The Pace

Paying close attention to any and all  authors I hear on radio or television, one gentleman said that he writes with pen and paper; he likes the pace. I have to agree, and have been filling notebooks and running pens dry at a consistent pace. I started with mechanical pencils, but the contrast was not great enough, between written word and paper, causing my eyes to strain. I find it hard to work long hours with backlit computer screens also, for the eye strain.

Reading various posts from blogs and the such, valuable reading recommendations easily provided from Create Space, Lulu and other sources ‘Liked” on Facebook (as I have previously suggested), it was also recommended that one not write new words for, and edit your book at the same time. The suggestion was that the editing is just another form of procrastination. Again, I must agree, along with another important piece of advice, to write every day.

Writing every day, even if it is only several dozen words, keeps my mind in the story and its progression; and when I do get a long sit down, I am capable of putting out many more words than if I had not been writing with such frequency.

Of course this means I do not have any refined work for you to sample from my stories. But I will be putting pieces of my book out before publishing. I am leaning to posting a string of snippets that define a character, rather than a single chunk of the story. I mean, if you buy the book you wont be bored running through a section you already read, and you may achieve a deeper perspective on a character as you read the snippets in their greater context.

My greatest efforts are going to finish the first draft of a second series I hope to start: “PARTISANS OF THE BLUE” the first story: “A DAUNTLESS RECRUIT” It may be only three books and much of the story centers on Milwaukee some decades from now.

Of course the next Chuck Hammer is still on the burner and I started another book: “Life on the Farm” I have also been outlining a book on urban planning I intend to write. Some other stories have dropped from to the wayside for the moment.

How would I describe, on the back cover, “PARTISANS OF THE BLUE” …? Perhaps like this.

“After the great Party Politic Conversation, in a nation free of partisan bickering, where government heals all wounds and settles all contention and strife, what does the fate of an out-of-work mason, Mike Barter, have to do with the future of the United States? …Everything!”