Writing? What’s that?
I should breath a heavy sigh now. You know, a nice moody sigh that people use when they want to say, “Pay attention to me… ask what’s wrong.”
Instead of a sigh, I have a nice blog where I can just blurt out what I wanted to say in the first place. I guess a blog cuts out the passive attention-seeking behavior and goes straight for the active behavior. Lucky me, huh? 
But I digress…
I haven’t had time to write for nearly a month, and it’s driving me crazy. Let’s see… where to begin?
Ah yes, back to late June. I had just finished working on Ch8, and things were in the pipeline to publish Ch5. I wanted to post Ch5 before my wife and I went on a weekend getaway to Atlanta (it was fun, I bought an iPhone… but more on that in another post).
After the trip to Atlanta, two friends and I drove to Columbus, OH, on July 4. We were at a gaming convention for five days—Origins 2007. It was fun, and I played lots of games (Savage Worlds, Hero System, L5R, and lots of Mayfair board games), but I barely had time to update the POD, much less do any serious writing.
When I returned from Columbus, I had a week of work-work to catch up on. Worse, it’s our busy season, so I was slammed. Ditto for most of this past week. Lots of proofreading, artwork fixes, and minor technical problems to solve.
To add a distraction on top of that, my mother has been staying with us for the past week. She’s moving back to the States from Germany, so she’s car-hunting, house-hunting, bank-hunting, etc., etc., etc.
Between work and family, the past week was jam-packed and full of anything but writing.
I thought I’d finally have a quiet morning, but we’re babysitting one of our grandsons this weekend… all weekend. Now, he’s only 1, so he’s not much trouble, but I’d feel guilty if I hid out in my office all day. After all, my wife and I are supposed to be a team, right? Right. So, no fair letting her watch the boy all day while I catch up on work I haven’t done since June.
Fortunately, I had a bit of a break last week. One of our big projects went to the printer on Wednesday. (Side note: most of you know I’m in the tech field—I manage internet development, as well as our company’s IT—but our business is publishing. Take a look at any of my PDFs and you’ll see that I’m a bit of a publishing geek. Duh. But I digress… again.)
Anyway, I had a break last week, so I browsed the nudie sites to find models for some new characters. It served as a bit of inspiration, and a bit of a much-needed distraction from the real world. Now, I still don’t have time to do anything about the models I picked out, but at least they’re a start.
My mother leaves on Monday, and I should get my life back a couple of days after that (as soon as my wife and I decompress from 10 days of being “on” all the time).
I want to put Ch6 in the pipeline sometime soon, but I need to be closer to finishing Ch9 before I do. I have it almost completely outlined in my head (I can “see” it), but it still takes a lot of time to actually do the work of writing it out and adding the little details to make it flow. Wish me luck.
When I get some more time (and energy), I’ll write a post or two about my iPhone experience. Short answer: it’s a fantastic device, but I have some major problems with Apple’s control philosophy. In other words, I don’t like some of the design decisions about what I can’t and can’t do with the interface.
(Rant: Just let me manage my own Goddamned music, you arrogant jackasses! And don’t remove my Goddamned audiobooks whenever your stupid program can’t remember my Audible password! Dumb, dumb, and more fucking dumb. User experience, my ass! More like ‘hit in the head with Apple’s force-fed user experience. I’m a fanboy… I drank the freakin’ Kool-Aid… but this if fucking ridiculous.)
I also have some other minor gripes about the interface (I can’t get back to Contacts from Google Maps when I tap an address, dialing the phone takes way too many taps to get to the favorites, etc.), but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s just… cool.
That’s enough for now. I have lots of other work to do, and not enough time to do it. Send me good karma… I need it right now.
Thanks for reading.
- Nick
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20 Responses to “Writing? What’s that?”
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It seems your summer has been busy. I’m extremely jealous of your iphone but i refuse to switch to cingular just to get one… but i wanna know to down low it looks sooo freaking crazy. Touchscreen. I need it. anyways take your time and find so time to get away from it all. We all need that time every now a then.
*transmitting good karma*
More good karma sent your way.
I am jealous of your iPhone .. I would love to be able to try one, but no way my company will let me get rid of my crackberry .. and I am not carrying two devices.
Catch your breath and relax .. it always takes a bit to wind down from family visitors.
I was kind of hoping Nick’s thoughts today would be on the literary news, that’s _somewhat_ like Summer Camp (the release of the final book in a wildly popular and successful series, where everyone and their broomstick has been guessing at the fate of the characters, and the ending was bound to please some and disappoint others), except a LOT less nudity and sex (which is why I read Summer Camp and not Harry Potter
).
*Does* Nick have any thoughts on HP in that vein? (Yes, I know the last chapter of SC hasn’t been written yet (at least not tangibly), but we are at least in the last book. While I, like everyone else, have my thoughts on what the ending will be and the identity of the two “mysterious characters”, I know, no matter what happens, that I won’t be disappointed in the ending because it’ll be of the same quality of the rest of the series.)
Glad to hear you are enjoy your summer especially the gaming convention. Hope you get a chance to write as it sounds like this is a strong passion.
Thanks as always
Charlie
Well at least your iphone works
Enjoy a little downtime and finally having your house to yourself. Remeber the Italian Proverb: Houseguests and fish both start to stink after three days.
what the hell, enjoy life!
I am!
So we wait in anticipation … makes it better.
Just a thought though, if the readers life totally revolves around the SC, they need to get a life.
