Goals (Summer Edition)

Okay, last time I entered on this blog I was in the midst of writing a novel, over Christmas Break I believe. I'm not going to bother reading that to get back in the swing of what I was doing, I'm just going to talk about what I'm doing now.

For starters, I didn't finish it. I'm over 100 pages in it right now, but I got carried away with some other things over the break and stopped working on it. Typical. I think I'm starting to notice a pattern here--not finishing what I started, that sort of thing. But I am happy to say that I'm not planning on leaving it that way for long. I've got plenty of goals over the summer.

Goal 1: Fix the first novel.

Goal 2: Finish the second novel.

Goal 3: Get some work done!

The first novel is the one I wrote last year, and I have plenty of new ideas for it, to make it better and not so amateurish. The first of these ideas is telling it in a uniform point of view. Third person sounds nice--sounds safe. And when I get into the heavily tripped out parts of it I'll jump into third person present, just to mix it up a bit. Another idea I have is to drop the vernacular. Akam, why dost thou have to drop thine h's? Maybe a 'love' now and then or some other suitable bit of cockney jibberish will work a little better. We don't have to go with the whole cliched schtick, do we? I think not.

The other thing I need to fix about Vanheim is the little point of motive and making it less deus ex machina-ey. I think I can do that. I'm not too worried. I've got some scenes. I want to get some more of the mom in there, because she's just such an awful person, and I want to let all the potential entertainment inside of her come out.

I think I'd like to work on the novel I started over Christmas Break, and finish that up, but that's a second priority right now. I think it's going to be a little more difficult for me because it gets so amoral and downright evil in parts that it's tough to write. I know it's just characters and I'm writing it to make a point, but I still get uncomfortable. I guess I'll have to shove my morals aside a little on that one, at least for the time it takes to get it written. Honestly Drew, how are you supposed to write about breaking all the commandments if you can't even stomach a little parent dishonoring?

I'd like to work more on my children's novel, too, although since I haven't read children's novels since I was a child I think that might be the source of my problems. So that one will be the third priority. I've also done quite a lot in that one, so I think I could make some reasonable progress and get it done in the foreseeable future.

I'm also facing the problem of getting published. I need to find a way to break in and build up my folio.

I'm also going to take a trip. I don't know where yet, but I think I'll visit a lot of the places I wrote about in the first book, to try to add that extra touch of realism.

But first i need to finish up college for the semester. Not so far away now--only two weeks of actual school and then some exams. I'm happy to report that I'm keeping abreast of the things that need to be done with school, so panic hasn't been able to find a foothold as of yet.

And, you know, once in a while I may even find time to write this blog. Of course, if I was successful at writing, I'd probably be writing a lot more in it, since its original purpose was to show the status of getting my first book published.