I finally broke the writer's block, and it isn't on a story. Not exactly.
I'm working on a story about a true suicide that happened here in Kentucky, at least they thought it was a suicide, and it may have actually been. I want to play it close to the vest right now, but it has homosexuality, a love triangle, felonies, embezzlement, a coverup...all the makings of sensational psuedo-news.
EDIT:
I realized I should post some more.
Alright, so here goes. Work has picked up, and as a result I have four 1/4 finished stories sitting on my hard drive. It isn't about substance right now, just getting the starts down on paper. If I can muscle through that, and get a flow going, I can always go back to rewrite the beginning.
In other news, the whole family got sick last week, babies and all. This meant my 7-day vacation from work for writing purposes turned into 7 days of sniffling and sneezing, turning into a couple of days handlingt he babies myself as my poor wife passed out and had to be hospitalized. She's alright now, but with her condition (MS), both her M.D. and I are in agreement that she has to take better care of herself.
As for the stories...well...
"Norton Is Watching" has been rebirthed, and "The Parting Glass" has come into development stages for the basic idea, clocking in at 958 words for an intro and atmosphere. "Deep Dark Hellhole" is starting to bud into the real meat of a short, short piece, and I've started outlining the NANOWRIMO idea.
I swear I'm going to try and finish that this year.
As for everything else...well, I have no excuse. See, I know I can write, and I know I do a decent enough job, but I'm seeing a serious lacking quality to my recent work. Chalk it up to stress, time constraints, family...whatever. It's no real excuse. I've got to get my feet under me, in a literary sense. I started out this year piss and vinegar and went strong up until July. After that...well. We only have to look back at my blog to see what happened.
So here's the plan...get one story finished prior to NANOWRIMO. Complete a draft of a novel, even if it does turn out to be as rancid as my son's last diaper, during November. Do two more stories in December. Rest for half of January, then kick my big rear back into gear. Luckily, I now have three days off a week, working 4 days a week, 10 hours a day. My wife and I have agreed the extra day is a no-kids, no-distractions writing day, 8 hours from rising to resting in front of the P.C., 4,000 words a day. That...well, honestly shouldn't be a problem for me. My normal daily limit for 2-3 hours is 1,000 words, and that's counting distractions.
I'm counting on you fine folks, then, to harass me every Wednesday on whether I've finished my work or not. Beat him, harangue me, cajole me. Hell, get my phone number and call me incessantly to ask if I'm at the computer.
As for the project above...right now it's research and trying to secure interviews. I have to get the family, coworkers, cops, and journalists to talk to me, secure 15 year old case files, get audit reports, find friends/witnesses willing to talk to me, and secure a photographer. I also have to turn my coal room into a kid-proof lair where I can tack up crime scene photos in all their gory details. It isn't horror, but damned if what I have (just in two interviews and news clippings) doesn't lead me to believe there's a story there.
For now, though, I have to help train a class of new hires tomorrow, so off to bed I go.
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
Showing posts with label writer's block. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writer's block. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Ay yi yi
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
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
Monday, September 1, 2008
Let's cover August.
Well, I am loathe to admit this, but I only finished a single complete work of fiction during the month of August. I had finished several things during July, got them sent out and such, but August was mostly work and pregnancy. So, as a result, only one piece of writing got finished. That was:
"Ain't Gonna Dig No More" - Submitted to Potter's Field 3
Outside of that, I started on several things only to have them fall by the wayside throughout the month, among them being:
"One Lump or Two, Balgaraog the Eviscerator" - a possible Dead Jesters story. This was started, and about halfway through set aside because I wasn't certain of the story's thread or where it was going. I had Balgarog, the demon from Hell forced to have a tea party with a little girl whose bed he slept under, down pat. As for the plot, the girl, her family...not so much past the first couple scenes. I'm working on this one still, and someday hope to read over what I have and churn out a definite story, but for now it's on hold.
