State of my Writing: Current Catalogue of Writing
My friend began a project over 200 days ago. His goal is to write a blog post a day about an album he has never listened to before. Which means, he has listened to over 200 albums and written over 200 blog posts this year alone. After he cleared that goal, I thought to myself: what are the number of projects I’ve completed. Fun fact, I haven’t posted up about some of my projects: the screen play I wrote with two of my friends (one being the person who is doing the album blog I mentioned above, we call ourselves the Three Idiots), and a podcast thing (my co-host is also the person who is writing the blog on albums, the occasional guest is the third idiot from the screenplay) we are building a backlog (we haven’t released any yet). So at the time, I have manuscripts, short stories, a podcast, and screenplay. Furthermore, I sometimes get down on myself because I have a lot of things that have been cooked but not sold (aka everything). So, today, I am taking this blog post to flaunt my output (some things are works in progress, and a lot of them are in a forever state of revisions but being submitted to places).
Below, the total amount of words sums to 627,957 sans the blog posts (all word counts taken at the point of writing this blog – manuscripts, short stories not on the website, and short stories on the website).
- Manuscripts in order of being written (Total Words – 491,666)
- Primo Capite and the Others – 121,903 Words
- Journey to God – 72,785 Words
- Tesla’s Travels – 72,183 Words
- BlackBox Enterprises – 64,171 Words
- Ashley Pépin’s Mistake (Novella) – 23,266 Words
- Bhor’s Bathos – 106,725 Words
- WT (working title) | Gaia’s Revenge (Novella) – 19,219 (ending pending – not complete)
- Unnamed Manuscript 8 – 11,414 Words (still in progress)
- Short Stories (Total Words – 136,291)
- Not on Website (Total Words – 64,290)
- Unnamed Short Story: Job Interview – 5,697 Words (still being written, may exceed 8,000 Words)
- Unnamed Short Story: AI Project – 5,137 Words (in revisions)
- Unnamed Short Story: The Store – 3,824 Words (submitted to literary magazine) (6/22/2017)
- Stephanie Bourbon’s Lament – 1,028 Words
- 1352 MPH – 2,750 Words (3/26/2017)
- WT (working title) 9A3C – 1,313 Words (3/8/2017)
- Suburban Radicalization – 10,042 Words (2/27/2017)
- Multiplying Secrets – 5,598 Words (10/23/2016)
- Two Brains – 7,634 Words (10/18/2016)
- Filling Gaps – 3,454 Words (10/9/2016)
- Purifying the Past (two versions) – 330 Words | 410 Words (7/31/2016)
- Lamentable Climax – 498 Words (7/31/2016)
- Cherries and Blueberries – 425 Words (7/31/2016)
- Morning Glory – 494 Words (7/26/2016)
- Extrinsic Entrapment – 515 Words (2/24/2016)
- It is all Piss in the End – 500 Words (2/9/2016)
- Regulars, Parties, and High Life – 500 Words (2/9/2016)
- Twenty Two Fifty – 491 Words (2/8/2016)
- Stuck in a Loop – 2,708 Words (1/29/2016)
- Adding Inventory – 2,987 Words (10/5/2015)
- Exciting Work – 2,280 Words (8/11/2015)
- Trappist – 5,675 Words (8/5/2015)
- On Website (Going through these for this project, the works here are unrecognizable compared to what I haven’t posted (Total Words – 72,001))
- Normal Fiction (Total Words – 65,160)
- Biases – 3,105 Words (4/14/2015)
- Oliver the Orc and the Search for the Perfect Beignet – 1,299 Words
- Franks Slipstream – 2,612 Words
- Better than a Ream of Paper – 2,730 Words
- Like Laika – 4,411 Words
- Precarious Air – 2,721 Words
- Relationships – 1,212 Words
- Solution – 1,894 Words
- Last Will and Testament – 1,975 Words
- Similarities – 2,204 Words
- Redirect – 2,091 Words
- House of Bourbon – 1,476 Words
- Time – 2,219 Words
- Love – 835 Words
- Another Day – 5,074 Words
- Hope – 3,723 Words
- Gopple – 3,864 Words
- The Bohr’s Protocol – 8,344 Words (inspired Tesla’s Travels and Bohr’s Bathos – though the writing doesn’t, and the plot drastically was modified during writing)
