Jamie Todd Rubin

NaNoWriMo Day 24 (50K!)

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:00:55 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 40,000 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 50,206 words

I passed the 50,000 word mark today, which means that I have successfully completed the NaNoWriMo challenge for 2009. It marks the first time that I have ever done this. I also had a record day today, writing 4,808 words in a total of 3 sessions.

For those following along, you might have notice that I missed some days. I did no writing on Saturday or Sunday. This wasn't exactly planned. We had visitors in town, and I planned to write in the mornings, but things got so hectic, and I was tired, and well, I just didn't get around to it. Fortunately, I had built up enough of a lead, that even skipping those two days left me more than 7,000 words ahead of NaNo par.

Yesterday, I got in just over 1,000 words, but I wasn't too happy with what I was writing. I had meant to come back for another session, but I put it off, in part because I wasn't sure what to write next. So I did something I'd done earlier. I wrote out a list of 15 scenes that would describe a key part of the story to which I have been building up so far, what takes place during a year-long space flight to another star. This list somehow galvanized me.

I began to tackle the list today. I wrote 2-1/2 of the 15 scenes and that gave me a total of over 4,800 words in a single day! This is far more than I have written any other day of NaNo and it felt so good. Not only did it push me beyond the 50,000 word mark, but it also renewed my interest in the story just when it was waning a bit. I am now eager to complete these 15 scenes and then list out another 15 and work on those.

Despite having "won" the NaNoWriMo challenge, my own personal challenge is not yet complete. I set out to write a novel, not just 50,000 words. As I estimate, this novel will be around 90,000 words, which means I still have 40,000 words to go. I will press on each day as if I were continuing on with NaNoWriMo. Given my present pace of 2,091 words/day, I should hit 62,700 words by the time NaNoWriMo comes to a close. And I should hit the 90,000 word mark sometime in mid-December. Maybe sooner since the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is about to start and I may have a little more time to squeeze in some extra writing.

For now, I'm taking the rest of the night off and basking in the personal satisfaction of knowing that I completed NaNoWriMo. I know that this doesn't mean much to a lot of people, but it means a lot to me and it feels great!

NaNoWriMo Day 20

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:09:12 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 33,340 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 44,383 words

Day 20 means that we are 2/3rds of the way through the NaNoWriMo challenge! Par is 33,340 words and after adding 2,041 words this morning, I have reached 44,383 words, more than 11,000 words ahead of NaNo par!

I was up early again, at last, not 5 am, but 6 am, and wrote from 6-8 am. It wasn't the easiest of mornings. I finished what I started yesterday and the first 900 words or so went very quickly (I think I wrote the first 900 words of the day in about 35 minutes or so). After that, I wasn't sure what to do next. I started on a section of the story that I'd left off last week, did a little bit of writing on that section, but wasn't quite sure where the scene was going. So I moved onto another scene at the leading edge of the story, and although that scene moved better, I found that I was checking my word count every 5 minutes or so, which is never a good sign.

Nevertheless, I got in my 2,000 words, passed the 44K-word mark, and I now have less than 6,000 words to "win" the challenge: Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, as planned. We've got guests coming into town this weekend, and so I really need to make sure I get the writing done early in the day so that I keep pace. Still, despite being sick most of the week, I still managed a total of nearly 15,000 words since last Friday. I'm very pleased with that.

NaNoWriMo Day 19

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:52:15 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 31,667 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 42,342 words

Big day today for writing! I passed the 40,000 word mark, but even more than that, I had my single best word-count day yet, totaling 3,126 words on the day. Still sick, I slept in again, so my writing was broken up into two sessions. I wrote around 1,800 words at lunch, and another 1,300 words or so this evening. My total now stands at 42,342 words and I have less than 8,000 words to go to "win" the NaNo challenge. It also means that in the next day or so, I'll pass the 45,000 word mark which is about the halfway point for the total expected length of the novel.

Today I focused on two very different scenes. Early in the day, I worked on a short scene that implied a relationship was showing signs of fraying, and foreshadowing dark things to come. But the bulk of the day, was a long scene that described the birth of an unexpected relationship, love where love might not otherwise be found. It is almost a self-contained short story that fits neatly within the story line of the novel itself, and while I know it will need a significant amount of work in the next draft, I'm pretty pleased with what I've done there. And it's not done yet. I think there's probably another thousand words of the story yet to tell and I will get to that tomorrow.

I was worried a bit that, as I near the halfway point of the novel, there wouldn't be much left to tell, but as it turns out, some of the most exciting parts of the story are just beginning to unfold. I am no longer concerned that 90,000 words will be too much. It will be reigning the story in that will be the challenge.

My current pace is 2,228 words/day, more than 10% above my personal goal, and well above NaNoWriMo par. For 19 days in a row, I've averaged more than 2,000 words each day. I've never come close to that before and it feels really good. Today, I find myself more than 10,000 words ahead of NaNo par, which translates into nearly a week ahead of schedule. And based on my current pace, I will hit the 50,000 word mark sometime on November 23, as planned. That's Monday and it's right around the corner. I can hardly believe it!

NaNoWriMo Day 18

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:14:22 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 30,000 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 39,216 words

Once again, wasn't up at 5 am, thanks to this awful cold I've got. But I did go into work today and my plan was to write for an hour at lunch, and an hour after putting Zach to bed this evening. So much for plans (this is why 5-7am is so perfect: nothing interferes). My cold got worse throughout the day and the guilting looks of my coworkers forced me home early. So after getting some rest, I managed to squeeze in today's session between 3-5 pm.

And a pretty good session it was. Despite being sick, I wrote 2,468 words, all one scene, and I think it is the single longest scene I have written thus far. (As a short story writer, I go for the shorter scenes wherever possible, and I enjoy reading books with shorter scenes because they feel to me to speed up the pace of the story.) It was also a fun scene to write. It wasn't quite what I had planned to write today, but I needed to start with something that I knew would get me going and continue to move the story forward in an interesting way. To that extent, I think it worked.

