Big Ed's Place

I managed 637 words on Blown this past week, bringing it to 3,701. In the process, I discovered how much I missed my old work schedule that allowed for 1.5 hour long lunches several times a week. By the time I get to the food (sorry–not going to eat at my desk for a variety of reasons), get settled, and allow myself enough time to get back to the office, there’s only 20 minutes of good writing time in an hour break. If I have to run an errand, like I usually do a few times a week, there’s even less. Fifty minutes is far more relaxed for writing and improves my creativity.

Now I realize that this complaining isn’t particularly attractive, especially since I know authors who have, ahem, too much time to write, due to not having employment. So I’m going to try to not do it much, but it is clear that I’m going to just have to accept a lower output for a while as a result.

That said, I did spend some words on non-fiction in the form of a guest blog post on Oh, Get a Grip!. I’m happy with the result, so please check it out.

The online world I belong to as an erotica author is exploding due to PayPal’s continued pressure on ebook publishers and distributors. They managed to get Smashwords to cave on Friday and begin yanking books with content that PayPal finds objectionable.

My last blog post was about this, as will be my next one. There’s also plenty out there in other places and, frankly, just keeping up has been challenging this weekend. I’d like to blame my slow writing on that, but I really can’t. It’s a necessary distraction and there are plenty of other ways my writing has continued to trudge along.

I did write 543 words on Blown, bringing it to 2964 words. I’m close enough to know it will finish between 4000 and 5000 words. So, two weeks, probably. I’d like to pick up the pace a bit, but that looks like what it will be for a while. However, I figured I could offer a small tease of what’s to come:

FYI
–Takes place in March 1983. Will be released after Nick gets done reviewing/editing. Teaser: Gina’s home for Spring Break. The illustration is up on the Summer Camp stories page too.
Blown
–Takes place January 1982, during a major Atlanta blizzard. Teaser: think about the title a minute.
Need to Know
–Takes place April 1983. Teaser: Involves a trip to Florida. Note that this story and all subsequent ones cannot be released prior to Nick releasing Ch20.
Burst
–Takes place May 1983. Teaser: Involves Erin’s car breaking down and her shirt getting dirty.
CNN
–Takes place early June 1983. Teaser: CNN stands for “Coulter News Network.”
Baptized
–Takes place late June 1983. Teaser: Takes place at Camp, involving a very large party.

If you recall the previous titles (Bent, TMI, Broken) you might spot a pattern as well.

One of the constant challenges for me these days is learning curves. I don’t have the time to just learn for the sake of learning like I did back in my single-and-bored days. I need something solved and I need it solved now, so I can do other things (like write). Of course, even the writing requires learning curves–html, WordPress, Photoshoppe, epub formatting, and so on. As much as I’d like to farm them out, there are some things that don’t make sense to be farmed out.

This was one of those weeks. My home network went down. In the past, I’ve paid computer consultants way too much money to set it up and maintain it. So this time I’ve been fighting the learning curve to do it myself. I’ve made progress and I can now get to the internet, though there are still some issues left to fix. Needless to say, it’s been a non-writing distraction.

I did manage to write during my lunch hours, though. I completed 870 words on Blown, bringing it to 2,421. I’m also revamping some stories further down the road in the Chris Coulter series and also trying to edit some of my science fiction. It’s all good, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day to learn everything I need to learn.

I didn’t get a lot of writing done this past week. I added 706 words to Blown, bringing it to 1,551. However, I do feel good about the week. I got a fair amount of clean up done. Much of that was/is behind the scenes maintenance here and elsewhere. I also added a review here and a flash story that had been completed some time ago. More work is, well, in the work.

There’s something soothing about cleaning the little stuff up. It’s like lifting small stones off your back. They’re not a heavy burden, but it still feels good when they’re gone. I’m hoping that the psychic lift will help in the coming weeks. I do want to get back to more words per week, but it’s still slow going for energy reasons. It’s hard to write when, I’m exhausted, frankly. So we’ll see.

Once upon a time, I used to enjoy travel. Those days are long since over. In particular, I’ve grown to hate airline flights. I’m 6’3″ and that means any airplane flight is several hours of sitting with my knees in my chest and my elbows trapped against my side. I exaggerate, but not that much. Additionally, I get panic attacks in heavy turbulence. Let’s just say planes are not fun.

The one thing that airplanes do offer is a forced ‘break’ from the outside world. There’s no distracting internet, no email from my day job, and, if I’m traveling for business, no 4 year old insisting I come play with him right this minute. Furthermore, I’m generally proscribed from doing work for my day job on the airplane, even if that’s the reason I’m on the flight. The company doesn’t appreciate me working where people can look over my shoulders and learn about our inner dealings.

So mostly I read. Sometimes, when there’s no one in the middle seat next to me, I fire up the laptop and try to write. If there is someone right next to me, I generally don’t because it’s too cramped and because I’m not crazy about people reading my screen. I do, generally, write erotica after all.

So this past week I had a business trip, with the usual team dinners in the evening (i.e., not much time to write in the hotel). The flight out was jammed, with a nice older man jostling my elbow for the arm rest. But on the flight back… I had some space. Unfortunately, one of my coworkers was across the aisle from me. So, while he probably couldn’t read what I was writing, I knew that prudence dictated skipping the smutty parts.

As a result, I mostly edited a previously completed science fiction story, edited a story for another author, and then turned to Blown, since Center Stage is right in the middle of a naughty bit. I managed 113 words, bringing it to 845, and then… nothing. I hit a wall where I just didn’t know how to write the next scene.

