FINISHED!

Well, I've completed another book.
Yes, the novel MC which I've been giving random updates about is now finished.
Yes, that's the title.
Yes, I tend to create my own title logos.

I already spoke about how I have "photos" of my characters in this post. That's Zihn, one of the primary characters. Without him, there is no story. But I'd have to really call it Andy's book. In much the same way that Peter and Wendy could be considered a story about Wendy (but Peter is needed for her adventure to occur.)

In all fairness, I have a little bit of tweaking to do. I need to add a description of a location. I'm waiting on Banky to give me a statistic. And I, of course, as always, need to read through it all again as a whole and make any and all necessary revisions.

Then it's on to the "delightful" process of crafting a Query Letter to send off to agents.

Always nice to finish another project. If you've been keeping up with my posts, you've heard me state how much freaking research this book required. Never a complaint, but... ok, maybe just a little. But then, it's self inflicted. :) And I learned a great deal about the planet we call home. The ending actually took me much longer to write than I imagined. I stopped nearly every five minutes to look up something else. I've also mentioned it as my shortest book, not including Peter Pan's NeverWorld. This novel clocks in at about 75,000 words.

I'm quite sure of my next writing project. It will be book 3 in a 4 book series. I'm quite excited to revisit with Thom. But I'm not even thinking about when I begin to compose it. I'm just damn glad it won't have to be written chronologically! (Which had been the case for my last three writing projects!)

All right, until next post...

Be Picky About the Trash

Well, I am now officially one chapter away from finishing MC.*
Woo-hoo.

Back in this post, I spoke about not being afraid to trash ideas. Even if it means scraping out a whole section of story you'd planned. If it doesn't need to be there... well, you know the rest of that speech. But right now I want to state yet another obvious axiom. Don't actually trash what you're throwing away. It might come in handy later on...maybe even for the same book.

No, I am not turning around and using the parts I disposed of in the other post. But I did remove something from my pile of notes (which often collect one page beyond the current endpoint) only to discover I still needed it. Initially, I thought it would be fun to arrange the book in a certain way, but the more logical solution played out. I kept it on the bottom of my page, this narrative structure idea, but the rest of story events never lent itself. So I erased it. Good thing I didn't forget it entirely. It turns out the last chapter fits this device.

In this particular case I happened to remember the structure device I'd scrapped. But we wouldn't want to rely on just our memories. My notes, of course, are backed up as well. To an unobsessive degree. But I can always go back to the original set and outline.

So... go ahead, be a trash picker. You just might need a spare part.

"Bonus points" if you know why I chose the first picture.

*Title initials.

Fur Sure

Once upon a time,
as I walked along past a park, I saw a few dogs playing. It occurred to me that the dogs didn’t really give a damn what breed the other canines happened to be, much less about the color of their fur. They're just happy to have other dogs to play with...

Humans think they’re smarter than their pets.

I'll Stop Ranting If They'll Stop Remaking...

Hi.
I’ve returned.

On the trip back with Cassidy from visiting with Lemonie and Jiboo, I brought up that a bunch more remakes are coming. I asked Cassidy: Did this happen before? Meaning were we (our generation) flooded with remakes? We decided that there had been an occasional redo, but no… we had a plethora of new (or adapted from sources other than previous film) stories. So what’s wrong with Hollywood? Why this sudden barrage of these (mostly) unnecessary remakes?
What are the latest ones that prompted me to rant AGAIN about this problem? Only one of the next batch springs to mind. I Saw What You Did! The reason this one comes to mind is Bart had TiVo record it out of curiosity. (He has a Wish List for Joan Crawford [who is in the movie for the briefest amount of time]). Though it may have been utterly unnerving in the mid-60’s, we couldn’t help but laugh at it. And now… it’s being redone. I wonder if they’re going to get another well-known actress for the BIT part. Note the "top billing" for almost no scenes at all. I remember my father complaining how they over-hyped Farah Fawcett in Logan's Run [also slated for remake] when she appeared all of five minutes.
By the way, the line in the movie is: I saw what you did and I know who you are! It's spoken by one of two girls making crank calls… and YES, one of the calls they place just happens to be someone who committed murder moments before. (GASP!) It might be a little easier to find said girls in this day and age…

Ah, the redundancy of Hollywood… Please stop the inanity.

I am going to attempt to finish MC* by Friday night. Don’t hold me to it… as I re-discovered last week, Life has a way of throwing curves…

* Initials only of the book I am currently writing.

Posts Postponed...

Please excuse my absence for a little while.
Two events supercede thinking up (or finding) cool, witty and/or silly posts.

First, my friend Lemonie’s mother passed on over the weekend. I’ll be making the trip and attending the services. Our thoughts and love are with you Lemonie and Jiboo!

Also, Andy and ZJ have been extra talkative lately. I believe I will be completing MC* very soon. I thought perhaps by Friday night, but the above trumps finishing fiction.

My prediction turns out correct - writing this part of the book is a blast.

To quote a fictional character from a movie franchise that has gotten way out of hand:
I’ll be back.

* Initials of title only.

More Sync with Friends

This past Saturday night Banky and Clara came over for a round of Trivial Pursuit. Old school, as in first edition. One of the answers: West Germany. My, how times change. But the coincidence "magic" of those two continued (albeit minorly) for my first question had been (not verbatim question phrasing):

What character touted happy thoughts and fairy dust?

Hmmm....

(Banky won.)

(For more on their coincidence magic, see here.)

MOM is WOW

He knew he had but to say "Mother" ever so softly, and she would wake up. They always wake up at once if it is you that says their name.
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, Sir J.M. Barrie

For every mother everywhere, thank you. For all their devotion, sacrifice, assistance and wisdom: thank you all.


Happy Mother's Day!