And you wonder why I blow my stack?
I’m answering my e-mail backlog today, and I came across this gem:
To: nick_scipio@yahoo.com
From: Anonymous
Subject: Reader Comments
Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 00:32:22 -0700its almost june…….it is mid 2006 where is the fourth book?
I must’ve forgotten the date. Dipshit. - Nick
Good day…
Not much to report. I had a good day writing, but I didn’t have much time. Unfortunately, days like this are more common than the 2,000-word days.
Life… work… family… you know how it goes. - Nick
Showtime!
“Showtime.”
That’s the word that did it for me. Did what? you ask.
Well, in true Scipio fashion: “you’ll have to read to find out.”
But I just figured out my transition. I need to re-write the following scene (I’ve changed my mind about how I want it to read), but I think I’m past the problem area.
Anyway, when you read Nereids, Ch11, and you see that word, you’ll know how much effort went into it.
Back to work. - Nick
How I write.
After the last post, several people were surprised that I write linearly instead of skipping around/ahead. So I thought I’d take a minute (or ten) to explain my process.
When I think of a story (or chapter, or scene), I have a few “milestones” in my head, or a few key elements. Everything else is gray and hazy. When I sit down to write, I usually begin by re-reading/editing the previous 500-1,000 words, just to see where I was going, to get into the scene, and to get into the heads of my characters. Once I “see” the scene in my head, I simply describe it. Ditto with the characters: I get into their heads and have them act according to their personalities. I can do this with multiple characters, too, since I know how they think. More importantly, I can keep them separate, so I don’t have cookie-cutter characters. (I try not to have cookie-cutter characters, at least.)
Stop and ask for directions?
I’ve spent the last week or so wandering aimlessly. Well, not “aimlessly,” exactly. I know where I want to go, I just don’t know how to get there. Writing a good story is about flow and timing and transitions. The scenes themselves have always been easy to write (once I “see” the scene in my head, that is). Unfortunately, the transitions and flow are sometimes difficult.
Take now, for instance. I’m in the middle of Chapter 11 of Nereids, and I feel like I’m wandering. I need to transition from one scene to the next, and I need to set the stage for the upcoming scene. I’ve revised and tightened what I’ve written, but it still fizzles at the transition (the “end” of the stage-setting scene).
Trouble in paradise?
Well, I’ve officially been a blogger for less than 24 hours, and I almost shot myself in the foot. WordPress has a “helpful” security setting (for the techno-geeks: it uses referrer information as an additional security check), and I changed the blog URL.
Bad. Very bad.
More geek-speak: my hosting provider handles subdomains with a simple redirect (not a server-side rewrite… just a simple “go here now” redirect). With the “helpful” security checking my referrer tag, and my “helpful” hosting provider doing a redirect, my referrer never matched the blog’s internal URI.
Did I mention bad?
How did I fix it? I had to “hand edit” the SQL database with phpMyAdmin.
Who’s locked out now, biatch?!
Anyway, I fixed my problem, and now I can post again. Woulda been a pretty short ride if I hadn’t shown WordPress who’s boss.
Remember, kids, the bigger stick approach works 99.9% of the time. 
Time for bed. - Nick
The first post.
I’ve been toying with the idea of a blog for a while now. What finally got me started in earnest? An article about a Microsoft blogger named Robert Scoble. The article mentions WordPress, and I thought, Hmm, isn’t WordPress one of the blog options from my web host? The rest is history in the making. I’d never heard of Robert Scoble before I read that article, but strange things get me motivated sometimes. (And those of you who are thinking What’ll get him motivated to write SC-B4? should keep your comments to yourselves. I’m in a touchy mood after last week’s hat trick of three dumbass e-mails in one night.)
Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah… I thought I could use a blog to post random thoughts (isn’t that what most people use them for?). I can comment on whatever interests me at the moment, including politics. I’ve been trying to avoid politics in the Forum, since I don’t want to start a firestorm. The conversation has actually been on-topic for a couple of weeks, and it’s a fragile balance sometimes.
I can also use this lovely corner of my site to post some of the impatient reader comments I receive (usually the “gimme, gimme, gimme” variety). And then I can respond to these usually anonymous jackasses. I know how I work, and if I don’t respond to the idiots, I just get worked up and it takes me days to regain some sense of distance (not to mention the creative urge, if the comment is bad enough). So the blog can be my steam release valve. This is a good thing.
But I digress.
Another thing I can use the blog for is to talk about my writing progress. Just little snippets of where I am, what I’m working on, or what I could use some help with.
Anyway, that’s probably more than enough for the first post. I’m still getting the hang of WordPress’s template and customization, so expect the look and feel to change over the next weeks. Also, if anyone’s a WordPress guru and would like to donate some time to a wannabe blog-geek, I’d certainly appreciate it. (Remember, the less time I spend customizing the blog, the more time I spend writing. Emotional blackmail, I know, but I really could use the help.)
Enough for now. - Nick