Look! A post!

Nanowrimo went.

Some family issues arose and I did not meet my goals.

I have noticed a furor in the blogosphere. It has to do with publishers delaying ebook releases.

Much of what I have read states that publishers need to wake up and smell the coffee. Ebooks are the way of the future and ebook customers deserve to get their books at the same time.

I'm going out on a limb and saying this isn't because publishers can't see what's on the horizon. I think it's because ebook reader owners aren't a significant market share yet.

Amazon hasn't released any solid figures on Kindle sales. It's estimated that they sold about 500000 last year. With the lower price point and more people being aware of its existence I suspect Amazon will sell that many or up to 700000 this year. That's 1.2 million. Add Nook and Sony readers to the mix and if you are VERY generous that total might reach 2 million. 2 million is less than 1% of the population.

If every person who owns and e-reader buys every new ebook release it makes sense to cater to their whims. Everyone knows that is not the case.

I'm getting a Nook. I won't have it until February at least but I am getting a Nook. It will not become the only way I purchase books. I will still continue to purchase some books in hardcover. I will still buy most of my books in paperback. I will add e-books to that list. I suspect that most people probably fall into the same category that I do.


Ebooks are not the apocalypse. They are also not the alpha and omega of book distribution. They are one more channel of distribution. One I hope is used correctly. Correctly, however, does not necessarily mean primary.

Feverish the wrong way

I'm running about 101 degrees at the moment. I'm 5000 words behind where I want to be at this time. I'm sweating in a 68 degree room. I hate disease. But it's started. The greysoul is starting his trip into the dark. Should be fun.

That is all.

When the bell tolls

Three hours until Nanowrimo starts.

I'm looking forward to this. It's too easy for me to ignore my own deadlines. Having something else impose the deadline for me will help a lot.

It's going to be a long month. I'm ready to go. Anton is ready for his story to be told.

That is all.

If it is to be done...

I'm using Nanowrimo as impetus to get something done. The problem with using nano is the smallish word count. 50000 words is a lot in a month. 50000 words is not enough to throw to the wolves of the publishing world. I have moments of self-awareness. If I succeed in writing 50000 words I may very well stop. That's the goal of the contest so that's the end of it. I'm really good at stopping at the end of things. Never finishing is a wonderful way to never face rejection.

So I'm altering the contest for my own personal needs. I'm shooting for 90000 words. 3000 words per day. I used to write 3000 word papers on my lunch break in high school. I apologize to Mr. Jacques for never taking those papers seriously. So I'm setting my goal higher than what the contest requires and making my contest to write more than everyone else.

Then part two of the contest is getting it sold.

That is all.

Apologies and Masochism

There have been things the past two weeks. Life is occasionally an intrusive bitch. That's all there is on that subject.

I've done some outlining. I have a loose grasp on my characters. I'm ready to go.

So I'm waiting until November the 1st.

You may ask why. Probably not, but you may.

Nanowrimo. That be why.

This could be fun. In a horrible, soul destroying, rip my eyes out way. But, it will force me to get words on paper. One of my favorite methods of procrastination is to constantly fine tune what I just finished writing. That's wonderful for creating a spectacular first chapter. Not so good for getting past the first chapter. So I'll try the shit/wall method and see how it works.

My username is ronin6433.

That is all.

Progress of sorts

The story is fantasy. I haven't read much fantasy without some form of magic. So I've been working on the rules for magic in my setting. I think I have most of them nailed down. And they are...

...internally consistent within the structure of my story.

I could say what they are but I'll save that for later. When I'm finished.

That is all.

Week 1 in review

Mark week one of my efforts as a failure.

I did almost no writing of any kind this past week. I could blame it on any number of things but since I found time to play a game of Warhammer 40k and to paint some miniatures for said game, I think I'll blame laziness and procrastination.

On a positive note, I started running again. We'll see how long that lasts.

That is all.

Objectives

I haz a plan.

Part of that plan is not to post as much as I have been this week. I will be posting at least once per week, typically Wodin's Day. There may be more.
The Wednesday post is to track story progress. Every thing else I post is up for grabs.

The idea for my current project has been knocking around my skull for almost two years. I've been taking notes and writing down snippets. I've started to focus exclusively on it the past two weeks. I plan to have my outlining and character sketches done by mid November. After that I need to set a reasonable goal for words per week.

I'm doing this to have an outside commitment. I'm hoping at least one person will read this and yell at me for not keeping to the schedule. I am, as I said, a master procrastinator. I occasionally need someone to kick my ass into gear. Those occasions are days that end in Y.

I've found that reading the blogs I do keeps me focused. Writing this blog should also aid in keeping me on track.

That is all.

An initial flurry

This blog is an attempt to force some structure and guidance into my life.
I am inherently lazy and a past master at procrastination. I have three projects that I want to complete and this blog is one way of keeping myself on track.

I am voracious reader. I love reading everything. An outgrowth of that is I also love to write. I have started many writing projects. I have abandoned many writing projects. I have two manuscripts that are 75% finished and stalled because I have written myself into a corner and they need a major overhaul. The primary reason for this blog is to track my progress on my newest attempt at fiction. I'm doing this to have a schedule and some outside accountability.

My newest project will be an urban fantasy story. It won't dark as night but it will certainly be gray. That's about as far as I will go with detail right now.

The second project, which can't proceed until early 2011, is to build a render farm. The reason it can't proceed until 2011 is hardware availability. I am structuring how I want it to work and studying the feasibility of what I want to accomplish.

The third project is mostly pipedream at this point. It is certainly well below the previous two as far as priorities are concerned. I have a few ideas for videogames that I would like to make and I am trying to decide which one to try.

Obligatory Narcissism

Have some information.

I am a white male, not quite thirty. I am average height. I have blue eyes and graying hair. I am overweight but do not look as heavy as the scale says I am.

I am married. Our daughter is a year old. Our two dogs are four years old.

My wife is energetic, outgoing, and cheerful. I am not.

My daughter is energetic, cheerful and curious. She seems to fit the description of a one year old child perfectly.

One of the dogs is energetic and outgoing. The other is not.

There will be pictures of my wife, daughter and dogs, but not me. They are attractive, cute, and cute in that order. I am not. I am hideously, grotesquely, horrifyingly ugly.

I am told I have a very dry sense of humor.