I'm A Dad...Again And I'm Writing...Still

Well, with today's first update of September, I will note first and foremost, that my son Alexander was born last Thursday. I've been busy with those adjustments such as getting little sleep, feeding him when my wife can't, and generally recognizing, moment by moment, that I helped bring another new life into this world and that this means another layer of responsibility. I'm engaged in that pursuit and loving little Alexander and my other children so much. They are blessings. 

Up to the time my wife's labor was induced, I was continuing work on a stalled novel that I had started back in early May. I only missed a few days at the time of the boy's birth and the next day. I'm determined to have a daily writing habit in place that can be flexible enough to handle the ups and downs of taking care of a newborn. I am feeling pretty good now but know that having my wife around helps with getting larger word counts. 

That will change once she's back at work. My goal is to not set up unreasonable expectations for how many words I will be able to finish that day. I suppose that is an update of sorts. I will be starting on the next chapter in the book today. I'm very close to being done with it. 

Back In The Saddle Again...And Working On A Novel

Ten days ago I wrote that I was abandoning my plan to complete a novel in August. Maybe it was a last straw in what was a series of writing problems I've been trying to address all summer or not. I know that I tried do hit this goal I set for myself but it took getting back to the novel I abandoned in early May to get me back on the right course and more importantly writing again.

I've found that I have to ease myself back into producing the amount of words that I want to complete daily and weekly. It isn't easy to accomplish from the outset but I do think I'm working my way back into it.

The novel I'm working on is called The Stormbringer's Star. Another fantasy story that I think might be part of series of works. I won't say a word about here but I am writing on it again which is a minor cause for celebration for me. I'm a writer only when I'm writing. While that hasn't be an issue since I do keep a journal and I've written blog posts here, I do not feel right unless fiction has a prominent place in the projects.

My plan at this point is to finish this novel then do a few short stories to cleanse the palette then dive into another novel, the second book in a projected trilogy. This is an important step. I am not making a challenge right now. That was perhaps the wrong approach for me considering the difficulties I was having with working.

I'll close by reminding all of you that I do have a novel coming out in the near future and I will be posting cover art here soon. Also, I have a collection of short stories that I will be releasing as well. Stay tuned folks.

No August Novel, I Think

I think I am canceling the challenge I posted at the end of July. But I can say that the way the month has shaped up has made me cast out the plan I laid out in the previous post. I was going to say I crashed and burned on this whole thing. Maybe I still will. No book has been written so far. Many starts but nothing that got past the first few pages before fizzling out epically. I don't know what more I have to say about the novel I intended to write other than I really wanted to get something together.

I have stories that will be published soon, short stories and a novel that has been waiting to see publication all summer. I've been contemplating a full break from writing lately. It might have to do with the impending arrival of my new son, but there's more going on. Frankly, I'm just not getting back into the fun of it yet. Life continually intervenes and turns my attention elsewhere.

I have these writerly expectations that I'm continually failing to meet and I think they should be the first thing to go before I can get back on a good writing track. More than these expectations, I have personal ones that are influencing my thoughts.

Sometimes being a creative type can be a curse because you can sink too deeply into introspection. All of it can derail what you've been planning and no amount of evaluation can seem to break through and get you rolling.

It's a rough patch, I would say. One I'm working through very slowly. In fact, it might be a matter of cutting out some mental chatter. I'll get to work on that right now and with luck, I'll have more upbeat things to say about being a writer again.

If you are reading this and you are a writer dealing with something similar remember you're not alone. We all go through such things from time to time. Hang in. You'll get back to writing again.

It's late in August now and I'm probably calling the whole thing quits but one never knows. There's still time. A little optimism sounds nice right now.

August Challenge: Write A Novel In One Month

I've tried NaNoWriMo more than once and failed to complete a 50,000-word book in one month's time. That has been gnawing at me lately--that and not writing must for the last couple of months has only added to that. I like the idea of a challenge to complete a full-length book in 30 or so days. It's the kind of thing I know I can do.

I don't have an idea in mind. Not even a clue. That has been a paralyzing point for me lately as I've tried again and again to get back on the fiction-writing horse. Having no idea what I write before I start shouldn't be a problem. I've done it before many times. That's typically the way I work. I don't outline. I just get started.

That's what I'll have to do on August 1st. You see that 's the plan. I've decided, rather last minute, to write a novel in August, knowing full well that I will be welcoming a new baby boy into the world at or near the end of it. I'm crazy, I know. But right now, crazy sounds pretty good. I'm tired of being on the sidelines.

Since I'm announcing it as a challenge my intention is to chronicle this process by posting every day for the whole month. Each post will detail the day's progress and daily word count.

Update: I'm going to post every week and include the progress from each day during that week in a digest.

So, that's it: a novel in August with a word count of at least 50K.