Medical Leave of Absence

I do not know how long I will be out of commission, but I am scheduled to check into the hospital for surgery on Tuesday the third of March. I am anticipating three to seven days in the hospital for short term recovery, and possibly three to six weeks of recovery at home. The hospital will have internet, so posting will be a possibility, but I can promise nothing, of course.

writing sex scenes....

I must say that it is just amazing how hard it is for me to write a sex scene. Its not difficult to write the scene itself I mean, but the more I sit down and think about it, the less about the sex it is and the more about other things. I don’t necessarily mind this, in its own write, but I also don’t want to shortchange my audience; I mean, I know I enjoy reading a good sex scene, and I know what I enjoy about a good sex scene. Its just annoying that I keep steering away from those types of things.

I’m actually one of those people who stray away from gratuitous physical descriptions, that’s like reading a description of a Hustler magazine (Note: I don’t say Playboy because they actually have good articles, seriously). But still, I am not enough of a prude to ignore the fact that sex, good sex anyway, is an important part of a relationship, and can be (and in my case is) an important part of character development. For some of my characters, being with there lovers is their chance to heal from what they are going through, or their chance to forget, just for a little bit, about the terribl situations they have to go back to when the morning comes.

The big hurdle for me, and with a lot of authors from what I hear, is the balance between a good, vivid, fun sex scene that anyone can actually enjoy reading, and a scene that actually furthers the story. I don’t mind a little extra sex, but I always ask myself, “Okay, if I highlight the whole sex scene and hit delete, does it hurt the story?” If the answer is no, than I usually went too far. With that said, I actually have yet to write anything that includes, or hints as anything other than “normal” sex (meaning no toys, no bondage, no kink… you get the idea) so, its hardly like I am skirting a porn novel either.

I guess in the end, it will be a decision I make with each scene I write as to what to describe and what to leave out. I know that’s hardly an earth shattering revelation, but in cases like this, I think the sec is what’s supposed to be earth shattering, not the writing behind it.

military novel... kind of off track.

Argh…
Okay. My military novel kind of got away from me and I decided to go back and redo a bunch of it so that its more of the thinking-man’s-military story, and not a bunch of men running around and shooting stuff, which is what I was really getting into.
So…
I went back to page 45 (out of 130) and started over. Don’t worry, I didn’t delete anything. And I’m probably going to recycle a lot of what I wrote. But For the moment, I just didn’t want to keep going down the road I was.
Anyway, that’s the update on that little project.

Writing, more or less

As much as I like writing, I have to admit that it is not an easy thing to do. At the moment, my personal health situation has me tired, sore and coughing constantly. And without being too detailed, this is more than just a stubborn head cold.

Writing is now kind of hit and miss for me, largely because my computer died last week (at the same time my whole family came down with the creeping crud and then a massive case of stomach virus). My internet access is now largely due to the fact that my wife loaned me her laptop when she’s not using it. God bless her.

So, in the interim, I am left wanting to write, but writing when I am tired, sick and have a headache. Not the best set of circumstances for composition, I admit.

As it stands now, Special Rescue – 1 is on hold for a while, as is Decision point, effectively until it get my head clear (literally, this head cold has moved into my chest and wont let go). Other than that, Im just trying to decide on what to do with my writing. I want to keep writing, but subject matter and research are hard when I feel like I am perpetually getting run over by a truck every time I cough.

For what its worth, Special rescue one is close enough to being done (first draft anyway) that I am not overly worried about it. I can pick it up almost any time I want and start hammering on it. For a the longest time I was terrified that I had bitten off more than I could chew, but now, I don’t think that’s the case.

Decision point, well that’s a monster story that is on the verge of fizzling out if I don’t take a step back and look at it objectively. I’m not worried about loosing the story, but I actually just wrote a battle scene that struck me a boring, not a good sign for a man who prides himself on decent action writing.

The truth be told, this is nothing new for me. Stories this big just collapse under their own weight if I don’t watch them carefully and keep up with the pacing, back story and the like. I’ll get back to it eventually, and probably soon, but right now I just need a chance to relax and breath.

"Decision Point: A novel"

Well, that manuscript I was working on last week. Its now 168 pages, and still going strong.

A solid military novel, light science fiction if you want to be technical about it, but I'm more making the setting a little more advances than ours for flavor than any major thematic point.

My characters, well at last count their are twenty-one of them, and counting. And that isn't counting the list of supporting roles that full in the gaps. I have a Colonel, two Lieutenant Colonels, Eight majors, half dozen captains, a crooked Governor, a corrupt secretary of state, a city where prostitution as a profession holds more political power than any single elected official, and to top it all off; the city's top crime lord is the daughter of the Military commander defending the place.

I kind of hit a burnout point today, after nearly 30 pages of battle scenes, I just had had enough. Its hardly me giving up, mind you. I'm just taking a little break, that's all. I'll probably be back writing on Monday (I have a trip planned for this weekend, and my wife should be taking the laptop, so maybe... shurg)

But I'm telling you, this is just coming along smashingly well. I like the flow, I like the pacing, I like what my characters are doing, and most importantly, none of it seems rushed or forced or too stiff. I'm sure that will change after some edits, but at least I like what I have now. That's important to me during a first draft.

I'll probably pout some more details up later on. Right now, however, I am still kind of buzzed over how much I have written over the past few weeks. Its a rather interesting sensation to have that much down in so little time.

Writing, Writing and still Writing...

Well, last week, about 6 pm on Sunday, I sat down and started writing. I had a random idea, a new take on the military science Fiction I was hoping to write a while ago.

Well, its a week later, and Im at 98 pages. And I'm really liking what I see. Its not 100% action, but more strategy, and politics, with plenty of military stuff thrown in. I like the way it reads so far, and am hoping that it keeps going this way. I don't want to say too much, but I think it will turn out great.

Well, back to writing.

Fresh start.

Some good news.

I have been pondering how I want to do my military Sci-Fi novel for some time, I had a great team of characters, but little in the way of plot, so I hesitated to write it. Well, not I have a plot that I like, and a good dramatic setting, so I set down yesterday and plugged out about 20 pages. Im happy with it, its light on the technical, and good on the feel that I want, and good on the people. Not a super heavy character novel, but enouihg that I like what i am seeing.


Moving on to other good new. it looks like I have an old backup copy of my Star Wars Fan Fiction novel B-Wing. I was extatic, becuase their are well over 300 pages invested in that thing, and now I get to have them back. I'll never be able to get the thing published, I know that. But still, I worked so hard on it that its nice to know I can at least still have it for my own.


And on top of all of this, I still need to finishe my Firefighting novel.

I need to get my but back in gear on that one actually... Maybe I need to go and watch Backdraft again... that will put me in the mood.

ooo.....

or maybe The Towrting Inferno. Always good.

Helfighters....

Yeah... I know what it takes to get me thinking red stuff!