Tag: distractions

January? More Like Janu-Where-Are-You?

I imagine this is what sobering up must feel like.

Here it is, a week into February and I have written less than one thousand words this year total. It’s embarrassing. It’s shocking. It’s down right revolting. I haven’t blogged since… No… That can’t be right.

December Eleventh?

Oh dear. This won’t do at all.

I’ve managed to lose a whole month to the Post Retail Christmas Traumatic Stress Disorder. It’s a thing… look it up. I’ve only recently started to sleep like a normal person, aside from the fact that I’m a twenty nine year old man with a Pokemon addiction. Sometimes that creeps into my sleep time. Okay, it creeps in there a lot.

In November I was both a jerk and focused. I smashed out those fifty thousand words and laughed in the face of NaNoWriMo- “Ha ha ha ha haaaaa.” I told friends and family that I would not be going to their functions. Words flowed freely and I was exceptionally happy with my progress and the story.

I know what you’re thinking. “Well TJ… Tell me. Tell me what happened.” As I lay on the metaphorical psychologist’s couch before you, allow me to explain the blur that was December and January.

December came and my store was busier than I’ve experienced for this shop. As we were the little store that could, we struggled but managed to smash targets with lower wages than any other store in our area. I’ve said in retail before that the numbers simply don’t lie when we’re doing a good job, and we did a damn fine one.

After Christmas is followed by two weeks of sales and returns. Customers overjoyed with the deals and others who are absolutely pissed that our Christmas casual with two hours of training sold them the wrong thing and they opened it on Christmas. Yet another year I ruined at least half a dozen Christmases. That’s fine, fix it now and move on.

Then January comes where we begin clean up and sending out things that didn’t sell over Christmas. For the Christmas Period, I live and breathe the store, and when I’m not there, I’m thinking about it. Enter Pokemon. As a January Retail Zombie, lumbering along looking for brains, I needed something to jump start my brain. Anything besides work related things. I picked up the latest copy of Pokemon and decided that for the first time in a long time… I would catch them all.

At first it was a joke. Catch them all. PFFT. There’s literally a bajillion. (Note: Sarcasm)

Now? I’ve caught over four hundred legitimate Pokemon… with still a rough three hundred to go. *Cue Pokemon Theme Song*

So I did end up replacing work in my mind… with Pokemon. Now while I’m at work, I’m counting down the minutes until I can get home, crack open the DS and discover a few new Pokemon I’ve never seen before. Judge me. I don’t care. I love it like a fat kid loves cake.

Or just me… I love cake… a lot!

So now, oh now. Here we are and Past TJ has literally done absolutely nothing to help us on the journey to becoming a Pokemon Master Published Author. Future TJ seems to have some promise, but Future TJ is more concerned with turning the big Three Zero this year and what hole to hide in until people stop reminding him of it.

Meanwhile present TJ is here writing this blog, staring at the golden DS wherein lies untold amounts of Pokemon for capturing. Present TJ doesn’t seem too focused either but at least this poor guy is trying.

How are you fellow writers faring in this new year? Are you the broken little soldier that I am? Or are you already doing the book signings while us mere mortals look up inspirational writing quotes from our favorite authors? One of my friends has published her book. Another friend is actively seeking out publishers for her story. Congrats to those two! Let me know how you’re going in the comments, I’d love to hear from all of you! Until then… Gotta Catch Em All!

Uhh… I mean… write them… the words… Gotta Write Them All… Yes.

Side Note: Has anyone given any thought to a whole world where to gain a friend you pummel them to within an inch of their demise only to throw balls at them until they are forced to come along with you? The premise for Pokemon is weird.

New, Shiny, Distracting…

Are you a writer?

New… Shiny… Distracting…

Do the above words describe the creative process?

These are your ideas: beautiful as a newborn, shiny as gold bars and eating up your brain space.

I understand. No, really I do. You see in the world of a writer, there are an INFINITE number of distractions from your writing. Many of them are in the world around you. In your pocket. In the browser window below. This article you’re reading. But the one distraction you cannot avoid is…

Your mind.

Dun dun DUNNNNNN.

So, I’m most certainly not here to tell or teach you how to control it. In fact, a writer’s mind can be focused but something always pops up. Maybe this isn’t everyone. But for me (and I know a fair few others) we write one idea and during that time we stumble across a mine shaft of shinier ideas.

My ideas hit me whenever and wherever. Just the other day I thought a great start to a novel would be the initial meeting between a master assassin and his unsuspecting contract. As the assassin holds the knife to his/her throat, the contract wakes up and stares into the assassin’s eyes, almost as cold as his heart. Suddenly, the assassin too has an epiphany. “You’re already dead. Your family wanted you out of the picture. How do you feel about a career in killing others?” With a silent nod, the contract agrees to the terms and the pair make off into the night. Thus starts the protagonist’s journey into becoming an assassin, while planning their own revenge on the side.

So my point? I don’t really have one. That’s the best part about this blog post… I’m just letting you know you’re not alone. I have yet to overcome this huge challenge. I have curbed it through excessive planning, but that is as close as I’ve come.

