W. J. Howard

New Website

2011-03-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

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Blog Shut Down Until Further Notice

2010-12-30T03:52:00.001-07:00

Saying no can be the ultimate self-care.

CLAUDIA BLACK

Up to the last minute I've changed my goals for 2011 and they're finally set in stone. There's been one item consistently left off the list though, blogging. So I'm officially shutting down here until further notice. I won't be blogging elsewhere either. I decided to do this after reading about creative u-turns in The Artist's Way. Blogging has always been a distraction from editing for me and if I'm not blogging, it's one less excuse not to get the editing done.

I will be reading blogs and regularly commenting on these blogs if you'd like to join me:

Writer's on the Brink, just started by members of the critique group I attend,
Something Wicked This Way Comes, a group of my favorite Vamplit published authors,
Wicked Writers, where I used to blog early last year,
and a few other blogs I love listed in the right column.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-05T19:43:00.002-07:00

Internet Outages Are Not So Bad

2010-12-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

We had a neighborhood Internet outage that lasted over twenty-four hours, and we thought the world was coming to an end. Then I realized I could use the time to work on 2011 goals, and they're done. WHOO HOO!!

One of the things I did today was sort through all the short stories I never finished. It gave me the idea to focus on completing some of them in 2011. Reason? My main goals are editing the 3 Courier novels next year, so rather than get involved with another full-length novel, cleaning up the mess of unfinished short stories and writing new ones seems to make more sense. Should also help me get in the mindset for writing the collection of short fairy tales for the 3 Day Novel Contest and NaNoWriMo next year.

I also took another look at this years goals. Have to say I'm pretty darn happy with what I've achieved. Big lesson learned on keeping better track of progress throughout 2011 though.

Until next year...28,000 more new words to write and lots of holiday baking. How are you wrapping up 2010?

I'm in Trouble

2010-11-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

My son set up the Playstation to play on demand video through Netflix. I've spent the day recuperation from NaNoWriMo by adding movies to our queue, watching The Office and cleaning the house. Not a very productive day.

The End of One Road...

2010-11-29T14:10:00.001-07:00

And so NaNoWriMo ends for me, one day early. Final word count is 70,191 and 317 pages. How do I feel about it ending? I'm a little sad, but also beaming, knowing that I've written two more novels in The Courier series since the beginning of September. I'm no longer complaining about what I've accomplished this year.

What's next? I've decided to continue the story I started about a highly structured society that exists without creativity. It's titled Nova's Magic and is about a 12 year old girl who discovers her imagination, and as a result she is cast out of her village. I'm not writing it for publication. It's one of those stories this writer just has to tell for herself. And it's a perfect choice to fill in my daily 2000 words because I'm writing it as the story comes to me.

I'm also planning on hitting the editing of The Courier pretty hard through the holidays. I'll be popping in here to complain about my progress periodically, so stay tuned. You'll also find me & R.J. writing about vampires over on the Bloodlegger's blog again, now that NaNoWriMo is over.

But first, I need to do some house cleaning. What are you doing now that NaNoWriMo is over?

I'm a Winner!!

2010-11-26T10:04:00.001-07:00

How FUN! Yesterday I copied Cause for Redemption into the NaNoWriMo word counter for my first time ever, and I'm a winner...WHOO HOO!! Such a little thing, but a great feeling knowing that I've finished the contest.

Now I have to finish the novel in the next 5 days. Considering I wrote the second book in 3 days, I'll finish up this book no problem. It'll be interesting to see how many words the final first draft will be. If I stay on track with my goal of 3500 per week day of the contest, it'll be 77,000, but I think I might end up writing more. How do I feel about the storyline? Unfortunately I don't like it as much as book 1 and 2, but it's a much more complicated plot, and cleaning up the manuscript is going to take some time and effort.

And so this leads into two more goals for 2011. I've decided to do the 3 Day Novel Contest and NaNoWriMo again next year. I'm thinking of doing a compilation of modern day fairy tales across contests. It's something I've wanted to do for a number of years, but of course, I'll probably change my mind ten or twenty times before then.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

2010-11-25T07:13:00.000-07:00

Losing a Character's Image

2010-11-23T06:48:00.001-07:00

During the last couple days of writing Cause for Redemption for NaNoWriMo, I've been transitioning Barry's character to more of a leader to his gang of misfits. This morning I've lost sight of his appearance in my head, which used to be very much like Michael Cera. It's making it difficult for me to properly depict him in the story. Has that ever happened to one of your characters? What did you do to get the picture adjusted?

Time to Set Goals for 2011

2010-11-19T13:04:00.001-07:00

Because the holiday season is upon us, and time is limited, I've decided to start setting the goals for 2011. And since this years goals were mostly a pain in my ass and completed at the end of this year or not at all, I'm adding them to the right column so they're in my face almost every day.

