Category: Random

I had an awesome dream early this morning. I told it to my wife who started a web search on dream meanings. I shrugged and took the dogs for a walk. 

Just before I left, she told me of her dream–but I forgot that one. 

My dream was (as I have already stated) fracking awesome. It was horror based. 

So, in the dream, my wife said, “There’s a well in old people’s town, that the doggies can swim in.” 

I said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Wifey got upset. And went on and on and on about it, so I relented and took the doggies to the well. It’s after midnight. We find the well outside someone’s house. The wife is now happy. (Dream Logic at work.)

Wolfie hates water and won’t go near the well, but Trixie is fine. My wife takes Wolfie to the car. They both sit inside watching us. 

I pick Trixie up with the harness on, and lower her into the water. Along the inside walls of the well are planks of wood at odd angles. I realize that these planks can be used for humans to climb out. That was smart. 

Time passes. (Again Dream Logic.)

Trixie has had enough and wants out. I reach down but she is just out of reach. Using the leash, I pull her over to the planks. Her leash is attached to a harness, and I hoist her up to the first plank. Her feet find it. Golden Retrievers can be smart. Trixie goes into panic mode. I reach down and she is still JUST out of reach. 

I hear the front door open. An old Japanese man yells at me (I live in Japan), and he starts smacking me in the head and back with a wooden bat. Hurts like fuck, but I block the pain in an effort to get my dog out of the well. 

My vision goes red as his bat cracks my head, splits skin. He is slamming the back of my legs. Blood runs over the left side of my face. 

I reach Trixie by pulling up the leash. She in my arms and I lift her out and gently put her on the ground. She bolts to the car. 

I turn to the old man. Rage boiling, and I grab him around the throat with one hand, hoist him up and charge full-speed into the side the of house. Everything in his body breaks and I drop him to the ground. 

Looking at the crumpled sack of meat, I deliver a swift kick. I turn to the car. It’s not there. WTF! I turn to the house. And enter. 

It’s a mess of old newspapers and horded toilet paper. Old seats and a rickety table. Old man smell.  I open draws and in the third drawer, fourth, fifth drawers, I find bundles of cash. Bundles and bundles of cash. I use two plastic bags, fill them up and head out. 

I put the bags of cash down and hoist the old man over my shoulders and toss him inside the house. I rip up paper and spool out rolls and rolls of toilet paper and drop a match. The house goes up in flames. 

Somehow, I get home with the two bags of cash and the wife is livid. 

And I wake up. 

First thought: Fuck.  

Second thought: Cool. 

Key points: Water, man, blood, death, money, fire. 

Hmmm. 

 I’ll start with this:

Read, read, read. Read everything–trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it.

Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.

-Faulkner

I’ve been going over my book a lot. It is after all my first Crime Thriller. I wrote a new beginning, showing our hero doing normal world stuff, added a few paragraphs here and there to refresh memories of absent characters that will reappear. It’s been edited, reedited and pro(?)-edited. Rewritten, added to and cut. 

There comes a time when you have to just let it be. 

Send that kid out into the world. Even though it’s book 1 of 2, it has to fly on it’s own merit as a complete stop with one hell of a cliffhanger. 

I have spent the morning looking for an assessor to go through the book and while that is happening, I can get a head start on book 2. In fact, I’ve already started doing that. 

Scrivener was my writing app of choice for a long time. But my old 2gb MacbookAir can’t support version 3, so instead of using version 2.9 (really slow on my Mac), I have decided to use online writing apps, so I can write from anywhere on any available machine.  

I rewrote the opening to Death World using TheQuill.app that was pretty good. However, as I started to write book 2, I feared the site might disappear. Sites come and go. So, I needed something secure and reliable that’s been around for a long time. Also, The Quill doesn’t have any contact details. No email or anything. 

Scary. 

Now, I am using Reedsy https://reedsy.com/write-a-book. I recommend the site. It’s simple to use. You cam collaborate. Find an editor. Many things. Even publish through their partner. I won’t as I’m looking for a traditional publisher. Easy access is easy to hire an editor. 

UPDATE 2019 / SEPT / 23

I now write in Pages. 

And edit on OneDrive Word. (So I can edit on multiple devices.) 

It was brilliant. I think they are planning a horror week next. 

Late 2019, my wife and I were approached by performance company to translate Rakugo plays for a New York audience. It wasn’t as easy as I first thought. You see, Rakugo is a very traditional art form of story telling. There’s a man (or woman) sitting on his/her knees, telling a story. Usually funny. Rarely scary. The stories were developed in the Edo period (1603–1868). 

The New York performance was cancelled due to Covid-19. It was also cancelled for this year as well. But the students (performers all 55+ years old) had practiced for a year. Most do not speak any English. They did a good job. 

I say Rakugo play because this wasn’t a traditional performance. There were 8 or 9 people and they acted the story. There were also some songs and dance routines. But they made them funny. It’s hard to explain the actual performance as a bit of Japanese ancient culture knowledge is required. They did have a lady standing to one side to introduce the story, with a bit of the background on the times. 

The play used traditional Rakugo stories and it was broadcast on YouTube Live for 2000yen. 1000yen for archive version. Sorry, I have no photos. It was live and I was LOL with the wife. 

That was my Sunday. How was yours? 

We kicked off with Leigh Russell. A lady who first got published in 2009 and now has 25 books out and a contract for four more. She spoke of her experiences with setting/structure/plot and characters. It was an interesting hour, getting her perspectives and a few questions answered. She has 89 more question available at Facebook on the pro writing aid hosted group. 

There was a brief mention that Leigh doesn’t use an outline. Me neither. I posted this on Twitter, this afternoon

I’m a discovery writer.

I can’t stick to my outline.

An outline is a lighted highway from point A to point B.

Usually I veer off at the nearest exit. The dark and unlit road offers tastes unexplored.

#writer #marketing #writing #writerslife  

An astute viewer commented that ‘pantsers’ (I say, Discovery Writers–it’s more eloquent) outline in their head as they go along. I can’t say that’s wrong. I usually play out a scene in my head while walking the dogs. While the idea is fresh, I get home and switch on the computer. It usually expands from brain to fingers (that’s the rewrite done lol). 

What are you?

Discovery or Outliner (planner who knows exactly what is going to happen, when it will happen, and where it will happen)? 

Let me know. 

Cover make make or break a book. Truth be told, a great cover gets us to glance at the book, pick it up and read the back copy (blurb) to see if it is for us. 

Does it sound exciting? 

Does the language pop? 

Important questions. The same questions sound be asked of your cover.

Does it look exciting?

Does the image pop?

There are some shocking covers out there. Some are mine. LOL. But true. 

I always believed a cover should preview what the book is about. Recently, I’ve discovered that’s not exactly true. There are a lot of legacy published titles that have awesome covers that have nothing to do with the story (mostly, not always. For example: T. M. Logan’s covers –so far– match the story). 

Let’s look at a couple of examples: