Distractions and Floundering

Now back to my regular program. It's been hectic, especially with other non-writing-related activities going on, but here goes...

----

He rubbed his dust smeared lip with the back of his forearm and spat. As he stood back to observe the carnage, his eyebrows knit into part worry, part sinking, what-the-heck-did-I-get-myself-into discomfort. Never before had such a rank odor knocked him aside so handily. It reeked of mildew, sewage-- even death.

The echo of cars rang in his ears, causing him to peer back over his shoulder. He stalked over and slammed the garage door button before returning in a huff. No sense in allowing gawking neighbors to witness this mayhem.

One swift kick to the washing machine released the aching tension in his shoulders finally. "How the bleep did this sock get sucked into the washer drain pipe?"

The disgusting culprit wedged firmly in the impeller. No implement could reach it, save his bare fingers. Scrabbling at the tangled mess, the surefire sound of tearing cloth made him purse his lips. A final yank and it came free.

"That ought to do it," he said, replacing the drain valve and plate cover. A smirk creased upon his face. He knew there was no way in hell he would pay a damn plumber for this. That was his meal ticket.

----

So anyway, I spent this week somewhat productively. Unfortunately, it wasn't in writing. I fixed our water heater and our washing machine and some computer issues in my uncle's office. I can't really take full credit though. YouTube and Google are my friends. It's amazing what you can find on the internet these days to make sense of common-day troubles.

None of these are my day jobs, but it does feel good to fix things. I think it has to do with some buried manliness. Grunt. Make fire. Cook meat. That sort of thing. Seriously though, maybe it's easy to fall into small victories as a sense of accomplishment.

It's the same reason people fall into watching soaps and learning all the sordid details of wacky plotlines within, or get obsessed with points in a videogame.

I'm still committed to the craft and improving my writing.

 

Whenever I read old stuff (and when I say "old," I literally mean stuff I wrote like between five minutes ago and decades earlier), I cringe.

But hey, that's why we keep at it! Keep on keeping on! Hope this was entertaining for you. Until next time..
- TL

Other Home Security Options

In case you're interested in some other solutions, we looked into...

Foscam IP Camera

First, we tried a Foscam Camera -- it actually worked well in monitoring and checking in on the home with ease. It even had a way to have a minor alarm when someone came in and text or email me pictures.

• The problem was it wasn't easy to turn on and off motion-detection without scripting.
• I setup a script for myself, but my wife couldn't enable it on her own. I'm sure I could've whipped something more up here, but it didn't seem worth the trouble with other options available.

Ultimately, I returned it.
 
Canary

Simplicity then became the name of the game. Something that both my wife and I could use. That led me to Canary. This is one of the new IndieGogo-backed home security-- and my brother-in-law is one of those backers.

• Loved what they had in Canary, but it isn't available until July 2014. Hopefully, more to come on that one.

Given the timeframe, I opted to look elsewhere and wait-and-see how my brother-in-law's experience is with Canary to compare. Canary and Piper are most like each other, but Piper was already out and had a few other differences (at least in initial plans) that I'll share.

Vera Home Automation

This one is really, really awesome. My step-brother has been looking at this for a while. Really customizable, really neat. Strong z-wave support.

• It's much more modular and componentized in terms of adding pieces. Depending on what you like, that may not be for you.

One of my wife's other requirements was something simple and more unified. So while I liked Vera, we opted to start with the more simple controller, Piper. I would still consider Vera though for more complex home automation. I'm waiting to see more of my step-bro's setup on this to compare.

Piper Home Security

I may have mentioned that two months back, our home was burglarized. That's taken me away from doing some of the things I want to do (writing, consulting, etc.), but I have found a "working" solution now. Here's the run-down:

Traditional, Central-monitored Security
Way back, we used to use traditional security through ADT, but we canceled it when it became more of a hassle than it was worth.

• The issue I had with the traditional, centrally monitored system was that we often had false alarm triggers. They would contact the police and the police would get upset for having to deal with non-issues.
• Door and window sensors may have improved since that time, but ultimately, even when triggered, there was no way for me to know for sure whether it was a real security threat if I was not at home myself.
• We would get calls asking us whether we would like to dispatch the police and wouldn't know if it was really a problem.

