Happy Day

Before getting to the rather big news (in my eyes, anyway), here are a few insignificant achievements I have made in the past 6 hours.

1 – Posted a new segment of Blood Routes, knocking out Chapter 15.  If you haven’t already done so, I invite you to head over there and start reading.

2 – I have been trying to “make” myself write SOMETHING every day, even if it is only 200 words or so.  But being that Broken Skies is so close to being finished, I don’t want to rush it.  So the past 2 days have seen me finish one poem and start another.  The one I started this morning creeped me out in a very beautiful sort of way.  Titled “costumes” it wraps Halloween and leaving childhood into one short poem.

Now…why I am currently on Cloud 9:

I have a very sloppy (but, to me, organized) way of keeping notes to my stories.  Today, while I was looking for some notes I had typed down for Blood Routes, I opened a file that I have passed and overlooked hundreds of times in the past year or so.  I don’t know why I stopped on it today…I was sure that the notes I was searching for weren’t on there.  But the file size is what made me check it out, I think…it was pretty large for a Word document.

So I opened it.  The first page or so was notes on a short story that has long since been abandoned…a story I gave up on almost 2 years ago.  But the word and page count in the bottom right hand corner made no sense to me:

Page 1 of 336   Words: 96,377

My heart leaped in that moment.  My mind went back in time to about 3 or 4 years ago, before I had a single publishing credit to my name.  During that time, I had been working on two big projects.  One was The Bleeding Room, a 122,000 word novel that is currently under consideration with a small press.  The other was a book with the tentative title of Under the Skin.

I worked on these while working at a family-owned silk-screening shop.  During the slower days, I would write most of the day away; this is where over 80% of The Bleeding Room was written in its first draft.  When the business closed down and I moved the computer and my disks to my house, a lot of my writing was lost.  I misplaced an entire disk with my original drafts of a dozen or so short stories and some art I had been dabbling with.  Sadly, another member of the missing was more than 300 pages of Under the Skin.

I spent MONTHS looking for that file.  It made me sick at times to think that I had lost it…roughly seven months of writing on what I thought was a pretty good horror novel.  Eventually I accepted the loss and turned all of my attention to The Bleeding Room and my short stories.

I’m sure you see where this is going.  I have no idea how the file got there or how I had overlooked it for so long.  But that large file I discovered this morning was indeed Under the Skin. I read through ten pages of it this morning and found that my excitement for the story is there but that there is a LOT of editing to be done.  Jumping to the end of the document, I see that there are outlines for the final 3 chapters…

So yes, I am quite excited.  Of course, this only adds to the number of WIPs I have going.  Where it will fit in, I don’t know.  Maybe, after I knock out Broken Skies (either over the weekend or next week), I will take a brief break from writing and focus on editing these 336 pages.

Not a bad way to finish of the week, huh?

Being productive but not writing

Still stranded in a sea of freelance writing gigs, I haven’t had much time to write.  Still, I figured I owed it to my creativity to try to do something to stimulate the fiction writer in me.  So, in the past few hours, I have managed to:

Sent off a story to Stymie Magazine.  I wrote it for them last year but missed the cut off date.  Glancing over its 12 pages this morning, I remembered how much fun I had writing it regardless of the fact that I know next to nothing about golf.

Posted a new chapter segment to Blood Routes.  This was especially exciting for me because the post entails the first few pages of Chapter 12 which are, to this point, one of my favorite parts of the story.

And now, because of the lack of anything overly interesting in this post, here is Demetri Martin…because I enjoy clever jokes involving a play on language.

2008 in review; 2009 through a crystal ball

I have mentioned in another recent post that I didn’t get my first sale until late in 2007.  It was a pro-sale for the Bound For Evil anthology.  That nice motivator had me salivating to dominate in 2008.

While I came far from dominating, I did manage to get a few things done.  Here, in numbers, is what 2008 looked like for me:

37 submissions
9 acceptances
2 hold requests (both eventually became rejections).

