Completed my latest rough draft of a steampunk novella

I completed the latest rough draft of a steampunk novella set in South Africa during the Boer War today.  I went through and did line editing.  This is the last manuscript I'll write.  My writing has been cursed turning into novellas.  I wanted a second novel length manuscript.  All I got was three novellas.  I started to bring the first sci-fi novella, Nordic Sun, to the weekly WUTA critique meetings.  Its my longest piece at 32,000 words.  I have another historical/fantasy work called Ganbaatar  It's set during the Mongol invasion of Russia in 1223 and is 19,900 words.  I also the steampunk novella called Johannesburg Passage.  It's a wartime tragedy.  It's only 12,000 words.

These works need weekly WUTA critiques in order to be revised properly.  I'd also like to take them through WUTA Big Books for a more thorough critique after they've been revised a second time with suggestions from WUTA's weekly critique group.  I figure it will take all of 2017 in order to get the novellas reviewed.

I also have poetry at our Maya Cafe sessions to be critiqued, too....

Year end resolutions and promises...

I didn't notice how fast December 2016 crept upon me until I looked at my monthly calendar.  A lot has happened.  I had surgery to remove basal skin cancer on my right arm back in October 2016.  That was successful.  But my arm is now scarred because of it.

Unfortunately, I spent a month without reading or writing in November 2016.  I vowed to get back to both this month.  One problem I have is the amount of books I've accumulated.  I have 43 hardbacks waiting to be read.  I also have another 20 e-books on my NOOK reader to start, too.  I been spending my free time taking of my remaining parent.  I can only write and read when I have time.  I restructured my time this way:

Sunday:
1)  Read first fiction book - 50 pages.
2)  Work on my own painting.

Monday:
1)  Read WUTA Big Books manuscript.
2)  Write 250 words.
3)  Work on painting commissions.

Tuesday:
1)  Work on my own painting.
2)  Write 250 words.
3)  Attend weekly WUTA meetings for writing critiques in evening.

Wednesday:
1)  Write 250 words.
2)  Revise and edit WUTA manuscript corrections.
3)  Work on my own painting.

Thursday:
1)  Write 250 words.
2)  Read nonfiction e-book - 75 pages.
3)  Play WH40K at a local hobby store.

Friday:
1)  Read second fiction hardback book - 100 pages.

Saturday:
1)  Read second fiction hardback book - 100 pages.

I want to get back to WUTA Big Books in January 2017.  I'd take a sabbatical from the group this past year.  I'll eventually will have my final novella done sometime in the winter of 2017.  I'll be done with writing active material.  Most of my remaining writing time will be spent on editing/revising and writing query letters for my first novel.  Though I'd like to finish more of the backlog of books that now sit on my shelves...

Attacking the bookpile: part I

I didn't accomplish much today.  I read and finished Proxima by Stephen Baxter.  That was about 90 pages.  I wrote a review of the book and put it on my other blog. 

What's so special about Proxima?  It was my first fiction Ebook.  It took six months to read.  I started it in April 2016.  I finished it tonight.  I've only been reading four chapters a week.  I've spent my time assaulting my slush pile of books by reading four books a week. 

Today was Proxima. 

At this rate, I'll never get my Ebooks read in a reasonable amount of time.  I have lots of Ebook.  I probably have about 20 to read.  I have another 20 hard copies of speculative fiction on my book shelves.  Followed by another 20 hard backs concerning military history,  The only way I'll ever get through my slush pile is to up the reading I do when I peruse a book. 

This is what a "typical" week of reading might look like:

Sunday:
50 pages of fiction hardback A

Monday:
50 pages of fiction Ebook A

Tuesday:
50 pages of fiction hardback A

Wednesday:
No reading.

Thursday:
50 pages of nonfiction Ebook B

Friday:
100 pages of fiction hardback B

Saturday:
100 pages of fiction hardback B

This assumes I'm not wasting my time watching sports.  Television is a dangerous game, my friend.  And a real time vampire, too.  Hopefully, I'll read my Ebooks at a faster rate than one every six months! 

Editing and writing projects - August 2016

After deciding to shelf Kepler Falling, I went ahead and am doing a final edit on the manuscript.  It's looking like it will be my only full novel length project. 

My current writing project, Johannesburg Passage, is turning into another novella.  I'm only 5,500 words into it.  However, I outlined everything in order for things to make sense.  It's a steampunk/alternative history story set during the Boer War.  I think it will be last writing project for a while.  I have several novellas in need of marketing/critiquing. 

