Thursday, January 8, 2009

The Thursday of the Rest of My Life...

I know, the title is a reach, as far as puns go...sorry...

Mmmm... spaghetti for suppuh!

Let's see... anything even remotely interesting happen today? Not really. And yet, I write. Perhaps if I start typing, something will come to me.

I fleshed out my Amazon profile tonight for some reason. They have a section where you can list your 5 favorite books, albums and movies. It took me a lot longer than I thought it would to come up with the lists. I'd never really given it much thought before. Here are my lists:

Favorite Books:
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
With the Old Breed by E. B. Sledge
A Storm of Swords by G.R.R. Martin
A Game of Thrones by G.R.R. Martin
A Clash of Kings by G.R.R. Martin

When I give it more thought, I'm sure I'll replace the 4 and 5 slots with other books, since 3 thru 5 are all from the same series, and Storm of Swords is by far (IMHO) the best of the series - yet it wouldn't have been so awesome if the first two books hadn't set it up so well. Granted, it's a terrific series, even though it is fairly loaded with material I wish had been edited out - not exactly family friendly.

I've read so many books over the years, I'm sure I could come up with others for the list. I've read a lot of Stephen King and Tom Clancy, but nothing seems to come to mind as "outstanding" enough to recommend. Have A Nice Day by Mick Foley is a good one if you like professional wrestling. Maybe I'll add that one. Hmm... Maybe My Utmost For His Highest would make it. Do comic strips count? I might include some Calvin and Hobbes books...

I was going to post the music and movie lists as well, but perhaps I should save those for another day when I don't know what to write.

Beyond that, I pretty much coasted through the day today, which is not necessarily a good thing. I'm kind of bored with FATE now, so I'm playing Scrabble and Boggle until I get my new system back, hopefully in the next week or so. Plus, having sent my novel (as it stands) off to Havah yesterday, I was re-reading it, and really, I think it does have potential. The fire is kindling in me again, and so I'm feeling the urge to write. Let's hope it takes hold.

I made the best progress on it back in '03, when I would wake up every morning at 6 am, journal for 15 minutes (much like I do here in this blog) and then write on my novel for 90 minutes. I would do this every morning, and I made terrific progress on it. If I could get into that routine again, I think I'd finish the first draft in a matter of months. But I've trained myself to stay up ridiculously late, and it's hard to undo that.

Might be worth the effort. Even if the book goes nowhere, I'd still like to finish it in my lifetime.

2 comments:

havah said...

Calvin and Hobbes always counts, don't you know!

I wrote a children's book -- sort of -- several years ago, and now I can't find it. How useful is that? I think it was rather good too.

An online friend of mine finally got published in his 40s and now turning 50 has two books under his belt. According to him, it's never too late. Just keep on plugging on.

And I love your book so far, but afraid I'll be reading no more tonight. My eyes are hurting, and I just want to sleep. But first, ye olde blog.

yanni said...

Amen to those books except for the "with the old breed" book... which i haven't read. and thanks for recommending the song of fire and ice books to me. ya i know I'm commenting really late but i just got around to reading you blog so i figured i didn't want to miss out on anything so why not start from the beginning.