January...I Think

I've got till the end of January to finish all my reading, for this story.  I've got books 4 books on espionage, 2 on Special Forces, and a couple on politics.  This should be fun.  Sort of.  This is probably the most I've ever done in trying to prepare for a project.  So far...I'm behind because I wanted to be a lot farther along than I am, but that's price I pay for being distracted by the internet all the time.  I did manage however to find out a solid piece of information that I need.  I also need to track down some calendars from the 80s, or at least something generic I can find online.  There seem to be a steady flow of idas still too.  At some point I need to draw up an outline.  I haven't been getting as much done as I like, but I have been getting more consistent with things.  Instead of trying to get large chunks done at once, and being disappointed when I didn't get something done, I've just been trying to focus on smaller, more manageable blocks.  Seems to be working so far.  Just not today.  I wasn't feeling too hot, so I've been kind of doing a lot of nothing.  Just a bit lazy too...  I need to start getting this handwritten draft moving, and then I plan on typing it out before finally sending it in for editing.  Hope this works out, I need to do a handwritten version, because I'll be taking my computer in to be fixed, and I'd like to work since my laptop will be gone for several days.  I've been able to take down all of my notes by hand, and there's something about being able to handwrite something too. 

I've been thinking about getting really dark in this novela too.  The real world is exceptionally brutal, and I think I'd like to reflect that in my story.  There's not always opportunites for heroes and the heroic to get the villian to reveal his master plan to them, or stall for time while the henchmen try to work over the hero trying to get information from him.  I wanted something entertaining, but real as I can make it in my limited ability.  I think it'll make for a better story if the my hero can solve his own problems, as opposed to relying on the villain to tell him, or something like that.  I guess I need to get back and do some reading, I'm pretty behind, and should try to do some catch up.  Happy Sunday knuckleheads.

My Feet Are Cold

My feet are cold.  I guess that's not really too exciting or anything.  Anyhoo... I did manage to cut a few more things down in my writing process, so I should be really flying soon.  I've been progressing rather well so far, through the everything, I just wish it was faster.  My impatience now isn't so much in wanting to finish something quickly, but to see what the final product looks like.  I've got a few pages done already, and I need to get some more reading done, but I am very happy for the way things are going.  There's still a bunch of ideas I've been getting too, got one on the way home from the Walmart today too.  I'm working on a little character bio now, and then its back to reading on Special Forces tactics in a while.  Most of the story has been developed for the most part I think, but I'm trying to learn about tactics and all that, so it sounds right. I got a lot of notes this time around too.  Its really crazy.  I've got 14 pages of note so far, with more to follow.  So either I'm taking this writing thing more seriously, or I just need all that info.  I guess I'll find out in a few months. 

Today is also the last day of November which is weird for some reason.  This has been the slowest fast year ever.  Things went by kind of fast I guess, but I think with the anticipation of the election, time just seemed to drag.  I'm trying to find other things to look forward so time will slow down a little.  I turned 31 this year, and it seems like I was just some punk kid a few minutes ago.  I keep finding gray hairs too, although I guess it doesn't matter to much, since I'm hot no matter what color my hair is...  Oops...just kidding its not November anymore...I guess it switched months on me while I was writing.  Time travel is great isn't it?

Turkey Day

Today I slept in till about 11:30 or so, which was nice since, I couldn't get to sleep till about 4 a.m. last night.  I pretty much sat around all day, messing around, but I did manage to get another page done today.  I've been able to get off to a really good start so far on this last story.  Its got about four different things happening at once, but it should die down soon, as the events become more connected.  There's quite a bit going on, but I think I'm doing a halfway decent job of making sure its understandable.  There's supposed to be a lot of background stuff thats going to come together later on.  Its seems like its going good.  I'm a few pages in now, and the thing is just taking off.  I had Thanksgiving by myself this year, which was one of the best decisions ever.  I didn't endure some of the irritating conversation that happens with family, and whoever.   I drank a little too much too fast on an empty stomach and eventually ended up on the couch for a while.  Oops.  Anyhoo, it was a fairly productive day.  Sadly I have to go back to work tomorrow, but tomorrow is Friday, so it shouldn't be too bad.  I hope.  Happy Thanksgiving peoples.

