Red Ink.

When I add material on Word, it comes out in red ink.  So far, on the first three chapters, I've added about 500 words each.  Which if extended all the way through the book would make the book about 15% larger.  That isn't the goal at all.  In fact, the faster moving the story the better, as far as I'm concerned.

But I also want it to be fully fleshed out.

I've now done three chapters of The Last Fedora using the "prose poetry" method.

What I do is, I read the original chapter, then go off with a notepad and pen and just let the words spin.  Just visualize the scene and try to tap into the emotion of it and let the poetry side of my brain wander.  It's turning out that the language isn't all that much more "poetic," though I tend to use metaphors more. But it is more descriptive. Then I look for places to insert the new material.

Mostly, it's just adding information about the characters or descriptions of the scene.  Sometimes I can jigger the tone a little.

For instance, I have a little ten year old boy, Tony, who in some ways is the main protagonist in the book.  In the third chapter, I just wanted to emphasize what a positive, upbeat kid he is.  (An impoverished kid stuck in a bad part of town.) He uses the term "I'm gonna..." all the way through.

His friend makes fun of him.  "I'm gonna, I'm gonna..." Andre mimicked Tony's resolute voice.

That kind of thing.  The basic structure and tone of the novel is there.  I'm not making any structural changes.  I'm just trying to fill in, add a little more texture to the backstory.

So is that a good thing or a bad thing?  Does it add or subtract to the book?

I think it's more or less three steps forward and two steps back.  The straight lines of the narrative are disrupted slightly in order to give the reader more information.  I also have the chance to look for the more dramatic turning points and make the payoffs stronger.  Sometimes I can add a nicely formed sentence or a telling detail.

Linda has read the first two chapters and says that overall it probably is an improvement.  I'm feeling like it probably is too, if I do it right.

I'm not sure yet whether it will need another editing job after this.  I don't think I can afford two editing jobs on the same book.  Maybe just ask Lara to look over the sections in Red Ink, and see if they pass muster.

Or maybe just figure that the publisher will be doing a copy-editing job too.  So far, I've been handing them completely vetted manuscripts -- and I'm not sure that is normal.  Certainly, it's a luxury. 

But I'm trying to establish myself, and a little investment at first (if, at first, I mean the first ten books or so) probably wouldn't be such a bad thing.  If it improves the book, I should do it. Because the book is going to be out there, standing or falling on its merits.  So I need to try to get it right.

Envy.

Boy do I feel it, all the time, at the success of other writers.  No one else ever talks about it, so maybe I'm the only one.

But I take a step back, a deep breath, I think about it, and I try to subdue it.

Linda says, "I like it when you're successful."

"Yeah, but you're a better person than me."

Much like when I get new competition for my store, I have to appeal to both reason and my better nature. Being competitive in the sense of doing my best, trying to learn from the other guy, and responding to their challenges -- that's good.  Being pissed off about it, or trying to 'crush' the competition (which is my first reaction) is bad.

One of Ragnarok's writers, Steve Diamond, is doing very well on Amazon with the book Residue.  

Envy, at first.  Then delight for him.  And then third, the idea that what's good for a Ragnarok author is good for Ragnarok and what's good for Ragnarok is good for me.

I've become much less judgmental about other writers, at the end of the day.  Not only do I fight my envy, but I've become much more tolerant.  Everyone is doing their best.  I'm not going to judge them.

I watch what I say.  I would never post a negative review.  I know how fucking hard this is.

It isn't a zero sum game, this writing.  Their success does not keep me from doing my best.

There are so many factors, that envy simply doesn't enter into it.

What will be will be for reasons beyond what I feel.  So that little burst of envy I allow to exist -- not like I could deny it -- and then I let it subside, and let both reason and mature nature take hold instead. 

Good for you guys.  Good for you, Stephen King and Dean Koontz.  Good for you everyone who is ahead of me in the rankings.

I know how you must feel.  Or I would like to...

New trick for rewriting.

I've mentioned it before as an idea, but I'm actually trying it for the first time.

The Trick:  I read a chapter.  I set it aside.  I pick up a notepad and pen.  I put myself in my self-hypnotic prose poetry frame of mind.  I just start writing down stuff. 

When I'm finished, I go through the chapter and insert the prose poetry wherever applicable.

The only danger is -- I might be getting a little too metaphoric.  So for instance, here's where I'm describing my main character, who is a Golem.

