50,075.

I did it. I beat NaNoWriMo for the fourth year in a row. I'm also four chapters from the end of the book, but for now, that's something I can think about later. I also went back over the material. It rambles a bit, but I like it. It has an authentic feel to it all.

Maybe when I'm done, Dead of Winter will be coming to this space. Stay tuned, and enjoy the rest of your weekend. I know I will. ;)

Time for a literary update, of a sort. So far the word count for Dead of Winter stands at 37,122 words, and I am currently on Chapter Eleven. Now, especially when one bears in mind that I had only gotten about three hundred and fifty words into Chapter Eight before switching gears (sometimes it helps to jump around if you're in a word count vs. deadline situation; linear writing is not always conducive to a timely finish), the fact that I'm three-quarters done and am at just a bit over the halfway point of the novel shows that the chapters are definitely longer than I thought they'd be. It means that some editing will be necessary in the future--but then again, when the fuck isn't it?

On a completely unrelated note, the Oakland Raiders beat the Bengals O' Cincy today, and I was shocked.

I lost almost all of last week for writing; in fact, yesterday was the first day I had done any writing on Dead of Winter since last Sunday. This was directly tied to some issues I had last week with medication I was taking for anxiety, which had the horrible effect of not only intensifying what I was feeling, but also dropping me into that state for up to twelve hours at a time. Believe me when I say that I would rather have a broken arm than ever go through it again. I'll make a post on it in detail later this week.

Oh, and Mad Evil Chris and I went to the Ski and Snowboard Expo at Cal Expo on Saturday. In addition to getting him snowboard bindings for seventy dollars when he'd thought he'd have to pay two hundred, we also cheated the lines outrageously. With your entry free you get a free lift ticket (a great deal as long as you don't look at the fine print too closely), but the line to have it redeemed stretched... well, around the entire damn show.

This required quick thinking. Specifically, slimy thinking. "Follow me," I said.

Chris and I started browsing around the display next to the front of the line, and then I said, "Oh, we better go get our lift tickets validated before we really get started shopping." So I stepped up to one of the guys with the computers, handed over my info, told him about my injured collarbone from last year (thereby gaining me instant "slope cred"), got my ticket and thanked him kindly. So did Chris. Only then did he notice the line that stretched behind us... then one that went on seemingly forever.

"Did you know about that?" he asked suspiciously.

"I had an idea," I said innocently. "Now, let's go get those bindings since we just saved ourselves two hours, huh?"

Moral of the story: act like you know what you're doing, and rarely will anyone question you.

How was your weekend?

I haven't posted any updates lately on the progress of Dead of Winter, but it bears mentioning that I am now just a shade under 30k with half the month gone, which gives me about two to three days worth of cushion on the writing front. Since I fully expect there will be a couple days in there where I don't get to write because of household chores, trips to store or I just plain don't feel like it, it's good to have that little bit. I also hope to get some more writing done tonight, because every little bit helps.

On a purely nuts-and-bolts level, it's kind of interesting to see how the chapters have stretched out to be a bit longer than I expected them to be. I originally planned the novel to have a prologue and then nineteen chapters, all at 2,500 words estimated apiece in order to assure a 50k finish. However, I have just started Chapter Ten and am about to bust through the 30k mark, so my chapters are running a little longer than expected. This, of course, is perfectly fine.

Doom 3 is one of the best games ever. Major, major scare factor, gorgeously rendered 3-D engine, stunning lighting effects that give it a horribly authentic feel... yes, the geniuses at id Software did this job a little too well, possibly. I am going to have to get myself a copy of Quake IV, which also uses the Doom 3 engine. Good stuff.

Oh, and the NFL staggers on. At least, it staggers in our region of the country. Staggers like a smelly zombie, come to think of it.

There was some horrible football this week courtesy of the 49ers and Raiders, the difference being that the Niners won their game and the Raiders didn't, against a team that only had one win for the entire season thus far. By playing the Raiders, they doubled this total. This was not surprising in the least; in fact, I picked against the Raiders this week in our pick 'em football league. The Raiders are so fucking bad that I have really stopped caring about this franchise. I really have. The losses don't bother me any more, and that's a sign that the franchise is really in trouble.

Can't wait until the Steve McNair Tennessee Titans jersey arrives. Um... sooooooo, when does baseball season start?

