At the Office on a Cold Winters Day

I am at the office again today. It has been a week since I have been here since it is so cold. It was worth coming out for several reasons. One, is the new issue of Harpers is out and the cover story is on Warren Buffett who is amazing, also I was getting slight cabin fever yesterday. It has been a week or more since I left the house to do anything other than check the mail. Also I needed coffee and they have great coffee here.

I have been reading a lot of post on Problogger as I am going through the 31 Days program I started on xmas day, which I think is going very well. I am only on day three but can already see and feel good changes.

Also this morning, early, I finished Michael Connelly's books The Closers, it was very good. It had 40 or 50 pages that were a little slow like 3/4 the way through the book, but other than that it was page turning and very good. Engaging story and characters I could identify with. I am going to start my first Daniel Silva book now The Kill Artist. I want to spend the next few monthes reading main stream mystery/thriller fiction. I can not help but think of what I think Robin Cook said the best way to learn how to get on the New York Times bestseller list is to go out and read every book right now on the NY Times Bestseller list and then copy what they are doing.

So with that in mind I have about 10-12 bestselling thriller/mystery novels stacked next to the coffee table and I am going to do just that. I figure if I learn one or two things from each of them then it is all worth it. Plus they are pretty good reads overall.

I am also on the advice of a close friend, going to go today and get index cards and try to outline a novel on them. This is suppose to help you see the novel in full even if it is not written yet. Plus in mystery it will help with foreshadowing and leaving clues for the reader to follow.

So after I leave here I am going to go to the store and get some index cards and bagels. The cornerstone of any good writing sesssion. I will post again later this evening I just wanted to get my thoughts of the moment down on paper.

"I write for the same reason I breathe -- because if I didn't, I would die."

This is my third attempt attempt writing a post today. I have been considering taking the day off, but I don't really think I can. It feels strange now to think about not posting. With that said though I am in a very weird mood today and do not know how this post will come off to everyone.

I have been reading blogs all day and wondering what I really have to say today. At this point I am still not totally sure but I know I have to say something. Reminds me of a Issac Asimov said, "I write for the same reason I breathe -- because if I didn't, I would die." I feel this way most days but today I really feel it.

A couple nights ago I watch the movie Terminal for the first time and it made me think about a lot of things in my life sort of reassessing of things. For those of you have not seen this great movie I say two things. One; See it, now! I am serious. It is amazing. Two; It made me see things in a different light and one that I really enjoyed watching because I can see how it could be done.

I think one of the main ideas presented in the movie was one of simple living. Tom Hanks' character lives in an airport terminal. I do not know if it gets more simple than that. This movie got my mind working on all kinds of ways. I have gone through the first two weeks of Frank Kern's Mass Control Program. At first I thought Kern was all about marketing and product launches. Then half way through his first video I realized there was much more to him and his program than I thought in the beginning.

He suggested an exercise that I have been putting off and thinking about for a month now. What he wants his students to do is to visualize and write down in as much detail as possible your ideal life. He says you can not really get what you want if you do not know what you want. So I have been thinking about it alot the last month and after watching the movie stuff just started clicking and I have been busy at it for a couple of days now.

I now have some sort of rough plan of where I want to be in my life in the next 10 years. Very interesting feeling. Now I am just working on the details. Once I get the thing down on paper i can start working on how to achieve it. Perhaps I will share some of it with you my readers at some point. Two words describe the feelings I have about my ideal life: Simple Life!

So I leave you with a question now; what is one aspect of your ideal life? Care to share it with us?

Four Free Tools for Writers: Part Two

Four Free Tools for Writers: Part One, Part Two

Starting next week I am going to start weekly State of the Industry updates. I will be posting every week on the state of the publishing, and writing industry. I will bring you the latest in trends, innovations and changes in all things writing.

Now though, as promised in my last post, I am going to give you two more free writing tools to assist you in all your writing endeavors. I will of course bring you more tools and resources in future posts.

Google Docs: One of the problem in today's culture is that once you type up documents you may need to have access to them at any time. Google Docs can deal with this “problem”. Another benefit of such a service is most people who have documents that have to travel with, keep them secure on either a laptop or some sort of flash memory either with a jump drive or a external hard drive. Google Docs makes these documents even more secure by storing all your important documents on a external server that is password protected and tied into all your other Google services; Gmail, Adsense, Analytics, and even your blog.

Blog: The most important thing for some writers is to have an outlet that allows them to share their work. Luckily the Internet provides more of these types of outlets that most writers can handle. One of the most popular and in my opinion the best one is the blogging platform. Blogs can reach hundreds or thousands of people who would just a few years ago, not have had any access to the writer's work. That is now changing in very interesting and mind-blowing ways. The blogosphere is changing every day in ways that can not even be predicted from week to week. The main benefits of such an outlet is that it is totally customizable and there are many good free blogging host available such as the popular Blogger, which I use for this blog.

I am very interested in your experiences with these tools or if you have any alternatives to offer please comment. If you have a greats story to tell about using any of these or if you have a
great resource or tool to offer your fellow writers.

I am looking forward to “seeing” your comments and getting to know some of my readers in my new weekly column on The State of the Industry.

Four Free Tools for Writers: Part One, Part Two

Four Free Tools for Writers: Part One

Part One, Part Two

The Internet has changed the face of writing and publishing more than even the most visionary science fictions writers themselves could have even predicted. With the advent of ebooks, self-publishing, print of demand, advanced word processors, and the latest innovation; The Kindle and other ebook readers. But the one thing that has not changed in all this time is the need of the writer to follow their passion, that is to write.

