Marines vs. Romans

This is a truly phenomenal story about how a guy with a big imagination went from being a complete unknown to internet superstar to being contacted about writing a big budget Hollywood screenplay in the space of a day! Congratulations to James Erwin.

The Tao of Po

It appears I'm on a Po Bronson kick because I'm enjoying the stories in What Should I do With My Life and I've already stopped telling my toddler how smart he is (read Nurture Shock to find out why). The story that hit closest to home was the one about the guy who just needed to be around other writers, which is my entire reason for wanting to get an MFA. I need the support and encouragement of other people who have similar goals because this writing schtick is lonely. I need a group to talk shop with. That guy, by the way, was Po Bronson. Po gets it. Maybe I  just like saying Po because it reminds me of Medea saying po-po.

Po (tee hee I said it again) has got a great list of books he recommends. His blurbs make me want to run out and read them. If you're looking for something to read, try this list: http://www.pobronson.com/index_books_I_recommend.htm

Current count

I'm disturbed to discover that since February 18th, I've only written 26 pages. I've reached a point where the initial excitement has faded and now I'm a little unsure of what to fill the middle part with. I already know the ending, but I have to write at least another hundred pages to get there. There is a multitude of possibilities and I'm having difficulty in deciding what the chararacters will do in the meantime. Speak, inspiration!

126 pages / 40,490 words

Currently reading

Fiction: Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James

Non-fiction: What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson and, purely by coincidence, Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

I'm back!

My two readers are probably wondering where I've been. Actually, they already know so this blog post is for the benefit of all of my assumed future readers...

My laptop was in the hospital having surgery thanks to a well-aimed toddler fist. The laptop is recovering safely at home and out of the reach of children. Blogging will now recommence.

In the interim, I managed to get down a little more of my story in the same manner as my ancestors: using a pen and a spiral notebook. Transferring it to a typed format will be difficult since it will mean deciphering strange and illegible scrawls.

Mind Stuck

So I reached a 100 pages. Great. My brain has rolled through bubble gum that was spit on the floor and now I'm stuck, lost and confused. I feel like I'm blindly clawing my way forward and not moving very far. A bad writing day. A very bad writing day, indeed.

Yessssss!

Despite my ridiculous laptop, I managed to reach 100 pages today! This is monumental. I've never before written 100 pages of something coherent. It's always been a scene here and a scene there that needed long stretches of middle parts to make the scenes hang together. And I would get frustrated with the middle parts, of trying to figure out how to get from A to B.

This, my friends, is an actual story taking shape. I'm very excited, but daunted by the fact that I'm still only about halfway to the end of the story. Deadline is March 1st, which is looking more and more unrealistic. I wish I could take a week off from work to do nothing but work on the story. Wish me luck!

Current count: 100 pages (oh yeah!) and 31,675 words