I thought I'd edited another sci-fi novella called Nordic Sun.  I couldn't find the latest copy.  I went back to my previous copy and doing the editing all over.  That's two weeks worth of work.  Ugh.  It needs to go through critiquing at WUTA in the coming months. 

So much for my poetry... 

New writing project....

I'm doing a final edit of Kepler Falling.  Afterwards, I'm shelving the manuscript.  There are several reasons for this.  One is the subject of the novel.  Second is what happens during the conflict and how different groups might perceive thing.

Given today's political climate, I felt best not to get the manuscript published.  Maybe sometime in the future when cooler heads prevail...

However, I'm working on a new writing project.  This involves a steampunk story set during the Boer War.  I'd like to get at least 50,000 words out of it.  It'll be a short manuscript.  That's okay.  I'd outline the story back in January 2016 and then shelved it and the plot outline until this month.  I started working again on things last week.  I have 2000 words so far.  I'd like to write 500 words per week.  4 times a day week for 2000 words per week.  That means I'll have a manuscript completed in about six months...

Getting back to Kepler Falling.  I'd been working on the manuscript for ten odd years.  It was my baby.  It's hard to be objective and know when to let things go.  This is one of those times, unfortunately.

Blake

June 2016 reading....

I spent the month finishing Small Favor by Jim Butcher.  The book is the 10th installment of the Dresden Files.  It was somewhat formulaic and predictable.  Harry Dresden is a battle wizard in Chicago, IL in an urban fantasy.  He gets pulled into a conflict with fallen angels and military arm of the Catholic Church.  There's also the Italian mafia and the fae.  Dresden moves from one battle to another.  The books is non-stop action.  Enjoyable, but predictable...

I'm also reading Proxima by Stephen Baxter and The Last Stand of Fox Company. 

Proxima is about Yuri Eden's settlement on Proxima Centauri c. an Earth-like planet orbiting a red dwarf.  There's intelligent life on the planet.  I'm getting to the part of first contact between the remaining humans and native life-forms. 

The other nonfiction books is The Last Stand of Fox Company.  It's about a US Marine Corps company during the Korean War at the Chosin Reservoir.  I'm at the point where a Chinese Peoples Liberation Army infantry battalion is attacking Fox Company on a cold winter's morning...

That's what I'm reading right now.  I'll move onto another hard copy of The Lost Fleet:  Beyond the Frontier series by Jack Campbell.  I'm making more progress with the hard copies than I'm with my ebooks, right now.  

Editing Kepler Falling - 5th Draft

I'm in the process of editing Kepler Falling - 5th Draft this summer.  I'm about halfway done.  I posted my novel in Inkshares.com, which is a crowd-source publisher.  I haven't had much luck with it, however.  I haven't had that much time to really put into promoting the novel.  I should do a much better job.

Most of my effort has been on editing Kepler Falling.  This book will probably the only novel I ever write.  My other works have been novellas.  I don't know what that says about my writing.

Regards,
Blake

Finished Ganbaatar. Reedit. Repeat.

I finished editing Ganbaatar earlier this month.  I moved back to editing Kepler Falling.  I'm on my fifth draft of the novel.  It seems like the only thing I do is reedit/revise/repeat.  I figure I'll be editing the rest of the year until I'm done revising.

I have poetry in need of critiquing.  I haven't been able to make it to WUTA lately.  My family life has thrown me some curves with a sick parent.  I still edit and revise each day.  It daunting with a large project like Kepler Falling.  It'll literary take months to get through all 96,000+ words.  I need to writer some more poetry when I find the time.

More novella editing this April 2016....

I have about 30 more pages of editing left to do in Ganbaatar.  I'd like to get the novella does by the end of the week.  I'll see how I do...

Blake

April 2014 novella editing

What should be consumed by poetry is being drowned out by novella editing.  I'm on the third draft of Ganbaatar.  Fortunately, it's under 20,000 words.  Bad news, I'm on Page 19.  This will take a while to plod through...

Blake

Rearranging my writing/editing/revisions

I met with WUTA Big Books last Thursday evening at my house.  The group discussed my poetry.  My poetry has emotion, unlike my other writings.  They thought I'd be better served it I worked on poetry.

In fact, I divided my chap books into two different projects.  The first one, Half A World Away, deals with love, despair, and reflection.  The second one, Lies My Father Told, deals with my estranged relationship with my late father.

I had to shut down my computer when the contractors finally showed up for the basement.  I have no idea when they'll come back.  It's annoying to my work schedule.  I'm using the upstairs PC.  It's only available to me during certain hours of the day.  I thought I'd update my blog postings while I had the chance.  I don't know when I'll get around doing more...