I finally needed to stop, though, despite wanted to push through to the 40,000 word mark. With the cold, I just don't have the energy. Non-writers don't always realize just how much energy two hours of writing takes (mostly mental effort), but imagine trying to go for a 3 mile run when you are under the weather. You might be able to do it, but I doubt your time would be as good as when you are healthy.

When I finished today, my total word count reached 39,216, which means that tomorrow I will pass the 40,000 word mark (and possible see myself to around 42,000 words). That means only 8- or 9,000 words left to win the NaNoWriMo challenge. All of the sudden, 8,000 words does not seem like much when you've got 40,000 under your belt in 18 days. And so, despite not getting up at 5 am this week, I'm pretty happy that I've still managed to get the writing in, and despite a few tough days, I'm still moving forward.

More tomorrow!

NaNoWriMo Day 17

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:57:44 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 28,339 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 36,748 words

Despite being sick today (ran a slight fever last night and this morning) I managed to get 2,037 words done today, and I was pretty happy with the overall direction I'd taken. Today I began to shift where things were going by establishing more of rationale for the novel and the story line and in doing so, I think I've created an even better hook with which to pull in the reader. I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't get more writing done today. I stayed home from work, not wanting to pass along whatever it is I have to my coworkers, and I figured I could write all morning. But I'm sick enough where that simply wasn't possible. So I wrote for almost 2 hours this morning, slept for a while, and then wrote for another 45 minutes this afternoon.

I've got about 3,300 words to go before I hit the 40,000 word mark, and my present pace puts me there sometime Thursday morning, unless I can squeeze any more writing in today. Despite yesterday's low wordage, I'm still well ahead of par (more than 5 days and 8,400 words ahead) and it still looks like I will hit the 50,000 word mark around the 23rd. 45,000 words is my next big personal milestone. That's the halfway point for the overall novel and I'll likely hit that by the end of the weekend.

NaNoWriMo Day 16

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:58:57 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 26,667 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 34,711 words

Not an auspicious start to the second half of NaNo for me. I didn't get up at 5 am, as I'd planned and instead slept until 7 am. While I didn't know it, I was sick, but I'm trying not to use that as an excuse. Part of the problem is that I've written myself into a place that isn't working for me. Nevertheless, I did write from noon to 1 pm today, getting in 1,099 words and bringing my total so far to 34,711, some 8,000 words above par.

My brain worked overtime this afternoon, trying to figure out what was wrong with where I was going in the story. I knew that it was probably a lack of motivation for the action that is taking place, but I wasn't sure how to get it back. I planned to get in some more writing this evening, but instead, I brainstormed, and after a couple of pages of notes, I think I know how to fix everything. It means changing some stuff, particularly the early part of the story. But it adds a whole new element to the story, adds the motivation earlier and more than anything else, has given me a renewed eagerness to plow forward.

So, assuming that I'm feeling good enough (and possibly even if not) I plan on being up first thing tomorrow morning to start reigning in the story, and reshaping it to where I want it to go. Not rewriting, because I can still use most of what I've written, simply adding and reshaping. I'm excited to get started on it. So despite this being the first day that I didn't make the NaNo word count for the day, I hope I will more than make up for it over the next couple of days. Onward! Forward! Here we go!

NaNoWriMo Day 15 (first half complete!)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:31:30 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 25,000 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 33,612 words

This was another tough morning of writing. It started out slowly and I struggled through the scenes, but I knew where they were going better than yesterday and ultimately I think it will turn out good. So despite struggling, I feel pretty good about things. The characters continue to come alive an new facets of them are surprising me from time-to-time. We still have friends in town and I slept in a little late (like last Sunday), but I wrote from 7:30 to 9:30 this morning and managed to knock of 2,062 words during that time.

NaNoWriMo is 30 days long and that means that after 15 days, I have made it halfway through the challenge. Par at this point is 25,000 words. When I finished today, I had 33,612 words. That's 8,612 words ahead of par, and puts me more than 5 days ahead of schedule. I could write nothing for 5 days and still be on track to hit 50,000 words by November 30. Of course, I plan to continue at my present pace, which would put me at 50,000 words on November 23, a week from Monday. It would put me at 67,224 words by November 30 which is 3/4ths of the way done with the entire 90,000 word novel.

Despite some struggles over the last couple of days, I am happy with my overall progress. I know that there are plenty of improvements to be made, continuity issues to fix, characters problems to hash out, but that can all be worked out in the second draft. For now, my goal is to complete the challenge and then the novel, and at the halfway point, things are looking really good

NaNoWriMo Day 14

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:46:55 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 23,338 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 31,518 words

Today started out to be one of those days when it seemed like the words wouldn't come. I knew what scene I wanted to start with, but I couldn't get more than 150 words before I stalled. Rather than panic, I moved to a different scene, which actually moved pretty well, and helped establish a new (and hopefully interesting) dynamic for that part of the story. By the end of the session, though I struggled, I managed to complete 2,078 words.

So I officially passed the 30,000 word mark today, not quite halfway through NaNoWriMo. Despite the struggles, today was a success because we have friends in town (strausmouse and rmstraus) and I was up early anyway to get the writing done before we got started today.

Tomorrow will mark the end of the first half of NaNoWriMo. I'm already more than halfway through the word count. It's possible that I'll be even further ahead tomorrow.

NaNoWriMo Day 13

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:07:17 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 21,667 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 29,472 words

It was a rough night last night (Zach was grumpy) and so for the first time since NaNo started, I didn't get up at 5 am to write this morning. I felt too tired. Of course, later I regretted it. I like my early morning writing, it's quiet, I feel unrushed and I've got nothing else pressing at 5 am. And although I managed to make up the time throughout the day, I decided that if at all possible, I'd keep to my schedule regardless of how tired I felt in the future.