Several things have changed the way writers deal with writing, and publishing. The amount of resources and tools available to us online can be overwhelming. With this in mind I am going to use these two posts to explain some of my favorite free tools and resources that have served me well over the past few years.

Open Office: Several thing have been said for and against this versatile program. Once I started using it three years ago, I have not used anything else. There are several benefits to this program and I will cover what I think are most important here; The first and most important factor to most users is that Open Office is free. Most of the commercial programs available charge a hefty fee for there use.

Open Office also includes a one button PDF conversion right on the main toolbar. This feature is very important for Internet Marketers and those that write and sell ebooks. Also Open Office has very customizable tool bars and more options than some commercial programs. The one disadvantage to Open Office is the lack of any sort of grammar check. This is a big problem during the editing phase of writing but just forces the writer to pay more attention to his own work. Hopefully the crew responsible for Open Office hears out cries and gives us a grammar check sooner or later.

Jdarkroom: One of the main problem that all this new technology presents to the writer is the shear amount of distraction available with modern portable computing. I know this can be the plague of some writers. I recently read a post on Problogger on how to increase productivity in your daily blogging that included such things as shitting down all your social media and messaging programs.

This program takes care of all that. It provides you a full screen distraction free writing program to work with. The screen is all black with old school green lettering. The only functions the writing program has is word count and save. It allows you to type totally distraction free and then when you are done you can easily cut and paste the text into your favorite word processing program for editing and formatting.

I hope you enjoy these tools and they help you in your future endeavors. In my next post I will bring you two more free tools I use on a daily basis.


Four Free Tools for Writers; Part One, Part Two

Happy Holidays to all my readers!!!!!

I am going to start Probloggers "31 Days to Build a Better Blog" program today. So even though this is a fairly new blog expect to see changed happening in the next month. But not to worry, the changes will be good, and make you blog life easier.

I was going to start a new blog today and just use it to chronicle my progress using this system, but the blog network I joined is not easy to navigate and it is difficult to modify the blog itself. So I have emailed the person running the network and am waiting to hear back from him before I start posting links to it. So in the next week I will add a new link list to the right sidebar so you can follow more closely the changes I am going to be making here.

White Christmas

Christmas Eve, it is always interesting. It's like people are in anticipation of Christmas Day, so they can eat too much, get presents, and spending time with there whole family. I know for some it is wonderful and for others it is torture. Since none of my family lives close by I will be here with my online family instead. I have a really good friend who is spending her first Christmas single so I will talk to her some I am sure and also I am excited about starting Problogger's Program, "31 Days to Building a Better Blog"

I want to chronicle my work with this program but I do not think I am going to blog about it here. So my plan is to start another blog. I will use this other blog to discuss the day's lesson and my progress. My readers will see the changes take place here, but can read about what exactly I am doing on my other blog. This will allow me to go through the program but not rant about it too much here.

For now though getting everything in place on the other blog. I am going to spend the rest of the night reading Michael Connelly's book; The Closers and spend tomorrow working hardcore on this blog and tweaking the other one. It will be a good Christmas!

My friend Brandon has requested that I give him something for his weekly podcast, which you can listen to here. He is looking for other people to contribute to them too, so if you think of anything you want to rant about let him know. He is a very good Brother and good people!

Okay dear readers I am going to go and read for the evening. Will have a lot to post tomorrow. So stay tuned!

Plot, Structure, and The Big Lie

I went today to look for a book that a friend requested for Xmas and in fact found two copies at the local bookstore. I went ahead and grabbed both of them, one for him and one for me. The name of the book is Plot and Structure by: James Scott Bell. He is a author who writers suspense, mystery, and historical fiction. I have a few other book in the series so I thought I would check it out. To my surprise I was totally sucked in after the first page or two. He begins by talking about how he became a writer and the First Rule of Writing:

• "...writing can't be taught."

This is what he calls "The Big Lie" and goes on to give some examples of why he thinks this is true. He decided at the age of 34 (lucky for me, I still have a couple of years) that he wanted to be a novelist. He went to the local bookstore and got the two writing books that had been recommended to him the most:

• Writing the Novel by: Lawrence Block
• Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by: Syd Field

He claims that these two books taught him how to write, what plot was, and that is the cornerstone of any good novel writing attempt. He then goes on to list the six things that one must do as a writer to discover what plot is and why it is so important to all of us.

1. Get Motivated.
2. Try Stuff.
3. Stay Loose.
4. "First get it written, then get it right."
5. Set a Quota.
6. Don't Give Up.

He covers each of this points with a paragraph or two and then goes into the meat of the book. He ends the introduction by putting forth questions to the people (writers) reading his book. I will exert the few line here so you will have something to think about;

"Are you ready now? Are you convinced of the Truth? Do you dream of writing novels with plots that keep readers up at night? Then come along. I'm going to do my very best to show you how."

The "Truth" he speaks of is that anyone can be taught to write if one applies themselves. Writing can be taught as he was taught from Mr. Block and Mr. Field's wonderful books.

I have always know I was going to be a writer. It is my Will and no matter what happens in life I do not feel quite right about it until the writing is done. It has always come natural to me. But some people need to learn the craft of writing from books, schools, mentors, and others. Where as some people just have the knack for it. Now I think the truth is neither of these approaches are "right" or any "better" than one another. These are just different approaches to the supreme craft we all find ourselves surrounded by.

Once I get more into this amazing looking book I will rant about it further, but for now I will leave you with another question;

• What books, teacher, mentor, writer influenced you or gave you the strength to write?