The Process

The Christmas season was a fight to keep my goals. January began with a general cleaning and organizing of most every room in the house. Boxes of clutter went to Good Will, and work spaces were evaluated and rearranged. Felt good, but, Just making my new words goal, with a bit of ease, for this month brings me to an acceptable minimal level of production. But the process is down and being applied consistently.

“Partisans of the Blue; The Dauntless Recruits” is waiting to be typed out as the second step of my process. The completion of a personally designed typewriter/media desk, building myself, is not holding me back per say. Another table of suitable height is currently occupied. My mind has been focusing on the first draft of something growing a bit beyond a short story; “Life on the Farm”.

Writing out the first draft by hand, then typing the work out, editing along the way, reading and rereading the typed sheets, adding edits again along the way, and after all that, avoiding exceedingly long sentences, I put it all into the computer. Several rounds of editing will be required after that. A good reliable printer is a must at that stage. A good monochrome laser printer is quick and reliable. The sales woman at the office supply store told us that ‘Brother’ printers are returned the least. This little work horse did not cost much at all.

The process of writing “Life on the Farm” is deviating from my norm. I sit down not knowing what to write. I list out every scene I am planning for the story. One looks good, and I start writing. It has been going well. The mish mash of scenes should be easily organized if I simply start a new sheet of paper, when typing, at every scene change.

If I really want to make a living writing I need to start focusing on other processes; most notably marketing. I have rereleased the e-book “A Vendetta’s Wage” (See sidebar). I formatted, or rather arranged, my e-book in a way I thought insightful for e-books, that I observed in a book written by Joel Goldman. That is, to put any superfluous sections of the book in the back. The story begins first page. He, actually, even moved the table of contents to the back. I also re-priced my book, in line with prices I have observed asked by other independent authors, usually $2.99 (or a bit more) for a full length novel. Those would be authors who have sales but no overwhelming support in the form of reviews and the like.

Thank you for reading.

Goals

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my readers. Yes, it is still the Christmas season, a part of the season that is neglected to the detriment of our spiritual lives. It is the celebration of these twelve days of Christmas that pull us away from the material indulgence that has preceded the Holy Day and into the Day’s true meaning.

I read many articles by writers on goals. A word count goal is useful, very useful. But then again, some suggest that just focusing on a word count can be destructive to the final product, to the creativity of your work.

I have been successively achieve my monthly word count goals for sometime now. I find it to be a motivator, an encouragement and a confidence builder. My word count goals are also very low by the standards of most; only 12,000 new words a month; a good sized book every year. Still, at times, even today, the last day of the month, I struggle to meet this goal.

For this month it has been the holiday that distracted me, but more substantially it was this project to the left, installing a new door, as the month was coming to a close, that derailed me from a less frantic end of the month as I fight to make my goal for December. This was a complete rebuild of the rough opening, removal of the old door, rotted framing, the existing 3/4” T&G sheathing and exterior wood siding, (without damaging the existing aluminum siding that covers the house) and an exterior re-sheathing with 1/2” board, against which the door would rest, over the new framing. Of course I used flexible adhesive flashing around the opening before the final placement of the new door.

My wife didn’t believe I would complete the task in a day but I got the door in secure enough and installed the lockset before we went out to work our retail business Friday night. Ten hours non-stop for me, then off to work. My wife helped me placing the door and cleaned up after me from time to time. A 1/16th of an inch more to the left would have been ideal but I was being crunched for time. If the door is ever so slightly askew, it is only because the salesmen recommend that I remove the door from its’ frame to paint it.

And what happened? To my horror, I realized the next day that I had written nothing on the day of the door; the last relatively warm day of the season. I missed on my goal of writing ever day. I beg your forgiveness.

Not only that, but my mind was completely consumed with everything home repair (I am surrounded by work to be done on the house) leaving my mind blank of any concepts or scenes I had been developing for my stories. Right now I am working on “Life on the Farm”. I will be writing any scenes that pop into my head, completely disregarding an orderly timeline, as I need to produce over 3,000 words today. I do include my blogs, this blog in my word count.

Now that 12,000 word goal truly appears small when you include my blogs. But I have many other things to work on besides new word production. As a self published author without a team to help edit or market my books, my tasks are expansive in scope. I have the first draft of “Partisans of the Blue; The Dauntless Recruits” (yes I changed the title, from “A” to “The”) that I need to type out from my notebooks, and that is only the beginning of the editing process. I hope to create several illustrations for my works and I need to research and develop my own marketing strategy. Besides these labors I need to continually invest in my home repairs and our business, and I need to create consistent content for my blogs.

