The pruning continues

And I'm back once again.

Got to page 50 of 120 in the middle of Aaron's story. I just made my first huge cut. I just deleted an entire SCENE. That was a big thing even though I knew looking at the scene it was crap. It was poorly written, redundant in regards other characters do and didn't fit with character motivations. But still it was a hell of a step. For the most part, I chop off 5-20 words an edit and possibly add some back. I just got rid of 600+ words in one swoop. It's a big deal. But that's what novelists have to do. Chop and trim until the prose is just right.

Anyways, I hope keeping at the pace I'm working at, I'll have the first cut done by Sunday.

Until next time, fly high and fly well.

Fuck You Green Squiggly Line

So tonight I am doing more editing of "Tranquillity". It is going along well; I am getting the hang of pruning where I got too. I overwrote a bit, wrote lines that weren't really necessary. I also have had to replace dialogue a lot since I would use similar stuff in other character arcs. But nothing that would cause me heartache.

One thing is giving me pause.

Microsoft Word. Or rather the green squiggly line it supplies when you misspell a word. Or more grievously have a fragment sentence.

This thing is driving me mad. I'll subconsciously try to appease by trying to work the sentence so it will go away. I can never make it happy. I'm always wrong. Never mind the fact that this is my book and if I want to write fragments, or dialogue a certain way, I should. I shouldn't be governed by an inanimate writing program. Do you have any idea how stupid I feel when I realize that?

So fuck you green squiggly line. One click of "Ignore Once" and I banish thee. Back to work I guess.

Until next time, fly high and fly well.

Editing Tranquillity and updates

Was up this morning to do some work editing. Just finished the first pass of Jason. Two characters down, and five to go for the first cut. Still got a little over 80 pages left to go through. Already cut about a thousand words out to tighten prose. I got to say it feels good to make it sound better. I'll update as as more comes.

I apologize for the lack of posts lately. I do have some topics in mind. Some pop culture stuff for sure, some current events etc. I just haven't sat down and written. I am sorry for my laziness but if my recent editing is an indicator, I should be on these very soon.

Until next time, fly high and fly well.

Mario Puzo's lost novel

Everyone has a good idea who Mario Puzo is. Mention The Godfather trilogy and you know him. He was a prolific author of the mafioso way of life, codes of Omerta, murder, betrayal, and loyalty. It wasn't until he wrote the original Godfather novel that he became a household name. But before that, he actually had written three other novels.

The first two, The Dark Arena and The Fortunate Pilgrim were considered classics by critics but didn't sell well. Then in 1967 writing under the name Mario Cleri, Puzo wrote Six Graves to Munich, a Post WWII revenge novel. It was lost for several years, until a Polish publishing company recovered it and reprinted it.

Now, this book is far from Godfather, or even The Family, which I actually think was his best novel. It is the realm of a John Grisham novel; a quick breeze read, straight to the point. Yet, many of Puzo's traits are there. The introspective third person perspective of wronged American Michael Rogan. The underlying mob culture he has infiltrate in order to kill one of his targets. The little details that Puzo loves to sprinkle through his works; like the bit about how a small village imports prostitutes for its festivals to take the virginity of the local young boys so they will not go after the village girls. All of this is trademark of the legend that is Mario Puzo.

Like I said it is clear this book is a beginner novel, just as Puzo was coming into his craft. But there is no denying the underlying workmanship that goes into this writing, as any of his books. The fact the book was released at all, is a welcome surprise. It is an equivalent of a old pal coming over to share one more story.

Until next time, fly high and fly well.

Why I refuse to see Transformers 3

While Transformers made near a 100 million at the box office this weekend, I outright skipped it, and went to see Larry Crowne instead. Their are several reasons why I am not really going to see this movie. I might happen to watch it on pay cable 5 years later but that's about it.

Reasons include

1.Recasting of Megan Fox. I hate recasting. With a passion. It is jarring and god forbid the other person does better, all you can think why they didn't hire them in the first place. Get the actors into multi film contracts or get someone who will. Not to mention her character arc with Shia Labeouf was one of the few things that worked in that movie. They had good chemistry and furthermore, it worked for the movie. I know that is not realistic in a sense; usually a relationship presented in that flick fizzles out within a year but hey movies are about escapism and if I can't believe that the Megan Fox's and Kristen Stewart's of the world won't go for the slightly geeky intellectual like myself, then what do I left to have faith in huh?

2. Too damn long. 2 and half hours. Every time. Trim the fat damnit.

3. Stupid comedy. Not much to say. Michael Bay you suck at comedy.

4. Action for action sake. The climax during The Killer? Has resonance. A hour of robots blowing up Chicago with countless faceless dead in the process? Not so much.

A few of the reasons, can't think of too many, it's late and all. Like I said before, Michael Bay you are not getting my money. Pull back and be a little more restrained, like The Island. I liked that movie.

Until next time, fly high and fly well.

Sleep or lack thereof

Decided to be a responsible adult and go to bed early at 11. The result was half sleep at best. This is how it goes for me. I screw up my sleep cycle so much that when it comes time for me to actually sleep I can't do it. As it were, I decided to be up early anyway today to get some stuff done. So when my set alarm went off at five I stayed on schedule and conceded defeat at the same time. What is probably going to happen is I will crash out sometime mid afternoon after in which I will actually sleep.

Ah life, oh how it is grand.

Until next time, fly high and fly well.

My 24th Birthday and back to blogging.

Hello again all seven of my fans!

I have been away for a while for a multitude of reasons but now I am back with a vengenace! Or at least for two weeks before I disappear again.

Yesterday was my 24th birthday and god did I feel old. Thankfully, I don't look it. Still young at heart in a sense. It was a sobering b-day to be sure though; just the idea of time slipping away overall. Within a few years, society will expect me to have a family of my own, have kids and that scares the hell out of me. Hell plenty of people I know already are married and have kids if not on the road to it within the next few months.

I mean that is what I want eventually but the thought of that now, or even in the next two years or so terrifies me. There is still so much I want/need to do and the ideals of responsibilities continue to conflict with that.

Not much to tell on the job front. Still struggling. Stuff that does come up, something is always wrong. They're only taking applications online. Somebody already got the job. They don't call back. That person I heard about the job from was wrong; they are not hiring. And it is hard to get excited about things like "filling up fire extinguishers" as one potential job offer was about. Why the hell did I go to college if this is all the world can offer me?

Sorry, little bit of a rant. But still I stand by it. I'm not the only one too. My pals are going through the same deal (well most of them). One is even faced with the last option prospect of the National Guard. Hope it doesn't come to that for me.

Who knows what the next months will bring. Hopefully, all of it will be good.

Until next time fly high and fly well.