The word count at the end of today on Dead of Winter was 12,323 words.  Not too bad.  I am beating the per-day average of 1,667 words by about a 2-1 margin, and the fair Bebe has served as an excellent nemesis to compete against.  I feel good about the way the plot is unfolding, and I am enjoying the banter between my characters.  So far, it's been a major change of pace from last year.  In 2008, I was writing a doctoral thesis.  This year, it's an actual novel.

My Steve McNair jersey should be here in a few days, since it shipped today via priority USPS and is only coming from Los Angeles.  I may have to make a photo post where I lay out all my jerseys; the collection is pretty extensive.  Another item I am waiting for is my upgrade copy to Windows 7 (provided free via Dell for those ordering within a certain time frame), so I can dump Vista and its annoying constant stream of pop-ups asking me if I am sure I really want to run a program, upgrade a driver or in general do anything at all.  Vista is all right, I suppose, but I am definitely looking forward to increased stability and wringing some more drops of horsepower out of Nemesis.

Oh, and I had a BSOD with the Alienware after installing a new set of display drivers, so thank God for Windows Restore Point software.  Whew.

Got a few more days left on vacation, and it's been rather restful this week.

Night, all.

I watched for a week and it all came crashing down tonight.  I bought another sports jersey.  Steve McNair Tenneessee Titans #9.  Price in store:  $220.00.  My price:  $39.95.

Thank you, Ebay.  And thank you to my wife for putting up with my addiction.

Word count right now on Dead of Winter is 7,784.  I'm having a glass of $60 per bottle wine to help my wife celebrate that one of her crappy co-workers got the axe today; my nickname for her was "The Emperess."  I am enjoying The Proposal with my man Ryan Reynolds, and the reboot of V comes on tonight.

Wow, occasional tooth pain aside, this vacation is going well.  How's your end of the 'verse today?

So today I finished the prologue chapter of Dead of Winter and also started the first chapter as well.  I finished pretty close to 5,000 words, and I got a lot of football watching done, plus I showed up for a taping of Good Morning Sacramento at 8:30 or so this morning.  You can see the story they ran on our group at this link, and I am the one in the red and white flannel shirt and the ponytail.  Plus, they used Nemesis for the starting point of the video, so I had a good hitch of pride there.  All in all, today was a good day.

Going to a write-in tomorrow and I'll play some Dan Patrick while chewing into the book.  All in all, a good start.

Word count update for Living After Midnight. Total:

35882 / 65000 words. 55% done!

I'm back from vacation and I'll have quite a bit to say on it and other things later, but for now, let me just state for the record that driving through 5,000 feet worth of elevation in a snowstorm is about as unamusing as it gets. However the rest of the vacation was awesome.

Talk to y'all soon.

As I mentioned earlier, I sent the Zoom 9002 back to the dealer on Saturday because of issues with the headphone jack.  Some units come off an assembly line just fine, and some have a life of problems.  For example, there is a certain bus we have in the fleet that seemingly is always having something go wrong with it... and it's not like it's a clunky old thing, either.  Voodoo curses, somebody fell asleep at the quality control switch or whatever else, I don't know.  I've requested an exchange, so we'll see how things go with the new unit when it arrives.  Should be about Thursday and yeah, it can't come soon enough.

I've been pretty polite about this, but at the core of it all, the whole thing has really sucked the root.  My wife feels horrible about this, like she got me the worst Christmas present in the history of the world.  I mean, I can sort of see where she's coming from; how would you feel if you got your signifigant other a gift they;d wanted for a decade and a half and they'd only been able to fully use it twice if over four months?  It's not her fault... it's just frustrating, so that's all the bitching I'm going to do about that.  For now.

Lately I have also been reading some stories on the Ibanez.com forums about people finding excellent deals at the local pawnshop for quality guitars, as most people know a Fender Stratocaster or Gibson Les Paul is worth serious dough, but their understanding of musical economics breaks down after that.  Axes just like mine have been found for less than a hundred and fifty bucks.  Gasp.  So next week Lady Jade and I are going to take an expedition, which she is actually looking forward to.  Yes, far from rolling her eyes when I mentioned this, her first response was, "I know several pawn shops that are really quality places that we can take a look at.  That sounds like fun."

Again, the wonder of Good Husband Points produces a touchdown drive.

Now that tax season is over, we have been going back to the gym again.  Since I am still dealing with the torn tissue in my knee, it means that I have to take it a little easy, which as you may imagine is much easier said than done.  I hate being out of shape and I loathe having no endurance, so my first trip back to the gym had a sadly predictable result; namely, I pushed myself way too hard and inspired a well-meaning but still extremely biting tongue-lashing from my wife.  The thing is, I really don't want to have to have surgery (because getting cut on is such a highly unamusing process), so I need to take things easier in the gym and not be a macho idiot about things.