Here's the original passage:  "He was so quiet, so light on his feet, so unmoving when he didn't have to move, that he could be standing right next to you and you would forget he was there."

And this is the line I added:  "He was impossible to read, like trying to find emotion in a boulder."

So is that too much?  Just enough?  Not necessary?

Another example:  "Jacob moved suddenly, lifting the meth head by the neck.  He raised the man's right arm, and then his left, as if trying to decide."

To which I added: "The tweaker was like a rag doll, silent and helpless in the hands of the giant. Sal shivered.  He would have had no problem shooting the guy. Hell, he would happily take a baseball bat to the man's body until he heard the bones break.  But there was something merciless in the way the Golem held his victim, the casual nature of it, like a cruel boy ripping the arms off his sister's doll."

Too much?  Better?  Just enough?  Not necessary?

I feel like my writing is more than adequate, but I've spent most of my effort on storytelling, not the writing itself.  This has been mostly a good thing, I think.  I get right to it, and don't waste a lot of time on extraneous material.

However, I've always felt that I could use a bit more description, a bit more telling detail. 

The other thing that happens is, once I open that 'changing things' door, I tend to find stuff in the chapter that I would like to improve.  Anything that gets me thinking, or inspires me to actually work on the editing part, is a good thing.

I'm risking overdoing it, I suppose.  But I can always trim it before I finish.  Easier to cut than to add, basically. 

The other problem is that Lara has already edited this book, and I'm making so many changes that I worry that I'm negating her edits.

The way to avoid this is to do the "prose poetry" part before sending it off to her.  Problem is, I need a month of not working to gain perspective on a manscript, about the same time it takes for Lara to edit, so it's kind of perfect timing to do it after she sends to book back. 

So I'm basically taking a chance that in trying to make it better, I'm making it worse.

I don't think my original writing is so off that it doesn't pass muster.  That is, the editing is a bonus.  Plus, well, the publishers also edit, so maybe I can count on them. I think I can trust my instincts on this.

If I just pay particular attention to the added words, making sure they are grammatically correct, I should be able to make it work.

I'm torn about it.  I like adding little artistic touches -- makes me feel like a novelist, as opposed to a writer.  So as long as I think it adds something to the book, I think I probably should do it.

Here's a little interview I did.

A little interview I did with Ragnarok Publications.  http://www.ragnarokpub.com/#!QA-Duncan-McGeary-Author-of-the-Tuskers-Series/caet/553eab1f0cf2adc1acf37d3c

One change since I did the interview.  I don't eat bacon everyday like I joked.  In fact, I don't eat pork at all.  These animals are like three year old children.  Can't face that fact anymore.

Got a note from Tim Marquitz, who is apparently editing Tuskers II (lucky him).  He wondered about the use of the word "spell" for someone relieving someone else for guard duty.  Interesting, because to me this seems like a natural term -- "I'll spell you soon."  My parents came from Minnesota, maybe it's a regionalism? Or maybe I just picked it up from reading.

So an easy fix is the use the word "I'll relieve you soon."  Right.  Except I used the word "relief" in the sentence before. 

Writing is hard.

 I haven't written for several days now, and it feels weird.  Like I'm not doing anything.  I really believe I should give myself a rest, if only for a few weeks, and come back to the whole thing fresh.  My son Todd is getting a Masters in Art later in the month and I'm going to the event and all and that kind of thing is completely nerve-wracking for me -- brings out my agoraphobia big time -- but I need to be there. I feel myself getting nervous weeks in advance.  So going to go do that, and then come back and dedicate myself to writing again.

Back on track.

Took The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Murders to writer's group.

They liked the title, though they didn't really know what it meant.  They pointed out some things in the first two chapters that will make it better.  They wanted to know things that are explained later, but I think there are a few hints I can include earlier.

The sex didn't bother them.  In fact, they thought there were a couple of places where I could be even more sensual.

Anyway, I feel like I'm back on track.  Frankly, returning to monitoring the current book sales, rankings and reviews seems to have centered me.

Tuskers II is coming May 25.  So that seems pretty firm.

I will do the rewrite of The MPDG Murders first, and try to get a publisher interested.  Then, either very shortly after or at the same time, offer The Last Fedora.  I like both books, but am working on getting The MPDG Murders done first because it has more of a hook, what with the title and content.

Tuskers III is done but is going to take some work to get ready.

