2007 Newsletters Archive
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General Information
Okay, I know this says 2008, but it's really the last newsletter for 2007. I usually try to publish it on the first day of the month and it covers the month before so this newsletter talks about all the things I did in December. Make sense?
My Writing Projects
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about December! I've been doing a lot of writing this month! I started out working on Once a Witch, Always a Witch, the sequel to A New Witch. It currently stands at about 19,000 words. That would mean that I've completed about a third of the book...except for one minor problem. I hate where the book is going.
So, on December 15th, I took a break from writing Once a Witch, Always a Witch and started working on a new project. I don't have a title for it yet, but I'm using the working title of Werewolf, but I know that I won't keep that for a title. It's kind of funny. This is the first book I've had a problem naming.
Anyway, I'm calling this A Werewolf Tale of Teenage Angst. The protagonist, Drew Garrett, is a kid in college who somehow became a werewolf. I like to think of it as a werewolf version of Catcher in the Rye. I have to admit, it's been a lot of fun to write so far. It currently stands at about 12,000 words, about a fourth of the way to completion.
What Else am I Doing?
I have to just start of by saying that I am hooked on my iPod Nano! I know I said this last month too, but the more I play with it, the more I figure things out. I think I'm about to get an iPod Shuffle too. The Nano is a little too big when I get on the treadmill and I'm looking for something a little smaller.
I spent a week or so getting over a cold before Christmas. Luckily it was before Christmas. Maria, my wife, wasn't so lucky. She came down with it the day of Christmas and then the next couple of days. We're both glad we're over that bug but we still have that lingering cough that just won't go away.
Speaking of Christmas, we decided not to go anywhere this year. Alex, our son, has been away at college and came home for the holidays. It worked out nicely. It was also nice to have him home. Like every other time, Maria began to miss him before he even left to go back to college.
Christmas was very good to us this year! A friend of mine, Randall, came down from Dallas to visit us the weekend before Christmas. He left us with a brand new 57-inch HD television! Talk about a nice Christmas present! I still don't know what to say, except thanks!
Randall and I have been friends for a lot of years. We've ridden our motorcycles around the country together. We've traded computer parts. We met through our ex-wives. Now the ex's are gone and we remain. Go figure.
We also got Sarah, our daughter, a Wii for Christmas. You can guess with a new, big, television and a new Wii, where everyone hung out during the holidays. It was fun!
What I'm Reading
I'm still listening to Nocturnal a Podcast by Scott Sigler. That's because Scott only produces one episode a week. Now don't get me wrong, that's a lot of work. It just means that I find myself waiting for the next episode each week.
Years ago I fell into this trap and swore I never would again, but I did. An old girlfriend of mine bought me Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings. It was the first in a ten book series. Anyway, I loved the book and read it, and then the next four about as quickly as I could read them. And then, when I was ready to get the next book in the series, it wasn't available. Anyone who has stood in line for one of the Harry Potter novels will know what I'm talking about.
Well, I do like the Nocturnal story, so I've decided to stick with it. That just means that you're going to be hearing a lot about it in the upcoming newsletters until Scott finishes it.
I will say that Scott has also inspired me to look into what it would take to create Podcasts. Stay tuned because there may be more coming up on that.
I also finished reading Fear by L. Ron Hubbard. I started it last month. I have to say that it had me going right up until the end. Then, all of a sudden, it was over and it didn't really seem to make much sense to me. He was apparently crazy and the book took us through his delusions. I had to even look this one up on Wikipedia to see if I could make any sense out of it. That wasn't much help. I've read other books by L. Ron Hubbard. Battlefield Earth is one of my all-time favorite books. I guess that expectation made Fear a little bit of a disappointment.
I've also finished reading the Sweep series by Cate Tiernan. There are a total of 14 books in the series and this last month I finished the last three books:
- Eclipse - Book 12 of the Sweep series
- Reckoning - Book 13 of the Sweep series
- Full Circle - Book 14 of the Sweep series
My current reading endeavor is Midnighters 3 - Blue Noon, the final book in the Midnighters series by Scott Westerfeld. I have to say that I really like Scott's books. My daughter hasn't read the Midnighters series yet, but she just finished The Uglies series that Scott wrote. She really liked that series too.
My Writing Projects
Finally, NaNoWriMo has arrived!
I spent long and hard hours at my keyboard, typing until my fingers bled! Okay, my fingers didn't bleed but I did get a lot of writing done! The first half of the month was phenomenal! I was writing at double the pace needed to reach 50,000 words by the end of the month!