Despite the altered schedule, I think today was a good writing day on a number of counts:

It showed that I was capable of adapting despite an interruption to my schedule. Even though I'm well ahead of schedule, I didn't slack even though I had the opportunity to do so.
I kept up with my personal par, despite being off-kilter today. I managed to write a total of 2,415 words in 2 hour-long session, the first from noon to 1 pm, the second from 5-6 pm.
I am beginning to notice something interesting about the novel itself:

I've often wondered how people do it: how do you write an 80-, 90-, 100-thousand word novel? How do you fill in all of the details, keep the characters and events straight, and even provide enough details on the characters without growing bored with them? Approaching the 30,000 word mark, I think I'm beginning to see how it's done.

First, I've noticed that, at least for me, the characters are really beginning to come to life. They feel real, they have real dreams and ambitions, real problems to deal with. I think of them not as characters that I've created but as people out in the real world. They are interesting and there is plenty to write about them, and plenty more still to learn about them.

Second, it's taken me 13 days to hit 30,000 words. In the past, that would have seemed nearly impossible to me. But looking back on the 13 days, it really wasn't that hard. I had some obstacles to overcome early on, but I continued to write consistently every day, hitting at least 2,000 words (with one exception) and after exceeding that mark. Now that I've got 30,000 words nearly completed, and have a list of crucial scenes for the remainder of the novel, writing another 60,000 words does not seem all that daunting. Knowing that in another 13 days, I'll hit the 60,000 word mark seems very reasonable, and I'm excited about what will happen in the story between now and then.

Lastly, I've learned not to worry too much about the quality of what I am writing at this point. There are days when it seems like crap, and I press on; other days when I surprise myself with how easy it comes and how good it seems. Over all, it'll end up somewhere in the middle, but it's only a first draft. They key is getting it all on paper, and then (and only then) worrying about going back through it and cleaning it up. Even if the final result differs dramatically from the first cut, the first cut--worrying about the story more than the writing--has been crucial for me in getting this far.

Tomorrow will be the two week mark, and I expect to be somewhere around 32,000 words; that 16,000 words a week, which for me is truly remarkable. Sunday is the halfway point and I should be somewhere around 35,000 words, more than 10,000 words ahead of schedule. Today I added to my list of scenes and my character timeline and they now occupy the blank wall in front of my desk. I've got plenty of writing to keep me busy and I really do think I'll hit 90,000 words. What a great feeling that will be!

NaNoWriMo Day 12

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:34:52 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 20,000 words
Personal par: 2,788 words/day
Personal total: 27,025 words

A couple of milestones this morning:

This morning was my most productive yet. I managed to write 2,788 words in just under 2 hours, and I think if I'd started right at 5 am and stopped at 7 am (as opposed to 5:10 am - 6:56 am) I might have been able to hit 3,000 words. Regardless, nearly 2,800 words in two hours is impressive for me. And they were pretty good words, too.
From the NaNoWriMo standpoint, I am now more than halfway to the goal of 50,000 words, even though I'm only a little more than a third of the way through the duration of the challenge. At this rate, there's a small chance I'll hit 30,000 words tomorrow--certainly surpass it Saturday morning at the latest.

I wrote two full scenes this morning, the first of which, at 1,500 words, was a pretty exciting action scene. By the time the first hour of write was complete, I'd finished that scene, which put my initial pace somewhere around 3,000 words in two hours. It wasn't the best scene that I've written (I still think Sunday's scene deserves that credit) but it was a good one, and one that I was particularly satisfied with after the tough going yesterday. There are still some technical issues that need to be worked out in the scene, but otherwise, I'm pretty happy with it. The other scenes were good as well, and I got started on the third scene just before I wrapped up this morning, so I have a good jumping-off point for tomorrow.

Yesterday and today were a world of difference. The writing came much more easily this morning. I started a little sooner after I got up, but I don't know if that makes much of a difference. I'd try to develop an exciting scene and went into the writing with those thoughts in mind. I think that helped a lot.

I realize now that I am working on scenes that will make up the last 2/3rds of the book. I've wrote a few scenes early on that fall into the first third, but I may not get back to completing that section until the last two thirds are completed.

I'm more than 7,000 words ahead of NaNo par; that's over 4 days! If I can keep up my present rate, I'll hit 50,000 words somewhere around November 23, a few days before Thanksgiving. By November 30, I'll be at 67,530 words, and I will complete the 90,000 word first draft by December 10, which happens to be my Dad's birthday.

NaNoWriMo Day 11

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:07:02 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 18,337 words
Personal par: 2,015 words/day
Personal total: 24,269 words

It's official: Far Away Places is the longest single piece of fiction I have ever written. That happened sometime early this morning when I passed through the 23,000 word mark. I finished the morning with 2,015 words for the day, 24,269 total after 11 days. Despite the fact that I made my goal once again, and that I beat my length record, it wasn't a particularly good morning.

When I left off yesterday, I felt as if I was in the midst of an exciting scene, and I continue that scene and two others this morning. But I didn't feel the same kind of excitement or life that I felt yesterday. The expected is taking place, not the unexpected and I 'm afraid that they won't hold a reader's interest. I am trying to convey a sense of wonder in the scenes, but it's just not coming across. I reminded myself that this is first draft and I'll have plenty of time to spruce things up the second time around; the idea here is just to get it down on paper--and I pressed on. But I was still left with a feeling that while I made my goal today, the writing wasn't very good.

Which is why it's good that NaNo is 30 days and not 1 day. There will be a few bad days. I'll just try to learn from them, and press for a better day tomorrow.

NaNoWriMo Day 10

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:12:57 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 16,667 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 22,250 words

One third of the way through the NaNoWriMo challenge. Par is 16,667 words out of 50,000, but after another good session this morning, I stand at 22,250 words. I added 2,302 words this morning, covering about 2-1/3 scenes of the story. Late yesterday, I listed out the important scenes that I imagine account for something like 80% of the overall story and this morning I worked off that list. What a difference it makes! I glance at the list the night before, choose a couple of scenes that I want to tackle the next day, and then roll them around in my head as I fall asleep. This morning, I got started and knew exactly where I wanted to go. At my current pace, I'm on track to produce 66,700 words at the end of 30 days.

