Misc, On Writing, Writing

The Great Candy Bar Dump of the 1980’s

I wonder if my friends from Lynch remember a time when all the students and teachers were assembled in the gym, where, like always, we sat on the floor and looked dumbfoundedly up at the adult staffers as they talked.

I think it was after Mrs. Robinson retired and Mr. Whitlock replaced her as principal. It might have been Whitlock’s first year as principal.

I don’t know what the assembly was about. I couldn’t really hear anything they were saying. But I remember when it was over, students were handed black garbage bags that were full of candy bars.

I did not understand that we were supposed to sell these candy bars. I thought God had tipped his hat in our direction and these candy bars were ours to happily stuff our faces with.

Now that I think about it, that whole thing was poorly executed. We were kids. I was probably seven or eight at the time, and someone had just handed me a garbage bag full of candy bars. I can’t be the only one who didn’t understand what we were supposed to do with these candy bars.

Then we were trudging across the school, awkwardly hauling these massive bags. The bags were actually kind of heavy. I don’t know how many bars were in my bag, but I think it was at least a hundred. Maybe more.

We carried these bags onto the buses to take home, where we were expected to sell to our neighbors. A lot of us lived in the same subdivisions. Meaning individual neighbors could be approached multiple times by different kids.

I didn’t see anyone doing the door-to-door thing, so I don’t know how it played out. I remember my dad was mad about me eating the candy bars, because he had to pay for them. I ate a few.

My dad took them away. I was under the impression that he had sold them to guys at work. But now, I think he probably just gave them back to the school. He did give me one bar that he bought out of the rest.

Novel 6
Words Added: 559
Total Wordcount: 78,107
Total Pagecount: 386

Story 42
Words Added: 655
Total Wordcount: 2,287
Total Pagecount: 12

Basketball, G-League, Misc, NBA, NCAA, On Writing, Series Talk, Sports, Writing

Trudging

I considered ordering food for supper, but I’ve been spending too much on DoorDash lately. Need to give it a rest.

Besides, it’s been snowing, I didn’t feel like shoveling the driveway and sidewalk today. I think it’d be rude of me to expect a DoorDasher to trudge through knee-deep snow to bring my order to the door.

So, I cooked ribs.

While looking for a game to watch, I discovered the NBA G-League. Can’t say I heard of the G-League before. I guess it’s like a minor league to the NBA. I’m not up to speed on what the NBA calls their lower-level affiliates, but I know every professional sport has them.

This game was the Grand Rapids Gold and the Motor City Cruise. Going by the look of their uniform, I’d say the Motor City Cruise is a direct affliliate to the Detroit Pistons. But what do I know?

I decided to sit through the game. I enjoyed it. Most of the players did not appear to be as tall as the usual NBA player, but they played just as skillfully.

Grand Rapids won, 122-111.

So many college basketball games I find on my TV, but it’s rare that I ever find a Michigan basketball game. Unless they’re in the March Madness.

Now I’m watching Episode 2 of Archive 81.

Novel 6
Words Added: 211
Total Wordcount: 77,548
Total Pagecount: 382

Story 42
Words Added: 187
Total Wordcount: 1,632
Total Pagecount: 9

Football, NFL, On Writing, Sports, Writing

Football & Production

It was a good weekend of football. All four games were quite thrilling, and close. All of them had ties broken in the end. The victors were the Bengals, 49ers. Rams and Chiefs.

I’ve been getting in writing almost every day, but not as much as I aim for. Which is fine, but I have a lot of stories and novels I want to write, so I aim for very big numbers.

You know how I said I like to get ten pages every day, five into a novel and five into a story. The truth is, I try not to settle for less than ten pages, but I aim for way more than that.

I’m a little self-conscious about revealing exactly what number of pages I aim for. In the past, when I mentioned such goals, people would discourage me. But I know it’s possible to hit these marks. Jay Lake, Mike Resnick, Jonathan Maberry are a few writers who come to mind when I think of massive production.

I remember a time when I wrote over 7,000 words in a day, which would be about 35 pages. So, I know I can do it, I just got to stay focused and try not to burn out.

Today, I got four pages, two each.

Some years ago, I would share my daily progress stats in the format you see at the bottom of this post. A lot of writers, pros and amateurs, were sharing their stats. I thought it was fun and inspiring. It showed me what was possible, for one thing.

Then there were other writers who complained about us sharing our progress stats. I guess our stats made them feel incompetent or pressured, or something. I started feeling self-conscious about sharing my stats. Maybe other writers did too, because they don’t share theirs anymore either.

I wonder if I should’ve just kept doing my thing and told the snobs to go to hell.

Novel
Words Added: 437
Total Wordcount: 77,337
Total Pagecount: 382

Story
Words Added: 454
Total Wordcount: 1,445
Total Pagecount: 8

Football, Misc, NFL, On Writing, Series Talk, Sports, Writing

Ties are Meant to be Broken

Both games today were close, with ties broken in the end by field goals. Earlier, the Bengals beat the Titans, 19-16. The 49ers just beat the Packers 13-10. It’s snowing Green Bay, which probably means it’s snowing here too.

Tomorrow, it’ll be the Rams and Buccaneers and Bills and Chiefs. Don’t miss the Ram-Buc game. That’s Stafford and Brady. Starts at 3PM, on NBC.

‘Twas a slow day, but I got a few pages into each project. Novel, 380 pages-76,900 words. Story, 6 pages-991 words.

I started watching a creepy series on Netflix called Archive 81. Think I’ll finish this first episode and call it a night.

Hockey, Misc, NHL, On Writing, Sports, Writing

Not Everything I Write Is Great

Not everything I write is great. A lot of it sucks. I just make it a point to finish every story I start before I start another one, no matter how awful it is or how long it’s taking me to get it done. I will finish it.

This is something I wish I had been doing when I was young. I didn’t actually get into this mindset until my mid-30s.

The thing, for me anyway, is not to write the greatest stories, but to just get all these stories down before I die. Sometimes they come out good, sometimes I think they’re great. Sometimes they suck, but at least I got the thing done.

So, I finished that sport-themed short story today. It closed up with 22 pages, 4,596 words. I’m satisfied with it.

I already started the next short story. This one is another noir. I’m on page 3 and I’m 353 words in. I like how it’s going, so far.

I got six pages into the novel. The novel is now 377 pages and 76,209 words.

So, a total of eleven pages of fiction written today. I wanted to get in a few more, but I’m burning out.

I cooked a good-sized steak for supper. My mom and dad gave me a bunch of different seasonings for Christmas. I’ve been using the Weber Steak & Chop Seasoning a lot. I really like it.

I’m going to watch the last period of the Red Wing-Star game. They’re tied. 3-3.

Basketball, Misc, NBA, On Writing, Sports, Writing

An Update & Stuff

Production has been slow the last couple days, but I got a few more pages into each project. The short story was feeling like a dud in the beginning, but I like how it’s going now. The novel is taking a direction I did not expect. I’m a little surprised and disturbed by what I’m writing in this current chapter.

I don’t plot out my projects. I don’t have time for plot outlines, and I don’t understand writers who do. I start a story and I stick with it until it closes up somewhere. I generally don’t know what’s going to happen in the story until it happens.

DoorDash recently added some more restaurants. One of the new listings is Maude’s Alabama BBQ, which is owned by my uncle Ron. I already ordered from them a couple times. I might be biased, but I think their food has a quality that I haven’t found in other restaurants.

They now have two restaurants, one in Flint and one in Lapeer. If you haven’t tried them yet, you should.

The Pistons are not far behind the Kings. 64-71. It’s halftime.

Football, NFL, On Writing, Writing

Production

I can’t remember the last time I had a day this productive. Next to a bunch of other stuff I got done today, I wrote eighteen pages of fiction. Nine into the novel and nine into the short story.

I haven’t been keeping track of wordcounts, but each page is about 200 to 250 words, so I’d say I got in at least 3,600 words today, 1,800 each.

