The Word Count

July was a busy month. I won't bother going into all the details, but it was just plain busy. The last time I was working on Natalie's Hunt, I looked at my word count for the month of July. I probably shouldn't have done that. It bummed me out. I didn't write nearly as much as I wanted to write.

So with a new month starting in a just a few hours (less than 5 as I am typing this), I am setting my sights forward. There are some very busy times coming up for August. We will have visitors the last couple weeks of the month. So the house will be kind of full, and kind of full really isn't the best time for writing. But I will do my best, and give extra effort to the first couple weeks and get as much done as I can so that when August comes to a conclusion, I can look at my progress and feel happy about it.

I am not all bummed out about my progress. I am enjoying seeing new things in the story as I go. My method of writing is that I have the "basic" story in my mind. After that it gets filled in with lots of new details and things that tie it all together. It's those last parts that I don't truly know until I sit down and really start writing.

I get into the story in my mind, and I start writing what I am seeing, and my imagination creates as I write. It's a wonderful and thrilling experience that I would gladly enjoy almost every day. I only say almost because I know the imagination needs its recharge time. I can manage that. But first I need to get into the position where I really can write daily. At that point I could eventually publish 2 or 3 books, and 2 or 3 short stories every year. I've tested my theory and I know it's true. I really could write that much. Granted, I only have story ideas in my head that would cover the first two years (maybe 3). I don't doubt my brain could come up with some new material to keep me going beyond that point though.

I'll think I'll go write something now.

Wanted - Dead or Alive

"Every man dies. But not every man lives." William Wallace (played by Mel Gibson) from the movie Braveheart.

A specific event in my life reminded me that I am alive, but I need to be more than just alive. I needed to live.

Increasing Likes

Last week I decided to do a brief advertising campaign on my Facebook author page.

In the past I was not very impressed with advertising on Facebook, but I decided to give it another try.   I restricted my budget as a matter of prudence (well, that and not being impressed the first time around).

This time I was kind of impressed.  The advertising generated new likes on my page.  Which is really cool.

But since I'm spending money on it, there is an unspoken (actually I think I said it out loud, but who's counting that thought anyway) thought that it should generate book sales so that my investment would be recouped.  So far I have not detected sales I can trace back to the facebook campaign, but I am doing my best to be certain.  If it worked, then I will invest in it again.

Writing History Into the Present

It's an interesting phenomena to write about vampires, or others who are either immortal or live very long lives.  They get to experience points in history I have no way of experiencing myself (except for reading books).  They also have the time to travel to places that I have neither the time nor the money to travel to myself.

So as I reference the histories of my vampires, I have no choice but to rely on my own creativity, and the research I can conduct on my own.

Part of that research is to do what I can to meet people from other countries.  I have met someone (through the Internet) from the country mapped above.  If you read Jeremy's Kiss, then you know I have a character who is from there (but quite a few years ago).  So talking this new friend I am getting some insights about what this character may be like.  Of course I have to make it complicated by having him in a conversation with a vampire from Japan, one from early American, one from modern America, and one from mainland Europe (not sure if I said where the last one is from yet).  So it's not like there is a single cultural issue going on here.

In the end, I have to find a way to blend these characters.  They have certain rules I have applied to them, and still they need to be themselves in their own way.

Fluers De Mal (by Sarah Brightman)

Translated, it basically means the Flowers of Evil (but the translation is not perfect as the words meanings are not precise).

The song has a wonderful sound, and honestly I would love to play the violin as it is played in this song.

The Violin & The Bow

Have I mentioned yet that I play violin?  I can't remember if I brought that up in this blog or not yet.  I know I have shared it through other outlets, but this blog has been so much about writing and what I have written that I am not sure I have mentioned that I play violin yet.  So tonight I am going to talk about playing the violin.

I first picked up the violin in 1979 (I won't say how old I was at the time - those who know, know).  My parents found a used violin at a reasonable rate and I started lessons.  Then I moved, was in class in school for a short time, and we moved again, and I didn't have an instructor and I had only barely started.  So for years I didn't have an instructor and the violin was stored away.

Fast forward to 2007 and my parents still have that violin and they brought it to me where I lived at the time.  I found an instructor and took lessons through online video chat sessions.  I won't say that is the ideal way to do lessons because there were so many mistakes I was making that she was not able to see.  Still, I wouldn't trade those lessons for the world.  My instructor was just wonderful and really got me back to enjoying learning to play the violin.  I even invested in a new violin (better quality).  I kept the original one, because it is my fist and I am going to hold onto it until I see my life coming to a close (hoping that's about 60 or so years away).

Tragedy hit though and I set the violin down for about a year and a half.

I moved to a new place, and decided (with the blessing of my online instructor) to take lessons at a local music school.  I have been doing that for 3 years now.

I had 2 violins.  I had 2 bows.  The funny thing is that each violin liked one of the bows and not the other, and they didn't like the same bow.  When I say didn't like, what that means is that if I played the violin with the wrong bow it would make weird noises and just not sound good at all.  He said I need to rehair my bow.  The cost to rehair the bow is as much or more than I paid for the bow in the first place.  I wasn't going to do that.

So I did a little research on violin bows and decided I really did not want to go back to an uber cheap bow.

I stopped at my now favorite violin store and worked with the staff and picked out a new Brazilwood bow.  It was close.  I almost got the Carbon Fiber bow, but the Brazilwood just had a nice sound on my violin.

I've played it.  It's wonderfully smooth and gives my violin a brand new sound.  Who knew?  I mean besides violinists who have been playing long enough to have learned what I just learned this week - that the bow really does make  a difference.

The photo above.  That is my violin with it's new bow and it's old bow.  I think they look good together.

Did some Editing

A young woman who is now reading Jeremy's Kiss asked me very politely if I would look at a story she is writing. She dreams of completing it and publishing it. Naturally I said yes. I really hope her dream becomes a reality, and now I am given an opportunity to help her see that dream come true.

She sent me her story, and I am very impressed with her imagination and creativity.  She has the beginnings of a very thorough story.

Then I set my mind to the task of editing.  Grammar corrections, ok, gotta have those.  Then comes the harder part.  Which parts need some expanding and clarifying?  Which parts aren't quite making sense to the story I am reading?  Did I feel like something was missing?

I have gained a whole new respect for professional editors.  Their job is clearly a difficult one.  Finding and fixing what can take a story to the next level is a skill or a talent that not everyone possesses.

So this is really my shout out to all those editors out there working so hard to make the stories authors write into something even better than it was when the author first penned it.  Many thanks for the hard work.