The Realm of Plausibilty and the Not-So-Plausible

I had an interesting idea of trying to make this last story go nuclear, but I'm not sure if I'd be drifting away from the plausible and onto something thats completely in the realm of fantasy, although who doesn't love an atomic weapon in a story?  I was shooting for realistic, but I didn't want to make it completely off the wall.  I did manage to scrap some cool little plot twists so far, and I think I am going to make my story take place in the 80s instead of the present.  Its gonna give me some ideas that'll will fit with what I want to accomplish, but I'm a little hampered since its a slightly less advanced age I'm dealing with.  I'm off to a good start though.  I'm three paragraphs in, and its going ok far.  I'm not too stressed out about the start of this, and that's not often the case.  I usually freak out, and panic out things.  There's a shot I might have a good story to write for a change.  Gotta love that, right? 

Confused No More

After being completely up in the air, I think I've found something pretty friggin' cool ideas to go with for my final story.  This has to be the most ambitious thing I'm going to attempt at least on a fictional scale.  I've been back and forth on this enough, but I think I'm getting all the right things to click.  I even managed to get started on the first couple of paragraphs today, and its not even that bad.  I might be able to keep what I've written so far instead of throwing it out.  Nice huh?  I can see the growth between this project and all my others, as this one is much more serious, and much more realistic, I guess, too.  This project is starting to bring back some of the fun I had when I first started writing.  Guess it helps to actually care about what you're doing.  Who'd have thunk it?
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Crazy

I've narrowed some things down.  I think I've got all my counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism, and counter-whatever else is left, to about maybe...10 books or so.  I'm getting good at picking out some of the junk, I was going to waste my time on, to just the really important ones.  I've narrowed it down to all things that are more recent in our history, like the war on terror.  There's a lot of difference in technology between our era, and say, the 1940s when a lot of spy stories take place.  World War 2 is sort of the go-to for spy stories, because everyone hates Nazis and its one of the easier things to develop imagery for, rescuing the French girl from a Nazi held chalet, to deliver the microfilm...yada, yada, yada.  I actually love those World War 2 espionage thrillers.  Some of my favorites books are about that.  Its just I feel like every drop juice has been squeezed out of the orange, if you catch my drift, and I can't think of anything good.  I feel like there's always a good idea floating around, you just have to find it.  I'd like to work on my dialogue too.  It just doesn't seem natural to me...I know what I'm what trying to convey, its just dialogue is so...forced, or something.  There's this thing where its like I just have to give up and write dialogue, not because I want to, but because I have to.  I've probably mentioned this a time of two.  I think its a product of writing a lot of essays in college, I didn't learn all the in and outs of writing conversations.  I'm getting better I suppose, I just suck at it.  I'm gonna have to work on my witty one-liners and pickup lines I guess, because you do have to fit them in the spy novel of course.

El Sigho

I managed to get some note done today, but not much else.  I was actually going to try and do something productive tonight, but I got held up by at least a good 40 minutes in traffic, as I was traversed about 6 miles in those forty minutes.  I have no idea why it was moving so slow, but there was no reason for it, other than a little rain.  People act dumb in LA when it rains.  Anyhoo, I've been busy trying to figure out how to analyze current events a little better, so I can fit some kind of realistic scenario.  My problem is I'm not all that patient with this pre-writing process junk, and I just want to get it done already.  I'm thinking it might be a good idea to put off publishing and try and get the spy novel thing done before I publish and put it into the revision, that way I save some time and money down the road.  I can't imagine trying to do all the stuff needed to publish three separate times.  It'll take a little longer, but I think it could be worth it.  It was close to what I intended to do in the first place, so this could work out nicely.  Also.  Its Friday.  I have no idea what that means other than I get to sleep in tomorrow a little bit.