The problem was that I ran out of book before I ran out of month! What I'd planned to write ended on November 12th with 41,000 words. That left a couple of days of indecision for me. I didn't know what to write next, whether I should at another part to The Second Passover or if I should just start a second novel. I finally opted for adding a part to the novel, which made the writing incredibly difficult. It seemed like I was tacking on stuff at the end — which I was — and it didn't seem to flow well. I think it came out okay but I haven't gone back to read it.
Maria, my wife, is reading the book now. Although she's admittedly biased, she does provide a pretty good dose of common sense when it comes to my writing. I'm anxiously awaiting her opinion so I can see what I want to do with this one.
What Else am I Doing?
On top of writing 1,667 words a day for NaNoWriMo, I also took a writing class, four hours every Thursday after work, except for Thanksgiving. As if I didn't have enough writing going on this month! There's even homework!
But it wasn't as hard to juggle everything as I anticipated. Maria is very supportive of my writing endeavors. I'm sure her tolerance is the only reason that I can write as much as I do. For that, I will always be appreciative of her! Thank you, Maria!
Maria and I also went to see The Mist. Remember that I read the book last month and really liked it. I liked the movie too. It was mostly along the same lines as the book. The ending was a little different but not enough to spoil it for me. Maria didn't like the movie as much I did but it's growing on her the more she thinks about it. (Note: She didn't read the book.)
My iPod has also been occupying a lot of my time this month. I've had MP3 players before and honestly, I only got it because I wanted to help my daughter with her iPod. But then something happened. Somehow I got sucked into the whole iPod culture!
It's way more than just an MP3 player! I have tons of music on it and it's easier to get to exactly the music I want to listen to than on a regular MP3. It's also easy to just let it shuffle and play whatever comes up. On top of that, I recently discovered Podcasts. A friend of mine has been listening to unpublished books read by the authors, similar to audiobooks. I just discovered it for myself and I have more on it in the next section.
What I'm Reading
I finished reading (actually listening to) A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle. It's the first audio book that I've ever listen to. I used my morning and evening commute to listen while I was driving. I must admit that I found myself rewinding less as I became more accustomed to listening to it. I will have to give audio books another look. I have to admit I liked it.
I also finished On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony. Like I said last month, it was one I'd read before and felt like visiting an old friend. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to find an Author's Note at the end of the story. I really enjoy reading what established authors have to say about the business of writing so the Author's Note came as an unexpected surprise. According to the Author's Note, Anthony also put another Author's Note at the end of Viscous Circles, an Anthony novel I haven't read. I'm going to have to add it to my reading list.
I've also continued with the Sweep series by Cate Tiernan. There are a total of 14 books in the series and this last month I finished Origins, Book 11 of the series. My twelve-year-old daughter has also been reading the series and finished it this month. I'm really proud of her reading and she even got an award for reading the most in her class this year. It's funny because about eighteen months ago, I couldn't get her to pick up a book.
So, as I mentioned, I've discovered Podcasts, specifically the ones of authors reading their own books. The one I'm listening to now is Nocturnal by Scott Sigler (www.scottsigler.com). So far I've completed Episode #1 and 2. I've gone back to using my treadmill so that's my reading (listening time). I have to say I like his book so far.
NOTE: You don't need an iPod to listen to Podcasts.
Not that I'm an expert on audiobooks or anything, just having finished my first one, but what Scott's done is more like the old radio broadcasts then audiobooks. He's added special effects and the experience is much more than what a book alone provides. I'm not sure whether I like it or not. I'm going to have to think about it.
Finally, I'm also reading Fear by L. Ron Hubbard. It's an older book but I've never read it before. So far I like it but I'm only a couple of chapters into it.
My Writing Projects
October is finally over and now it's time for NaNoWriMo again! I've been looking forward to this all month! Several of my co-workers are going to be joining me on the endeavor this year. I think it will be fun though I'm not sure that it's going to be the best thing for productivity.
I didn't get into any major writing projects this month because I knew NaNoWriMo was coming up. So I've been editing A New Witch, again, and I've spent some time working on some short stories. It's funny but the more I edit A New Witch the more I find. I've got to be careful that I don't over edit it but so far, I think that all the changes I've made have been changes for the better.
I was trying to get A New Witch completed this month so that I could get it in the hands of an agent but it's not as polished as I would like. The first several chapters are good though so I may send it off anyway.
