I've never been one to use the word "muse." I haven't read the applicable Greek mythology to know exactly what the nine (or was it seven) muses were and their purposes. The idea is that a force or forces outside of you drives your creativity. If any force does that for me, it's the triune God.
But of late I've had a little trouble falling asleep, my head full of writing stuff. Normally I'm asleep when my head hits the pillow. It drives Lynda crazy. The melatonin must surge in my veins, and I sleep immediately and well. I might wake up 4:00 to 5:00 AM and have a little trouble getting back and staying asleep after that, but even that's kind of rare. I stay fairly active during waking hours, with my mind if not my body, and I think that aids in sleep.
However for the last week it's taken me 30 minutes to an hour to fall hard asleep. My mind has been full of plot lines of future novels, of re-formatting needed for books just about to be published, of marketing schemes that result in large numbers of sales. Of writers conferences and retreats.
I don't know how long this will last. Hopefully not long, and I will soon return to lights out, mind off, deep slumber. I can't really see how this is helping me get on down the road as a writer/author.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
Stringing a Few Good Days Together
I've always though that a key to my losing weight was stringing a few good days together. By that I mean to do all the right things that contribute to weight loss for several days in a row: eating right, exercise, staying active. My experience has been that this works, and results in accelerated weight loss.
That seems to be part of the theory behind Weight Watchers. When I was in the program back in the 1980s the first week was almost draconian, but the weight fell off. It gave incentive to carry on the second week and beyond, when the eating restrictions were slightly eased. I don't know if their current program still follows this pattern. I do know it sure worked for me.
Health wise, I've been able to string together two good—not days, but—weeks. I'm down 10 pounds during that time. My blood sugar readings have almost all been within the normal range for a non-diabetic, never mind for a Type 2. And best of all, my Dawn Phenomenon is almost gone. This is when your morning blood sugar is higher than when you go to bed, and out of the normal range. In theory it should be the other way around. For the last ten days my morning blood sugars have been in the normal range, or very close to it. I hope this better eating helps that to continue.
Part of this has been a slight ratcheting up of my exercise. Normally I don't take a noon walk when the temperatures are above 95, so that I don't sweat and stink afterwards. The temp has been over 95 for a month now. But around July 1 I decided I needed the exercise, so I resumed my noon walks, right after eating. Instead of doing a two laps requiring a full twenty minutes, I just do one lap, at a slower pace. It takes about eleven minutes. I find that's what I can do without having to take a half hour to cool down. I suspect this is also contributing to improved weight and blood sugar.
Which brings me to writing. I think the same principle applies. If you can string a few good days together, by which I mean productive, at the end you will probably be surprised at how much you did. My good days of writing started about June 28, roughly corresponding with my good health days—probably not a coincidence. Since that time I have:
Which leads me to working toward stringing a few good weeks together. Four more weeks like this will find me another 10-15 pounds lighter, three more books self-published, and two more (e-short stories) underway.
That seems to be part of the theory behind Weight Watchers. When I was in the program back in the 1980s the first week was almost draconian, but the weight fell off. It gave incentive to carry on the second week and beyond, when the eating restrictions were slightly eased. I don't know if their current program still follows this pattern. I do know it sure worked for me.
Health wise, I've been able to string together two good—not days, but—weeks. I'm down 10 pounds during that time. My blood sugar readings have almost all been within the normal range for a non-diabetic, never mind for a Type 2. And best of all, my Dawn Phenomenon is almost gone. This is when your morning blood sugar is higher than when you go to bed, and out of the normal range. In theory it should be the other way around. For the last ten days my morning blood sugars have been in the normal range, or very close to it. I hope this better eating helps that to continue.
Part of this has been a slight ratcheting up of my exercise. Normally I don't take a noon walk when the temperatures are above 95, so that I don't sweat and stink afterwards. The temp has been over 95 for a month now. But around July 1 I decided I needed the exercise, so I resumed my noon walks, right after eating. Instead of doing a two laps requiring a full twenty minutes, I just do one lap, at a slower pace. It takes about eleven minutes. I find that's what I can do without having to take a half hour to cool down. I suspect this is also contributing to improved weight and blood sugar.
