Author: Writer guy

Inside the belly of the beast

Writer guy

Come inside with me to a typical Wednesday editing session with editor person, into the belly of the beast.

Editor person: You got some good stuff. Good job.
sam: Thanks!
Editor person: Only, I’m very concerned about this part here.
sam: Where’s here?
Editor person (stabbing the page with a finger): Page 19. What the hell is this?
sam: Well, the characters are moving towards the trail.
Editor person: I don’t care where they’re going.
sam: Why not?
Editor person: Because there’s no tension between them.
sam: Right. So, I’ll add tension.
Editor person (tearing page 19 in half): There’s nothing to add. Cardinal rule number 1, you drop the tension, you drop the audience.
sam: I don’t want to drop the audience.
Editor person: But you do want to clean this crap off my desk.

The wreckage of that particular version of page 19 now lives under a half ton of other scratched out or otherwise discarded pages.

Place your bets

Writer guy

Before I started doing contract work, Friday was my day to celebrate, since I’d survived another week on the job. Boy, did I look forward to every second of those 2 consecutive days off. That probably should have told me something.

With contract work, weekends don’t mean much, because I never know when the work is going to dry up, so my tendency is to start as soon as the ink dries and just keep going. Every contract will end sooner or later.

One constant that serves as a mental touchstone is writing. No matter what’s going on, I find some time to write every day. Whether it’s the novel, a screenplay or revisions, it’s about the only thing I have control over. Even that control is an illusion, because I don’t know what’s going to come out of the pages I write. Maybe people will like them, maybe they won’t. It’s not for me to say or predict.

I only control the knowledge that I’m going to keep going. And whatever end is out there waiting for me, my present course continues.

It’s all smiles and cries

Writer guy

I’m breathing a sigh of relief because I got an email from editor person, informing me we are on for tonight. Thank you tech guy for resolving the conundrum that haunted editor person and threatened to derail this evening’s session.

To preserve writing momentum for the second book, I’ve decided to blog each day only after I finish my targeted page count. Which means the new blog entries will now appear towards the early to late afternoon. Note this revised plan still holds with the stated update schedule of one blog per day, every day unless it’ s the end of the world or I can’t get to my PC, whichever comes first.

The new release schedule has other benefits. Now when I blog, my brain will have absorbed the necessary daily dose of caffeine and this will improve the quality of the entries. I’m not sure exactly how many milligrams of caffeine that is, but based on what the wife tells me, it’s too much.

Surely there are some among us who drink a pot of coffee every day, besides myself. Right? Anyone?

Did I say a pot? No, I meant half a pot of coffee.

Bad Moon Rising

Writer guy

So editor person calls me in a panic about ten minutes ago because they can no longer read any email. Nothing opens they said. Nothing will delete they said. I did what I usually do. I listen for a minute, say uh-huh that sucks then put them in touch with tech guy. Right now editor person and tech guy are sorting through the email mess together.

Here’s hoping they work it out ASAP. Because if editor person can’t read their mail, they can’t get their work done for the day job, thus precluding the task of being editor person later tonight.

It’s beginning to make sense now why 9 out of 10 authors wind up at AA meetings on Wednesday evenings.

I can’t afford a good drinking binge right now on any level.

Still pushing forward with book number two. I’m nearing the twenty page mark and still reaching for the perfect title, although at this point I’ll settle for something just better than what I have.