Back to the Drawing Board

Family! 

(That's what my Father says when he walks in the door to greet people in his home.)

So, now that it's not just me in here, I'd like to welcome everyone here and thank you for joining. 

Also, I'd like to thank my 1 follower.  I don't know who you are, but I was happy to see you when I signed in.  I felt like made my first dollar or sold my first book.   Then my brain went to fast-talking auctioneer mode and I kept hearing... Do I see a 2? Somebodyanybodywanttobe2? DoIseea2?   (Anyone else get frustrated with not being able to hear fast enough to understand what the auctioneers were saying?)

For those that are curious, today’s soundtrack to success was Just Blaze’s King’s Back instrumental.

Sounds of trumpets and various other brass instruments echoed off the walls of the great room.  I sat at the kitchen table with my Pilot sword in my hand and went back to the 12 x 18 drawing paper to do more planning.  Yesterday’s progress took me further than I had expected so I am just about at the point where all of my previous writing has been used and I still have at least 70 pages to write before I feel like this book will have a chance at being the bridge I need it to be.

To be honest, I haven’t been doing a lot of thinking about how to fill in the gaps for the book.  Instead of just writing, I wanted to give myself a few goals in order to make sure I could feel a sense of accomplishment.  My goal for today was to describe Spork’s restaurant.  Once I set the goal, I go up from the table and interrupted everything to get me something to eat. 

Who writes about a restaurant while being hungry?  Not me!

So, with leftover pizza in my left hand and the sword in my right hand, I began describing the appearance of the exterior of the restaurant.  Small capital letters began to list some details for what the place should look like based on Spork’s characteristics.  2 slices later, the description for the outside and inside was written and it was time to walk away from the writing.

Sometimes I’ll go right into writing, but other time I walk away to see if I can think of any additional features I can add. That’s usually when I remind myself to tie some of the stuff from older books in to what I’m writing so that my new audience of readers will have an idea of the history of the series.  I can get caught up with thinking that the reader already knows.  I also don't want to tell too much because they I don't want to ruin the ending of a book they haven't read yet.

Time passed and the royalty of the brass instruments in the groove started making me feel like I was being announced as a writer.  Perhaps it made our dog Silas feel like royalty because he gave me the secret signal that it was time for him to go outside…  Back inside and trying to type with a Bullmastiff’s head attached to my kneecap was tough, but I manage pour out three pages detailed pages.  While the pages didn't have any humor, I managed to include odd and fairly unrealistic details there to keep the reader's attention. 

After a day like yesterday, three pages can seem like next to nothing, but not today.  Today’s three pages put me in the mood to think about my where I want to go with the next phase of the book.  I am through the basic introductions and initial problem.  Now is the part where the planning and plotting to solve the big problem begins.  This is where accomplishments and setbacks begin to lead us down a curvy road.  It is in this part of the writing that I have make sure I provide enough humor to be able to mix in a few messages and themes for the reader.  This is the part where my writing has to be clever and witty.  I will have to start planting seeds in order have them blooming by the end of the book.  It will require a lot of thinking and plenty of talking to myself.  And, with the one month deadline I gave myself,  this will be interesting…

I’m at the end of the first quarter and the second quarter starts tomorrow.

Steady!