Despite having a very late start and being pretty distracted all day, I got through my task list just before 10 PM.
Tigers are beating the Rangers. 3-0, bottom of the 7th. But I don’t think I’m going to sit through the rest of the game. I’m tired and want to go to bed.
I went to bed at 6 AM and get up at 9 AM and spent the entire day running laps around the house and yard. Mowed and weedwhacked the front yard, was on the ladder clearing another rain gutter, and did some house cleaning.
Was up all night putting together a submission for Breath & Shadow. I didn’t want to go to bed until I got it done and I sent to the editor.
I ordered a couple pairs of safety glasses, and they arrived today, but not before I finished weedwhacking.
I’m reading what I had down for the novel I’d left unfinished since Jan 2019, to get back into the story.
It’s not about what I thought it was about. I’d thought it was about a young family in their new home. Instead, it’s about a widower in his late-60’s or early-70’s. His wife had just died. His kids are grown and have families of their own. He’s living in the house that he and wife had lived in for thirty years and he has to adjust to her not being there anymore. Among other things.
I’m reading this and I can’t believe I wrote it. This is probably my best writing. Now I remember why I stopped working on it in Jan 2019. It was too hot to handle. I felt a sort of pressure when writing it and it was overwhelming and exhausting me.
I hope I can finish it in the same tone that I started it.
I looked through my stockpile. I now have only two novels that were left unfinished. One since May 2018 and the other since January 2019, according to the last modified dates.
I’m going to start working on the Jan 2019 one. It’s a stand-alone novel and not part of a series, like the May 2018 one.
I was 73 pages/15,513 words into it when I stopped working on it in Jan 2019. We’ll see how long it takes me to finish it.
I just finished another novel, 225,670 words and 1,105 pages. This is by far the longest book I’ve ever written. It’s the third book of a series. I wanted to get the damn series done and over with, so I covered a lot of ground in the third book and brought the story to a close in an epilogue that left me with an aching heart.
I don’t remember exactly when I started the series. It was either late 2002 or early 2003. Possibly, I started it January 1st, 2003. I remember launching new projects at the beginning of each year when I was younger. I know that I was working on Book One all through 2003. I remember where I was and what was going on in my life while writing certain chapters of Book One.
I got most of the way through Book One, and then I just stopped. I wrote and finished other novels and didn’t get back to this series until, according to a blog entry, April 2019. I finished Book One, and then Book Two, and now Book Three.
Book One: 707 pages/141,821 words. Book Two: 499 pages/100,587 words. Book Three: 1,105 pages/225,670 words.
The damn series is done. Took me twenty-one years.
Okay, got the first page of the new story written, 138 words. The start feels satisfying, though the prose is kind of simplistic.
Today was a very slow day. I should’ve been done hours ago and I’m only just now calling it a night.
I gotta get to bed.
I just wrote 138 words into a brand new short story. That’s it for the night. I just wanna relax with beer and rock n roll.
Just finished another short story. 1,932 words and 9 pages. Good draft. Really like how the story rolls.
I’m awfully tired and will be heading to bed soon.
Despite being really fucking tired today, I’m getting a shitload done, and quickly too. It’s not even dark yet and I’m almost done for the day.
Tonight’s game was postponed too. Tigers and Mets are going to have a doubleheader tomorrow, unless those are postponed as well.
It’s kinda warm outside, but wet. Sky is overcast.
I’m really liking the story I’m writing. I feel like the main character is teaching me something about humanity that I’m too dumb to learn on my own.
🤟
Started a new story today, two pages/376 words into it. It’s an outdoor-themed story, about fishing. I might get in more writing later tonight. The Tigers and Mets will be on in a few minutes. I’ve been making it a point to stop production and watch the games.
Gonna get out the potato chips and pop, and just plop on the couch for the next couple hours. If that’s okay with you.