While all this is going on, I'm going to start planning The Darkness You Fear: Ghosts of the Blue Bucket Mine.  I'm thinking I'll be outlining this book much more than usual, because I have some ideas about how I want it to go in advance. (Whereas usually with a book, I discover these things through writing...)

I know, for instance, that I want Virginia Reed to be the POV character through most of the book, instead of only half the book.  I also am interested in using a journal format as much as possible, like I did in Led to the Slaughter.  I think that format lends itself to authenticity.

I also want to diagram the plot so that I can go do some research -- find the original locations in Eastern Oregon and describe them.  So that should take me into the latter part of the year.
I also want to write Tuskers IV (and V if necessary) by the end of the year.

One final thing: if an idea comes along that demands to be written, I will drop everything else and do that right away.  I haven't regretted doing that with Tuskers, The Last Fedora, or The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Murders.  They are gifts from the subconscious that I don't dare ignore.

End of an experiment.

I stopped checking rankings, sales and reviews of my books on April 10.

The results were surprising.

I felt very isolated, very disconnected.  It didn't seem to be much of a benefit at all.  In fact, it seemed like a negative.

I also made the mistake of not putting an end-date to the experience, so after a month I started to ask myself when I would check, and whether waiting too long could be even more of a negative.

So I'm ending the experiment.

Checking the rankings, sales and reviews today, I'd have to say that not all that much has changed.  A good review there, a mediocre review there, surprising strong sales on the Books of the Dead titles which haven't been pushed that much.

Led to the Slaughter continues to get great reviews.

My vampire books are selling at B & N better than I expected.

So here's the thing.  There's no such thing as too much information for me -- even if it's bad.  I mean, I'd much rather know where I stand.  Not knowing didn't reignite daydreams of glory, rather the opposite, it brought about trepidation.

I have enough material out there that I can almost always find a positive somewhere in the mix.  For instance, Rule of Vampire is in the top 2% of horror books on B & N.  So I can take that little bit of positive news and nourish it.

So I'm back.

How do I make The MPDG Murders stand out?

My goal is to make The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Murders unique and interesting, to try to make it stand out.  That requires both that it be good and that it have something that makes people sit up and take notice.

How do I do that?

The title.  The cover.  The contents.  The sexual element.

So much of it is just luck, all but the content.  So what can I do with the content to make it a memorable read?

Well, I could make everything more extreme.  More sex, more violence?

I could do that, easily enough.  But I don't want to warp the storyline from what it naturally is.  I want it to be a complete story, not just a string of shocking events.  Much like in a blog where one can get more readers by being controversial, I could shoot for that, but in the long run, keeping my integrity is more important to me.

Another way is to be really really good with the writing.

Or to make characters so memorable that the readers care about what happens to them.

Or to put in ideas that make the readers think.

Or all the above...

Well, I've tried to do all those things.  I can only try harder.  So in the end, whether my story stands out really isn't something I can affect objectively (at least, not still be true to myself and the book) but whether the book itself is any good.

And I'm always doing my best.  As I've said before, re-writing is open-ended.  For me, it's a constant balance between retaining freshness and fully polishing the story. 

Each book I strive to do better.

Tuskers II almost here.

I'm not sure, but I think Tuskers II is scheduled for publication on Tuesday, May 12.

Ragnarok Publications has become quite the juggernaut of a publisher, so I pretty much don't pester them.  I know they have a lot on the plate.

Hopefully, this book barrels right along, just like the first book did.  It goes into the POV of the Tuskers much more.  I really like the ending again.  I seem to have an ability to put a little twist at the end of each book.

So I think anyone who liked the first book will like this book too.

Meanwhile, Tuskers III is written.  It expands on the story so much that it requires at least a fourth book to finish, and maybe a fifth book.  III needs some heavy editing because it's more of a reach than the first two books.  More ambitious.

Tuskers has turned into quite the saga.


UPDATE:  Tuskers II coming out May 25

UPDATE:  Tuskers II coming out May 27.  I think this is pretty firm.

Trying not to tinker too much.

This I know.  Line by line editing helps my book.

This I also know.  I run out of steam really fast.  To me, this is the grunt work of writing.  Linda says that every time I'm say, "I hate rewriting," that I'm just reinforcing this negative thought.  But...it's true.

All my writing can benefit from a little extrapolation, a little fleshing out. A little more description and detail.  Not a lot, but a little doesn't hurt.

