So, I've been away a bit again. This time I have a good reason. Recently I was struck with what has been a recent blog topic: writer's block. Yes, the block. It isn't that I don't have ideas. I do. The problem is that I every time I sit down to work on these ideas I get my nightly limit (1,000 words) out, then read over what I wrote the next day. After making retching noises, I promptly do the electronic version of balling up the sheet of paper and tossing it in a wastebin.
When something is flowing well, however, there are interruptions. Work, family, a squalling child with enough chemical weaponry stockpiled in their Huggies to elicit UN sanctions...take your pick. After dealing with these minor crises, I end up sitting back down to realize I no longer have any clue where to go with the story, and once again the highlight and delete functions are employed.
So, procrastination or block? Not sure really. I have an outline for my NANOWRIMO project, and look forward to writing for the sheer joy of it. In the meantime, I'm abstaining from anything distracting that isn't absolutely necessary until I get at least one of these ideas crowding my head onto paper in some form. This means no television, no bars, no internet surfing, no good books...just typing reading, walking the block, and more typing. Nothing's flowing easily right now.
So, there we stand a storyless month in September, well below my goal of four stories, and it's shaping up to be a pretty barren October. Through willpower and coffee alone will I force November into being productive for 50,000 words. I can assure that much. Until then, I will be the invisible author attempting to finish a story with a baby in one arm and a coffee cup in the other.
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
Showing posts with label procrastination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label procrastination. Show all posts
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Curiosity Killed the Hog
Updates, updates everywhere...
Alright, let's see...doing the final edit on "Parable of Judas" tonight and getting it sent off to garner a rejection from Age of Blood and Snow. After that, I have this idea of a little girl and homemade, highpowered "hog grinder" (not sure what would work for that...) that I want to get on paper, edit, and submit to Black Garden. I should be hearing back this week on my Unspeakable Horrors submission, though I'm leaning towards another rejection. Once all this is done, I want to start fleshing out an idea I had not too long ago, see if there's a story or something longer behind it.
After this rush is done, I'm going back to work on the Long One again for a bit. I can't juggle two projects at once, not with the kiddo and wife and job search. On that front, I have a face-to-face interview next week with Humana for a call center, Medicare customer service slot. Not the best job in the world, but it'd pay the bills for now and the benefits package up there is great.
Let's see, things still out....
"Colburn Men"
"Dead Air"
"No Tell Motel"
"Tribe of Harry"
"Demon Whiskey"
"Weekend Trip"
"It Wonder Me"
"Fragile Obsession"
"Linquistic Prescription"
Also, there's a truck stop story outlined and just waiting to see page that'll start after I write on these anthology submissions.
Now, to head over to KFC and pick up dinner, cause I don't feel like cooking tonight.
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
-Oh yeah, almost forgot. Picked up a Maine Coon last night from a rescue operation. Named him Ambrose, as in Ambrose Bierce. I'll get a picture of him, Hemingway, and the rest of our zoo up as soon as I can figure out how to work my camera. Technology, though art not my friend.
Alright, let's see...doing the final edit on "Parable of Judas" tonight and getting it sent off to garner a rejection from Age of Blood and Snow. After that, I have this idea of a little girl and homemade, highpowered "hog grinder" (not sure what would work for that...) that I want to get on paper, edit, and submit to Black Garden. I should be hearing back this week on my Unspeakable Horrors submission, though I'm leaning towards another rejection. Once all this is done, I want to start fleshing out an idea I had not too long ago, see if there's a story or something longer behind it.
After this rush is done, I'm going back to work on the Long One again for a bit. I can't juggle two projects at once, not with the kiddo and wife and job search. On that front, I have a face-to-face interview next week with Humana for a call center, Medicare customer service slot. Not the best job in the world, but it'd pay the bills for now and the benefits package up there is great.
Let's see, things still out....
"Colburn Men"
"Dead Air"
"No Tell Motel"
"Tribe of Harry"
"Demon Whiskey"
"Weekend Trip"
"It Wonder Me"
"Fragile Obsession"
"Linquistic Prescription"
Also, there's a truck stop story outlined and just waiting to see page that'll start after I write on these anthology submissions.