Sort of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

And, in the name of privacy, it's not exactly like we wanted ADT to monitor a camera for us. A little too big brother for us, if they even allow that sort of thing.

Thus, since our break-in, we began to look into self-monitored systems with camera capabilities, as we felt they better served our family.

(Note: I have some technical chops -- not that any of the setup of these were super tricky-- but in case you're using any of this as a basis for your own setup)

We elected to go with Piper after exploring some other options.

Piper
They released in Jan/Feb 2014. Also very new, and so, still working out some problems and what-not. I've experienced very few problems and it is working well for us. So far, we love it.

Pros:

• Simple, unified unit - with camera and a few other sensors.
• My wife and I can both enable/disable the system and monitor the house from our phones (Canary allows the same)
• We can also work with some simple z-wave enabled devices, like floor lamps and door/window sensors (Canary has this as a stretch goal for now; Vera allows for this, with a wider array of testing across z-wave products)

Nit-picks (not really true cons in my book):

• My wife was unable to connect remotely at one time. That said, I had her kill the app on her phone and restart it and it worked fine.
• Like any of the above solutions, you may still need to do some configuration. Piper works with uPnP, but I didn't have this enabled, so I opened port forwarding on my own (not that complex).
• Only supports z-wave for light/plug switches and door/window sensors. Thus, don't have support yet for z-wave locks, thermostats, etc.

While the HD camera is not the best video quality in the world, it does have a unique fish-eye view that can be separated into four quadrants and zoomed in. The main gist for me is to be able to tell if there's a real problem more so than identifying the culprit.

Conclusions
At the end of the day, smaller, all-inclusive solutions like Piper probably work best for smaller homes. You can start simple and add to the z-wave accessories, as you see fit (as we have).

I see burglary deterrence as a multi-step process:

• Dissuade the burglars from considering your home - through signs, locked doors
• If they break in, have a warning method to scare them off (minimize theft)  - dogs, alarm sirens, etc.
• Immediately alert home owner of potential threat - notification of motion, sound, sensor trips to let me decide whether to call the local police.
• Help the police in capturing them - store recorded video, photos as evidence
• Third-level support: neighborhood watch, be friends with neighbors, trusted circle

Common sense and Piper can help with all of the above potentially.

At the end of the day, unless you want to spend a fortune sealing your home off like a fortress, if someone wants to get into your home, they will. You just want to dissuade, scare, monitor, alert, and be safe. You just hope your loved ones are not there when it happens and that the police can do their part to catch criminals.

Research is the (Necessary) Pits

At SF Writer Con, many distinguished authors showed.

On that note, I have to give a quick shout-out to Penny Warner, a local to the Bay Area, who I ran into completely by accident at the SF Writer Con Gala. She was incredibly warm and compassionate in offering help to unpublished writers. This, despite her thousands of friends as a social butterfly, and her over sixty published novels in the mystery genre.

Another mystery genre expert that attended the conference was Rhys Bowen. While I didn't get a chance to speak to her personally, I found her to be charming and witty, particularly as she explained the nuances of how she went about researching facts that surround her fiction

Getting realistic information about locations, science, procedure, etc. is critical to creating an aura of genuineness and authenticity to the story itself, as you'd probably guess-- even in fiction novels. Sure, you can break some of those rules, especially in fantasy, but we as readers all know that sometimes if it's too much, we just want to put the book down (gasp!).

Anyway, she joined other luminaries/writers, Trina Robbins and Constance Hale, in a discussion about researching for books (non-fiction or fiction).

I've summed up some key points:

• Talk to experts - CALL people and leverage your network
• Go there yourself, if you can.
• If not, use Google Earth and news articles from the area for the past five years
• Libraries, museums, and more!
Do NOT use Wikipedia - too many mistakes and too little fact-checking
• Use at least two reliable sources to confirm
• Keep all your notes on file and jot down names, date of interview, dates-of-birth, etc.
• Use them to support your work, should anyone question the veracity of a section.

This inspired me in my own work to dig deeper. Much of my research for the current novel is from trust-worthy articles. However, some of it previously was from Wikipedia. For those, I've pretty much discarded them or began to ask subject matter experts in the field to confirm things in my story.