Which brings me to writing. I think the same principle applies. If you can string a few good days together, by which I mean productive, at the end you will probably be surprised at how much you did. My good days of writing started about June 28, roughly corresponding with my good health days—probably not a coincidence. Since that time I have:
- Read through The Candy Store Generation twice, made edits, typed the edits, and brought the book to the brink of being self-published. Today I redid a few of the internal graphics. My book formatter won't be available till Wednesday, at which time I'll send him the file for the e-book and have that one up and published by Friday. Then I'll send him the file for the print book and have that submitted by Monday.
- Did some serious research on expanding The Candy Store Generation in two areas, as recommended by a beta reader. I don't think I'll be able to complete as much research as needed and have the book out in a timely manner. But it has given me an idea for a supplement to TCSG, which might tie-in well with a marketing plan.
- Completed the writing for the home school edition of Documenting America. Also I typed all but the last five chapters. Came up with a little bit of a marketing strategy for it as well.
- Wrote another chapter in my humorous workplace series The Gutter Chronicles. I'm sending chapters to a few select people at work, and it's well received so far. Since it parodies a civil engineering firm such as ours, I don't know that it would have wide appeal as an e-book, but I'm thinking about it.
Which leads me to working toward stringing a few good weeks together. Four more weeks like this will find me another 10-15 pounds lighter, three more books self-published, and two more (e-short stories) underway.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
New Passage in Life
This week our children got together for vacation. One lives in Chicago; the other in Oklahoma City. We are in between, but 45 minutes south of the most direct road between them. This is the second time they've come together. The previous time Charles (and maybe Bis) went to Oklahoma City to see Richard and Sara. This time R&S loaded up their two sons, left the cats in good hands, and made the thirteen hour drive to the northeast. Reports we are seeing on Facebook and hear on the telephone indicate it's going well. Although 4 and 1 year-olds haven't yet grasped the concept of sleeping in while on vacation.
This is a new passage for Lynda and me in that we are not involved in our adult children's vacation. They are getting together without us. Prior year Thanksgiving celebrations have been at our house, with one or both of the kids coming from east and west to gather. We've driven both ways with some frequency, more often to OKC than to Chi-town. But this time they made their plans and didn't ask us to join them.
And that's fine with me. Each year results in a little further distance for them from the nest. The empty nest seems a little emptier. But we survive, and our children march on into a greater distance from their upbringing. That's the way of the world. In The Winds of War, when Warren Henry complained that his family had become a bunch of tumbleweeds scattered by the winds of war, his very wise fiancee, Janet Lacouture, countered yes, and in the scattering new families resulted.
We hope life will give us many years of visits to and from children, grandchildren, in-laws. Maybe next year we can plan to exchange our timeshare in Branson for another week in Branson. We'll drive a mere two hours northeast, cars will leave Chicago and Oklahoma City at the appointed time, and we can all have fun in a fun city. I'll look for situations to put into stories and books, and we'll all relax in the rush of vacation activities. I suppose that's an oxymoron.
Sometimes tumbleweeds all blow out of the same hedgerow and are caught at the same fence, not terribly far away.
This is a new passage for Lynda and me in that we are not involved in our adult children's vacation. They are getting together without us. Prior year Thanksgiving celebrations have been at our house, with one or both of the kids coming from east and west to gather. We've driven both ways with some frequency, more often to OKC than to Chi-town. But this time they made their plans and didn't ask us to join them.
And that's fine with me. Each year results in a little further distance for them from the nest. The empty nest seems a little emptier. But we survive, and our children march on into a greater distance from their upbringing. That's the way of the world. In The Winds of War, when Warren Henry complained that his family had become a bunch of tumbleweeds scattered by the winds of war, his very wise fiancee, Janet Lacouture, countered yes, and in the scattering new families resulted.
We hope life will give us many years of visits to and from children, grandchildren, in-laws. Maybe next year we can plan to exchange our timeshare in Branson for another week in Branson. We'll drive a mere two hours northeast, cars will leave Chicago and Oklahoma City at the appointed time, and we can all have fun in a fun city. I'll look for situations to put into stories and books, and we'll all relax in the rush of vacation activities. I suppose that's an oxymoron.
