Tag Archives: family

Morning Pages entry July 20, 2014

Leave a reply

Time to make a decision about what to do with these journal pages, in terms of using them on the blog. It would be nice to have some content on there, and see what kind of traffic it attracts. And leveraging content you’ve already setup would make perfect sense. But, there is a lot of rambling that goes on with these pages as well, and I’m not sure of what kind of value they offer to the casual visitor. I would like it, if they drew in some traffic, which could be funneled to my books on amazon, and then result in purchases of those books, but I’m not sure how connected those two ideas really are. That’s part of the problem, I think here. Another problem going on here, is not just the rambling of these pages, but the indecision of where to go with things sometimes. When I’m not writing much, like I haven’t been during the last week of the families visit, then I feel like I don’t have as much to share in these pages. Like I’m missing a part of my life that has things going on it it. Writing as much of a struggle as it is, is still a big part of who I am. And even if I don’t get as much writing in as I would like to, then I think, that writing about the struggle of getting words down on the page is as much a part of the process as anything. And, I must admit, that it is still a struggle for me to get things on the page for the novel. These words, this morning are not as difficult, but again, I’ve talked about this several different times, and they are just a different mindset. They mean something different, as they’re not really designed for public consumption. I would very much like to have the ease of writing the novel, the way I it’s so easy to write these pages. I think, that I am moving in that direction, and that I will eventually get there, but it will take a little more time and effort. To be able to just sit, in a relaxed manner and know what I want to write, and who I want to write about, and how those characters feel about the different situtaions as they evolve is the ultimate goal. To be able to just sit, and throw yourself into the moment and create a story that flows along with some sort of interest is the end game. Somewhere between a pantser and a plotter. I am still a little unsure as to where the needle lies between those two extremes, but I am learning where that is. Just keep believing and you’ll find it’s resting place. Although, it will probably never stay in the same place indefinitely. Today, Mark, Veronica, and Una head back to Ireland. That’s kind of a bummer, will be a little upsetting for sure, but it’s part of the way back to a regular routine. A regular routine, which is not all that exciting, but one that needs improvement. Improvement, that can only come from becoming a better writer. Which you will get to, if you keep showing up, and putting your butt down and writing writing writing. Steve, Patty & Tristan are leaving tomorrow, which will be a bit of a bummer as well. Gonna miss having those guys around. It’s been a great week of visiting everyone, and even though it’s been distubtive to my regular writing routine, it’s been a lot of fun. Even though, the weather at the boat wasn’t the best we’ve ever had, it was very nice having them there with us during it all. We did get to go out for a bit of a sail, and that was cool. We got to meet Helens new friend Richard and his mother. Got to see the tall ships, and all the people that came and visited them. It was a good week that’s for sure. I will miss having everyone around, and the excitement of seeing them every day. I really need to be more successful with the writing, so that we can do this more often. There’s no reason, why you can’t go to Ireland, the UAE, Columbia, and Edmonton every year for a visit, when you start being more successful with your writing career. Once you get good at this, and the money starts coming in, that is going to definitely become the next big priority. Take the feelings your going to have when everyone leaves, and use those, to really start putting your work out there. On all your platforms. The books, and the blog.

TIGERBLOOD: sure DAILYMOOD: good LOCATION: living room WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: none TODO: say goodbyes, read, write TV: none BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: avacado, almonds, olives, chicken DINNER: ribs, green beans SNACKS: orange, apple, grapes ALCOHOL: mojito BEDTIME: 11:00 AWAKE: 7:30

 

