TTG Is Dead

I see this blog as getting a lot more "chatty" in the near future. Mostly I'm sick and tired of trying to run it like an "e-zine," but as well, I am beginning to see it as an excellent outlet for "wool-gathering." Or "lint-picking," if you like the sound of that better.

I have taken my writing off of the computer. I've gone back to the basics: a pen and a legal pad. I wasn't even going to turn the computer on this morning, but I was so wildly successful with today's writing that I thought I deserved a little reward. For whatever reason, I find that working on a computer is uninspiring for me. Maybe it is that I can type fast enough that I am more apt to write garbage (and faster!). It seems that when I write longhand, I more carefully consider what I choose to say, and how I choose to say it. And as slow as it is to write longhand, I actually get more done. On the computer I am constantly tempted (and giving in to the temptation) to "click" on something...usually the Internet. If I'm not "Internetting" then I am constantly rearranging crap...files, desktop, so on. It is all an avoidance tactic. With a pen and a legal pad, you write, or you sit there like an idiot with a blank look on your face. Those are your only options.

The Tronovich Ghost is dead. After over a year of effort, I finally had to play Taps for the thing and let it go. Mainly I am just weary of the project. I have no "fire in my belly" for it anymore. Even if the tenth rewrite/revision cleared up all the plot and technical issues (and I'm not at all certain that it would have) I think the story would have failed do to the fact that it has become dull and lifeless somewhere along the line. The first draft had some energy, but was horribly flawed. The latest draft was much more technically sound, but had no energy whatsoever. Still, TTG remains the first novel-length work of fiction that I have ever completed, and I am proud of the effort that I put into, if not the results. It has been a valuable learning experience, so the time was not wasted.

On to better things...I am beginning preproduction work on a (I think) rather unique fantasy novel. Probably an urban fantasy, but with a nifty little twist that I "thunk" up. Can't spill the beans on that just yet, but I am excited about writing again.

It's been awhile since I could say that.