I really enjoy the early morning writing. I think 2 hours is the perfect amount of time, and forcing myself to write 2,000 words in that two hours is the perfect pace for me. Despite all of the writing I've done over the years, I don't think I've ever had 10 consecutive days of 2,000+ words. I like the consistency of it. It is comfortable. And it means that I can (potentially) be a lot more productive. When I finish the first draft of the novel, I plan to set it aside for a while, let it sit so I can get some distance from it. But I plan to continue this habit that I am developing. At 2,000 words a day, I can be producing a draft of a short story or short novelette once a week. Of course, there are revisions to account for, but I imagine I could write on the order of 20 stories a year at this pace, which would be unprecedented for me. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have 20 stories in circulation, making rounds at the various magazines.

Listing out the scenes has been key for me. These may not ultimately be the right scenes, but they keep me writing, and that is what is critical for NaNo. At this point, I am nearly 5,600 words ahead of par. That's 3-1/3 days. Having the comfort zone provides a cushion that makes the writing less stressful. I don't feel behind, and certainly, a day or two where things don't work out as well as they have been will not hurt me. But now that I have the list of scenes, I don't foresee the kinds of problems I had toward the end of the first week.

I thought I might hit 23,000 words today and if I had stretched myself, I might have. But I stopped in the midst of an exciting scene, hoping that it would allow me to start up quickly tomorrow. It means that when I hit 23,000 words sometime early tomorrow, Far Away Places will officially be the longest single piece of fiction I've ever written. And each day that record will continue to grow.

If the novel grows to around 90,000 words, as I have planned, then I expect to finish the first draft sometime around December 15. That I'm actually writing more than 2,000 words/day may push the date up a little, but I think it's important to have this secondary target in mind so that when NaNoWriMo concludes on November 30, I don't lose my focus.

Some cool things in my book collection

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:12:18 GMT

Getting the office setup and organized, and purging some books reminded me of some of the cool things I have in my collection. I've picked out a few of these things to highlight below.

I've got nearly 200 Isaac Asimov books, including some rare books and 3 signed books. Among some of the rare books, are four of his five "annotations". Here's a picture of three of those books, Asimov's Annotated Don Juan, Asimov's Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan, and the Annotated Gulliver's Travels. (The fourth one, not pictured, is Familiar Poems, Annotated.) The only one I'm missing is the Asimov's Annotated Paradise Lost. These are all first editions:

I have three books signed by Asimov: a hardcover edition of In Joy Still Felt, an old paperback copy of The Caves of Steel, and this first edition of Murder at the ABA:

I have a number of friends who have had books published and who have been kind enough to sign copies of their books for me. Here are a few of them:

First, there is Michael A. Burstein's (mabfan ) excellent collection of short fiction, I Remember the Future, nestled comfortably between William Burrows's This New Ocean and Italo Calvino's, If On a Winter's Night, A Traveler...

Then there is David B. Coe's first novel, Children of Amarid, between John Clute's Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Michael Collins' Carrying the Fire.

And then there is Edmund Schubert's novel, Dreaming Creek, nestled between Healer's War and an anthology of science fiction from ANALOG. Edmund is the editor of Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show, and he bought and published my first story, "When I Kissed the Learned Astronomer".

I am a huge Barry Malzberg fan and have many of his books, both paperback and hardcovers, first editions when I could get them. Here's what I mean:

I met Barry at Readercon 2008 and he was very kind to me there. He signed two of my favorite books of his, Herovit's World and Beyond Apollo, both first editions:

Robert J. Sawyer (author of the book for which the ABC series FLASH FORWARD is based) was so cool to me at RavenCon in 2007. At the time, his novel Rollback had just come out and when he signed it for me, he signed to me as a "fellow writer":

Children's author, songwriter and performer Barry Louis Polisar was my land lord for 6 years when I lived in Maryland. During that time, he signed one of his many books for me. He is a great guy, a real mensch:

And then there are the magazines. Here is just a sampling, beginning with my complete collection of SCIENCE FICTION AGE, edited by Scott Edelman (scottedelman ) between 1992-2000. To this day, I believe it was the best all-around science fiction magazine ever produced.

The first time I met Scott in person, at Capclave 2007, he was kind enough to sign the premier issue for me. That issue is pictured below, along side the January 1993 issue of the magazine which contains Bill Shunn's (shunn ) story, "Two Paths in the Forest Toulemonde," which I consider to be the best fantasy story that ever appeared in that magazine. Bill was kind enough to sign that issue for me when I met him in person at Balticon 2007.

There's more, like the May 1950 issue of ASTOUNDING, which contains L. Ron Hubbard's original Dianetics essay. Or the August 1945 issue of ASTOUNDING containing A. E. Van Vogt's "World of A". But I'll leave you with the image of my complete 1924 edition of H. G. Well's Outlines of History:

There's more interesting stuff, but I'll save it for another time. And just one note, in case anyone asks: I'm not interested in selling any of it!

NaNoWriMo Day 9

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:40:30 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 15,000 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 19,917 words

Another good morning of writing. I had a list of scenes to work off of and wrote two of those scenes, not quite completing the second. The first scene ran around 800 words, the second 1,200 for a total of 2,061 words today. The scenes that I have written these last two days are part of a continuous thread that runs through the novel. They tell a story themselves, and could in some respect be read independently. But I plan to have them spread out across the novel as interludes along the way. They take place, primarily, in a separate time frame from the rest of the action in the story.

I don't think these scenes were quite as good as a the one I wrote yesterday, but they are certain better than much of what has come before. I like this way of putting together a novel. It's much more like writing novelettes and short stories. I take a slice of a story focusing, on say, one character, write the whole thing, complete with all the scenes needed to tell that characters story, and then move onto the next. In the final produce, I break them apart and interweave them, and I imagine, editing them some for appropriate drama and transition.

I ended up just shy of 20,000 words today. I should it that mark withing the first few sentences tomorrow. The longest piece of fiction I have ever written is 22,000 words and so if I keep to pace, I should break that mark sometime on Wednesday.

I'll need to spend some time tonight listing out some more scenes to write over the next few days, as my supply has just about run dry. But I look forward to doing that. I am feeling pretty good that I have made it this far.

