Writing » James Gottlieb

Silent Rain Progress Report

Posted by james at 3:00 pm Writing No Responses » Tagged with: Structure, Writing

Mar 242012

The silent winter woods (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m a quarter of the way through the first draft! I’m on schedule to finish the first draft by mid-June. Then, I’ll spend the rest of June and all of July editing. If that goes well, I’ll be formatting in August and publishing in September. I’ll be writing about the editing process as I go through it. For now, I do most of my writing on the weekends. Evenings can net me about 500 words. I had hoped to get a lot more written during our spring break, but the days we had off weren’t good for me. I did get other things done, and I’ve gotten back to some fast action, which is always easier to write.

If I divide the novel up into thirds, then we’re almost at a third. Only 12,500 words to go. That’s enough for about three more broad scenes or bits-of-things-happening. The reason this is important is because the first third of the novel needs to set up the overall problem, the second third needs to find the solution, and the last third needs to carry it out. There are always complications along the way, but that’s the big picture for me.

Some Writing Observations

Posted by james at 11:59 am Writing No Responses » Tagged with: Fiction, Writing

Mar 202012

The working title for my new novel is Silent Rain. When the novel opens, it’s already been raining non-stop for a week or two. The reservoir up river from Sherman’s family is overflowing and the dam is showing signs that it might go at any time. Pretty soon, it does collapse and all the water races downstream to wipe out the town below it. This sets off a series of events that finds Sherman searching for his family after he sees them get taken by an armed gang.

At this point, I have almost 31,000 words. Sherman hasn’t found his family yet, but he has an idea of where they might be. He’s run into a monster, scavenged for food, and escaped from someone. I think he’ll eventually meet up with the rest of his family, but it may be a little while. Or it might not. He’s about to open a door and explore a place where he might find them, eventually.

The Irony of Editing

Posted by james at 5:22 pm Writing No Responses » Tagged with: Kindle, Writing

Mar 042012

Before I get into the meat of this post, I’d like to point out that I have removed my novel, Of Fish and Swimming Swords, from B&N and Smashwords (and all of the markets fed by Smashwords) so that I can participate in Amazon’s KDP Select program for the next three months. I didn’t have any significant sales through those channels, so I’m not losing much by doing this. I’ll make it available for free on the Kindle every once in a while, including all day tomorrow, Monday, 5 March (Pacific time). Take a chance on it when it’s free and, if you feel like it, write a review or tell a friend. You don’t have to own a Kindle to buy a book for Kindle, especially if the book is free!

NaNoWriMo, Here I Come!

Posted by james at 3:48 pm Digital Humanities, Writing No Responses » Tagged with: Digital Humanities, NaNoWriMo, Writing

Oct 202011

Image by ? Crystal Writer ? via Flickr

Every November, I mean to buckle down and write 50,000 words. Every November, something comes up that keeps me from doing it. Last year, I taught an introductory course to creative writing at Texas A&M University. The year before, I probably got too busy with work. This year, I’m going to make it happen! I don’t have any trips planned except for Thanksgiving. I don’t have any activities after work or on the weekend that take up a large amount of time. Nothing is standing in my way.

For those who haven’t heard of NaNoWriMo, hop over to the website and take a look. I’m raising money to help the nonprofit that runs it build communities in classrooms, coffee shops, libraries, and living rooms all over the world and help the inspiration flow for me and thousands of my fellow novelists. More importantly, your contribution will help The Office of Letters and Light build a more engaged and inspiring world.

For the rest of this post, I want to explore why NaNoWriMo works and touch a bit on what it could mean for digital humanities. Today is my research day, after all, so I need to tie this in with my work somehow.