tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71199903555353583312012-01-30T18:46:06.031-05:00H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.comBlogger1701100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-32600640579982715872011-03-09T11:16:00.000-05:002011-03-09T11:16:20.663-05:00

Writerland has been very empty for me lately, the place it usually occupies taken up instead by things of a decidedly more mundane nature. It's hard to be creative when, as I've grown fond of saying, life is being stupid in my general direction. But I wanted to share a little of what has been happening in my creative brain over the last few weeks, largely in the form of the output from the

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-36554184070735172022011-02-15T10:38:00.000-05:002011-02-15T10:38:34.308-05:00

Seth Godin wrote about the "lotteries" of life in his blog recently: In terms of practical mathematics, whatever lottery you're playing (the marry a millionaire lottery, the get picked to be on Oprah lottery, the get found at Hollywood and Vine and win an Oscar lottery) has no winner. In other words, your chance of winning is so vanishingly small it's as if, from an investment point of view,

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-243182358964518852011-02-10T07:00:00.022-05:002011-02-10T10:21:22.601-05:00

I'm making some slow progress on "Umbra". I've got all but the tail end of the second manuscript into Scrivener, and though not much new material has been written, having the book all in one place in one application helps me visualise it better. I'm surprised at how linear the second manuscript is, time-wise. I had thought I was all over the place, writing endings of scenes before their

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-11570115885811442082011-02-08T09:46:00.000-05:002011-02-08T09:46:39.624-05:00

Recently I've found myself becoming discouraged by other writers' success. People I know or writer friends of people I know have gotten published or are receiving media attention, and it gets me down. I'm happy for them, but it's a reminder of how much I haven't done. KJ Grigoriadis shared a poignant anecdote with me and I want to pass it along: At a sales demo, a man invites two women to

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-85223520956154034232011-02-04T09:32:00.000-05:002011-02-04T09:32:38.014-05:00

This morning I've been distracted by computer troubles once again. Armed with a determination to get in here and write my 500 words before settling in to other tasks that need to be done, I was almost immediately derailed by my laptop misbehaving. I'll spare you the gory and geeky details, but I'm over here, two feet to the left, now typing on Cairns, the most recent acquisition from the local

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-82628285444867510872011-02-03T10:45:00.000-05:002011-02-03T10:45:07.797-05:00

I'm enjoying this challenge more as time goes on. I'd forgotten how much I love these characters and this setting. As I write each day I'm filling in gaps in my manuscript, places where I'd just had a summary sentence or two to remind me of where I was going during the frenzied writing of NaNoWriMo. It's a bit odd to incorporate setting details I created in the second part of the manuscript

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-56523387770430922962011-02-02T10:10:00.000-05:002011-02-02T10:10:59.515-05:00

Okay, so my participation in A River of Stones was not as robust as I'd intended. I've never been more glad to see the back end of a month as I am to see that of January. I'm hoping February is a touch kinder. I could use some breathing room. I did River posts when I could, sometimes tossed them onto Twitter, but basically didn't kick myself for missing a day. I had my doubts I could produce

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-54997541954422858502011-02-01T10:30:00.000-05:002011-02-01T10:30:18.915-05:00

Well, here we are, on day one of my 500-words-a-day challenge and I don't have a topic. Project. Subject. Whatever. I have a few choices. Add words to "The Rise of Umbra" while also editing it Plot out a cohesive story for James Sterling and write that Dump a heap of words into "Prediction Center" and hope to trim it back to a workable short story size If I choose "Prediction Center" I'll

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-66985464672538995662011-01-31T10:39:00.000-05:002011-01-31T10:39:42.829-05:00

Time and time again I sit down here to write. Oftentimes I have a subject in mind: a bit of advice or a goofy observaton, perhaps. Today my head is empty. I've got an important meeting coming up today and I expect that's taking away some of my focus. Knowing I have a limited amount of time to get something written in here should spur me to get writing, and it would ... if I had a subject.

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-29530043342936886112011-01-27T10:39:00.000-05:002011-01-27T10:39:11.317-05:00

The view out my window I've gotten off to a late start this morning. My house is full of distractions today, from a problem with my laptop computer to the enticing view of the half a foot of snow or so that was dumped on us last night, I'm struggling to get here and type something that's meaningful. I haven't been in much of a creative mood lately, so not much work has been done on my writing.

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-69008793937071967852011-01-26T09:59:00.000-05:002011-01-26T09:59:13.511-05:00

I'm writing this from a newly-installed Kubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat operating system, which won't mean much to many of you, but it's a distraction all its own this morning. I've finally stopped myself from tweaking and playing with it (and stressing the compsitor out to the point I felt it prudent to reboot) so I can settle down to the business of writing. I read Gary Henderson's most recent

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-64750269239243300692011-01-25T09:18:00.000-05:002011-01-25T09:18:00.248-05:00

a line of starlings huddle on the power wire taking refuge from the noisy passage of a car they await the return of quiet winter stillness to fly back down, en masse, into the yard and eat their fill before the storm. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js'

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-77677214805874155662011-01-20T07:00:00.006-05:002011-01-20T07:00:01.801-05:00