ETA: I checked my records. For NaNoWriMo 2007, I reached the 21,276 word mark on November 27. That I will pass this mark on November 10 is a very good sign I think.

NaNoWriMo Day 8

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:44:06 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 13,336 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 17,856 words

Breakthrough! While I didn't really get a chance to do much of the planning I had written about yesterday, I did scribble down a list of related scenes that I feel need to be part of the story. I decided to proceed by tackling those scenes and of the 6 I scribble down, I wrote two of them this morning.

The first scene was just under a thousand words, and definitely helped to get me warmed up. I felt as if I had direction once again. The second scene ended up as the longest single scene in my story, topping the 1,500 word mark. I also think it is the single best piece of writing I have done in a long time. In a way, the scene is, itself, a self-contained story. But for first draft material, it is well-written and I think has a strong emotional impact. As I wrote the end of the scene, I could feel tears coming to my eyes. After I finished it, I read back through it and was almost breathless. I actually printed out the scene and asked Kelly to read it. She gives me direct, no-nonsense feedback and if she likes it, I can be sure I have something good. If I can write like that consistently, I may end up with something really special.

I think giving myself a reorientation, a sense of direction, really helped today. I got a late start because we were up late with friends last night, and I slept somewhat restlessly. I started off a bit slowly this morning, but time disappeared once I started on that second scene. I had a vague idea of what the resolution would be, but I was surprised by how potent it seemed. And pleased.

All told, I wrote 2,532 words today between 8-10:30 am. It's only 40 words shy of my best session so far. My total after 8 days stands at 17,856 words. I've still got a couple of scenes to write off my list, and if I can maintain the kind of writing and pace I had today, I just might hit 20,000 words tomorrow.

Our office/library is finally completed!

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:59:28 GMT

After a few weeks of unpacking, setting up, cleaning, and purging, our office/library is finally completed. Some pictures follow, with captions underneath.

The north wall of the office

East wall, entry way off office. That's my desk!

South wall/bay window in office

West wall

I love the new office. I purged about 150 books and everything fits on the shelves. I have more to say about the books in the next post.

NaNoWriMo Day 7 (Week 1 complete!)

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:05:18 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 11,667 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 15,324 words

Up at 7 am this morning and I wrote until about 9:30. I was trying to see if I could hit 16,000 words by the end of week 1, but I didn't quite make it. I managed 2,089 words today, but it was the most difficult day yet. Part of the reason, I think, is that which I know what the story is I am trying to tell, I am guessing at the scenes. Having never written a novel before, I am doing what I think one does to write a novel--lots of character development and backstory, but the main story isn't progressing. I simply wasn't well-prepared these last three days. Unlike Day 1-3, I didn't know what I wanted to write before I started. I think that has to change.

So, this weekend, I am going to put in a little extra time outside the normal writing windows, trying to establish what scenes tell the story. Storyboarding, if you will. Once I've got an idea of the scenes that tell the overall story, I can write them in any order I want. Today I wrote 2 completely disjointed scenes. I didn't think the writing was bad. In fact, I thought I had some witty dialog going in one. But they were simply disjointed and I was unprepared when I started. I think I know where to start now, moving forward anyway. Put I'd like to get it on paper, along with my character timeline. It's just how I think and work, and I feel like that will help. Stay tuned.

Today marked the end of Week 1. I wrote for a total of 15,324 words. That's 2,189 words/day, well above my personal goal of 2,000 words/day, and far above the NaNoWriMo par of 1,667 words/day. Based on NaNoWriMo par, I am over 2 days ahead of schedule, which adds some comfort to the writing. If it doesn't come one day, or if circumstances prevent me from writing, I can miss a day or two without getting behind.

I estimate that I've spent about 14.5 hours writing this week. That puts my pace at just over 1,000 words/hour. That means 50 hours to "win" NaNoWriMo, and somewhere between 80-90 hours to complete the first draft of the novel. Week 2 begins tomorrow morning, and I already feel like I have a better idea of what scenes to write and what threads to follow. We'll see how it goes.

NaNoWriMo Day 6

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:26:43 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 10,000 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 13,235 words

Today was the first day that I didn't make my personal goal (although I still exceeded NaNoWriMo par). I finished this morning with 1,839 words, 161 words short of my goal. I suppose I could have prodded on for another 5 minutes and gotten the words, but this was a tough writing morning for me.

For one thing, I felt like I was just writing "scenes" without any sense of where they fit into the story. I spent a part of yesterday putting together an elaborate time-line to help me keep track of people and events (and their relative ages), since there are many characters and the novel spans 153 years or so. The result was pretty impressive (in my mind), but it left me for the second day in a row, not thinking much about what to write the next day, and when that happens, I feel like I have no direction. I've got my brain processing in the background, trying to work out where the story will go tomorrow so I don't run into the same problem.

Still, I felt accomplished today, even if the write came more slowly. For one thing, I've written nearly 2,000 words every day for 6 days in a row now. For the last five of those six days, I've done my writing between 5-7am. I find that I enjoy getting up at 5 am; that I look forward to it when I know I will be spending the first 2 hours of the day writing. When the first draft of the novel is done, I see myself continuing this. At this rate, I can produce a complete short story in about a week. I certain don't have any lack of ideas. And it's the writing that matters; it's the only way you learn to improve.

These first six days have also helped to build my confidence. For 6 days, now, the pattern has been about the same: up at 5am, sit in front of the computer by 5:10 and start writing. Two hours can seem daunting. It's my plan not to move from that spot, even if the writing isn't coming (but fortunately, so far, that hasn't happened). The writing comes slowly at first, and for the first 10-20 minutes, I seem to write only a paragraph or two and I feel like I won't even come close to making my goal. (I definitely felt like that today.) But things pick up, I get into a groove, and before I know it, nearly 2 hours have passed and I've hit my mark.