On a side note, Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse underwent its first reading by my lovely partner. Sadly for me, she wore a poker face for the whole thing (which lead me to believe she was forcing herself through it) but finally she gave me her verdict. She liked the story and characters (gave them an eight out of ten) and her only issue was she felt there wasn’t enough description (which I have always had an issue with balanced description). She gave my mechanics a five or six out of ten because she could tell when I had been writing while trying to stay awake and she wanted more description.

Still not as bad as I expected for a first draft. I now need her to ask questions about the things she didn’t understand and any gaps that I missed (because I know everything about it… it’s all in my head with the voices). Although a few things I will need to do are break it up into chapters as well as add in some more description. I need to get back into reading as well (it’s been too long) and I fear my writing mind may be ready to write, but the tools of the trade are a bit rusty. The good news is I have a ton of books to read that have come through in recent weeks (my obsession with Barnes & Noble’s Collectible Editions runs too deep) and any of them would simply sharpen my skills a bit. 

Although there is something odd about knowing you have written something longer than some popular fiction. I did a few quick word count searches on the internet and found out where my book sits. This list includes some of my favourite novels as well!

  • Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone (J.K. Rowling) = 76,944
  • The Crystal Shard (R.A. Salvatore) = 86,000 (ish)
  • The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien) = 95,022
  • Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse (ME!) = 98,657
  • Game of Thrones (George R.R. Martin) = 284,000 (ish)

So all in all, not too bad for my first completed book. Once I add in some description and cut some of the sections I wrote while only half awake, I should probably be sitting comfortably over 100k at least. But as always, it’s not the quantity, it’s the quality.

Anyway plot points have begun to rear their heads for Book Two, Jefferson & The Eternal Mana. Should be an interesting write considering I have some things to look back over. There may be an event or two pushed from the end of book one and into book two. I had an idea of how I wanted book one to end so I may go back and revisit that ending as I felt it would have been more powerful. We will see once I further edit book one. Anyway, what are you ladies and gents working on out there? How’s it going? I feel like I’ve already lost touch with many of you out there! Let me know what’s happening and I promise I’ll get back to you ASAP! After all, I have tomorrow off!

Distractions Abound

As a man who when he puts his mind to anything, can most accomplish that said thing, I have the amazing ability to become absorbed into the many distractions that life has. In fact when it came time to figure out what to do today I simply sat down, laptop and book in hand, and loaded up facebook and email straight out of habit. That being said today has been a busy day with a Christening and Reception, and finally seeing the litter of puppies I’ve chosen my new pup out of. My god, it is hard to choose when all of them are half a foot of adorable.

Also, puppies are now on the list of distractions. As of December 7th, I will be the proud new owner of a miniature dachshund and he is a sleepy little pup. In fact all I can think about is how awesome it will be to have him come to my house, cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war (pun intended). Although I know he will take away from the millions of other things I would love to achieve, at the same time, he is my first pet ever so it will be an interesting experience overall!

Batman has taken a back burner, as well as Pokemon… and I judge myself for not devoting more time to these games I love. Especially when I know the PS4 is coming out soon as well as the new Zelda 3DS I’ve already slapped a deposit down on. At the moment, not having kids means getting virtually everything I want, so there is no rush on that! Probably should put more focus into editing my story, but going over it with a fine tooth comb has been rough. Editing is always the hardest part and ensuring that you haven’t let anything out. I think my goal is instead of NaNoWriMo, I’ll give myself until the end of November to complete the edit and pass it off to the first person to read it: My Lovely GIrlfriend. She has been patiently awaiting the moment she is allowed to read my story, so before any editors or anything… she’s first (And she can catch the mistakes I didn’t and ask the questions I knew the answers to).

Waiting for my iBook short story to be published has been a harrowing experience as I check for myself every single day to see if my story is up. There are a few people wanting to reread it and the presentation is crisp and clear with the iBook Author program. The price is free so everyone may enjoy the story but I am hoping that because it is free that I will get much more feedback and thus make myself a better writer! (I hope it’s not soul crushing…)

Lastly my obsession with the silk bound book has reached new heights as I attempt to hunt down the final three in the “Art of” series by Watkins Publishing. I am currently hunting “The Art of Strategy, The Art of Love and The Art of the Samurai.” I am torn on the Art of the Kamasutra as it doesn’t fit in with the others in my opinion. But also, it would complete the set… so… I blame Pokemon for needing to catch em all!

Lastly I need some new music… I need to renew my free JB HI FI NOW subscription as the last one ran out, but I used that thing all the time and now I don’t know what I did without it! My latest obsession is Nero’s Doomsday from the end of The World’s End trailer (which I still have to see!) but for some strange reason I feel compelled to… exercise… damn you dubstep, damn you.

On a final note, I dreamt the other night that my free iBook took off and got a huge cult following, people loved it and eventually I was involved in making a movie out of it. In my dream I was giving an interview about why I chose to give it away for free when I said the most pompous and arrogant thing I’ve ever said, dream or otherwise: Stories should be told, not sold. Sadly, the people loved it, and then it became my thing that all my stories were free and everyone and their friends downloaded them, but I made all my money from merchandise and movie rights. Not a bad business plan, maybe I’ll stick with the concept… but drop the higher than other author attitude. No one would like that guy! Anyway feel free to check out the last few posts for a retrospective and a poll!

Creative work… coming soon…