Alienus Tempus the Memoir Reboot

I have decided (once again) to work on my memoir. It is of the same name as the novel, Alienus Tempus.

That being the case, I will not have the first draft of Alienus Tempus the novel by the end of this year. Most of the groundwork for the memoir has been completed for some time, but for a reason that now eludes me I decided to work on the fictionalized version of my life, which would be the novel.

I guess sometimes I think that what has transpired in my life is so unbelievable that people would simply not believe those things to have happened. Therefor, I thought that a "fictional autobiography" (aka... the novel) would be a better medium. And though I do intend to finish the novel one day, for various reasons I cannot publicly disclose as of yet, I am compelled to work on the memoir once again.

I have no definite time frame, though I hope to have if complete and publishable some time in March 2015.

I will be keeping the facebook page for Alienus Tempus the novel active as I definitely intend to finish in the future.

Soon, I will be creating a facebook page for Alienus Tempus the memior. I plan that page to be more active than the novel page was. There will be several multimedia additions and excerpts to the page.
I will post the link when it is available.

I hope to see some of you there...

Clarion Write-a-Thon

I just joined the the Clarion annual Write-a-Thon. It begins Sunday, June 22 and runs for 6 weeks. It coincides with the actual physical Clarion Writer's Workshop for Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers.

There are about 18 who actually are chosen from an application pool. When I'm published (eventually, I promise) I will be eligible for the actual workshop held at UC San Diego.

Please click on my profile and browse the site to see what it's all about. Then consider donating to the Clarion Writer's Workshop (through my profile) so that future students will be able to attend the workshop in San Diego. The fundraising goals will help those future workshoppers and will allow me to be eligible for certain gifts as well. If I raise $250 I get a critique from a Clarion graduate. I'm setting my goal at $100. If $20 is donated from my profile I can become part of a team of other Write-a-Thonners.

I have recently pledged to finish a first draft of my novel, Alienus Tempus, by the end of this year. If I can make my writing goal of 10,500 words, it'll be a great boost to accomplish that goal.

Hope you check out my profile and at least cheer me on through facebook. Thanks!

Clarion Write-a-Thon profile page: MDK's Profile


Alienus Tempus Facebook page: Alienus Tempus on Facebook

Penn Writers

Not too long ago, I registered and paid for a membership with Pennwriters.org.
This has saved me the same amount on an upcoming writers conference in Pittsburgh, PA in May. I'm also attending a pre-conference seminar the day before the conference begins.

This will be my first writing conference I will have attended. I'm looking forward to it, and plan to have my novel's first draft completed and a query letter and synopsis ready should I get the chance to perform an elevator pitch.  

I'm Writing my Novel in 30 Days

Not too long ago, I bought a Writer's Digest Special Edition, "Write Your Novel In 30 Days". I am reading through the meat of the "how to's" and have officially begun this day. I've had much of the first couple of days already finished - like, 5 years ago.

However, I am going to stick closely with the suggested calendar. I've already got more than 10 key scenes, but most of them are in the Beginning. I need to create more for the Middle and the Ending.

I've been up all night thinking about it, so I've decided This Is THE Day to begin.

I can't Read!!!

I've been having this obsession for about 4-5 months now, that I will lose the ability to read, and I tell myself over and over again (in my head) that I can't read.

I'm a writer; how can I write if I can not read. See the predicament I've made for myself.

I'm also upset that I can't be everywhere at once and am not able to literally see things from another persons eyes. How fracked up am I? I ruminate over this and other existential/philosophical questions. Arrgghhh!!!

I have a two page list of Obsessions somewhere. I'll have to find it and post it.

Depersonalization Disorder doesn't make things any easier.

So let it be Written

Eureka! What wonders it does in the progress of a story to actually sit down with pen and paper and begin toiling away and planning and plotting. I got quite a bit done in planning tonight.

It's high concept near future scifi so I've had to attempt to wrap my brain around the science (still a work in progress), but by-god, I think I've got it!


Now if I can muck my way through this mess after some sleep.

BIAM (Redux)

So, March is coming to an end and April is here. Hopefully, this will be my month; the month that I finally get that novel that's been brewing in my nether realm onto some kind of medium. At least a first draft.

As per an earlier post, I intend to start the Book in a Month plan. I've even posted a greeting on their message board. I didn't do that at the beginning of March, so maybe April is the month.

Uh oh! Another Plan

I've got a plan. What I'd like to do is to set a minimum amount of words to write a day. I know, innovative huh : )

I think 1500 minimum should be manageable. I will also allow myself to divide up the total, such as 500 hundred words each for fiction, writing exercises, prompts, blogging or journaling. That's just an example.

The idea is simply to get words saved in some format or other.