This whole process has given me plenty of time to get re-acquainted with the Ibanez, and amazingly, to also continue work on Living After Midnight.  Progress bar, you say?  Yeah.  I've got one.

25831 / 65000 words. 40% done!

So I've got that going for me, too.  Back to work tomorrow, a good weekend was had, and how was yours?

Today I finished Chapter Seven of Living After Midnight, which got me through a scene that I know is going to need some rewriting but at least now it's in the book and I can move on to the major plot-meat that I can sink my literary fangs into. Here's the handy progress bar hard at work:

19988 / 65000 words. 31% done!

I feel pretty good about that. Doing this book has been a wonderful object lesson in showing me just how much I needed to do a return to my roots in the old boy-meets-girl genre. I love angst, I love horror and I'll never shy away from a ripper of a gutbucket scene... but goddamnit, I really enjoy a good love story as well. It has been quite fun to get back to basics, and it also gives me time to ponder a bit about:

1) What I'll be doing for National Novel Writing Month this year (and I think I already know)

2) Mulling the very real possibility of doing two more Ring Of Fire books before the whole thing comes crashing down in Zero, which will be my tribute to Keifer Sutherland's tour de force smash hit 24. I know I said before that I was only going to do one more before tying everything up, but, well, screw you, it's my series and I'll do whatever the hell I want to with its installments. The fact is, I really like doing those books and there's some more stuff I'd like to go into before the final descent begins, so I may be going back on my earlier stated plan. Then again, I might not. We'll see where I am in six months.

Also, although it is only April 12th, it bears mentioning for the record that as of this moment, the Oakland A's are currently in sole possession of first place in the always-weird A.L. West division. I was so flabbergasted by this news from the MLB standings, I read it three times to make sure what I was reading was accurate. It is. We're currently 7-4, having just swept the Toronto Blue Jays in their cavernous Dome Of Doom and then went into Jacobs Field last night and kicked in the teeth of last year's American League Cy Young award-winning pitcher, Cleveland Indian fireballer C.C. Sabathia. We beat him for nine runs in three innings, which is the baseball equivalent of a mugging.

Yes, I know that it's less than a month into the season. Yes, I know it's eleven down and one hundred and fifty-one games to go. Having said that, though, I have to say that I'm impressed with this year's version thus far.

Let's go Oakland.

EDIT: The A's downed the Indians again by the score of 7-3, which made me chuckle quite a bit. Last year, the Indians were the runner-up team in the ALCS; the previous year, it was Oakland being the bridesmaid and not the bride. We also went to WinCo tonight and among the nearly two hundred and fifty bucks we spent on food, we got four Hibachi House General Tsao's Chicken Bowls, which I am mildly addicted to. Plus, they were a full two-fifty cheaper apiece than they were at Bel Air.

Yes, both of these things excited me. (shrug) Simple pleasures. That's all I can say.

I've been typing on Living After Midnight lately, and here's where I stand:

14349 / 65000 words. 22% done!

Truth be told, I'm fairly good with that. I'm making progress and better yet, I enjoy the story I'm doing... even if it's a whole hell of a lot different than what I have been doing for the last five years and therefore feels really weird. I'll tell you what, romance is a completely different animal than supernatural thriller. Different tones, different phrasing, different use of internal dialogue. Just completely different around the horn.

Enjoying the hell out of it, though. The work continues.

Oh, we also bought a copy of Stargate: The Ark Of Truth and if you are an SG-1 fan, you know just how happy we are to have that. If you don't, there's ten seasons waiting on Netflix, so get going.

Peace.

The word count thus far for Living After Midnight:

5523 / 65000 words. 8% done!

Things are going along pretty decently. I'll have to pick up the pace if I want to have this book in the DONE column before month's end, but I'm not going to hold myself brutally hard and fast to that goal. I much rather want to enjoy the experience of writing it, and thus far I've been able to stretch both my keyboard and smile in equal amounts. Besides, there's stuff coming up that will make the word count rise fast, so I'm not too worried about lacking for inspiration to type.

Jesus, I even did three pages of longhand on the bus today... and plan to do it again tomorrow. (Christopher Titus voice) I know! What has gotten into America's Favorite Literary Bus Driver?

