Posts Tagged ‘Writing’

In the previous entry I was talking about the lack of places to buy cult graphic novels and such. While this is true for the most part (in fact there was a couple of years there where I didn’t even have a local bookstore), I got a pleasant surprise yesterday when I wandered into my local Angus’s.

I not only found a copy of Volume One of The Sandman – Preludes and Nocturnes, I found it in the 50% off box. Score!

Also missing from my previous entry, which has been pointed out to me with a vengeance (and a belief that this blog reaches more than two people), I am working on plans for a comic/graphic novel of my own. I can’t tell you much about it just yet, as I’ve only come up with a backstory for the main character and a few faint ideas for plot so far, but I can tell you this – It will be awesome and everyone will be wanting a copy, so get in early and order it now… years before it’ll be ready!

I will be doing the writing and… (what was her name? the one that pointed out this was missing from my blog? Oh, I can’t remember… Let’s just call her – Franky Neener) will be doing the artwork.

Well, that’s says about all I was going to write in this post. Today, I began. I began writing ‘when the aliens left’ which I’ve changed working title to – Crater.

Almost immediately the characters began taking on a life of they’re own. (well, character… as I’ve only introduced one so far…) but already things are developing.

Please. No applause necessary… or heard.

But everything seems to be clicking into place for it.

Also, today… and yesterday for that matter (it’s been a fair pair of days.) Dr. Horrible came online. I enjoyed it… a couple of times. Doogie rocks as the twitchy Dr Horrible, (He has a Phd in horribleness) and Nathan Fillion is hilariously smug. Now I have to wait another two days for the last installment. DANG!!

Also yesterday, I finally got some books I ordered off amazon a couple of weeks ago. I got Steampunk, The anthology by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer. I came across steampunk not too long ago, maybe six months or so. I knew of the concept though, in fact I have plans of a novel from a year or two ago that would have been a little steampunk, but I didn’t realise till recently that it actually had a name and a great following. I had been deciding whether or not to get it since before it came out and finally have. It looks awesome.

I also got The Call of Cthulhu and other Weird Stories and At the Mountains of Madness By H.P. Lovecraft. I’ve been wanting to read Lovecraft for a long time now, and I’m glad I got these. I’ll be reading one of them straight after I finish The Martian Chronicles.

I have to say At the Mountains of Madness is a very aesthetically beautiful book. It’s got a feel like an already old book. It’s thin at around 200 Soft pages and a beautiful picture on a matte cover that just has that feeling on your fingertips that adds to the reading experience. Be Gone Glossies!

Exactly how I’d want my books to be published.

Maybe, one day, you’ll pick up a copy of Crater and say the same thing. Cross fingers.

First things first – Check out my site now bitches!! Yes, Yes it does rock. – www.JeremyBoland.com

It took a lot of fiddling and code writing and screwing around, and a couple of days, but I finally have this new kick ass looking site up and going. My site and my blog, which were once two separate entities are now one and the same, and all my old pages are here too. I’m not sure if I’m going to leave it opening onto my blog or make a front page but that can all come later.

My old site still exists, at least for the moment, at www.jeremyboland.com/old/.

Doug of the Darkness has reached the 10,000 word mark, and it’s still going strong-ish. If your not up to date with Doug of the Darkness or haven’t even read Doug of the Darkness, you should head over to the Doug of the Darkness website and start reading Doug of the Darkness now. You won’t be borry.

What else, What else, what else? Isn’t it always like that. You go into writing a blog entry thinking ‘how will I fill it all in?’ and then halfway through you forget all the topics you wanted to go over.

The other day I came up with a completely new idea for a book. What I mean is – Most of the things I’ve worked on in the last (I don’t know how long) have been rewrites of old stuff, working on old ideas or it was based on two old ideas put together… so on and so forth in that fashion, you get the idea.

I mentioned it in passing in the last entry but that was only when it was an inkling of an instigating circumstance. But slowly it grew in my head and at the worst possible moment, while I was at work, more and more ideas hit me. Between customers and fixing a cupboard door that fell off it’s hinges I wrote a whole synopsis of a back story for the novel in my moleskine.

(I’m very excited about this)

I’m not sure if it’s going to be one persons stories (probably in first person) or a series of interrelated stories that encompass the whole events… I’m leaning toward the latter. Just know, I have some great ideas for it either way and I can’t wait to get started on it.