However, I went through and marked the status of my different prose projects today.  I'll go back and revise a short story tomorrow.  It'll take a while to get through all my writing.  I'll be working on that for the foreseeable future.

I also write poetry when the spirit moves.  I've focused on my strained relationship with my father.  He and I didn't get along.  I took care of him the last 12 months of his life as he died from stomach cancer.  There's enough material to put together several chap books, unfortunately...

Regards,
Blake 

Editing/revision/retyping.....

I'm currently retyping Nordic Sun - Epsilon, 3rd Draft.  This will take a while to finish.  The best advice I got was to retype your second or third draft as far as editing/revisions go.  I look forward to be done with it by mid April 2016.

This year will be focused on reediting/revision/retyping.  I'm not going to write anything original.  I do have plans for a fifth novella.  It will be a steampunk manuscript set during the Boer War.  I probably won't start rewriting until the end of the 2016...

Such is life.

Reorganizing my reading and editing

I reorganized my reading and editing on a weekly basis.  Here's my reading:


Reading:

Sunday:
Fiction:
Analog Magazine - 35 pages.

Monday:
Fiction:
WUTA Big Books Manuscript - 50 pages.

Tuesday:
Fiction:
WUTA Big Books Manuscript - 50 pages

Thursday:
Nonfiction:
Military History - 50 pages.

Friday:
Fiction:
Speculative Fiction - 50 pages.

Saturday:
Fiction:
Speculative Fiction - 50 pages.


Here's my editing/revising/retyping:

Editing:

Monday:
Retyping:
Nordic Sun - 6 pages.

Tuesday:
Retyping:
Nordic Sun - 6 pages.

Wednesday:
Editing:
Revise and edit current WUTA piece brought for critique on Tuesday evening.

Thursday:
Retyping:
Nordic Sun - 6 pages.

This doesn't include blog updates.  Those I try to do on Thursday/Sunday evenings.

4th Kepler Falling draft done...

I spent this morning finishing my 4th Kepler Falling draft.  I now start my retyping my 3rd draft of Nordic Sun.  I've been told the best way to reedit is to rewrite your rough draft word for word when doing the second or third draft.  Seems like a lot of work.  It helps with the editing and revising...

Blake

All I do is edit and revise...

I'm still working on the fourth draft of Kepler Falling.  The revising/edit never seems to end.  Once I've tackled this project, I have rewrites of Ganbaatar and Nordic Sun to do.  That will take several months.

I'm at a loss whether to start the rough draft of Johannesburg Passage.  I think this is fated to be another novella.  I'm not sure.  The way I've laid things out on the character index and plot outline, that's the way it's looking.  I could write 250 words/per day/4 days per week.  That would generate a 1,000 words a week.

If it's going to be a novella.  Fine.  I can live that.  I don't have my hopes up for a steampunk novel rough draft...

More slaving away at editing Kepler Falling

I'm about halfway through editing Kepler Falling.  This is the fourth draft.  There are more to come.  This project won't rest until I'm old and gray.  Wait, I'm both!

Ugh.

Damned to the dogs of editing....

I spent the past several weeks editing the novella Ganbaatar and Nordic Sun.  Both manuscripts are done.  They need to be critiqued.  That will happen in the coming year.  This has become the season of revision/editing.  I'm currently working on Kepler Falling.  I'm editing that manuscript.  I don't know when I'll take to WUTA for critiques, though.

Kepler Falling should take me through May 2016.  That's a long time to revise/edit.  I'll hate myself by then.  Ugh.

New Years 2016 writing projects...

I've spent the past month writing.  I talked to my brother in Columbia, MO.  He's getting back to work in his sci-fi/noir detective novel.  He's only got it halfway revised.  He needs to write the rest.  I hope it's better than his first revision.  The technical aspects were great.  He's awesome with his descriptions and settings.  But I wanted to kill his characters.  They had little redeeming value.  Hopefully, that changed, lol...

I've been working on the rough draft of a new story.  It's speculative fiction.  Hard speculative fiction.  It's been a challenge to write.  I hope I can get 50,000 words out of it.  Right now, I'm at 30,000 words.  In involves a Scandinavian interstellar expedition to a world some 5,000 light years away.

The second story I outlined is a steampunk story set in South Africa at the time of the second Boer War.  I just wrote the beginning of it.  I'd like to get back to it when I get the speculative fiction novel done sometime this spring.  I also rewrote a satire/horror story piece that had one a prize in an anthology years ago.  Unfortunately, I lost the original work and had to rewrite it...

Blake