Sometimes tumbleweeds all blow out of the same hedgerow and are caught at the same fence, not terribly far away.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Ebb and Flow
I wish I knew why some days I'm so motivated and some days I'm so dull.
Today is a dull day. I have to do something at work I don't want to do. It's not a bad thing; it's just something I had hoped I'd put behind me ten to twelve years ago, and now I find I have to do it occasionally for the next 5 years, 6 months, and 2 days. I have it half done, but can't find someone who has to explain the other part of it to me.
Yesterday evening at home I found myself listless. The night before that I scratched my left eye and couldn't work for a while. It had healed by the time I was home from work yesterday. My main project for the evening was to write the questions for two or three more chapters in the homeschooling edition of Documenting America, as well as type the questions already written for a few other chapters.
As part of the homeschooling pages, I'm providing links to the full source documents, and maybe to a short biography of the author. I couldn't find a link to the sources for the chapter I was to type next, causing me to flounder. An hour later I had a work-around, and had completed one chapter when I'd hoped to type three or four. At that point I left The Dungeon.
Back upstairs I tried to do the other part of my goal. The first chapter proved difficult to write questions for. This was really the first (after twenty-four completed) that was difficult. Questions for the others just rolled out. I finished it, started the next, and found it as difficult. I concluded it must
be my energy level or interest level or something similar—something in me, not in the chapters. So I set it aside and quit writing work earlier than expected.
Today is a similar day. I'm getting stuff done at work, but could be doing more. My energy level is down. Possibly I'm in a sleep deficit. Or maybe it's that, due to the high temperatures (95 last week; 100+ this week) I haven't been walking and it's lack of physical activity affecting my mindset.
I think this noon hour I'll walk. Since it will be 102 out, maybe just a 10 minute walk. I'll be sweating greatly when I get in, but will have time to cool down before starting work afterwards. Maybe that will help with my outlook.
Today is a dull day. I have to do something at work I don't want to do. It's not a bad thing; it's just something I had hoped I'd put behind me ten to twelve years ago, and now I find I have to do it occasionally for the next 5 years, 6 months, and 2 days. I have it half done, but can't find someone who has to explain the other part of it to me.
Yesterday evening at home I found myself listless. The night before that I scratched my left eye and couldn't work for a while. It had healed by the time I was home from work yesterday. My main project for the evening was to write the questions for two or three more chapters in the homeschooling edition of Documenting America, as well as type the questions already written for a few other chapters.
As part of the homeschooling pages, I'm providing links to the full source documents, and maybe to a short biography of the author. I couldn't find a link to the sources for the chapter I was to type next, causing me to flounder. An hour later I had a work-around, and had completed one chapter when I'd hoped to type three or four. At that point I left The Dungeon.
Back upstairs I tried to do the other part of my goal. The first chapter proved difficult to write questions for. This was really the first (after twenty-four completed) that was difficult. Questions for the others just rolled out. I finished it, started the next, and found it as difficult. I concluded it must
be my energy level or interest level or something similar—something in me, not in the chapters. So I set it aside and quit writing work earlier than expected.
Today is a similar day. I'm getting stuff done at work, but could be doing more. My energy level is down. Possibly I'm in a sleep deficit. Or maybe it's that, due to the high temperatures (95 last week; 100+ this week) I haven't been walking and it's lack of physical activity affecting my mindset.
I think this noon hour I'll walk. Since it will be 102 out, maybe just a 10 minute walk. I'll be sweating greatly when I get in, but will have time to cool down before starting work afterwards. Maybe that will help with my outlook.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The Blank Sheet of Paper
Today I'm at the blank page of the blog entry screen, basically without an idea of what to write. The blank screen is an intimidation. Remember the comic strip "Shoe", where the two birds worked for a newspaper? One was the editor the other the writer. One day the editor asks the writer if his article was finished. The writer replied, "90 percent." He then went back to his messy desk, fed a blank sheet of paper into his typewriter, and said to himself, "The white part."