Karen
Heya, Nick!
Remember the old ketchup jingle:
“Anticipation, is makin’ me wait -
Anticipation, is makin’ it great!”
Wasn’t that a Carly Simon tune? Yes, I’m old enough to *still* have the hots for that woman.
). Get back to writing when you *feel* like it; don’t do it because you *have* to. It won’t be nearly as good that way. And like has been pointed out, if you don’t finish until 2012, well, what-the-Hell. I’m not doing anything that Tuesday. :O
Decompress, enjoy the time with the family and the new toy (just a wee bit green with envy, here, bub.
If I had any good karma left, I’d send it your way, but I think all mine got spent on my wife - car wreck - and trust me, you can spend a *lot* of karma quick when the most important person in your world is laying in a trauma ward with a serious chance of never leaving it. Mine was well-spent; I got her back, nearly whole.
But here goes, none-the-less:
***GOOD KARMA*** ***GOOD KARMA*** ***GOOD KARMA*** ***GOOD KARMA*** ***GOOD KARMA*** ***GOOD KARMA*** ***GOOD KARMA*** ***GOOD KARMA*** ***GOOD KARMA*** ***GOOD KARMA*** ***GOOD KARMA*** ***GOOD KARMA*** ***GOOD KARMA***
And for what it’s worth, ***BEST WISHES***
Is that enough?
Jay
Hell take the pressure off and continue to enjoy life. Look after the grandbabies with your wife. Forget about writting deadlines. We’ll wait. And most of us gladly.
If life isn’t fun then you can’t write the good stuff. You already have the good karma seems like to me but my wish for you is still more.
Thanks for writting.
So, I didn’t bump into you at Origins, does this mean I might bump into you at GenCon Indy in 3 weeks?
Good luck with all the stuff going on.
Karma Transmitted
You should have bought a MyPhone (chinese copy with all the good bits and none of the “apple controls you life” stuff)
Dam Nick,
If you’d have mentioned you were coming to Columbus, I’d have offered to buy ‘ya your drink of choice if you made a pit-stop North of Cincinnati.
Enjoy your summer and stress not. Loyal fans will wait however long it takes for your next installment.
I for one deeply respect the high standards you have for your re-writes and editing, and enjoy the anticipation of waiting for a new chapter almost as much as I enjoy reading a new chapter for the first time. I have been reading Summer camp since about eight or nine chapters into Book One, and having a new chapter up is like a holiday. Keep your chin up, Nick, and know that you have my (and others) undying gratitude and appreciation.
P.S. Great boardgame to try if you haven’t yet: Cash & Guns, although around our table we just call it the Tarentino Game. It’s terrific for 4-6 players.
Am in agreement with the above readers: Relax, kick back, enjoy life. Thanks for the update. Guess I’ll just Have to read the books on my bedstand now….
Speaking of books–If you haven’t already, check out On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins and Sandra Blakeslee. Published in 2004, it’s a lucid, cogent exposition of Hawkins’ theory about how the neocortex processes information and gives rise to the phenomenon we call ‘intelligence’.
Karma to Nick. Jealousies to him on both the iPhone and knowing how the story ends. But not in that order.
Hi Nick:
I have been reading your summper camp books for quite a while, maybe not year for I stumbled across your website several years ago. What I would like to say is that it has been a real pleasure to find such good writing, and to find it so freely given. I am a field wellsite geologist. I must work away from my wife and family for weeks and months at a time. As in all jobs there are moments of shear boredom. There have been nights of true loneliness away from loved ones. Your books have filled in my time with interest and good writing. Yes, I am also waiting with frustration for each chapter… but I am truly thankful for your ability and willingness to share. Your writing has been a god sent out here in the high mountains.
Been a reader for awhile now. and since your in publishering why dont you send a copy of your first book to your boss? Hell bet it would be on the New York best selling top 5 Keep p the Great work
Nick,
I appreciate your professional writing skills and the way you craft your stories. You have a ‘gift’ that needs to be handled with TLC. Do what is necessary to continue your life and send us the next installment when it is ‘ready’.
Your work speaks to many of us and is a glowing example of what writing can be if you really work at it and pour out your soul in the process.
Godspeed on the next installment.
It could be worse. Just to put our problems in perspective…
Wisconsin couple escapes from sunken Jeep
Associated Press - August 3, 2007 11:54 AM ET
SPOONER, Wis. (AP) - A Wisconsin couple rushing to their daughter’s hospital bedside in Minneapolis escaped from the bottom of the Mississippi River in the I-35W bridge collapse.
Crystal Manning’s 2-year-old daughter, Emmaline, had fallen down the steps at home in Spooner on Wednesday. She was airlifted to a hospital in Minneapolis with a concussion.
Manning and fiance Michael Stoner were on their way to the hospital and crossing the bridge when they heard a horrible roar and their Jeep went
free-falling into the river.
Water rushed through the broken windshield as they sank to the river bottom.
Stoner says he could feel the Jeep stop sinking, and as he tried to get out, he started inhaling water.
Fortunately Stoner had rolled down a window just before they started across the bridge. The couple escaped through that window.
As she swam for the river bank, Manning spotted her daughter’s blanket floating on the surface of the water and grabbed it.
Both were treated at the hospital, with Manning still holding the blanket. Emmaline remains hospitalized.
From the fifth-last paragraph:
“I’m a fanboy… I drank the freakin’ Kool-Aid… but this if fucking ridiculous.)”
Typo: “but this is…”