Monday, August 11, 2008

After the Weekend Break...

and I have a plan. Successful writers swear by the idea of letting the first draft 'cool down' for a little while. This is difficult for me, since I am so excited about finishing draft 1 of The Cabin and I just want to keep going.

But I will do it and I have faith that the book will be better for the cooling down process. I expect to pick it back up in September.

This leaves the question of what am I going to work on now? Well, the priority is to make some money and provide for my family, so I am dedicating a major chunk of my time to being the guinea pig for our new approach at ChartedCourse. This means that in a few minutes, I will start calling businesses and trying to set up appointments for presentations. I'll be doing this for about twenty to thirty hours this week. Woohoo!

As for writing, I am going to write ten articles for www.helium.com this week, as well as rate enough to get my rating status higher.

I am still waiting on the editors to get back to me about the new direction I want to take for The Mars Betrayal. The loooooooong lag is beginning to get to me; I really hope they haven't just decided to ignore me and see if I go away.

On another note, I just finished David McCullough's John Adams. It was marvelous. Here is the brief review I wrote on my list of finished books that I maintain:

A stunning, magnificently understated portrait of a man who did possibly more than any other single man to create our country and keep it going in times of strife, extreme partisanship and war. Bad-mouthed, singled-out for invective, underappreciated, John Adams was a true American, possibly the very first of his kind. I loved this book. I wept through much of it. I had no idea that my feelings for this country and what it can be and what those first Americans did for us ran so deeply. I'm seriously tearing up as I write this. I love John Adams now, and thus McCullough did what he needed to. Every American desirous of being a good citizen should read this book.

So there you go. Man I loved that book. My next book to read is a no-brainer fiction novel, but then I will read McCullough's book about Teddy Roosevelt. Then hopefully the copy of Truman that I requested from the library will be available.

I'm also supposed to read the Fablehaven books as well as The Known World. Furthermore, I really ought to read something of Brandon Sanderson's, another book by Shannon Hale (which I am told is better than Goose Girl, which was very good but lacking) but I can't remember the title of this book just now, and the list goes on.

As for my garden, it grows. Lots of squash, green beans, tomatoes and apricots. Gonna make some salsa this week.

Again, if any readers of this would like to read The Cabin, just let me know. I need readers... and I need validation. Please.

Gonna be a bestselling writer.

carpe somnium

3 comments:

Jim Bessey said...

Yes, yes, to "would like to read The Cabin"! How do I find it? I'm in!

Jared, how do you find the time?? -grin-

~Jim

Jim Bessey said...

Oops, forget to ckmark "email follow-ups"...

:)

Melinda said...

The book by Shannon Hale is titled Book of a Thousand Days. I think it is her best book.

Probably, like, ever. I mean, so far.