Looking at my blogs over this last year, I have been negligent in providing posts on a regular basis. I am particularly disappointed in not having spent more time on my blog, “No Sanction”. For 2015, I will be creating posting goals for each of my blogs. For this blog it will be once a month, on or around the first of each month. I would also like to raise my word count goal to 15,000 new words a month, particularly if I will be blogging more.

Accomplishing your writing goals will drive you forward as a writer. Make your goals achievable. Don’t be discouraged by low goals. Meeting those will be much more rewarding and helpful than even coming close to a higher goal that you were not able to achieve. Life happens, you can’t write 24/7. Accomplishing goals on my home repair have also been very useful in building my confidence. Make goals in other aspects of your life as well. Be realistic in creating your goals. Be even more realistic in accomplishing your goals.

I lost my fulltime job nearly ten years ago. Self motivation can be a struggle, especially in disadvantageous circumstances. But as this year closes I find I have come to encompass an even greater goal that I have been working to achieve these many years since I lost my fulltime employment. That goal would be to go beyond a forty hour work week in useful and productive labor, though not always gainful.

My persistence in my writing and all aspects of book production has developed into many consistent hours of dedicated work throughout the week. A slightly improved income has given me the resources to consistently make marked improvements on our home. I have a part time retail business to run with my wife. I am a building designer and have been inspired to invest more time into that aspect of my life. I have also been known to build some pieces of furniture. In this light I have recently achieved for more weeks than not a plus forty-hour work week. I will be documenting my efforts more precisely for 2015 with this goal in mind; a fifty-hour work week, and from their, sixty, seventy and beyond.

God Bless you all in 2015.

Open to Ridicule

I did it. I made my goal for November. No, I wasn’t trying to write a novel in thirty days. My goals are not vast. Many caution against being obsessed with word counts. It was simply a very hectic month and I needed to put out 1,500 words Sunday.

So I am filling in a few openings in “Partisans of the Blue; A Dauntless Recruit” and I’ll be done with the first draft. Another common piece of advice is to go for quantity, not quality, when writing your first draft. I would have to agree, unless you have not written much in a long time. Be attentive to your sentence structure, spelling and grammar. Refresh the knowledge that you have not had to access since high school or college. Writing makes one a better writer; another sage piece of advice. Once you have noticeably regained forgotten lessons, go for it.

Most of what makes your writing, different than the story, good to great happens in the editing process and progress.

To protect my work I do not wish to convey too much of my next book. However, in this digital and connective age of the hacker you want to protect your work by cataloguing the process.

Our villain of “The Partisans of the Blue” lives in my hometown at a time when there are no longer any political parties, but for the government. These members of the non-party hold weekly gatherings to promote the agenda and many to pursue more nefarious pleasures. Of course the gathering includes a seven course meal. Our villain is recorded enjoying two such meals in the course of the story.

So, here is the menu I created from some basic research. The accompanying wines are not clearly specified. Any epicureans who would like to comment or ridicule, I would be appreciative of your advice.

-Beluga Black Caviar ( with crackers) and Champaign.

-Tomato Basil Crab Bisque

-Whole Maine Lobster with drawn butter; serve with a White Burgundy

-Filet Mignon with Braised Vegetables; here our villain, to establish him as a man of particular tastes, has ordered the French Syrah replaced with a specific Pinot Noir of his liking.

-Goat Cheese salad with a Raspberry-Walnut Vinaigrette

-choice in desserts; Chocolate Soufflé or Baked Alaska

-Coffee

Then we have a meal in which our villain was called in to resolve a dispute between the head cook, who desired to serve his courses with a selection of beers, and the sommelier.

-Oysters Rockefeller with Champaign (yes, he sided with the sommelier)

-Fennel and Almond Soup

-Parmesan Encrusted Trout with Hollandaise Sauce

-Spice Lamb Chop with Chickpea Purée

-Rustic Baby Kale Salad with Raisins Walnuts and Goat Cheese

-Baked Apple with Raisins, Cranberries and Apricots

-Chestnut Praline Latte

Possible problem with this last menu; this would be in mid-June.

Epicureans, release the hounds, let loose the war machines, storm the gates, breech the walls.

The Bunker

No, it’s not the name of a new short story, but you never know. I have no new installments to post from my stories in progress either. But here is a picture of one of my notebooks at my drafting table; first draft fresh from the brain stuff. Then there is the beginning of the second draft, not so fresh off the typewriter resting underneath, as I have been working to finish off the story before getting back to any refinements on what’s already written.

