A Writer's Week #53: Trying to Make My Goal

This week was another typical one for me, one I'm sure that you experience rather frequently as well--busy. There wasn't a whole lot of time for me to do the things I really needed to do writing-wise. Naturally, I was worried that I would not be able to hit my weekly writing goal of 2,000 words.

Now if you think about it, that is not a very aggressive goal. It's less than 300 words a day. But it's really all I can realistically hope for on average these days with everything else I've got going on in my life. Some weeks, I find myself scrambling to reach it. Like this week.

The weekend was busy, so no writing was done there. Then on Monday, I figured I'd get to work setting up my author blog. Cyber dunce that I am, I wasted a lot of time on a technical glitch (that I'm still waiting for blogger to clear up--sigh), which resulted in me using two evenings that could have been spent writing trying to figure things out. Oh well. Although the domain issues have not been hammered out, I have made great strides in setting up the new site and it's looking pretty good. 

That left just Wednesday and Thursday evening for me to get some writing done. Suddenly my 300 words a night had shot to 1,000. Oh boy, now I was in trouble. Luckily, I have a very understanding wife who let me hole myself up in our room for two nights to write. Then again, after hearing me growl at my computer for two nights while I struggled with the site, maybe she was happy to be rid of me...

Anyway, in spite of things, I managed to write 2,100 words. The Deliverers 3: The Golden Dragon of Ang now stands at a little over 6,900 words, which is five chapters and 30 pages. It's coming along very nicely, I must say.

My other projects are still in their holding patterns. I had been hoping that the audio book version of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel would have been released by now. However, it has to go through a stringent review process before ACX releases it, and my book is not the only one they're getting ready to release, so that makes for a longish wait. I'll let you know as soon as it's released. Who knows, maybe that will be next week! I hope you have a great one.

Did You Know? Winnie-the-Pooh

Since I had a chance to interview Winnie-the-Pooh this week, I thought it would be fun to see what kind of interesting facts I could find about the book Winnie-the-Pooh and its author, A.A. Milne. Here's what I found.

Did you know...

• Milne named Christopher Robin after his son, Christopher Robin Milne?
• Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed bear was named Edward was renamed Winnie-the-Pooh after a black bear named Winnie, which was used as a military mascot in World War I? "The pooh" comes from a swan called "Pooh".
•  E. H. Shepard illustrated the original Pooh books, using his own son's teddy, Growler as the model? 
• The rest of Christopher Robin Milne's toys, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Rabbit and Tigger, were written into A. A. Milne's stories and are now displayed at what used to be the main branch of the NNew York Public Library?
• The Hundred Acre Wood where the Pooh stories take place is based on the Five Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, South East England?
• One of A. A. Milne's teachers was H. G. Wells?
• Milne was one of Britain's first film writers? He wrote a series of four films in 1920?
• Milne also wrote a play based on Kenneth Grahame's novel The Wind in the Willows called Toad of Toad Hall?
• In 2008, a collection of original illustrations featuring Winnie-the-Pooh and his animal friends sold for more than £1.2m at auction in Sotheby's, London

Monday Interview Series: Winnie-the-Pooh

I was scratching my head wondering who I was going to interview this week. I've interviewed so many lovely characters from children's literature this past year, that it's getting difficult to come up with someone new to chat with.

So I was sitting in my favorite thinking place with my eyes closed, tapping my head saying "Think, think, think...think think," when it hit me. I really needed to track down one of my favorites when I was little. I'm talking, of course, about Winnie-the-Pooh. I hiked on over to the Hundred Acre Wood, and was fortunate to find him at home and in an agreeable mood.

Greg:  Well, it certainly is a pleasure to have a chance to chat with you Pooh Bear.

Pooh:  Likewise, I'm sure. Um, that wouldn't happen to be a honey pot you're holding would it?

Greg:  Why yes as a matter of fact it is. I was going to have some a little later.

Pooh:  Later? Oh, well you can have it later of course. But, uh, I usually find that later, while very nice on its own, is not quite as nice as er...

Greg:  Not a nice as what, Pooh?

Pooh:  Well, not as nice as now. Now is usually better, I find, than later.

Greg:  That may well be true, but I'm afraid if I give you any honey I won't get another word out of you. I would be happy to share this with you after our interview.

Pooh:  Oh bother. If there's one thing that's worse than later, it's after. 

Greg:  Patience Pooh Bear. I promise we'll get to the honey. But first, this is a very interesting house you live in. I noticed the sign above the door. Who is Mr. Sanders?

Pooh:  The memory escapes me at present, but I remember that my family has lived under the name of Sanders for time out of mind. It is a cozy house, but it feels rather empty now as there is not a drop of honey in the place, which makes me all rumbly in my tumbly, you see.

Greg:  Yes, I do see. Not to worry Pooh, every minute brings us closer to the end and honey.

Pooh:  That's not what Rabbit says. He says that every minute brings us closer to the end, and then that's it. There isn't anything. Piglet does not agree. He says that there is something very lovely when we get to the end. Christopher Robin agrees  with Piglet, but Eeyore thinks Rabbit makes a lot of sense. What do you think?

