Anyone attempting to write their first book, and if so, will you publish it anytime soon?

I'm writing my first book e-book..it's hard work

I'm better at reading than writing Best of luck to ya!

Thanks

I am working on writing one.

But I have no idea if I am going to try to get it published or not.

I'm putting together a method book for guitar in my spare time. :)

As a failed novelist, before I murder myself with booze, I think I want to make a collection of my poetry.

That's all I can contribute at this moment to your question.

I've been writing several for years, none are finished. They'll probably never get published because my lazy azz would rather do other things than write.

I know the feeling!

But...I'm determined to finish and publish my e-book, even if it KILLS me

I'm writing my 4th one now! The third one came out about a month ago.

Two of them are also on Amazon Kindle....

Everyone needs a project....!?

Good luck.

WOW Lex...

However do you manage to stay FOCUSED?

You are on your 4th book?....are they based on a "series"?

I just finished my first book and now I am gonna read another!

Focus isn't really a problem since I don't have any.

I just write when the urge arises, really!

Yeah, the books are a series -- I'm planning on seven in the series, and I'm working on two post-series projects as well.

That's very impressive, encouraging and admirable

Sometimes, in the middle of doing something else, I'll get an insight of what I can add to my book, but if I don't jot it down somewhere right then and there, I lose the concept by the time I start writing again

I like your way better. Spontaneous!

I have noticed lately that when I try TOO hard to focus on writing, my book loses interest and it's purpose somewhere along the way!

YOU ARE AN INSPIRATION TO CONTINUE MY QUEST and "get 'er done"!

I've run into the same thing -- if I try to "force" it, it just comes out as the most horriblest crap you've ever read in your life!

I've read commentaries from a number of authors, in which they talk about how they work, and many of them have a strict regimen for their writing -- some write 3 pages a day every day, or 3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon every day, consistently.

I just can't do it that way -- I may write 17 pages one day and not even look at the thing for a week afterwards. It all depends. Some days it just flows, other days it's basically stagnant!

Beginning the Book is the best part for me, not getting lost along the way, holding the reader's interest and ending the story line is my challenge

I imagine that a book-writing "series" is less stressful because you can easily pick up from where you left off.

For me, writing a book with an eye-catching title and an interesting, suspenseful plot or theory that stimulates the imagination of the reader, along with a powerful ending is very tough.

-OR-...maybe I'm just making it that way by striving for perfection?

What I usually do is have a pretty solid idea of everything I'm going to do before I start writing, and then change every last bit of it as I go.



I don't think I'd be able to do a completely linear series, actually.

Mine works this way -- first one is a humorous sci-fi novel, second one is short stories and poems. Some of the short stories tie into the first book, but the two main characters from Book One don't show up at all in Book Two (or Three). One of the supporting characters in One is featured in several of the stories in Two, then takes over Three completely.

Four is more short stories and poems, and the two main characters from One do show up briefly.

The planned sequel to One (which should be either Five or Six, depending) will be about the main characters from One again.

Maybe.

So it isn't really a "series" in the direct, straight-line sense. It's kind of all over the map. But a lot of the underlying stuff, the "alien threat," so to speak, never really goes away.



For me, it has to start with the characters. If people like the characters, they'll stick around to learn more, to see what that person is like, what their lives are like, how they deal with this and that and the tectonic accelerator.

I like writing dialogue, so I do a lot of that. I'm less keen on descriptions of rooms, buildings, places, the Jean Auel school of writing where you spend 37 pages talking about the blades of grass in a valley. Wake me up when THAT chapter is over.



Well, it's a futile pursuit. I look back at my first book, and I realize I would NEVER write it that way now. I think it's good, I think it still holds up, but I'm a different writer than I was in 2005, when I started it.

Those are EXCELLENT points LEX

I'm seeing things differently now after reading your posts!

But, I remember years ago, some of the books I read had a format like this:

MIKE: "Where were you last week, I tried calling you"
JANE: "I was out of town visiting my parents"

Do you write this way?

Does anybody?

I think it's cool

To give you an idea of how I handle this sort of thing, here's a snip from the next book.