The past week I've spent with a friend who is a police officer and with three others in the pharmaceutical field (one in drug manufacturing, a pharmacist, and another in lab research). I'm beginning to see how ambitious I was in this project -- perhaps biting off more than I should chew!

That said, it's exciting to learn so much about these worlds and I am hopeful that it will lead to strong authenticity in my book. Research and edits are some of the toughest, but most rewarding, aspects to writing. They can both be fun too with the right mindset. Write on...

A Week Removed from SF Writer Con 2014..

Last weekend (Thurs-Sun), I was at the San Francisco Writer Conference. It the first Writer Con I've attended, after some encouragement from fellow writer-friend, Wendy Spinale. Note: she's an up-and-coming writer that you should be on the look-out for! Check out her blog, if you have a moment. Beyond her writing skills, she's also incredibly helpful to folks like me, working to hone our craft.

The conference made peoples' heads explode. Not that the concepts were so mind-boggling to be incomprehensible. It was simply an inundation of info about how to improve writing, dialogue, character, improve platform, the differences between self-publishing and traditional, pitching, and so much more.

I have nothing to compare SF Writer Con with. That said, from the many folks I met (and networking is probably one of the biggest things to consider... hey, this is just like my ol' business school, whodathunk?), I understand that the SF con is one of the largest. Also, it has a very collaborative feel amongst the writers, published authors, other instructors, agents, publishers and industry experts.

The Speed-Agent-Dating on Valentine's Day was interesting too. More on that one later.

The biggest take-away is so simple, it will seem like plain common sense. Even when it comes to the whole debate about traditional publishing and self-publishing, it trumps all like the one ring. I'm going to start with that seemingly easy concept and post some more later, when I get a chance.

The one thing you have to remember above anything else in writing is:

Focus on the content and make it the best writing possible!



 

Now you can laugh. Or glare. But seriously, one of the things writers miss most is too much focus on the pitching, querying, identifying the one great idea, etc. It's tough these days to break in to the market-- I think one of the published authors mentioned J.R.R. Tolkien might have had difficulty getting through today's agents, despite his obvious excellence and now-notoriety.

 

Everyone knows you need good timing in the market, and a little bit of luck, to really garner the success everyone desires in this field. But writers primarily can only control one thing: their own work. Time to get to it!

P.S. If you were like me, and trying to save a few and BART in, I got one thing to say to you: I hate walking up Mason Street to Mark Hopkins Hotel.

Coming out of the dark

Some of you may not know this, but I don't tell all my friends and acquaintances that I even like to write.

That changed earlier this week, when I went public with my Facebook Writer page.

• It's not that I am totally embarrassed about my stories or even writing in general. I just didn't feel the desire to entrap people I know into feigning interest.
• On the other hand, I wanted to get my first novel manuscript into a state where I felt comfortable sharing that I actually had written something worthy of notice.

I once went to school in Los Angeles. Down there, every soul had a screenplay or manuscript in their back-pocket.

Back then, I didn't. However, when I actually wrote something I felt worth publishing, it made me think that not everyone wants to hear about it.

I'm sure that has some partial truth to it.

But anyway, now is the time to let people know that I am proud of my new novel. I'd like to get the feelers out from agents on the strength of the query, before I share more, but I've really enjoyed the process (a lot of work, late nights and struggling) to get even this far.

The problem is, I don't know what I don't know. I'll try to rectify that with more investigation and attending some conferences (very soon!). And believe me, I've been trying to read every blog and tidbit out there on the web to catch-up...

For those who are interested, here's my real-life story so far:

• Began writing my first novel each night in November '13, for NaNoWriMo.
• Edited it all December.
• Had beta-readers read it and provide feedback and made a few initial agent queries to get my feet wet.
• In January, severe overhaul of some of the structure; incorporation of feedback I agreed with.
• Received some "other writer" feedback via Scribophile, which was fairly uplifting (and had good, constructive criticism)
• Met with friends-of-friends-who-now-I-count-among-friends (say that ten times fast) who are in the industry and have received super advice.

That is not a long time for writing, but the inside fire is there. I hope I have more validation at some point, God willing. Though I'm trying to write for my own sake at the moment.

