VYA Update

I’ve been pretty quiet about the VYA, so I just wanted to do a quick update for everyone. I’m still working on it. Lots of corrections to get through, and I’ve been busy with other things as well. On the plus side (or negative), this is turning into an epic sized part to the story. Right now I’m pushing 2,000 words. All the previous ones were 1,500 or less. Ideally, it would be 1,000 or less (thus my negative thought as it’s getting LONG). I am toying with the idea of splitting it into 2 parts to help with the size of it. We’ll see.

So, yes I’m here and I am working. Sorry I’m taking forever! Now, on to some editing during my lunch break.

ROW80 3/21 Final Check-in

So, as Round 1 of ROW80 has finished, I thought I’d look at my goals and where I’m at overall. Let’s start with the goals for this round.

ROW80

My Vote Your Own Adventure (VYOA) is in the works, and I have the first draft of the first section done. My goal for Round 1 – 2012 is to get this thing going. I want to have a new part to the story every week. At this time I’m not sure which day I will post stories, but I’m leaning towards posting on Monday and letting voting go through Fri, leaving me Sat and Sun to get the next one written. I’ll try that for a bit and see how it goes. Potentially, that could be around 10 weeks of story.

My VYA is going ok. I really didn’t realize how hard it would be. Thus, there hasn’t been an update in the last three weeks. The next is in revisions now. It will post it soon.

I also want to work on the serial story that I have. I am hoping that the next draft will be the last and then I can begin posting them. By the end of this round of ROW80, I want to have 5 chapters done, and the first one posted.

Fail. I haven’t touched this. Mainly because the VYA more intensive than I realized.

As far as blogging goes, I have a review in the pipeline, and some thoughts on technology. I also have one that talks about Hero’s Tale as a whole, and what it is. I want to have that post up before the VYOA goes up to help explain what is going on. I also want to get those other two out in February and March. I have another idea about what writers can learn from a game I’m playing, but I don’t want to say more about that yet.

Well, I got one blog post in there. There are another 2 that are waiting for some revisions and rewrites. I would like to get them posted soon.

I don’t do much on Twitter, Facebook and blogging in general. Mainly because I don’t have tons of time to do so. I understand that, as a writer, I need to interact with my audience and peers. So, I plan on being more active. Although, I expect this one will be hard to succeed at.

I knew this would be a hard one. I don’t have time during the day to interact much. That’s for the day job. When I’m at home I don’t pay attention to Twitter very much. I guess, for now, I do what I can.

Personal

Have more consistent quiet times. I feel that I am a bit of an oxymoron of a Christian in not taking time to spend time with God. How can I be a Christian and follow God if I am not spending time with him? It’d be like me calling myself a husband or father and never spending time with my wife or kids.

I’d love to say that I’ve managed to turn this one around, but I’d be lying. Change takes time.

Look into a domain name that is separate from my Hero’s Tale project for me as a writer.

Checkmark on this one. Granted, I just did it today. Now to figure out what I’m putting up.

Get a new picture up for Facebook, Twitter and my blog. The one there is a few years old, and after I shaved my goatee off and while I was still wearing contacts. I’ve got a beard now, and I’m wearing glasses. My picture should show a me now, not a few years ago.

Nope. Still the same goofy mug.

Go running more often, because I like running and I miss that feeling.

The weather is finally to a point where I can start running again. Plus, I’m going to start biking to work again once it is a bit brighter in the morning.

As for Round 2, I’m not going to take part this time. Why? As I have a new domain for me as an author, I want to use this new domain for my writing/personal blog. Heros-Tale.com should be for my Hero’s Tale project. So, I need to take some time to figure out what I’m doing, and how to get it all set up. So to all you ROWers, farewell for now. This has been a lot of fun, and I intend to return.

ROW80 3/18 Check-in

Is anyone else enjoying the weather? Where I live, it’s great! I got my bike out yesterday and went for a nice long ride.

As for writing, I finished the next part of my VYA and have done one revision. I’m seeing in my email that I have a lot of comments, so tonight I’m will be doing a lot of work on that again.

I don’t think the fog has lifted quite yet. I struggled to write what I have. But I made it though, and that’s the important part. That fog will lift sometime. It just takes perseverance.

 

ROW80 3/11 Check-in

Blah to the time change for daylight savings. Anyone else with me?

As for writing, it’s been non-existent. Well, not entirely true. I did write the minutes for my church on Friday. Otherwise, I’ve been stuck in the story. I think it’s finally unstuck, though.

My wife has also been out-of-town since Friday, so I’ve been with our kids. Wow, I wish I could bottle their energy! I’ve been worn out from doing everything around the house, and not writing from that, either. People who say stay at home moms don’t have a job need to spend time with 3 energetic kids for a long weekend. (And no, I’m not one of those. I only respect my wife even more from this!)

I’m afraid I’m not getting anything else written tonight, but I’m satisfied that my block is broken. Maybe my kids will give me a chance to write tomorrow? I really want to finish this and get it to some beta readers. Two weeks for not posting on a VYA is too long (for me as the author).