Here's a bit of an art break. Anyone can make a mandala. It's a fun exercise that doesn't require any special tools. You can draw a mandala in your lined notebook with a ball-point pen or in a sketch pad with a felt-tip marker. Follow these simple instructions and you'll be relaxing with a mandala in no time. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-55441713802779289042011-01-19T07:00:00.002-05:002011-01-19T07:00:02.250-05:00

There are a lot of things a writer can do which are not writing. Here's my example list: browsing Facebook "just for a minute to see what everyone's been up to in the ten or so hours that have elapsed since I went to bed"  checking e-mail stopping whatever else I might be doing (which might in some rare cases actually be writing) to switch to the e-mail client when it pops up a "new message"

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-78592990840978175602011-01-18T07:00:00.001-05:002011-01-18T07:00:08.167-05:00

I've been writing in 750words.com for over a month now and I'm fairly pleased with the site. It suffers from occasional glitches and slowdowns, mostly late at night, typically when I realise I haven't done my words for the day and am in a mad dash to complete them. But generally it's a nice place to write. The owner of the site says your words are completely secure, but for some of us that's

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-40214941565257533532011-01-17T10:22:00.000-05:002011-01-17T10:22:22.818-05:00

I've discovered that writing Twitter posts has had the effect of tightening up my writing. With only 140 characters at my disposal I'm forced to be very precise with my words. I'm generally unwilling to use textspeak, such as changing 'you' to 'u' or other such nonsense. That just looks uneducated and unprofessional to me. So I gain characters in other ways. It's certainly gotten me to

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-87958845799974993672011-01-14T11:52:00.000-05:002011-01-14T11:52:14.219-05:00

All these famous, well-accomplished people, their lives full of purpose, drive, and hardship. How poorly my own compares; how fortunate have I been. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-59607478333225398352011-01-12T10:31:00.000-05:002011-01-12T10:31:34.173-05:00

I confess I've not been really very attentive lately. Last week saw a crisis of sorts in my life (don't worry; everyone's fine) and so I lost sight of the small in favour of the big. Throughout it I tried to grasp at small stones, but rarely found them before things whisked me away again. With my life settling down again I'm reviewing the ones I have found and, naturally, finding them

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-10067155791248309962011-01-04T07:00:00.003-05:002011-01-04T07:00:15.622-05:00

A dwarf And now a brief interlude: A story spun from a computer game. I play a game called Dwarf Fortress, which is known to have one of the steepest learning curves known to mankind. It took me two weeks to become comfortable with its basics, and after a couple of months I'm still learning things every time I play. I don't mention this game because it's difficult, as a prelude to some

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-50673653892401342932011-01-03T07:00:00.005-05:002011-01-03T09:58:58.059-05:00

Seth Godin wrote recently in his blog about the perils of waiting until everything's perfect to take risks and put yourself out there. I've written about this kind of thing myself. Waiting for the Muse doesn't work very well. It does work, but very slowly for many of us. You'll get better results if you go to your Muse and ask her to come round for a cup of tea or the like. Take her out for

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-24781914866174271292010-12-31T07:00:00.001-05:002010-12-31T07:00:02.714-05:00

What did you learn about yourself from rejection, and how has it helped your writing, your confidence or your submissions approach develop? I still haven't submitted any fiction for publication, though the periodic rejections that come from Associated Content helped me focus my pieces. I'm still shaky on confidence as regards submitting to them. Hopefully writing and submitting more this

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-89806314018796175322010-12-30T07:00:00.002-05:002010-12-30T07:00:05.746-05:00

What did you learn about your writing rhythms: time of day to write, managing procrastination, how and when to revise, making use of slim margins of time, etc.? Having spent the year writing (mostly) every day in this blog, I've learned I'm a morning writer. Setting a schedule and making it rote has helped me keep from procrastinating too much. For my blog, I revise right after I write. Not a

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-80227806059293768552010-12-29T07:00:00.001-05:002010-12-29T07:00:09.962-05:00

Who has praised your writing or teaching or facilitating? What did they say and how did it give you a new sense of appreciation for yourself and your work? A few of the posts I've done in my blog have received positive statements from people. My reminiscence on the approach of fall was praised by a friend, and a micro-fiction piece I did elsewhere got a positive response. The comments I

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-6258363755962148552010-12-28T07:00:00.001-05:002010-12-28T07:00:02.429-05:00

How did you nurture and sustain your well being–in mind, body, spirit? Perhaps not so well as I'd have liked. I've left off some of the things I used to do that helped center me, such as meditation, yoga, and Morning Pages. I don't read so much any more. I get my head in the computer way too much. But I've tried to do the little things: being aware, noticing things, enjoying individual

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-65528507476468050342010-12-27T07:00:00.002-05:002010-12-27T07:00:10.625-05:00

What strategies worked best for being effective with your time? Making a schedule. Every morning I sit down to write. Well, that's the plan. I do sit down every morning, computer on, tea by my side, and open my text editor. I tend to do the vast majority of my writing in the morning before lunch, though in November I stretched that into the afternoon due to the nature of the marathon.