- Clouds of Fire – 1,129 Words (Chapter 1 of a failed manuscript)
- Love’s Warrior – 3,331 Words
- The Fantastic Mister Mittens – 3,706 Words
- Tis and Orange – 1,874 Words
- Proverbial White Whale – 3,331 Words (Best assumed date for completion: January 16, 2013 | First short story posted to website)
- Flash Fiction (Total Words – 6,841)
- Please, Don’t Recycle – 449 Words
- A Little Vanilla – 499 Words
- Family Matters – 482 Words
- Allure – 965 Words
- Two Snakes – 799 Words
- Medallion – 493 Words
- Dipper – 1,000 Words
- Carbonation – 464 Words
- Arm and I – 499 Words
- Drops in an Ocean – 440 Words
- Cookies – 751 Words
- Normal Fiction (Total Words – 65,160)
- Not on Website (Total Words – 64,290)
- Blog Post – 151 posts
- Podcasts – 16 Episodes at an hour an episode (3 book podcasts – Nueromancer, Wolf in White Van, and The Crying on Lot 49)
- Screen Play – Final pass in September when the Three Idiots ride again.
New Project Launch – Manuscript 8
It has been sometime since I posted on here and I apologize. I’ve been focusing on my short fiction in order to produce some publication credits. Some of the work is out for review, some of them are still in progress, but I decided two weeks ago that the project sitting on my easel needed to see the light of day. It has been there since last year and it was destine to be Manuscript 7 (then a short story got too long, I expanded its scope, and it became Manuscript 7 (a novella)). After prepping a bunch of work and short stories, I decided I needed to get back to my true joy of novel length fiction. So being insane, I took my first vacation day in years to being the new project. Over three days I outlined, cooked, and wrote – rinse and repeat. I am sitting at ten chapters at the writing of this post. I forgot how much more joy I get in writing a novel where I have zero limitations on length. I can let the piece breath and go down rabbit holes. I am excited.
Read MoreLet it Breath – Manuscript Seven
Manuscript seven, the one I had discussed in a previous post, will now become manuscript eight. This change happened because of my process. When I finish a manuscript, I tend to focus my energy on short fiction while I’m outlining the newest novel. While researching, I hit a few snags in my timeline because interviews with experts were being pushed further and further back. At the time, I was slightly perturbed about having to postpone the project because of other people’s schedules, but I am happy I did because the insight I gleamed will lead to a much better novel.
While I was waiting, I began work on a short story. This was supposed to be a 2,300 word short story so it could be submitted to a specific magazine, but I chose an idea with such a large scope that I ended up blowing past the threshold. By the time I noticed, I was at eight thousand words. Now the piece is at sixteen thousand and I know it will end up somewhere between 24,000 and 30,000 words – which makes it a novella.
Looking back on my notes, I realize that this idea was already too large based on my original outlines. I was over confident and tried to smoosh (that’s the technical term) the piece into a box it would overfill. So I did what I do when I write, I let it breath… and boy did it take in a giant breath.
My philosophy towards writing has always been the same. A story has a mind of its own, to a certain degree, and it will tell you what is important as you work on it. As the writer, I have the difficult job of forcing the piece into a box or letting it grow under careful guidance like a master gardener; I shape it but let it grow at its own pace. If I had stopped the piece, I would have something that was half baked, and I don’t believe in limiting my work if it will impact the final product.
