Tag Archives: life

general posts about my life

Making progress despite constant headaches.

Until I was 40 years old I did not need to wear glasses. That doesn’t men I’ve been blessed to live trouble free where it come to my eyes. I had a real fright in high school with an infection that almost blinded me. However, my vision after that was 20/20 just restricted in terms of light levels.

On my 40th birthday my gift from the fates were my first reading glasses. Every year since then I have had to had a new pair fashioned as my prescription changed. Each year as my vision gets worse, I start getting headaches that eventually become constant headaches with the occasional migraine tossed in for variety’s sake.

This year is no different. Last week I had my exam because I could feel the strain building after long bouts reading. The new doc confirmed my rx had changed — again and I ordered new glasses. Seven to ten day wait to get them so I am living in the land of constant headaches again.

However, I am still writing. I am clocking about 1500 words a day and if I can maintain this pace I should have the draft of Cawdor finished by the end of May or early June.

Tonight I will continue chapter three. Now all chapters are important but the first three have a special place for the unknown author. When you get a bite from a query letter it nearly always is a request for the first three chapters. This is what you have to sell the editor or agent on reading the rest of the book.

In the case of Cawdor the third chapter is really important. It is where those who were not clued in by the title, but familiar with MacBeth will realize what it is I am attempting; with great hubris, stealing from Shakespeare. Tonight I will take my first crack of the highly modified scene where the witches first encounter Macbeth.

Wish me luck.

Share

An Anguished State of Mind

The blog title refers to two things.

The first was the migraine that started yesterday and didn’t break until around noon today. Iy was a nasty brute and I spent about twelve hours in bed in the dark to deal with it.

More importantly the title refers to how I feel about my writing currently.

I’m two chapters into Cawdor and I think it’s going very well. This is turning out to be something of a stressor. I feel shaken in my ability to judge my writing. My last submission to the Writers Of The Future Contest I thought was a very strong story. I thought it was better written than Regret, I Am Allowed which placed as a semi-finalist. It had a more interesting conceit than The Station On The Edge, which placed as a semi-fianlist.  I also though it was a better story than either of the Honorable Mentions, Araceli and The House Of Bad Blood. (which actually sold.) Yet my latest story, Proof of Principle didn’t make any of the above cuts or honorifics. Is my judgement off that badly or is theirs?

So with that in my recent memory when I re-read and edit the start of Cawdor and I’m so pleased at how it’s working I can’t help but feel that maybe I am fooling myself.  That what I see and feel good about — well maybe it isn’t that good after all.

It kept me awake last night while I lay there in the dark with sub-kiloton nuclear explosions going off behind my eyeballs burning my brain with doubt and pain. It has kept me away from the keyboard today, but I will force myself past it.

On the plus side I did manage to do some more exercise today. After the headache broke I did a mile on the treadmill and another three miles on the stationary bike. Lucky for me it turns out the stationary bike does not tear up my knees like a real bicycle does. I think it is because the pedal on the stationary bike are further forward and not directly beneath me.

Anyway I’m keeping up with the new heart healthy exercising and I will finish Cawdor. As a personal reward for completing Cawdor I will treat myself to the big VIP tour at Universal Studios.

Share

Well I was wrong.

I did get writing in yesterday. Oh no where near as much as I would like, but more than 500 words just the same. Even with the migraine.

I say — Go Team Me!

Share

The Big Bang Trip

So on Tuesday this week I worked half a day because I went to Hollywood to watch a live taping of The Big Bang Theory.

I left work about noon, but our plans had changed an I knew we would not be leaving La Jolla where I work any sooner than 1:30, so I took  along lunch at a near by strip club. No, not that kind of strip club. It’s a steak house called The La Jolla Strip Club. It’s a vodka bar and steak house. I had a really bug burger and some tasty fries. Continue reading →

Share

Big Bang

Big Bang was fun I will blog about it later. I am way way too tired right now. I was so tired when I woke up this morning I dreamt that I was causing a police stand-off and my demand for surrendering to the police was one more hour of sleep.

Share

Still Excited

So today I was working my way through the outline for Cawdor and I was relieved to find that I am still excited for the project.  With all the interruptions and emotional turmoil of the last few months I had not been able to devote much time or energy to this project. Then the short story — A Song Of Silence — came along diverted me again.

After all that I was afraid that my passion for Cawdor had ebbed; not so.  Reading through the outline feeling the pulse of the story got me excited to get working on it. I hope to be turning out prose pages within a week or so. There is more spade work to be done. Mainly in area that were underdeveloped in the first version of my outline that I have a better understanding in how to develop.

I’m still hoping to bring this in for around 110,000 words.

Share

Cawdor outline, version one, finished

So tonight I finished my outline for my next novel, Cawdor. This is version one of the outline as I will need to go through and tweek it a bit and flesh out things I had not expected. However that said I am very happy with the outline and where the story went. I started where I wanted to, I ended where I wanted to and I think the trip in between was interesting. Now a week or so of detail work and I can start writing the novel it self.

Share

Been missing

Sorry I have been out of it for the last couple of days. Monday was sniffles and a regular headache and yesterday was fully clogged-up and a migraine headache. I stayed home from work yesterday and pretty much just whimpered in the dark.

I will have a new Sunday night movie posting for you tonight. While walking around Fry’s electronics on Sunday afternoon with a apl looking at LCD and LED Tvs, (For his house not mine, I already am very happy with my LCD 42″ set) I spotted a good deal on the movie L.A. Confidential . Truly it was the film that should have won best picture and not Titanic. Because it wasa good price and came loaded with new bonus features I had to buy it replacing my DVD of the movie. I also picked up for under $20 Inglorious Basterds another really good film.

Chat with you soon.

Share

We got lucky

As you may have seen on the news winter storms swept through souther California this week. San Diego is not set-up for storm and never deals well with rain.

On the worst day of the storm we had winds gusting to nearly sixty miles per hour and heavy rainfall. Our freeways were congested and power was failing all over the county. Trees also fell with alarming regularity.  Below is a photo of just how lucky my sweetie-wife and I got on Thursday.

tThe building beyond the fallen tree is our condo building and our unit it just out of frame to the right.  thursday night I walked up th steps on the right side of the frame, turned and went inside and totally failed on my spot roll in that I did not notice the tree. (It was night, but still that’s a pretty massive spot fail don’t you think?

Here’s a close up of the roots of this tree.

Share