Friday, April 12, 2013

Blogging about writing...writing about blogging.

I was going to apologize for blogging about writing so much, then figured, what's the point?  I'm going to keep blogging about writing as long as that's what I'm doing.

I have decided, once again, that alcohol is just too hard on me.  I mostly don't drink because Linda doesn't drink, and because it messes up my equilibrium somehow.  I envy those folks that can have a few relaxing drinks every day, but I can't.  Two drinks is as bad as four drinks for me.

It's mostly how it affects my sleep cycle, I think.

One thing I've decided.  Wine is the creative alcohol for me. Which I don't understand -- isn't alcohol, just alcohol?  Beer just seems to fill me up -- and I think I might be a little allergic to some of the contents.

No, wine is what works for me when I'm writing -- cheap, white wine.  If nothing else it allows me to concentrate on one thing for longer than normal.  Sometimes it skews my vision and loosens my parameters enough to come up with some nifty phrasing.  Very occasionally, I feel like I get a good solid sense of direction.

Maybe I should be trying hard liquor, like all those hard-drinking, two fisted writers like Faulkner and Hemingway.  I keep thinking I'll stock a bottle of whiskey and vodka and -- but I think I've only been in a liquor store once in my life.

I'm between books, so to speak.  I think it's time to turn to something original, rather than working on an existing manuscript.  So I could write a sequel to Death of an Immortal, a sequel to Nearly Human, or a sequel to The Reluctant Wizard.

The Reluctant Wizard is my long term project -- my fantasy trilogy that I want to finish someday.  No hurry, but then again, any work on it wouldn't be wasted.

Nearly Human.  How strongly do I feel about this book?  Do I want to write a sequel to an unpublished book?  Would having more than one book in the series help me sell it?

Death of an Immortal.  Even more a question of following up something that doesn't seem to be gaining any traction.

In any case, I'm planning to do some planning first, so it will probably be either Nearly Human or The Reluctant Wizard, and I may not actually know until I sit down to actually work on it.

Probably Nearly Human since it is my active project, as far as sending it to agents and publishers, and writing a second book might help me with the first book as well.  (I love that as long as it isn't actually published yet, I can always go back and work on it...)

O.K.  So I'll apologize about blogging about writing -- but I ain't going to stop.

2 comments:

Duncan McGeary said...

As far as choosing which project, I just need to remind myself how prolific I am when I get going -- and just get going and do them all!

Owen said...

As long as you are blogging about what you are interested in, never any need for apologies. Your honesty is what I enjoy while reading your blog - keep on keeping it real!