I've tried to come up with some work processes that make it tolerable.  Little spoonfuls of sugar to help the medicine go down.

For instance, I've discovered that line by line editing doesn't need to be done in sequence.  I can drop anywhere in a manuscript and do that. I've discovered that I can do about 5 pages at a time, give or take a few pages, before my attention starts to wander. Letting some time pass between tries is also beneficial.

I've kind of worked some of it out.  Whenever I'm writing I do a little spot checking here and there, and make those kinds of line edits. Then when I'm done, I go through the entire manuscript, five pages at a time.  Takes a couple of days.  Often it is hard for me to get to the end.

Then I send it off to my editor, who takes a month or two.  When she sends me back her editing, I have a chance to go through and do a little more, with a little more perspective.

I wonder sometimes if I was really diligent if I couldn't improve my books.  But to tell the truth, I'm worried about ruining my books.  If I do too much, I get the word-jumble and I can never enjoy the book again.

So I try to go right up the the word-jumble barrier and not cross.

Problem books become something different.  I'm coming up on my fourth year with Faerylander.  It required all kinds of rewriting.  Not just the line-editing, but an entire makeover -- several times.  I'm long past the word jumble with this book, so I'm not worried about making it worse.  I can only make it better.

But when a "fast" book comes out of me, like Tuskers, like The Last Fedora, and now like The Magic Pixie Dream Girl Murders, I really don't want to tinker too much.

Being "crafty" in my writing.

As I mentioned, as I approached the ending of The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Murders, I was worried I didn't have the chops to pull it off.

When I finally came to it, I thought the ending worked out really well.

I came up with a "crafty" way of getting it done.  Unlike the rest of the book, where I had one POV character per chapter, I went into the heads of five different characters.  The emotional and dramatic weight was too heavy for one character, the requirement for an arc was too steep, whereas jumping between POV's got the job done, and in fact probably heightened the drama and emotion.  Like a singer who can't quite reach the high note, but finds a bunch of well sung lower notes to get the same idea across.

Pretty proud of myself there.

I've learned there are crafty ways of making books work.  A major example of this was with Led to the Slaughter.  About 50% of the way in, I had the Donner Party stuck in the Sierra Nevada.   I knew the rest of the book was about them being cold and hungry, hungry and cold.  I couldn't figure out a narrative way to not make that boring.

When I settled on using a "Journal" narrative, it addressed the problem and looking back on it, I think it made the book work.  I could start each "dated" journal entry fresh.  But at the time, I spent several days stuck, trying to figure it out (which is a lot for me when I'm in the throes of a book).

The solution was an intellectual, structural one that worked emotionally.  Cool.

What seems to be happening lately in my books is that I have a general narrative that works, but is lacking a certain something.  Then, partway through the book, I realize that adding a new character and writing new POV chapters without changing the general narrative addresses most of the problems.

It's gotten so that I'm sort of on the lookout for that.  Somewhere along the line -- usually around halfway through the book, the new character comes to me and creates new possibilities.

A great example was the addition of Barbara in Tuskers.  To me, she's the strongest character in the book.  She sort of took over, the way Barbara would.  But when I wrote the original plot, she wasn't in there.  In fact, I could take her out and I could still have a book.  But she adds so much that it would be crazy to do so.

This is such a combination of the conscious and the subconscious, that I choose to call it "craft."  It comes from experience and having confidence in what I'm doing. Finding out things that work through trial and error.  Maybe if I was smarter, I'd get it right the first time.

The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Murders, as planned.

Interesting experience, writing The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Murders.

First of all, you'll notice I've gone back to the original title.

Which is apropos, because the experience of writing this book once again proved to me that it is best to stick to original plans. I've gotten in the bad habit lately of getting partway through a book and then changing things.  Which breaks one of the cardinal rules I imposed early on -- write the story completely before changing things.

Both methods have dangers.  When I change things too early, I often lose focus, I create so many complications for myself that I get into a confusing quagmire of contradictory tones and ideas.

If I don't change things I tend to write myself into a corner.

What I've decided is -- a change can be allowed if it is additional or subtractional, that is -- if I don't have to reorganize the book, but simply need to add or subtract.  For instance, add a character and that character's viewpoint chapters.

This adding a character has been an amazingly effective way to address any shortfalls in a book.  It often adds a texture, the information, the dramatic contrast, that the book needs. Without messing with what's already been written.