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-63763098175577061372010-12-23T09:03:00.001-05:002010-12-23T09:07:47.659-05:00

What did you let go of (habits, relationships, attitudes, clutter) that was no longer serving you? It's an ongoing process, but I think I'm doing well at letting go of the need to have my work and my existence validated by my audience and by the people in my life. Like Seth Godin says, "If the kids in the back of the bus/audience/store don't get it (or don't get you) it's their loss. Focus on

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-89478708559917979872010-12-22T11:40:00.000-05:002010-12-22T11:40:25.009-05:00

What obstacles did you face and overcome? NaNoWriMo is always an obstacle, but one that I steer into deliberately every year. Once again I faced the usual hurdles of stalling ideas, flat characters, and the presence of the blank screen staring me in the face every morning. I proceeded through the month and achieved the goal, even though my result was not as shiny as I had hoped it would be.

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-15363881453796467362010-12-21T09:00:00.002-05:002010-12-21T09:17:36.988-05:00

You've heard me talk about National Novel Writing Month in here (it has the bulk of the the subject tags), but January brings a new writing challenge. Sage Cohen invites everyone to participate in Fiona Robyn's National Small Stone Month, as detailled in Robyn's blog: A small stone is a very short piece of writing that precisely captures a fully-engaged moment. There are no strict rules for

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-54908108194140863222010-12-20T09:32:00.000-05:002010-12-20T09:32:02.557-05:00

Erika Dreifus posted a link to Your Year In Review: An Inventory Of Everything Good in her blog last week. Sage Cohen invites us to take a look at what went well for us this past year, and she's provided some questions to help focus our reverie. I'll be answering a couple of these over the next two weeks. What was most fun, exhilarating or rewarding in your writing life this year? In

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-91535213209143156602010-12-10T07:00:00.005-05:002010-12-10T11:59:14.669-05:00

The blog at The Office of Letters and Light posted an entry mentioning a site called 750 words. It features a text editor that counts your words as you type, but that's by far not the coolest part about it. It grants you award badges for achievements, like writing to your 750 word goal multiple days in a row, or writing without allowing yourself to stop before you get to the goal. Not only

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-81165595902926358272010-12-06T07:00:00.002-05:002010-12-06T07:00:13.032-05:00

After a brief respite following the madness that is National Novel Writing Month, I'm ready to get back to writing. And this time I mean business! I've spent a month writing like my hair was on fire, and though it was difficult at times, I miss it. Most of all I miss the presence of the deadline on my neck. Wait. What? Yes, I said I miss the deadline. Why? Because it was largely the

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-65306525314230787552010-11-30T10:38:00.000-05:002010-11-30T10:38:47.204-05:00

I have arrived in the Winner's Circle! *fanfare* I struggled quite a bit with the marathon this year, and sitting here now I feel less like I've won something and more like I dragged myself through an ordeal and survived. But I have my purple bar and all's right with the world. This story is by far the most disjointed one I've ever written, and it's not complete in any sense. I lost control

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-76604911503360717502010-11-19T14:44:00.000-05:002010-11-19T14:44:00.744-05:00

I'm proud to announce I've just written 4385 words today! I did nine sprints and spent about two hours actual butt-in-chair writing time, which is 36 words written a minute or 2192 words per hour. Some very interesting things are happening with the plot, which seems to be rolling along now of its own accord. Lessons: when in doubt, switch to another group of malcontents citizens. Create AIs.

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-76666540298047055582010-11-14T14:28:00.000-05:002010-11-14T14:28:47.857-05:00

I'm over twenty thousand words into this story and I've just handed a pink slip to Akka, my citadel's Master Spearman. I'd thought over the last few days that a few of the scenelets I'd written from Akka's point of view really belonged to Teno, the clear villain of the story. I did a mindmap instead of plunging in and writing, and in so doing I discovered that most of Akka's motivations

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-53855071039997536502010-11-12T14:17:00.000-05:002010-11-12T14:17:09.072-05:00

I ought to be socking away another thousand words in my novel right now, but I'm tired and kinda blah and finally in the grasp of 'Why the heck am I doing this stupid thing, anyway?' All that means is that I'm on the right track. Neil Gaiman, in 2007's Week Three pep talk, said when you reach the point where you think it would be a mercy to simply delete the whole wretched thing, that's when

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-62565056999937964872010-11-08T08:08:00.000-05:002010-11-08T08:08:25.760-05:00

Here's my chart of progress for Week One. I started out fairly strong (except for Tuesday), kicked my word count down the stairs on Thursday, and somehow managed to write eighteen hundred words on Saturday before going off to gaming. I didn't mind much slacking off Sunday. Between staying up late Saturday, sleeping in Sunday morning, and the change back to Standard Time (my study wall clock is

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-71482625689389453062010-11-06T14:23:00.000-04:002010-11-06T14:23:12.620-04:00

I didn't get much accomplished yesterday compared to Thursday (Day Four), but I still managed to log over 1000 words. I've got the Ctrl-S twitch already. I had it on Day One, really. It kind of hangs out all year long, whenever I'm writing something important, this urge to save my document, even if I'm writing a blog post or an email. My plot is, as predicted, morphing and changing as I go.

