“Good things come to those who wait.” A popular mantra since 1892. I recently saw a modified version of that quote that crossed out “wait” and replaced it with “work their asses off.” In this case, both are true.
 
Some of you have asked, and I really appreciate your interest, when book three will be out. My original hope had been this year, already. I had hoped to be done with it in 2015.  But alas, that is not the case. It WILL be published in 2018 or I will die trying.
 
When I started book one I had no idea it would lead to a second or third book. And I definitely did not have any notion of where the trilogy would (will) end.  (Word to the wise, don’t publish anything until you know how it’s going to end.) Anyways, once I had completed Trespassing, I had no conscious plans to do another book. Linchpin just came out of nowhere and writing it was so easy. So easy. I emphasize this because book three has been anything but easy. Book three, Iteration, is making me work for every single word. Which is fine, it’s just pushed back my timeline. When I was explaining to my writing coach what I wanted to accomplish with book three I realized it is an ambitious undertaking so it will need time to make sure it’s done right.
 
I have had to work for absolutely every word and I hope they are worth it. At the moment the word count is hovering around 100k, the wordiest of the three. I will wrap up the first draft by the end of November and then it will go through the hoops with my workshop group, writing coach, and finally the editor. Who knows how many words will survive after all of that. In any case, the waiting will be well worth it. I promise.
 
As to the why behind a third book, is really because – trilogy. Everybody loves them. Two books doesn’t feel complete. There is something so satisfying about sets of three, ask any art or writing major.
 
For the release of book three, I hope to publish a definitive collection of DPA/Elbie material. Including all the short stories, the graphic novel, and an alternate beginning to Trespassing. It’s going to be a big deal you guys. So I have my work cut out for me over the next six months, working my ass off, so that once the wait is over, you will be very happy with the results.

​The old adage is that writers write. I'm a writer, I have two books you can buy right now. Haven't written much in three months.
 
I'm not going to say I have writer block. It may be, but I'm not convinced. I think it's more akin to extreme procrastination. I am avoiding writing. I don't know why but I am. Once I sit down and start doing it I'm fine, it's the getting started part that I am struggling with.
 
Part of the problem is distraction. Unlimited data is not my friend. Netflix and Hulu must think I'm bed ridden. Ray Bradbury has strong opinions about TV and he is not someone I would lightly dismiss.
 
In addition, for the last two years I have been obsessing over various fandoms. (Looking at you RvB and Star Wars.) Other fans are a source of great delight to me but it is a deep hole that can be hard to get away from, especially if I am facing a hard scene.
 
Lastly, people. There is a lot of demand on my time. I strongly believe that investing in the right relationships is important but it has come at a cost and that price has been my dedicated writing time. I have to schedule that time and I have to defend it, vehemently, or it will never happen.
 
I am not saying any of these activities are bad. All I am saying is that for me they are not helping me advance in my writing. If it doesn't contribute to my current goal of finishing book three it has to be set aside.
 
So. This is what I am resorting to. My goal, once a day, just write one sentence. That's it. Five to fifteen little words in the context of my story.
 
But you see it’s trick. Once I write one sentence the next one comes pretty easily. In no time I have a bona fide paragraph. And then I am on my way. As a precaution I have made myself accountable to someone. I text them that I have done my sentence. If they don’t hear from me they ask about it. Somedays I only have enough energy for the one sentence, but it’s still progress, I am still moving forward.
 
This is nothing new, it's Anne Lamont's bird by bird story. Start with one word, then do another. Don't think about the big picture. Focus on that one thing. Because all I need right now is my shitty first draft and the only way to get that is laying down sentences one word at a time.

Just finished reading another article about the the importance having a "platform" for new and established authors. I get having a presence, but this whole thing about authors HAVE TO have followers, and traffic stats to their website is a bunch of BS if you were to ask me.

First of all. I don't read blogs, so why would I write one? I know other people read blogs but I'm not one of them. I don't like spending my time on the internet, reading or writing. It takes up my time and creative energy trying to think of stuff to say so why would I use that energy on a blog and not my story. At least with a novel I can get a sense of accomplishment. Not so with this thing.

Second of all. The HAVE TO part really pisses me off. As far as I can tell there is no one way going about this whole writing thing. On one level I envy Phillip K. Dick and Issac Asimov, they didn't have to put up with this nonsense. I do recognize that I would not have the freedom to publish either my if I had been a part of that era, but they did things their way. Why can't I? There is more than one way to succeed and I doubt it will have anything to do with this blog. If the universe wants to prove me wrong, then go ahead.

Thirdly. Stephanie Meyers hasn't blogged anything since October. J.K Rowling doesn't have a blog of any kind, just updates on various HP things. Stephen King just posts stuff about his books. It's one giant advertisement. Neil Gaiman and George R.R. Martin admittedly have more interesting sites but nothing I'm gonna bookmark and check every week.

If those people don't have blogs, why should I HAVE TO? What those aforementioned writers do do is interact. On social media, in bookstores, on other people's blogs. THAT I am down for. Interaction. A conversation. Not this exercise in ego. Say something interesting so the agents will look at you. I don't want to trick people with click bait to going to my website just to get my numbers up. So dumb.

Having a website, yes. It makes sense to have a place where people can go and learn more about the writer and have the opportunity to interact with them but this list of do's and don't's is asinine. The only thing I've seen across all arenas of life, especially in art is persistence, perseverance, and long-suffering. And none of that has to do with a having a regular blog. I'm in this for the long game, it's a marathon, not a sprint. I've set my pace and I have my eyes on the target.

