Tag Archives: writing

Wanted: Writer needs writing project

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Today is day three of 2014, and I’ve yet to find the motivation to get back to work on my writing. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling apathetic about sitting down at the computer to pound out a couple of thousand words on a manuscript, or maybe putting off working on edits or rewrites. Have I given up completely on writing?

I hope this is temporary, and that I’ll find my mojo soon. I’m ready to get back to work, or I should say I’m ready to feel excited about wanting to write. I know I need to sit down and write, but the story I’m working on is a dead-end, again. I don’t like the main characters and I hate where the story is heading. I’ve shelved that project for the time being.

Now I’m left without a project to work on, and I’m feeling guilty about it. I’m thinking about resurrecting my first attempt at a novel, which I wrote as my first NaNoWriMo novel back in 2011. Funny how I can’t let 2011 go.

Son of the Father is about a Catholic Bishop who one day finds out he has a grown up son. At least that’s the premise I started with, but that’s not what I wrote. I want to rewrite the whole book so that I am left with what I originally intended. What’s keeping from starting is knowing that most of the original story will have to be sacrificed in order to create that story.

I’m enamored with one particular story arc, and I’m having a hard time letting it go. Bishop Israel Mendoza, prior to becoming a bishop, is a priest in the employ of the Vatican. He meets a woman in need of help, a prostitute who wants out of her situation. In the course of their interactions, they fall in love.

I love the story because it’s so tragic. Love is a wonderful thing, and there’s something about forbidden love that captivates us. I’m just not sure who it ties in to the narrative as a whole. Perhaps the answer is to spin it off and write it as its own book.

I’ll have to give it some thought before I commit myself to it, but it seems to be a good idea. That way I can take it out of my original story without having to lose it completely.

Turning away from the past

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Joe Hinojosa

All my old posts have been successfully mothballed. I created a private blog and moved them so I would still have easy access to them, but no one else would, unless I give them access. I don’t see a reason why I would, but you never know.

Before I continue, Happy New Year! I know it’s a day late, but I worked all day yesterday, and coupled with only four hours of sleep, it made me a very tired and grumpy person. I’m better today, although I didn’t get much sleep. But I’m off today so I’ll get plenty of rest. Probably.

Now to the reason I’m writing today. I was asked on my Facebook page why I made all my old posts private. I didn’t have an answer then, but I do now. I want to take some time to address it one last time. I created this blog as a way to deal with a very painful chapter in my life. My marriage fell apart, I got a divorce, got into a new relationship, and then that relationship fell apart. Emotionally, I was a falling apart.

Psychologically, I feel that I wasn’t well. I was depressed, angry, and hating myself and life in general. I left a horrible job but ended up unemployed for a year. In a matter of about two years, I lost everything I had in my life, everything I had worked so hard to gain. Through it all, this blog helped keep me sane. So from 2011 through today, almost three years I’ve recorded my life on this site, my pain accessible to anyone who cared to visit it, not that I had many visitors.

For the past few months, a thought has been growing in my mind that I needed to prune the bad from the good, and that maybe the time had come to focus this blog solely on my writing. I came to the conclusion that the new year would be the time to do so.

This year, I’m moving forward with my life by leaving all my baggage behind. My intention was to leave everything I had ever published accessible forever, but now I decided otherwise. Moving on has come to mean leaving the pain behind. I’m not repressing it, I’m not burying it, but I am wrapping up that part of my life. I don’t want to look back on it any more. I want to focus my attention on what’s ahead.

As such, I’m dedicating this blog to reading and writing. I’ll continue to do my book reviews as long as people are willing to let me do them. I still plan to post on a regular basis, I haven’t decided what that schedule will be. The only decision I’ve made regarding that is I will no longer publish three times a week. At least for the foreseeable future.

We look at the new year as a time of renewal, a time of new beginnings, so I’m taking advantage of this belief. I’m saying goodbye to the painful memories and embracing the possibilities that await me in the future. I’ve carried 2011 with me for far too long. I’m ready to live in the present and I’m determined to make 2014 the best year of my life to date.

 

Book Review: The Last Death of Tev Chrisini

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This is the second book review in what I hope to be a monthly series. This month I am reviewing the debut novel, The Last Death of Tev Chrisini by Jennifer Bresnick. Jennifer is a fellow blogger here on WordPress, one that I follow and find illuminating as well as entertaining. If you have a chance, please check out her blog, after you finish reading my review, of course.

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The Last Death of Tev Chrisini © 2012 Jennifer Bresnick

The Last Death of Tev Chrisini by Jennifer Bresnick tells the story of a soldier caught in the middle of a war that has been waged for almost seven hundred years. Centuries have passed since the last face to face negotiations between the warring factions when word comes of a two-week ceasefire to allow delegations to meet for the first time.

News comes before a humiliating defeat is suffered by Tev’s forces. He survives, and after the ceasefire takes affect, his commander, Lord Ausring is invited by the opposing leader, Duke Polormi, to a banquet. Ausring, who is not in a position to decline, attends, bringing Tev and a few other men of importance.

It is through this contact that Tev finds himself marching with the enemy, escorting them through his territory, to attend the negotiations. This ultimately brings our hero to discover the truth of who he is, and why, after over 500 years, and countless deaths on the battlefield, he is still alive. The ceasefire is the motivation for him to fulfill a destiny long since hidden from him, and forgotten in the ravages of a seemingly perpetual war.