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-40881815464312305502010-11-04T11:09:00.000-04:002010-11-04T11:09:59.746-04:00

A quick update before I head off to lunch: NaNoWriMo is going pretty well for me so far. I'm a bit ahead in word count and my story is slowly beginning to shake out. I'm focusing on things I hadn't expected to, but it'll all tie together in the end. Before the week is out I'll need to spend some time outlining the direction of the story. I'll probably pick up some index cards and scrawl out

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-56209583166108121642010-10-31T13:18:00.000-04:002010-10-31T13:18:50.435-04:00

At midnight tonight, National Novel Writing Month begins. Some writers choose to get to bed early, others to stay up and seize NaNo by the horns as soon as the clock ticks over. Typically I choose the former, but last year the latter approach proved fruitful, so I'll probably be doing that again this year. Getting a head start, as it were, on my word count for the day helped boost my

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-16534420701745578862010-10-29T15:02:00.000-04:002010-10-29T15:02:49.690-04:00

I find it helpful to choose a few inspiring or useful things to keep on hand during NaNo. I read the weekly pep talk that comes in the e-mail from NaNoWriMo. I keep "No Plot? No Problem!" close to hand. I have a few notecards I've tacked or taped up over the last few NaNos that carry inspirational messages, such as "Keep pushing. Never mind the yetis," a phrase adapted from a WriMoRadio

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-66623750291456829672010-10-28T10:05:00.000-04:002010-10-28T10:05:14.874-04:00

Setting is important when you're writing your novel. You want to give your reader a sense of where and when the action is happening and draw him or her into the world you're creating. But the setting of your physical writing place in this world is of equal importance. Some have the luxury of an entire room of the house to dedicate to writing. My study houses most of my creative activities,

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-20861197795260126872010-10-26T10:23:00.000-04:002010-10-26T10:23:02.679-04:00

Looking around on the NaNo site has inspired me for this year's marathon. I'll need to tidy up my study, which looks at least a little bit like a bomb hit it, and get my tools arranged. I tend to grab a Moleskine cahier for my noveling notes, though I never use the entire thing. I'll need to select one or two special writing utensils, hopefully from the massive collection I already own, to

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-15128823578047725842010-10-25T10:39:00.000-04:002010-10-25T10:39:17.408-04:00

It's one week until the start of NaNoWriMo 2010, and, as per usual, I have no idea what I'm going to write this year. A few months back I had three possible story ideas, but none of them seem as shiny now as they did then. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though it makes it impossible to do the minor planning ahead I'd hoped to do. In 2005 I chose my story on November 1st and ended up

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-77945890948078401622010-10-22T07:00:00.000-04:002010-10-22T07:00:03.483-04:00

Janet Evanovich has written that she doesn't have this problem, but I don't know how you can write real characters without running into it from time to time. When I create a character, she has her own mind and agenda. Yes, I gave them to her so she could do things in my story, but she's still her own person. I've written about strong characters of mine before, but I was really surprised during

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-69851995285007064742010-10-21T07:00:00.001-04:002010-10-21T07:00:10.549-04:00

When my momentum is flagging, when my characters seem flat and listless and my plot pointless, I turn to an old standby: the reward. Last year I was actually a bit ahead near the end of Week One, and I promised myself a treat if I could crack 15,000 words by the end of the first weekend. I succeeded, but I think I forgot to buy the reward I had in mind. The ploy, whether it was fulfilled or

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-64276606829779730832010-10-20T07:00:00.014-04:002010-10-20T07:00:03.950-04:00

In the frenzy of fast-paced Week One, it's common for things to get a little out of control. In 2005, after finally managing to get my characters off the train they'd occupied for much of the story, I was at a loss as to how to get them to the next point. The NaNoWriMo forums suggested I write an angry letter to my characters as a way of coping with the frustrations they were causing. So I did

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-65426180257738899252010-10-19T07:00:00.002-04:002010-10-19T07:00:10.728-04:00

It helps me immensely to have a plan, an outline, or just a rough sketch for my story before I actually sit down to write it. You're not allowed to write any prose until the first of November, but you can certainly write outlines, timelines, histories, or character sketches. If you know you want a scene where the protagonist unexpectedly bumps into the antagonist during a spring downpour, then

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-42636757444898722942010-10-18T07:00:00.002-04:002010-10-18T07:00:02.352-04:00

I'm by no means a veteran writer, but I've done NaNoWriMo enough times that I have a good grip on its ups and downs. Stories I've written during NaNo generally break some, most, or all of the rules I normally set down for myself as a writer. It's a necessary part of NaNo - on such a tight schedule, I don't have time to be quite so picky about things like writing complete scenes, characters

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-60445411606926504932010-10-15T07:00:00.001-04:002010-10-15T07:00:04.265-04:00

National Novel Writing Month will soon be upon us, that wonderful, agonising, glorious, painful time wherein writers across the globe voluntarily bend their noses to the grindstone and do their level best to crank out a 50,000 word manuscript in only 30 days. I have been a regular NaNoWriMo participant since 2005, the year I wrote "The Rise of Umbra", a non-winning yet worthy manuscript weighing

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-2876199493983805792010-10-01T10:00:00.000-04:002010-10-01T10:00:26.147-04:00

The Education Monster is coming! It looks as if school's on a delay today; it's just about nine and I see the kids and the Day-Glo green pinney of the crossing guard at the corner. Two or three kids stand close together, as if in conference about something. And then the big yellow bus creeps into view, coming to a stop in front of the gaggle of kids. When it pulls away, they're gone,