Morning Pages Entry – July 13, 2014

Leave a reply

Well, nearly submerged the dinghy last night. It was already leaking on the one side, and I had the cork in on the bailer, and it rained a shitload last night, and I woke up this morning with a very lopsided dinghy. The added weight of having the engine on it certainly didn’t help. Even my air pump, which I left in the dinghy was full of water … pumping it made it blow steam like a whale out of it’s porthole. So, once I got the water out of the airpump, and pumped up the side of the dinghy that needed air, then I was able to bail it out properly. I started bailing it first, but part of the transom was actually totally under water, and it was coming in as fast as I could bail it out. So, that was sort of a wasted effort. But, once the one side was afloat again, the transom came up, and I was able to bail without water continuing to pour into the dinghy. So, it’s sort of a yucky day here, but we’ll find stuff to do I’m sure. There is the finals of the world cup going on at today, and I’m sure a bunch of people will want to go and watch it on the big TVs over at Boston Pizza.  So, we’re a little late getting this morning journal out, but here at least it is. The books seem to be doing ok still. They’re continuing to get a bit of traction, and the second book in the series is getting sales. There are no bad reviews so far, which I suppose is a good thing. We’ll see how that goes. There’s just the one good review so far for the first book “Endings”. A few good reviews for the paid book “Revealed” wouldn’t be a bad idea, and I still don’t have any signups for my mailing list, but I’m remaining hopeful. If I start to get enough people pushed through the first book, once I start promoting (advertising on FB I think) then it should get good. I just need to get that third novel out, and really start to crank up the pace of writing. But things, seem to be going pretty ok so far. It’s good. Kind of what I had expected. Once I really start pushing things it will get interesting. Yesterday was actually pretty fun with the dinghy on the water. Took a few people out for a ride including Tristan and Una. Una really got a kick out of it I think. Not sure that Tristan was as thrilled about the whole thing, but I think he sort of enjoyed it. Not sure how much we’ll do it today with the dinghy ,but we’ll see. The tall ships were here, but the one boat that was really cool, was the 42 foot Formosa that Jake has for sale, that he brought over. What a piece of art. I’ve never been that close to so much beautiful wood work in my life … and on a boat. It was really incredible. I couldn’t see all the way inside, when I paddle boarded over, but what I could see, was pretty spectacular. The head door was totally engraved wood, with a sailboat in the top half, and some other ornate carvings in the bottom half. It would be pretty cool, to have a look at the inside. Perhaps we’ll walk over and see if we can get a peek inside. That would be pretty cool. Maybe, the kids would get a kick at looking inside the tall ships today. I think Tristan most certainly would. Probably Una as well. We’ll have to see what they want to do. It would be nice to get to some more writing on the novels today, or any day, but I’m way out of routine it seems to get that sort of thing. And drinking beer in the evenings certainly doesn’t help with the whole thing. Anyways, lets get on with the day, and have some fun with the family.

TIGERBLOOD: yep DAILYMOOD: fun LOCATION: bayfield boat WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: none TODO: soccer game, hang out, patch dinghy TV: none BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: paddle board WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: none DINNER: chicken, veggies, salad SNACKS: orange, grapes, mixed nuts ALCOHOL: 4 beers BEDTIME: 12:30 AWAKE: 4:30 & 9:00

 

Morning Pages Entry – July 11, 2014

Leave a reply

So, today, we’ll be heading up to Bayfield with the entire gang in tow. The Ottawa crew (ray, joyce, jackie, james) aren’t coming. Their going to see a musical in Stratford today, visit some of jackies relatives, then head back home. Which is sort of too bad. It would be nice to see them for a few days. It is a bunch of work to have that many people around, but it’s also so great to see them all. Their such a terrific group of people, and I hate to see them go. But, we do have Mark and Steves familys around, which should be a lot of fun for the next few days as well. I do need to get the van back from the garage (Craigs) to get up to bayfield today. Which, includes, getting the dinghy and outboard up there. I had hoped to get that stuff up there before everyone showed up, but the gas line leak in the van sort of put a stop to that. Anyway, it was interesting talking with everyone yesterday, and it was good to hear Joyce talking about how they had radically changed their diets, and moved more to a paleo diet, with the guidance of a natreopath. Joyce’s motivation for all of this, was to get herself back on the tennis court, and it seems to have done that for them. I gave her the whole30 book “It Starts With Food” to take home and read, which she seemed pretty interested in. Apparently, Tim is quite interested in it for the family as well. He seems to be the one in charge of a lot of the cooking for him and Sue, and obviously the next baby of theirs that is as I write this, within 2 weeks of arriving. So, it will be interesting to see what their take is on it. It will be interesting to see how much of it they adapt to, or how much of it they even try. It would be good for everyone to try the whole30 thing, and see how they feel. It would be good for Ray and Joyce I think to try the whole30, and see how they feel after it is done. I would bet, it’s pretty good. I do really hope they give it a try. So, today again seems like one of those days, where I’m not overally focused on what I’m writing. I’m not sure why that is, I’m just rally disdtracted by a bunch of things. I had a long talk with Tim (Allard) yesterday, as he called, knowing that everyone was here. We talked at length about writing fiction. Or at least I talked a lot about it. I think it’s something he would be really good at. He’s a pretty funny, verbose sort of guy, that’s great at telling stories. He’s a natural story teller I think, and I feel he would gravitate to this sort of thing naturally. He’s a little unsure about his ability to write fiction, and I talked to him about how you don’t to have to be the greatest poet on the planet to write a story these days. There’s plenty of opportunity even now, for rookie writers or writers with next to no experience to break into the field even with a not so great story. The whole Amazon/Kindle revolution, is allowing people willing to spend some time, and build up a fan base of even 100 readers on their mailing list, then there’s no reason why you can’t start marketing your books to a dedicated bunch of paying readers, and have them help push you through sites like Amazon or iTunes. My first books current downloads per day is jumping around all over the place. It was going down for a while, then it spiked up one day, and now it seems to be going down again, but it’s still I think, over 30 per day. I suspect, that it will drop off when it gets more then 30 days old on Amazon. But, hopefully, I’ll have the third book out there, and working through the 4th. And then, I can start promoting the free one with FaceBook ads, and see what happens. I can just start it at $5 per day and let it run. That should be interesting as well. I really would like to get more reader reviews on the book. I just have the one so far. Maybe, I’ll let Tim know that it’s out there for a look. Perhaps, I should let my entire FaceBook group of family and friends know about it, and get them all to download it, and maybe leave my a review on Amazon. That would likely be a much needed boost. I think, I’d like to try the advertising thing first, but we’ll see.

