I Save my Wit for the Post, not the Header

So far I’m happy to report that running this blog has not affected my writing productivity. I’ve only missed one day of writing since I started the blog and considering the things that have been going on in my life (some mentioned here, some not—lousy privacy laws) I think that’s pretty cool. I even seem to be learning some lessons from my previous mistakes. I’m not an outliner AT ALL, but right now I’m working my way toward the midpoint of the book and at the bottom of the page I have six scene ideas that I’ve jotted down to get me to the midpoint where the stakes will be raised nicely. And I went back and redid my opening based on some reader feedback and I’m very happy with it. I wanted to have this draft done by the time the baby arrives, but it doesn’t look like I’ll quite make that deadline. But I think as long as I’m consistent I’ll be able to get it done before Bouchercon. It’ll still have some revision needed, but hopefully nothing like the last couple of books.

I haven’t been reading much because I’ve been focusing on the writing and instead of reading during lunch which is my biggest block of available time, I’ve been taking the bus into downtown Ann Arbor to walk around and enjoy the sun the past few days which has been good for my soul. But there are a couple of things I’m itching to read. I really want to read LAS VEGAS NOIR but it hasn’t been available anywhere around here so I ordered a copy from Aunt Agatha’s bookstore. I also want to read Richard Price’s LUSH LIFE and Anthony Neil Smith’s YELLOW MEDICINE. But money is getting tighter as we prepare for the baby’s arrival so I think it might be time to dust off my library card which I haven’t used in a few years.

Stewie and Me

The dog started barking this morning at 4:49 and I realized I was going to have to make a very difficult decision. I absolutely adore this dog and for the most part he has been a great pet. He’s loving, he’s small, he mostly behaves himself and he’s great with kids. But his barking has been a problem for quite a while. Any time he is locked up he barks and squeals and yowls keeping everyone awake, and with Becky’s nerves and body as fragile as they are these days that’s not fair to her. And it’s not fair to Stewie. I realize that most of the reason he’s barking is because he just wants to play and be around us. That’s my fault more than his because I don’t have the time to walk him and play with him like I need to. And with a baby on the way that’s only going to get worse.

(grrrrr, trying not to cry while I type this)

I’ve always loved dogs and wanted one of my own. I had two when I was younger, but both times my parents ended up giving them away after only a year or so. When we got Stewie I told her she better not ever do that to me because it was so hard on me both of the times before. I told her about how after the last one I watched Cheers while my parents took the dog to the Humane Society and I still get teary eyed every time I hear that damn theme song.

The other thing I hate about this decision is thinking about what will happen to Stewie if he’s not with us. We got him when he was six weeks old so we’re really the only owners he’s ever known. He’s become very attached to the cat (sometimes inappropriately so) and I’m heartbroken to think about him not having that environment. But then I think that maybe he’ll get to be with a family that has more time to truly play with him and enjoy everything he has to offer.

These are the things I’m going to miss the most:

-The way he “smiles” after he’s chewed his rope too hard and his teeth show over his lip
-The way he follows me around the house at my ankles like my best friend in the world
-How excited he gets by one simple little rope and how cute he looks carrying the thing around like a baby

Ah, I can’t so this anymore it’s too hard.

UPDATE: Stewie’s not going anywhere just yet. My beautiful wife scheduled him to be neutered to see if that will help and we’re looking into some other things that might work as well.

The Missus

For a while after we were married, my wife kept her maiden name. It made sense because she already had a nice professional relationship at the bank where she works under her maiden name and I couldn’t care less about it. In fact I thought it made me as something of a progressive man who liked my wife to have her own identity. In the progressive city of Ann Arbor, married women who still use their maiden name I think probably out number the traditional ones. But as my wife’s time at her job draws to a close before her maternity leave, she’s decided to change her name on everything and it’s kind of cool.

The first time I saw my name matched with hers was an email she sent me from her job. In the signature line it listed her name as Rebecca Kilgore-Quertermous. Actually, I take that back. The first time I saw it was when she changed her Facebook name to the hyphenated version. And then this week all of her credit cards and things started rolling in with the new name. For me, seeing the Quertermous name on my wife’s cards and driver’s license is almost as cool as seeing my name in print in a bookstore. I don’t know why this is. Is it my oppressive patriarchal side bubbling to the surface?

Now maybe she can get more Google hits as Rebecca Quertermous because there’s no jazz singer out there with that name already.

Checks and Twits

I had another one of those cool once in a lifetime writing moments last week. I finally received my first check from a publisher for my story in the PRISONER OF MEMORY anthology. I’ve received checks so far for my writing, but they’ve always been drawn on the personal accounts of the editors. This was the first from an actual publisher. Sweet. The other cool thing about this check is that it put me over the amount required to join Mystery Writers of America as an Active Member. I don’t know if I will join, but I like knowing that I have made enough money from my writing to qualify as a member of a professional society.

This all caps a great year writing-wise for me, but of course I still have further goals. Aside from the obvious one of a book deal, I’d like to progress more in my short fiction. I still want to have an original story in an anthology (so far all of my anthology stories have been reprints) and I want to have a story in either Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine or Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. I have a story under consideration for one anthology and I’ve got two short ideas I’m working on that I think are mainstream enough for EQ or AH. This is all of course for after I finish the first draft of the novel I’m working on.

Also over the weekend, I was looking for ways to blog with my cell phone to limit the wasted writing time on the computer and came across a lovely little site called Twitter. This is kind of like a widespread version of the status feature on Facebook which I love so much. So I set up an account and figured out how to update it with my cell phone and promptly set about divulging TMI. I also figured out how to post my Twitter updates to the site here in that lovely little widget on the sidebar over there. So check me out at http://www.twitter.com/bryonq and follow me.

Yipee Kayaaaa

I shut the blog down because I couldn’t get anything going novel-wise. I was frustrated and conflicted and needed to clear my head. It worked. I’m not sitting at well over 100 pages on a new novel and have been able to maintain a pretty good degree of consistency in my daily writing. And that’s where I think not having the blog for a while worked best for me. I got to where I am right now on this book almost exclusively through chunks under 1000 words. There were a lot of 500-600 word days and even quite a few 100-200 word days but I was determined to write every day just to get over the nastiest case of the yips I’ve ever had. So instead of wasting 200 words on the blog, I put them into the book.

But now I’ve hit a nice stride on the book and a couple of people have read small parts of it and given me encouragement at it’s potential so I figured maybe I’d look into blogging again. I missed it. But if I find that my output starts dropping again I have no problem shutting it down for good if that’s what it takes. I don’t think it will come to that though.

So let’s start with a question. I just bought a new iPod nano (because somebody stole my other one from my car in the safest freaking city in the country) and while I love the new screen that can play movies and TV shows and such, but I hate the shape of the unit. It doesn’t fit as well in my hand as the other one did. Anybody else feel this way? What I really want is an iPhone but apparently that’s not practical with a new baby on the way…

Hmmmm…

**dusts off the desk and typewriter while kicking out Dave and John who are drunk in the corner**

**cracks fingers and prepares to type**