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-72667217947021432342010-09-28T10:10:00.000-04:002010-09-28T10:10:35.280-04:00

It's September, and though the month is trying very hard to dash by me unnoticed, it hasn't gotten away entirely yet. In the Northern Hemisphere, September is the month that fall begins, that season that marks ends and beginnings. Summer is ending. It, too, seems to have flown by faster than it ought to have done. The warm weather is slowly giving way to cooler temperatures, the air growing crisp

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-66437392126896015102010-09-27T09:48:00.000-04:002010-09-27T09:48:34.159-04:00

It's a dreary Monday morning, overcast and drizzly. I've turned on the standing lamp but it doesn't seem to do much to drive off the intrusive bleak grey filtering in through the windows. I keep doing things beside writing, like reading things on the Internet and feeding the cat. Well, alright: the cat-feeding is necessary. But it isn't writing. Nor is getting up to get a second cup of tea

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-56673252720356977612010-09-23T09:16:00.000-04:002010-09-23T09:16:46.664-04:00

Seth Godin wrote a fantastic bit of advice in his blog today. It's called "I need you to see things my way". "If you need the validation and acceptance and patronage of everyone you meet," Seth writes, "you'll get stuck, and soon." As creatives, it's natural for us to want people to like our work, to like us. It's easy to take a critique of a piece personally, to apply it to our own personal

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-24496832662097531862010-09-20T09:01:00.000-04:002010-09-20T09:01:53.951-04:00

I've started listening to Mur Lafferty's "I Should Be Writing" podcast again. I've tuned in to the show before, but Mur has added a theme song since the last time I listened. The theme is a simple, catchy, folksy tune that sticks in my head and serves as a constant reminder: "I should be writing." More than that, the feel of the song is upbeat, its lyrics humourous. When I hear it in my mind, I

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-58537720064109495392010-09-09T14:57:00.000-04:002010-09-09T14:57:43.423-04:00

I took myself out to the art store yesterday. When I'm struggling with my creativity, picking up a new art thing and working with it usually helps me get back on track. And saving money is a bonus! I did both, as a pack of Tombow Dual Brush pens was on sale for nearly 1/3 the regular price! Apparently Tombow is discontinuing the 'Earth Colours' package, so it was discounted. I love finding

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-91776453777093248352010-09-07T09:31:00.000-04:002010-09-07T09:31:08.260-04:00

Without really being aware of it, I've been indulging the unhappy voices in my head recently. They say things like, "You haven't been writing recently," and "When are you going to write that nifty sci-fi short story you sketched out?" Though it's really no excuse, my mood has been pretty much tanked recently. The voices get louder at those times, making points I don't want to hear. "You

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-6165778709754861442010-08-31T09:42:00.002-04:002010-08-31T09:42:38.980-04:00

I wish I had a topic today. But my mind is empty so I'm just going to plink away in my text editor until either something happens or I get bored. I haven't been doing much writing, aside from in here, in recent weeks. I'm also quite well aware of the disappearing act August has pulled. It's taking after June, that bad influence. Not doing writing is bad for several reasons, one of which is

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-91841241562293104192010-08-30T08:59:00.005-04:002010-08-30T09:11:39.789-04:00

Sitting down to do Morning Pages is like having a meeting with someone I dread. Nothing this person is going to say will be cheerful -- they always complain and say nasty things about life. Things won't get better, they'll get worse. Sure it's sunny now, but bad weather's coming. You're going to do WHAT?! Good luck with that.Trouble is, the person I meet during Morning Pages is inside of me.

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-46980915082980760972010-08-27T07:00:00.003-04:002010-08-27T07:00:01.780-04:00

You may have noticed I added a new box to the page a few weeks ago called "Support Your Local Bookstore". Currently it only has a link to one of my local bookstores, Harleysville Books. Those of you who are not local have never heard of this store (though they ship throughout the US!). So I ask you: do you have a favourite local bookstore? Does it have a web presence? Let me know and I'll

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-52644603142891215262010-08-26T10:14:00.000-04:002010-08-26T10:14:11.893-04:00

Most of my audience should recall the days when games like Zork and Hitchhiker's Guide were all the rage. It was a time of big hair and cell phones that could choke a goat. It was also a time of white text on a black screen and the mystery of how to get beyond the screen door, which demanded you carry both 'tea' and 'no tea' at the same time. In the days before truly graphical games, there was

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-9533530120057670632010-08-23T09:40:00.000-04:002010-08-23T09:40:50.311-04:00

It's one of those mornings. The past week has been busy, full of stress, unwanted tasks, and general blech. There's been good news and bad news, both of which are stressful. And I'm hung up on the fact I just used a form of the word 'stress' twice in a row, and my Inner Critic won't let it go. Watch me walk away from the now thrice-used word, waving farewell to my Inner Critic as she stands

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-48343977798235183742010-08-17T07:00:00.009-04:002010-08-17T07:00:06.805-04:00

Writers' Block is a familiar, formidable enemy to most writers. The paralysing fear that takes hold when we sit down to craft a scene or poem, the unavoidable question that hovers about as we type or scratch away at a notebook: "What if it's no good?" Let's look at that. "What if it's no good?" Imagine yourself sitting at your keyboard or desk with your paper and writing the absolute worst