While The Last Death of Tev Chrisini deals with war and the complicated politics between sides, and even among family members, at its heart it is very much a story about one man’s journey of self-discovery. The events that were triggered before the first battle of the novel set in motion a course of events that propel Tev, and by extension us the reader, forward.

As is the case in most heroic journeys, Tev has the choice to refuse or back out. He could have chosen to deny is heritage and his destiny, but like a true hero he is compelled to do what is required of him, in spite of the cost.

Overall, I found the novel to be compelling and well written, and as a winner of Shelf Unbound Magazine’s Best Indie Book Award it should be. My only issue, and not that it’s a bad one, is that it’s easy to lose track of the number of characters, locations, and races in the story. Happily, she remedied that particular (non)problem with the inclusion of Glossary of Names to help us the reader keep track. Overall, I recommend that you give Last Death a chance.

You can find her book on Amazon and Smashwords.

Currently, Jennifer is working on a prequel, which if this novel is any indication, will be just as enjoyable to read. I can only hope that Last Death will only be the first of a series of novels set in this universe, and a launching point for a long writing career.

List of Book Reviews
July’s review – Winter Howl
May’s Review- The Bridge

The Last Death of Tev Chrisini © 2012 Jennifer Bresnick
© 2013 Joe Hinojosa

Rewrite update: I’m still rewriting

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DSC05316 (Photo credit: Fenix_21)

I haven’t written about my work in progress in some time now. The good news is that I’m still plugging away at it. The bad is that I’m still plugging away at it. Shouldn’t I be done with it? The only answer I have is that I’ll be done when I’m done with it.

Right now, I have about 87K words but that will likely increase quite a bit. I’m thinking I’ll end up somewhere in the neighborhood of 100k, give or take a few thousand. I think that’s a good round number to shoot for, don’t you?

Okay, I’ve answered where I am in the writing process, but I haven’t told you what I’m writing. I’m rewriting my NaNo from 2012, trying to expand upon what I wrote back in November, hoping that I am closer to a cohesive narrative. I’ve written out several plot points that have no bearing in the story. I thought they would, but as my first draft took shape they became unimportant, taking up valuable space that could be used to better define the story I am trying to tell.

It’s kinda like a jigsaw puzzle at the moment, but one where I’m throwing pieces out and trying to find room for new pieces, wanting to see how it changes the picture as a whole. I’m pruning and adding, tweaking words here, changing ideas all around, trying to find a better way to say what I’m saying. You know what I’m saying?

It’s hard since I never took a class on book writing. I’ve been writing for almost a year and half and I’ve yet to get to a place where I’m comfortable with my work. But I’m content in the process of creating and writing. I’m pleased with how my rewrites are going. Part of it is that I’m still learning what I’m doing and how to do it. I’m cool with that.

I keep hoping to reach some sort of magically place where I can look at what I’ve written and say “It’s perfect!” But not yet. I know I’m being unreasonable. I understand that I can find myself in a vicious cycle of writing and rewriting and rewriting some more, round and round, chasing perfection as a dog chases its tail, never to catch it. I know at some point I will have to step back and accept that I have done the best that I can and that I will have to let it go.

That’s why I have a few people read for me. I need that input and it’s a valuable resource for me to have. My readers can ask me questions, point me in a direction I need to explore, and help me whip my work into shape. My first drafts have all been read and the one I’m revising is the best one which needs the least amount of work, so that’s why I’m working on this one.

Will I publish? I hope so. That’s my ultimate goal. I know I still have work to do, but as long as I keep plugging away at it, one keystroke at a time, I know I’ll be done. Then all I’ll have to do is hope that you all will be interested in what I’ve committed to paper.

The one where I think about doing book reviews

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BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS

BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS (Photo credit: jm3)

Too much to do and so little time? Welcome to the end of the semester! I know I have nothing to complain about, and in contrast to the utter boredom I suffered mere months ago, this is a very welcome change.

I have a few projects staring me in the face, and although it’s crunch time, I’m not sweating it. Not yet at least. My lowest grade at the moment stands at 89.68%. I’m sure I can raise that to a 90. So unless I have a complete meltdown in the next few weeks, I am sure I can make the Dean’s List. I’m not counting on it, though. I still have work to do to make it happen.

In addition to my course load, the too few hours I’m spending at the place of my employment, and my writing, I’m thinking about starting another project. I am considering doing a monthly book review. My plan is to review only self-published novels. The next part is how to choose which books to review.

My goal is twofold. One, I want publicize unknown authors and get their works seen by people who might not otherwise have a chance to come across those works. Secondly, I want to improve my own abilities to critique other literary works, and in the process improve my own ability to write. I know, I know, it’s always about me isn’t it?

I’m still not entirely sure I’m going to do this. I have had many grand ideas that never came to fruition and this may be another one of those failed ideas. We’ll see. I already have a book in mind for my first review and if the tracker on Amazon is to be believed, it just left Hebron, KY. I should have it in a few days. What I don’t know is when I’ll do the review.

I have a few technicalities to work out, as in how I’ll post it. I’ll post it on here on my blog, but probably not on the blog feed. I’ll start a new page solely for book reviews with a link on the menu bar on the top. I’ll have to figure out the how later.

Right now I need to get back to work. I have Grammar class in less than an hour and we will have a quiz. Yay! Ugh….  At least the semester is almost over. I just don’t know if I’ve learned anything there. Oh well, education ho!