Passionate Writing

A few days ago, I began the actual writing work on a book that few people have been told anything about. I began with the introduction, and I've realised something that made me stop writing it: I wasn't enjoying it. It was a bare-facts, passionless piece, and because I plan to publish this book, I have to start again.

That's not a problem for me. I've started books several times before. The first book I wrote, while the writing sucks terribly and there's a lot of it, has about six different beginnings, because I was never happy with it. That was fiction, and this is non-fiction, but the same principle of starting all over again still applies. In every case, I identified the problem early on.

I won't go into detail on what the book's about, just yet, not until I've actually gotten it underway, but I figured out the standard I want it to meet.

If you've signed up to my website, you'll see a free PDF in the Subscriber Zone. It's about designing a website. Before I posted that, I had also written another document. Again, a secret like the book. The point, though, is that I want the book to be of the same standard as the document. I want it to be a passionate piece about the topic in question, with each chapter addressing different areas of the topic.

The introduction... not quite fitting into that.

I have a bunch of things to do to make this book work, but my first call to action is to actually find my passion for the book. This blog is often how I express a "contract" to myself publicly, and I'm doing it again. By the end of the month, I want to have enough of the book written to be able to tell people I'm writing it. That announcement will be more personal, at first, but the nitty-gritty details will find their way into the open soon after.

I'm all about my big projects, I suppose, and this is one of them. Another big one, another challenge, and something that will be fun to do if I actually put my head down and do it.

So here's my question for you: how do you manage your time to get everything you want to do done?

Back Into Writing

So, the weekend was fun. Actually, that's only mostly true. Work was a bitch and a half of boredom, but Saturday evening got me back on track in terms of writing. While my "output" will certainly decrease as the exams loom closer, I've gotten back into being able to think about stories and actually do something with them. I wrote eight thousand words over the Easter weekend, and I consider that something of a good start.

Those eight thousand words finished off what I call the Sooper Sekrit Project, called so because I don't want to reveal the intimate details of work that may or may not see the light of day. Ever. The public eye is so glaring and menacing sometimes, and I had to protect my fifteen thousand word baby. It's a novella, and a short one at that, and that's about as much of it as I can reveal without feeling like I'm holding it over a balcony.

With the Michael Jackson jokes out of the way, and the novella completed - first draft, anyway - I had to do something else. Not just a want, but a must. I can't just sit idle, and it still seems too early to get to studying like it's my job. It's not, nor will it ever be, my job to study. I might end up doing research for a book or an article at some stage in my life, but my job, for now, is to sell books. And I only do that at the weekends.

However, the study bug must bite eventually. For now, I'm putting it off by writing articles and planning a Young Adult Fantasy novel. I got my inspiration for it a couple of weeks ago while walking down to the cinema, listening to music. Specifically, I was listening to The Cake Sale, an album of Irish "indie" music, featuring the likes of Lisa Hannigan and Nina Person. It was the latter that lit the candle of inspiration under my fantasy novel, with her song Black Winged Bird. It's not so much that the novel has anything to do with a bird. In fact, as far as I know, I don't have any ideas for birds in the book at all. It's other things in the song that got my attention.

So, I've been planning the book. It has a title, but that's a secret from everyone but That Guy I Am, mainly because no one else is around who might take an interest. I don't even know if he cares, but he was within proximity, so I sprung it on him over a cup of tea. Five chapters of planning into the book, and working on getting other ideas around in my head into some sort of order, and I might be sorting myself out for books for the next few years. Or decades.

Now I just need a publishing contract.

But in all seriousness, this is just the beginning. I mean, you need to have a book or books to get published, not just the contract. Because no one will just publish your signature and sell it for 7.99 at your local bookshop and call it a work of literature. Unless you happen to be like Allah, with 99 names. Then it might be something special to watch how someone signs their name.

Did I just make a Muslim joke? I'm going to hell, aren't I?

Now, the writing bug has taken me, and it's time to put it to some use: I need to write the first chapter of my Research Paper. Still need to do research on that. It's going to be fun... Well, you know, some of it will be.

Getting Ideas

Recently I've been getting ideas for things that aren't all related with writing fiction. That's a strange experience for me; normally my life consists of fiction as an escape from reality. Now I'm in the process of putting together a poetry book, organising my Sooper Sekrit Project, and considering taking on another task that would get my name out there in a different field... non-fiction!

Let's put everything in perspective first of all. My fiction isn't dead, just crazy. Actually, I'm the crazy one, would be more accurate to say. Instead of writing down my ideas for my books, I'm speaking out dialogue in a whisper in the bathroom every time I go in there. Gotta love showers for that - I can spend a few minutes waking up in the water in the morning, then when I'm drying myself, which I spend far too long doing anyway, I can go through plots and conversations and all sorts of stuff. I better start writing them all down though.

As for the poetry book... I need to organise the order of the poems still. I'm going to print them tomorrow before college to encourage me to do it. For now, though, I'm going to arrange promotion. Already setting targets for the followers of the Facebook page to meet in terms of getting new fans - 750 by Friday? Easy. 736 as I'm writing this. People are awesome at reducing World Suck (world suck, for those of you who don't know is a term used my the Vlog Brothers John and Hank Green to describe things that make the world suck.. fairly straightforward, you'll agree).