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-18178659940291083172010-08-16T07:00:00.000-04:002010-08-16T07:00:06.692-04:00

Partner to my writing creative process is my artistic creative process. It's one I've been overlooking lately. It's been probably a month since I did anything more than the occasional doodle in the margins of a notebook. I used to paint and draw and even collage occasionally. But lately I've found myself bereft of the willingness to break out even my Derwent Inktense pencils, which I dearly love,

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-34060345043331127222010-08-12T09:17:00.000-04:002010-08-12T09:17:11.070-04:00

I don't know for certain if it's the humidity, but lately I've had more days than usual where I get up in the morning and I'm just exhausted. Not in a 'I need more sleep' kind of way, but just a general feeling of a weight on my back, pressing down on me and slowing down everything I do. Caffeine doesn't seem to have as much of an effect as it once did. My morning tea, still welcome, is less

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-75499015410026224462010-08-11T09:27:00.000-04:002010-08-11T09:27:51.542-04:00

There's a program called Dasher - it's a different sort of predictive text entry. Dasher doesn't use a keyboard for its entry - the user steers the entry bar toward the letters she wants to 'type'. I tried Dasher a few months ago and didn't really give it a fair shake. It's not something I would use to replace my normal typing, but it's fun for me to play with. I discovered that Dasher, with

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-42445885100278497122010-08-09T09:11:00.000-04:002010-08-09T09:11:20.158-04:00

 The last couple of days have been fraught with distraction. My mind is like a curious child, always dashing here and there to investigate something fascinating, when all I want to do is walk straight down the sidewalk. Yesterday I sat down to do my Morning Pages and wound up working on tangrams and The Crazy Tropical Fish Game. I solved the fish game for the first time. I was amazed. I tend to

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-52807236257386549552010-08-06T10:03:00.000-04:002010-08-06T10:03:03.071-04:00

It's the end of another week; where does the time go? I haven't done as much writing as I would have liked this week. I've enjoyed what I have gotten to, though. Revisiting those old characters was fun, and I plan to add to what I started this week. It's fascinating to me how characters establish themselves in my mind. How they, gradually or right as they show up, display particular oddities

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-41004188429843636222010-08-05T10:55:00.001-04:002010-08-05T11:11:48.141-04:00

I've been meaning to look over some of the old posts I've been slowly bringing over here from the old blog. I feel that much of my recent material has been sub-par in comparison with the older articles. What did I put into those articles that I'm not putting in now? Off the top, I see three things that are different from the old to the new: A narrow focus, a bit of humour, and images. When I

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-60498692883076145422010-08-04T11:15:00.002-04:002010-08-04T11:15:51.018-04:00

I've recently picked up a set of characters and bit of setting that I had set aside for a while. I read over my old stuff and found it satisfactory, so I began to add to it. I put down almost 800 words on Monday. Then I put down zero words on Tuesday. Whoops. I also plan to work on converting the rest of my Dresden RPG notes into prose. Our adventure came to a glorious end this past session

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-438139174343707132010-08-02T07:00:00.000-04:002010-08-02T07:00:04.611-04:00

In 2006 I attempted National Novel Writing Month with an idea I got from the film, "What the Bleep Do We Know?" The film postulates the possibility of every person having the ability to literally control his or her world just by his or her attitudes and beliefs. Pretty touchy-feely, but this supposition is coupled with science, particularly quantum physics. I was struck by how powerful this

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-83544564228988428702010-07-29T07:00:00.000-04:002010-07-29T07:00:08.042-04:00

Here's a cute little video from They Might Be Giants about the eating habits of the letters of the alphabet. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-15421619-1");

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-47939404368044793452010-07-28T09:18:00.000-04:002010-07-28T09:18:40.779-04:00

photo by exlibris on flickr Ficly is the reincarnation of Ficlets, a writing group that had its origins on AOL. Members write fiction whose length must be no shorter than 60 characters and no longer than 1024 characters. That's characters, not words. Ficlys can be poetry or prose; the length is the only requirement. Ficlys tend to be tighly organised, highly focused pieces with a bit of a

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-13055151173680918572010-07-27T10:40:00.000-04:002010-07-27T10:40:05.194-04:00

NaNoWriMo begins in three months' time. I've failed to edit and prepare my manuscript to submit for a free proof copy, so I have to win again this year if I want another shot at it. It's times like this I feel low, like someone who quite simply can't get the important tasks done. I had eight months to get my manuscript in order and I barely touched it. I had the opportunity to get a free hard

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-68330621726915473202010-07-20T10:41:00.002-04:002010-07-20T10:41:44.659-04:00

I'm bereft of topics again this morning. I've gotten out of the habit of writing every day and so my brain is empty when I sit down to write here. It's disconcerting how quickly a habit, when not kept up, becomes not a habit any more. It's my intention to spend at least an hour a day catching up on my Dresden RPG notes and converting them into prose. I ought to be spending more than that, as

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-75626806674503856242010-07-19T07:00:00.006-04:002010-07-19T07:00:09.134-04:00

(The manual importing continues.  Remember when it was cold outside?  Do ya?) Well, here we are again. It's absolutely frigid outside, but I have a cup of tea and some chocolate-covered graham cracker cookies, so things could definitely be worse. And I'm inside, rather than outside. That's a plus. A cup of tea-hee, a cookie, and you-hoo! Things have been a little rough the last couple

