Final Stretch

So I'm sitting in front of the computer staring at the completed manuscript I'm getting ready to publish. I have an "acceptable" cover though that may change shortly pending my mood next week when I finalize all my materials to the publisher.

I cannot tell you how hard it is to sit and summarize a book I've written about for the better part of over a year in only five sentences. Especially since the published version is nothing like the version I spit balled through my writing in a NaNoWriMo over two years ago. But the characters stand, and that's the most important part to me. My characters can weather the changes of editing for any reason. 

And all I know is that this is all (editing, designing, going to regular work) harder than it is supposed to be to upload the final materials and tell the publisher to green light the project. After all, this is my baby. What sort of part of me will now be vulnerable once people start reading my newest book?

I'm also sitting on about three middle drafts for the different volumes of ParaEducate's newest round of materials. This is a different sort of vulnerability as I try to organize all the sources I have for my materials.

All of these things are coming out in the next five to six months right on top of each other. It will take a small miracle to keep them all organized but I'm getting there. And hopefully, they'll all find the audience that I've intended them to be seen by.

There is quite a bit of vulnerability as an author and running a company whose goal is to publish to a specific industry. And it can be confusing at times, even to me as I consider all the parts of my public life. But the best part of my growth as a writer, is the chance to share the stories and materials with more people. And that's where this is all headed. Non-fiction or fiction, that is the greatest joy I have when that finished book is in my hands. That is really what the final stretch is about.

Books Are Precious

One of the reasons I keep writing: I have loved books. I love the journey and the story within books. And even as I have migrated to ebooks for some things, I love the tactility of a book. It reminds me that the knowledge and experience within the book is valuable, not to be overlooked.

As I begin the second round of editing of my first fiction book in over 4 years, I'm looking at the events surrounding its concepts and I was discussing this with my business partner from ParaEducate, Megan Gross.

And I admitted that I had to deviate from the original intent of the book. She did poke fun at me about it briefly and yet, as I examine the esoteric nature of my story for the first time in print as I make suggestions to myself to improve the nuances in the story: the romance still remains. Books, written or otherwise are a romantic nature of themselves. It means that the book itself is valued for simply the attempt to reach someone and pursue a series of thoughts that no one else might have been willing to share in the same manner.

But as my book may not rise to the top of the New York Times Best Seller's List, I am reminded that my story never originally wanted to be shared with the greater population. Even still, the population at hand will only ever see my books when they find the need for them. But I am not discouraged. The remains of my thoughts shall live on and on. And if only a small population sees the book, than I have achieved success.

Books are precious. And will always be so.

Writing, Theater, Professionalism, and Who Really Did All The Work...

I'm still riding high: my students did fantastically today. We still have another show to get through.

But this got me thinking. My students wrote their original script and one of the comments: they wrote in TV fashion because the scenes were short and sweet. But that is actually not an affect of having not enough theater. My students who pursued this project are well versed in theater. But the short scenes lent itself to a lot of different information.

One of the things that are struggled with is professionalism, and teaching it to the students. And classes like Theater are direct links to professionalism. All skills I have to demonstrate make them stronger people in professional life: ability to problem solve in real situations, demonstrating the difference between leading and following, knowing when to lead and let someone else take the lead, and simply: the accountability to someone else.

Another random musing: everyone congratulates the director and the actors separately. The way I've always been taught: the director gives the boxes that the characters need to fit into and everything else is with the actor. The director is responsible for the final product over all, but the details, even when the director is working through the details and making the show complete, the director isn't the one who takes the final bow. The director is the one who comforts, who frames, who makes the impossible plausible. 

So what does this really mean to me as a writer: it's another experience. And I know one day, I hope to be in the thoughts of my students when they receive an award for the amazing things they've done.

Where have you been?

It has been a wild ride the past few weeks.

My writing has been subjected to the highs and lows of a multiple job schedule. I literally just counted: In my day I deal with literally 4 different jobs in a given day.

So for the next 7 days, I'm 100% immersed in the facts surrounding the U.S. Civil War.

The story? Actually, amazingly: this has NOTHING to do with Project Alpha. It has a lot to do with me opening my mouth and spit balling over two years ago.

In drama club two years ago, it was probably November, the kids asked simply, "What can we do with our season?"

We talked about it, and then someone thought it was a great idea to do something in service for the school. And then a few minutes later, I had pieced a couple of ideas from other parts of the campus and offered up the idea of taking some existing pieces of the Civil War simulators we had and acting them out.

The kids didn't want that. They wrote their own Civil War Script. We did try to produce the show the first year and then it didn't work out.