That rarely affects me in my writing, but it can at times. It's more likely in my business writing than in creative writing. For that reason I have created some templates in the office that I can pull up on the screen that already have certain key information in them. So I start, not with a blank document, but with some of the basics already entered. I believe it's a help, espcially when I'm about to write a construction specification section from scratch.
I'm currently editing on all projects, not writing fresh. In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People is with an editor (day 29 now), so I'm waiting. I actually have a little editing to do on that, since I'm not sure I have days, dates, games, and travel schedule right for the Cubs during the playoffs. The Candy Store Generation is with a few beta readers. Meanwhile I received some improved graphs from the Congressional Budget Office (my tax dollars at work), which I need to work into the document. I will also do one more read-through on my own simultaneously with the beta readers. Then, hopefully, it's ready to publish.
The writing I'm doing on Documenting America: The Homeschool Edition is more like editing than writing. I read each chapter, find links to a bio for the writer of the source document and to the source document itself if possible, and write four or five questions that I think a high school student should be able to pull out of the book, sometimes with a bit of reasoning on their part. It all fits on less than a half of an 8.5x11 sheet. It feels like editing.
So I'm not faced with the blank screen right now, but I soon will. All this editing will be done in a matter of a week or two, three at the most. Then I'll go through the publishing tasks and get them listed with Amazon and Smashwords. For The Candy Store Generation I'm going to use a book designer/formatter for the interior, since the graphs are a complicating factor. The others I expect to do myself, all but the covers. I may need help with interactive Table of Contents for the e-books.
After that, sometime around mid-July, it's on to the next writing project. This will certainly be a short story, maybe two short stories in a row. Right now both are blank screens, except for pre-writing I've done in my head. For one of them, the spy one, I think I wrote out a couple of paragraphs if I can find that sheet of paper.
After those, it's on to a novel and maybe another non-fiction book project. That will be a second volume of Documenting America, probably a Civil War edition. I still haven't decided on the novel yet, so I don't know if it will be a sequel to FTSP or my China novel or the next in the church history series, following up on Doctor Luke's Assistant. Time will tell, but not a lot of time.
All of those will start with the blank sheet, except for what's in my head. I will have to act fast, before those gray cells start hemorhaging ideas.
That rarely affects me in my writing, but it can at times. It's more likely in my business writing than in creative writing. For that reason I have created some templates in the office that I can pull up on the screen that already have certain key information in them. So I start, not with a blank document, but with some of the basics already entered. I believe it's a help, espcially when I'm about to write a construction specification section from scratch.
I'm currently editing on all projects, not writing fresh. In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People is with an editor (day 29 now), so I'm waiting. I actually have a little editing to do on that, since I'm not sure I have days, dates, games, and travel schedule right for the Cubs during the playoffs. The Candy Store Generation is with a few beta readers. Meanwhile I received some improved graphs from the Congressional Budget Office (my tax dollars at work), which I need to work into the document. I will also do one more read-through on my own simultaneously with the beta readers. Then, hopefully, it's ready to publish.
The writing I'm doing on Documenting America: The Homeschool Edition is more like editing than writing. I read each chapter, find links to a bio for the writer of the source document and to the source document itself if possible, and write four or five questions that I think a high school student should be able to pull out of the book, sometimes with a bit of reasoning on their part. It all fits on less than a half of an 8.5x11 sheet. It feels like editing.
So I'm not faced with the blank screen right now, but I soon will. All this editing will be done in a matter of a week or two, three at the most. Then I'll go through the publishing tasks and get them listed with Amazon and Smashwords. For The Candy Store Generation I'm going to use a book designer/formatter for the interior, since the graphs are a complicating factor. The others I expect to do myself, all but the covers. I may need help with interactive Table of Contents for the e-books.
After that, sometime around mid-July, it's on to the next writing project. This will certainly be a short story, maybe two short stories in a row. Right now both are blank screens, except for pre-writing I've done in my head. For one of them, the spy one, I think I wrote out a couple of paragraphs if I can find that sheet of paper.
After those, it's on to a novel and maybe another non-fiction book project. That will be a second volume of Documenting America, probably a Civil War edition. I still haven't decided on the novel yet, so I don't know if it will be a sequel to FTSP or my China novel or the next in the church history series, following up on Doctor Luke's Assistant. Time will tell, but not a lot of time.
