Title Page

This is the cover page for my first book. I did it all myself and I'm quite proud, though I do not find it particularly impressive. The color theme I like, and it's better than simply being words on a bland background or even a substitute avatar so I'm happy. The book I plan to release very soon, as the html is done (and has been done for months) and all I'm waiting on now is to hear from reviewers. Currently I'm working on the cover for the second book in the series, Cinder Halo and the third book.

This is quite exciting and I can't wait to see what happens.

Progress

I try to write at least a chapter a day. For me, that's around 3000+ words. I work on my story all the time. There are days dedicated to research, and the rest, to making progress. There are days when I only stare at the screen, having no idea where I'm going, or if I know where I'm going, no idea how to get there. Then I just start writing scenes that come into my head, boring or not, that make sense and fit in the with the story, and eventually I get to where I want to go. Part of writing is just that, sitting and thinking. Writing a book is hard work. I currently have two pending as well, not just one, and depending on how one goes, I'll definitely post the other. In fact, I fully intend to finish and post both.

Specificity

Briefly I'm going to describe the importance of specificity. But what does it mean?
Basically it means to use specific names when writing. Let's use an example. I'll give you two sentences and you can choose which one sounds and/or feels more authentic to you:

1) The tarantula reacted immediately when I approached, tilting back on its hind legs to bear a grotesquely harry abdomen at me.

2) The spider reacted immediately when I approached, bearing the frontal part of its lower body at me while tilting back on its legs. It was grotesquely harry.

 Not only does the first sentence sound more sophisticated, but it paints a more vivid image of what is going on.

Just to clarify things I'm going to italicize the words which account for specificity in the first sentence:

1) The tarantula reacted immediately when I approached, tilting back on its hind legs to bear a grotesquely harry abdomen at me.

The second sentence lacks these specifics.

"Spider" is a very generalized word. There are thousands of different kinds of spiders in the world, therefore your mind immediately goes to the first spider you can think of; probably one you find most familiar to you. Maybe a brown garage spider or something. Second, "the frontal part of its lower body" is a hell of a lot longer than "abdomen." In a very helpful book called The First five Pages it states that the reader's time is precious, therefore they do not feel like wasting brain power on reading a fifty word description that can just as easily be taken care of with one specific word. Also, describing something like the way I did in sentence 2 clearly signifies an amateur, and makes it seem like you have no idea what the hell you're talking about. It also displays your own laziness in failing to research that particular object.

Balance Problems

Oh my god. My schedule has been so screwed up lately, and trust me, by means that are absolutely NOT of my own doing. I'm talking of course, about Jury duty. First of all, NO, it's not that Anthony case everyone is raging about, thank Jesus. Under law I'm not permitted to talk about it, but all I'll tell you is that it's put a skewer in my writing consistency. But things like this tend to happen when you write. It is summer and I'm out of school, so my sleep schedule is twisted up nearly beyond repair, which makes waking up for these trials incredibly difficult. Especially since I do most--if not all--of my writing at night. I'm not a big coffee drinker, I avoid energy drinks like the plague, and neither am I good with taking medication of any kind. But still, I find ways through this so I can do more of what I love. Writing is like an addiction, something most people in my life can't understand. Like, at all. Stephen King's Misery laid the frame quite nicely, if you've read the book and not just watched the movie.


Now I'm not going to give you this big lecture about managing your time. That's boring. Plus, I trust you to do what you think is best in order to plan time to write. And even though I try desperately to practice what I preach, I'm not very good with keeping a consistent schedule. Oh well. The important thing is I try. Hard.

And just what am I spending so much time writing? Well, I'll tell you now I've been writing seriously ever since I was 15. I wrote an entire 400 page book at 15. Then scrapped it years later because it sucked ass. But strangely enough, I didn't feel bad about it. In fact, I was more relieved that I was competent enough to realize all the flaws and be able to come to that rational conclusion. Such is the case of gaining experience and getting older. I still write long stories like that, in hopes that one of them will be good enough to publish one day. I've written many stories and essays for school already, all of which were received very well by my mentors. But creative writing is what I love, and is something I will continue to do. I can't imagine ever not doing it, so hopefully I can see this through.