2008 also reawakened my appreciation for poetry, thanks to having 2 poems accepted into the Death in Common horror poetry anthology.  I’ve been reading more (thank you, Missouri Review) and writing much more.  While any plans to write a book of poetry are far away, I have learned that most publications ask that you send at least 4 poems as a submission.  So I am trying to compile about 8 to choose from for this process (so far, I stand at 3 that are even remotely okay).

(Note: I have been blown away by the poetry of Mary Ruefle.  You should check out, or at the very least read about, her amazing book Indeed I Was Pleased With the World).

As 2008 draws to a close, there are 3 goals that I have set for myself that I have yet to achieve.  First and foremost: finish the first draft of Broken Skies.  If I can allow myself 2 entire nights after Christmas to write on this novel, I think I will actually get this done.  Once I have the first draft complete, I think I may be searching for any interested readers/reviewers.  So if anyone is interested… 

The other 2 things I’d like to wrap up are two short stories I started sometime in the last week or so.  One of these is called Today’s Bargain, which I am attempting to write for the Devil’s Food anthology (big thanks to Jamie Eyberg for his reviews and opinions on the story in its current state).  And then there is the story Riding in Trucks With Ghosts that is really surprising me.  It is a ghost story at heart, but is closer to a literary effort rather than horror.  I really like where it is going and therefore am terrified to finish it.  But still, I’d love to have it done by December 31st.

As for 2009…here are my goals (they may seem a bit lofty, but my goals are often unrealistic).

• I know that I have no control over the fate of The Bleeding Room (it currently rests in the hands of 2 publishers) but I would love to have it accepted sometime in ‘09.
• Finish a final draft of Broken Skies by the end of January.  Begin shopping it around no later than March.
• Get into Sand, Shroud and Apex.
• Finish at least an initial draft of The Dark.
• Finish at least an initial draft of The Masks of Our Fathers (hey, remember NaNo?!?)
• Finish the 2nd book of Hell on Earth.
• Finish up Blood Routes  (the manuscript and the blog).
• Write at least a dozen short stories.
• Sell at least 3 more poems.

And for now, I think that’s it.  It seems like a lot, but all of the novels mentioned are at least 50% completed in their first draft (with the exception of The Masks of Our Fathers which looks to only end up being in the 60,000 word range).

So here’s to wishing everyone world domination in 2009.  Happy Holidays everyone!  It’s doubtful that I’ll post again until 2009 (barring an acceptance between now and then).

The laziest marketing campaign ever

In my post yesterday, I listed off the projects I wanted to finish up in 2009. And somehow, sadly enough, I omitted one that I have been working on for about 18 months. It is my serial e-novel, Blood Routes.  I opened the story up this morning, added another post to the site, and did a rough estimate of what is left to be written.

If I can make myself follow a schedule (yeah, right), the entire manuscript should be done by the end of February and it should be fully posted in its rough draft by the end of March.  Similar to Broken Skies, the ending to this one is going to be a bitch.  But for different reasons…the build-up to the end of Broken Skies sort of feels like the cumbersome 45 minutes that it takes a Stephen Spielberg movie to reach it’s climax.  And then, once I get to the end, there’s something very Lovecraftian going on.  Also, I have no qualms with admitting that a certain creature in the story was heavily inspired by one of the monsters from the late 80s cartoon The Real Ghostbusters.

Anyway, I am going through all of this for a reason.  Dale over at Graveside Tales has been a big help in the development of Blood Routes.  He understands that I am very much illiterate when it comes to the inner-workings of the internets.  Because of that, I have no idea if I have done everything that I need to do in order to properly plug Blood Routes.  All of the ZEROs in the comments section seems to indicate that I have not.

So, if you have nothing better to do, I personally invite (aka, politely ask with a hint of desperation) you to give Blood Routes a try if you haven’t already.  If you get 2 or 3 chapters in and think that it sucks, that’s fine.  But be honest and tell me.  I have segmented the chapters and sections so that each one should take no more than 5-15 minutes to read.  As of right now, it is at chapter 10 (about 78 pages into it).