I've now written three out of the last five books this way, and it is the model I'm going to try to follow going forward. The other two books, I started changing things too soon.  It isn't that they won't end up being just as good, but that they will take twice as long to get done.

I've come to believe that a story wants to be written the way a story wants to be written. I trust my subconscious and my biggest job is to get out of its way!  More often than not, the story veers in unexpected directions.  Consciously, intellectually messing with this is usually a bad idea.

Even the adding new characters is usually something that comes to me full blown as a solution, as if the subconscious had it in mind all along.

Two thirds of the way through this book, I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to come up with an ending that worked.  I almost started changing things, but then decided to go the rest of the way before doing it.

So when I finally wrote the ending yesterday, I was amazed at how smoothly it came out.

Too sexy, or not sexy enough?

I finished The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Murders yesterday.

I was amazed at how well it came out.  I wasn't certain that I hadn't gotten in over my head.  I wasn't dealing with hyper-intelligent rampaging wild pigs here.  I was dealing with Sex.  And Love.  And the eternal "war" between men and women.

So I was worried about the sex.  I didn't want to be offensive.  And I was worried that I was stepping on a sexual political landmine. The possibilities of being politically incorrect were huge.  (I'm going to need Lara's take on that to see whether I did either thing.) 

I had a sex scene in the first chapter.  Not overly graphic, but definitely a sex scene.  Perforce I was using more four letter words than I was used to. 

Oh, well, I thought.  It's a story of a Succubus, a creature who preys on men's sexual desires, who sucks their very lifeforce.

Then there was a sex scene in the second chapter, and on it went.  Even when there wasn't a full-blown sex scene, there were paraphrasing narratives, and of course just a discussion of the whole thing.  It all seemed necessary.  Not the point of the story, but necessary for the plot to work, for the character motivations, and the overall theme.

I started reading it over last night, and the sex doesn't seem over the top, but integral to the story.  The plot and the characters are more important than the sex, in other words.  I think it all works.

So the only thing I'm worried about now is -- I love this book, I think it works -- but it isn't representative of my other work. So I'm worried that it's too sexy for those who've read me before.  At the same time, I'm worried it isn't sexy enough for those who find it because of it's content. 

Weird place to be.

I believe a book exists outside of myself, and if it is fully formed it deserves to see the light of day, so I'm going to publish it one way or the other.

Filling in.

I think when I'm finished with Blood of the Succubus, I'm going to take a break from original material.

Unless, you know, a really good idea comes along....

I am probably 10 days away from finishing, Nobody's Killing Me, my inter dimensional odyssey story.  I think I'm probably going to try to do that.

I want to spend some time sprucing up some of what I've already written.  Try to make the existing manuscripts better, make them ready for publication.

It's more and more clear that I'm writing, and have written, so much material I will have to publish some of it myself.

My strategy so far has been to present my strongest available book to the publishers next.  Sometimes, I have two or three books that are almost the same in quality, so I make a guess.

I think, for instance, the The Last Fedora: The Gangster Golem Chronicles is a good book.

At the moment, I'm thinking Blood of the Succubus might be slightly stronger, at least for commercial possibilities.  Then again, it could be a complete embarrassment.  It has the potential to be politically incorrect, as well as perhaps over-the-top.  I'm going to see what Linda and Lara say.

I also have some commitments to fill.  Finish Tuskers in either four or five books.  Another Virginia Reed Adventure.

I'd like to get Faerylander ready, and rewrite Wolflander, and finish Ghostlander.  If I can find a publisher for these, I'd probably continue them once a year, like I'm doing with the Virginia Reed Adventures.

So it wouldn't hurt to take a little time and work on existing material.

Plenty to chose from.

No more pork. Tuskers impact.

Linda and I agreed not to buy any more pork. No bacon, the chops, no pig at all.

I can't face being a vegetarian. But maybe I can eliminate one meat at a time.  Pig farming to me is especially egregious.  Highly intelligent individuals being raised in a brutal way. 

That's it, I'm done.

I wrote a book called Tuskers, about a wild pig apocalypse, little knowing that my research would change anything.  I tried to ignore it for a while, but I keep coming back to the discomfort with the idea of killing these creatures.

I don't know that I'll be a fanatic about it.  If I'm a visitor at a house and they happen to serve pork, I won't make a stink about it.

But I can do this much.

Now I just have to be careful not to write a book about a cow apocalypse.