The other reason why I'm not looking at March 30th with 65,000 words as root, hog or die, and that's because I'm involved in another project at the moment. Specifically, editing. Hey, if you tell somebody that you''re willing to check the stuff out and it shows up in your email box, then you get to it, young man. Going back on your word is bullshit in this neck of the woods. Besides, if The Invisible College Press should come sniffing around my door wanting the rest of Salvation and whatever else I have besides because they think I am just so neato that I can't be unpublished any more, I have half a dozen books I can throw at them in a moment's notice. No kidding.

It also makes it much easier when the project I am reviewing is really, really good. For the moment, I'm taking a break and hitting a late-night bath. So yes, March is off to a good start. How's the third month of the year treating the rest of y'all? Busy minds want to know.

The word count (thus far) for Living After Midnight.

2791 / 65000 words. 4% done!

I had some fun at Starbucks today, then went and got new strings, picks and a new three-position toggle switch for the Ibanez. See, with active pickups, you cannot have a five-position toggle switch because splitting between the coils as done with a five-position switch will apparently cause your guitar to be wrecked, or possibly your amplifier, I forget which. Ergo, a new toggle switch that because it was on a green tag sale, was only ten bucks instead of twenty.

Nice. Back to work.

79,478 / 80,000 (99.3%)

A big fight scene and an epilogue later, and "Underworld" can be put to rest. Hallelujah, holla back.

Also of note is the fact that I received a jury duty summons for prospective juri-ness for October 15th. I've never been through this process before. Anybody want to dish and tell me what it's like?

76,872 / 80,000 (96.1%)

I'll definitely be going over the 80,000 word mark to get it done, but that's all good. I've been going back and doing a little preemptive editing for the last couple days and to my pleased surprise, there's not as much to fix as I thought. In fact, I think I may be two-thirds of the way through a pretty damn good series, if I do say so myself.

Still, it'll be nice to finally get to put this story to rest... which could happen this week. I know, I said that a month ago. Thing is, I feel much more positive about the veracity of that statement this time as opposed to the other, when I had a strong feeling I was full of shit.

Night, folks.

71,746 / 80,000 (89.7%)

Oh God, this pleases me. This pleases me greatly. Final stretch, here I come.

First off, the obligatory semi-regular word count update for "Underworld," because I know you're all just dying to know how that is coming:

66,735 / 80,000 (83.4%)

I am almost done with a scene that involves a prophecy (and boy, does a part of me cringe at using that word) that has been laid down since the second book. The idea of predestination or prophecy has always seemed to me to be a dicey proposition when it comes to writing; when it goes well, like in the series "The Belgariad" and to a lesser extent "The Malloreon" by David and Leigh Eddings, it packs a powerhouse wallop. When not done well (and unfortunately, the later books of Frank Herbert's "Dune" series unwillingly spring to mind), it becomes an odious grind for the reader, even as the writer is kicking up their sprightly heels and doing a jig to celebrate how clever they are.

What I am doing to is trying to do a twist based on the idea that our merry band of babyface/tweener characters are *not* doing well, that they are in fact beginning to fall further and further behind the grinning heels. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and this one is going to cost them.

Thing is, one of the babyfaces is going to die.

Worse yet, they're going into this battle knowing that one of them is going to fall, and our main character is going to have to actually weaken the group in order to hold the entire thing together. Remember, never be afraid to let your heels carry at least a few of the days. It allows for great soul-searching on the eve of a particularly nasty battle.

Once "Underworld" is finished, I'm going to take a break for a while from the series while I get Book Five (still sadly untitled) in order notes-wise and plot-wise. I began "Underworld" without a master series of documents to refer to, so although I am now in the clear plot-wise, there will need to be some bloody editing to do once the whole thing is finally put to bed. As some of you already know through grim experience, that's one of the nastiest parts of the whole project... but ultimately the most rewarding.

So, a query. The next Writing 101 post is set in my head, and we have two choices. Should it be:

1) The out-of-character things you should have in order to spur your chances of a successful writing career, or...

2) The need for a good editor and a thick skin, perhaps not necessarily in that order.

Let me know, and peace.

61,787 / 80,000 (77.2%)

Getting closer. Once the scene I am getting ready to start is done, the ride will be all downhill from here. I may still get done by the end of August; if so, I will do no more writing until it's time for National Novel Writing Month.

Plotting, unfortunately, does not count. Sigh.

Woo-hoo!  I don't have cancer!

Backing up slightly, I'm sure y'all remember when I got the lump cut out of my arm.  Well, today I managed to pin down the medical assistant to the surgeon and found out that it was in fact just a gross, fatty lump that while totally annoying, is also completely benign.  Major relief there.