When I slow down, I find myself thinking it is because I'm not interesting in what is happening. And if I am not interested, why would a reader be interested? In those cases, I try to do something dramatic: change the setting of the scene from, say, a boardroom, the cockpit of a spacecraft. Or write the scene from a different character's perspective; this morning, I started a scene that I thought would be tough (and perhaps boring) from the point of view of the feisty wife of one of the characters. It definitely helped to make it more interesting to write, and it gave me some perspective on where that part of the story is going.

Tomorrow is Saturday, and Day 7. The first week will be done. On weekends I try to do my writing between 7-9 am. I may push it a little longer tomorrow to see if I can't make up the extra words I missed today. As it stands, I am already a full 2 days above NaNoWriMo par--that is, I could not write for 2 days and still be on track--but my goal is higher and I want it to stay there. Hopefully having a better idea of where things are going will help with that. It would be nice to finish off the week with some 16,000 words written.

NaNoWriMo Day 5

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:40:30 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 8,335 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 11,396 words

Please indulge me for a moment as I scream out CONGRATULATIONS to the World Champion New York Yankess! (It's been a long time coming.)

I stayed up to watch the entire game, of course, and the celebrations afterward, and it was well after midnight when I finally got to bed. My mind was full of the Yankees victory and when I woke up this morning just before 5 am, I hadn't really put much thought into what I would be writing today.

I think today was the most difficult day for me so far, in terms of getting stuff on the page. I managed to write 2,165 words, still above my daily goal, but I feel as though I did it primarily through brute force. I'm trying not to worry about it to much at this point. I just keep on writing and I don't really look back, but it's in the back of my mind. When the first draft is done, a lot of work will be required and the second draft may not look much like the first. I surprised myself with brute force. I felt like I wasn't making forward progress, but in just under 2 hours, I hit the 2,000 word mark, and when I finished off at 7 am, I'd moved beyond it.

I did finish Chapter 1 today, which came in around 6,000 words all told. That's a pretty long chapter, but it's broken into 8 parts, which probably average 800 words each. I like short scenes in the novels that I read and I find that it also makes them easier to write. The last part of the chapter had a lot of dialog though, and I felt like there wasn't enough going on (even though the dialog seems important). So I started Chapter 2 with a little more action and a little less dialog. And I also have a better idea now of where chapter 2 is going. I introduced a character from the prologue, and will introduce one or two other characters there. There is a pretty big cast to this story, and I know that not everyone can be my "main" character, but I still haven't decided yet which ones will end up as such. I imagine they, and the story, will decide for me.

I passed a milestone sometime early this morning: 10,000 words. I've got a little more than 20% of the 50,000 word goal completed. It feels pretty good.

NaNoWriMo Day 4

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:48:45 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 6,667 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 9,227 words

Since the novel I am attempting to write is a science fiction novel, and since it is, specifically, a hard science fiction novel, there is a certain amount of technical information that has to be conveyed. It has to be interesting and it has to be somewhat realistic, barring certain assumptions. In the case of my story, these technical details have to do with a technology that allows people to travel to the stars at nearly the speed of light. This is nothing new in science fiction, but I am trying to portray it realistically. That means research, and that means getting it right, to the best of my ability. It also means doing all of this without wordy exposition. I figured today's pace would be slower because it was the first part of the story that I was writing that had to provide some of this technical information. As it turns out, I had my second best day so far, writing 2,444 words in 2 hours, and bringing my 4 day total to 9,227 words, some 2500 words above par. I also passed the 9,000 word mark, which was nice and which virtually ensure my passing of the 10,000 word mark tomorrow. In fact, at this pace, I should hit 15,000 by the end of the week.

Two things helped to make today better than I thought:

I didn't research while writing. The technical research took place before I started my writing session. My research was not exhaustive and there weren't too many calculations. Just some rough back of the envelop stuff. (And using Mathematica's Notebook feature for these notes works really well, as it turns out.). I wanted a general sense of the technical details and challenges. More details and accurate calculations will come later.
In describing the technical problem, I didn't get too detailed. I am trying to follow the spirit of NaNoWriMo which is to write as much as I can, regardless of quality (or in this case, accuracy). In this case, Scrivener, the tool in which I do my writing, helps out immensely. I can keep notes separately, but what really helps is the annotations and ghost notes features. In several places in today's text, there are red annotations that contain phrases like, "look up technical details later," or "expand on this", or "less exposition here eventually. Rather than getting bogged down, I made quick notes in the manuscript and pressed on.

I am still not quite finished with Chapter 1. When all is said and done, I imagine it will be around 5,000 words long. That's a pretty long chapter, I suppose; I really don't know since I've never written a novel before, but assuming that is the average length for a chapter in my book, then I'm looking at somewhere around 18 chapters when the first draft is complete. That sounds about right to me.

I expect to finish Chapter 1 tomorrow. Chapter 1 establishes some key characters, sets up the overarching problem of the story, and provides a direction in which the characters go to solve the problem. There is a little back-story, but not much. I expect to add more in second draft. Chapter 2 will add more characters and start to build on the action and momentum of the story. I am beginning to see a little more clearly where that chapter is heading. I haven't thought much about Chapter 3 yet, but I am really only thinking one chapter ahead at this point, so I think I'm okay.

Incidentally, I also started providing some of the background of the setting of the story (which begins some 200+ years in the future). It is an Earth that has been stricken by global warming, which has changed the geographical landscape, political landscape, and washed away some 3 billion people. Not the brightest future. It's the one area I'm not completely satisfied with yet, and which I will definitely have to come back to and weave that element into how it affects the characters, the problem of the story, and how it helps to shape the solution.

A good morning, over all. I wake up eager to get started writing and I write steadily from about 5:10 - 7:10 am. I feel accomplished when I finish up for the day. Not pressing myself gives me time for my mind to fill up for the next days writing session. I am really enjoying the routine at this point. It feels great.

NaNoWriMo Day 3

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:26:24 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words/day
NaNoWriMo total: 5,000 words
Personal par: 2,000 words/day
Personal total: 6,783 words

I figured that today would be the first tough day of NaNoWriMo for me. That's because I knew well how to introduce the story and that the Prologue (which was written Sunday and Monday) would be almost like a self-contained short story. Today I started Chapter 1 and I was less certain of how it would go. That's because I introduce 4 main characters in the chapter, provide some of their background details and also the purpose as to why they are gathering together. In a short story, this could be done in a few paragraphs, but in a novel, it seems to me, more depth and back-story is required. The tricky part for me is ensuring that the back-story is interesting, adds to the characters, and is relevant to the story as well.