If you've come this far: thank you for your support and encouragement (and occasional kick to the rear).

What would Karaoke be without...

Actual singing?

So, for everyone's amusement, I recorded myself singing my own lyrics to "The Agent-Writer Confrontation." (Again, the original "The Confrontation" is from Les Miserables)

Note: Original Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg and Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. New Lyrics by me.

For my "adapted" lyrics again, see my original post.

• I had to do this acapella, as I don't have just the music.
• Both vocals are me
• I did mess up the counterpoint a little bit
• (and also the key in some places.. I recorded it in bits and jacked that up).

Oh well. This is what happens when you go a little crazy.

Feel free to lambaste me. I just figured it was a good chance to mess around. You can cover your ears, but if you pressed "PLAY," it's your decision.

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy it... :) Maybe I should create a little YouTube video with my son's action figures. LOL.

Karaoke and Writing

Some of my buddies know I can get crazy about karaoke. I only go every so often, but I do love it.

I was just thinking how karaoke is so similar to writing.
 
For now, I've been listening to some of my favorite songs, which range wildly from one end of the spectrum to the other.

• I love Linkin Park, The Script, OneRepublic, Katy Perry, and many other rock, pop and alternative bands.
• But I also appreciate Eminem and Pitbull (and previously, Dr. Dre and Tupac).
• And separately, my guilty pleasures are all musicals and even Disney.
• Hey, whatever you can sing along to, right?

Anyway, here's the thing about both (karaoke) singing and writing:

• You need some general skill to pull it off effectively.
• You can still do it off-key, but people will look at you like you're crazy
• You also need the balls to stand up in front of people and belt it out, like you believe in yourself.
• You're putting yourself out there either way and making a fool of yourself in some regards.
• But if you can hit the right notes, people will enjoy your "art" and appreciate it alongside you.
• Not to mention, you'll have a helluva lot of fun doing it.

OK, fantastic. So what if you can't sing?

• I'm a firm believer in the concept of "anyone can learn."
• I sure hope so, as I'm pretty new to writing myself. "Keep practicing until you get there." That's what I keep telling myself.
• I've recently joined Scribophile and been going crazy, critiquing writing and having my works critiqued.
• The good news is people have been very positive about some of my stories. They also have taught me a lot to help me improve.. and it's only been a short time there.

We may never become Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston

(or whoever you think has an amazing voice),

but you can still be your own star.

 

That's all we can ask for these days. Be your own spotlight. But if you are, don't forget the rest of us. :)

 

Actually, this thought was part of an inspiration for my current novel. It wasn't the main inspiration for it, but it added fuel to the fire... I hope I get to present that to you someday AND that you'll enjoy the notes I play.

 

Until next time, thanks for reading.

- T.L.

P.S. As I said above, I love blazing a wide variety of music in karaoke (classic Rock is always good too).

• But I'll let you in on a little secret. Sometimes, they call me Tim Shady (Tim is what T. stands for, if you haven't figured it out).
• Not because I'm a sketchy person (I'm not. Or I don't think I am... someone else will have to vouch), but because "Lose Yourself" is one of my favorites to blaze at the karaoke joint.
• Most of the time, it requires a few drinks though. I think I've only done that one once sober.

Les écrivains miserables

I need a break from editing. Yeah, it's Saturday night, so this is pretty nerdy. What can I say?
 
I was listening to Les Miserables earlier (I would karaoke the whole musical, if I could), and was inspired to (sing along and) edit my own version of one of the songs to tide me over for a break.
 
Basically, I modified "The Confrontation" song into a satire for writers and agents. The original is a pretty famous scene, but not the most popular song from the musical itself (those are reserved for things like "On My Own," "I Dreamed a Dream," etc.).

• In case you're wondering, this particular scene is just after Jean Valjean promises Fantine on her death bed that he will care for her daughter, Cosette. Javert bursts in to take him away and thus... the confrontation.
• For our new version, place me (bow) or yourself as the stand in for the writer  (écrivains in French)-- I tried to fit in whatever worked for 24601 (Jean Valjean's prisoner number) syllable-wise, or Jean Valjean.

Here we go....