Also, something we haven't seen in a while...

Total word count for yesterday's total on Underworld:  1,220 words.

That's right, back at work.  No words as of yet from Elder Signs Press on my follow-up letter regarding Salvation.  I'll give another two weeks, then send another one.  After that, they're toast.  My next Writing 101 screed will be about the whole Waiting For Godot process that drives so many writers more bugshit than they already are.

I've dropped 14 pounds since the diet began, but I have also gained muscle, so the fat is beginning to go the way of the dodo.

Oh, and one last thing.  For Barry Bonds, Mister 755* Himself:  FUCK YOU, CHEATER.

Wave bye-bye, Jess.  (waves bye-bye)

So I've just finished They Thirst, and truth be told, I'm kind of sorry Robert McCammon is letting his earlier stuff go out of print.  I know, I understand that the horror field is a giant sucking pit of lame these days (however, I have to say that I enjoyed Hostel) and that he doesn't want his name to be associated with Wes Craven and rest of the people who have killed it...

...but damnit, They Thirst was really good.  So was Swan Song, and Blue World and... what I'm trying to say is that while I know that these days it's a ball of crap, somebody has to be in the aisle to show people how to do it correctly.  You know?

Somebody in the NaNo forums was asking what it took to be scary, and I suggested that in addition to the normal writing guidelines (plan your plot ahead of time, don't do lame characters, it's scarier to conceal than to reveal) that the question-asker should read some good examples of the field... and then go and read some bad examples as well.  For me, the personal watershed moment I always cite is the head-shaking and obscenity-laced aftermath of when I finished The Devil's Cat by William W. Johnstone, and for a classic review that pretty well sums up this modern masterpiece of schlock and dreck, go here and you will be enlightened.  There's even a cover scan as well, complete with the not-so-scary hologram image of the devil/kittyface on the front.  Oooh, yoiks!

I know that I've beaten this book to death a few times, and I plan on repeatedly doing the same thing live and in person when I am a published author and find myself on a panel with vg_ford and rachelcaine, but it bears repeating again that in order be good in your chosen field of fiction--whatever genre you choose to be, or whatever mood you are in that week--you need to have roadmaps both good and bad.  There are tons of examples of the bad ones for any genre, but the good ones... well, when somebody who is demonstrably better than their peers decides they will bow out, no matter how good the reasons are (and in this case, I empathize 100%), it's still a heavy blow.

So therefore, should you have any indication whatsoever that your mental compass may point the way toward writing scary stories (not based on the foibles of the Bush administration, that is), go out and pick up Baal, Bethany's Sin, The Night Boat and They Thirst by Robert R. McCammon, because they are now out of print and getting harder to find all the time.

I'm going to take a trip back to the archives and read The Survivor by James Herbert next.  It was made into a movie, which I remember being fairly frightening but then again, I was nine when I saw it.  What a surprise.

No metrics as of late.  I'l try to make up for it tonight.

Finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at about 11:00 PM last night.  I have to say... bien.  Bien, bien, bien.  I enjoyed it immensely.

This of course means that now I can get back to my metrics which, surprisingly enough, I am not that behind on.  I'm only three days down, which gives me about 1,800-2,400 words to do in order to be back up to snuff.  I'm pretty happy about the thought I had just now:  if I keep up at this pace, I could be done with Underworld by the end of August.  Maybe sooner.  In fact, probably sooner.

I'm also pretty happy about the fact that now I have all the scenes necessary for Underworld laid out in my mind, and I know what the ending scene is going to be down to the last detail.  In addition, when you consider that Zero is raring to go as well, that gives me only one more book to come up with in order to have entire bloody story arc done, finito and all that jazz.  That's a heady goddamn thought, friends and neighbors.  It's by far the longest, most involved story arc I have ever tackled (and when I say that,. I totally mean it) and as an added bonus, it's the one I have enjoyed the most as well.

This is where I have to make a confession, though.  When I am finally through with the Ring Of Fire series, I will have more than a little relief.  I'm looking forward to getting back to my usual scattershot approach to genre; a horror here (the gory-as-fuck NaNo project Black Sunshine), a slice-of-life here (Westbound Sign) and may heaven help us, a looming baseball novel (untitled as of yet, but already looking promising).  It will be good to close the door on this immensely rewarding chapter of my life, and I feel great about the entire thing.

Oh, and one last thing: meet bobthebadger, folks.  Hey there, and welcome to the asylum.