Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Moving Along in Life

Moving along in LIfe

Well, I finished the second edit and now have the novella complete and cleaned up. What I don’t have is a word count and I think I will do that today. Right now the whole thing is disjointed on my Portfolio and located in two files. It is written with the narrator in first person which I got rid of in the second edition that is stored off line. I don’t think I will put the revised final versions on line as the purpose for doing so in the first place was to elicit comments. Since I get a lot of view but no comments I think posting the final product is counterproductive.

I suppose I could put a lock on it….This would have it available in the event a publisher took an interest and wanted to take a quick glance….I could sent the access code and that would be convenient however I don’t think there is a strong likelihood of this happening. Another reason is to have it stored off line in case of a system crash on my laptop. Since I already have off line auto backup taking place, I don’t find this a very compelling reason either. I think I will refrain from posting a finished work unless I can think of some other reason to do so.

There are requirements that we face and there are requirements…. Somebody wrote there are three types…. Piddley, significant and overwhelming…. An example of a piddley requirement is writing this blog entry. A significant one is learning how to link the chapters together in my new Microsoft Word 2010 word processing program and printing out a complete copy, properly formatted and with headers and footers. An overwhelming task is writing a novel. Just getting HOD finished was a significant milestone in my writing experience. Now I have a novella to go along with my stage play. Interestingly enough it is the poetry I write that I believe has the most artistic merit…. Ain’t that a kick in the butt…? I have a particular aptitude and talent but it isn’t a passion. My passions are building cars and trucks, writing drama and prose and what I’m equipped by nature to best do is writing poetry. Is that a set-up for disappointment or what?

My wife and I are watching episodes of Deadwood and I recommend the series to anybody who likes to write. If you decide to watch it look at the character development and how the dialog is treated. There are stellar examples of just about every literary technique imaginable….from distinct character types, to unique patterns in dialog to monologues and a story line that is compelling and riveting. If I had Habit of Despair to do over I would use it as a model for structure, components and form. I will definitely use it as an example in my next novel. By example I mean developing a living outline that insures I address all the points I mentioned above. I am beginning to think that once the outline is done the author needs to do a character analysis that includes every aspect of who they are….I have seen some good examples (Dawn? Myra…?) and might go back and try and pull out some examples of these templates.

My tractor is in a heated garage and yesterday when I went to plow it wouldn’t crank. I checked the fuel going into the injector pump by cracking the lines and there was no flow….neither was there flow to the fuel filter. I have concluded the problem is probably in the fuel pump as I don’t hear any click when I turn on the ignition….It’s snowing again here and will have to do something before we get snowed in. Another piddley requirement in a sea of things designed to keep a writer from his work. It’s a wonder anything ever gets written.