Merry Christmas ~ Where has the Time Gone?

     It’s already the week of Christmas and I feel like Thanksgiving was only two weeks ago.  Time has slipped away.  I’ve been busy with work, family, church and all the other aspects of life that tend to fill the hours of the day.

Reaching the Finish Line… and Face Plant!

     I’ve completed the draft of the Christmas Kids’ Book and have moved on to the editing phase.  After a few sick days and plenty of family activities for the Holidays, I’m back on track.  This project reminds me of several projects; I start out great and work hard but then lose interest. I often tackle activities like an over-enthusiastic skater in a “bail video”

A Sweet Victory or A Photo Finish

     As the Holidays progress, time gets tighter and my writing focus gets blurred by all the lights and tinsel.  I am very close to completing the draft and preparing it for editing/binding.  In these final stages I will focus and work hard each night on writing and editing (This seems like a good time to have “Coach” give an inspiring locker room speech).  The following are notes about the deadlines for the final stages in completing the Kids’ Christmas Book.

The Fu-Fu Bum and a Christmas Top 5

     I'll start out with a shameless plug for the Christmas album New Clear Winter; an album I produced a few years ago.  Click the “Featured Product” link to check it out on Amazon.  Thanks~

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     So I took a moment during the Thanksgiving weekend and had a great time writing a top 5 list of Alternative Christmas songs for Dude, I’m in a Band (Thanks Dave!).  It was great to go through some old songs and wax nostalgic about Christmas.  Most of the story is told on the Dude, I’m in a Band blog, but the crazy finale involving the Fu-Fu Bum resides here….

Thanksgiving Update

Happy Thanksgiving~

     I hope you are having (or had) a wonderful time with friends and family.  Just a quick note this week about an upcoming article on Dave’s blog, dudeiminaband.com, about Christmas music.   

Guest Author KD Benji: About Blogging

First, a thank you to Patrick (who helps with a lot of my motivation for continuing to write) for inviting me to post about my writing techniques.  Currently I have two different writing techniques.  The one I’ll talk about first and with most detail is my Verin’s Little Book – the blog where each post takes time and energy; the posts are a lot of work.  My Second Chance or Second blog is a mostly off the cuff blog. 

Guest Authors, Contributors and Bears… Oh My...

     Well I missed my self-imposed arbitrary deadline of posting on this blog once per week.  There are no excuses for my lack of discipline; I even had most of this blog entry written and ready to post.  I thought to myself, “Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming so I will be focusing more on the Kids’ Christmas Book and posting smaller or less frequent entries here”.  That’s a defeatist’s attitude and that is what I’m trying to disengage within myself. 

Ten Chapters (…and a Little More)

     Currently I have Ten "chapters" for the Kids’ Christmas Book (See - Trying to "Keep on, Keeping on") and will be finalizing the first draft within the next few weeks. The chapters need to link through "bridges" and then be edited for tone and content. Since I wrote most of the story out of sequence, similar to how movies are shot to maximize the time with actors and locations, it is going to be a messy editing process.

Blog Fest Oh-Eleven

     I flat out missed “Blog Action Day 2011” and feel a little sheepish posting about a digital culture “Fail”.  Since I did not take part in the festivities, I decided to follow up on the spirit of Blog Action Day and comment on 2 blogs (p1c3).  I commented on 2 different blogs, posting comments and links, to show my support for friends.  Now, I know I didn’t comment on a third blog, but by posting the information here, you can comment on them also.  Here are the comments I post on their respective blogs, along with the links so that you can check them out. 

Trying to “Keep on, Keeping on”

     For the most part I have spent most of my free time reading (The 4-Hour Body), watching movies (Never Let Me Go), and writing approx. 100+ usable words per day. 

Shucking Responsibility

     I posted a piece on the Writer’s Digest website for the writing prompt “A Cold Where You (Fill in the Blank) Instead of Sneeze".

Debut Episode: "Doin' Sh*t With Pat"

   Well, I posted the script!  I need everyone's comments, critiques and formatting feedback.  Anything you have to say about the script, or anything on this site, would be a big help.  Please take a moment and check it out.  Leave a questions, comments or a "Quemments" (Nerdist Podcast, 2011) on this or an entry.  i would love to hear from you!

Scripting an Outburst

     After dinner with my wife and a friend, my favorite outburst became the topic of discussion.  I do not have a bad temper per se, but an overly zealous idiom sparks to life when a simple yet annoying mistake or accident occurs.

Vacation

     I'm going to the beach for the week and plan to do some writing and LOTS of reading (catching up on 4 books). On the posts for the Writer's Digest prompts there was not much in the way of commentary or critical exchanges, so I will be commenting on 3 of the posted responses to the prompt by the weekend.

Posted a Writing Exercise

     Well, I posted a piece to last week's writing prompt on Writer's Digest under the "Treasure Awaits" prompt. It's near the bottom under Patrick Michael. I will include it here for further comments, critiques and reviews. My biggest question, being that it was under 500 words, does this piece give enough detail about the setting without derailing the setup of the plot?

I Made the Mistake of Reading

      I checked out the Writer’s Digest website for some writing resources and found a section for daily writing prompts.  After looking at some of my previous writing, I felt that it would be a good idea to get in to the habit of writing for a situation or genre that I am not passionate about (basically anything besides the swords and sorcery fantasy genre).  After deciding to take up the challenge to create a brief story per the website’s parameters, I followed the link and found some members’ submissions.  I made the mistake of reading some of them included under the following prompt:

Starting the Show

Call it A.D.D., sloth, or good ol’ lack of gumption, but I rarely follow through with writing projects I begin.  The time to set goals, deadlines, and finally make a contribution to the culture has finally arrived.  Cliché cliché cliché.

Well after 30 years it is finally time to grow up and put on big boy pants.  Here are the Goals and Deadlines I have set for these projects:

·         Goal#1 – Write, edit and print a book for my nieces and nephews.

                Deadline – Christmas 2011

·         Goal#2 – Create d20 adventure module for friends.

                Deadline – January 2012


I am forcing myself to create and produce content both for this site and the projects listed above, hence Forcing the Issue.