Conference Notes

Tuesday, March 9

I missed the conference already. It went too fast, and before I knew it, BAM, it was over. Yes, I am talking about the NOLA STARs Written in the Stars Conference.

100 people attended the conference, including speakers/editors/agents. When I attend these events, I always come away with new knowledge that I can use toward my writing.

This year, I finally took the plunge and made an editor and an agent appointment so that I can pitch my book: A sci-fi action thriller of about 100,000 words. I worked summing up my pitch and placing those summaries on note cards. I rewrote those cards six times and still managed to screw up.

The appointments definitely opened my eyes. During the first appointment – my morning agent appointment – I felt like a babbling idiot. (Big Grin) I seemed to rush through my pitch.

Realizing my error, I reworked my pitch a couple more times and trimmed down my notes before my afternoon appointment with the editor. This time, I had my notes organized and trimmed down. Yet, rewriting them that many times, I found myself giving my pitch in a more relaxed and confident manner without referring to my notes once.

Both the editor and agent told me to send in a query letter on my book to an associate who handled science fiction. But, I think I have to finish the book first. With it almost at the halfway mark, I hope to have the first draft finished by the end of March. Then I will begin to polish it up as I learn to write a query letter.

The conference turned out great and I had fun. Though, I did throw my diet out the window. Who wouldn’t with all of that good food to eat?

I enjoyed getting reacquainted with old friends and making new ones. Looking forward to next year's conference already.

Goals and Accomplishments 100307

Monday, March 8

That time of the week again! Here are my successes and failures for the week.

I succeeded in completing the first three items of my list from last week. The Nola Stars conference was great. I quite enjoyed it. The only thing I missed putting on my packing list this time was my supply of coffee creamer. One little bitty packet that they put in your coffee up in your room is not enough. And I did get the newsletter completed last Sunday.

My partial successes have been that I did read some new blogs this week as well as reading a few articles online. As for my writing of my blog posts, I missed that by one post. The excitement of the upcoming conference interfered. I got about a thousand words toward my novel and worked on the book's outline.

My goals for this week (again I'm placing them in the order of importance.):

1. Write 10,000 words toward my novel
2. Build article "Email to the Rescue - Saving your data via email and your server."
3. Build article "The Backup Schedule - What needs to be backed up and when"
4. Work on my basic 'link' page for my website
5. Write a blog on my conference experience
6. Visit five Web addresses on my "websites to visit list"
7. Complete five posts to my blog
8. Complete 10 pages to the Nola News Extra

As for my exercise and diet, that flew out the window when I went to the conference. I will spend this week getting back into the groove of things. The exercise I did over the last few weeks gave me the energy to do more things at the conference this year.

Conference Bound

Thursday, March 4

Today, my excitement is almost out of control. It is the time of the year for the Written in the Stars Conference that NOLA STARs puts on every year. I can’t wait to met old friends and make new ones. The networking with my fellow writers always re-energizes my writing.

As I always do, I start making a list of things that I want to take to the conference. Some items I may not need but if I do not bring them, I will need them. My list has the usual items of clothing that I want to take. But, I also have medicines that I need for various ailments.

I usually fill two columns of a steno pad page with my list and sometimes put some on the back. This list includes items I need to accomplish days prior to my leaving home. These are trimming my beard and getting a hair cut (The smartass in me wants to say “He got them all cut.” – Big Grin). It also includes purchasing items that I need to take.

In this category, I am working a couple of pitches to give since this is the first year I signed up for an Editor/Agent appointment. Still working on those. I will build note cards on them. Need to make sure I practice it several times tonight and tomorrow. Should have been doing it all week.

Since I know the rooms have microwave ovens, I will take some bags of popcorn. Tea, sweetener and mints because I usually come out with a sore throat. I also bring some salt to make a warm salt water gargle to help sooth my throat.

Other things I pack are my business cards, confirmation number for hotel room, rechargeable batteries, camera, tripod, and hand cream. That covers about a fourth of what is on my list. I keep telling myself that I will build a permanent packing list so that I would not have to keep reinventing the wheel, so to speak, every time I travel somewhere. I did it once but do not know where I put it.

My final item I put on my list and it actually sits at the top of my list is “Make sure your head is screwed on straight before leaving the house.”

Oops! My Goof.

Wednesday, March 3

Today, I had planned to do as I did last Wednesday and show how I get ideas from the news. This is going to be a bit hard because I didn't find any stories or titles that caught my interest. I'll try again for next Wednesday.

Now, what should I talk about today? I haven't a clue. One of my favorite columns that appears in the opinion section of the Sunday paper (The Times, Shreveport) is a column called "Nitpickers Notebook." This column discusses the misuse of words that appear in print. These include pointing out needless words, incorrect words, the wrong homonym, etc.

Of those, the one I fear the most is the use of a wrong homonym. I have no problem using their and there. It is the obscure homonyms that get me. Some of these are ringer/wringer, transient/transit, principle/principal, counsel/council/consul, etc. Yes, the second that one may not be a true set in them since they do sound different. Not only do I have a problem with homonyms, so does my Dragon NaturallySpeaking program.

There are other words that drive me nuts when I am working with my stories. Especially when I do not remember how to spell them. Just like the words "wrecking havoc." This is the way I would spell it normally. But when I got online to check it out to make sure, I found out that it's not spelled in that manner. The correct terminology would be wreaking havoc. So, the homonyms wreck/wreak find there way into my list of words to keep up with. The word "wreck" means to demolish or to destroy. The word "wreak" means to commit or to produce.

This is one reason why I like the Internet because it helps me straight on my word use. Usually when I run across one of these words that I have not used in a while, I wonder if I am using the correct spelling or the wrong homonym. I usually highlight the word in green and keep going if I do not want to break my flow of thoughts.

Other any words out there that you are worried about?

A Tree's Revenge

Monday, March 1

Today’s topic: A tree's revenge on a wood-burning stove. This saga started back in April 2009. Actually earlier than that. Mom and dad purchased a wood burning stove back in 1987. This device has helped keep our abode warm throughout the years.

Well, last April, an oak tree in our backyard took its revenge out on the smoke stack connected to the stove for all those years of burning its kindred. The tree would have cut the trailer in half if it weren’t for another oak tree breaking its fall.

Before winter hit, we found someone to repair the chimney which meant part got repaired but other parts were replaced. Everything went okay until four days till Christmas. Suddenly, smoke began backing up into the trailer from every joint of the stove. The cause turned out to be soot clogging up the screen at the top of the stack.

That tree may be acting out its revenge because we have been burning wood from it in the stove.

The very top of the stack can be removed. We had the original repairman come and clean it. It turned out to be an easy fix. He removed the top and tapped it with a stick. Soot dropped to the ground and the screen became unclogged.

The next time it hit (about 4 weeks later) I planned on climbing a ladder to see if I could tap the top with a stick. My weight became a problem. On terra firma, I am fairly sure-footed. On those thin rungs of that ladder, I was not. This time a nephew came to the rescue. We also cut a few holes in the screen to see if that would help.

It did because it lasted over a month. Yesterday, smoke started to seep into the trailer. Apparently, the holes I cut into the screen did help but they were not enough. With my nephew unavailable, we had to come up with another solution.

Out came the slingshot and a handful of marbles. Yes, you read right: A slingshot and marbles. I have not shot a slingshot in over fifteen years. The marbles I got off of eBay (5 pounds of them).

To my surprise, the first marble glanced off of the screen and a large portion of the black material clogging up the screen fell. I guess I was a bit too cocky in that the next four shots missed.

One hit the house and bounced off of the hood of my mom’s car and landed on the hood of my car. The next shot went over the top of the stack by 2 inches. The next two shots went left and then right of the stack. Out of 12 shots, I managed to hit it 5 times. If my aim had been better, I would have only needed the two shots that cleared up the problem.

Why am I telling you this? Hell, I don’t know. I just thought it was an unusual solution to take care of a problem. I will probably try to practice with the slingshot so I can increase my accuracy a bit. I just need to find a way to do it so I won’t lose to many of my marbles.

You see, some are already saying that I have lost my marbles but I still have many of them. If I keep shooting them off though, I would really be losing my marbles.

This brings up a scene I remember in the Robin Williams’ movie, The Hook. Peter Pan finds a bag of marbles and said to Tinkerbell, “He really did lose his marbles, didn't he?”

Then near the end of the movie, Peter gives Tootles his bag of marbles and Tootles said, “Look Wendy, I haven’t lost my marbles after all.”

I hope this places a smile on your face. On that note, I’ll say, “Have a nice day.” - Clark Stone.

Goals and Accomplishments 100228

Sunday, February 28

It is the time of the week to report my goal successes and failures. At times, I wonder if I set myself up for failure by making so many goals. Actually, I make my goals list so long that when I accomplish all of my important goals, that I have something else to work on that needs my attention. Anyway, I look at my goals list as a challenge.

First, I shall reveal my accomplishments for the week. Last week's goal numbers four (10,000 words) and five (10+ scenes) pertaining to my writing. I wrote over 14 scenes containing 11,450 words. This surprised me in that I didn't realize I had typed that much into the computer.

The reason I thought this is because I found myself progressing at the rate of 250 to 400 words per session while doing 45-minute sprints. I knew I broke the 1,000 word mark on a couple of days but didn't think I did it every day.

As for the other six goals that I had set for myself, the old adage "out of sight, out of mind" fits in here. Since I do not have my list in front of me every day, I didn't get to them as often. On goal numbers 1, 2, 3 pertain to finding new blogs, reading old blogs, and leaving comments, respectively, I managed to do part of them, but by Tuesday, they fell to one side. I didn't have the list of what I wanted to do in front of me so they didn't get done.

Now it's time for me to list my goals for this week. Please note that I am placing them in order of importance. I will endeavor to accomplish the top of the list first.

Goals for this week:

1. Go to the NOLA STARs Written in the Stars Conference on Friday.
2. Build a packing list of things to take with me to the conference -- subject of a future post.
3. Build the March/April chapter newsletter for Nola Stars
4. Write 10,000 words toward novel
5. Build article "Email to the Rescue - Saving your data via email and your server."
6. Build article "The Backup Schedule - What needs to be backed up and when"
7. Visit five new blogs for this week
8. Visit five blogs listed in my bookmark folder
9. Visit five Web addresses on my "websites to visit list"
10. Work on my basic 'link' page for my website
11. Complete five posts to my blog

There are other goals that I could probably put up here but they are very trivial. These are the goals that I don't know if I'll actually have a chance to work on.

Last week I mentioned that I had started to it new exercises to my routine. I am happy to tell you that I completed my goal is working out at least five out of the seven days. One thing I will add to my list of exercises for this week is walking 4/10 of a mile. This may not seem like much, but with my back muscles supporting so much weight, I probably would not be able to make it further than that. My goal is to walk every day. Then again, this depends on whether the day it's cold or not.

As I lose weight and time passes, I intend on increasing that up to a mile. Currently I am looking at repairing my father's bicycle, so that on warm sunny days, I can take it out on a spin.

I hope your week has been as fruitful as mine even though I didn't reach all of my goals. I did get to the important ones. Until later, have a nice day -- Clark Stone

Exercise

Saturday, February 27

Last Sunday I mentioned that I would discuss my exercise plan. I am glad that I looked over last Sunday’s blog because I had forgotten about this.

So far, I have managed to keep on schedule except for one day (yesterday). I know it is too soon to expect results but I do feel better. My legs are looking better.

Now, to describe my exercises, I think everyone knows what a pushup is. Me, I have to do them from my knees instead of my toes. Yes, that may be cheating but at my weight, I am unable to do more than three from my toes before my left arm gives out. Doing them with my knees touching the ground is not easy.

Now, the leg exercises I do are essentially what we call leg or thigh blocks. I do 20 of these (ten each leg) in each set. I try to do at least one set a day but will increase that to three to four sets a day. The best description of the leg block is that one brings the leg up to the front until the knee is even with the hip. This exercise involves me executing the leg block and putting it back down in quick succession. It looks and feels like I am over-exaggerating the process of stomping grapes.

I do four sets of figure-4 leg stretches. This stretches my leg muscles as well as my lower back muscles. My legs do feel so much better afterward.

With the dumbbell curls, I do ten reps on each arm with a 5-pound dumbbell. If I do them fast, I can get 25 reps in without stopping. I’ve heard if you execute them slow taking 2 to 3 second to pull it up and the same going down, you build muscle faster. I do not know if this is true but I find it a challenge.

Like I said earlier, I’ve met my goal for exercising this week. I have not decided what I will add to my routine tomorrow. For now, I think it is time for me to post this, and get off my duff to exercise.

Aaayiiieee

Thursday, February 25

I don’t wanna do this today. By golly, I am not going to do it. Aaaaaaah! Let me out of here. Click, click. Eeerricc, slam!

Uh, do to technical difficulties, the post planned for today will not be written. With bright sunlight and blue skies outside, I, Stone’s Computer, suspect that he has been infected with a case of spring fever. Even dangling the reward of a came of Spider Solitaire or Freecell did not tempt him to write the post. It does not matter that spring has not sprung yet.

Others are out looking for him and they have nets. We may not be able to get him back in time to write a post today. This may mean we have to pull out the chocolate bars to get him to write tomorrow’s post.

Thanks for your patience and sorry for the absence of Stone’s post. – Stone’s Computer and Friends.

Writer’s Wednesday

Wednesday, February 24

A couple days ago, I decided that I would make Wednesdays' blog post about writing. In particular, the post will be dedicated to writing ideas. I really can’t tell you how these ideas pop into my mind. Yet, I am willing to share them with you.

The two words that would describe this process would be “free association.” My definition of this term is where an item (object, story, event, conversation, etc.) triggers an idea or thought that may be associated or not with that particular item. This may not be the true definition but I associate the term to those movies where they show an ink blotter and the patient gives an unfettered response.

This is pretty much the way my mind works at times. Whether I am watching television, reading a newspaper, talking to someone, eavesdropping on two strangers talking in a line, I find myself in a situation where story ideas are popping up in my mind. I try my best to document every one I come across but sometimes they do escape. Now, here is an example.

What does space junk, a ghost, someone who doesn’t know how to drive and a police investigation have in common? In the real world, they have nothing in common. But to me, they are the basis of a story. Whether it be a short short, a short story, a novella, or a novel, that would be hard to say.

Where did these ideas come from? Well, let me tell you. From a wide spectrum of places. Here they are

• A ghost – from a writer friend’s blog post about a ghost cat.
• Space junk – from a story off of Yahoo! News yesterday.
• Someone who doesn’t know how to drive – a comment my mom made this morning about a friend.
• A police investigation – from a story in The Times of Shreveport, yesterday morning.

Time to put them all together. The story is about a mischievous ghost who accompanies a police detective with psychic powers after they get a report of space junk coming down in a wooded area. Every time the detective goes to his car, the ghost insists in driving it. The detective nixes the idea for two reasons: the ghost doesn’t know how to drive and it usually does something stupid on purpose and gets pulled over.

The last time the ghost drove; the detective had a hard time explaining to the highway patrol officer how come the car sped by him at 100 miles an hour. Especially since the detective sat in the passenger seat. If the car had not taken off on its own and disappeared around a curve, the guy would have hauled the detective in. He heard the patrol officer retired the next day.

Granted, this is not much to work with and I hope I can come up with better ideas to share in the future. But think of the possibilities. Then again, it sounded better in my mind than after I put it on paper.

It is at this point that we writers start asking our favorite question: What if… What if the space junk contained another ghostly figure that turned out to be more malevolent than his invisible companion? What if this ghostly figure had it out for the detective? What if this piece of space junk was actually a spacecraft full of mischievous Martians? Mainly, what if….

Now, what if I left this up to you to come up with more “What if…” situations. What would you come up with. Have fun.

Yesterday - V01

Tuesday, February 23

Yesterday, I started on writing new material for my book. It felt good to be creating again but I still have to tie up that doggoned internal editor after I wrap its mouth with duct tape.

There are times I can start my music playlist which would drown out the editor’s screams to go back because he wants something changed. Then there are times that he screams so loud that my fingers disobey and traverse back to the spot it wants to change.

But all in all, yesterday turned out to be a good day. I got three scenes written and one edited. In word count, I got over 1500 words written which was 500 below my goal for the day.

Today, I plan to build at least 1500 words again. If I can just keep the interruptions from kicking in, I can do it. I noticed that I managed to write around 100 words every five minutes yesterday. This I discovered while participating in 45 minute sprints with some online friends. During the break between sprints, I figured that I should get close to 900 words during per 45-minute sprint.

Yet, a phone call here, a question or another distraction there, and a "Man, visitors. Where did they come from?" pulls me away from my work. At times, I feel that I need to pick up my computer and go to my room so that I can get away from these distractions. When the weather warms up, I may do just that.

For now, I plan to participate in four to six sprints today to see how far I can get. I will let you know if I made it anywhere near the 900 words in a sprint.