Where does this fit?

I'm not sure where this novel fits.  It's a sexual thriller, with supernatural elements.  Not at all what I ever expected to write. I'm not sure what I've written. 

I don't think about where anything fits when I start a book.  I look more at whether a book wants to be written than whether I think it fits anywhere.  Much less whether it fits a popular category.  When I started writing my Vampire Evolution Trilogy, I was aware the Vampires were probably old news.

I had the opposite problem with Tuskers and The Last Fedora.  Not too many books written about pigs or Golems.

Anyway, this book is coming to me fast.  I've been writing way more than the normal words per day, and they've been good words.  The story feels right to me.

I was approaching the last 20% of the book yesterday when I realized I was probably going to come up short.  Not by much, and it was more than possible, even probable that in the writing it would happen or that a little going back and fleshing it out would get me there.  Almost all my stories could use a little fleshing out because I'm concentrating on getting the story down, not worrying about fluffing it.

Anyway, the real problem was, that though I had an ending in mind, getting the good guys and the bad guys in the same place at the same time, and though I had the little plot twist in the end that I always like to find (and which usually set up the possibility of a sequel) I didn't have the right mechanism for the confrontation.  That is, there was going to be a fight.  The main part of that was good.  It was going to be a fight for the affections of the men.  That was good.

But I also needed a physical way to put down the danger of the Succubi.  I don't know, knives and guns and such didn't seem very satisfying.

So I went back the core McGuffin:  The Blood of the Succubus.  How can I use that?

So I invented a new character, who enters with a chapter in the first third of the book, then again about halfway through the book, and then at the end.  (I actually have an idea for him to enter about two/thirds of the way through the book to make it consistent, but I'm not sure it is needed.  If my subconscious really wants it, it will come out.)

Anyway, this guy shows up at the end with the solution, the McGuffin.  Much more satisfying and thematically consistent.

Now the book is probably going to be bigger than it needs to be, but a book is what a book is.

Though I'm still wondering just what it is I just wrote. 

"We got this."

The MPDG Murders just keeps a coming.

I think it has a strong narrative voice, a distinctive tone, and it has a lot of energy.

Sexual energy, to be sure, but it also has psychic energy all the way through.  One thing I'm always looking for in a story are strong motivations.  Well this has sex, and survival, and love and friendship, and hate, and they are all very pure and strong.

I don't want to start doubting or second-guessing this, at least until I'm finished, but I really like it so far.

The Three Daughters of Lilith have made their entrance, but not quite as grandly as I hoped.  So I'm going to think that over today and try to figure out how to make it more powerful.

Trying to avoid silly sex innuendo's or silly sex scenes.  I mean, I really want it to seem real.  Up until now, I think the sex has been integral to the story.

Found a story on Facebook this morning about a village in the Slavic territory where the men are falling into coma's for days, then waking up and craving sex, sex, sex.  I had already imagined that the TDOL could put people to sleep and invade their dreams, so this would fit nicely if I can figure out how to do it.

So far every chapter has been good.  About half of the last five or six chapters haven't been quite as strong, which is a little disappointing.  I was hoping the flow would be strong all the way through.  But it's not too late to make them better, especially if the next chapters are better.

I'm so far ahead of schedule, that I can take a little time to mull it over, make sure that I'm really confident before continuing -- as long as I make sure I don't lose the momentum.

I have this inkling, which is a good sign, that my subconscious is saying to me, "We got this."

The Three Daughters of Lilith.

Fridays have turned into "Errandsday."  I want to write, but real life intrudes.  I'm trying to accommodate real life.



I'm 3/5ths of the way through The Manic Pixie Girl Dream Murders: Blood of the Succubus.

The way it's supposed to work, the heroes should be driven into more and more desperate straights, and then start a comeback.  In this case, it's the Villain who has been driven down, step by step.

So now I bring in her two sisters, and between them, The Three Daughters of Lilith are an unstoppable force.   They turn it around, and for the rest of the book, the human women are trying to save their men.

That's the rough idea.  I want The Three Daughters of Lilith to make a Big Splash, so that's the next couple of chapters.  I want them to come in like a Blitzkrieg overwhelming all opposition.

Should be fun to write.

Fun at Home.

Years ago I picked up the graphic novel Fun Home at random and started reading it. I hadn't heard anything about it (I think this was before it took off) and the subject matter wasn't what usually interested me.  I must have read a few pages.