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-72666202479973307162010-07-13T10:16:00.000-04:002010-07-13T10:16:55.498-04:00

I'm finding it hard to find something to write about this morning. I keep wandering off, getting distracted by things that can wait until later. Cup of tea number two is steeping and I'm no closer to having a coherent post for the day. I hope you folks won't mind if I toss this scratch up onto the blog this morning. I think it's important to see the days when I'm not on my mark as well as the

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-48246294319567143692010-07-06T10:20:00.000-04:002010-07-06T10:20:01.647-04:00

(This is a repost from the old VOX blog - apparently a few of those didn't make it to here when I migrated.) "Writing won't banish depression. But depression doesn't have to banish writing. If you can manage to write through a depression, you will be in distinguished company. And you will very likely write something of worth." -Susan Shaughnessy, Walking on Alligators Many creative people

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-61020983984416937222010-07-05T14:40:00.000-04:002010-07-05T14:40:27.956-04:00

You may have noticed the face of the blog has changed. I finally put up the new template I mentioned a while back. Also changed is the commenting system. I've gone to Disqus, which gives me more control than does the built-in Blogger system. The down side to Disqus is that visitors with Blogger accounts won't be able to use those when posting a comment. There are other options, including

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-4093152024663016682010-07-05T11:28:00.000-04:002010-07-05T11:28:11.434-04:00

Lately I've had a big heavy weight on my back, a weight which makes it all but impossible for me to do much of anything. Laundry? Half-done. Cleaning? Feh. Writing? You have got to be kidding. Even my brief foray into art via Yupo paper last week, while fun, was too little too late. This happens to me from time to time. It usually lasts a few days, maybe a week, then fades away, leaving

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-45443879689140291882010-07-01T09:11:00.000-04:002010-07-01T09:11:20.203-04:00

I recently came to the realisation that I haven't done any artwork for close to a month. This is a sad state of affairs. I haven't even played around in my art journal for at least that long. I came across a video of an artist working with watercolour on Yupo, a waterproof synthetic paper. I love to do abstract art, and what Mark Mehaffey does with Yupo is amazing. I've been meaning to grab

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-55855407694525473052010-06-30T07:00:00.003-04:002010-06-30T08:25:49.392-04:00

Many people fall into the trap of creating content and then sending it out into the world and hoping it'll be chosen by the Powers That Be and they'll receive a reward, even if that reward is only recognition. I'm one of them. It stifles me sometimes - the fear that my work may not be as special or inspirational as I hope. The worry that what I produce and show to the world at large may in

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-47821076219235653392010-06-29T07:00:00.001-04:002010-06-29T07:00:00.822-04:00

I'm sure any grammar mavens out there have already seen this. I saw it a few months ago, but Blue Pencil Editing referenced it recently, so I thought I'd share it with you. I particularly like the bizarre examples given, as well as the image of the man wielding a huge apostrophe like a bat at the top of the page. Take a look at "How To Use An Apostrophe" for a grammar-induced chuckle this

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-75459905502643990822010-06-28T07:00:00.004-04:002010-06-28T07:00:12.810-04:00

Writers write. It's a simple fact that anyone who's ever made a serious stab at being a writer has at least heard of. But for some, finding even an hour in which to squeeze some writing time can be a daunting task. Things like the Time Finder in Chris Baty's "No Plot? No Problem!" can be useful, but what about when you're not trying to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days? What about all the

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-51197565085871755192010-06-24T10:13:00.000-04:002010-06-24T10:13:02.480-04:00

When I first started this blog, my goal was to write six days a week. A few months back I adjusted that to five days a week: I figured I could stand to take weekends off. But I'm still faced with not only the occasional lack of a decent topic (not that any writer is a stranger to that emotion), but the fact that the blog has pretty effectively pushed my other writing aside. When I was still

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-35824038143837239292010-06-22T09:44:00.000-04:002010-06-22T09:44:23.698-04:00

Erika Dreifus writes the Practicing Writer blog. In Thursday's post she showed a photo of the binder which contains her rejection letters for the collection of stories in question and makes reference to a far larger binder of individual story rejections. I have no rejection letters in my collection. That's because I haven't submitted anything for publication anywhere since my goofy poem got

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-74712177749019583422010-06-21T11:12:00.000-04:002010-06-21T11:12:13.126-04:00

I went for a bike ride Saturday morning. It takes a while for my brain to fully wake up in the morning. Remember that; that's important. I got up and decided to go out early, before even having breakfast. I wanted to take advantage of the cooler temperatures and lighter traffic. It was a beautiful warm sunny summer day as I put on my helmet and riding gloves. A ride down to the bird sanctuary

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-7176112009760336302010-06-18T08:54:00.001-04:002010-06-18T08:55:55.106-04:00

June is halfway over already. I feel like it just started. Monday marks the Summer Solstice, after which the days will begin to get shorter again. I tend to celebrate the Winter Solstice because it means the days are going to get longer, leading us out of the dreaded cold of winter. But I'm trying not to think too much about the Summer Solstice. I love summer, and I don't want to see it go