We did have a little bit of fun at work though. Nearly my entire department is joining me this year in NaNoWriMo, so we've been getting together at lunch to do some writing exercises. Basically we pull a topic out of a hat (actually on the computer and we roll dice) and write for 20 minutes on it. The topics were:
- Waking Up to a Smoke Detector Alarm
- Sitting by a Campfire
- What Will Happen Can't Be Stopped (Ann Beattie) - Taken from A Writer's Book of Days
- It Appeared That Poverty Was Upon Them
Usually there were three or four of us writing and it was interesting to see how differently we all wrote, not only in style, but in direction. It was a lot of fun.
I don't normally write in groups with others but we're planning on devoting our lunch hours to NaNo two or three times a week. It should prove interesting and I'm really looking forward to it.
What Else am I Doing?
Both of my kids had birthdays this month! Xavier is now 19 and Sarah is 12. We were recently visiting Xavier at one of his swim meets. His college is about a five hour drive from Austin so we don't get to see him that much. I'm amazed at him and his friends. He went to college with two of his high school swimming buddies. All three of them look older, more mature, somehow. I'm not sure what happened to the kids and when the men began to appear. I guess I blinked and missed it. It was good to see Xavier though. His mom cried again when we left.
He also surprised us with an unannounced visit the last weekend in October. Once again it was good to seem him. His mom was thrilled when he arrived and sad when he left. She tries not to admit it but she really misses him. Having kids is tough and seeing them grow up is tougher!
Sarah really wanted an iPod Nano for her birthday so we got it for her. Now she has to figure out how to use the computer to put music on it. Hoorah! I've been trying to get her to use the computer more but she resisted, just like she used to resist reading. If I can get her to start using the computer more often it will be a major milestone.
To help her with this, I had to go out and get an iPod too. Even though I work with computers in my daily life, I've never had an iPod before. I don't consider myself a "gadget guy" and an iPod is definitely a "gadget." But I finally broke down and got one. In addition to helping Sarah with her iPod, I figured it would also be a fitting gift for myself with NaNoWriMo coming up. Get it? A Nano for NaNo!
Speaking of NaNo, It seems like October has been dragging out! Since the first part of the month I've been anticipating NaNoWriMo. I just can't wait to get started. I did make the mistake of signing up for a writing class though that starts on November 1st. It's every Thursday in November - except Thanksgiving - and it runs from 4:30 - 8:30 pm. That's really going to cut into my writing time. Bummer!
What I'm Reading
This month I've continued on with the Sweep series by Cate Tiernan. There are a total of 14 books in the series and this last month I've finished:
- Spellbound - Book 6 of the Sweep series
- The Calling - Book 7 of the Sweep series
- Changeling - Book 8 of the Sweep series
- Strife - Book 9 of the Sweep series
- Seeker - Book 10 of the Sweep series
The last Cate Tiernan novel I read, Seeker, which is Book 10 of the Sweep series was quite interesting. Cate did something different with this book. All of her previous books in the series were written first person from the perspective of the protagonist, a character named Morgan. This book was written first person from another main character's perspective, Hunter. He is Morgan's boyfriend. It was a little strange at first, getting used to another character's perspective, but I found the technique intriguing.
I've read Touching Darkness, the second book of the Midnighters series by Scott Westerfeld. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a great story. I thought he tied things up pretty well in the first book and couldn't imagine what he was going to do in the second one of the series. Once again, he tied it up pretty well which makes me wonder what he's going to do in the third one.
I also read The Mist by Stephen King. All I can say is that I think that this is now one of my favorite five books! It was awesome! He has such a way of writing that just grips you and pulls you into the story. The Mist was originally published as a novella in Skeleton Crew but now it's a stand-alone paperback. I highly recommend it!
I'm reading (actually listening to) A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle. It's an audio book that I listen to while I'm driving. This is the first audio book I've ever listened to and I'm curious to see if I get as much out of it as I do when I read. I have to say that so far, I like it but I have to pay more attention to it than I would've thought. It's quite easy to miss details and I find myself rewinding often.
I'm also reading On a Pale Horse, by Piers Anthony. It's a book I've read before but not for several years. I found it in a used bookstore and wanted to revisit an old friend. While I never really cared for Anthony's Xanth novels, I did read several. I've also read several of The Blue Adept series. But I really liked the Incarnations of Immortality series, of which On a Pale Horse is the first.
My Writing Projects
September has been a tough month. I have spent a lot of time working on A New Witch though. I've actually had the pleasure of sitting down and reading it! I also spent a lot of time on a second edit. Now that I've cleaned it up more, I want to sit down to read it again. I'm really proud of this one. I hope that if I ever get it published, you'll enjoy it as much as I do.
