Gerald Brandt

You know, I truly hate being sick. That being said, I have an excuse not to do too much housework, which means I had a chance to re-read and modify my novel outline. I have a couple of more scenes to add, and I should start writing on Friday. That’s actually quite a relief. I’ve been working on the outline forever (or so it feels), and I either need to start writing the damn thing or dump it all together.

Going through the outline felt good though. It’s the first time I’ve looked at it as a whole unit in quite some time, and the plot felt solid and always forward advancing. The build up of conflicts and the resolutions felt well timed as well. We’ll see what happens once it’s written.

I actually took a break in adding the new antagonist scenes to write in the blog (I’m a bad boy), so I think I’ll be heading back to it now. Oops, what I mean is “Arrr Matey, I’ll be gettin’ back to task at hand… ya scurvy dog”.

Reading
Soul of the Samurai (Thomas Cleary)
- yes, it is taking a long time.

What is procrastination? Basically, it boils down to doing anything except what needs to be done. When it comes to writing, I think I’m one of the best procrastinators.

Yes, some days I will do anything except write. I have cleaned the bathroom, straightened out a closet, and the most pernicious of all, browsed the web for hours. I’ve just spent 2 days redesigning the look of this blog.  What’s a guy to do? Maybe a swift kick in the butt would help. But then again, maybe not.

There are multiple web sites that talk about writers and procrastination, just do a Google search and you’ll find dozens. Have I looked at them? Have I read them? Ha! Read the previous paragraph again to get a hint. Have they helped? Not really.

A writer needs to get his or her butt in the chair, and fingers on the keyboard. I know, I’ve done it. With a full time job and 2 kids, I put in 3 hours a night and churned out (rejected) short story after (rejected) short story. Now I’m a stay-at-home dad. My work hours are longer, though perhaps not as tightly packed. Some days I don’t have time to breathe, while others it seems that I have more time than I’ve ever had. Yet I’m writing considerably less. Some days I’m lucky if I even get in a blog entry. What the hell?

I switched from short stories to novels. Heck, I read a lot more of them, and I enjoy them much more as well. This has added another layer of procrastination, which is even more evil. Now, I outline and research, which is no better than not writing. Still, I am able to convince myself that I am making forward progress. That eventually I will have a completed novel in my hands. Personally, I blame all that on my programming background. Do the requirements, then the design, then maybe a detailed design, then start coding. Does it work? Hell yes. Is it working for my novel? It doesn’t feel that way.

So, to repeat, what’s a guy to do? I know it’s a rhetorical question, since no one reads this blog.

Here’s my plan. I have given myself until September 22nd to finish the outline and start writing. If I don’t start by then… hmmm… some form of punishment will ensue.

I do know that writing is what I’ve wanted to do since, well, forever. I still have a story I wrote in Junior High, the earlier ones are gone somewhere, and the later ones have followed them. Yeah, a paying career took over for about 22 years, but what is my excuse now? I don’t have one. The end.

Well, more blog changes. Although the original style (which can still be seen on the main page) works, I was finding it a bit plain. Along comes a beautiful theme for WordPress called Vistered Little. A little work in The Gimp, a few minor CSS and PHP changes, and voila. It only seems to have one problem: the original load of this site will not have a background. Simply clicking reload works. I dunno. I’m no CSS guru.

Writing
If I do too much more research, my brain is going to explode. I had wanted to start writing on September 1st, but I obviously haven’t made it there yet. Ugh.

Misc
This guitarist is simply amazing.

Several authors have written about How to Write a Novel (via sfsignal.com)
Justine Larbalestier
Jay Lake
Elizabeth Bear
Tim Pratt

Another rushed weekend, and another busy week.  Spent the weekend with the in-laws in Saskatchewan, which included a total of 18 hours of driving.  I think we all had a good time.

Jared starts school tomorrow, and we still need some indoor shoes for him.  So, we are off to Walmart today, along with all the other stuff I need to get done.  We’ll see how Ryan handles not having Jared around all day tomorrow.
Reading
Soul of the Samurai (Thomas Cleary)
- If anyone can point me to an authors web site, I’d appreciate it.

Reference Classics: China  (Edward L. Shaughnessy General Editor)

Eastern Standard Tribe (Cory Doctorow)

Writing
A good weekend, and all of it pure research for the current WIP.  I did a few weeks of research back in May, but I was really able to supplement it all this weekend.
Misc
How “Lord of The Rings” should have ended.

Here I go through all the effort of converting to WordPress, and then I never use it. Hmmm.

I left home yesterday for a dentist appointment for Jared at 9:30 AM, and we never got home until about 7:30 PM. I’d call that a full day.

After the dentist appointment, I took the boys to Marnie’s work, and we all had lunch (I had the best meatloaf, I’m going back!). After that was a trip to the zoo including a ride on a steam powered train, and then I dropped them off at Grandma and Grandpa’s house while Marnie and I went to Chapters. Bed time was okay, though Ryan had a tough time sleeping.

Reading
Soul of the Samurai (Thomas Cleary)
- If anyone can point me to an authors web site, I’d appreciate it.

Gardens of the Moon (Steven Erickson) (link 2)

Writing
Yesterday was a research day. I definately need more background and ‘flavour’ in the outline, so I can put it in the novel. I’ve currently got so many minutae stuck in my head that I don’t know where to start.

Jonathan Sherwood has a good article on sex in fiction here.

Misc
This is a cool picture link

I never noticed, but I’ve now gone past the one month mark on this blog.  True, a couple of weeks of that was while I was on holiday, but I’m still counting it.  It hasn’t yet (and maybe it never will) become a habit.  We’ll have to see.

