Progress. I completed the first act of the first draft of SP#2. I'm quite pleased with this tale I'm telling right now. It's a comedy, even a little slapstick at times. This is a bit different than my first one, which is more of an adult "romantic comedy." The only thing I'll say about this new one is it stars Robin Williams (in my mind, anyway).
Speaking of SP#1, I've gotten no more feedback on InkTip.com. At least it's now copyrighted, a standard practice I'll employ in all my works. This was advised to me by my entertainment attorney. I might as well take advantage of the high-priced legal help I've already paid for!
I've started using a dedicated Outlook calendar to plan out my writing "assignments." Since I'm so task-oriented, I know this will be the best way for me to keep my progress where it needs to be to achieve this year's resolutions. Updating this blog and two others is on the list for today; so is completing the first draft of SS#3.
I finished editing the third draft of SS#3 yesterday. I'm really enjoying writing these short stories. It gives me the opportunity to experiment a bit and try out different genres and literary devices.
Literary devices? Who the hell is this guy? Sheesh …
The books I've been ordering to help me in my writing career are finally arriving (and more are on the way). Who DOESN'T like to get a package in the mail? Besides some "instructional" books, I also ordered some short story collections, including Hemingway's entire oeuvre. In so many of the writing magazines, they cite Papa as the quintessential short story writer, bar none. I've read Hemingway's works, but I'm certainly no expert.
Keeping to one of my other resolutions - about reading this time - I finished one work of fiction already this month. It's a real page-turner … Paranoia by Joe Finder. I highly recommend it.
On the marketing side of things, I've been expanding my literary "friends" on my Myspace.com account (http://www.mspace.com/socalvillaguy). I want to be able to associate with all kinds of people in the publishing / film business, including aspiring writers of fiction and screenplays like myself. Networking is key to getting published or having a film produced and I'm internet-savvy enough to market myself using the web.
So far, then, it's been a good start to the New Year. If I can make a regular living in this writing business - somehow - I'll be able to segue to doing this in 7 years or when I'm 55. That's the game plan, folks, and I'm sticking to it!
From my pen,
Michael.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Monday, January 1, 2007
Happy New Year!
Greetings! It's officially 2007 now and I have a whole lot on the plate this year. They say the first step toward making resolutions "real" is to write them down, plan them out and then just do them! Also, they (the ever wise "they", that is) say that you should advertise your intentions to everyone so as to more or less oblige you to completing what you set out to complete.
With all of this sage advice behind me, here are my 2007 resolutions (at least my writing ones):
1. Write 10 more short stores and submit each one for publication:
SS#3 by 1/31/07 (in progress as of 12/25/06)
SS#4 by 2/28/07
SS#5 by 3/31/07
SS#6 by 4/30/07
SS#7 by 5/31/07
SS#8 by 6/30/07
SS#9 by 7/31/07
SS#10 by 8/31/07
SS#11 by 9/30/07
SS#12 by 10/31/07
Each one submitted for publication within the month immediately after completion. Prepare to publish collection by 2/28/08.
2. Complete SP#2 - SP#5:
Spec SP #2 by 2/1/07
Spec SP #3 by 5/1/07
Spec SP #4 by 8/1/07
Spec SP #5 by 11/1/07
3. Complete Novel #1 (N#1) by 12/31/07
4. Read at least two books a month
One of the problems with writing all the time is I don't take time out for leisure reading. I do read a lot of non-fiction, particular books related to how to write better (or magazines for writers). These same helpful resources also say in order to write better fiction, you need to read a lot of it and from a lot of (good) writers.
Meanwhile, this week was busy.
I'm continuing to get positive feedback on my non-fiction article published in the industry trade magazine. A pleasant surprise is I'm hearing from former colleagues and employees who moved on to greener pastures. The challenge is to figure out how I'm going to best that effort in my next article!
I finished the second draft of SS#3 and I'm still waiting for feedback from my parents and Leia on SS#2. I've researched magazines for SP#1, but have yet to send it to any. See my resolutions for further plans.
I sent SP#1 to the US Copyright office to be registered. I also wrote several scenes for SP#2. On the latter, I'm pleased with the progress so far, though I need to spend more time on a daily basis putting down the words.
One of the writing articles I read (an interview with a known writer, actually) which averred one doesn't need all the sleep they get and could do fine with one less hour every day. Sure, try to convince me of that at 5:00 in the morning when I'm just hoping that that the 45 minutes I have left will turn into a couple more hours. Okay, we'll give it a try.
And so, I close this lovely New Year's Day - with the sounds of the Rose Parade emanating from the TV in the adjoining room - to wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2007. May you get everything you ever wanted in life!
Michael
With all of this sage advice behind me, here are my 2007 resolutions (at least my writing ones):
1. Write 10 more short stores and submit each one for publication:
SS#3 by 1/31/07 (in progress as of 12/25/06)
SS#4 by 2/28/07
SS#5 by 3/31/07
SS#6 by 4/30/07
SS#7 by 5/31/07
SS#8 by 6/30/07
SS#9 by 7/31/07
SS#10 by 8/31/07
SS#11 by 9/30/07
SS#12 by 10/31/07
Each one submitted for publication within the month immediately after completion. Prepare to publish collection by 2/28/08.
2. Complete SP#2 - SP#5:
Spec SP #2 by 2/1/07
Spec SP #3 by 5/1/07
Spec SP #4 by 8/1/07
Spec SP #5 by 11/1/07
3. Complete Novel #1 (N#1) by 12/31/07
4. Read at least two books a month
One of the problems with writing all the time is I don't take time out for leisure reading. I do read a lot of non-fiction, particular books related to how to write better (or magazines for writers). These same helpful resources also say in order to write better fiction, you need to read a lot of it and from a lot of (good) writers.
Meanwhile, this week was busy.
I'm continuing to get positive feedback on my non-fiction article published in the industry trade magazine. A pleasant surprise is I'm hearing from former colleagues and employees who moved on to greener pastures. The challenge is to figure out how I'm going to best that effort in my next article!
I finished the second draft of SS#3 and I'm still waiting for feedback from my parents and Leia on SS#2. I've researched magazines for SP#1, but have yet to send it to any. See my resolutions for further plans.
I sent SP#1 to the US Copyright office to be registered. I also wrote several scenes for SP#2. On the latter, I'm pleased with the progress so far, though I need to spend more time on a daily basis putting down the words.
One of the writing articles I read (an interview with a known writer, actually) which averred one doesn't need all the sleep they get and could do fine with one less hour every day. Sure, try to convince me of that at 5:00 in the morning when I'm just hoping that that the 45 minutes I have left will turn into a couple more hours. Okay, we'll give it a try.
And so, I close this lovely New Year's Day - with the sounds of the Rose Parade emanating from the TV in the adjoining room - to wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2007. May you get everything you ever wanted in life!
Michael
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