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-17936418118278266752010-06-17T09:18:00.002-04:002010-06-17T09:18:47.031-04:00

This was always one of my favourite Schoolhouse Rock songs. It's been in my head for a week or more, so I'm sharing it with you. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-53213806644387560102010-06-16T09:37:00.004-04:002010-12-31T12:20:17.503-05:00

Yesterday I started what turned out to be a huge post I'd planned to break down into several individual sections. I got a bit hung up on it, so it may be in the works for a bit until I figure it out. I heard back from Johnn Four about the article I edited for him. He went over it with a fine-toothed comb and tightened it up even more. It's in the current issue of the Roleplaying Tips

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-59987876937960569532010-06-14T09:30:00.000-04:002010-06-14T09:30:08.521-04:00

It's muggy in the house today; it's hard to breathe. I can't seem to get fully awake, and every time I look out the window I'm reminded of what a grey, overcast day it is. How depressing. There's a meditation in Walking On Alligators that speaks to me today. It's about getting down to work. "To set to work right away, without dallying, is ideal," Susan Shaughnessy says. "But it doesn't work

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-44327895922331888012010-06-11T09:39:00.000-04:002010-06-11T09:39:20.346-04:00

In the interest of getting something on here for today without a lot of prep work, here's another Dresden Philly excerpt. This came out of my attempt to write out our last session and wound up as a flashback to the session before that. Here James is reviewing his situation and making a mental inventory of some of the people he's 'working with'. I clipped out the more naughty sections -- the

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-14112128081453778722010-06-10T10:42:00.002-04:002010-06-25T17:51:26.687-04:00

I submitted my edits for Johnn Four's article on Friday and received a reply from him praising my punctuality, among other things. Johnn's letter made my day on Friday. I haven't yet heard whether or not he needs any adjustments made to the article, but on first look he seemed to think pretty highly of it. This week has been pretty busy and/or rough, so this blog's been getting neglected. I'm

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-48325578252593847762010-06-07T07:00:00.002-04:002010-06-07T07:00:00.855-04:00

It's a lazy, somewhat humid Sunday morning. I had started writing a post in here, but thought perhaps it might make an article for Associated Content, so I've moved it into Open Office and am letting it percolate for another three hundred words or so. I've had a stressful week. I just heard a robin outside hollering at someone/thing or other, and I realised I have a lot to be thankful for.

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-77250028937191498392010-06-04T10:00:00.000-04:002010-06-04T10:00:37.065-04:00

So I'm working on editing an article for Johnn Four's Roleplaying Tips Newsletter. I meant to send it in on Wednesday, but it's due today. My process goes something like this: I print out the article, grab up my red pen, and go to town. Comma splices, repetition, a plethora of em-dashes fall beneath my nib. Then I update the computer copy and print it out again. I look it over. I find x -

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-27812335519023269172010-06-03T09:34:00.004-04:002010-06-03T09:44:26.663-04:00

This video features a great little song by Jonathan Coulton. If you haven't listened to any of his songs, listen to this one, then go listen to the rest of them. They will get stuck in your head and follow you around all day but you will love it. This song has nothing to do with writing, really, but the waitress in the video is reading a particular book, if you look closely at its cover... the

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-27025149831393159102010-06-02T09:05:00.000-04:002010-06-02T09:05:01.847-04:00

I'm having a hard time coming up with a topic for today. I have a lot of tasks to accomplish this week and the fact my mail/calendar suite keeps crashing is not helping me stay focused, as I instinctively try to chase down the errors and look a bug reports and figure it out, even though I know I ought to just leave it for now and get to my work. Sigh. I am easily distracted, and computer

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-23418285952983886262010-06-01T09:24:00.002-04:002010-06-01T09:32:12.865-04:00

I played in another great session of the Dresden Files RPG this Saturday and spent a few hours Sunday compulsively writing about it. Sunday night the Muse even slapped me across the back of the head with a little piece of something that occurred a few months before the start of the campaign and I was compelled to write it out longhand in my Piccadilly after I got out of the shower. I should

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-11041080545071585532010-05-28T09:30:00.000-04:002010-05-28T09:30:46.213-04:00

As I mentioned previously, I'm trying something new with my writing. My gaming group has started playing the Dresden Files RPG and I'm writing my character's role in first-person narrative format. I typically write in some kind of third-person style, and while I enjoy reading first-person stories, I'm not generally comfortable writing them. I'm hoping to polish this stuff up a bit over time.

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-80913320217201310202010-05-27T07:00:00.000-04:002010-05-27T07:00:10.094-04:00

Last week I mentioned Neil Gaiman's short film, 'Statuesque'. I was in a hurry and couldn't remember the name, but a brief Google search brought me to "Pink Is The New Blog" which had a link to the eight-minute video. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990355535358331.post-44952940719338184262010-05-26T12:58:00.001-04:002010-05-26T12:59:36.290-04:00

A few months back I volunteered to help Johnn Four with some edting on his Roleplaying Tips Newsletter. He responded that he had received a lot of offers and had selected someone, but that he would keep me in mind for the future. Sunday I received an e-mail from Johnn. He needs someone to edit and proofread an article and he offered it to me! This is, as I said, a volunteer gig, but it's an

H Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02899899721873979025noreply@blogger.com0