I tackled it by assuming that my chapters would be long chapters, broken up by shorter sub-chapters. In Chapter 1, therefore, there are 5 sub-chapters. Four people are getting together for a meeting. The first four sub-chapters introduce each of the four characters, as they wait for or arrive at the meeting site. It gives some back-story and also illustrates (I hope) how the characters are interrelated. The 5th sub-chapter will describe the meeting itself. This has helped me frame some of the other chapters, too, which will introduce more characters, but also allows me to treat a chapter as a kind of short story (or novelette, or novella, as the case may be), with a specific theme, a beginning, middle, end, and carrying the overarching story forward one step at a time--while hopefully keeping the reader interested in both the story and the characters.

I was up at 5 am, after going to bed earlier than expected last night--after I decided that the Yankees probably would not win the series last night. (They didn't). I got started around 5:10 am. It was slow going at first, I think by 6 am, I had about 800 words, so that I wrote about 1,200 words in the last 70 minutes or so. I wrote sub-chapters 1 and 2, and a few paragraphs of sub-chapter 3. Just after 7 am, I finally checked my word count and found it to be 1,998 words. So I added a few more sentences to give me a good start for tomorrow and finished the day off at 2,503 words, beating my personal goal for the third day in a row. At 6,783 words, I am now 1,783 words above NaNoWriMo par for day 3, which means I could miss a full day of writing and still be on par. I don't plan on missing any days, however. In fact, if I could manage it, I'd love to write more than 2,200 words tomorrow. That would put me at the 9,000 word mark after just 4 days.

Incidentally, today I used my new Bose QuietComfort 15 Noise Canceling headphones while writing. I bought them yesterday to use while I am writing. Although the office I have at the new house is by far the biggest (and nicest) I've had yet, there is no door. I researched headsets and these seemed to be the best. They were amazing. I couldn't even hear the keys on the keyboard clicking. All I could hear were my thoughts, clear and unfiltered. I think part of the reason this morning's session was easier than I thought it would be was because of this clarity of thought the headphones helped bring about.

As a funny side-note, as I was wrapping up at just after 7, I realized that Kelly was not yet up. She'd wanted to head into work early today. I figured I was going to head upstairs and find her and the baby still asleep. I was about to do just that when they both came down, fully showered, dressed and ready to start the day. The noise-canceling headset blocked out the noise from upstairs, including the shower.

I plan to finish up Chapter 1 tomorrow if I can. I think there is at least 2,200 words left in that chapter and so I think it is a pretty reasonable goal. I'm already starting to think about what Chapter 2 will be about, and I probably need to makes some more notes on that. I also need to work on my story time line. The story spans over a long period of time, in part because of relativistic space travel and the effects of time dilation. I have a spreadsheet to help me keep track of some of this, but I realize now that it requires some updating. There's no World Series game tonight so I may be able to squeeze some of it in then.

Incidentally, my Kindle wirelessly received my pre-ordered copy of Jack McDevitt's Time Traveler's Never Die, and I am excited to get started on that. I am close to finishing Stephen King's Night Shift, so I will hopefully start on Jack's new book soon. I'm really looking forward to it.

NaNoWriMo Day 2

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:25:55 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667 words
NaNoWriMo total: 3,334 words
Personal par: 2,000 words
Personal total: 4,725 words

Up at 5 am (after going to be at close to midnight last night, having watched the Yankees go up 3-1 against the Phillies) and came into the office to do my writing for the day. I started from where I left off yesterday, and spent the entire two hours complete the Prologue. I felt like I started slowly once again, but by the time I finished (9 total scenes within the prologue) I'd written 2,572 words, which is more than 500 words better than my goal, and nearly 1,000 words better than NaNoWriMo par.

This is what I expected for the first few days. I knew exactly how I wanted the prologue to go, and it helped that it was almost like write a short story, complete with beginning, middle and end. In fact, the prologue is 3,747 words long. I expect things will get a little harder tomorrow when I start writing Chapter 1, which is not as firmly fixed in my head yet. Still, I'm very pleased with my progress over the first two days, and I'm going to do my best to keep it up.

Back again tomorrow for Day 3 between 5-7 am.

NaNoWriMo Day 1

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:22:03 GMT

NaNoWriMo par: 1,667
NaNoWriMo total: 1,667
Personal par: 2,000
Personal total: 2,153

NaNoWriMo officially began today at midnight, but since I was still watching the Yankees beat the Phillies, I didn't get started until 7 am this morning. I was up just before 7 am, showered, and came down to the new office, and sat in my new desk chair which I picked up yesterday from Target. After checking over a few notes I made, I got started on the novel. I wrote the "Introduction" (the novel is presented as a book that is written by one of the characters) and then started on the Prologue, which I managed to get about halfway through before stopping. All told, on day 1 I wrote 2,153 words, which is not only better than NaNoWriMo par of 1,667 words, but better than the goal I set for myself of 2,000 words/day.

It took me a few minutes to get started, but other than that, today was a pretty easy day. I imagine this was because I was eager to get started and had a good idea in my head of how things would open in the story. I didn't struggle at any point, and when I finally stopped (just after 9 am) I was surprised to see I had written more than 2,000 words.

Tomorrow I'll be writing between 5-7 am. I plan on finishing up the Prologue and then started on Chapter 1. Finishing the Prologue should go pretty smoothly, but I'm not yet sure where Chapter 1 will start (or take me).

Preparing for NaNoWriMo

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:48:17 GMT

First, for those who don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It begins November 1 and ends November 30 and the goal is to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days.