TIGERBLOOD: yea sure DAILYMOOD: great LOCATION: home living room WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: none TODO: get van, go to bayfield, TV: none BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: chicken, cold cuts, avacado, almonds, olives DINNER: hamburger, sweet potato SNACKS: orange, grapes, cherries, melons ALCOHOL: 4 glasses wine, a little crown royal BEDTIME: 12:00 AWAKE: 7:00

 

Morning Pages Entry – July 10, 2014

Leave a reply

Well, yesterday was a bunch of fun. We had quite a big crew over yesterday here at the house, and it was quite a blast. Too mad David can’t be here, which reminds me, I do need to send him a message, and see when we can skype him in. I’ll do that, as soon as I’m done with this. While, I don’t normally talk about my writing much with others, I’m still pretty hesitant about, but Mark whom I asked to do some editing for me, brought it up yesterday, and we inevitably had a more public conversation over it. It was just Mark and Steve and I. Not the whole group. Which is ok. I’m still not ready to have a conversation with just anyone, or talk with just anyone about being a writer, but I found yesterday, that I did have a bunch to say on the topic. It is a niche, that I’m sort of passionate about obviously, and I do have a bit of insight to share on the topic. It’s one of those conversations, where I do actually have a lot to say on the topic, and it would really be nice to have someone I can talk to about stuff.  Not, that I need anyone to cheerlead me over the subject, but sometimes, you need someone who can give honest unbiased feedback, that can help you point out areas of weakness in a constructive format. It’s what a newbie writer really needs. So the other concern to have here, is how much writing will you really be able to get done while everyone is around. I would like to be getting up at 6, and getting at least a thousand words done, but I’m not sure my head is in a space that will let that happen. It would be good though, if you at least came up with a few writing points for the next bunch of scenes. I hesitate, to use the term MRUs (motivational reaction units), but that is sort of what I mean by writing points. I’m concerned a little now about how much structure your wrapping yourself up in when writing stories. Although, I’m not totally sure about that. It’s hard to know, if it’s too much structure that’s getting the better of me, or just that I haven’t got used to the structure I’m trying to learn. It works well for a lot of people, and I really haven’t practiced it all that much. So, there’s a very real chance, that it has more to do with a lack of practice on the topic then anything else. So don’t go too crazy with it maybe, but don’t totally throw it out either. I think sometimes, I need to write things that are totally MRUs, and perhaps that’s the way to go. Allow yourself to stray a bit from them, but always try to come back to them, and make sure you’ve fufilled them. So, let’s do try and come up with some good ideas, before all the socializing gets going again today. I still, didn’t get all the leaks out of the dinghy, but that’s alright. I think it’s doable the way it is now. We just have to keep pumping it up every once in a while. Looks like, it’s going to be a pretty nice day again today, which is sort of cool. It’s nice to be able to have everyone outside on the patio for a little socializing. Although, it did get a bit cool out there last night. It’s really nice having everyone around for the next few days, and I know, that it’s going to be sad to see them go, but it’s all about living in the moment, and enjoying everyone. The two little ones Una and Tristan, are especially nice to have around. There calmer then I expected them to be, that’s for sure. Anytime we’ve seen Una on skype over the last few years, she’s always been so exciteable, I was expecting her to be more crazy, but she’s really not. They do get along pretty well I would say, and they’re pretty calm with each other. Tristan, certainly enjoys playing with all the old toys we have around here. That one mountain/railroard/game was a big hit with him. I had no idea that we still had that game, but it was out there in the garage. It was almost sold at one point, but he certainly had a good time with it. I think the best toy for Una is Sam and Jen. They certainly enjoyed themselves.

