Indecision and Other Obstacles

Lately I’ve been writing a lot. I’ve been writing posts for this blog, writing movie reviews and reflections for my movie blog and writing reviews for DVD Verdict. I’ve been watching movies and series for Verdict and my movie blog. I’ve been playing a few video games that captured my attention (Dragon Age why do I keep coming back!). But the one thing I haven’t been doing is working on my fiction.

Last year I planned to get editing done on two novels I completed. I started editing both and didn’t finish. Part of the problem was the home related and family related issues. I also burnout on editing. I do a lot of it at work too: one of the few nasty side effects of writing and editing procedure documents for a living. I just get sick of reading and rereading my own stuff. Needless to say both manuscripts are just sitting with red pens waiting to be worked on… for months.

Then there’s the constant issue of wanting to write new material. I’ve had several ideas over the last year that have been sitting in my head and not doing anyone a lick of good. So, what’s to be done?

First off, I love writing about movies. The movie blog proved it and I’ve been having a blast with it. Writing for Verdict is great, as I get more people reading my writing than ever before. But the time it takes to watch all those movies and series is considerable. While I’ve toned down my blog entries for my movie blog, I’m still finding it tough to juggle everything. And this blog has been running since 2007, and I’m loath to let it go, even though I’m finding it harder and harder to write interesting entries for it. Heck, I’m writing this one right now, because I didn’t have one in the wings.

But the bigger issue is the changing landscape of publishing. Used to be self-publishing was a suckers game. But with electronic publishing the game has changed and it’s quite possible to make some money and get some readers for your fiction if you know how to get it out there. I keep coming back to the idea of really getting my fiction rolling, but to do that I need to cut into my other writing. I need to stop getting sucked away into video games. I need to really dive into editing (the one element of writing I always flounder on). . I need to decide the path I really want to take.

The trick is actually doing it instead of writing about it.

Am I the only whiny writer out there? Anyone else struggling with their writing careers and their focus?

Goalie issues – Writing Goals and Missing Them

This year I actually set out some solid writing goals for myself. I wrote them down. As I met them, I put a nifty little red check mark next to them. I was feeling pretty good, until I realized that it was June and I was pretty far behind in my goals. Let’s take a look and see what I’ve done and haven’t done.

For the first quarter I actually met all my goals but two. I submitted a short story to a magazine. I created my movie review blog. I gave all my sites a little facelift of some kind. I joined a new group or blog. I started my second draft on my space opera novel. I didn’t write a new short story, and I didn’t research the YA sci-fi market.

Right away, I’m ready with excuses. I love my movie review blog, and once I got rolling with it, I’ve been coming up with all kinds of things to write about. I’ve got a surplus of reviews just waiting to be published, and I’ve been doing my best at keeping up with “Satellite News” in their coverage of the MST3K episodes. It’s been a lot of fun, but it’s also taken a lot of time. So, no short story and no research.

I wasn’t too worried because I could just write two short stories in the second quarter right? Yeah, it hasn’t happened. So now I’m two short stories behind. My plan was to write four short stories and two novels this year. Well I’m down a novel too, because I wanted to start that in the second quarter. This isn’t that big of an issue because I really want to start working on my second draft of “Forever Cold” my supernatural thriller that I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year. I’ll count that as my novel work for this summer, and cook up something new for NaNoWriMo this year.

But the short stories are proving a bit tougher. I’m just not motivated to work on them. Is it because I’m focusing so much creative energy on the movie blog? Possibly. But I’m enjoying myself - a lot. And if writing isn’t fun, than there isn’t a point in doing it. But on the other side of the coin, if I don’t get my work out there, I can’t continue down the path to publication. It’s a bit of a dilemma.

I’ve got a short story to submit to a magazine for this quarter, but I haven’t done any groundwork for that yet. I’m hoping to get that done by the end of the month, but we’ll see. After that, I don’t have any other stories I feel real good about submitting anywhere. There is one that is pretty good, but I’m not completely confident about it. It’s not genre and I did it on a whim. I’ve got cold feet, but my wife enjoyed it quite a bit and I trust her judgment.

As for my Space Opera second draft, I like elements of it, but at the same time it has the origin story issues. Lots of setup and some of it bogs down the pace. I need a fresh pair of eyes to look it over. I’m nearly done with the draft, just need to clean up some issues that always show up in the first draft. You know, where a character does something, and then a chapter or two later they do something that completely negates the original action. These aren’t big issues, but they need to be fixed. I don’t want my readers to say “Why did he go to a hotel when he’s got a place in town?”

