Writing
 

So, about six weeks ago I decided I was going to write a novel. The general desire to do so had always been in me; I used to write all the time as a teenager. And since my employer exploded last August, I haven't yet found a full-time audio gig again, so I've had lots of time in between various contract jobs to sit around the house wishing I had something productive to do. Plus, I was further encouraged by the fact that a friend of mine recently had her first book picked up for publication. (Technically two books; part of the contract stipulated a sequel, which she's writing now. The first book should be on shelves next April.) And my friend's a good writer and all, but I look at her stuff and say, "Heck, I can write that well..."

Currently, I have just shy of 40,000 words (62 pages single-spaced in Word with 1 inch margins,) which I'm told is close to the halfway point. A first-time novel is expected to be between 80,000 and 120,000 words, and you're really only allowed to get longer once you're established. For the first month I was forcing myself to write at least 1500 words a day, but now that my stepkids are here for the summer, my available time has shrunk and fragmented considerably. No more 2-hour blocks of concentration for me. :) I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things in August, though, once they go back to their mom's house.

I have been warned that just like every waiter in LA is really an actor, "everyone has a manuscript" that they are trying to get published. I personally think it's more like "everyone has started a manuscript," because I just don't know that many people who can actually put that many words on paper--but I know a lot of people who write short stories. Anyone else here ever tried or thought about trying to write?

I've never got beyond the early plotting stages. I actually have a fair collection of plot fragments and characters in my head.

I've met a couple of authors ... one whose book I read only because a character was based on my best friend ... the story itself plodded along a lot, and was more than predictable. That guy will NOT be picked up by a major publisher ... that was vanity press.

The other night I met a cop (R.E. Yantorno) whose first novel got good reviews, and the second one is due out shortly, and he's hitting the promotional circuit ... supposedly he'll be on one of the morning shows within the next few weeks. One of his books has been optioned for a movie, which is of course Hollowoodese for "Will be passed around from studio to studio for a while and never get made."

Congrats on a good start Clodfobble!

I've got 3-4 good solid ideas...I just have to wean myself off of WoW....

I've started to consider picking up the keyboard to start trying to commit my first philosophical treatise to paper (pixels?) and I ran across the program Babylon Pro and was wondering if anyone had seen it or used it.

good luck on your book, I've been grappling with one for a couple of years now, although it's more of a functional work than fiction.. 'the line cooks handbook' by name.. seeing as how it's one of the largest growing job fields out there, and I figure after 15 some odd years of doing it I've learned a thing or two about a thing or two. (and yes :) I do have a very very good editor! (person, not program)

Last year I developed about a 75 page curriculum for the grad class I teach, and got approached by a small academic imprint interested in having me rewrite it and publish it. I think it's a lot easier to swing into things like that if you have a built in captive audience who will be forced to buy copied every semester.

So far, it's actually been really tough to write. Part of the process is re-casting the language so that it's not written at a graduate level, which I'm finding pretty arduous.