"Mitchell Hill Road" - A calling from the world of Harvest Hill. I've started it, and have decided in a few hours of writing that it will be much longer than the simple one-shot I wanted to do as a work-up for my own amusement. This'll be on hold for definite development until I get the anthology in my hands and see what history has already been developed for the town outside of my own story. It may be a possible submission to some future anthology or project set in that tiny Tennessee town.
"The Coal Room" - Not really on hold, just having a few false starts. Everytime I found the thread, my wife (still pregnant then) needed something done, and by the time I was finished the story would have fled. The basics are still there, just waiting for me to sit down and type the story.
"Rex Storm, Large Vermin Exterminator" - A longtime project finally began, that saw a good amount of work on the outline for it over the month. Between this one and the babies, I have a decent excuse not to get many short stories done over August.
September will hopefully see a lot more work being done, both on "Rex Storm" (which may end up being that 'someday' novel I keep talking about, depending on how the outlines tickle my fancy) and on the short story scene. Now that the kids are here, believe it or not, I'll have a little more time to write because I'm going to be up half the night anyhow. Might as well make some use of those midnight hours. Plus, I tend to be prolific when I'm stressed out.
Well, back to the children, then back to the grindstone. By the way, remember to read Catherine Gardner's new story over at Allegory. It is, very simply, another wonderful piece from this talented writer.
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
"Ain't Gonna Dig No More" - Submitted to Potter's Field 3
Outside of that, I started on several things only to have them fall by the wayside throughout the month, among them being:
"One Lump or Two, Balgaraog the Eviscerator" - a possible Dead Jesters story. This was started, and about halfway through set aside because I wasn't certain of the story's thread or where it was going. I had Balgarog, the demon from Hell forced to have a tea party with a little girl whose bed he slept under, down pat. As for the plot, the girl, her family...not so much past the first couple scenes. I'm working on this one still, and someday hope to read over what I have and churn out a definite story, but for now it's on hold.
"Mitchell Hill Road" - A calling from the world of Harvest Hill. I've started it, and have decided in a few hours of writing that it will be much longer than the simple one-shot I wanted to do as a work-up for my own amusement. This'll be on hold for definite development until I get the anthology in my hands and see what history has already been developed for the town outside of my own story. It may be a possible submission to some future anthology or project set in that tiny Tennessee town.
"The Coal Room" - Not really on hold, just having a few false starts. Everytime I found the thread, my wife (still pregnant then) needed something done, and by the time I was finished the story would have fled. The basics are still there, just waiting for me to sit down and type the story.
"Rex Storm, Large Vermin Exterminator" - A longtime project finally began, that saw a good amount of work on the outline for it over the month. Between this one and the babies, I have a decent excuse not to get many short stories done over August.
September will hopefully see a lot more work being done, both on "Rex Storm" (which may end up being that 'someday' novel I keep talking about, depending on how the outlines tickle my fancy) and on the short story scene. Now that the kids are here, believe it or not, I'll have a little more time to write because I'm going to be up half the night anyhow. Might as well make some use of those midnight hours. Plus, I tend to be prolific when I'm stressed out.
Well, back to the children, then back to the grindstone. By the way, remember to read Catherine Gardner's new story over at Allegory. It is, very simply, another wonderful piece from this talented writer.
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
I Now Declare Crap Month...
Officially closed. I think tonight I managed to break my writer's block with an image of a decomposing corpse reflected in a bar mirror. After that I started another piece, a bartender narrating a ghost story to a patron, with the reader as the patron. No, there's no expected dialogue to be imagined. I just kinda wanted to put the reader into the position of being the guy on the other side of a wooden bar with a talkative (and bored) bartender.
I checked my submission list the other day and came up with:
"Dead Air" at Aberrant Dreams I'm thinking this one either got lost, or was a rejection that never got sent out, or some other such thing. It's been well over 100 days. I had heard stories about slow response times...but man oh man...
"Tribe of Harry" at The New Yorker All I want this year is a rejection on their letterhead and a bit of personalization. That'd be almost as good as an acceptance from anywhere else.
