JL Brackett - Learning to Write » This is me, learning the professional side of writing.....

Happy Father’s Day!

Family, Publishing, Writing No Responses »

Jun 172013

Some of the family

Hope everyone had a great Father’s Day. I know I did. Of course, mine started a bit early… actually, a LOT early… like the week before. It started Friday, the seventh, to be exact – when I got home from work and found my younger daughter’s car parked in the driveway. A few hours later my wife walked in the door… with our older daughter and granddaughter. My better half had arranged to fly them in from Utah in secret. Later still, my son and his fiancé came by, and THEN my parents showed up from Oklahoma! They had all managed to pull together a fantastic birthday for me without my knowledge.

I remember at one point I was sitting on the couch, just absorbing the fact that so many of my loved ones were sitting around me, talking, joking, laughing… it was almost overwhelming. Then my mom saw me and leaned over. “As you get older, you realize more and more that this is the best gift you can ask for.” Let me tell you, Mom is a very wise woman.

I won’t bore you all with every detail of the next week. Suffice to say, I had a birthday that I will remember for a long, long time.

And then came the Red Adept-a-con. Lynn McNamee, founder and overall head-honcho of Red Adept Publishing, hosted the second annual Red Adept event. I got to meet some folks that, until then, had been nothing more than faceless names and Facebook posts. Let me tell you, these are some pretty amazing people, full of hidden talent – a homesteader, a trained opera singer, a combat veteran, a young woman who entered college at the age of fifteen, some great guitarists, and karaoke singers… these people were incredible. Conversation ranged from nerdy grammar jokes, to the latest political scandals, and I am honored to have been a part of it.

Which brings me to the writing report.

Streets of Payne – Stick a fork in it. It’s done! No more editing. No more proofreading. All that’s left to do is the formatting and cover art, and that is being worked on as I type this.

Chucklers - Of course the completion of SoP means that I’m back on Chucklers, the post-apocalyptic horror that Edward Lorn and I are working on. I’m having a little bit of a problem getting back into my character’s head, but once I find the right voice again, I have little doubt that it will flow for me again like it did when we first began.

Y12 – The promised sequel to Half Past Midnight has been percolating quite a bit lately. In fact, I recently had a bit of an epiphany on some of the plotting elements, and am chomping at the bit to get to work on this one. So Chucklers first, then Y12 immediately after. I think I have my projects lined up for the rest of the year.

That’s it for now. It’s past time for my beauty sleep… by a few decades, but still.

Take care everyone. And oh!! Love you Dad!

So what’s new?

Miscellaneous 2 Responses »

May 292013

Writing – Streets of Payne is in the home stretch. It is off to Red Adept Publishing Services for acceptance of my editing changes (in which case it goes on to the proofreader), or they send it back with another round of suggested changes. Once the editing is complete, the manuscript goes to Streetlight Graphics (where the cover art is already being done) for formatting, after which it will be ready for publishing. It’s close, close, close!

Personal – STID - Trekkies know what I mean immediately. Or is it Trekkers? Sorry, I was once corrected and lectured on the difference between a Trekker and a Trekkie but I honestly don’t recall what it was. At any rate, my better half and I went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness. What’s more, we saw it on a full-sized Imax screen, and in 3D. Best of all, we saw it with some friends I hadn’t seen in a year or more. It was actually a little nostalgic for me, and not just because I got to rekindle the old friendships.

You see, in 1983 I was invited to go see a movie with a group of “old” high school friends. I was twenty-two years old at the time, and the movie was Return of the Jedi. At twenty-two, I was relatively independent, had an apartment, my own car (and it usually started when I needed it to), and was still at the point in my life where I had relatively few responsibilities. The latest Star Wars movie was right up my alley. Unfortunately, one of our group wasn’t quite as care-free as I was at that time. I got a call from a mutual friend that a girl I had gone to school with, but hadn’t seen in several years, had car trouble and didn’t think she was going to be able to make it. He told me that she had been having a particularly rough time in life (don’t ask – it’s not my story to tell) and she needed a ride. I went to get her, and our friendship picked up like we’d never been separated. Three years later, I tricked that same girl into marrying me.

