Writing Update –June 28, 2009

I am praising God write now! (You’ll understand the pun later!) I finally feel that I can use this blog for what I had originally planned to use it for:Writing updates! As I mentioned in my last post I am actually writing! Hands dirty, nose to the grindstone, writing! As of this moment I have completed, in rough draft (VERY rough!) close to 26 pages so far. I even experienced a phenomena that writers say is a good sign that you have some passion, I almost cried with one of the scenes I was writing. It was a scene where the twins lost almost everyone of their family members in a brutal attack by Trogan slavers. (These names won’t mean a thing to you unless you actually read the finished product) I could feel their grief as they remember. It is very cool! Very exciting!

God has blessed me with a good friend in Chris Watson. He and I like to hike together and my prayer is that when we walk together I can encourage him as much as he always encourages me, though I know that he encourages me way more than I encourage him.

We walked yesterday. We talked about a myriad of topics and it was simply a joyous time! I then brought up the subject of writing, and as always, God used this fellow to encourage my heart and free me to be used as God intended me to be use. These talks, though not specifically about my stories but, instead, about how God could use me and writing, has freed my mind and because of that I have been able to fill more gaps in my story and I introduced yet another character, (ALWAYS cool when a new and unexpected person joins the group!) who I am afraid is an unsavory type but necessary to fill in some holes. I do not like him at all, in fact I board on hatred. That is very cool! Not that I hate but that I hate my character! He is really evil though he appears to be, at first, an angel of light. He needs to be developed more but so far he is BAD and I do not like him!

I have also set myself some writing goals that are bigger than I am currently following but it is necessary if I really want to finish my story.

Starting July 1 I will begin writing 2000 words a day. Right now that is about an hour and half’s worth of work. This does vary but in general terms I can pump out about 10000 words every forty-five minutes.

With this goal in mind I intend to be done with the rough draft by Sept.1. I will then give myself a couple weeks off to let the whole thing simmer and then I will release the beast…my internal editor! This fellow is a nuisance when trying to bang out a rough draft but he is absolutely a welcome guest during the editing process. You see, when you are pounding out the rough draft you don’t need that turkey keeping you grounded, nagging you about every mistake, every slip of the grammar wheel and every spelling error, not to mention telling you what he thinks of the ideas themselves! No, what you need to do is lock that turkey up and soar with the eagles where freedom resides. Where you are free to put down on paper whatever comes to your head instinctively knowing it may not be the best…yet…but that soon enough you will take the time and, carefully working with your internal editor, fix the problems that as a free spirit, you did not care about.

With his help I will begin the burdensome task of editing. The first pass will be to fix obvious errors in spelling, grammar, and story flow. Once I feel good about the first draft, which I have until Dec. 1 to finish, I will, gulp!, recruit some folks to read what I have and start giving me feed back.

Then around the Jan. 1 timeframe I will take the ideas I have been given, (I will be reading it too and making changes I think are needed) I will take all the ideas start draft two.

About April 1 I hope to have draft two done and from there I am not sure what I will do…

If I receive a lot of genuinely positive feedback from draft one, I may send out draft two for a second reading. If that comes back favorably, I will seriously think of getting an agent and trying to publish the thing.

I want to clarify positive feedback. Family and friends can sometimes be so gracious that they are not willing to be honest lest it hurt my feelings. I want to say now that you CANNOT HURT MY FEELINGS!

If you choose to help me, though I do not want you to be mean spirited, I do want brutal honesty. I need brutal honesty to be able to make appropriate changes. If the plot is flat or boring, tell me. If the characters lack depth and you can’t tell me which character is talking without me actually writing, “Fred said”, or “Mary said”, then tell me. I can’t improve unless I have constructive criticism

On the other hand if you like the way something is working I would love to know that too!

This is happening! This is really happening and I give all the credit to God. He has orchestrated all the details for me to come this far. I do not want to sound like what I am doing is going to sell or even be good but I don’t care. I will say that again for clarity, I do NOT care! If I gain nothing else from this it will be experience so that maybe the next time I can create something saleable. I am excited about my story, I like it but if no one else does at least I will have experience under my belt and with that, like practicing any sport or musical instrument, I will improve. I already feel I have improved somewhat and the fear I used to have is gone right now. When fear leaves freedom moves in and then you can do wonderful things! What a great ride this has been and continues to be!

For now I press onward with the strength and freedom God has granted me! If you are out there and maybe fearful of stepping out in faith to accomplish what God has in store for you, don’t wait any longer! Take the leap! Jump! You will see that fear is only, as they say, a paper tiger, it looks real but it has no power over God and His enablement! You will see that, though the road may not be smooth or without certain pitfalls, the freedom you will ride on is, well, freeing!

(After all of that do you now understand my pun? LOL!)

Come and fly! God’s waiting for you. Trust Him!

Bye!