When the muse calls…
I had a good day writing today, the first in a long time. I’ve been writing steadily for a couple of weeks, but I’ve been averaging ~200 words a day. I had to claw them out of my heart and bleed on the paper before they’d come. It was macro time, which is no surprise.
But I reached the point in Ch11 where I needed to switch to micro time, and things picked up (just as I expected, thank you very much). The last couple of days have been 500- to 700-word days, which is pretty good these days. (I remember the days of 2,500 words at a time, but I haven’t had one in a while.)
Part of it has been life in general. Part has been the macro time, and having to write something difficult. Part has been real life (my brother and CiL are still being jackasses). Part has been general malaise.
Anyway, I had a good day today.
I had some time this afternoon, so I started my usual “edit to get in the mindset to write more” thing. With the micro time, I knew exactly where I needed to go, so the words came easier. I was even late getting home, because I was in a writing mood (and I know better than to buck that if I can avoid it).
When I got home, I didn’t even come downstairs to my office. Instead, I opened my MacBook on the kitchen table and picked up where I’d left off. After my wife went to bed, I synced with the iMac, and began editing here.
2,500 words later, I put the wraps on Ch11. Counting the 2,000 words from earlier, this was a blockbuster day. I wrote more today than in the past month.
Ch12 should come much quicker, because it’s almost all micro time. Besides, I knew exactly what I need to write. In fact, I’ll have to cut back, because I don’t need all the scenes in my head. This is a Good Thingâ„¢.
So, that’s the latest news. I still want to crank out 2-3 more chapters before I return to posting. We’ll see how I do.
I’m on mile 20 of my marathon. The end isn’t anywhere close, but at least I know it’s out there. Still, I have a lot of work to do before then.
Wish me luck.
- Nick
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52 Responses to “When the muse calls…”
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Good Luck!
Carrying on with the marathon metaphors, looks as if you’ve hit ‘the wall’ and have come out the other side able to make the finishing line. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere. I for one will be waiting there to applaud you across the finishing line.
Sounds great! Nice to hear you’re back on track again. At least one reader here who can’t wait to see how this turns out (although he has his suspicions).
Good luck Nick, Looking forward to reading the next part of the marathon
Good Luck. I can’t wait to read the next few chapters
Nick,
I’m just curious, and maybe you may have mentioned it somewhere on your site and i didn’t notice… is this going to be your last book?
Or are you crazy?/motivated? enough to do another one?
I’m just curious because this writing seems to take so much out of you at times that i wonder if it’s beginning to become too much.
@ snorkpete
This’ll be my last Summer Camp book. Well, my last of Paul’s story.
I have several other story ideas set in the Summer Camp Universe, but I also have stories set in other universes.
On top of those, I have a mainstream novel in the back of my mind. It’s simmering for now, but I keep “writing” in my head. It would pay a lot better than Summer Camp, and maybe I could become a full-time professional writer.
Who knows?
- Nick
Nick,
Glad you are having better luck with the writing and I sympathize .. family can be such a pain in the ARSE. I look forward to the rest of the book a lot and I really hope when you are done you will go back to the Jazz Club for awhile. Please please please lol
Good luck and thanks,
Shadow
Good luck! I hope you write that “other novel” and become a professional writer (as in you’re being paid to do it). I think you can.
I agree, you have the talent to write mainstream. Any target genre in mind?
Great to hear from you besides the forum. Hope you had a great holiday season. Glad the writing is flowing again for you.
That’s a good question from Onagerian Surmise. Do you have a genre in mind for your mainstream novel?
Best of luck with making it in the professional space.
Hi there,
I would like to know if a bookmaker somewhere in the world (England ?) has set a possible bet on you know what ?
Good luck from Paris France
The story is “flowing” very well. I can see how this was a test ground for your mainstream novel.
I told you back when you did the first book you were good enough to do a “real” book. You remember just don’t force it, write it as it comes to you. And I’ll want a sighed copy of your first novel. I bet all the people will recognize you at your “camp” (where you go to get ideas in the summer).Just one question, How do you go incognito in the nude?……VBG TTYL Paul
write damn it!
and read your email!
btw its cold and my nipples are hard…lol
nette
Writer block is an absolute BITCH to deal with.
Writers are stuck with real life, and the poor little voices in their head trying to get out.
And people wonder if Writers are insane?
Good Luck Nick. And we are all waiting for the words.
you don’t have writer’s block. you are just writing what wiggles through. the pace is just fine. although we enjoyed the 2500 word per day events as readers as much as you did as a writer, that was when there were one or two books, with only a few chapters. you have enormous complexities to maintain, characters to sustain and plot lines to create. you are doing just fine. we read once (forget whre now) that henry miller came home one day, wrote one three word sentence in “tropic of cancer” and went out to celebrate his enormous progress, as the missing phrase had eluded the paper for weeks, and his muse had caught it napping on the page and nailed it. so it goes.
nice book
Luck :-p
@ Onagerian Surmise
I have two mainstream novels kicking around my head: one SF and the other Fantasy.