• Try to sing along, if you know it.
• If you don't, I suggest you view the original first at YouTube. In fact, try playing it in the background and then it'll flow better for you, I hope.

Minor Note: I used the version performed by Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean and Phiip Quast as Inspector Javert, from the 10th Anniversary Concert (October 8, 1995), as the movie version is tough to swallow with Russell Crowe. Sorry, loved him in Gladiator, but...

-----------------
"The Agent-Writer Confrontation" by T.L. Jericho (original credit to "Les Miserables")

Agent:
Writer, at last,
We see each other plain
Monsieur "Author"
You'll need a different name!

Writer:
Before you say another word, Agent
Before you dub me illiterate again
Listen to me! There is something I must do.
This novel is another wondrous tale.
There is none but me with dazzling imagery,
In Mercy's name, some love is all it needs.

Then it'll sell, I pledge my word.
Then it'll sell...

Agent:
You must think me mad!
I've trashed wordsmiths across the years
Wimps like you can never change
A fool such as you.

Agent (in parentheses) and Writer, in counterpoint:
(Lit like this must never change)
Believe of me what you will
(Lit you write will never change)
There is a story that I've sworn to do

(No,)
You know nothing of my life
(Wannabe-Stephen-King)
All I did was bare my soul

(My duty's to the books - you have no rights)
You don't care about my plot
(Go away, Lee Child copycat)
You would sooner see me dead

(Now your story's turned around)
But not before I see this novel done
(Your scribbles are nothing now)

I am telling you, Agent
(Dare you talk to me of time)
I have a strong voice that shines
(Spent writing all night and day)

There is power in me yet
(Every jack seeks publishing)
My tales are not yet spun!
(All artists must find their way)

I am warning you, Agent
(You know nothing of agents)
There is nothing I won't dare
(I was born reading a book)

If I have to beg you here
(I was born a scum like you)
I'll do what must be done!
(I am a novelist too!)

Writer:
And this I swear to you tonight

Agent:
There is no book you can write

Writer:
No matter what new holes you tear...

Agent:
Whatever you will try to say...

Writer:
I'll pour out my crazed fiction...

Agent and Writer (Together):
I swear to you, no time to spare.

------

And there we have it. The writer and agent's lives in the nutshell. Hope you enjoyed it. Nothing fancy in the alterations, but I had fun twisting it for aspiring authors and writers everywhere, and for the agent, who feels overly pestered. :)

In closing, nothing at all against agents. It's a tough life to lead. Ditto with writing. Just poking a little fun at the process...

- T.L.

Hello, Insanity

I don't have a huge following, so I appreciate you the reader all the more. So, if anyone was wondering where I disappeared to for a few weeks, apologies...

The past six months have been a crazy whirlwind.

• In essence, I tore my ACL playing basketball,
• had surgery,
• then found out that my day-job's management team decided to re-locate all of product management to Europe.
• I was laid off,
• went on my own sabbatical to finish writing my first novel that I started in NaNoWriMo,
• and then an extended family member passed away.

That was all before the New Year.

I was all set for the start to something fresh and new, with high hopes on the novel. But two weeks ago, someone burglarized my home, stealing a lot of my wife's jewelry and a lot of electronics.

That sucks. However, we're pretty optimistic about things anyway. I'd like to think we're not particularly materialistic, which is helpful. I'll need to think of something special for Valentine's Day though, that's for sure.

Here's the weird and amazing thing: They didn't take my primary desktop. Probably because it wasn't as easy to disassemble and carry out, like my laptop and iPad. So, I was very fortunate and blessed in that regard. Most of my writing work is there or on DropBox.

Anyway, here I am, at the end of January. I've started looking for new day-job work, now that I'm finally almost walking normal again after ACL surgery. Also, I'm doing what I can with the book edits with hopeful enthusiasm.

I wouldn't say I "got it (writing) out of my system" though. I'm still writing. I actually have two and a half other stories in-progress now, alongside my original manuscript. One of them is more to challenge myself, but seems to be shaping into a story that my wife would tend to read (as opposed to my original, which is in a genre my wife doesn't read at all).

I was lucky in that a relative has another friend in the industry, who has given me some helpful tips.