And that is without a doubt the laziest marketing campaign in the history of lazy marketing campaigns (well, the Where’s the Beef? ads may still own that title).

The finish line(s)

It’s pretty hard to justify donating large chunks of time to writing when I am technically still unemployed (much to my dismay, I am finding that the life of a freelance writer is not as glamorous or profitable as one might think).  Still, I am managing to get in a few words here and there.  And with NaNoWriMo’s start date looming, I have been forced to take an iventory of what projects I have hurtling towards the finish line.  Those include:

“Making the Death Bed” – a short story that I absolutely love but  is stubborn when I try to end it.  I’ve tried it 3 different ways so far and it has yet to agree with any ending that I write.

“The Mannerisms of Runners” – I had planned for this short story to be 4,000 words or so, but it is now looking to be a quick jaunt into madness, probably coming in around the 2,200 word mark.

The Dark – I really want to finish this novel (I estimate that it’s about 45% done), but have made a non-binding agreement with myself that it will remain on hold until I hear back about The Bleeding Room.

Blood Routes – This story is about 90% written.  But there are Lost-esque loose ends that I need to tie up along the way (which is one of the reasons I am irregular in posting the chapters).

And then there is the reason that I even bothered to bore you with all of the above.  Last, but certainly not least, on the list is Broken Skies.  And I have vowed that I will finish the first draft of this by the end of the month. If I don’t knock this sucker out before NaNoWriMo begins, then I might very well go insane.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, if you’re participating, hunt me down over there under the name bnapier.

Until next time…

Scatterbrained

I hate going an entire week without posting.  It means that there is either nothing going on or that when I do post again, there is much to report.  This post is somewhere in the middle.

First of all, the BIG NEWS that I was raving about on the last post is still in the works.  It’s a looooong process and, when it’s all said and done, may come down to nothing.  So while I’m still a bit weary of talking at length about it, I’ll give the bare(subtle) bones:  I can’t write scripts; screenplay format frightens me.  Yet I threw a pitch for a television series towards Certain People and we have been in talks for a little over a week regarding the sloppy script for the pilot I wrote, the synopsis and various character sketches and ideas.  As of right now, due to money concerns, things are idling.  From the little I know about this whole process, this could take a month to start going, or it could take 3 years.  And even then, as I said, it could boil down to nada.  But I’ll keep you guys posted.

Also, I’m still awaiting final word on The Bleeding Room, which, if you recall was passed ahead to a final reading stage a little over a month ago.  I went back and reread it and now almost hope that they ask for a rewrite.  I like the way it ended, but I came up with a whole new, twisted way to end it.  Of course, this is a moot point as of right now.

In other news, the ToC for Northern Haunts has been released.  I would post it here, but it’s on a gazillion other blogs as it is.  You can read it at Shroud’s blog.

Now, the thing that I’m really excited about (for the last day or so).  Typically, when I get an idea for a short story, I start writing in immediately.  If it sucks, I go back and alter it however I see fit.  But the other day as I was driving into town, I passed two guys jogging/running.  They looked bored, lifeless, and as if they did this thing every day…so much that they really didn’t even know why they were doing it anymore.  And from that, a story was born.  But it has not been written yet.  This has the potential to be a very harrowing story and I want to make sure I give it the care and treatment that I would a novel.  With a working title of “The Mannerisms of Runners”, I’m aiming for a 3,500-4,000 word story.  I plan on starting it this afternoon.

And that’s about it.  I added about 2,000 words to Blood Routes over the last week and roughly 5,500 to Broken Skies (which looks to have about 20 pages left and then a big fat THE END).

‘Til next time guys…

Inspirations and Motivations

As has been the case for the last two weeks, there ins’t much happening in Barry’s Writing World.  I added about 1,500 words to Blood Routes this morning and am now trying to figure out a way to end this odd story I plan on subbing to Dead Science.