The SF would have a decent erotic content, although not as stroke-oriented as SC.
The Fantasy novel is more sword-and-sorcery, but with Scipio character development. The sorcery isn’t the usual fare, either. It’s… interesting.
In either case, they’d be character-based novels, rather than plot-oriented. They’ll both have a definite plot, but the characters are the important part.
Anyway, that’s the plan.
- Nick
I have nt complained yet on a story but geees before the next chapeter comes out ill be dead lol not but a month per chapter or more than a month “We” readers will forget what we read back in December. and this is feb all ready this book will take forever and a day to finish. “I Know I Know” this type of Shite makes u mad as heLL but damnn and yes i know you dont get paid also.. there might be a person on his death bed thinking to himself “damn i cant die yet because I need to find out who Paul marries” ps keep up the great work Nick By ciginia
Nick,
I would definitely like to read a mainstream novel you’ve written. But, if you get one published, how will we know it’s yours? Would you give up your anonymity or use a pseudonym? It would be a shame if we had to guess which was yours out of everything being published.
I can sympathize with the inability to write more than a few hundred words, I’ve gone through months where I couldn’t write more than 2 sentences. Then erased those because they were just terrible.
Glad to hear you had a good writting day, hope your Muse stays friendly(mine is a sadistic bitch).
I, too, would be interested in any mainstream novels you might write. While the erotica in your SC stories does have it draw, it is the characters themselves that tie me to your stories - seeing how they develop, change, and grow. So, while I would miss some of the erotic moments, I think having a novel would be a huge blessing - and my guess is that it would be a fantastic success, financially and otherwise. Keep up the great work!
@Tim
Yes, I agree on the characters. I stumbled across SC three years ago on a ’surfing out of boredom’ night b/c my wife’s hormones were all out of whack from the Pill… (TMI?). I read through part of a random chapter of Book One. It was easy to see that there was waaaaay more to it. I’ve been so hooked that I was depressed for a week when we were unable to take a ’side trip’ to UT while driving home from a Florida vacation last fall.
JG
Nick, As far as your evlauation of your writing skills, in my opinon, you should not need/already have the validation of being a “professional” writer. I read about a book a week and your stuff is in my top ten of all time.
Best wishes and thanks,
Boyd
Dear Nick,
The last year and a half I have found myself in Paul’s universe with the exception that I am living in the present. Never had my teenage, leading into college, woes of growing up been so well represented in any form of literature.It has especially helped me in learning to understand the difference between love and sex. Emotionally, I have been able to mature and accept the inevitable.
My latest revelation was if I had let myself turn into Kendall. I always wanted to relate to her. Seeing as to how she is so intelligent and intimate with Paul, I sought the same in my relationship of 3 and a half years. But, I ask myself now, did we have too much sex and not communicate at all? None of my friends could ever begin to understand my Kendall complex and I finally realized how many times I avoided conversation. He wanted to talk and I wanted sex. Sometimes I get pretty mad at myself but I have finally come to terms.
Lastly, thank you for reading the rantings of a once very naive girl. I anxiously await the oncoming chapters to see how everything turns out.
Best of luck in all of your endeavors,
Chibi
First off,
Nick, you’re a writer. Any validation you were looking for should come from all the people bitching about you taking so long to post new chapters. You make people WANT to read this story. I can tell you that the main thing I look for in a decent author is their ability to suck me into a storyline so I find myself saying Just one more chapter and I’ll go to bed, or just one more page, or whatever. I was hooked after chapter 3 of book 1. So I’m willing to sit back and let it roll out as needed. I’ll be here. And yes, you ARE a bastard for ending B4ch10 like that.
ciginia, a good suggestion? Download all of the books, and say, around the end of February, start leisurely reading them again. It helps with the forgetting about what’s going on.
Nick, I know you’ve said many times how you don’t think SC could be published but have you been at the children’s library lately? There is stuff in the TEEN section that is more graphic than half the stuff in SC. Just by trimming out a bit of detail from the erotic scenes you could possibly get SC into the CHILDREN’s section which is really scary. (Not that you’d WANT it in the children’s section but it just goes to show what you could get away with today.)
This book is so good that it would really be a shame if it never gets published.
Thanks Nick!
Thanks Nick,
We really appreciate the effort, and all the work you do .
Thanks gain,
John
Loved your editorializing about Hilary on the POD. I feel the same. My 24 yr old son is an avid Ron Paul supporter, and definitely the most in the know about the political scene. I’m still on the fence…but not for Hilary!!
Well, it has been long enough that I have had time enough to start again at the beginning, and see the growth that Paul has had.
Susan is his first Lover. And love.
Gina was the love of his youth.
