NaNoWriMo Count Down

I'm not that crazy. I mean I do know there are 34 days until I can rev up my writing engine and get out all the work necessary.

I have five story ideas that are ready to go for this year's NaNo. I'm really looking forward to being able to get those ideas out and the characters to become more than just a few spare ideas.

Most of all, this year, I would like to break 60,000 words. I know I squeaked by in 55,000 last year, but I would really like to put in that effort, and breaking a personal record makes me wonder if it is at all possible.

I think I'm set. I just have to register and go. But first: birthday party palooza. I have no less than 3 babies in the next few weeks who turn 1. I haven't decided what to do for them all yet, but it's on the list to focus on.

Things that make me want to quit

I've been really working on focusing on one part of a project at a time. It helps prevent the waterfall of emotion that comes with looking at the list of books I want to release over the next five years.

Today, for example, I finished the first draft of a new Stick Figure book. I don't have illustrations yet. I just put text together. I haven't figured out how I'm going to handle quotations because of the way this particular story is set up. But the whole story is laid out finally, in a feasible framework.

Over the next year, I hope to start drawing the characters I expect will be in the story and then illustrating the story as I go through.

I sat back, I enjoyed finishing that draft. I put it away. I'm not interested in dealing with that text until next summer. It can sit on back up until then.

Then I moved onto scanning all the illustrations I created. Unlike other times I've illustrated books, especially books I'm publishing, I didn't need that list. Well guess what, I needed that list.

Illustration problems: you go out of your way and create what you think should at least be 55 original drawings for your written work (which is still in the research phase, but the Illustrations are very important to the final product which in early test phases are probably going to be spread out over two books. You spend an hour scanning these original pieces of art to add into your text after digitally adding color. You count your scanned works in the folder. There are 52. 5 of which you can verify immediately as to what they are illustrations of. The remainder will have to individually be checked off a list you thought you didn't need to create. After this series is released: I need to take some serious time off illustration because this drives me nuts.

 I suppose I could always apply and try to get this manuscript taken and published "for real" but I would still have the issues of incomplete data and the fact that everything is just too dense in the real world for the subject matter I create.

Meanwhile, I'm carefully cropping and preparing the illustrations I do have, trying not to go figure out which drawings I'm missing. Who am I kidding? I will be doing that tomorrow.

Copy rights and other things

A good author should always be writing. The problem with my life: I'm not always doing so. Some of it is there are parts of my life that are not involved with writing; sleeping, eating, self-entertaining (TV/media), friends, and stuff writing related (research, illustrating, and editing).

So when I announced at the end of last month I had finally produced a second edition to a book I had written two years ago, I was over the moon with joy. Today, I'm sitting and waiting for the physical proof of a second book in a series to arrive so I can check it for publishing. 

I have also started five new projects, two of which I sent to a pay to use publisher that was about a week of work for both. The remaining three non-fiction projects include intensive research one that requires reading Homer. I've got to say that while I am versed and highly skilled in research, even before the advent of Google, research is a pain. You've got to be extraordinarily organized and prepared for anything that you will uncover.

And then there are no less than three fictional works in progress. I realized last year during NaNo, I was feeling rusty, as if my written work was suffering from my lack of connection to the worlds I was building, even if the world as we see it wasn't that different than the world in the piece I was writing. The good news is that these written works have been started, yet they are hardly publishing level. I don't know if they will ever be ready. I worry about that because that is my goal, to have work prepared for people to share. 

Then there is blogging, I need todo more of it, and hold myself to the deadlines because clearly that works during the 8 months a year I blog for the Company. I am getting better. 

An announcement of no small proportions, I've just formally registered for a copyright for one of my books. I'm thrilled and scared all at the same time. Hopefully the Office of Copyright will see fit to bestow one of their precious certificates on me. I won't know for 8 months. Previous works are actually protected by common copyright law. Having been published is enough to generally protect the work but this last step is an important legal step.

There is a lot going on in the world of writing. I enjoy [almost] every minute of it.

While I have you here: I'm now a part of a campaign #BetterTogether. Using this hashtag is meant to help promote inclusive communities for people with disabilities. Hopefully I will have cause to use it soon.