But first, my workspace could do with a bit of a tidy up…

Also excited about – Act One of Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is released today. I’m a big Whedon fan, Fillion fan and Doogie Fan, So this is just Awesome.

In other news, I just finished reading Hal Spacejock 4: No Free Lunch, and I recommend it to anyone who likes fun and light scifi about interesting characters with quite a few laugh out loud moments. Not only is this a great series, by the way, but they work as stand alone novels as well, There are references to previous novels but nothing that would confuse a new reader.

At the moment I’m reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury and I’m loving it. My favourite section so far is ‘Night Meeting’… with ‘And the Moon be still as bright’ coming up second.

Anyway, I think that’s all for now. In the mean time check out this hilarious clip of Patrick Stewart in Extras

P.S. – Do people actually buy these things?

So ten days ago, all full of piss and vinegar, I might’ve said something along the lines of “I’m going to put my nose to the grindstone now and blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda”

I haven’t done a great lot, I tried opening paragraph after opening paragraph but could not find anything that worked. So I’m taking a different approach now. One of the main problems is that I know what I want this book to be but I don’t know how to write what I want. So I’ve listed out thirteen chapters (my lucky number) and I’ve began listing all the things that need to happen in each chaper.

After thinking about doing it starting at the end and using flashbacks, or using alternating chapters for present and past, I’ve decided on the more linear things begin, things get worse, things get worse again style.

I’ve also come up with a new novel idea. Or maybe short story. Nah, lets make it a novel. It’s working title is ‘When the aliens left’ – which gives you an idea of the instigating circumstances of the story. It’s something between futurism scifi and fantasy, with something of an Alice down the rabbit hole twist of lemon.

I know a great deal less about this story and so hopefully it’s be easier to write.

I was also looking back at my old first chapter of another project I was working on at the end of last year. This is a project I was working on for a while but couldn’t decide which way I was taking it. I may pick this up again soon and see how the second chapter turns out. (I’ve referred to it on here as either project surreal or Mal or something along those lines)

I should be finishing up another short story soon. I’ve been working on it for quite a while now, in between other projects, and want to get it completed so I can work on some other short stories I have plans for.

So, how about you?

Today is the last day of the first six months of the year.

But whose counting?

It does seem like only a few short weeks ago that I was coming into the new year, full of confidence that I would work my butt to the tail bone, that this would be the year of accomplishment… And while I have done some things, others have been left by the wayside.

I’m talking, of course, about stickers.

Yes, you heard me – stickers. When was the last time you bought a cool sticker? huh? I know, we have all forgotten these amazing contributions to science and culture. I will make sure that by the end of the year I will buy more cool stickers.

On a less serious note, I’m also talking about my novel.

Again.

With two or three (or four) novels in various stages of planning, I thought that this year I could complete at least two. In early draft form, I mean, not totally completed – I’m not totally nuts. I figured I would spend the first half of the year working on the first novel and then edit it and polish it up, all shiny and new during the second half of the year while I began work on the second novel.

Alas, due to indecisiveness and procrastination (in almost equal parts), I am now half a year behind.

It’s not like I haven’t done anything this year, writing-related, I’ve written three short stories and done a bit of work on a semi-regularly updated thing called Doug of the Darkness. Which comes to about a month and a half worth of work, don’t you think?

A month and a half is pretty good considering it’s about a month worth more than last year and about six weeks more than any year before that.

Good or not, though. I can do a lot better.

I am planning now, to do that. I have decided on an end date – October 31st – To finish my first draft. Just in time to start a new project for NaNoWriMo. As I am planning to write about 80,000 words I will need to write 645 words per day. Sounds easy doesn’t it?

I want to put these up too, so all my readers here (ha!) can see how it’s going… Or not going. -

That’s it for now. I was going to put some other stuff here, but I really can’t be bothered at the moment. So I’ll throw down a few links of some cool stuff to check out that I’ve seen over the past few weeks.

This looks awesome, I’ve seen it around for a few weeks now and want. But alas, cannot afford. A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft

Here’s a piece on it including pretty pictures.

An index of Lovecraft’s Work

A cute Soviet Winnie the Pooh cartoon

The princess Bride with Light Sabers

And I have this coming my way too. Looks Gory and fun.