I'm also gearing up for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). This year I'm planning on writing Once a Witch, Always a Witch, the sequel to A New Witch. I will be keeping my progress posted on the NaNoWriMo web site, NaNoWriMo.org, as well as on this web site. My name on the NaNoWriMo web site is Dmac9000 if you want to track my progress or if you want to become one of my "Writing Buddies".
What Else am I Doing?
September was a tough month for a lot of reasons. My father passed away on Friday, September 14th, 2007. He was in a home for 3 1/2 years following a stroke, so this is something we all knew was coming, but it doesn't make it any easier. It led to a whirlwind trip to Iowa with my wife and daughter. While I was there, I had a toothache that led up to a root canal. I'm here to tell you that if you've never experienced it, serious tooth pain is no fun at all. But at least that's all behind me now.
What I'm Reading
With all the flying and time off from work for my dental work, I've had a lot of time to read - when the pain wasn't too unbearable, that is.
I've finished several of the Sweep books by Cate Tiernan this month. My daughter is also reading the series, so I'm finding that I have to wait for her to finish one before I get it. This month I've read:
- The Coven - Book 2 of the Sweep series
- Blood Witch - Book 3 of the Sweep series
- Dark Magick - Book 4 of the Sweep series
- Awakening - Book 5 of the Sweep series
I like the way that Cate spins a tale. While I thought that her first book, Book of Shadows got off to a slow start, the books have certainly picked up speed. She uses a lot of interesting techniques that I can appreciate as a writer and a lot of plot twists and turns that I appreciate as a reader.
I read Midnighters - The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld. It's another book that my daughter picked up in school. My wife read it first and thought it was pretty interesting, so I read it too. I like it. It has a great theme that is difficult to sell, but Scott did it well. I have plans to read the second and third books in the series.
I've also read The Last Vampire - 6 by Christopher Pike. Me, my wife, and my daughter all read the whole series of The Last Vampire earlier this year, but the 6th book was somehow lost before I had a chance to read it (I suspect the Goodwill box). Anyway, I had to get a new copy so I could finish it too.
I like Christopher's Young Adult books. His book, Witch, was the very first full-length book that I was able to get my 11-year-old (then ten) to read. She used to only read picture books, but now she's getting awards in school for being the most avid reader!
I'm currently reading Spellbound, Book 6 of the Sweep series by Cate Tiernan. I'm also re-reading my own, A New Witch, which is in Third Draft. I'm still fine-tuning it, but my hope is to send it to an agent this month!
My Writing Projects
July and August were busy months for me this year. During that time, I wrote a new novel, A New Witch. I started it on Friday the 13th of July, a fitting date since it's about a witch. I completed it on August 11th and on August 13th, I started editing it. I finished the first edit on September 2nd!
I also started a new web site specifically for A New Witch. You can check it out at www.anewwitch.net.
What Else am I Doing?
Now that I've finished editing A New Witch, I want to sit down and read it. This will be the first time that I've had a chance to do that with one of my own books. I also want to start editing The Life of Larry. It's going to be a lot more work than A New Witch was. It was the first novel I wrote, so it has a lot more, shall we say plot problems. Even so, I do have a good idea of where I want to go with it, so it may not be so bad. I'll keep you updated on it's progress.
And then there are the ancillary projects, like my new web site for A New Witch, www.anewwitch.net (shameless plug). I also am planning on keeping up with the newsletters. I'm not sure yet if they're going to be quarterly, monthly, or whenever I get to them. Check back to find out.
What I'm Reading
As Stephen King says in his book On Writing, if you're going to be a writer, it's also important that you're a reader.
Speaking of Stephen King, I just finished his collection of short stories, Everything Eventual. There were several stories that were really good, and I think that every author should take on similar stories. Of course, 1408 was one of the stories, and the first one that I read although it's buried near the end of the book. I haven't seen the movie yet, but the story is really good.
I also liked Riding the Bullet. It's a typical guy hitchhiking and riding with a dead man, though written in typical Stephen King fashion.
The last story I want to mention from the book is Everything Eventual, the short story by the same name as the book. I don't want to give anything away, but the imagery in the story was fantastic.
Currently, I'm reading Book of Shadows by Cate Tiernan. This is the first book in a series of 14 that my daughter is also reading. Since it's in the same genre as A New Witch, I thought it would be good to get a gander at some of the published authors in the field.