So having said that, I am abandoning this notion of HAVE TO. If I have something interesting to say I will will write something up. Usually if I have something interesting to say it will be on FB or Twitter but otherwise this page will now just be a digital archive of stuff I said once. 

Sayonara people.

My second book, Linchpin, was written during NaNoWriMo 2012, and I think it is the better book of the two I’ve written so far. That first draft went through some major revisions, whole sections and ideas scrapped. But a shitty first draft, as Anne Lamott puts it, is better than no draft at all. You can’t edit something that doesn’t exist.

My first novel took over ten years to finish. Now I really do believe that it’s possible a book needs to take ten years, or twenty- five or whatever, only the writer can decide that. Books may seem static on the outside but they are living things and as the author, maybe you need to go through some stuff to finish it. That is totally legit. But what I can say for sure is that between my two experiences the second one, the 30 day draft, started off better than its predecessor and is a stronger story.

It doesn’t have to be a month. Give yourself up to six months but anything longer than that and you’re going to run into issues. The biggest of which is continuity. I know for sure I absorb everything I see and hear and after ten years that stuff is leaking out onto the page. I changed characters sex, country of origin, and most certainly their personalities. Now I had to go back and fix all of that, not so bad, but once you make one change you have to follow that ripple to the end to make sure none of the old version remains.

The other continuity issue is plot. After that long I had forgotten what I had written. Similar to the absorbing and assimilating characters to add to your own, was forgetting why I was going in a certain direction. And a person changes a lot in ten years and so had my syntax, sentence structure, vocabulary, and even style. Your narrator voice will change over a long period of time. So by the time I had a completed story is was much more of mess. I was a different person from the one who had started the story. All well and good for my inner life, bad news for my editor who had to slosh through all of that to create the consistency.

Ray Bradbury said that quantity leads to quality. Another reason why I believe that Book Two is the better book, I had had way more practice by that time. I don’t know if I’ve gotten to my 10,000 hours in yet or not, but all writing is practice. I’m a big believer in RE- writing, mostly because I don’t do outlines, but seriously, re- writing is where you get to dig deeper into this thing you’ve discovered in the first draft. Re- writing is opportunity to enrich your world and characters. Which is what also makes that lightning fast first draft so awesome. Perfection not required. Just let her rip. No holds barred, get as crazy as you want. Use the first draft to explore the characters and their space. Have things happen that you as the rational god of that world would never allow otherwise and just see what happens. You can have loose ends, dead ends, and Inception like loops, it doesn’t matter. What does matters is that the draft exists which means you can now hone into the story it really wants or needs to be.

So whether you do NaNo or not, or even make it to 50k or not, being a writer doesn’t end on Dec 1st. If you’re ever going to finish that draft there is only one way to do it and it’s best to get it done sooner rather than later.

Whatever you decide to do and however long it takes, happy writing!

Hey You,

Camp NaNoWriMo has been rough. Like really rough. Never in my life have I ever had so much trouble getting a story out. By all appearances I would say I am not alone in this. I really liked my cabin, lots of encouragement offered at the start but by the middle of the second week it seems like everyone has cleared the area. Words counts started off strong and dwindled after the first ten days. All of us lowered our word count goal. And now just silence. I was the last person to post anything on the bulletin board and here is what I said:

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." -Jack London

This sums up pretty much what I have been doing all month. I decided a while ago that if writing stopped being fun, then what is the point. And it has NOT been fun at all. But I am determined. I decided that no matter what I would do 30 minutes or 500 words, which ever came last. And it is a struggle every time. I am nowhere near my word count but at this point it is the principle of the matter. I am a writer and I will write, even if I am the only one who will ever read it. I will keep writing even if it’s only a few paragraphs a day until I get out of this. I will beat this story (or stories) with that club until there is nothing left but conjunctions and adverbs but I will not give up. I am a writer, hear me type!

Okay not as intimating on the page as it was in my head, and no, this blog does not count as my daily “come hell or high water” goal, thanks for asking. So there it is. The honest truth. I hope you are doing well and your summer is going a lot better than mine.

Cheers!
     -PG

Every time I feel like giving up I stumble onto something that gives me the strength to keep going. Below are a few things you need to know as an artist of any kind.

The 4 Ps – Practical, Proactive, Professional and Patient.

Practical – what is your current standard? Are you better off trying to attract a studio to a blockbuster treatment, or attract student film-makers to produce one of your short films? Do you have the craft to handle a feature film? Being practical about your position, you are better placed to take the right strategic step, which will payoff and build your career, rather than frustrate and ultimately perturb you.

Proactive – take your success into your own hands. Write as much as you can, attend networking events, enter competitions, call producers, take on internships, put together your own short films.

Professional – even if you are not yet a professional, always handle yourself in a way befitting a professional. Punctual, delivering what you’ve promised, communicative and clear.

Patient – success very rarely comes overnight. If you quit your job to write a screenplay, convinced it well sell within a few months, then you’re likely going to be in for a rude awakening. Success can take years in this industry – though smaller measures of success can occur daily, weekly and monthly. Set yourself short-term, mid-term and long-term goals – weeks, months and years – and plan for sustained growth.

This is from Lesson 23 of Industrial Scripts screenwriting course. 

And if all else fails I turn to Ray Bradbury who said: