Day 13: 'Aye the ship's struck the broadside of the fail whale, mateys! It's the title, thar it blows!
Ahem. Well, that's about as much pirate I can muster at this late an hour.
Dear readers,
After some deliberation brought about by some good advice, I've decided to ditch this blog for a new one.
Now, don't worry all the old entries are coming over to the new blog. Breathe, my friends, breathe. But the title sucks and doesn't really support the premise. My aim is to write as much as possible and to ditch bad habits, which includes such things as self deprecation disguised as humor. So with that, we'll all head over to my new blog for brownies and Postum. Okay?
www.syntacticalhiccups.blogspot.com
It's a way cooler name and the first post doesn't suck... although it does seem a bit rambly. Actually, now's a good time to get some input! Post a comment on Syntactical Hiccups and tell me what ya think.
Take care all,
Jordan
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Frustration
Day 12: I hate my story.
Yes my dear internet, it is true. My premise is tired, I don't particularly like my characters anymore, and I'm having a lousy time getting this to flow. Hence the debate I've been having with myself for the better part of today: is it time to scratch the initial idea in favor of something else? Something more sci-fi?
Here are the pros:
1. More freedom in character design.
2. More freedom in settings.
3. Pre-existing ideas and premises I've had sitting around for some time.
...and the cons:
1. Never getting back to the original concept
2. Making exceptions that could result in derailing the blog
3. Not finishing the new idea and jumping ship yet again
Marcus made an interesting suggestion today regarding my perdicament. He suggested that if I do start something else, to consider it less as a failure and more as a revision. I think that that's a good way of looking at things, but I'm still scared about what shifting things could spell.
All I know is that I'm really not feeling this new story as it is and that something will have to change.
Yes my dear internet, it is true. My premise is tired, I don't particularly like my characters anymore, and I'm having a lousy time getting this to flow. Hence the debate I've been having with myself for the better part of today: is it time to scratch the initial idea in favor of something else? Something more sci-fi?
Here are the pros:
1. More freedom in character design.
2. More freedom in settings.
3. Pre-existing ideas and premises I've had sitting around for some time.
...and the cons:
1. Never getting back to the original concept
2. Making exceptions that could result in derailing the blog
3. Not finishing the new idea and jumping ship yet again
Marcus made an interesting suggestion today regarding my perdicament. He suggested that if I do start something else, to consider it less as a failure and more as a revision. I think that that's a good way of looking at things, but I'm still scared about what shifting things could spell.
All I know is that I'm really not feeling this new story as it is and that something will have to change.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Oh blog....
Day 11: Insert Title Here
My brain is mush presently. It's gotten far too late to write anything worthwhile here, so I'll focus on teetering somewhere between absurd and comprehensible. I seem to have hay fever or a head cold. Either way, my nose feels like the edge of a well worn golf glove and is looking a little rudolphy.
Didn't work on The Muse at all today either, but I'm aiming to be a little bit more inspired come tomorrow morning. I'm mildly burnt out and I haven't even really started cooking things. Staying positive, kicking ass and chewing bubblegum.
More to follow.
My brain is mush presently. It's gotten far too late to write anything worthwhile here, so I'll focus on teetering somewhere between absurd and comprehensible. I seem to have hay fever or a head cold. Either way, my nose feels like the edge of a well worn golf glove and is looking a little rudolphy.
Didn't work on The Muse at all today either, but I'm aiming to be a little bit more inspired come tomorrow morning. I'm mildly burnt out and I haven't even really started cooking things. Staying positive, kicking ass and chewing bubblegum.
More to follow.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Out and about
Day 10: Work can wait.
Wrote off today completely and had a great time hanging out at Pinks and Bigfoot with Cyn, Chris, and Miranda. This entry will be short, forced, and lame as I'm tired and a bit head achey. Just a warning.
Fin.
Wrote off today completely and had a great time hanging out at Pinks and Bigfoot with Cyn, Chris, and Miranda. This entry will be short, forced, and lame as I'm tired and a bit head achey. Just a warning.