One day I went to bowl at a league event. We only had the one car available at the time so my wife dropped me off at the lanes, or alley as we used to call it, and went on her way with her business. I brought one of my notebooks along, thinking I may get some writing done while waiting for my wife to pick me up after. It was tucked well into a pocket of my bowling bag. So I toss my ball and turn back and what do I see? I guy I know, with several other fellows all around, standing over an open notebook that looked exactly like mine, taking pictures of the pages with his cell phone. I tossed my second ball and came to the seating area All had scattered and there was no sign of a notebook. I checked my bag. This was early in my writing of “Partisans of the Blue,” of which, if I am not writing out the final scene by the end of this month I should cover myself in sack cloth and ashes. If you younger people don’t understand the reference, …read the Bible!

Here is another photo from some more pages, taken with my own camera of course. For this story in particular I have to work out plans and designs for several homes. My background is in architecture, a fact to which I attribute my abilities in copy editing, or rather in not needing any.

But it is not just camera phones that at times have me balling my fists. Several items from our home have gone missing, including a camera I had set up near our computer (not a small expense for us). At a tour of my old High School (a Jesuit institution), an event some years back now, as we walked through the hallways one of my former classmates described the experience, walking through the hallways, in near identical words as I had written in a work I am not currently advancing, simply titled “High School.” Coincidence? Of course I thought, until another classmate turns with disparaging looks and short quip to the other, as if to say, ‘Stop it.’

I have come across several accounts of authors in several mediums and took notice that many have or have had very secure locations from which they wrote; some writing in outright bunkers. I think I can understand why. It may well be chalked up to an overactive imagination. Security of one’s work, especially when they reflect one’s deepest views of life, and touch the very uniqueness of one’s personal character and creativity, is important. To think that one could steal one’s work, take credit for the words of your heart and soul, and profit as you yourself may be living in near poverty seems inconceivable, but history tells a different story.

But what I have described is more than an overactive imagination, or mere coincidence. I believe it to be the result of acts of blatant bigotry. It is for my faith that I have been targeted by those who see my success, or even the holding of any status of relevance in society a threat.

A documented example may drive the point home better. Mr. Toru Goto of Japan, a member of my church and a former student of Architecture, was held captive for over twelve years by those devoted to destroy our faith. It came to the point where they even attempted to starve him to death. Was it that no one knew a man was being held captive, against his will, in a prison like apartment unit? Of course people in the area knew as did most likely the police. But it was considered a ‘family matter.’

These hate groups, criminals, hide behind their victim’s families to instigate their campaigns of hate, destruction and terror. And so I believe it is in my case, that at some point such a groups was empowered to target me by my family, that considers my faith a mindless cult. This is more than running across the occasional individual, in professional or personal life, that despises your very existence because of what you believe. These are not the greatest of hurdles to overcome (life comes with adversity), and I would like to believe such individuals have not influenced associated institutions related to my life and professions.

It is quite different when a small group sets themselves against your very  existence (much like ten people who have been exposed leading a massive Internet campaign against advertisers on a certain nationally popular radio talk show). These hate groups hide in the shadows and validate their activities, that extend to stalking and worse, by some supposed blessing, from a person’s family, the backing by some respected institution such as a party or an acceptable church. The deeper and more extensive their activities grow, without their cover being blown, the more they feel validated and the greater their crimes. In the case of Mr. Toru Goto, the atrocities against him were instigated by a chain smoking Christian minister who is invited to and attends, even in light of his vile actions bring exposed, annual ‘anti-cult’ conferences here in the United States.

Here is a picture of some pens I have run dry this Summer. After taking this picture another ran dry, and I am having trouble finding a working pen around the house. Since I do not have a bunker, cannot afford to build one, or to even buy a good safe of any kind to protect my work, I may need these as evidence of my efforts; to sample and correlate with my notebooks to create a timeline.

A bit crazy? Does it make me a better writer? The fact is I have brought many issues to various members of my family, issues wilder than those mentioned here, and have been met with only diversion or silence. It has never been suggested to me by my family that I was lying, crazy or in need of any help of any kind. In fact, my younger brother is a Catholic priest that has outright lied to me, and afterwards, claiming he wanted to talk again at length, has avoided any opportunity for a sit down. The lie is deep and undeniable.

It is not in my nature to act in malice against anyone. I am also not one afraid to speak truth to power. I can only pray and hope at some point someone will be brave enough to take a stand against these malcontents and haters (gossips, busy bodies and back stabbers in a more Biblical sense), whom I believe more and more are directly tied to the Catholic church, or provide me with actionable facts that I myself can be empowered to protect myself. Or perhaps I should just build a bunker and close the door behind me.

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!”