• One such tip was joining Scribophile, which I only joined recently. It's a helpful place to critique other people's work and have them criticize yours. Definitely could be a handy tool. I've become a paying member for now.
• I've also joined Publisher's Marketplace.
• I would still really like to go to some writer conferences (if I can afford it). If anyone has any suggestions there, please post comments or email me.

In the mean time, thanks for hanging in there, if you are out there and reading this. I've submitted a few more queries, but haven't heard back. I still have much work to do over all. For what it's worth, I was pleased to hear that some initial readers in Scribophile found my work at least partially promising (including a published author). It's good to hear the positives once in a while, after many criticisms and rejections, which I try to take to heart to improve...

I can't believe one month of 2014 has already passed us by. Here's hoping to a great year for everyone!

Through the Chop Shop - Part II: Speed it up

Oh, boy. The more I put out how horrible some of my work has been and how I have to clean it up, the more people will wonder if I'm putting anything out worth reading.

Today's lesson in humility is removing roadblocks for the reader. Again, so simple and obvious. But I hope other writers and authors can vouch for me that it isn't always as easy as it seems.

Hook
While those who fully read my story gave it relatively high ratings, some lagged behind in the early chapters. 

• This tells me I greatly needed to improve the ever-important beginning and speed up the hook.
• One of my favorite parts in the book was almost all "purple prose." That's over flowery language that illustrates something in the story, but can be distracting to the reader.
• Some readers actually liked it, many did not.
• The worst part? I used that as part of my intro hook. Horrible!

Chapter-by-Chapter
I had two main problems that I wanted to mention here.

Problem 1: First at least one of my many chapters in the book were explicitly identified by beta readers as boring and slow. Now that's just not something you want to hear from any reader.

Here's the kicker: those chapters had a ton of exposition about details and facts that were useful for coloring the story and for setting up some of the things that happened. In one of Mr. Wells' list of problems "over-exposure" is a deal-breaker. So what to do?

• When I looked at one of the chapters in question, it was primarily a flashback of information dumped out.
• The beauty was the reader didn't need to know it all at once. In fact, I think the story improved tremendously when they didn't get all of that info. It was only distributed again as the main character learned about those tidbits.
• Just like the character exposition, pacing of background info...

Problem 2: The second was about cliff-hangers. The weirdest thing happened when I reviewed my chapters that were broken into segments (you know how some chapters can have a few breaks and changes of location or perspective).

I found in many cases, I naturally tried to cliff-hang each of those segments. I was reading one of my all-time favorites and realized: why am I even keeping these together? Instead, I broke up those chapters which sped up the pace for readers greatly. A simple chapter separation seemed to do the trick.

Of course none of these things are perfect necessarily. But based on some of the feedback, it seems to have helped. There's still much to do, but I'm happy that it's taking shape.

Just started re-reading some old books in my collection about writing to remind myself of the tips I used to know. That's helped re-invigorate me a little bit too.

Hopefully, my first manuscript will be ready soon!

Asian-American Author Found!

Really quick (I was going to say brief, but then..) post, but I had to do it.

OK, so earlier I posted about how crazy it is that I don't know any big-name Asian-Am authors other than Amy Tan (not that there's anything wrong with her work by any means).

As an aspiring author who hasn't specifically sought out Asian-Am clubs yet, there seemed like a gap.

• First, know that I might totally be out of touch there. There ARE indeed groups for Asian-American Writers.
• But without joining them, would I know them by name?
• Unfortunately, at least for me, the answer is no.

Hopefully, that will change as I devour more books. As I said before in an earlier post, I wanted to write my books so they didn't appeal just to the Asian-Am crowd. I can be proud to be Asian-American, without shoving it down every person's throat. (That said, full disclosure, I did mention some Asian-Am stuff in a pitch query once or twice, before I revised it... separate story)

In the same way, I want to get the full gamut of experience in reading and not necessarily seek out writing just because someone of a specific ethnicity wrote it. I did want to see hope in modern Asian-Am writers though.

The other day, my sister-in-law sent me an article to inspire my writing. It's a pretty awesome read about one rising star in the Asian-Am world. I feel obligated to share it and pass it on.

