Halfway Point

Well, yesterday I had sushi for lunch, buffalo wings for supper, and finished the 135th page of “Razored Land,” my WIP in progress. This also closes out Part 1 of the book, marking essentially the halfway point, although it’s not absolutely clear yet whether Part 2 will be as long, longer, or shorter. I’m tying up loose ends on Part 1 today but may take tomorrow off. After that, I’ll go back and do a fairly close read through on Part 1 before I rev up for Part 2. The final product will be longer than it is now. I already know some places where I need to add detail and foreshadowing.

In other writing related news, I’m scheduled to be interviewed this morning for the Covington Times Picayune, a local newspaper. Lana is responsible for setting that up. What a sweetheart she is. Later this month I’ll be a guest at Babel Con in Baton Rouge. So far I’m on panels about Pulp fiction and Dreams and Nightmares. And I have a reading scheduled. If anyone is going to be in the area July 17-19, drop in for a visit. I’ve had so much fun the past two years, and this year is planned to be bigger than ever. I assure you that I’m not going to be the biggest name there. There’ll be people you actually recognize. Thank goodness for that.

I may also be able to announce something that I’m really happy about soon. But I try never to count my chickens before they’re fried and in a bucket.
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Two Projects at Once

I admire those who can work on multiple fiction projects at the same time. I’ve discovered, once again, that it’s virtually impossible for me. I’d been rolling pretty well on the novel, Razored Land, and then, while reading some great Louis L’Amour western short stories, a sweet idea occurred to me for a western short. I thought: well, do both at once. I thought I’d work on Razored Land in my home office during the afternoon and early evening, then in late evening work on the laptop in the living room on the western, which is currently entitled Showdown at Wild Briar. The first day went well, 3 pages on Razored and almost 4 on Showdown. For day 2, I managed 1 and a half pages on Razored and 4 on Showdown. Day 3 (today), about 2 pages on Showdown and maybe 3 sentences on Razored.

It’s not the writing time that’s the problem. It’s the thinking time. The first couple of days weren’t bad because I’d already done quite a bit of thinking ahead on Razored Land and was working from that material. But as soon as the western idea occurred to me I began spending almost all my thinking time fiddling with it. The result, as soon as I dipped out the water (thoughts) already present for Razored Land, that project came to a screeching halt. I’ve decided my best bet now is to spend the next two days smashing the western home to a finish, then getting back fully into Razored Land and not letting myself be distracted further.

Guess I’m a one-project kind of guy.

In other news, did any of you watch a TV series when it was on called Invasion? It’s about a hurricane hitting Florida, followed by what appears to be an invasion of the body snatchers type of story. I never heard of it before but they were running “Invasion Week” this week, with back to back episodes every night, and I actually got hooked on it. Unfortunately, only one season was filmed and it ended with a big cliffhanger. I would have liked to see more. Anyone see this thing?
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