Now, to head over to KFC and pick up dinner, cause I don't feel like cooking tonight.
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
-Oh yeah, almost forgot. Picked up a Maine Coon last night from a rescue operation. Named him Ambrose, as in Ambrose Bierce. I'll get a picture of him, Hemingway, and the rest of our zoo up as soon as I can figure out how to work my camera. Technology, though art not my friend.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Another Doldrum Day
You have to love Kentucky. One week it gets cold, then chilly, then you walk outside and it's 80 degrees in the bright sunshine, humidity has started to come into play, and you sweat like a stuck pig. I think when we eventually move I'll go somewhere with a more tolerable climate. Like Hell.
Started on another bit of work last night, actually on three different stories. Starting on one about an old lady who refuses to leave her land, a bit about a liar who traps himself, and a strange bit that features Papa Ghede, the Voodoo spirit/god of the dead. I don't know which one will take precedence, but they've all started to develop pretty well so we'll just have to see. Rewrote "The Tribe of Harry" after getting a pleasant rejection letter back from 94Creations for it that insisted it was "just not what they're looking for". Put it in the second person, made it a bit more...oh...blunt on some things, removed a little of the subtlety that both helps and hinders the work. Already resubmitted it, both to a "pie in the sky" market and a down to earth choice that is much more likely.
Waiting on rejections from the following:
"Linguistic Prescription" - ASIM
"Demon Whiskey" - Harvest Hill
"Fragile Obsession" - Ghost in the Machine
"Dead Air" - Aberrant Dreams
"Weekend Trip" - Unspeakable Horrors
"Colburn Men" - McSweeney's Quarterly
"No Tell Motel" - Voices
"Tribe of Harry" - The New Yorker (I just couldn't help myself. I want a rejection from the New Yorker to frame, damn it!)
Soon as those rejections come in, I'll be hopping ready to get started on finding homes for these wayward pieces, or tossing them in the kindling pile, as is appropriate when I read back through them. Hoping to finish three-five stories in the month of May, and get some more work done on "The Long One". I'm not exactly prolific, mainly because I have a habit of getting distracted by other things for a day or two, and falling off track. In June I'm going back through my Disk of Beginnings, where stories that only made it two to three pages before another idea knocked them out of the running. I'll spend most of June figuring out which ones, if any, I can get back to work on.
It's a hard knock life, that's for sure, but hey. I chose it, right?
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
Started on another bit of work last night, actually on three different stories. Starting on one about an old lady who refuses to leave her land, a bit about a liar who traps himself, and a strange bit that features Papa Ghede, the Voodoo spirit/god of the dead. I don't know which one will take precedence, but they've all started to develop pretty well so we'll just have to see. Rewrote "The Tribe of Harry" after getting a pleasant rejection letter back from 94Creations for it that insisted it was "just not what they're looking for". Put it in the second person, made it a bit more...oh...blunt on some things, removed a little of the subtlety that both helps and hinders the work. Already resubmitted it, both to a "pie in the sky" market and a down to earth choice that is much more likely.
Waiting on rejections from the following:
"Linguistic Prescription" - ASIM
"Demon Whiskey" - Harvest Hill
"Fragile Obsession" - Ghost in the Machine
"Dead Air" - Aberrant Dreams
"Weekend Trip" - Unspeakable Horrors
"Colburn Men" - McSweeney's Quarterly
"No Tell Motel" - Voices
"Tribe of Harry" - The New Yorker (I just couldn't help myself. I want a rejection from the New Yorker to frame, damn it!)
Soon as those rejections come in, I'll be hopping ready to get started on finding homes for these wayward pieces, or tossing them in the kindling pile, as is appropriate when I read back through them. Hoping to finish three-five stories in the month of May, and get some more work done on "The Long One". I'm not exactly prolific, mainly because I have a habit of getting distracted by other things for a day or two, and falling off track. In June I'm going back through my Disk of Beginnings, where stories that only made it two to three pages before another idea knocked them out of the running. I'll spend most of June figuring out which ones, if any, I can get back to work on.
It's a hard knock life, that's for sure, but hey. I chose it, right?
