It’s amazing how quickly forty-five mintes can go by. That’s approximately how much time I have in the morning on the bus ride in. Since I grab the 6:12AM bus out of Niwot, I find it’s quiet and most of the other riders are snoozing or reading. So, I fire up my laptop and crank on my novel.
While I’m writing to accomplish the National Novel Writers Month goal of 50,000 words in 30 days, I’m also trying to put the story down on paper. I’ve discovered that adjusting my process of pre-planning is making a huge difference. Even though I’m adjusting as I go, having a generally sound plan ahead of time makes the writing sessions go by quickly.
I recently wrote a profile bio with humor, but after re-examining the words, I find, yeah, that’s me. Here’s an edited version.
Hi, I’m Shane…
… “Hi Shane!” -the group shouts in unison. Everyone is sitting around in a circle of cold plastic chairs in the basement of the local Odd-Fellows Hall.
I’m a “write-aholic” – I’ve recently admitted this and am now in therapy, (as in, I’m preparing for NaNoWriMo), I’m writing short stories when I can and more importantly, I’m in the middle of writing a full fledged novel, again (Fourth one, actually).
This addiction hasn’t cost me a thing. My family is intact, I am still happily married, have a wonderful son, the job pays the bills and frankly, I live a rather boring life. The ONLY thing my addiction has cost me is sleep and time. It has kept me up at night conjuring up, the worst ways to kill people, dreaming up horrible evil characters, designing character conflict, formulating ways to ratchet up the tension and of course, make the hero likable, which has made me wonder about my own sanity. But, all-in-all, it’s not cost me a job, family or friends, so I’m glad about that.
It all started when I was a young story teller of 9 or 10 fibbing to my mom about giants on the roof, or climbing the tallest tree watching pterodactyls fly over head. I’ve been known by more recent stories as an adult about flying all over the country as a covert operative. The truth is/was of course, there was no giants on the roof, obviously pterodactyls are extinct and I was working as a computer/server technician, not an operative.
Often times I embellish stories that really happened. (My wife says take everything I say and cut it in half, a third or even quarters). I progressed to completely making things up, like the covert operative story, which when I was a road-warrior for a printing company, I would pretend to be someone else, harmless stuff. (This never led to anything nefarious, just made up stories to shut the chatty-cathy up next to me on a plane.)
Since, I’ve been known to tell a tall tale or two I decided to start writing. There was that ten year period where a “baby” was involved, but that’s another story. So now, I write all kinds of things, short stories, whimsical stories, non-fiction (Although I haven’t done as much as I’ve been encouraged) and I am often accused of writing mini-novels in my emails to coworkers. (I’m sure they all groan when they see my name at the top of the header.)
That leads me to my current project. I’m preparing a thriller set in Colorado with all kinds of twists and turns. Characters, evil plot, main plot and step sheets have all been prepared and I officially started on November 1st. As I write this particular blog, I’m about half way through the 50,000 goal, but only about a third through the plot.
… I’m Shane and I AM a write-aholic!