Well, that’s it for now. I have to go and write 645 words…

Still doing the photo thing!

Welcome to part three of my holiday series of blog entries.

If holidays are for catching up on things, then today was my day for catching up on sleep.

I found a very in depth review for my short story I’ve been working on in my email box at writing.com. They went through my story quite thoroughly and pointed out most of the errors I had made. – exactly what I was looking for. – Again, I had over-used adverbs and they also stated they had trouble working out the ending. I wanted it to be ambiguous but not down-right confusing.

So it was obvious to me that I had a lot of work to do before I had finished my story. I knew I should get to work immediately, possibly spend all day sanding and polishing my story down to a high sheen.

And so I…

Watched a movie.

and went back to sleep.

Then I played with the cat.

Then I looked at a turtle.

Then I cleaned.

I’m sure I’ll get to work on it soon…

It’s true.

It’s a world where I have godlike powers. I create, I destroy, I can wrap reality around my little finger and wear it as an ostentatious pinky ring. I have absolute freedom.

And I forget.

I tie myself up in the duct tape of logic, the hand cuffs of sensibility, the noose of the real life.

Then I wind up in the tangled web of writer’s block.

I blame my job.

Then I see something. A catalyst of sorts. Something to get my chemistry set bubbling, something that makes me scream like Mel Gibson in Braveheart – “You killed Jesus you damned Je…..” um, wait, that’s not it… “Freeeeeeedom!” (that’s the one)

By the power of greyskull, I have the freedom. Why do I forget this?

The answer is easy. Penguins.

I have no one to please but myself. Screw you, My imaginary fan base. It’s all about me. If I want to write a serious character driven drama about the difficulty of father-son relationships that ends with the son calling up the power of the penguin gods to cut the legs off of all his enemys… and as punishment for calling them too often without buying the pizza pockets, the penguin gods turn his father into a polar bear which only adds to the father and son’s problematic relationship – well, I can.

It may not sell, but then anything I don’t write won’t sell either.

The hardest part of writing, I have found, is the part where you’re writing.

Now… I’m off to write with all the freedom of an anarchist hedgehog.

Peas out.

It’s the end of day two of 2008 and I have kept exactly 0 of my resolutions. But that’s okay – my resolutions are more long term than short term goals.

I did a little writing on project #2 – though I haven’t even reached my daily goal for the first day yet. I wrote enough to mark the page; rid myself of the evil blank page and have a starting point. Tomorrow I will catch up. I will catch up, I will catch up.

I also peddled about 3k on my exercise bike. Though since I had pizza for lunch and Ice cream after dinner it was a sort of one step forward and five steps back sort of deal.

I waisted a whole bunch of time moving my blog from LiveJournal to here and adding a little iframe of it on the index page of my website. It didn’t take long to do but adjusting the theme and plugins and background took up a big chunk of time. So appreciate it damn you!

Apart from that I haven’t done a great deal this year.

Tomorrow I’m going to be a little more strict about my resolutions… and if not – Friday.

That’s all folks.

It’s the end of another year. It happens faster and faster these days.

I think I only wasted about 80% of it this year… A huge improvement on my 99.99999% of recent years!

I’ve written up a list of New Years Resolutions for next year. I don’t usually make resolutions but since I’ve made a few changes that turned out good for me this year, I want more…

Here’s a quick round up of my year in quick point form to make it seem like I did more than I actually did.

- Moved house, Now have a larger room. Enough to set my water bed up again.

- Made a major cut back on T.V. watching. – I used to watch a whole lot of crap and now I just watch a moderate amount of crap.

- Read a lot more good books – (it’s easier now that there’s a good book store in the area)
Changed my mood. Been down for so long, I’m trying to be Healthy and Happy now. – The beer glass is half full.

- Wrote a short story which is being put into an anthology – updates to come.

- Made a good start on one of the novels I’ve been trying to write for years. (although, now I’m stuck again)

- Got a cool Doctor Who poster.

- Started my website – www.JeremyBoland.com

- Entered in NaNoWriMo (although failed when I lost interest in the story I was writing but it did give me the boost I needed)

- Build a huge bookshelf. – Link

- Bought a Sega Master System II – Am I up on the latest or what?
Got a Cappuccino Maker for christmas – (not really something I did but It’s worth a mention because it ROCKS!)