Kendall was his growth. But she also used him for her own reasons. Even when I looked carefully at the background of the discussions and talks, I never saw the depth with her that I saw with Gina. But his relationship with Gina was doomed due to mistakes of both of them. So we will know that the latest ending of the last chapter will end with a gentle “no, Paul. It cannot be”.
Gina is Still in LA. Living with friends and others. And has moved on.
So now we will be stuck, waiting for Nick to get back on the Writer’s Road.
At least, he is doing it on a machine that has style.
Jim
I’ve been hoping that one day you’ll pick up the thread on the Nereids story and bridge the gap between where that story now stands and where the Summer Camp stories pick up.
To All,
Nick *IS* an expert writer - but *NOT* a professional.
It was explained to me like this. A ‘Professional’ gets paid to do something. An ‘Expert’ does something extremely well. Not all professionals are experts and not all experts are professionals. Some experts become professionals (finally start getting paid for doing something they do very well) and a few professionals become an expert over time just from doing something again and again.
If Nick does go out and publish a mainstream novel it will be our expert adding professional next to his writing persona. I’ve read everything he’s put on this website and I can’t wait to read the stuff he publishes on paper - although I’ll probably request my copy of the book to be delivered in PDF format for old times sake.
A simple update from Nick would sure be nice.
Getting uncontrollable shakes John? =P
I know I am. To be fair, Nick did say “at least March”.
But an updated ETA would be nice.
Having been away for a couple of months, have just caught up to date with the latest couple of chapters. Keep up the good work.
All that I can say to the comments after is SSC#1.
I wouldn’t even care if it is an updated eta, just something about the story besides the “whats new” page. What’s going on these days?
Might I suggest rereading Summer Camp while you wait? It’s a nice way to pass the time, and it gives you a chance to pick up on things you may not have caught the first time around.
As many have said, Nick’s characters are the main draw. I would like to add that the apparently effortless portrayal of the physical settings plays a big part in the believable interaction of the characters, who move through their world like fish through water. That takes some skill on Nick’s part, I think.
Travis, been there done that. My plea falls on deaf ears…….
Did anyone have John’s name in the impatient pool?
I was going to post on March 1st: “See, it wasn’t
that hard to wait was it?”
I just got to the current end of a graphic novelist’s
story that is officially on hiatus (so far for two
years).
Now I know why my library didn’t carry the latest of
the compendiums. I didn’t find out that the story
was on break until I ordered the last compendium from
the author’s website. I bought the compendium to
read and then donate to my library. Now I get to
wait to see what happens next.
I’ve only been waiting for 3 weeks now. Think of
what it has been like for the patient people (and
impatient one’s like John) who have been waiting
for 2 years.
I’m still waiting 25 years now for the third book
in a series that (quick Google search) I find out
just now as I type this post, the author is DEAD. Ahhhh!
Okay - there’s a relief - I don’t have to worry
about that anymore.
5 years in the military helped me understand the
phrase “Hurry up and wait” better.
Keep up the good work Nick. Take the time you need.
Some just misunderstand. We all can talk till we are blue in the face about meaningless dribble and kiss up. I understand Nick is trying to put out a quality product and I feel that at least part of this last book so far seems thrown together due in part to the impatience of us, the readers. I was just making a comment that it would be nice to hear from the man himself about what is happening with the story and Nick for that matter. Is he making any headway? It is his “blog” isn’t it?
Hey, Nick.
I’m not asking for you to post the chapter prematurely. I’m just asking you to keep us posted through your blog. I know you read this occasionally if not often, so hopefully you decide to lead us out of the dark tunnel and towards the light. Just keep us up to date, please.
John–
What parts do you feel were thrown together due to impatience of the readers?
I happen to disagree with you, but I’d like to know what you’re pointing at.
be287m
be287m There are 2 Johns posting recently, so both are not coming from me. I would have to reread it to give you specifics. I am not a critic but there have been scenes that to me seem rushed through. I will reread and try to get back to you. I am not dingin Nick’s writing by any means, I just see somethings, that because of our impatience, he may have rushed out before it was really ready. Maybe I’m completely off the mark, if so I will stand corrected.
@ be287m
Your Friends with Benefits story was great, by the way. Let us know if you have any others coming out.
-Different John from the one who posted before me
I know we’re all impatient, but….
March 2008 means March 31st, 2008, between 11:30 pm and Midnight.
Anything before that is, well, early….
John the 2nd. I’ll certainly post an announcement in Nick’s Forum when my next story is released. It’ll be a while–finding the time and energy to write when there’s a new baby in the house is quite tricky these days.
be287m
Congrats on new baby. BTW Boy or Girl?
Too many just John’s so I added my last initial.
John J–
Boy. Healthy and all that, but taking an amazing amount of time and energy (yeah, I suspect that’s true of all kids, but this is my first, so it’s still surprising to me).
be287m
Nick,
BTW, thanks for a slew of amusing Pictures of the Day.
Just think of us as the people who cheer you on at your marathon, and offer bottled water.