It was frustrating, because I didn’t want to start another queue jumper or a brand new story with Blown and Center Stage both at the top of the queue. I’ll probably tackle the next Devil story after they’re done, but I haven’t worked out some key details in my head. Sitting on the airplane, I didn’t work them out either. No words flowed.

So I gave up. It was the wrong environment and so I muddled through with my book (not a great one, but c’est la vie) until the plane finally landed and life overwhelmed me once again.

As I write this, I’m feeling like Charlie Brown landing on my back after the football got yanked. Earlier in this month, I saw a Call For Submissions that inspired my queue jumper Center Stage. Unfortunately, I spotted it mid-month and the due date was February 4–not a lot of time for me given how infrequently I can find time to write.

But Center Stage pulled at me, so I decided to give it a shot. This week I pushed especially hard, which was emotionally difficult because I’m still tender from the hard push in December. I managed 2,305 words, bringing it to 3,429 words. I’m close to the end and if I were to guess right now, I think it’d finish at a little under 5,000 words.

So when I realized that, the back of my mind nagged me because the call for submission said stories had to be under 4,000 words. I decided to doublecheck the call, and discovered it had been withdrawn.

So I ran hard for a deadline only to discover it gone. Aim to kick the football, then no football.

Now, to be fair, I still have what I think will be a good story. I’ll certainly finish it, but the resistance to pushing myself has been heightened even more.

Anyway, it’s also the end of January and those 3,429 words are all I managed for the month. Life just intervened, and I’m actually okay with it as a result. Hopefully February will be better.

It’s been crazy here, with various life stresses and unexpected busyness. We’re trying to teach the baby how to soothe herself to sleep. It is not going well, and so I’m getting very little sleep. It’s been very hard to focus, and my day job has required a great deal of focus.

Nonetheless, I finally managed to get Holiday Sights out (see the ebook page). I also added 699 words to Center Stage this past week, bringing it to 1,124. So clearly there have been some coherent moments in the week. Just not at this precise moment.

Hopefully I’ll have a better update when ingesting caffeine actually helps.

Last Thursday, we received a call about a death in the extended family. Friday, we put all four of us (two adults, two kids under four) on a plane for the funeral. Everything went fine and we were glad to make the trip, but it was a trip. It was exhausting, by the time we dealt with the last minute logistics, the emotional drain of the funeral, and then having to catch up with all the missed work, chores, and projects that didn’t get done while we were traveling. I’m still seriously wiped out.

Additionally, I’ve had to do some editing for other people. When it rains it pours, right? I had three writers, whom I promised to edit for, send me stories all last weekend. I’ve completed editing for two of them, but not gotten to the third. I hate leaving other writers hanging for a long time because I hate when it happens to me.

Between the editing and the catching up, I didn’t get much actual writing done. I had a queue jumper show up Friday (Center Stage) and knocked out 425 words on it. I like the premise and the characters, but am not sure how much time I’ll be able to get in on it in the next couple of weeks. We’ll see.

Anyway, that’s the curve balls so far in 2012. We’ll see how quickly I can get back into a writing routine.

No, not my funeral, despite being sick enough this past week to wonder if a funeral might be warranted. I’m out of town for a family funeral this weekend. I haven’t done much writing–mostly trying to get Holiday Sights out with all retailers. More when I return.

I wrote quite a bit in 2011; more than I expected actually. In twelve months, I managed about 76,000 words, scattered across a wide number of stories. That’s about 50% more (~26,000 words more) than 2010 and I’m impressed that I managed that, given the birth of my daughter and other major time consuming life events during the year.

I finished three Holiday Series stories (Unmasked, Giving Thanks, and Honeymoon), two of which were released here and the third is a ‘bonus’ story in the ebook to be released any day now. I completed two Summer Camp stories (Broken and FYI), the latter awaiting Nick’s approval. I released A Smile on My Face and Sights on the Night Shift as ebooks, along with four other short stories and Friends and Benefits, which were completed in earlier years. I also sold Take it to the Bank to Oysters & Chocolate. I also have four short stories submitted in various locales. One of these will probably appear under a different pen name later, but I’m not sure what I’ll do with the other three if they get rejected again. Additionally, I completed a few flash stories and will publish two of them here in the coming year.

That’s ten completed erotica short stories in 2011, not counting the flash stories. I’m pretty pleased with that.

Additionally, under my science fiction pen name, I completed five stories and sold one. Of the others, I’ll put three back into circulation in the new year and trunk the fourth. The last rejection identified a serious flaw in it and so I need to let it sit.

The story counts don’t include stories that aren’t completed, nor the blogging time here. So overall I’m pretty happy with the year. I certainly wish I could have done more, but given what time I had, I managed pretty well.

So what’s the plan for 2012?

Well, I’m still feeling that out. It’s been much harder to write since my daughter was born. This is partially related to the fatigue from never getting a complete night’s sleep. I’m just too exhausted by the time we get both kids to bed in the evening for that time to be useful for anything that requires brain cells.

I do know I want to clear some stories from my queue. I expect to tackle the next Devil story and I’m wondering whether it’s time to start the third Compassionate Courtesan novel, Boys of Summer. Of course, I also have a string of Chris Coulter stories I’d like to write, but those are likely to be limited by Nick’s speed. I can’t get too far ahead of him or it constrains him in ways he does not like. I also know there’s a bunch of queue jumpers hanging around the edges waiting to be written.

After that, I’m not really sure. Mostly, I’m tired. My baby girl is almost six months old, which means six months without a solid night’s sleep. We’ll just have to take it one day at a time.