There are seven weeks left of the year and I plan on unveiling the goals every Friday as I create them. This week I've come up with two. Warning, there's A LOT of thinking out loud below.

1. Achieve 50% towards remainder of 1,000,000 words of written fiction.
This is a goal I set, in September of 2008 after listening to an early episode of Writing Excuses. Basically they mentioned that the first one or two novels you write are likely crap. I know my first two were both more personal stories I'll probably never publish. They also mentioned that it takes writing one million words to begin mastering prose. These are all professionals' opinions, and who am I to argue, right? Anyways, I set the goal back then to write a million words of fiction within a certain time frame that never happened. Actually I stopped tracking it and have since written over 120,000 new words, which really surprises me considering the writer's block I went through this year.

Well, IT'S BACK for 2011 & 2012. I started a counter in the right column, but have the rest of the year's writing, so I'm not exactly sure where the total count will be for 2011 and 2012 other than an estimated 300,000 per year which is less than the 480,000 I should be able to write if I stick to a 2000 words a day for 20 days a month.   WOW! That's 4-6 novels or who knows how many short stories a year, which could lead into another goal.

2. Finish editing The Courier #1 by the end of the ~~first~~ second quarter.
I've consistently not met this goal every time I've set it, so it will be interesting to see if I meet it this time. This novel is going into its 4th draft, and now on to the math. I've taken the first 100 pages of the novel to critique group and have another 200 to subject to weekly criticism, and at 10 pages a week gets me to 180 pages by the end of the first quarter. Well, that ain't guna work. So I guess I could up it to editing 20 pages a week and attend critique group twice a week. Gosh, can my ego take that much slamming...LOL? Sounds like I'm setting myself up for failure again. Sigh. Better make it the second quarter, because I also need to update the synopsis and will likely go through the whole query letter business to find a new agent.   More goals...

Anyone else out there thinking about or setting goals for next year yet? What do you hope to achieve?

Celebrating NaNoWriMo Word Count at 50010 Today

2010-11-18T08:25:00.003-07:00

I DID IT!!

WHOO HOO!!

50,000 WORDS!!

But when I put the total into the word count field there were no fireworks, just me sitting back in my chair smiling, which was reward enough. In this contest, that number stands out like a 4th of July burst of color in the sky anyways.

I reached the end of a scene with a word count of 50,010 and have decided that's enough writing for today. Time for some Thanksgiving planning and maybe a nap after walking the beagles.

Where am I on the progress of the novel? Sure, I reached one goal, but now I have to complete goal #2, finish the story. I feel confident I'll meet that goal as well. I've started changing the ending though. Like yesterday I realized I had way too many characters to contend with so I killed them all in a mass beheading. Barry's now off with another courier who can't stand him, trying to send his father back to his cell. This is not at all how I had written the ending in the outline. But heck, it's all in fun, and I can't wait to see how the new ending turns out.

1 Week to Thanksgiving...Really?

2010-11-17T07:28:00.001-07:00

When I went out to get the paper this morning I realized it's Wednesday when I saw the grocery store sale papers--I've been having a hard time remembering what day of the week it is thanks to NaNoWriMo. Then I realized I'm a little behind on party planning.

This year we're staying home instead of traveling to Monte Vista, Colorado for Thanksgiving dinner. Michael's family in Southern Colorado have fizzled out due to relatives moving or dying. Now there are only his memories of fifty or more people gathering for the festivities. Kinda sad, huh? So our party will include: Michael, my oldest son, and me...oh and two beagles and three cats.

Back to NaNo, I've been dreading the whole menu planning and cooking during the contest, and now it's here. I kind of over do it every year with dishes we'd bring down south. Now I have to do the whole meal. Complaining aside, I love cooking, especially holiday dishes, and my son will gladly help, so don't feel too sorry for me. Still, balancing the whipping of potatoes between 3500 new words of Cause for Redemption is the next challenge I'm ready to take on.

How about you? What are you doing for Thanksgiving? What are your family traditions? What are your favorite dishes?

NaNoWriMo and Housework Don't Mix

2010-11-16T17:56:00.002-07:00

I'm officially making a list of stupid stuff I've done during NaNoWriMo after this one. I set the timer for cooking the rice and when it went off, I heard it, but dismissed it as a malfunction of the timer. Huh! Yes, I burned the rice.

Did I mention the other one, running the dryer, twice, without moving the clothes from the washer to the dryer.

I might make it through NaNo, but will the house?

Another Happy NaNoWriMo Week

2010-11-15T16:50:00.001-07:00

Happy Monday, all! And so starts another week of writing Cause for Redemptio in NaNoWriMo. I took the weekend off, so I was refreshed and ready to write this morning.

