FEBRUARY 2007
“CKR” Diary Post No. 18
February 7, 2007
AAAAaaaaaaaaaaa!!
Phew. I feel much better now. Well, not really.
Writing a novel has GOT to be one of the most frustrating, sadistic, soul-sucking things a person could do to themselves. I understand now why Thoreau hid in the woods. If the world and the people in it would just stop and let me write, I might actually finish this fuckin' thing and maybe THEN I wouldn't mind having car trouble and letting my daughter's friends spend the night on a school night because her dad's out of town and desperate. Maybe THEN I wouldn't care that my oldest has moved back into the house, doubling the grocery bill, destroying our spare bedroom, and sending my anxiety level through the roof because he doesn't understand why he can't keep porn in the bathroom or say "Fuck" around his little sister or play his guitar on the patio at 10:00 on a week night.
My car was ready for two days before I heard the news, because whoever took the message never passed it on. It then took me a week to get it, because, although I make myself available for everyone else, no one seems to be able to make time for me. My best friend and my brother and my mother and my mother-in-law and a few other friends and family members continue to call me CONSTANTLY during the week to ask "Whatcha doing?" then proceed to talk about NOTHING!! There's no food in the house (because I haven't had a car), so my daughter hides on the patio and eats ice cream for breakfast. My son, who drudgingly walks to work every day because he can't understand why he has to have a job, "helps" around the house by cooking for himself (using a fork on a Teflon pan, then tossing everything in the sink) and doing his own laundry (half the time without soap--the other day, he washed a king-sized comforter, sheets, pillow cases, and a priceless, handmade throw from Bangladesh ALL TOGETHER with the water level set on "low").
So the progress of CKR is suffering. Again. It seems that every time I start to gain momentum, some outside force jumps in and steals it. It’s a constant barrage of bad timing, bad luck, and circumstances beyond my control (like Robert Sarmast’s search for Atlantis—www.discoveryofatlantis.com—you can have the best plan, the best crew, and the best equipment, but you can’t control the weather or glitches in technology).
Finding (making) time to write is a daily battle. I could list a million reasons to throw in the towel and just give up. It would certainly be a whole helluva lot easier than swimming against the current. But it’s impossible to sell a book that doesn’t exist and—as I’ve said before—it won’t write itself. So I buckle down, hunch over my laptop in my bedroom, and write as much as I can, telling myself that even a paragraph a day is better than nothing at all. It’s just so bloody difficult to concentrate while everything around me demands attention.
All you writers out there, take note: This isn’t a cake walk. It’s hard. It’s VERY hard. Especially if you have a job or a family or a household or all of the above. I’ve been under the impression for a year that Book 2 would be easier than Book 1, but it’s not. I haven’t been interrupted by three hurricanes this time, but the interruptions I DO have are no less disruptive and I’m still forced to overcome one thing after another in order to finish the project I started. But I WILL overcome them. I WILL finish this book. Maybe not as soon as I’d hoped, but it WILL happen. One way or another. All the things happening around me are just a part of life and they’re not going away any time soon.
Maybe I should hide in the woods?
“CKR” Diary Post No. 19
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Since my glass was half empty with that last CKR post, let's see if I can't make it half full with this one:
I'm nearly finished with Chapter 10. By the end of the week, I expect to get through AT LEAST Chapter 11. Not the bullet-speed progress I'd hoped for, but progress, nonetheless. That'll bring me well past the 1/3 mark. The sex scenes are coming up, too, so I get to dig in to some “good” stuff.
So the final draft of Chasing Kid Rock is closer to completion this week than it was last week. That's something to cheer about under the circumstances. Stay tuned for more updates ... Shit! I almost forgot--here's an excerpt from today's chapter (and it's a "special" one, for those of you were wondering if my novels are anything like my blog posts):
CHAPTER CLIP:
Taking a firmer, more purposeful grasp of my hard-on, I thought about what our encounter might have been like if I … hadn't run off sulking …had found the balls to do her. She'd wanted me to. That was obvious. She was practically begging for it in the car. All I had to do was invite her inside and I could have had my way with her. Could have had ANY way with her. My dick twitched at the thought, so I pumped a little faster and tossed the sheet and comforter off to one side. Taking a brief, almost out-of-body glimpse at the masturbation scene unfolding before me, I didn't imagine it too far-fetched that I could hit the armoire with the load I was building up to.
Taking a firmer, more purposeful grasp of my hard-on, I thought about what our encounter might have been like if I … hadn't run off sulking …had found the balls to do her. She'd wanted me to. That was obvious. She was practically begging for it in the car. All I had to do was invite her inside and I could have had my way with her. Could have had ANY way with her. My dick twitched at the thought, so I pumped a little faster and tossed the sheet and comforter off to one side. Taking a brief, almost out-of-body glimpse at the masturbation scene unfolding before me, I didn't imagine it too far-fetched that I could hit the armoire with the load I was building up to.
MARCH 2007
“CKR” Diary Post No. 20
Friday, March 23, 2007
It's been over a month since I posted a Diary entry, but I probably don't have to tell you CKR has once again taken a back seat to other projects. But this time the interruption has been a good thing. Of course, I'm referring to the book that just came out. You know--the book. The one that's available on amazon.com, bn.com (Barnes & Noble), archebooks.com, or through your local bookstore. Ask if you don't know what the hell I'm talking about. Otherwise, I'll assume you know and get back to CKR...
...which hasn't been causing sleepless nights like it used to. But the drive to finish it is ever-present, and I'm working on setting aside a significant portion of April to try and wrap it up. The problem is timing; with my debut novel out there now, promotion has become a priority. In the meantime, I'm "supposed" to be posting 2-3 blog entries a week (my goal, not anyone else's), plus I've agreed to proofread and regularly contribute to CLOSER magazine, a publication that reaches a fair amount of people in South Florida.
With book signings on the horizon, I need to prepare and mail press releases and query letters for articles and interviews; schedule appearance dates; arrange transportation; order materials and supplies, like a card table, an easel, and book-themed pencils and pens; find someone who can design camera-ready artwork for promotional materials, THEN order the promotional materials; outline a presentation; design, print, and distribute flyers for posting prior to appearances; and a shit load of other things I'd have to think too hard to remember at the moment.
So CKR is (again) suffering from lack of attention. I remind myself that neither my publisher nor my agent knows this book exists and, therefore, I have no hard deadline for finishing it. But that's no comfort. It's quite possible, too, that I'll have a second book out later this year, because The Bloody Pens' Anthology is near completion and we've got a verbal okay to publish it. But even that doesn't take the internal pressure off.
This story--Ted's story--needs to be told. The message needs to be out there. I'm optimistically pressing on, but it's hard to be patient when you believe to your core that you're sitting on something good. Really good. Something that entertains NASCAR fans, rock 'n' roll fans, talk radio fans, Democrats, Republicans, and Kid Rock, all at the same time. Something that has the potential to spark an interest in people who don't read to pick up a book. Something that elevates literature to the level of porn. (Or maybe that's the other way around?) Something that might--my fingers are crossed--make married couples think about what it really means to be married and dedicated ... and faithful.
How does one sit comfortably on something like that? Anyone have suggestions?
(to be continued...)
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