Fin.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Back on schedule
Day 9: Full Speed Ahead
Alrighty, feeling a little better after quickly hammering out that last post. I was hardly thinking about the story today and instead found myself pondering a lot of seemingly unrelated things, namely the idea of "effort". I'm hardly phrasing that well, as effort is hardly an "idea", but it doesn't really fit the context of a "concept" either. Whatever description "effort" falls under, sometimes it is painfully difficult to put forth one tiny iota worth of it, especially when other things are going on around me. Right now, efforts are flailing and I'm ending this blog entry really before it even begins. Off to work on book stuff mayhaps.
Alrighty, feeling a little better after quickly hammering out that last post. I was hardly thinking about the story today and instead found myself pondering a lot of seemingly unrelated things, namely the idea of "effort". I'm hardly phrasing that well, as effort is hardly an "idea", but it doesn't really fit the context of a "concept" either. Whatever description "effort" falls under, sometimes it is painfully difficult to put forth one tiny iota worth of it, especially when other things are going on around me. Right now, efforts are flailing and I'm ending this blog entry really before it even begins. Off to work on book stuff mayhaps.
Friday, January 8, 2010
And on the 8th day he forgot
Day 8: Breaking routine
This sucks. The time stamp you see on this blog entry is an absolute lie. It was not written at 11:20 and most certainly was not written on 1/8/10. The cake is a lie.
Fuck.
So here's what happened:
Yesterday morning was great. I started working on a completely unrelated project to both the blog and the book with C&C&M, which I will be remaining very "mum" on until the first installment is off and running--very cool and a lot of fun. Creatively, things were great yesterday, very productive via brainstorming. BUT I completely forgot about doing a blog! But no excuses! I fucking blew it, but I'm going to lie about the timestamps for convenience sake in timing this thing out.
My apologies to the six of you out there in internet land. Don't hate me too much.
FUCK.
This sucks. The time stamp you see on this blog entry is an absolute lie. It was not written at 11:20 and most certainly was not written on 1/8/10. The cake is a lie.
Fuck.
So here's what happened:
Yesterday morning was great. I started working on a completely unrelated project to both the blog and the book with C&C&M, which I will be remaining very "mum" on until the first installment is off and running--very cool and a lot of fun. Creatively, things were great yesterday, very productive via brainstorming. BUT I completely forgot about doing a blog! But no excuses! I fucking blew it, but I'm going to lie about the timestamps for convenience sake in timing this thing out.
My apologies to the six of you out there in internet land. Don't hate me too much.
FUCK.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Prime Directive
Day 7: A bit stuck
Today was rough going. I was having some serious difficulty in establishing goals for my characters and I broke the prime directive: not talking about the project... at least I made it to a week. That said, I'm going to try to "get back on the wagon" and refrain/restrain myself from talking about the process save for on the blog. However, I did get some really solid advice from my Uncle Chris on the subject of motivation and getting to know your characters.
When I first created Jack, I described him as one might describe an acquaintance. Chris suggested that I try "interviewing" my characters with some general questions to suss out where they stand on things and to get an idea of where they're coming from. He also mentioned having another character from the book describe Jack.
One of the arguments I'm having with myself is just how exactly "cerebral" I should like to forge this thing. I'm a better storyteller when adventure is involved and the idea of making Jack's experience interacting with "the muse" (whomever she may turn out to be) more along the lines of "magical realism" or horror, makes me squeamish.
More to follow.
Today was rough going. I was having some serious difficulty in establishing goals for my characters and I broke the prime directive: not talking about the project... at least I made it to a week. That said, I'm going to try to "get back on the wagon" and refrain/restrain myself from talking about the process save for on the blog. However, I did get some really solid advice from my Uncle Chris on the subject of motivation and getting to know your characters.
When I first created Jack, I described him as one might describe an acquaintance. Chris suggested that I try "interviewing" my characters with some general questions to suss out where they stand on things and to get an idea of where they're coming from. He also mentioned having another character from the book describe Jack.
One of the arguments I'm having with myself is just how exactly "cerebral" I should like to forge this thing. I'm a better storyteller when adventure is involved and the idea of making Jack's experience interacting with "the muse" (whomever she may turn out to be) more along the lines of "magical realism" or horror, makes me squeamish.
More to follow.
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