So, now I have a new manuscript. And to be honest, when I realized how long it was going to be, I groaned and let out: “Fuck… it’s going to be a novella”. Why the cursing? Simple, novellas don’t sell, no one wants to represent them as a first publication, and they tend to just sit on your computer and grow dusty (Ashley Pepin’s Mistake) is a great example of this phenomenon. But, I like this story and I will bring it into the world, because I write for me and the story. Who knows, I may end up posting it as a serialized piece on this website so you all can read some of my long form work. Until then, I need to finish it. I predict that will happen in the next two weeks if my middle finger heals, and the carpel tunnel and tendentious decides to calm down for a weekend or two.
Read MoreBohr’s Bathos – First Draft Completed
In the last two weeks, I’ve had zero time to write as I’ve been working on different projects/obligations. Knowing that there was a predestine slump, I had pushed hard on myself to complete Bohr’s Bathos before I was drawn into life. I did well, but I didn’t finish the manuscript in time to avoid the two week hiatus. I ended up with the final three chapters staring at me as I moved in and out of my office. Just sitting there, on my desk, was my notebook with the completed outlines staring at me and begging to be turned into words on a page. So today, after a long week of work, I made a pot of tea, drank a coffee, and cranked away. As always when finishing a manuscript, I slowed as each period took me closer to completing this project. Each sentence leading me to an ending that I didn’t want to happen – not the real ending in the piece but the end of writing this manuscript. It will have revisions, edits, and maybe some additions, but I know the story is complete.
So the first draft comes in at a whopping: 106,724 words. My second longest manuscript (though not even close to my longest – off by about 20,000 words).
Read MoreProgress
Over the last couple of weeks, I have begun a new process for writing. In the past, I had trained myself to sit and work for multiple hours a writing stint in order to produce hyper cohesive work without reviewing what I previously had written. However, since I work forty hours a week for a company, I have had to invest in a new process. That process is waking up at 5:15 in the morning so I can get an hour of writing in before I go to work (sometimes an hour and a half depending how quick I finish my obligations so I arrive at work looking like a respectable human being). So, my morning is the following: cook second breakfast (the food I eat when I arrive to work), eat an apple, make a cup of coffee, drink cup of coffee and watch sunrise (if the sun is rising at that time, which its no longer doing), shower, gel hair, write, get dressed, drive to work.
After work, I work for 2-4 hours on my manuscript. And that brings us to the important aspect of this post: Progress. I have been using this system for sometime (with regular readings of previous content before each writing session) and that has led to a high level of production on my newest manuscript: Bohr’s Bathos. This piece follows, Death by Comedy (or better known as its working title: Six Stalks, even though I haven’t discussed it much on this site), but it is important to note that Bohr’s Bathos follows Death by Comedy only in my bibliography and not timeline or content. Both are standalone pieces, as I try to do with all my work, and their worlds are fundamentally different.
With each day of writing, I watch it unravel in a good way. The story grows richer, and I realize, I don’t care about publishing. If it happens, so be it, but I am just happy to see my creations come to light. I love writing, and I write for myself, but I wish you could all experience my long form creations. Who knows, one day, it may happen. Until then, I will keep writing and sharing what I can with you. Thank you for following me and believing in me.
Read More5:15, Here I Come
The next five chapters have been outlined (17-21 (if you think that number is wrong, count it on your hand)). That means, I cannot postpone waking up tomorrow morning, and I’ll have to arise from my slumber at 5:15 to begin work on these next chapters. Then, after I go to work, I will continue to work on them before my social obligations. Not to mention, I have to edit/write important environmental factors into previous chapters of the new manuscript due to a recent trip where I saw a piece of artwork that forced me to re-evaluate how I was writing certain things. I know, this post is coming off as ambiguous and lacks necessary variables, but I do that so that the manuscript remains a mystery. Just know artwork did what it is supposed to do and that is to affected the viewer. I am glad; if I ignored the feelings that were inspired by this piece of art, I would be a poor writer as I wouldn’t let the manuscript grow with my own experiences… even if it is a pain to go back and retrofit already written chapters. What are you to do when you believe in the Kantian creation of an aesthetical piece of work.
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