TIGERBLOOD: sure DAILYMOOD: partying LOCATION: home living room WORDSWRITTEN: 1200 PUSHUPS: 2:15 plank TODO: message Dave, some writing ideas, visit TV: none BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: almonds, avacado, olives, DINNER: roast pork, veggie salad, brussel sprouts, SNACKS: orange, grapes ALCOHOL: wine … lots of wine, 2 beers BEDTIME: 11:30 AWAKE: 7:00

 

Morning Pages Entry – July 09, 2014

Leave a reply

So, the brothers are coming today. Or, at least 2 of them are. Mark and Steve along with their families. I think it’s the first time Una and Tristan meet each other. Ray, Joyce, Jackie, and James are coming as well. I was hoping to have the dinghy and outboard in Bayfield by now, but it appears the van has a fuel leak in it, and it’s booked to go to the garage tomorrow morning before that can happen. Then the battery in it died last night, I think when I was running the air pump off the back to fill up the wagon wheels so Tristan could us the wagon. And it’s making a funny clicking sound when you try to start the van as well. Here’s hoping, it’s nothing too serious, and it’s just the battery. If it’s the starter, I’m not sure how I will get it out of the drive way without a tow. Ahh, here’s to being optimistic. Yesterday, by downloads for the free version of “Endings” my first novel went back up for the first time in 5 days or so, and it looks like someone actually bought a copy of it off of Amazon.com. It’s not showing as free in every country, so that must be why I’m making cash sales off it. Oh yea, and I finally did get a readers review of the book as well. I’m not sure the person actually read the book. It’s a pretty generic review. Makes me think, that the person who wrote it, is just building up some sort of profile on Amazon for other purposes. Like maybe gaming the system in some way and selling the service of reviews later on down the line. At least they gave me a 5 start review, which, I’m sure couldn’t hurt to give the book a bit of a boost. Maybe it will start selling a bit more. Who knows. I still haven’t sold a copy of the second book yet, except for that first one that sold on one of the Draft2Digital platforms. Not even sure which one it sold on, but it did sell for 2.99 so that’s alright. It was kind of a random sale though. Someone probably bought it by accident. So, time to get the third book out there, then perhaps I could start doing a little promotion. Or not. Maybe just get the fourth and fifth ones written. Still need to get my word count up there, if I mean to start making more sales. Any sales? That’s more like it. I like the idea of just writing, and not having to promote stuff. It’s interesting seeing how the first book is starting to get a little traction. More like a trace of traction. And, it is only a free book. Probably, if I can get more of them out there … and at a longer length then thing should get better. Especially, if I could get them consistently over 200 pages. I think, then readers would be more likely to make those kinds of purchases. Then you can set a 2.99 price. That’s where you really need to be at. 200 pages, is likely more around 60 to 70K words, which if you can get your production up, should be doable on the schedule you sent to Emily. I’m sure, she wouldn’t complain about editing 60K or so words instead of 50K Just need to get your word count back up to 5K per day. Haven’t quite gotten there since the week I did it. Not quite sure yet, why I haven’t hit those numbers again. It does seem to be more difficult. It could be because I’m just not so verbose with the writing. My inner critic has more of a voice, and that’s not entirely a bad thing I don’t think. I don’t want to give him too much control. But there’s certainly no reason why you can’t write at a pace that will put you back up into that word count bracket again. It’s just I think a question of getting into the zone, and not worrying so much. Write write write … la la la. Have fun with it. I don have fun with writing these morning journals. They’re not a big deal, and I still do them every day without fail. Just like I’m about to finish this one. I should just launch into my novel, the same way I launch into these. Head first without looking.

TIGERBLOOD: some DAILYMOOD: good (mostly) LOCATION: home office WORDSWRITTEN: 1800 PUSHUPS: 4:00 wall sit TODO: write, jump start van, inflate dinghy TV: broad street bullies documentary, magic johnson & larry bird documentary BOOK: none GAME: Vessel, Dead Space 3 EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: none SNACKS: orange, almond butter, apple ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 12 & 1 AWAKE: 7:00