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
Monday, February 18, 2008
Blocked
Alright, so normally I don't like to talk plot. This time...well...
The other day I got to thinking about how annoying it is to be a Kentuckian during the Derby. That is a truly horrible time of year. People from all over flock to get a taste of "southern charm" and generally make our lives a living hell for several days in a row. Meanwhile, we can't go anywhere or do anything without getting asked directions, told how different things are where they're from, or even eat out because every table is taken.
So, on a boring day last week at the office, I decided to get my own version of revenge by playing out every Louisvillian's Derby fantasy. The problem? I've been away from the story for a few days now, so what was once very clear has become fuzzy. Today I only got two hundred words on paper before calling it quits.
This, ladies and gentlemen, sucks. So tomorrow I'm coming home from work, sitting down, and getting this damn story rolling again. If I don't i want one of you to come over here and smack the hell out of me.
Time to smoke a cigarette and hit the hay. I'm dead tired tonight.
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
The other day I got to thinking about how annoying it is to be a Kentuckian during the Derby. That is a truly horrible time of year. People from all over flock to get a taste of "southern charm" and generally make our lives a living hell for several days in a row. Meanwhile, we can't go anywhere or do anything without getting asked directions, told how different things are where they're from, or even eat out because every table is taken.
So, on a boring day last week at the office, I decided to get my own version of revenge by playing out every Louisvillian's Derby fantasy. The problem? I've been away from the story for a few days now, so what was once very clear has become fuzzy. Today I only got two hundred words on paper before calling it quits.
This, ladies and gentlemen, sucks. So tomorrow I'm coming home from work, sitting down, and getting this damn story rolling again. If I don't i want one of you to come over here and smack the hell out of me.
Time to smoke a cigarette and hit the hay. I'm dead tired tonight.
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year
Well, it's 2008. Another year, another group of people drinking champagne and playing board games. But I didn't really make this thing to go into my personal life.
"A Question of Freedom" went up over on Allegory today (see last post for link, details, etc). Planning on finishing up the zombie story ASAP, even if the ending isn't too great. I don't think there's much of a market for it, but I can always cruise Duotrope to see if there's anything out there that might be willing to pay me the cost of a carton of cigarettes for it. The main reason for the rush is I was recounting a couple ghost stories I played a part in, mainly as a witness, in the past. In recounting them, I remembered an experience someone shared with me about their childhood ghostly encounter once. It had a very disturbing image of an eyeless woman standing beside a bed staring at a small child.
The image made me shiver.
The result, now, is that I've got the beginnings of a story forming around that image and a couple others, and I'd like to start working on it. Even if I never sell it, I won't exactly be satisfied until I write it and put it in the Box'O'Crap by the fireplace for future rewriting/kindling. Besides, the zombie story has taken the better part of a month thanks to my habit of procrastination and my apartment's close proximity to the neighborhood bar. I have to sit down and finish it, or else it'll be consigned to the "unfinished" file with only about 6 or 7 pages left to work on.
Well, that's that.
Take'er easy,
J.C. Tabler
"A Question of Freedom" went up over on Allegory today (see last post for link, details, etc). Planning on finishing up the zombie story ASAP, even if the ending isn't too great. I don't think there's much of a market for it, but I can always cruise Duotrope to see if there's anything out there that might be willing to pay me the cost of a carton of cigarettes for it. The main reason for the rush is I was recounting a couple ghost stories I played a part in, mainly as a witness, in the past. In recounting them, I remembered an experience someone shared with me about their childhood ghostly encounter once. It had a very disturbing image of an eyeless woman standing beside a bed staring at a small child.
The image made me shiver.
The result, now, is that I've got the beginnings of a story forming around that image and a couple others, and I'd like to start working on it. Even if I never sell it, I won't exactly be satisfied until I write it and put it in the Box'O'Crap by the fireplace for future rewriting/kindling. Besides, the zombie story has taken the better part of a month thanks to my habit of procrastination and my apartment's close proximity to the neighborhood bar. I have to sit down and finish it, or else it'll be consigned to the "unfinished" file with only about 6 or 7 pages left to work on.
Well, that's that.
Take'er easy,
J.C. Tabler
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