A girl named Lyndsey has discovered a new color, which no one else can see. She takes the piece of newspaper with the new color on it to school with her, shows it around, hoping someone else will be able to see it....the newspaper has four colored blotches, spilled paints, on it -- one orange, one gray, one blue, and the new color, which everyone else only sees as white....

**********

Finally, she goes to the art teacher, a rotund, snowmanlike fellow named Mr. Chastain. (He is often drawn, by his students, with a carrot for a nose, and an old stovepipe hat.)

Mr. Chastain looks approvingly at the newspaper, holds it up in front of himself at different angles, making “mmmmmm” noises as he does so.

“Modern art,” he finally says, favoring Lyndsey with a brief grin. “It is made of nothing and everything, yet people tend to pooh-pooh it whenever they see it. Warhol could have told you that, he understood. A Brillo box. It is art, too, because it represents an aesthetic – a failed aesthetic, perhaps, but then a successful aesthetic generally ceases to be any kind of aesthetic at all.”

Lyndsey has no idea what the man is talking about. She suspects that, perhaps, he doesn’t either.

“A successful aesthetic – do you know what that becomes, Lyndsey? A trend, a tradition, a timeless and tedious inertia. It’s why we have two political parties, really. If you think about it. The common man has no stomach for subtlety, let alone choice, in any real sense of the word. The shame – the real and true crying shame – is that no one cares anymore. Art is art is art, no? No. It’s product, it’s a sellout. Self-sellout, really, because art is art is art is money now. Take out some of the extraneous arts, and art is money. Why? Because it represents the people who create it, and those people are all obsessed with money.”

She wants to interrupt him, but she is stumped as to how or when to make the attempt.

“Creativity has been put into a box, and then the box has been nailed shut. And buried. At sea, or maybe in space. Our creativity nowadays is like a gun with no bullets. You can hold it in your hand and threaten people, but it has no bite. There’s no ammo. All that’s left is a hand holding a gun, and a few memories of loud bangs.”

“Mr. Chastain, I wanted to ask you a question about this newspaper.”

“Hmmmmmm? Oh, yes, of course. I notice you have placed some colors onto a few small areas of the page. It strikes me as an indictment of the world at large. News is product no less than art is product. You combine the two, in a minimalist setting – small dots of color intruding on small bits of news. Reductio ad absurdum. At what point does the relevance, the meaning, the clarity, the direction, disappear altogether? Is this an extra credit project? I’ll tell you what, it shows an interesting perspective on art. The contrast, the colored spots on the black and white newsprint, this is a dichotomy. I like it. It’s good. It’s not MOMA good, but it’s good. I’ll give you a B+. How’s that?”

Lyndsey brushes her hair out of her eyes. “That’s great, Mr. Chastain, I could really use the extra credit, but I also wanted to ask you a question about the colors.”

The teacher peers at the paper again, turns it, shifts it, holds it above his head.

“I like the gray the best, to be honest. It has a sort of solid nobility to it. I could see wearing a suit that color, if I wanted to blend in somewhere and not be noticed. It’s a soothing color. The blue is a bit infantile for my tastes, and the orange is a bit too gaudy. I would say tone it down, add some yellow, make it less metallic.”

“And those are the only colors you see?”

Chastain looks again; and, for just a fraction of a second, Lyndsey is convinced that he sees something there, something different and unusual...

But no.

“Newsprint, a few grainy photos, and a bad drawing of the sun up in the corner with the weather forecast. Oh, and there seems to be an empty white spot for some reason. But I don’t see any more colors.”

He offers the newspaper page back to her. She takes it, and sighs. “OK, thanks, Mr. Chastain. I will think about what you said....”

....until I understand it, which will probably take another 4000 years....

**********

I haven't started writing my book, but know exactly what it will be and the characters involved. I have dialogue in my head and all the twists and turns that will take place. I'm still not sure about the ending though. Life always seems to get in the way. I would love it right about now if I would get laid off from my job and devote all my time to writing.

I have poems and short stories that I will probably convert to a small book not looking to have it published. Just something for friends and family to remember about me.

Right now I am reading all 3 of Lex's books to get me geared up for starting. I am currently on Moving Day and plan to read them in order. I have to admit that I wanted to start reading Perfectly Frank first, but will read in the order that they were written.