Progress Report for May 25, 2014
Oh joy, a week has already passed me by, and I still am not into the full swing of writing. Instead of writing from Tuesday to Thursday, I went out with friends and practiced presentations for a workshop. Everything with the workshop went off without a hitch and it was well received (collaboration tools and how to use these tools to improve student engagement in in an online course). Since I lost that time, I decided to stay in this weekend and work as much as I could on Tesla’s Travels. I wrote a lot over the last couple of days and like how the story is coming together. Also, I finally got to the point where my personal dreams (like nighty night dreams, not aspiration types of dreams) are completely based in the story. Which isn’t that great, because Tesla’s Travels is a frightening world to be a part of.
Either way, the current word count is: 25215. That means, I wrote 10,800 words in the last week. The goal is to hit my old stride which is about 5,000 – 7,000 a day. Otherwise, I will miss my deadline for the middle of June.
Read MoreA Suggestion from an IT Professional
After my bachelors program, I worked in IT (it was strange since I studied philosophy and sociology). Soon after starting, I was absorbing as much as I could about computers and IT infrastructure. It took me a short period of time to understand the systems and understand the faults with corporate network architecture. Nonetheless, I built a home lab and run about five different servers for my home office. This was designed for training purposes, but I applied best practices to my home. One of those best practices is having UPS (battery/surge protector) to protect and keep your computer online in case of a power outage. Being an impoverished writer and graduate student, I can’t afford 100 dollars for my desktop computer that runs my servers. While I have the money, the reason I wont buy one is for a different reason.
I have a laptop. If you want to avoid losing your data during a power outage, but don’t want to spend money on a UPS, use your laptop as your primary writing computer (it comes with a surge protector and battery in case of a power outage). You also have a small screen making it harder to see notifications from social media.
I decided to offer this little tip, because I have lost work in the past due to a power outage. Those documents were not related to my writing. Now, I know myself very well. When I write something, I write it and say, “Awesome! That story is done!” So if a power outage wiped out my files and corrupted one of my manuscripts I know I wouldn’t go back and rewrite it. It would be lost to the ages. Luckily, I am paranoid and designed my infrastructure to mitigate any disasters that could happen (all document files are automatically backed up across three computers, a raid 5 NAS, and onto a server with my website host). No matter how impoverished you are, make sure to protect your data from loss. I doubt many people would rewrite a manuscript after it was destroyed. If you can’t afford fancy computers and things, just get a thumb drive and make sure your files are replicated on the thumb drive and your hard drive after a session. That way you have at least two copies in case one fails (you can use a service like dropbox, but I suggest you read the terms and services so you don’t end up indebted to a company).
Read MoreWebsite Modifications and Tesla’s Travels
I have made some modifications to the site’s categories. I removed all the of the different short story categories, because they were outdated and not really used. Categorizing my work is probably the hardest thing to do. Also, I added a few categories, the main one is the Project’s Progress Update. This is for manuscripts or short stories. Over summer, I will be releasing a update weekly on Sunday (this is the first one). These updates will show progress on what I am currently working on. For example, this shows the change in the word count for Tesla’s Travels.
Water, tea, tea, water, water, water coffee, water, water, tea, tea, tea, water, water, coffee, and then water till bed was my drinking schedule yesterday. That led to a high level of production and pushed the current status of Tesla’s Travels to 14415 words. I didn’t get a chance to work on the project during the week because of Time, and work. However, I set Saturday aside and got a ton done. (Insert information about Sunday’s progress).
Read MoreMy Situation – State of Affairs
Since I am in a graduate program, I go through cycles of productivity based on my work load in my MBA program. My summer break has begun as of today. With this new found freedom – I still have to work for my graduate assistantship – I will be able to devote all available hours to writing. At the moment, I can’t walk or hike long distances due to a problem with my lower back. I am in rehabilitation, but I can’t go hiking, camping, or rock climbing. That means I have an abundance of time to read and write. Based on my current writing pace during my finals, I will finish Tesla’s Travels by the end of June. In the coming months, I plan to give an overarching overview at least once a month. Lastly, tomorrow marks the third week since Journey to God arrived at an agent’s office. Wish me luck!
Read MoreNew Short Story: Time
It has been awhile since I released a short story. Personally, I find writing a manuscript more fulfilling because of the details I can add to the story. However, sometimes you get bitten by the bug and decide to write something that pops into your mind. This piece hit me while I was rabbit sitting my friend’s bunny. Luckily, I had my computer on me and half a battery. Two hours later, the rough draft was done. Another hour, and the second draft was edited. A couple of emails between me and my editor, and the final piece was complete. Here is an excerpt from Time my new short story:
Read More“I’m next, John!” John had fallen asleep leaning against a golden pole with red velvet ropes. His new found friend grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him awake.
With a startle, John popped to attention, “What? Where, what, are we there, uh—”
The man interrupted John’s disjunctive questioning, “You dozed off again. You know you don’t have to sleep anymore.”