Chang-rae Lee is the man of the hour.

I haven't read his stuff yet, but I definitely intend to as soon as I wrap up this first novel of mine. I'd be interested to hear if anyone has read his novels yet and what they think!

Incidentally, I started three other stories besides my original manuscript now. However, I realized I needed to take a break from them to finish up my first (yikes). Focus is the name of the game.

Through the Chop Shop: Characters

Had some great help from beta readers, who provided constructive criticism on my first manuscript.

As so many writers and authors tell me, tough criticism and rejection are the hardest part of their work. My Twitter Friend, Mike Wells, has a great post on why books are often rejected. Definitely a good read, if you haven't seen it. I'm going to try to give some of my own thoughts as to addressing these (again, total layman here).

For me, as a new writer, I suffer from many similar elements and keep working to improve! I'm attempting to rectify these and can vouch that it is extremely painful to do. But it is rewarding too. I feel much better about the flow and the reader experience, each time I make an alteration.

My first issue was about the fundamental component: Characters:

• Readers were getting confused by characters
• One particular character needed a ton of improvement to be more relatable

Now, when I first wrote the story in question, I tried to get a lot of thoughts down on paper. But now that the story was down, big-time clean-up was still needed to focus those thoughts. Now I see why it takes so long to write a book (and we're not even talking about publishing)

A lot of this is probably common sense. It does speak to how beta readers can help identify things, separate from your writer "cloud/fog" and hopefully will stir up some ideas for improving your own stuff. If not, sit back and laugh at me while I go through the rough ride!

To address the above

• Merged characters: Some characters really weren't that needed and were almost interchangeable to the beta readers. Those that were identified as such got the ax!
• Merging their activities with other existing characters helped simplify everything. The last thing I wanted to do is confuse the reader.
• Investigate names: I also re-named many people, since some people got confused with similar sounding names (some that rhymed with other people unintentionally, some started with the same letter, etc.)
• Re-visit how characters unfold: I used my aforementioned (in another blog post) "chapter log" to list when characters were introduced. What were the key things I wanted people to learn about those characters? Then, I tried to re-identify when bits of their character would be exposed in either dialogue or circumstances.
• The point, as Mike said in his blog, is to see how the readers learn about the characters throughout the book.
• Personality Touch-up: Ironically, I made one of the characters fairly depressing. Some readers commented he was so depressing that they hated him. Ouch!
• Back to work revising elements of his personality (if only it were so easy for myself and people in real life?)

There were certainly other issues that I have tried to clean-up (or am in the process of..), but figured I'd share this set first.

I have a few other issues in mind and info on what I tried to do to clean it up, but will post about them later. I've not posted in a while, as I've been working on my own clean-up as you can see! I'm keeping track though. :)

My NaNoWriMo 2013 Experience

This was my first year in NaNoWriMo -- the odd shortening of "National Novel Writing Month," which apparently happens November of every year.

The quick blurb on it is that it's a nice, trackable way to set goals for writing and build a story. The target for NaNo is only 50,000 words, which is a short novella, compared to the median word count for a novel of 65,000.

• Most novels that I read are probably more in the 75,000-100,000 range. Consider that there are approximately 250 words/page, so 75,000 is roughly a 300 page book.
• By comparison, 50,000 is small and a seemingly attainable goal.
• I will cut the (lack of) suspense and say I made the goal, which qualified me as a NaNo "Winner."

With the above in mind, I will say a few things about NaNo:

• Writing in word counts certainly doesn't measure quality or substance.
• I was very skeptical about the whole process and what the end results would be.
• In retrospect though, there were tons of positives to help would-be-writers:
• NaNo really helped push me to "do something" instead of just thinking about what to write
• It has a built-in community of people to support and cheer on that endeavor and
• It provided short advice on generic writing tools and tidbits that were extremely useful in getting me to my goal.

Now, I'm going to tell you why I think I had some success with my experience, in the way that I judge it. But before I do that, I will also first repeat the simple facts that emphasize you should take it with a grain of salt:

• I'm not a published novelist or published author
• A writer does not make an author necessarily
• Having written a story doesn't really mean a thing to the writing world until it gets published and/or has readers 
• I've always enjoyed writing, but never committed to writing a full novel before. Prior to this year's NaNo event, I have had some limited poetry (gasp) published and have written short stories in the range of 5-25 pages in length at most, just for myself.
• Not really a lot to grasp at for my initial foray into the deep end of novel writing.