Third quarter will be spent on the second draft of “Forever Cold” and maybe I’ll be able to get some short stories done. I’m gonna continue the movie blog, but try to get my surplus reviews out there, and slow down the new reviews. Once Satellite news finishes Season Ten of MST3K they are going back to the old cable access episodes. I have no desire to watch those episodes (Season One is slow enough). So I will be able to review whatever episodes I want, and I’ve got some already written.

Fourth Quarter will be focused on NaNoWriMo and wrapping up any loose ends. Will I reach my goal of four short stories submitted, and four new ones written? Will I finish the second draft of “Forever Cold”? I hope so. I do know that I’m gonna print this page of goals out and put on the wall to replace the old goals I have from last year. Maybe with those staring me in the face I’ll stop writing the movie reviews and get back to fiction.

Do you make writing goals for yourself? How well do you stay on top of them? Do you have a technique to keep them on your mind? Do you find yourself getting sucked into a project and missing one of your goals – or am I just a big freak that way?

Blog Revisited 2 – End of Year Wrap Up

Another year gone and its time to look back on the blog’s past. This is my second full year of blogging and I have to say that it’s been just as fun and informative as last year. There are a few things I’ve noticed, and a plan for future blog entries but let’s get right to the important part.

Thanks to everyone who’s been reading and commenting on my blog. I really appreciate it. I know most of you have many other blogs you can and do read, but I appreciate that you are still reading mine and providing feedback. I read all the comments and e-mails and do my best to reply in some fashion. So thanks for the stimulating conversation.

And now the numbers for this blog:

First Blog of 2009: Scattershot Narrative – The Right Stuff
Last Blog of 2009 (other than this one): History is a Game – Assassin’s Creed

Total Number of Blogs – 110
Total Number of Comments on MySpace - 502

Topics with the fewest comments (2)
20 topics total

Topics with the most comments
- A despicable hero – Lord Foul’s Bane (8 comments)
- The Department of Redundancy Department – Self editing for Fiction Writers (8 Comments)
- Macguffins Gone Wild – The Maltese Falcon Novel (6 comments)
- Not So Great Expectations – Great Expectations (6 comments)
- Rome if you Want to – Rome (7 comments)
- The War that Inspired a Story – 1812: The War that Forged a Nation (6 comments)
- Threads of a Story – Anansi Boys (6 Comments)


In general the number of comments has gone down this year. My high point last year was 12 comments. In addition the topics with the highest comments happened in the months from January to April. After that no other topic cracked 5 comments until the blog on “Anansi Boys”.

Now I believe that most of this has to do with the stagnation of MySpace. I’ve noticed less and less traffic in general around there and that is where the majority of my comments have come from. On the flip side, I joined Facebook and linked my blog to it. I don’t have regular readers over there yet, but I have received comments, so that’s a good sign.

On the flip side all of my topics gathered some kind of comment this year, and that was usually followed by a reply from me. So the lowest number of comments was always 2. And the total of 2 comment blogs tells me that I lost readers or my blogs aren’t as engaging as the first round.

Looks like I’m going to need to approach blogging in a different way if MySpace continues its decline. But I have a plan that I’ll share in January.

I did some series of blogs this year. This included a comparison of three anime titles that were similar Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star and Trigun. Then I did a case for and against Mystery Science Theater 3000. I tackled the revisits of Star Trek the Motion Picture and Star Wars A New Hope. Then there was my series dealing with NaNoWriMo. I had some fun with these series, but the comments were kinda light. So tell me if you enjoyed this type of thing, or not.

If you have any topics about storytelling that you’d like to see me tackle, feel free to suggest and I’ll do my best to work it in this year. Or if there were any topics that you found less interesting, feel free to tell me as well. This blog should be a fun and interesting read, that’s my goal.

Thanks again for reading and commenting, and making this year another great one for my blog. Have a great 2010!

What's in a Blog

It was a bit difficult to come up with topic that would make my blog interesting to read. I decided to talk a bit about storytelling in all of its facets. Each week I'll pick either a specific work of fiction (novel, story, television series, movie, anime) and go over it. In a way it will be review, but my focus will be on the way the story is constructed and how it works most effectively or how it doesn't work.

In addition I may focus on one aspect of storytelling. This could be something technical, like plotting or characterization. It could be something broader like types of stories and why I feel they work.

So I hope you find the subject as interesting as I do. Who knows maybe I'll expose you to a story you've never encountered before or showed you a different take on something familiar. And feel free to comment and challenge my views, I always appreciate a good debate.