Decided to write to 40,000 today, which put me a bit over the daily 3500 goal. Not so long ago I was excited to reach the first 10,000 words written and now I've reached the last 10,000. How time flies when you're having fun!

Good NEWS!! I've reached the half way point of the novel half way through the contest. Now, as long as I can build up to the climax without getting carried away...

I love that I've set the habit for new writing again. Probably my favorite thing about this contest. So I've been thinking about what I'll write starting December 1st, to keep the habit alive. I started a project in a notebook a couple months ago that's in the speculative fiction genre. It's about the loss of creativity and has been a helpful story for me to write while dealing with the writer's block. I've just been writing whatever comes to me with that story, which is refreshing considering how structured I've had to be with a series. I also have another horror novel I started writing years and years and years ago that I've been thinking about quite a bit lately. 15 more days to figure it out.

What I do know is book 4 of The Courier series will be on hold for some time. Editing three books will keep me busy until mid next year. Golly gee, I love the way that sounds.

Have you thought about what you're doing December 1st?

Despite All My Whining About NaNoWriMo

2010-11-12T10:02:00.005-07:00

I got this strong feeling this morning, after posting "... Feels like a slow day of writing is abound" that if I don't write my 3500 words today, I'll turn into pumpkin or something. NaNo's setting a habit after only 12 days. Awesome!

So rather than making the pancakes I was craving, I wrote for a half hour before taking the beagles for a walk. Maybe NaNo is good for weight loss too. Oh yeah. Don't remind me. I'm trying to forget about the peanut butter cookie binge earlier this week.

Recharged by Cookies

2010-11-11T06:48:00.001-07:00

Gorging on peanut butter cookies yesterday squashed the slug right out of me. I'm feeling recharged for some reason today. Could also be that it's snowing. I've been dying for a snowy day of writing by the fire, and here it is.

I was just looking back at a few of my previous posts during the contest and saw Celebrating 10,000 Words Today. That happened way back on day 3. As of this morning, TRIPLE it. Wow! Another 20,000 words just seemed to fly by.

I've officially written into the second act of Cause for Redemption. Got there yesterday and am really delving into the meat of the novel now. SPOILER ALERT...Vern's back to help Barry capture his father. Vern's one of my favorite characters, so having him join the hunt only helps with the recharge.

With almost twenty full days to go, I've got to wonder when slug mode will creep up on me again. Any other NaNo writers out there needing a recharge, what are you doing to bring the spark back to your writing?

Now back to writing and onward to 40,000.

Reached 1st Burn Out Day

2010-11-10T08:04:00.002-07:00

I've officially reached my first day of burnout. Even though I've only written 177 words this morning, I'm still motivated to write. Problem is I feel like a slug. So I expect the words to flow slowly today, maybe finishing up 3500 words by tonight.

How am I dealing with the burn out. So far I've parked it on the couch with a notebook and a glass of ice tea. Am taking a break, watching Becker, one of my all time favorite sitcoms. Seriously thinking about making gluten free peanut butter cookies for me and the beagles. Other than that, I don't plan on leaving the house today or the couch much for that matter.

Today also marks the 1/3 point towards close of contest. I'm trying not to dwell on it too much. If you read my concerns yesterday, you already known I'm not at the 1/3 mark of the story. So the thought of putting in extra time to write is probably adding to the burnout. I'm not too concerned about catching up. Doing the 3 Day Novel Contest this year taught me how to keep it on track in a much shorter period of time.

Over Half Way There

2010-11-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Today, I especially love the stats page they provide for the NaNoWriMo contestants. Check out what mine reads in the lower right corner. Total words remaining is less that half. Words alone cannot express the satisfying feeling of reaching this point.

I also wrapped up the first act of Cause for Redemption today...FINALLY! This scares me a bit because I'm now getting into the meat of the novel and have less days than I expected to do it. So, I expect to be writing through another weekend. Hope it snows.

NaNoWriMo One Week In

2010-11-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from writing because I just reached 18,000 words.

How's it going? Just fine. Pressing on, motivated to sit down and write, words are continue to flow, still lovin' the contest...

How does my family feel about me after one week in NaNo? I've officially been compared to the crazy cat lady from The Simpsons. Considering the goofy things I've been doing the past couple days, I can't really argue with them. I seem to be losing all common sense and any attention to detail. I can't comprehend what people are saying to me and have to ask them to repeat it two or three times. Where will I be after three and a half more weeks?

One other thing I didn't expect going in is that I'd be such a hermit writer. Originally, I intended to seek out fellow NaNo writers as a support line throughout the contest. Was even going to hook up with some local writers and go to our Denver launch party (but only until I found out it was way past my bedtime). None of that happened, although R.J. informed me he joined the contest a few days in and he and I have chatted about our progress.