The Rams are beating the Cardinals. 31-11. 5 minutes left on the clock.

Edited to Add:
Novel-361 pages-74,049 words.
Story-17 pages-3,531 words.
Basketball, Misc, NBA, On Writing, Sports, Writing

Basketball, Groceries & Fiction

The Pistons stayed toe-to-toe with the Magic tonight, winning, 97-92.

I wish the NBA would figure out that when one team wears a reddish color and the other team wears a brownish color, it’s hard for the colorblind of us to tell who is who. The game is less enjoyable and more frustrating. I could accidentally be cheering for the Magic. Thank God, I wasn’t at the game, ’cause that would’ve been embarrassing.

I’m a firm believer that one team should wear a light color and the other team should wear a dark color. Never should both teams be wearing dark colors.

I made it to Kroger today. A lot of stuff was cleaned out, but it wasn’t as bad as I had expected. I’m not happy that prices have gone up, especially on the meat products. The meat is costing twice as much as it did a few months ago.

I used to be able to get a package of pork chops for around five bucks, now it’s more like $10. But I found enough meat to fill my freezer.

I started the next story today. I like it’s beginning. Hope it stays satisfying. Think I’m going to pull an all-nighter. I got down three pages of fiction so far today, two into the novel and one into the story. I like to try getting at least five pages into each every day.

On Writing, Writing

That’s A Wrap

I finished another novella today. 20,193 words, 91 pages. I didn’t mean for it to be a novella. I had hoped to end the story with no more than 7,500 words. But the damn thing just kept going. This happens a lot.

This one is a noir. At 20,000 words, it’s going to be harder finding a publisher for it. It’s still a rough draft and it needs work, but I’m not ready to start the cleanup process. I’ll probably be able to cut out a couple thousand words, but it’ll still be novella length.

The next story in the lineup will be a sports themed fiction that I’ll also try to keep under 7,500 words.

On Writing, Writing

I Don’t Mind Rejections

There are times when I post about a story being rejected by some publication or another and people think I’m upset about the rejection. There were times that I expressed anger, but that had to do with what was said in the rejection letter. Sometimes there are comments in the letters that I feel are ignorant about people with disabilities and it gets under my skin. Also–and it’s not so common these days, they seem to be a dying breed–there are editors who think it’s their job to be an asshole and I don’t take that shit very well.

But the rejections themselves? No, I don’t mind. It’s just part of the game. I approach this whole writing thing like it’s a game. From the number of words I get down each day to the number of publishers a story goes to before one of them buys it.

It’s a game. A sport. Jay Lake called writing an endurance sport. I dig that. Looking at it that way makes it fun.

It’s also just business. It’s not personal. Publications get hundreds of submissions, some of them get thousands. They can only publish a few stories each issue. A rejection doesn’t mean the story isn’t good. It could mean they just decided not to buy it. They have to make these decisions and sometimes it’s a tough decision to make.

I have been on the other side. I’d been a slush reader, an assistant editor and a judge in a contest, for different publications, over a period of a few years. For the contest, I was a judge on a panel of other judges. We was like the Supreme Court, yo. That was my last editorial gig. After that, I decided I can’t do this kind of thing anymore.

One of the reasons I made that decision is that most of the submissions were pretty decent. At all of the publications I did editorial work for, most of the submissions were decent. I liked them. I enjoyed these stories. Some I liked better than others. Some I thought were better written than others. But most of them, I found enjoyable on some level. I didn’t like deciding which stories could stay and which stories had to go.

You know the opening scene from the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles? Where the guy is trying to make up his mind about two pieces of art? He can choose only one. Both pieces are brilliant and suitable to his needs. He has to reject one and he doesn’t know which one to reject. He has a tough decision to make. It’s like that for editors, though probably not to that extend.

Seasoned writers are more like Neal (Steve Martin). We just want an answer, yes or no, so we can sell or move on to another publisher. My biggest frustration isn’t getting rejected. My biggest frustration is that it often takes a very long time to get an answer on a story.

It’s just business. The writer creates the product, and the editor decides whether to buy it or not.