All of those will start with the blank sheet, except for what's in my head. I will have to act fast, before those gray cells start hemorhaging ideas.
Monday, June 25, 2012
The Tribe
The professionals in the publishing industry, by which I mean editors and literary agents, keep saying that platform is of great importance for getting published. As I posted before a platform is generally defined as a ready-made audience to which the published book can be sold. This is more important for non-fiction than for fiction, but should not be ignored for novelists.
How is this measured? It used to be the number of people on your mailing list, probably for a newsletter distribution. Nowadays it's the number of Facebook or Twitter friends/followers you have. It's the number of hits on your website. Some agents want you to give these numbers along with your proposal.
This has been something bugging me. My blogs are not popular, and despite several requests sent out to Facebook friends to like my author page, 57 friends. I don't do Twitter, and don't know that I will any time soon. My platform is...slightly better than nil. And I haven't figured out how to change that.
But I have seen one change of late in how far I'm reaching people with my "writerly" presence. That's the "Reach" statistics on a Facebook page. For my writer page, my reach had been hovering around 40 to 50 for a long time. On a good couple of days I might hit 60. Finally in May it began to creep up. I hit 83 on May 31, then dropped back slowly to in the 50s and 60s. Finally my free promotion of Doctor Luke's Assistant came. My reach went into the high 80s by the end of that. Then it hovered there for a few days, then took off. Right now it stands at 221, the third straight day over 200 after zooming around June 18.
I don't really know how Facebook's "Reach" algorithm works. It says it's for a week ending on such and such a day. So I don't really know which day the numbers are for, or if it's an average of those days, or a total for all of those days. If it's an average, that means I'm now up to reaching just over 30 people per day. Small tribe.
But at least the numbers are going in the right direction. That's the main thing. It's the start of a tribe, a platform. Long may it grow.
How is this measured? It used to be the number of people on your mailing list, probably for a newsletter distribution. Nowadays it's the number of Facebook or Twitter friends/followers you have. It's the number of hits on your website. Some agents want you to give these numbers along with your proposal.
This has been something bugging me. My blogs are not popular, and despite several requests sent out to Facebook friends to like my author page, 57 friends. I don't do Twitter, and don't know that I will any time soon. My platform is...slightly better than nil. And I haven't figured out how to change that.
But I have seen one change of late in how far I'm reaching people with my "writerly" presence. That's the "Reach" statistics on a Facebook page. For my writer page, my reach had been hovering around 40 to 50 for a long time. On a good couple of days I might hit 60. Finally in May it began to creep up. I hit 83 on May 31, then dropped back slowly to in the 50s and 60s. Finally my free promotion of Doctor Luke's Assistant came. My reach went into the high 80s by the end of that. Then it hovered there for a few days, then took off. Right now it stands at 221, the third straight day over 200 after zooming around June 18.
I don't really know how Facebook's "Reach" algorithm works. It says it's for a week ending on such and such a day. So I don't really know which day the numbers are for, or if it's an average of those days, or a total for all of those days. If it's an average, that means I'm now up to reaching just over 30 people per day. Small tribe.
But at least the numbers are going in the right direction. That's the main thing. It's the start of a tribe, a platform. Long may it grow.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
A Nice Soaking Rain
After weeks, maybe as long as two months, with very little rainfall, this morning we are in the midst of a nice, soaking rain. Last night the forecast was for 30 percent chance of rain today. Normally when it's 30 percent chance we don't get rain. When it's 40 percent chance we probably do. So I went to bed last night figuring we wouldn't get any.
This morning, after showering I turned on the weather as normal, and the radar showed a line of strong storms coming on us from the northwest, a little over one county away, and moving quickly in our direction. The radar loop showed the storms weren't dissipating or splitting. It couldn't miss. Sure enough, around 7:30 a.m. it began raining at our office, and still is. Radar shows it might rain for another hour or so.
What's that expression? "When it rains, it pours." Not so today. The first ten to twenty minutes was heavy (at the busiest part of Bentonville's rush hour, though I was already inside at my computer), but since then it's been nice and steady. The ground is so dry lots of this must be soaking in. Perhaps the County will be able to take the burn ban off—not that I have anything to burn.