Anyway, the book blew me away.  I told everyone I could about it, and proclaimed it was the best book I read that year, of any form, which was a pretty big endorsement from me who reads 10 prose novels for every graphic novel.

It went on the gain accolades everywhere.  Now the Broadway musical has been nominated for 12 Tony awards.

Amazing.  Sometimes the good guys win.

***

Drank some beer the other night, for the first time in probably six months.  (When I drink, which is rarely, I prefer white wine.)

By the second bottle, my eyes were puffing up and my nose was running.  Proof positive, though I really didn't need it, that I'm allergic to something in beer.  Craft beer.  When I used to drink beer on a regular basis, years ago, I finally settled on Miller High Life, not because it was my favorite but because it seemed to have the fewest side effects.  Craft beer out of a 7/11 was unheard of back then.

***

I asked the landscaper for a more modest contract, for just mowing and fertilizing the lawn.  Last year I paid 280.00 a month, but they did a lot.  Helped me with the irrigation, trimmed the trees, and a lot of other stuff.  I'd been so deep into writing the year before that I needed help catching up.

But the contract was more or less for 7 months, so 2000.00.  She wanted to start in Mid-March and I told her that was unnecessary and I was right -- everything was looking great in Mid-April.

Anyway, I offered her 150.00 a month for two lawn mowings, plus two fertilizing for the season.

"That isn't even worth my time unloading the lawn mower," she says. 

So I thank her for her services, charge up my lawnmower, and mow my lawn.  In 40 minutes.  With a 10 minute recharge in the middle.  So, you know, half an hour.

So basically an hour a month.  For 150.00.  Or 150.00 per hour. 

WTF?

3/5th of the way through Blood of the Succubus.

33K words into Blood of the Succubus: The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Murders.

Will be bringing into the story the Big Bad's sisters, so now they'll be super bad.  Not sure if there is enough material here to get to the end, but we'll see.  Going straight there, though.

The Scooby Doo Gang is all together now.  Next chapter will be the Scooby Doo gang trying to catch the Big Bad.

The chapter after that will be the Big Bads' tricking them, doing Bad stuff somewhere else. (To use Joss Whedon's shortcut terminology.)

So that will take me to somewhere around 37K words.  As long as I keep getting the next 2 chapters in advance, I'm not going to worry about the end.  I have faith it will come to me.

Along with all the sex, I think gender politics will enter by the end.

Listened to most of Tuskers on Audible, (once started, I couldn't stop) and it was surprisingly good, you know.  I'm impressed with myself.  (It's very weird to hear someone else performing something I wrote, like it has a legit separate existence).  Not ambitious stuff, admittedly, but entertaining. That seems to be what I'm writing these days.  I may have to try to be more ambitious someday, though I'm not sure what form that would take. Every time I've had that thought, I've screwed it up.  I'm thinking I shouldn't mess with what's working.

It's now been three weeks since I stopped checking rankings, sales and reviews.  It makes me feel surprisingly isolated, but overall I think that's a good thing.  I've been very productive, so it's hard to argue with results.  The one danger is that somewhere down the road I'll be blindsided by bad news.  That is, I'll finally look and it will be a disaster.  (Could be the opposite, I suppose :) Is it better to know bad things little by little, or all at once?  If knowing would help me make changes, I'd say little by little -- but I can't think of any changes it would prompt me to make.  I'm writing the best I can, following my own muse.

Have to work at the store today. Then I get to write the ending of Blood of the Succubus.  I'm excited.  I think it will be fun.

Listening to Tuskers

Linda is listening to Tuskers.  I've caught about half an hour of it, fascinated.  I'll listen to the whole thing someday, but even listening to it this long, I learned some things.

First of all, it seems so sure footed, so professional.  It helps to have a professional voice reader, I think.  He adds to it.  But the book flows really well.  I'm amazed by how much time I spent setting up the characters and scenario, and yet keeping enough of the action to be interesting.  I'm amazed at the connections I created within the story.

The interesting thing is, it really does have some humor to it.  I kept getting that response, and couldn't quite figure it out because I didn't remember trying for humor.

But what happened, I think, is that I was just trying to make the dialogue and the narration interesting, and the humor was just a natural part of that. 

I think this has convinced me more than anything that maybe I really am a writer.  I mean, it doesn't sound the slightest bit amateurish.  It is exactly what it is supposed to be.  I think I can be proud of it.