OK. Now that that's out of the way...

This year, I had an idea for a story and wanted to flesh it out. I even had some key parts of the story worked out and a rough plan for it. I intended from the get-go to build a story that I wanted to share.

In some fortuitous chain of events, I had more free time this year to write and I saw an advertisement for NaNo just days before it was to start. So, I went for it!

My results were charted by the NaNo website (screenshots below). Ultimately, I ended up with about 58,000 words. Not too shabby for a first try. In effect, it actually ballooned well past that after severe edits, additions and deletions. Basically, clean-up throughout the following month.


You can see that I was decent at keeping and surpassing the target average and finished over a week early.

From the NaNo site, this year had over 300,000 participants. Over 40,000 of them reached their goal -- better than any previous year.

Reaching 50,000's modest goal actually did feel exhilarating in all the right ways.

When I reached 25,000, there was a point where I felt like I couldn't possibly write any more for the story. But somehow, NaNo encouraged me and I made it over that hump.

Looking at my chart here, you can see that it was fairly consistent in keeping to target.

There were, however, a few days where I was completely stagnant. I used those days as burning embers for me on any day that followed to get my butt in gear. My biggest jumps were on the days after those falters.

I'm glad I finished and that I could meet a lot of writers along the way. It encouraged me to start blogging again and to re-start my Twitter account to meet other like-minded individuals. Or just people who enjoy the spice of life and all that it brings.

Anyway, I think if you enjoy writing and want to give it a shot, I would definitely encourage signing up later this year. Or to give a visit to CampWriMo.org.

After delving into the publishing industry and learning the barebones basics, part of me finds that the industry is flooded with stuff: both good and bad works. But even if you're unsure of yourself and want to voice your story, you need to start somewhere.

I can't objectively categorize my own work yet, and may never be able to. My 80,000+ words could be meaningless in the long-term. I know I have a long way to go in learning how to improve my writing, and in understanding the industry as a whole.

Still, I can't help but feel greater for the experience. It's like a good venting session, when you bring ideas into creative fiction. The insanity is out there! I hope you get out there too with your brand of insanity. Good luck.

My Year of 2013 in Review

Happy belated New Year to everyone!

I'm going to post some nonsense about my 2013, just so I remember it. It's been a different year for me all around. In a lot of ways, that's a good thing, but it has created some tough moments too.

On the personal side:

• One of my brothers had a new baby boy.
• I celebrated my tenth wedding anniversary with multiple food-oriented celebrations at several restaurants, including the illustrious French Laundry.
• For vacation, my family and I took a cruise from Boston through New England and up through parts of Canada, ending in Montreal.
• My toddler started pre-school for the first time, last Summer.
• Health-wise:
• I tore my ACL during basketball, one of my favorite past times. Almost all my physical injuries seem to come from the sport (torn pinky ligament, previous ankle and knee sprains).
• The ACL tear created a chain of events. For example, I purchased my first bike since I was twelve, in order to continue exercising up until my surgery date.
• I ended up having surgery in mid-September.

In my day job...

• I spent most of this year as a product manager for a technology firm. That included some travel and a lot of heavy hours of work, trying to strategize the direction of the products and tackling tactical issues for the same. A few minor speaking events with the company, etc., and much time consumed, trying to shape the organization and the world.
• The biggest news there is that a month after having ACL reconstruction surgery, I was laid off by the company, after working there for many, many years.
• Since then, I have only been doing some independent consulting in that industry and helping two friends' with their business ideas (alongside my side-aspirations for writing)

Speaking of writing...
My year ended with a furious writing extravaganza as part of the NaNoWriMo project (more on that later in a separate post). 

I ended the year with a nice Disney trip and spent time with the family, while trying to also concurrently clean-up my manuscript and enjoy the late-year holidays.

It's been a crazy year, but I'm hopeful that 2014 brings new and exciting things. It certainly can't be the "same old," given the late changes of last year.

Wish you all the best!