So, as a filler post of sorts, I thought I’d try out something I’ve often thought about doing on this blog.  And that is posting commentary on music, movies, TV and whatever else I find worthy that has inspired and moved me over the years, particulary in regards to my writing.  (This may become a regular thing, so be prepared).

For this go round, I give to you the third album in the Deftones’ catalogue, White Pony.  I think it’s important to point out to those of you that may not know much about the Deftones, that they are not the simply defined alt-metal band they have somehow been pigeon-holed as.  As a matter of fact, I challenge you to find a band that has shown as much growth and innovation in the psat 5 or 6 years as the Deftones have.  White Pony was their subtle drift away from the alt-metal movement, a way for them to head into the more experimental zones that most members of the band loved.  This album showcases their ties to music like Mogwai, The Cure and even Depeche Mode.

Songs like “Korea” and “Elite” are included in White Pony for diehard fans of the Deftones’ heavier stuff, but the highlights of the album are the more experimtnal, softer (and at times, darker) songs such as “Teenager”, “Digital Bath”, “Change (In the House of Flies)” and the haunting “Passenger”.  I recall once trying to write a short story to go along with the song “Digital Bath” and while it was a pretty disturbing story, it wasn’t very good in quality.  This album was playing when I put the final paragraph down to the first novel I ever wrote (it, too, was horrible and rest with shame in a drawer).  This album is the perfect mixture of angst, beauty and darkness and I often find myself listening to it when Writer’s Block is attacking.

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the album, here’s “Digital Bath”.  The video is sort of lame, but the song still gives me chills in a haunting and pleasing way. And besides, if you pay attention to the lyrics, it’s a pretty creepy song.

The closest I have come to writing in two weeks

I edited a short story of 6,000 words and sent it off.  I thought it would sort of appease the urge I’m having to write, but it only made it worse.  As a result, I have decided to try to begin the ending to Broken Skies tonight.  And maybe, if I can stay up really late, begin that short story that has been poking my frazzled mind with a stick lately.

Anyway, a bit about the story I subbed to Black Velvet Shadows this morning.  A while back I sent it off to Shroud’s ill-fated The Bleeding Desert anthology.  Once that was killed off, I tried a few other markets and got two different responses: 1) It’s a bit long and 2)Not quite what we’re looking for.  So I edited it once again this morning and sent it into the void once more.

I’m close to this story because it was supposed to be the prologue to Blood Routes.  But the conenction I was trying to make between this story, “The Way Down”, and Blood Routes was far too vague and wouldn’t even be realized until the very end of the novel.  So I have given it one final edit in an attempt to make it more of a story capable of a gut-punch without the added weight of Blood Routes.  I’ve never really amputated a story like this before, but we shall see.  The basic gist of “The Way Down” is L’amour meets Lovecraft in a very clasutrophobic space.

Oh,…and NOW because I’m sure no one expects me to participate in this:

I’ve been TAGGED:

What are your nicknames? For some reason, my college room mate stuck one on me that I have never been able live down.  Call it cheating if you want, but I will not reveal it here.  Just know that I DO have one and I hate it.

What game show and/or reality show would you like to be on? Wheel of Fortune.  I’m awesome at WOF and literally get angry when the idiot contestants only have 4 blanks left and can’t figure it out.

What was the first movie you bought in VHS or DVD? I’m not exactly sure.  I do know that it was either E.T. or The Goonies.  On VHS.

What is your favorite scent? Call me a sell-out of you want…but Starbucks.  Oh, and to be cheesy (and truthful), the smell of my daughter’s hair when she just gets out of the bath.

If you had a million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it? Purchase everything Brian Eno has ever released, buy a new, much larger house, spend about a week in Barnes and Noble.

What one place have you visited that you can’t forget and want to go back to? Jamaica.  It’s amazing…especially in Montego Bay around dusk.

Do you trust easily?  It varies.  Usually not.

Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think? Again, it varies.  Depends on the mood I’m in.

Is there anything that has made you unhappy lately?  Having no job.  Oh, and this endless void of time between new seasons of Lost.