Greg:  Well, I've always been of the opinion that there's something very nice at the end, like this jar of honey.

Pooh:  I'll tell you what I think. Mind you, it's probably not right. My thinker does not think too well, you see. I think once one story ends another begins. The first story, if it's any good, makes you excited for the next one, and that one will lead to another even better one. That's what I think, although I'm probably wrong.

Perhaps all there are in the next story are heffalumps and woozles and Jagulars. That would not be a very happy story. I thought I was in a story like that the other night. It was quite blustery. There were lots of thumps and bumps. I would have thought they were after my honey, if I had any that is.

Greg:  Oh dear, how terrifying. What happened?

Pooh:  Well, I hid under the bed quite a bit. But it turned out that it wasn't a heffalump or a woozle. It was a Tigger.

Greg:  A tigger. What sort of creature is that?

Pooh:  Very stripedy. Orange and black stripes. He laughs and jokes, too. Mostly, though, he bounces. He bounces all over the place. He scared poor Piglet half to the next story when he met him. Poor Piglet. He always gets so scared. I'll have to introduce you sometime.

Greg:  To whom, Tigger or Piglet?

Pooh:  Both, actually. I'll introduce you to everybody, because you can't know everybody until you've met them. Once you meet them, then I'm sure you'll recognize them because I've told you so much about them, you see?

Greg:  Strangely enough, I think I do. Listen Pooh, my head is starting to hurt, so how about ending this interview and having some honey? Thanks for chatting with me.

Pooh:  Yes, please. Chatting is lovely in its way, but it can't really compare to some nice honey. Mmmm, yummm. Oh this is very, very good. Oh yes, this is definitely fine clover honey with a hint of lavender. Mmmm, mmmm. Oh, bother.

Greg:  What's the matter Pooh?

Pooh:  It's gone already. Not even the sticky parts are left.

A Writer's Week #52: Getting Ready to Soar

Let's see, where to start? This has been a very productive week. First off, I was able to donate $100 to  my local Salvation Army. If you remember in November I pledged to donate 50 cents for every book I sold online and a dollar for every book I sold in person during the last two months of the year. Thank you to everyone who purchased a book for Christmas and holiday gifts! The funds I donated were used to help bring Christmas gifts to needy children.

This week, I also launched my own publishing imprint. All of my future books will be published by White Owl Manuscripts, not Createspace. Createspace will act as printer and distributor. White Owl is now listed as publisher of the Kindle version of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel. With that in mind, I have designed my own logo. You can see it at the left.

Now that White Owl Manuscripts is off the ground, and with the upcoming release later this year of my second book, I'm going to be assessing this blog. I'm thinking about renaming it and switching the domain to my own name. This would give me more flexibility the more titles I release and if (when) I start writing other genres.

Okay, enough of the business stuff. This was also a great week for writing. I left my weekly writing goal of 2,000 words far behind. I wound up writing 3,100 words. The Deliverers 3: The Golden Dragon of Ang is progressing nicely. I'm at 4,800 words, which gets me up to 22 pages and into chapter 4. At this point of the story, Eric and company have been given their Assignment and been sent through the door to yet another world that needs their help. Eric has also had a chat with the Gatekeeper, who has some troublesome information for him.

As for the other projects I've got going on, there's nothing to report on the audio book front. Jimm and I are still waiting for ACX to complete their review process. I'm guessing they'll release it sometime next week, but don't know for sure.

As for The Deliverers 2: Order of the Crystal Lion, I'm waiting on my test readers and my art department (a/k/a Daniel Vogel) before I can move forward. I'm champing at the bit, but know that patience is a virtue, so I'll keep smiling and waiting. I'll let you know what happens next week!

What's Abigail Reading? Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

This week, Abigail is taking a cue from her brother and reading a Wimpy Kid book. She's going to tell us all about Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney.

Here's what Abigail says the book is about.

"The book is about a boy named Greg. Greg and his family go to the town beach to swim. When Greg gets called into the pool by his baby brother he finds out that he doesn't want to go into the pool because it was to crowded and that his baby brother peed in the pool. Then his dad wanted to have quality time together so they did all kinds of fun stuff like going fishing, joining a camp, and join the army.

''Then Rowley invites Greg to come with him to the beach. On the way they sing one hundred bottles on the wall.  Then they finally got to the little cottage. When they got all settled they played a game called 'I love you because'. Then Greg begged to go to the boardwalk but they said no then finally they said that they could go for a couple of hours. Then when they get back it was time to go to bed. When Greg saw that Mr. Jefferson went to use the bathroom he quietly sent a message to his mom. When Greg gets home he gets a call from Rowley saying he can't get invited to country club anymore because of what happened. Then Greg got his big brother to play at Heather Hill's party."  

Here's what Abby liked best about the book.

"I liked when his baby brother Manny peed in the pool."

Was there anything Abigail did not like about the book?

"I didn't like when they went to the boardwalk, because they got in trouble."

So, how did Abigail rate Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney?

She gave it four out of five dolphins.