So this group date last week to see a new sci-fi movie was a reminder for me of how my relationship with my wonderful wife got started. And no, the friends this time weren’t old high school friends. Thirty years is a long time to maintain friendships, and there is only one of that original group (besides my wife) that I am still in touch with. Such is life. But they were good friends, and it was a reminder that every once in a while, it’s good to slow down and smell the roses, so to speak.

And speaking of slowing down and smelling the roses, we went to visit my parents over Memorial Day weekend. It was such a great time. We got to kick back, relax, and let the dogs run in the field (my wife calls it “Doggie Heaven”). There really isn’t a whole lot to say about how nice it is up there, so I’ll just leave you with this…

Click on the image to see it closer. AAMOF, if you click on the image a few times, I believe it will REALLY zoom in for you.

Well, that’s it for now. I hope you all had as good a holiday weekend as we did. Until next time, stay safe.

11MAY2013

Publishing, Writing 2 Responses »

May 112013

Yes, I’m still there. Obviously, I haven’t been posting much, but I made the decision to spend less time on the blog, and more time on the actual writing. Still, I owe you all at least a quick rundown of where things stand.

Streets of Payne – As you know, SoP was off to Red Adept Publishing for editing last month. Well, I got the manuscript back about a week later and it needs quite a bit of work. I had forgotten just how much work the editing process really is. I’ve been through the first round, which for me simply consists of going through all the various notes and comments, and accepting or rejecting the proposed changes (and believe me, there was a lot more accepting than rejecting going on.) Now I’m working on some rewrites, building up some characterizations, and shoring up a weak plot point or two. Progress is slow but sure.

Chucklers – Not much to report here. For the most part, Chucklers has been put on hold until I get SoP edits done. My priority is going to be getting my next book out there, and Chucklers is going to be further down the line.

On the personal front, Baby Bird came in for a surprise visit this weekend. You know, Mother’s Day weekend, and all. And it seems she’s acquired a new mouth to feed, albeit a very small mouth. He is a miniature dachshund, and his name is Prince Zuko (of the Fire Nation). And of course, he’s as cute as he can be. It took him a while to get used to Bella and Cricket, and a bit longer for them to get used to him, but the three of them all get along fine now.

What else? Hmmm… well, we saw Iron Man 3 (liked it, but it wasn’t the best of the series). I went to the NRA convention last weekend. It was a good experience, and I’m glad I went, but I think I’ll pass if they come to town again. I don’t care for crowds, and wandering those aisles made me feel more than a little claustrophobic. I think I’ll stick to regular knife and gun shows in the future.

Oh! We also finally broke down and bought the first two seasons of Game of Thrones. It was fantastic! I suppose that’s actually the best word for me, because I am truly a fan.

I suppose that’s about it for now. Back to work for me. As for Zuko, he appears to be ready for a break.

Catching up

Writing No Responses »

Apr 162013

I started this post back on April 9th and I kept getting side tracked. Now, of course, most of what I was going to post is outdated. That’s what I get for procrastinating.

So let me start over again…

Streets of Payne is off to the Red Adept for editing! After a few rewrites, and going through a couple of beta readers, I finally turned it in for the professional hack-n-slash. Then the real work begins. In the meantime, I’ve been working with Glendon Haddix at Streetlight Graphics on the cover art. After my extreme disappointment with my previous cover artist, Glendon has been a pleasure to work with. He’s very professional, communicative, and prompt with his replies. In fact, it’s usually him waiting on me for information, rather than the other way around. He’s already sent me preliminary concept pieces for the new cover, and I think we’re rolling right along. I can’t wait to see what the final artwork is going to look like.

In the meantime, Edward Lorn and I have begun our collaboration novel, Chucklers. This one is starting out to be an incredibly exciting undertaking. Ed and I get the unusual experience of feeding off of each other’s writing, as each of us pens the story from the POV of a different character. He writes a chapter from the perspective of Character 1, then passes the manuscript off to me. I follow with a chapter from Character 2′s perspective, and send it back to him. We have our main plot in mind (insofar as we know where we start, what the main crisis is, what we want our characters to do in a broad sense, and where we want them to end up), but as for how we get from A to Z… well, therein lies the story.

Something I noticed right away is that working with a co-author allows me to avoid the author’s enemy, writer’s block. It keeps the story fresh in my head, especially since I never know for sure how Ed is going to react to what I’ve written. If I have my character decide to take the interstate to get to location XYZ, Ed might decide that it could be fun for his character to get lost and end up fifty miles away when his car breaks down. It’s a subtle thing, but can change the whole dynamic of the story. Another big plus is how quickly the writing goes. With two of us writing various interlocking pieces, we’ve managed to write more than twenty-one thousand words in less than two weeks! At this rate, we should have the first draft done in a few months.

Assuming we actually manage to meet that relatively optimistic goal, that would mean I get to start Y12 (my planned HPM sequel) around July or so. I’ve had several people ask me in various venues when the next HPM book is coming, and I’ve never really been able to say. So here it is. Third quarter of this year will begin my journey back into the world of Half Past Midnight. And if it flows as well as I hope, I should be able to finish the first draft before the end of the year. Much of the story is already laid out in my mind, though there are admittedly some key plot elements that seem to be missing (or maybe they’re already there, and it’s part of my mind that’s missing).

At any rate, that’s the quick update. Now to get back to work.

Stay safe, everyone!

Streets of Payne in the home stretch

Miscellaneous 1 Response »

Mar 252013

Almost done!

It’s been more than three weeks since I’ve posted here. Not quite as bad as I’ve been in the past, but I still owe you all an update. I’ve been working like crazy on Streets of Payne, and I’m happy to report that it’s just about done! Woohoo!

The first draft of the manuscript was completed on March 17, and while I was incredibly relieved to have that huge part of the process behind me, I had a feeling that the ending was too rushed. Nevertheless, I sent it off to my beta readers and took a day to rest. Then I dove back in to begin the first rewrites.

The initial manuscript was a real mess. Not necessarily the story itself, but my writing “style” is to get the ideas down as they come, write the scenes as quickly as possible, and leave notes in the margins for later cleanup. The first rewrite is that later cleanup. Much of it is rewriting areas where I left notations like “This section doesn’t fit the way she accepts XX when XXX happens. – Rewrite!“. Or “Need to remove this reference so that it doesn’t complicate XYZ in the storyline later.” Or “Where is this in timeline with regard to XYZ? Need to time this discovery with 123 to set up the emotional intensity for next scene.”

And as I mentioned, while all that was going on, a couple of great friends also started going over the manuscript and critiquing it as well. These beta readers sort through the manuscript (warts and all) to add their own notes, and see if mine make sense to them. Well, one of my beta readers got the manuscript back to me in just a few days. He assuaged my concerns in a few areas, and confirmed my concerns regarding some others (especially my worry that the ending felt a bit rushed). That gave me what I needed to know for the second rewrite pass.

Well, that second pass is now complete. I’ve addressed my notes, my first beta reader’s notes, done some cleanup on the division of the scenes and basic formatting, fleshed out the climax, and am about to begin another pass. This third pass will be easier, but more time-consuming. It will entail completely re-reading the manuscript (not just jumping from one note to the next) to see if there are any fine plot or character details that may contradict one another after all the rewriting that I’ve already done. After this one, assuming my second beta reader doesn’t find anything too glaring that takes too long to clean up (knock on wood), then a final fourth pass will finish it up before going in for professional editing. That’s when they point out all the things I missed. But that’s what it takes to put out a quality product.

In the meantime, I need to tackle other details as well — things like the dedication, acknowledgements, back cover blurb, synopsis, and author’s notes. I’ve also got to get back to my cover artist. I found last night where I completely missed an email from him. I’ve been so single-minded in the writing of SoP, that I’ve neglected emails and phone calls. I recall speaking to him sometime in the last week, and I was going to call him. Of course, I dropped the ball on that and he sent me a gentle reminder by email (which I also missed). So I need to get back to work with him this afternoon.

And that’s it. SoP is just about to be out of my hands. Then it’s off to the editors and I dive into the next project – the collaboration with Edward Lorn. Chucklers will be a post apocalyptic horror novel, and promises to be quite a ride. I’m looking forward to it… and dreading it at the same time. That one is going to be a completely new experience.

That’s it for now. Stay safe, everyone.

Older Entries

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: