Blog No. 291
Modern medicine is a miraculous thing. I go to a lot of public events and get a lot of unsolicited comments about how doctors are evil, medicine and pharmaceutical companies are there to get you sick, and other nonsense. I try to rally against it when I can (often times the person yelling is a brick wall). If it weren’t for my doctors and medication, I wouldn’t be here. If it weren’t for the antibiotics I’m currently taking, I’d probably still be sick in bed. I’m not. Pneumonia seems to be something that hangs on for a while, but I’m not bedridden anymore. It’s great. I did miss a lot of good writing time, but over the last week, I’ve done really well with the time I have. I pulled off nearly a chapter a day for four days. It’s a good feeling.
It helps that I don’t have as much on my plate at the moment. I’m not trying to get a book to the printer’s, I’m not fixing printing issues for another book, I’m not running from event to event with time in between spent at the Day Job. I am entering the flip side of the coin for having all that time off (that I spent sick) so the day job is going to be weighing me down a bit. But that’s more reason to take advantage of the time I do have. And it’s a great feeling looking at an empty day, knowing the only thing I have to do (besides the usual chores and the like) is write. The podcast is still going, but since Arvin and I have booth been caught up in life things, it’s a little behind. I’m trying to not worry about it, and focus on the things I can do, though (like write). It’s a happy feeling.
I’m sure the podcast will come to a head, and I’ll loose a good week to it, but if I can get ahead on my writing (currently the first draft of The Neon Heart for those keeping score at home) it won’t be such a blow. In fact I’m working on my approach for this book, looking at spending more time in the editing stage with a longer break in between drafts (for more perspective). I’m hoping to get some more eyes on it too, to try and catch as many typos as possible. I am constantly amazed at what sneaks through even when you read the whole thing backwards and out loud. Other eyes will always find more. That means it may not be out until later in the year, but if I can get to that second or third draft quickly, that will mean more time polishing and more chances for beta reads. I think it’s important to head in that direction rather than constantly rush out books because I said they would be out by a certain time.
Besides, once it’s in that stage of editing, I can start on the novel I’ve been meaning to write for the last two years. I’m going to keep Pilot on hold (at this point it’ll need a whole rewrite and I’m not there yet). Instead I’m going to develop a complicated idea for a (hopefully) humorous space/political/con story that will need much more planing than I’m used to doing. I really like to just write with an idea and see where the story takes me. With this idea, that could lead to a lot of nonsense that has to be rewritten over and over, and I’d like to avoid that. Hopefully I can adjust my style to match the planning, or it will just all work out even if I ignore it all, but I feel like I have to give it a try to give the story a fair chance. It’s meant to be the book I sell to publishers and agents, so it has to be fairly polished before I sent it out into the world to get its little heart stomped. Long story short, I am happy to be writing again, and I’m so thankful for my family for dropping everything to take care of me when I was sick. My dad took me to the clinic and sat with me all day. What a guy!
Ben Van Dongen 