Now it's back to writing. I'm going to try to get to 20,000 today.

Anybody else in the contest out there feeling like me?

Celebrating 10,000 Words Today

2010-11-03T10:56:00.000-06:00

How exciting! Over 10,000 words in 3 days!

That's equal to almost 4 chapters and 44 pages.

What I'm really doing is following the advice I got in an email from NaNo. Write hard and fast to start. Besides, I'd really like to take weekends off so writing ahead is a must.

Story's coming out nicely! Lots of fun conflict and action in the first act, although the storyline is slow going. Not exactly what ya want to read at the beginning of a novel to hook you in, but that's what editing is for.

More Courier News
I came up with a new title for the first book, although I'm not totally set on it. What do you think of Bargain for Eternity? Starting to notice a pattern with the titles?

I updated The Courier page (click tab above) with short bits of info on the first three book in the series. Should be adding info soon about book 4. I'm about to start the outline due to all the ideas that are coming to me while writing Cause for Redemption. Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow.

The Courier's website/blog is officially dead as of yesterday. Still have the web address, which now forwards to The Courier tab above.

Switching To Scrivener 1 Day In...Am I Crazy?

2010-11-02T14:20:00.000-06:00

Yesterday R.J. introduced me to Srivener, a tool for writing documents. Anybody else out there using it?

I watched the video and was interested enough to download a free 30 day trial. Ten minutes into playing with it I was hooked. So I've decided to use it the next 29 days not only for NaNoWriMo, but to add the 4th draft of book 1 of The Courier. Am I crazy?

Oh, and they're actually selling a half price copy to anyone who wins NaNoWriMo at the end of the month. Another incentive to finish.

NaNoWriMo Begins

2010-11-01T15:02:00.000-06:00

Day 1 of writing for NaNoWriMo is complete, and as you can see to the left I stopped at a little over 3500 words. I wanted to stop at 5000 words, but it's already past 2:00 P.M. here in Denver and I don't want to settle into a routine of using Nano as an excuse not to get editing done on book 1. Besides, there were a few things that slowed me down today:

I got up 45 minutes late because Michael decided to sleep in an extra hour this morning. How could I possibly let him do that alone?

I forgot to set up the manuscript template. Not that it set me back that much. Was just that I found I've made some changes to another manuscript but hadn't applied the changes to the template I use.

I got really distracted and had fun adding word count and a blow-by-blow in the right column. Oh, and updating my word count on the Nano site, which was running really slow, but that's to be expected the first couple days as we're all so excited to start.

Had some trouble finding character information I thought I'd transitioned back over to the website where I manage background on novels. I'm really messy about maintaining character profiles, but I found an amazing set of questions about novel characters in Dynamic Characters, How to Ceate Personalities that Keep Readers Captivated by Nancy Kress. Now it's just a matter of creating a template out of it and using it.

Like in the 3Day, the challenge of filling in backstory on a new novel in a series has reared its ugly head. There's got to be some easy way to carry the info over or create a checklist of stuff the reader needs to know. I guess I'll create it for book 4.

All in all, it was a fun day of new writing and I'm looking forward to starting day 2.

Ready or Not...NaNoWriMo

2010-10-29T16:23:00.000-06:00

I'm SOOOO ready!!!! Bring it on!

Outline is pretty much done. Still expect to make a bunch of changes as I write and add new stuff like I did with the 3Day. But, I've reached a point where I'm adding way too much detail, so I've decided to leave it alone until Monday.

I'm feeling antsy about starting. Actually think I was ready to start a week or two ago. Probably because I've had the story idea for Cause for Redemption in my mind for a good 9 months. It's been a couple months since I finished the first draft of Warrant for Damnation and haven't been writing anything new but the outline.

Today I had to distract myself from adding more to the outline, so I made a chocolate cake, gluten-free orange cupcakes and rice crispy treats. Kitchen's still a mess. Now I'm ready to kick up my feet, watch a movie and share a bottle of wine.

Sick Bastard Shoots Prize Elk with Arrow

2010-10-28T10:45:00.000-06:00

I'm just sick after hearing this morning about a prize elk shot with an arrow within Estes Park, Colorado. We spend A LOT of time there and have seen him. This is especially sad after we watched an equally impressive bull elk defend his heard against two other giants a couple months ago inside Rocky Mountain National Park. People come from all over the world to see these magnificent animals. There is no punishment too grave for this asshole. Read story...

Fire a Couple Weeks Ago

2010-10-25T09:46:00.000-06:00

I was just pulling some pictures off the camera and found these we took from our back deck a couple weeks ago, when we had a fire close to home. They had this one under control compared to some of the other Colorado fires we had late summer/early fall this year.