Right now it's raining in my writing life. I'm working on four or five projects, all moving toward publication close together. I submitted an engineering article to Buildipedia.com, and it will be published tomorrow. The next one isn't due for a month, as they are cutting back from a bi-monthly column to a monthly. I'm in the waiting process on In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People. Today is the 23rd day since I submitted it to the editor. I'm resigned to self-publishing it, but we'll see.
I'm editing The Candy Store Generation for clarity and consistency. I think I have some repetition in it, and want to eliminate that. I'm two-thirds of the way through preparing the home school edition of Documenting America. That's not taking much time. I do a chapter a day.
These three book-length projects are all coming together at about the same time. Is it pouring? Not really, because I set my own schedule on them. I can determine the priorities, putting them in the order I choose. If things get too hectic, I can just delay any of them I want to. The short stories that are on tap for after these book projects will happen, but if I need a break, so be it.
I'm at least glad that the words are raining. My mind has been active enough that any time I've sat down to edit or write I've been able to. The quiet house while I'm in my temporary bachelorhood (coming to an end in a few days) has allowed me to not be distracted. I wouldn't say my production has been as much as it needs to be, but at least it's been steady. Kind of like today's rain.
And of course, during this time I've been on the wild ride with Doctor Luke's Assistant. That's pretty much ended now, as sales have slowed to a trickle. A number of writing friends have posted that they are reading and enjoying it, and that they will post reviews on Amazon when done. At least one has said she is going to promote it. I hope sales continue to trickle. One or two a day is actually a decent number for a self-published book. Soon I'll look at producing a print version.
So, on with writing. On with multiple projects. On with words raining. I can still hear the rain on the office roof, and still sense the words inside me trying to get out.
This morning, after showering I turned on the weather as normal, and the radar showed a line of strong storms coming on us from the northwest, a little over one county away, and moving quickly in our direction. The radar loop showed the storms weren't dissipating or splitting. It couldn't miss. Sure enough, around 7:30 a.m. it began raining at our office, and still is. Radar shows it might rain for another hour or so.
What's that expression? "When it rains, it pours." Not so today. The first ten to twenty minutes was heavy (at the busiest part of Bentonville's rush hour, though I was already inside at my computer), but since then it's been nice and steady. The ground is so dry lots of this must be soaking in. Perhaps the County will be able to take the burn ban off—not that I have anything to burn.
Right now it's raining in my writing life. I'm working on four or five projects, all moving toward publication close together. I submitted an engineering article to Buildipedia.com, and it will be published tomorrow. The next one isn't due for a month, as they are cutting back from a bi-monthly column to a monthly. I'm in the waiting process on In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People. Today is the 23rd day since I submitted it to the editor. I'm resigned to self-publishing it, but we'll see.
I'm editing The Candy Store Generation for clarity and consistency. I think I have some repetition in it, and want to eliminate that. I'm two-thirds of the way through preparing the home school edition of Documenting America. That's not taking much time. I do a chapter a day.
These three book-length projects are all coming together at about the same time. Is it pouring? Not really, because I set my own schedule on them. I can determine the priorities, putting them in the order I choose. If things get too hectic, I can just delay any of them I want to. The short stories that are on tap for after these book projects will happen, but if I need a break, so be it.
I'm at least glad that the words are raining. My mind has been active enough that any time I've sat down to edit or write I've been able to. The quiet house while I'm in my temporary bachelorhood (coming to an end in a few days) has allowed me to not be distracted. I wouldn't say my production has been as much as it needs to be, but at least it's been steady. Kind of like today's rain.
And of course, during this time I've been on the wild ride with Doctor Luke's Assistant. That's pretty much ended now, as sales have slowed to a trickle. A number of writing friends have posted that they are reading and enjoying it, and that they will post reviews on Amazon when done. At least one has said she is going to promote it. I hope sales continue to trickle. One or two a day is actually a decent number for a self-published book. Soon I'll look at producing a print version.
So, on with writing. On with multiple projects. On with words raining. I can still hear the rain on the office roof, and still sense the words inside me trying to get out.
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