A New Writing Project

I have just come off of completing another draft of one of my books, and am in the process of putting the final touches on it.  Still debating on e-publishing it or sending it off to a mainstream publishing house, but that's another topic.

I have two or three other books in various stages of development, all with at least two drafts completed.  Those are things I can work on a little at a time, reading and rewriting as needed until I like them again... and then hate them again (writers out there will understand that).  But it's been a long time since I've had a new idea, so I pulled out an idea I had last year sometime that I haven't developed a whole lot.  It's based on a series of dreams I had one night.  As dreams, they weren't connected, but when I woke up my inner Storyteller strung them all together into a really weird but very interesting sci-fi story, something I am very excited about and can't wait to dive into.

I'm typically not an outliner, or a planner, and I think that is why writing does not always hold the joy I wish it did. I am constantly writing myself into corners, and when I decide to change something, it takes forever to look for all the references to the previous plot. Not to mention that every scene I have to completely rewrite changes every scene after it. Whereas if I outlined or planned a little before writing the bulk of the book, it would be much easier to make changes.

A good friend of mine got me a book for Christmas called '90 Days to Your Novel.'  It's essentially a writing plan that takes you through outlining to dialogue coaching to scene-building, all with the goal of helping you write the best and most organized first draft possible in three months.  The exercises start daily, then move to a handful of weekly assignments that you can complete at your leisure throughout the week.  Writing is WORK, and this is definitely a book that reminds me of that.

So, I'm going to give this a shot. Although I won't hold myself to making them 90 consecutive days, necessarily--my discipline may not be there yet, but I'll do my best once I polish off this last one. I'll check back in soon to update my progress.

Robotech *Update*

So, I'm on episode 11 of Robotech, and the love story between the main character Rick and the girl, Minmei is really annoying.  I'll just say I think I'd rather watch a Jar Jar Binks spin-off movie than have to endure another conversation between these two.  

Anyway, so I used the Googles to try to find out if anyone else thought this way, too, and maybe to see if it got better (i.e., they kill her off).  I found something interesting.

Apparently, Robotech is an American compilation of three separate and completely unrelated Japanese t.v. shows.  They strung them together as if the story spans three generations and three 'Robotech Wars'.  

Original Japanese shows:

1) The Super Dimension Fortress Macross
2) Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross
3) Genesis Climber MOSPEADA

American Compilation of Robotech:

First 36 Episodes -- The Macross Saga
Next 24 Episodes  -- The Masters
Final 25 Episodes -- The New Generation

So what is the takeaway from all this? Minmei will be gone soon!

Robotech

What to watch after Battlestar Galactica? I decided to watch the first episode or two of other space series and see what stuck.

I gave the original Galactica a shot, but couldn't stick with it. Next I tried Star Trek: The Next Generation, but that didn't grab me, either. Star Trek: Deep Space 9? Nope. Star Trek Enterprise was not bad. I'll give that one another shot.

Surprisingly, the one that I'm really getting into is the old anime Robotech. It's a little cheesy like those old Japanese cartoons can be, but it's definitely scratching my itch for epic space combat.

Any other suggestions?