That’s about it. I’m going to try and double it next year.

Here’s the resolutions I’ve made for next year, the may be overly optimistic and probably unachievable by year’s end but hey, who actually keeps these things? Well I’m going to try.

#1 -Complete Two Novels. – Well complete one and at least the first draft of the other. I’ve had these two rolling around in my head for almost 4 years now and it’s time to finish them. I’m trying to figure out which one to focus on though. One is Mal Macabre which I’ve already started but have gotten a little lost on which direction to go and the other I’ve had the complete plot in my head for about 3 years now and have come up with a few details along the way as well. I might focus on the latter, but I’m not sure yet.

#2 – Keep to a sleep schedule. I’m terrible at sleeping – I’m lucky if I get to bed before two or three in the morning and only get about four hours sleep. So I’m going to try and get more this year.

#3 – Complete 3 short stories. – More writing, yes, but the more I write the better I’ll get, and even more importantly – the more I’ll stick to it and stop procrastinating.

#4 – Loose Weight. – If you know me, I’m a bit of a fat bastard. But I’ve gotten fairly healthy before and it always feels better than being the lazy couch potato. So this year I’m making plans to stick to my plans.

#5 – Cut down my smoking. I’ve cut out all drugs (including prescription) from my life and have no interest in them anymore but I still smoke. I’m not going to say I’ll quit just yet, but that’s something I’ll come to later in the year but I do want to cut down on the amount I smoke at the moment.

#6 – Save Money. – I do have a tendency to spend frivolously , especially when I go to the corner store for a pack of smokes and end up also buying a couple of red bulls or ginger beers and frozen pizza and salami sticks and scratchies and ice cream and stationary and (well you get the picture) – So I’m going to stop doing that now and save my money for more important things, like frozen pizza and ginger beer and salami sticks and scratchies… wait a second.

#7 – Get out more – I’m a bit of a hermit and really prefer spending the time I’m not working at home alone… in quite a coincidence that’s where I am now!

and that’s about all I’ve come up with. Any more and I think I’ll overload myself and that won’t accomplish anything.

I’ll be making regular updates here on my blog that nobody reads. so make sure you check back here – because your the only one!.

So then, See you next year. I’m hoping it’s a good one.

for a change.

Well, Let’s face facts. I gave up on NaNoWriMo a while back. Probably around the start of the second week. Especially around the time I started writing Mal Macabre and began building my own webpage to put it up on.

There were a few things I wanted out of NaNo -

• Magically have half/three-quarters of a first draft at the end of November.
• Get myself motivated to write again. (I’ve been putting off serious work since mid-year, my room has never been so clean!)
• Get a few good scene’s written down and get ideas fluttering around in my brain cogs again.
• Get a bit of practice at working serious hours at writing, developing plot and characters and all the other things I should be doing more often.
• Have a bit of fun
• Finish.

I think I managed the second, third and the fifth plus a bit of the fourth. Three and a half out of six isn’t so bad.

The main point being I’ve gotten myself motivated again (even if it was a different project than I was meant to be working on)

I finally decided last night to throw in the towel, Though I think I’ll still go for it again next year – even if it ends the same way for me it’s still worth it just for that kick in the ass it gave me.

I just read this article on 101 reasons to stop writing which has made me feel a bit better about quitting NaNo and that’s the real key isn’t it? Making yourself feel better about your choices (*cough* failures *cough*) and justifying your actions to yourself.

So it’s goodbye NaNo for this year.

Now I’m going to try and get into some serious plotting and planning for Mal Macabre. I have started the first scene of chapter two and have the rest of it in my head along with the beginnings of chapter three – (with the introduction of a sexy hunter girl called Shane!) but, alas, I still have no real antagonist!

P.S. All you writer’s out there – yWriter 4 is out now, download it from Spacejock Software

Another thing I have to work out is a name to stick up on the top of my webpage. I kind of like Monkey Butt, but it’s the kind of stupid humour that I get tired of quickly. I want to keep the Alex Kidd type ‘in writing land’ but I need something to replace the monkey butt… any suggestions??

That’s about it for today. Now let me get back to work (watching Carrie on TV).