So we had to do it this year. And here we are, a few bumps away but we've gotten it ready for production.

7 more days and the curtain rises.

And then I can go back to writing as my 3rd job for about 2 weeks before I return to Auditions. For a show that doesn't have anything to do with at least the United States Civil War. But Project Alpha will be in the middle of the Civil War.

Solving Plot Holes

So I've been working on my new book preparing it for publication.

The Fiction book, if you were wondering.

And I realized, that there were horrible gaps in the story, like the details of certain interactions didn't matter. And when I looked at the traditional plot line, I could actually put details about every event in the story but the main purpose of the story. And that really bothered me. So, as an author, my first go to is usually to write all the missing details in. Except, this time, there wasn't anything there that could be filled in.

I wanted the happy ending. I want the sun to shine and birds to fly. And I couldn't do it. In fact, there were five chapters that were started and never got anywhere. They were great moments of tender character exchange that just were that: moments. But they existed without reason.

So last night, I did something drastic: I decided to cut out as much of the main subplot as possible. And suddenly, I only had 2 major issues to address instead of 50. Admittedly: I would feel better about having a word count closer to 30,000 instead of dropping 9,000 words to get the outcome I wanted, but anxiety I was having over getting my resolutions is gone, which is really the most important thing.

Writer's are often told to write about what they know. And to be fair: I do. And as a result, I reveal a lot about myself in the process. But what authors really are good at are drawing distinctions between fiction and fact. The world where my character's live is just that: their world. And sometimes, even if I don't understand why I know so much about them, I need to know that not all the pieces are going to be ready when I am. I consider it much like the way I get to know people in real life. I know all these details about them, I might not understand all the bits, but I know them. I have an idea of chronology. And the other thing about me, I don't usually ask the deeper follow up questions. Which always gets someone to ask me follow up question about what I really do know.

But the book is coming along. I'm going to be ready for June.

Plot Hole So Big, You Can Write A Plot About It

Plot Holes.

Not as nice as pot holes. Not as useful as pin holes. But certainly, no less deserving of attention.

Right now, I don't know why my hero and heroine need each other. The problem is,  the story was originally a romance. Which makes things harder when you get rid of the interesting hot guy that you spend HOURS trying to create and make at least plausibly interesting to the reader.

The funny thing is, I've fixed all the other plot holes. This one is huge. Neither one is vapid, but they ultimately need each other. Mean while, I will continue to work through all of the other issues as they arise.

What else has been keeping me from updating? I'm about 75% ready on Volume 3 US History of Project Alpha. I have to ultimately go through and add the index, the sources, and then all the pictures I have been gathering and documenting where I got them from. In addition to each hand drawn map and then series of icons that will be created based on each section. That's still a lot of work. Even for normal people.

I just came back from AZ-TASH's AZWINS, 9th Annual Inclusion Institute. That was awesome! I got to meet people that I've been meeting online. And we got to talk about special education and try to inform people about things that can do to help make inclusive environments in schools.

I think Megan, my business partner, got to the reality of what is going on with our company before I did. And yes, we do write to a specific population, and no, we're probably never going to be a top 200 book sales, but we needed to get this stuff written. Because, like the baseball stadium, if it isn't built, they won't come.

But the plot hole won't fix itself. So back into filling in the hole. Maybe, it'll just have to be left to the side, for a while.

A Writer's New Year's Resolution

Being a writer, one would imagine that resolutions are all about documentation. They're actually not. So here are my goals for 2012.

• Actively take more time to write. This isn't about writing. I write all the time. What I need to write are coherant sentences. Which then leads to...
• Publish regularlly. I think once a year isn't too much to take on. Even with a multifaceted day job.
• Be mindful that not everything is going to work out.
• Enjoy the breaks that come with having worked on something for more than 5 minute stretches.

I am going to publish a new story like I said in my last post. The title is evolving as are the subplots. I've found plot holes so wide that it's a little scary how I thought that this book would be ready to go in a few minutes. But that's the nice thing about having things ready to go.

This is where my life gets dicey. Publically, I have always been RHM, since I could have my own email back when I just left my first year of college. But my life today is about both RHM and ParaEducate. And sometimes, they cross over. Project Alpha and Project Beta wouldn't happen if I hadn't been RHM first. ParaEducate depends on that element.

I will work on the identity crisis in my life. Until then, I will work on my resolutions.

In other news: ParaEducate is on schedule for multi-city locations over the next few weeks. So keep an ear to the social media taps, we're on the move.