Dissension

I recently traveled to a mountain state for a short term contract in my field. They put me up in a shitty dorm room with communal toilets and shower. The room was horrid and reeked of pipe tobacco smoke. I arrived on a Sunday, and shortly after I arrived for work on Monday began vomiting. I don't know whether it was the "water" in the room's decrepid sink, the smell of pipe tabacco smoke, or simply a 24 hour stomach virus. I left my first day sick and went to a covenient store to buy some bottled water and pepto bismo tablets. While the lady was trying to dispel the static electricity making the plastic bags stick together, I immediately had to place my hand over my mouth. It was not good. I vomited again outside the door to the station, and 3 more times next to my car.

I was supposed to work Monday thru Thursday 10 hour shifts. I was there 2 hours on monday before i had to leave. I offered to just "delete" monday, and start Tuesday thru Friday to make up for Monday. That was agreed upon. I worked two full 10 hour shifts on Tuesday and Thursday, and 1.5 hours on Thursday, before I was called by my company, saying that "I have some unfortunate news, they don't want you there. This is not the appropriate place to talk, so you need to leave "Now" and pack up your things from the dorms".

I drove 20 hours to get there last Friday (Feb 15) and had to leave "immediately" to go back home. Not to mention, I was expecting a full paycheck, because I have checks out to pay for bills, etc.

I turns out that the manager of the institution I was at said there were personality conflicts.
What! She wasn't even there on Tuesday! How the hell could she possibly know? As far as I know, I was getting along well with everyone. Sure, one guy was of the opinion that "liberals" were all bad, and I being liberal on most political and social issues made my case that "we" are not all bad. He's a right-wing conspiracy nut. Good lord, if only he knew. Anyway, we actually had a decent, civil conversation. We even talked about "God". He mentioned how many religions were similar. I concurred and also told him of a bumper sticker I had seen on a website; the one that says: "God is too big to fit inside any one religion" and how I thought it was appropriate.
Well, the manager walked by at the same time. I'm sure she heard it.

The next day is when I got the call from my agency instructing me to leave. See, they had a regular employee that was to start in the middle of March. According to the schedule, she was starting 2 weeks prior to that.

Is it possible that the new employee got there sooner and they wanted to start her ASAP? Why pay an agency contractor if they can make up an excuse for lack of performance, or not learning fast enough, so that they can get out of said contract?

I believe that either that is the case or I am being discriminated upon based on political and religious beliefs.

Now my company may not reimburse me for all the traveling that I've done. I will find out for sure next week when a "review board" meets.

That is just not fair! Now my bank account will have a negative balance because by the time those checks go through I will not have enough in my account. I had to take enough out for the gas home and a hotel room for a night.

I was so enraged and hurt. I'm surprised I even made it home in one piece. I screamed at the top of my lungs while driving, "Why is this happening to me?". I had a funny feeling something like this would happen. It had the eery familiarness as did the Georgia assignment.

I had a dream a couple of months ago while at the Georgia assignment that my account rep called and told me that they could not help me any longer.

It was this account manager (not even the one that was I had been dealing with about the new assignment) that called me and told me I had to get out. He will most likely be the one that will call me with the "boards" decision. I have a feeling that regardless of what I write in my email statement, that this is the way it will go.

You see, VALIS, or something like it is indeed this world's operator, and unfortunately, I am mixed with it somehow. Just like Philip Dick, we were/are thrown in the middle of all this. I just don't know whether we found VALIS or VALIS found us.

I don't know what to do now. I am jobless. My SO freaks out over these issues. She if physically and emotionally and mentally aggressive. If she would give me 6 months to a year to write and publish my first novel, I KNOW that I could make enough to earn a living. Not a great living, but at least enough to help rear my child and continue to do what I know it is that I am supposed to be doing. Writing. At least in part of what I am to do.

Why? Why does it have to be so hard?

To any agents and editors: if you feel VALIS is tugging at you and your are indeed moved to hear what I may have to say; I have several fiction projects in the works. I could have one of them finished very soon. A little interest shown, can move a universe.

Sorry for the Rant.

Awesome Writing Blogs!

There are a couple of blogs I'd like to share. Both offer instruction and advise in writing. The first, Author!Author!, if written by Anne Mini; she's answers questions and reviews comments made to her deep and lengthy posts.

The second is He Wrote, She Wrote: How to Write. It is co-blogged by Jenny Crusie and Bob Mayer. Together, they have written ove 45 novels and co-wrote some, as well. At the beginning of the week, one of the two will post on a writing topic. At the end of the week and ample time for readers to comment, the other will respond to that topic, while considering readers comments and questions.

I've been visiting Anne's blog for about a month now, and just found the other last night. Can't say that I'll be able to visit each as frequently as I'd like, but it's nice to have options.