Thursday, August 21, 2014

Finishing Drafts, Doing Edits, and Enjoying Some Trivia

It's done. I finally finished the first draft of Timewatch. It took six weeks versus the thirty days of Camp NaNoWriMo, but it's done. When I finished, the tune that came to mind was I'm Free by The Who. I posted a link to the song from YouTube on my Facebook author and Google+ pages. The final first draft word count came short of 60,000, making it to 59,441.

Now that the first draft is done, Timewatch is better defined as a follow up to Rickshaw, New Mexico rather than a sequel. The writing process was a pantser's nightmare. I didn't know who the bad guy was until the story neared the end. That was good in a way, because it affected how the story unfolded. The second draft will probably be a higher word count than the first, because now I can fill in certain blanks, such as plot holes and descriptions. Now Timewatch gets to sit for a long while, because, there are three books ahead of it.

Speaking of...

I finished my review of The Curse and my ideal reader is now taking a crack at it. She finished her review of the latest draft of Second Chance and now it's in my grubby paws. When I finish editing Second Chance, hopefully the next draft will be the last one, but we all know how "last drafts" work.

And then there's Justice, the working title for my April Camp NaNoWriMo project. I haven't done anything with it since then, but when The Curse and Second Chance are done, it will be next in the editing process. As with Timewatch, Justice needs holes filled in and descriptions added. I have my work cut out for me for the next few months.

Now let's get to some sports trivia.

The 49-77 Texas Rangers are enjoying the beer in the fridge, because they are today's Kings of the Cellar. They are 4-6 in their last ten games, but on a positive note, the Rangers are 2-1 in their last three games. The 50-76 Colorado Rockies trail Texas by a game, but on a positive note (again), the Rockies are 4-2 in their last six games.

Today's honorable mention goes to the 53-74 Arizona Diamondbacks, who are 2-8 in their last ten games, losers of their last five. They are also 5-13 since August 1. With all the winning Texas and Colorado are doing, Arizona could take over the cellar and have the beer all to themselves.

Today in 1953, the St. Louis Browns and Cleveland Indians went to extra innings knotted up at 2-2. In the bottom of the 12th inning, Bill Glynn hit a double and Bobby Avila scored from first base, giving Cleveland the win, 3-2. Something you never see today, WP Dave Hoskins and LP Harry Brecheen pitched a complete game. Each pitcher only struck out two batters, but Dick Kokos of the Browns and Al Rosen of the Indians each hit a homerun.

Today in 1963, an RBI single by Bob Aspromonte was all the Houston Colt .45's needed to beat the Cincinnati Reds 1-0. WP Don Nottebart struck out nine batters, while LP Jim O'Toole struck out six.

Today in 1983, the California Angels and New York Yankees went scoreless into the top of the 9th inning, when Doug DeCinces hit in Daryl Sconiers to take the lead 1-0. In the bottom of the 9th, Ken Griffey hit a single, bringing in Bert Campaneris and Willie Randolph, to give the Yankees the win 2-1. WP Dave Righetti struck out five batters.

Today in 2003, a five run fourth inning was not enough, as the Detroit Tigers continued their losing ways, falling to the Anaheim Angels 10-7. The Angels led 7-6 in the top of the 9th and added three runs to put the game out of reach.

Until next time...Have a great day!!!

Saturday, August 2, 2014

What Has Been Written

At the end of June, I was still debating the idea of writing the story I wanted to (Return To Origin) and writing the story that wants to be written (Timewatch), for CampNaNoWriMo. I ended up doing the latter. Timewatch began as the sequel to my ebook, Rickshaw, New Mexico. However, as the story progressed, things went sideways and if you know me, I embrace the sideways.

So what happened?

First of all, I'm technically a CampNaNoWriMo winner, passing the 50,000 word total. However, the story isn't finished. There are several more chapters to write. Rickshaw, New Mexico was only somewhere around 30,000 words, but that doesn't answer the question.

Rickshaw was told from George Foster's point of view. Timewatch isn't. George is in there and has a key role, but he's more of a supporting character. Laura Taylor and Dean Haskell are the main characters of Timewatch, so can you call that a sequel? I can't. It may be sequel-ish, but it's not THE sequel, at least by my definition. A true sequel of Rickshaw would still have to be told from George's point of view. Timewatch could also be a sequel of my short story, A Flash In Time, which is in The Acts of 1 - A Collection of Short Stories. Haskell makes his first appearance in that story. As I said in my last entry, once Timewatch is almost ready for publication, I will publish A Flash In Time by itself. There's plenty of time to decide on the price.

Thank you for your support and readership. Now let's have some fun.

My, how the mighty have fallen. The 43-66 Texas Rangers are Kings of the Cellar, but the 44-65 Colorado Rockies are only a game behind, with the 45-65 two time defending Kings of the Cellar champion Houston Astros making their run at a threepeat. This week's honorable mention is my beloved 58-52 Atlanta Braves. They are 4-8 in their last 12 games, losing four straight.

On a sad note, Indiana Pacers star, Paul George, suffered a possible season ending leg injury in the US National Team's intrasquad scrimmage. Thoughts and prayers go out to him and hope his injury heals quickly.

Congrats to the NFL Hall of Fame Class of 2014! This is an excellent class.

Speaking of the NFL, now that training camp has begun, so have the prognostications. Most of it's crap, but it's still fun to read and write about.


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