"Demon Whiskey" at Harvest Hill I have no illusions of this one getting accepted, but I am looking forward to the comments when that rejection finally comes in.
"Poppa Bear" at Cause and Effect This piece has been called interesting but too sentimental, strong characters that turn into caricature, etc. The general consensus was that it needed some story work, which got done and got it resubmitted somewhere else.
"The Simple Account of Sergeant Shea, Immediately Prior to the End of the World" at Allegory Ezine , a piece that I had fun writing and submitted after a rewrite only at the urging of the undeniable Ms. Gardner, who insisted it could be found a home somewhere. I don't really mind, it was written for me.
"Big Jim Can Wait" and "Winter Wonderland" at Northern Haunts Anthology , if for no other reason than I had so much fun writing my accepted piece, "Many Comforting Words", that I wanted to write two more.
"Linguistic Prescription" at Postcards from Hell , a surefire rejection in waiting, but I'll be honest, I'm starting to get a kick out of reading the rejection letters for this piece, so I'm going to keep sending it out there.
"Sacrifice of Man and Cloth" at Saint Ann's Review , because, like the New Yorker, I want a rejection from these people.
"No Tell Motel" at OG's Speculative Fiction Magazine . Ever since it got shortlisted and then cut from Voices Anthology , this sucker has been making the rounds, racking up two form rejections in less than a month and a half.
In addition to this, I have a basic idea for the Malpractice anthology if I can get it running, the aforementioned Bar Story got it's first two intro paragraphs done tonight (my writing time must be fit into a busy schedule, don't harp on me), and a developing idea for a serious piece after I finally finish "Norton's Watching".
On other fronts, work is going well. A couple more weeks and I'll be shifting calls without supervision, the pay is good, and even on a tight budget we manage to live a decent life. Worrying now about Christmas, what with three kids and all.
So...how're you all doing?
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
I checked my submission list the other day and came up with:
"Dead Air" at Aberrant Dreams I'm thinking this one either got lost, or was a rejection that never got sent out, or some other such thing. It's been well over 100 days. I had heard stories about slow response times...but man oh man...
"Tribe of Harry" at The New Yorker All I want this year is a rejection on their letterhead and a bit of personalization. That'd be almost as good as an acceptance from anywhere else.
"Demon Whiskey" at Harvest Hill I have no illusions of this one getting accepted, but I am looking forward to the comments when that rejection finally comes in.
"Poppa Bear" at Cause and Effect This piece has been called interesting but too sentimental, strong characters that turn into caricature, etc. The general consensus was that it needed some story work, which got done and got it resubmitted somewhere else.
"The Simple Account of Sergeant Shea, Immediately Prior to the End of the World" at Allegory Ezine , a piece that I had fun writing and submitted after a rewrite only at the urging of the undeniable Ms. Gardner, who insisted it could be found a home somewhere. I don't really mind, it was written for me.
"Big Jim Can Wait" and "Winter Wonderland" at Northern Haunts Anthology , if for no other reason than I had so much fun writing my accepted piece, "Many Comforting Words", that I wanted to write two more.
"Linguistic Prescription" at Postcards from Hell , a surefire rejection in waiting, but I'll be honest, I'm starting to get a kick out of reading the rejection letters for this piece, so I'm going to keep sending it out there.
"Sacrifice of Man and Cloth" at Saint Ann's Review , because, like the New Yorker, I want a rejection from these people.
"No Tell Motel" at OG's Speculative Fiction Magazine . Ever since it got shortlisted and then cut from Voices Anthology , this sucker has been making the rounds, racking up two form rejections in less than a month and a half.
In addition to this, I have a basic idea for the Malpractice anthology if I can get it running, the aforementioned Bar Story got it's first two intro paragraphs done tonight (my writing time must be fit into a busy schedule, don't harp on me), and a developing idea for a serious piece after I finally finish "Norton's Watching".
On other fronts, work is going well. A couple more weeks and I'll be shifting calls without supervision, the pay is good, and even on a tight budget we manage to live a decent life. Worrying now about Christmas, what with three kids and all.