Raising kids is a tough job.  I knew that before I took over this job, but I keep getting reminded of it everyday.  This week, especially, has been tough.  It seems that when ever the boys are at home, they start to bicker and get into trouble.  I can’t seem to keep them busy enough.  I’m glad this week is over and Marnie will be home for the weekend.  I need a break, before I lose it again.

Yes, again.  I pretty much lost it this afternoon with them.  They both got a smack on the bottom and timeouts.  The timeouts were okay, but the violence and raising my voice at them (for a prolonged period) is definately not okay.  I ask them to work on things with me, but I know it’s really my job to keep my self in check… not theirs.  I’m working on it.

I’ve become a REACTIVE instead of a PROACTIVE parent.  I react, usually badly, to the things that happen in my household, that the boys do.  When I started, I was proactive.  I helped create the situations that stimulated the boys, and guided them a bit more.  I’m hoping it’s the stress of summer.  They say that knowing the problem is half the solution.  I hope so.

Reading
Soul of the Samurai (Thomas Cleary)
- If anyone can point me to an authors web site, I’d appreciate it.

Writing
I’ve finished going through the outline, and started integrating my story evolution into the outline.  So far, I’ve identified three new scenes, which will probably end up in a prologue of sorts.  Personally, I don’t like prologues, but it certainly starts the story with a kick, without having to mess up the timeline.

I’m starting to get ansty.  Although I’m reading, editing, and writing the outline, I don’t feel like I’m WRITING.  I feel like I should just get in there and write the damn thing.  I’ve felt this way when I starting speccing a piece of software.  At some point in the design, I’ve always felt like I should just be coding it for chrissakes.  Ahh well….

Jonathan Sherwood is posting about the process he used to write his novel.

A slow day around the house. Just the regular stuff, misbehaving kids, yelling, etc. We did drop by the kids old daycare place, where they played for about 4 hours. That was fun. Once we got home though, the bickering started again.

Reading
Soul of the Samurai (Thomas Cleary)
- If anyone can point me to an authors web site, I’d appreciate it.

Writing
I’m going through the outline a scene at a time and checking for coherency and buildup of suspence and conflict. So far, not too bad, though I still think I’m going to be 20K words short of a novel. Hmmm.

I have put a temporary title on the project though… The Anshi Legacy.

We had a fairly cloudy/cold day out here today, and I was not looking forward to having the kids in the house all the time again.  So, I did what any sane parent would do: get out of the house.  We spent about 2 1/2 hours at the mall during midday and did some shopping for birthday cards, Marnie’s gift, and school backpacks. 

Tomorrow, I’ll sit down with the boys and figure out a craft they can make for Marnie’s birthday.  I’ll see if I can get them to make her some birthday cards as well.  All I have to do is try to keep it a secret from Marnie (who doesn’t read this blog anyway).  More than likely, one of the boys will start telling her all about it!

I’m actually finding things a bit weird.  When summer holidays started for Jared, I was panicking about how to fill the days so they’ll be happy.  Now that Jared is going to Grade 1 full time, and Ryan is going to pre-school three afternoons a weeks, I’m worried about what to do with all my time.  Just weird.

Reading
Soul of the Samurai (Thomas Cleary)
   - If anyone can point me to an authors web site, I’d appreciate it.

Writing
I outlined scenes 40 and 41, which is pretty much all I have right now.  I should probably add at least 20 more scenes, but without an additional sub-plot, I may not be able to.  I’ll start fleshing out the outlines a bit more tomorrow, and see where it gets me.  Right now, the antagonist basically stays in the background.  He’s a plot motivator, but not a central character.  I think if I can bring him to the forefront a bit more, I’ll get a more solid story, and my extra scenes.I outlined scenes 40 and 41, which is pretty much all I have right now.

Here are a couple of things I found on the net today.  This is a cool speed test for your Internet connection.

Clarkesworld is a new (for me) online magazine that pays about 10 cents a word.

And finally, a piece of advice I found on the Asimov’s board.  There is a thread talking about the best thing any one has said to you, as you were leaving their employ, and this one just stuck with me:
“You must never be above telling a bold faced lie.  Now off with you!”
It was told by a boss to his employee on the employee’s last day.

First off, I’ve made another executive decision concerning this blog… all entries will be time stamped with CST, no matter what time zone I’m in. For example, it’s actually 10:24 PM where I am, but this entry is marked as 9:24 PM.

This was our first full day camping. It rained last night, quite a bit, but the tent stayed dry. I suspended a tarp over it before we went to bed. Right now, I’m sitting in front of a camp fire while Marnie and the boys are in the tent telling each other ghost stories. Jared likes to go on and on; maybe he has the story tellers blood. I would be proud.

The morning was spent in the van, mostly. With the rain and the wet, we decided it would be a good time to visit the local touristy area. We did, it was. The end. By the time we got back to the campsite, the sun was out and the day was beautiful. We had a quick lunch and spent the day at the beach. The boys made instant friends, which means Marnie and I got a chance to talk to other parents. One of the parents we spoke to lived only 5 miles (the next farm), from the child that was kidnapped and sexually molested a few weeks back. Bad juju.

Tomorrow we plan a hike and more beach time. More fun should be had.

Reading
The Stay-at-Home Dad Handbook (Peter Baylies)
(although I didn’t read a page today)

Writing
Outlined scenes 36, 37, 38, and 39 in the novel, then I got too tired. It’s wierd, the thoughts just flowed and the words in the outline came easy, but then I hit a brick wall. I need to sleep.