The Sooper Sekrit Project now has one draft of a List of Awesome, 2010. The list contains ten items that are awesome that will be included in the project in the year, assuming it ever gets going. If I don't get additional help on this, it'll just be me. Scary thought, but I think I can do it.

Then there's that new idea... I want to do a sort of magazine thing. It's going to be a monthly or bi-monthly piece with essays on different things in the world. So I'd have a piece of Theology, which could be discussion of the Church, or a journey of self-discovery, or a piece on Justice. Then there'd be a Poetry section, which might include a couple of specially written poems, maybe some Haiku, and a recommendation for some poetry too (as I'm studying Poetry in college right now, and I run a writers group, this part should be easy). I'm also thinking of a writing piece or two - advice from my own experiences to help people get past problems, a writing experiment or two, an interview with someone I know online, or just an essay on books. And a few reviews, if I have any I'd like to share. Recommended reading for different ages for kids, and stuff like that. I might even have a photography section, if it can be arranged.

As well as topical things like that, I'd also have a kind of follow-up on things happening in my life that are book related - the Den and anything we do, Poetry Against Cancer, the Sooper Sekrit Project, and any info, if any, on my publishing progress.

The entire thing will be in A5 on paper, but also available in e-format. I'd be charging very cheaply for issues after the first, if I go ahead with this, but the first one will be free to keep people coming back for more if they like it.

Which means I'd need a subscriber page, too. Maybe a giveaway...

Good thing I placed an order for some books earlier! I'm already planning one giveaway, but if this gets going I'll plan other stuff. Hopefully if I get a fairly decent reader-size the prizes will fund themselves. It'll be done through Lulu.com, so it'll be easy to manage revenue and whatnot.

Oh, I never told you my name for the magazine. Well, since it's my magazine, about writing and other things, The Anonymous Writer, to fit in with my Twitter and YouTube names. And if this actually makes me any money, I'll have to try get a website. That would be so cool!

Now.. thoughts, anyone?

Weekend War, Part 2

I lost, I think. Eileen updated me on her weekend, and she seems to have trumped mine. Unless a thousand people suddenly vote for me in the Shorty Awards or become fans of the fundraising page for Our Lady's Children's Hosptial, Crumlin, then my weekend is officially worse than hers.

However, it wasn't bad. Pretty good in fact, as far as my weekends normally go. Last night, as I mentioned, was Ciarán's birthday get-together, a lads night, a time when people who hadn't seen each other in a good long while got to just hang out. It was great! We laughed, a lot. And talked, a lot. And loudly, on both accounts. Ciarán liked his present (which I can now reveal to be two books - Obama's Blackberry and The Average American Male - and the latest Mighty Boosh Live DVD, which is the show we all went to see when it came to Dublin!). It was definitely a good night. And there was pizza. Delicious pizza.

I slept in. That's always fun. Actually, it's more accurate to say I had a lie-in, because I wasn't actually going anywhere. I didn't send my letter to America, or buy books, but I can do those things tomorrow.

I cleaned my room. I know that might not sound like a good thing, but now my dad will stop bothering me about it. Win!

I also got to watch Heroes, after an amazing Sunday Roast dinner. The episode was less exciting than the first two (which aired last Saturday), but it was essential in terms of character introduction, development, and power demonstration, and it furthered the plot, continued story arks, and brought about a whole new level of suspense. Fantastic!

Had a relaxing day, overall. Nothing too strenuous. I did, however, give a possible candidate more info on the Sooper Sekrit Project my followers on Twitter have been hearing about so much. Nice guy, lives in America.

Might as well tell all readers here - the project, details remaining secret for now, requires one person to work on it with me who likes to read and is comfortable talking to a camera. Specific types of books are in mind, so if you're applying for this sooper fun project, please bare don't feel bad if you get turned away for reading something else. It's just not the type of books I'm going for with this, at least not this year.

Nice finish to the weekend - seeing the follower numbers for the Poetry Against Cancer Facebook page (the fundraising page already mentioned) with 680 followers! That's over 400 followers since Monday. How cool is that? Take that World Suck!

Back to Vlogging

Well, I've finally gotten up the courage to vlog while my family were in the house. Well, my parents were, but that's the same thing. My twin already knows I vlog, though he hasn't seen any of the videos, but my older brother is still ignorant of this fact and I'd like it stay that way.

Anyway, my new video Welcome to 2010! is now live and available to view. Please enjoy, and if you'd like something to be done in a video, don't be afraid to ask (although painful/stupid things that might get me caught by my family are out of the question.

If my plans go ahead, my Sooper Sekrit project will be announced within the next week or so. Also, I'll be annoying publishers soon to see if I can do something else on my YouTube channel that will certainly help spice things up a bit. (By the way, my YouTube channel can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/writeranonymous )

Now, until next time (like maybe tomorrow), good bye! (Also, sorry this blog increased World Suck)