Do you have a good body image?  I’m scrawny and my body is incapable of building muscle.  And I don’t care.

What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries.

What websites do you visit daily? Graveside Tales Forum, First Showing, CNN, various blogs

What have you been seriously addicted to lately?  Down-tempo chill music, Fruity Pebbles and Craigslist.

What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?  Quirky, talented and possesses a unique sense of humor.

What’s the last song that got stuck in your head?  “Mascara” – Deftones (“there’s still blood in your hair; got the bruise of the year…”)

What’s your favorite item of clothing?  Baggy hooded sweatshirts.

Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy? No.  I would go so far as to say that they suck.

What would you do if you saw $100 lying on the ground? Very clearly announce, “Woah, man, I can’t believe I just dropped that $100 bill.  Whew…that was a close one.”  Then I would quickly insert it into my pocket.  (What?…I’m unemployed…)

What items could you not go without during the day?  Is music an item?  If not, then I would say coffee.  But really, music first.

What should you be doing right now?  Continuing to abuse Monster, Craigslist and Career Builder.  Or writing.  Yet, see the title of this post.

Unemployment slows writing progress

So, I’ve been unemployed since last Friday.  And while I am technically only 3 days into unemployment (Monday was a holiday so it doesn’t count), it is beginning to stress me out.  I have a few things lined up but nothing that starts anytime soon.  And that isn’t good…paychecks are our friends.

Anyway, in the stress of all of this, my writing has taken a backseat for a while.  In the course of the last week, I have only managed to accomplish the following:

Wrote a 2,000 word story for Dark Jesters.  It was rejected for not being funny enough, so I edited it and am shopping it around elsewhere.  The story, “The Accidental Deaths of the Dying and the Dead” is now (after edits) a quick 1,900 word morbid story with a pretty impressive ending if I do say so myself.

Wrote 800 words on Broken Skies.

Posted the first half of Chapter 6 on Blood Routes.  If you haven’t started reading this yet, please do.  Seeing all of those 0s beside “Comments” is not good for the unemployed ego.

Anyway, until next time!…the job hunt continues!

They grow up so fast

Stories that is.

Well, children too, I suppose.  Four months ago my daughter could hardly speak at all.  Those were the glorious days before she learned the magical word “No.”  However, for the sake of this blog, the title refers to stories.  I have far too much going on.  Here’s the proof.  In the last week, these stories have either been added to, re-edited or freshly created.

Short Stories

“Jinx” – I edited this one, made it a bit less slapstick and sent it off to GUD.

“Smaller Parts of the Whole” – rewrote the ending, added another unpleasant scene and sent it off to Weird Tales

“Flight of the Wambagaa (Delayed in Boston Due To Snow)” – started writing this one for Dark Jesters.  It’s giving me hell, but I like the idea so I’m sticking with it.

“When We Were Shy of Blood” – about halfway through this one and I really don’t like it very much.  Writing it for The World is Dead.  Zombie fiction is apparently not my forte.

“King Pumpkin” – redited, added about 750 words and sent it off to Bloody October.

Longer stuff

Blood Routes – currently sits at 48,741 words.  A rough estimate puts the first draft (what you see over on the Blood Routes page) somewhere in the 77,000 word range.

Broken Skies – I wrote a TON on this thing between Monday and Tuesday.  It now stands at 49,034 words.  This one is looking to round off nicely at around 65,000 words.  Which means the end for the first draft is near.  And I am dreading the ending.   The final 3 chapters of this story is the most ambitious peices of writing I’ve ever ever thought about.

Hell On Earth, Book 2 – rewrote one chapter.  edit, edit, edit. (It’s depressing that in its first draft, this thing was 84,000 words long and now, in its final editing/writing stage is somehow back down to 52,300.

Untitled ghost/mythology book – started doing plot outlines and character sketches in longhand in a notebook I carry everywhere.

You know, I think I may have to lay off of the short stories for a month or so.  I’d really like to have draft one of Broken Skies done within two weeks or so.  That book is pestering me to be finished.

Anyway, til next time…