Long Plot Line of Continuity

A general I have three little "plot bunnies" for fiction work I'm working on. One of which, yesterday, I was about to let out for someone else to claim as their own but I was thinking about how vividly I dreamed and how much I thought the ending would be an interesting twist. So I kept the plot bunny. I'm looking at these three and realizing how much I love the short story. Even with twists, they are to the point, and they don't require elaboration in the case of no one cares what they eat for lunch on Tuesday. Unless it really matters to the plot.

Other important issues before I get to the point of why I'm writing today, I finished submitting and the process for publication of yet another book for the company. Since having finished that book, I continue to bounce around ideas for releasing the second book this summer. I have yet to finish setting it up, I'm afraid of finding a huge error right now. To complicate matters, though I backed up everything and the old hard drive is still accessible, I got a new hard drive in the laptop, but it isn't the old set up which is its own problem. I can't quite find if there was a "D" file and gaps in my research show that I may need to hold onto this book just a little bit longer.

I have eight active projects I rotate through these days. Two on similar topics but are presented differently and the rest are all history based. I will eventually return to science, I have a whole new section to add, but it's also going to be much harder. I am also working on finding illustrations to accompany each section. It's a lot harder than it sounds because I'm mostly preparing all of these photographs for each chapter. Right now, I have an estimate on my hands that one of my books will be 300 pages--pushing its retail price into the $60 range. I'm hoping to bring down the cost, and yet every time I think about cutting a corner somewhere, I realize I'm short changing some piece of the layout.

But all of these are minor plot points in my goals of publishing and writing. Both professionally and informally, my writing forms this grander story arc. Unlike my writings: I don't know where this is headed ultimately. It certainly isn't for fame. And it isn't bound for riches. I've made my peace with those two points. Maybe one day, but certainly not now.

But TV plot lines have gotten a little crazy lately. Sometimes they remember the point of everything. Sometimes they make you remember information from three seasons back. And sometimes, each season might as well be its own thing and have no basis in reality. Some shows are very disjointed from reality to begin with, but others make you wonder how many times they will fire the entire writing team and start over. Just because the writers preserve the characters and their background stories does not mean that the writers understand what they've done the last forty episodes, or even the last two weeks of filming.

I also realize that most people no longer watch an episode a week, instead turning to 'binge' watch in a batch. But then: even having all the episodes with quick turn around means that some things may make even less sense. I am very bothered by this.

Four Hour Work Window

Because it is summer time, in order to conserve electricity for more important uses like air conditioning, I tend to only have a four hour work window. This is from around eight in the morning until noon. During this time I also have things like doctor appointments, getting things set up for the work day, or other errands that tend to occupy my time.

So, those are pretty big stumbling blocks considering I've only been out of official work since Thursday afternoon. But apparently chipping away at a revised edition since last September has finally paid off. Six days after getting out of work: one book is at the 99% completion mark as per my publisher's requirements right now.

Some things I regret about the second edition: I pulled out the beautiful, yet useless, map art work pages. There were ten pages dedicated to just pure artwork. And it took some convincing on my part to let those pages go. They were pretty, as far as computer art without depth goes. But since they didn't really contribute to the book, and they were taking up valuable physical space, they were pulled. I also removed over fifteen pages of communication icons. Those were useful, however, due to the nature of the publisher I am using, I can't leave more than two pages blank and then, the communication icons wouldn't be as accessible as possible. However, they are published through another website and are easily purchased for a few dollars.

I also took advantage of some formatting changes and aligned the glossary to look more like the glossary of the Just the Words series and the upcoming books that may partner with Finding It in the World: Geography.

But I'm pretty excited. I should be able to "sell" the book soon. Meanwhile, my four hour work window has closed. Time for me to find non-electronic work to focus on.

What Is My Brand?

I've been entrenched in branding for the better part of nearly four years now. I had to "brand" a company when I first created it. This means I had to (and my partner would have to agree at the time),

• What colors would be used in the company logo?
• What direction would the company head?
• What social media platforms would we use to communicate with the world and why?
• How to convey messages through the platforms?
• When to update and why?
• How to document the journey of being a really small business doing some pretty big things.