My first attempt at NaNoWriMo was in November 2007. During that 30 days I managed to write 22,000 words, which is probably the most I've written in a single month, but still less than half of the mark to successfully complete the event. Even so, what I wrote was expanding upon a short story that I'd already written and so I had a boost, so to speak. This time, while I think I have a good idea for a novel, I have nothing on paper yet (except a few notes) so I am really starting this year from scratch.

50,000 words is not really a novel. Most publishers (at least, most science fiction and fantasy publishers) wouldn't look at a manuscript that is less that 80,000 words. Typically, the novels you buy on bookstore shelves are somewhat longer (especially fantasy). So 50,000 words gets you half a novel. But for someone like me who is a short story writer, and who has had trouble writing anything longer than 20,000 words, it gets you some experience dealing with the longer form, which is a completely different beast than a short story.

I have gotten comfortable with the short story form. And I really enjoy it. I like packing a lot into a short amount of space. The two stories I have sold to professional markets with both short fiction: one, at 9,000 words, technically a novelette, the other, at 2,200 words, a genuine short story. In a short story, the trick is to pick the part of the story that conveys everything that came before and everything that will come after. You can go into back-story, but it has to be relevant and tight. In a novel, you've got a lot more space. To someone like me who thinks of himself as a short story writer, attempting to write a novel is like attempting to run a marathon after spending the lasts few years jogging around the block.

I read a lot of novels, but that doesn't mean I can write one. My biggest challenge, I think, is providing the kind of character detail, back-story and action to keep the story interesting, despite its length. Anyone can write a novel, but as a professional writer, I want to write what I would consider to be a good novel. I don't want to just get 50,000 words on the page to say I did it. I want to be able to take those 50,000 words and in December turn them into 80,000 words that keep the reader turning the pages. I'm not sure I know how to do that. Writers I know say that the hardest part of writing a novel is writing the "middle". The middle is about where I'll be come November 30.

To write 50,000 words in 30 days requires writing 1,667 words per day, every day. That's about 7 or 8 manuscript pages, or roughly the length of a college-level essay, every day, Saturdays and Sundays included, rain or shine. I'm aiming a little higher: 2,000 words a day, which would give me an extra 10,000 words come November 30. But with a 4-1/2 month old baby, a family, and a full-time job, how is this possible? I've never been able to write that consistently before. I think that is one of the biggest values of the NaNoWriMo challenge: to demonstrate to yourself that you can write consistently day in and day out, even with everything else you have going on. So how am I going to approach this challenge? Well...

The office/library is just about set up in the new house. By tomorrow, it should be fully functional and in order. My plan for making time to write each day is fairly simple: I'm going to get up at 5 am and spend the two hours between 5 and 7 am writing, while the family sleeps. This is not as difficult as it may sound. I am a morning person by nature and getting up early holds no difficulty for me. What will be interesting is to see how quickly I can get started each morning. On the weekends, I'll likely sleep until 7 am and then work from 7-9 am. The added benefit is that I don't really lose family time.

But can I get started right away? Can I sit for 2 hours everyday and write? Will I have enough to write about? I hope that I have the reverse problem: not enough time to write what I want each day. When I am in the zone, I can write close to 2,000 words in 2 hours. That's not often the case, but I've done it before. I suspect that the first couple of days will go pretty smoothly because I have all of the starting point ideas in mind and know generally where things are going. After the first few days, however, I suppose things will become more difficult and I'll find it harder and harder to make 2,000 words/day. That's where strategy and patience may help. If I can write 2,000 words/day for the first 5 days, that's 10,000 words, when par is actually 8,300 words; so in essence, I've bought myself an extra day. I could write nothing for a day and stil be "on par". I don't suspect that will happen, but I do imagine I will slow down a bit. Eventually, though, I'll get used to the pace of 2,000 words a day and after the first 10 days or so, I expect to be comfortable with the pace and things will move better (I hope).

2,000 words a day (or 1,677) is a lot and I'm not sure if non-writers realize how draining this can be; after all, it's not like I'm running a marathon, I'm sitting behind the blue glow of a monitor with my fingers dancing across a keyboard, and little else is going on. The thing is, I come away from these sessions feeling the way I feel after a good workout: exhausted and exhilarated. Writing is hard work, at least for me, and trying to write well, to tell an interesting story that someone other than me and my close friends will want to keep reading is even harder. Words of encouragement are always welcome.

I will post updates as I go along so anyone interesting in how I'm doing can follow along. If I run into problems, I'll try my best to describe what those problems are. And in December or January, when I have a completed novel in my hands, I may even ask for some early "beta" readers.

So what's the novel called? Well, I only have a working title at the moment, but it will do. For now, I'm calling it, Far Away Places. It's a good title, an appropriate title for a daunting task as this one. November 30 seems like a far away place to me right now. On the other hand, it seems like it's just around the corner.

The problem with finishing a good book...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:10:42 GMT

...is that it is hard to decide what to read next. I finished Stephen King's It yesterday (here' s my brief review) and I am having trouble deciding what to read next that will captivate me as much as that book did. On Tuesday, Jack McDevitt's new novel, Time Traveler's Never Die will be automatically delivered to my Kindle and I will start reading that at once. But what do I read until then?

I made a brief start on Jonathan Lethem's new novel, Chronic City, but the tone and setting were not what I was looking for. So I switched to Nick Hornby's new tale, Juliet, Naked. That one seemed to have more pizazz, but still didn't feel right after such a satisfying read as It. Still, there are 5 whole days between now and Tuesday and I can certainly squeeze in another book between now and then. Looks like I might have to try another Stephen King novel to tide me over. That may be the only thing that satiates me at the moment.

After November 3, however, there is a fresh slate of stuff that I am looking forward to reading:

(The aforementioned) Time Traveler's Never Die by Jack McDevitt
Under a Dome by Stephen King
Galileo's Dreams by Kim Stanley Robinson
Tarot by Piers Anthony (which I read most of in college, and which still sticks in my mind along with Macroscope as one of his better books)

Plenty to keep me busy in November (and possibly longer), especially with NaNoWriMo just around the corner.

Hmm? Maybe Stephen King's first short story collection, Night Shift. I think I've already got that on the Kindle. Maybe that will tide me over...