Discarded

Pretty Silhouette

Changed the site from Writing to being Creative

As part of my annual review of my priorities I realized that I am not a writer. Don't get me wrong, I write my blogs and I am still working on my books (Ballard and a fantasy novel name TBD) but I am not focused soley on writing as one of the primary areas of focus of who I am.

What am I?

• Photographer
• Novelist
• Non-fiction Author
• Blogger
• Sketch Artist
• Web designer
• Techie
• Cook
• Romantic
• Journaler
• Singer
• Musician
  
• I love working with wood
• I love the fighting arts especially Iaido
  
• and many more

I am very into tons of creative media and every single one of them is equally important to me, none more than the other. So this blog will now be dedicated to my creative side whether it be the written word, photos, drawings, recipes, martial arts etc.

The site will now the 12hourhalfday's Spent being Creative and hte URL is now http://12hourhalfdaycreative.blogspot.com.

My Writing Life - an update

What have I not been writing?

• I haven't been writing in my blogs
  
• I stopped writing on Nanowrimo after 500 words
• I haven't been writing Ballard
• In forums
  

What have I been writing?

• Letters to Family
• Journal Pieces
• E-mails to friends and family

What do I want to write more of in the coming year?

• More exploratory pieces about faith, GTD, prayer, Productivity, Life, what is important, friends, prioritization, family, and love.
• Blog posts - writing in my blogs regardless (and because of) resistance. Bold posts with no worry about what people will do or think.
• Some pieces in Ballard
• More words in Nanowrimo
• Letters to family
  

What do I want to write less of in the coming year?

I don't want less writing but I do want more focus. I would like to finish a piece.

First 366 words of Nanowrimo project

Samuel woke up, “What was the point?” he wondered. “No job to go to, no jobs to find, and him and his girlfriend Ana were living with his mom again. Seriously, what is the point of even getting up, this sucked!” In frustration Sam, threw a pillow, it seemed to move in slow motion as his eyes adjusted to the light, there was a loud clang as it nailed one of the swords hanging on the wall above the various brickabrack on cabinets and shelves.

Ana woke up beside him exclaiming “What the…”. “Sam explained, “oh, it’s nothing I just tripped when I was trying to get up.” “How do you trip a pillow into the wall?’

“Oh, you saw that huh?” , Sam smiled.

“Yeah, I saw that”.

The room filled with a sound of metal scraping on plaster, Ana and Sam looked in horror as the end of the sword cut loose from the wall. It swung through the book shelves and cabinets carving a path of carnage and destruction through the various action figures, Fantasy art, and role playing books. The sword which was originally designed to be wielded by a Samurai to carve through legions of Mongol hordes was now carving through legions of Wookies from Star Wars, Orcs from World of Warcraft, and splitting a spiderman figure right in two. At the end of its path the sword released from the wall. The sword sailed through air, towards Ana’s collection of stuffed animals, a piercing scream filled the room as the sword found its destination, impaled through the head of a stuffed Koala Ana had owned since she was 3.

“Shit”, Sam exclaimed.

Ana’s screaming didn’t cease as she began to beat on Sam with pillows, sheets, blankets, other stuffed animals, and her fists. “What the hell is wrong with you!”, she screamed at him.

“It was an accident”, Sam yelled as he retreated from the room, tripping over laundry, the remains of the koala and casualties from the Wookie massacre.

“Thank God Mom isn’t home”, Sam thought. “I have been getting enough grief from her already about finding work and working on around the house, I can’t use any more.”

Nanowrimo Plan

I have started a Nanowrimo journal and have built an outline which includes the first chapter of the book. The novel is well on its way to completion and I haven't even started writing yet! Awesome.

Things I have found that are really working:

• Work on the outline or journal about the book a little bit every day
• Talk to someone about the story every day
• Base the characters and personalities on people I know - this really helps with preparation. The characters are still mine but I can base them on aspects of personalities I really understand rather then having to create them myself.
  

How will this help me with Ballard?
A friend asked me if taking Nanowrimo will de-rail me from Ballard. That danger is real, I have enjoyed the break from Ballard but I fully plan on finishing it so I need to plan for a return once Nanowrimo is over. What will help me with Ballard is the writing practice. I was writing Ballard in a completely non-linear way that was making the story confusing even to me, by practicing some outlining structure I can order some of that mess and build some stories behind it. Plus since my friend challenged me to complete it I have to return to it. :) Thank you Augusto.

Planning new story for Nanowrimo

I am putting the breaks on Ballard until 12/1 but I am working on a new story for National Write a Novel month. Why? I care a lot about Ballard and I am not giving up but the purpose of Nanorwrimo is to finish a novel in November; while I could finish Ballard quickly but that wasn't the original purpose of writing it, I wanted something that I would be writing over the period of a few years in a nonlinear format, this just won't work for Nanowrimo.

I am working on a simple fantasy novel involving a character who is drawn into another world after going to sleep. You can read more about it on my nanowrimo page here.