This is completely separate, and why we bothered to set up the company, and why when my business partner left, I continued on and had to do the extra leg work to get the company back up to speed as a sole proprietorship.

But as an author who publishes separately from the company: what is my brand?
Is it me?
Is it the professional me?

Sure, me the person and me the author share a LOT in common. For example: we are both HIGHLY motivated by awesome chocolate chip cookies. I like to write. I've enjoyed it even when I didn't know which words were going to come next on a page or when I typed. And yes, I'll say "we", went to architecture school.While I currently Tweet as myself online, it doesn't necessarily mean I've tweeted as an author, nor does it mean I've set up a Page as an author through Facebook or even Google+.

But how much of "me" am I sharing? Did something I do with my characters resonate with the way my life went? Certainly not always.

"Me the author" really likes to write romance. And it took "me the person" a while to come to terms with that fact. In fact, perhaps, this may be the first time I've publicly admitted that fact although I've not made that the focus of my previous publications.Look, there is no more poerwerful force on earth than love. Love between family, love between people willing to tough it out and start a life together, or love between a person and their pet. [Please do not confuse that previous statement with "having sex with".] Love is a binding force of our universe. Perhaps greater than all four of the types of gravity that are recognized in physics. (Oh, by the way "me the person" is a pretty astute geek and nerd on the side in case sometimes you forget.)

I can also admit, "Me the person" often decides that "me the author" will just have to "wait" while I play video games, run a million errands, or spend time with friends.

I find that my brand as an author takes a different roll every time I open the first draft of my latest work. And I am writing again. Perhaps it will work out this time and I will get a chance to publish. But first come ParaEducate's publications. I publicly announced two months ago, I would be releasing at least one book. I'm nearly ready on a second book which means I should probably start designing covers. Or other projects. Or video games. Or family, eating, sleeping, working jobs that pay a regular paycheck, or friends.

I think I found my brand: Always busy.....

When You See Characters Go Wrong

Originally, when I was composing this post, I was thinking of a specific movie. A cartoon that recently came out. And as I thought about it, I wasn't ready for the emotional backlash that would come with mentioning the specific movie, so I thought I'd talk around the issue at hand.

I'm looking at the composition of the male v. female balance in media as drawn out by the Geena Davis Institute and also considering the Bledchel Test when I write these days. One of my newer projects is larger in scope than initially anticipated because it is non-fiction and crosses over several issues with regards to race and gender. But that ignores characters, fiction, where my heart lies.

So in the aforementioned movie, the character is forced to physically change to take on the challenge that is placed before the character. The character does so reluctantly. And the character gets the challenge and wins and everyone celebrates. And in the sequel, because what is life these days without a sequel, the character changes physically yet again.

What I object to: a character having to physically change. Emotional changes come and go, and yes, sometimes they physically change because of the emotional change, but the removal of some part surgically. Apparently the only way to achieve your goal is to change physically. And it's not always about getting to feeling attractive, or having someone in your life, or being accepted. But here it is, the story as it is laid out.

So how do I respond as an author?

• I look at the character I have in my folders and try to make sure that should they need to physically change that it may be against their will. 
• I have characters that do physically change because they age or are gravely ill.
• I have characters that understand the physical changes are permanent and there is nothing to reverse the changes
• My characters see the benefits and succumb to the evils of their changes.
• My characters find their happiness without the physical change.

As for gender balancing, it is hard, my primary fictional work usually has a romance component. It is easier in family stories as I can always find a model family, regardless of gender balances.

As for addressing the diversity of characters, I find this probably the most challenging. I find there is little I am interested in outside of the creation of a period piece and even then, because of my lack of first hand, or even second hand, knowledge, my worlds are sometimes too ideal in the diversity world.

I have three major projects in my lap right now. I seriously wrote my opening scene in my newest work into a corner and so I decided to look at my characterizations. And I realized I had no motivation beyond very simple old hat tricks and I wanted my character to be better than that.

Hopefully, my character will change. I will find the answer eventually. Characters are those voices that speak to me, they may have a path I can see for them, but they have to get on that path and go. If I chose the wrong character, I'll find another.

Writing is demanding. I have more to finish.