So...how're you all doing?
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Weekend Update, with J.C. Tabler
Week one of the job over. Last night was my sister's wedding. Sitting down today to start outlining an idea or two.
Here's the thing: writing is, unfortunately, taking a back seat until I get this house in order and settle into my job. Let's call it a month long hiatus. Instead of coming up with new stuff, I'm spending weekends in June and most of July re-working old pieces that I didn't like after the first draft. Some of them have a lot of promise when read later, others (I was surprised to find) are almost complete stories that I just got distracted from by something else. So, I hereby name Mid-June to Mid-July "CRAP PILE MONTH"
Got a rejection back from Unspeakable Horrors the other day, with good criticism in it, which was nice. I don't think I'll rework that story. Reading back over it, I saw it was written for one anthology, and probably wouldn't fit anywhere else. So, there we go.
Now, to take a bath, get my tux back to the rental store, and come home to figure out dinner before doing some more revisions.
BTW, congrats to Cate Gardner.
She's been having a spectacular 2008 so far, with acceptances into some very, very good areas, most recently with SAND. If you haven't read her work yet, hop to it. We're gonna see a lot more form her.
Here's the thing: writing is, unfortunately, taking a back seat until I get this house in order and settle into my job. Let's call it a month long hiatus. Instead of coming up with new stuff, I'm spending weekends in June and most of July re-working old pieces that I didn't like after the first draft. Some of them have a lot of promise when read later, others (I was surprised to find) are almost complete stories that I just got distracted from by something else. So, I hereby name Mid-June to Mid-July "CRAP PILE MONTH"
Got a rejection back from Unspeakable Horrors the other day, with good criticism in it, which was nice. I don't think I'll rework that story. Reading back over it, I saw it was written for one anthology, and probably wouldn't fit anywhere else. So, there we go.
Now, to take a bath, get my tux back to the rental store, and come home to figure out dinner before doing some more revisions.
BTW, congrats to Cate Gardner.
She's been having a spectacular 2008 so far, with acceptances into some very, very good areas, most recently with SAND. If you haven't read her work yet, hop to it. We're gonna see a lot more form her.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Bedtime
Well, I finally wrote my ghost story. This morning. In about 40 minutes.
I hate flash fiction. I mean, I really despise it. I think a good story should take the reader for a ride, both in development and in resolution, and I have a hard time believing that you can do this in less that one thousand words. Still, I signed up for a "Writer's Group Reading" tonight because, frankly, I'm getting bored sitting around the house on Wednesday nights. Plus, with Des pregnant any time out of the house is like a godsend.
The only thing is that there is a requirement to bring a piece for reading to these groups. Flash fiction, with this month's topic being "Weird Western". Since I've gone far over the "flash fiction" requirements on everything else, I wrote my ghost story with a slight variation on the image I'd mentioned in an earlier post. I then trimmed it to about 950 words, stuck it in SMF, and saved it for printing later.
Hopefully this thing will help me loosen up my block on the other couple of tales I'm working on, not to mention the "Long One".
I'll let you know how it goes.
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
I hate flash fiction. I mean, I really despise it. I think a good story should take the reader for a ride, both in development and in resolution, and I have a hard time believing that you can do this in less that one thousand words. Still, I signed up for a "Writer's Group Reading" tonight because, frankly, I'm getting bored sitting around the house on Wednesday nights. Plus, with Des pregnant any time out of the house is like a godsend.
The only thing is that there is a requirement to bring a piece for reading to these groups. Flash fiction, with this month's topic being "Weird Western". Since I've gone far over the "flash fiction" requirements on everything else, I wrote my ghost story with a slight variation on the image I'd mentioned in an earlier post. I then trimmed it to about 950 words, stuck it in SMF, and saved it for printing later.
Hopefully this thing will help me loosen up my block on the other couple of tales I'm working on, not to mention the "Long One".
I'll let you know how it goes.
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
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