A 3K Pages Book? What Me Worry?

"3K?"

How did your writing go this week? At the end of the week I look back and see what I did w/ my life for the last seven days. My response? No matter what unless a second holocaust happened I respond to all events as "was good." Music? Was good. Art? Painted a file cabinet in a Matisse style. Was good. New tubes of paint? Was good. Computer tech buddy came over and made some progress and reassured me my decision making was on track. The business took more labor than expected. Was good? Yea, giving work is a blessing. Writing? reassured my coauthor in NYC was still on the line w/ the sci-fi series. (Marco Bitetto, robotocist and prolific.) My other coauthor was still playing this game w/ two mss., Money Matters and A Primer for the Land Surveyor. We made plans next week to make some progress/gains. Was good. Was good. Was good. And in the writing arena some more; I showed my tech person a lettre from Kindle. Apparently I wrote a book over three thousand pages, and they were willing to pay for only the first 3K pp. What? I thought the longest book I downloaded was 800pp. Any way. Was good. Any negative as well as positive event? Was good. Negative experiences? Opportunity for growth. Positive events. A feeling of resolution. ... Three thousand pages on their standard font/spacing? Well, ... okay.

I got into a conversation w/ a coauthor. The idea was any book honestly written should and/or should not have a target page count, ... and word count? Ever talk w/ someone who obviously takes more words to tell a story? And the person who lays out a sequence of utterances, quick and short, precise, leaves one out of breath and leaves one gasping for air w/ the question, "Is that the zip version?" Somewhere when one finds his/her natural voice writing the rhythm fits, it's free of awkwardness, it doesn't feel phony. Me currently? W/ reading Dutch, French, Spanish, and a bit from a few other languages I have a bit of a repertoire, different rhythms and roots of words (more Romance languages, more contemporary, like computer savvy words and text slang while my text slang is more like eighties dialogues in programming and the historical sequences, et c.; you get the idea.)

Most of the time the first novel novelist is somewhat autobiographical and playing w/ sentence structure dialogue that are attempts of sounding anything like Aunt Myrtle in rural Midwest. (Understand that is in the sense of making a point, not carved on a tablet law.) I thumbed through some of my favorite contemporary novels, Coupland, Brett Easton Ellis, ... when I first started. Just curious and not automatically dogma. I wanted to tell the story of what I had done w/ my first six, seven years of my adult life, ... the beautiful people I hung out, w/out it sounding autobiographical, totally aware that was a luring temptation. Nevertheless it haunts me still to study the masters. W/ all energy, the kutzpah, do it. Find genres you like, find the authors' voices and rhythms, pace, structure, then write as naturally as you can, where the page count, word count is where the end of the story, ... well, ... ends. Read in your favorite genres, too.

I like to keep a collection of words that have a sense of "moxy," a word that fits w/ the "rules of attraction," lets say. Some words are scarce enough to have a status w/ meaning, understood by few and the many, and still a "tribe" association, a sense in tribal communication. This is nothing new. It is more an awareness of a commonality. In business and other competitive arenas there are what one might know as "power words." If you have a hobby and otherwise a playing field of interests, activities, and topics/fields of study, then guess what. You have a place to apply this lexical access exercise. Here it is; make a power word list(s) w/ your experiences. Google search for more, add and add again. This is a very empowering exercise. Caveat innocens (Beware to the innocent, the newcomer.) New changes can be for the better. They also can have a sense of awkwardness. Go for the comfort zone, take gentle steps. Time on the keyboard is good medicine. Work overall is a tonic. When you also take a step back and look at the integration of your power word list, you will see awkwardness from a distance. Better yet? Gety someone you trust to read it and given an honest appraisal. I love lists, making them up, looking back on my Notepad, files elsewhere, reading them later. It shows growth, changes, and logs a time in space, like journalling. Picasso's quote was some such as painting was a way to keep a diary. Dylan said something also applicable here; paraphrased? Steal a little and the put you in jail. Steral a lot and the make king. Study the masters in your field and ignore the pundits, toxic critics, and wet blankets. They usually are frustrated "creatives" and respond the only way they know at the time to save face and cover their backsides. You know it. Lot of talk, little "doing." Put your time in. Good in. Good out. GIGO. Quality time happens when you decide to put in the time (Reading is putting time.) at the keyboard. It does not surface/manifest itself, if it is not preserved in the mind and better on the "paper," in the file, and Racing mind? Meditate. Keep adding tools to your toolbelt. Let us know what you would like to see here. I am still in the midst of writing 3-5 days/week and 3-5 pp. standard a day. It is a comfortable place ... and feels good after you stop, like jogging. Hey, jog a few notes down this week okay. Last thing. Try looking in places not as obvious maybe. I am always amazed of the words of Bob Dylan, JamesTaylor, Jackson Browne, Cat Stevens; deeper ideas, feelings, perspectives. Put in the quantity at the keyboard. A higher energy creates th eQuality w/ you. Clock in!

By the way. Check in to see some of my art in th ePhoto Gallery for visual sources. LOok at artists of all types. The world is rich in abundance. Good luck and go to it. Have fun. Thanks, Todd.

P.S. Tell a friend. And by the way, start collecting friends that are supportive of your creativity!