I still desire to write, I don't know why it appeals to me. I love to read and what I have wrote I thinks is pretty good. Putting it together in a routine of practice and getting out of this mind set that everything I write must be published is hard.
A writer writes, always. I am not. I am, but not everyday and not fiction. Even this blog has inadvertently turned into a blah blah post about something worthy instead of a blog or journal of the transition of an 20 year veteran IT Geek to an author. My claim to say that I officially am an author is to make 1 sale of an ebook in Amazon (to a complete stranger). That's my goal. Then I can say I did that, if it gets more great, if someone spends time to rate it, good or bad, even better.
Another mistake I have made is trying to get more exposure first with little substance of stories or works to put behind it. I am a mamber of several writing sites, lists, boards. I get daily stories to read that I never get around to, tips everyday, podcasts, and the more time I spend reading those topics I am not spending on writing something. Even if it's a short narrative of what I see outside my office window at a random time during the day, at least it's writing. Who knows, that small idea may spawn into the next big seller.
You will see more posts from me, I promise. More personal posts and less me trying to be a news source of canned inspirational posts, reposts or links to another site. I will if I stumble across something that I find very useful but no more of that stuff just to get a post done.
The Geek will become an author and I want to take you with me.
More to come, I promise.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Writing Exercises - Hanging It All Out There
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Should I or shouldn't I? |
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Coming Soon - The Build Up Begins
From start to whatever the finish may be, this will chronicle as much of that journey as possible.