Ramblings
Another Novel
I have been working on a second novel lately. Well, to be honest I have been letting my subconscious work on a second novel. I don’t know if I have a creative process or if I just have delusions, but I thought it would be helpful for me to remind myself how I think this process works for me by writing about it.
I start with a big idea. I work the idea for a few days and move it around on paper. I outline some ideas and then decide that the idea can’t work. I then toss the idea into my subconscious for a week or so. When I pull it back out there might be a new twist to it that I then outline and throw away. I put the idea back into my subconscious and let it go through another couple weeks of mystical work. Eventually I have to decide whether the idea is worth pursuing or not.
While all that nonsense is going on in the back of my head I begin the process of writing scenes. I don’t even want to think about how these scenes are connected to each other. They will work themselves out. I don’t know how it will work out, it just will. As I begin writing scenes I try not to think about the big picture. I just write. I usually set a goal for getting 1,500 words down each day, I figure if I can get 45,000 words in a month I have something worth continuing.
I have been playing around with the same idea for about a year and a half; I am no Steven King. I have been waiting for my “well to fill up” as Hemingway put it, waiting for my subconscious to fill in the gaps and for my passion for a single project to begin.
Yesterday, I began moving a few ideas around on paper and think I have worked out the major problems with my new novel so I am going to take some time off from my blog. I hope to have the big chunks of the novel knocked out by Christmas Break and then I will come back and let you know what happened.
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Published by South of the Strait
Why is my page titled South of the Strait? Well I live in a far corner of the United States. I live in a small town south of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. If I was going to throw a rock across the strait it would land in Canada. I used to be an English teacher. I have worked in Westport, Port Angeles, and Sequim, Washington... and I did two years of substitute teaching in Coalinga, California.
I've moved around a lot, living in: Sterling,Kansas; Chicago; Jordan, Montana; Lemoore, California; Auckland, New Zealand; Spokane, Washington; Gambier, Ohio.
What do I write? For WordPress I used to print once a week for general comments. I wrote reviews of music concerts my daughter made me attend. (Each month she would want us to drive to Seattle to see a music group. I usually stood in the back watching weird stuff.) I also wrote about trips I have taken in Europe where I liked getting lost. I also wrote during the few months when my son was treated for cancer. (He is officially free of cancer of five years.) About three years ago I decided to stop writing blogs so I could concentrate on writing a few books. I have completed three books...or maybe four. I have now compiled my short stories poems and memoirs on Amazon. You can get it at Amazon now..."A Work In Progress"--Jon Eekhoff. I have been very close to getting a printed book called "Lost Summer" but I was never offered $1,000,000.00. (It's set in Paris, 1920's, with baseball, writers, artist, and actually true stuff.) I wrote a book about college basketball called "Laidlaw." It's kind of a mix of "Moby Dick" and a coach who is about to get fired so he takes his team out for a free drive around the West. My most recent book is "California Tales." These are connected stories about the missionary churches in California. They are sad, funny, inspiring, and odd. I had the entire book done in my head and had just one section to finish the next day...and that is when I fell 20 feet from my roof and landed on the cement. (Like a lot of men, I thought I could maintain my own roof instead of leaving it to the professionals.) I don't remember anything about my accident but I am told I was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Though conscious and responsive after surgery to remove part of my skull, I don't remember anything from my first month there. I spent another month of Harborview working on walking, speaking, and writing. That was two years ago. As a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) survivor, I could have quit writing, but I am not going to quit. I work with the University of Washington Speech and Hearing Clinic.
So, here I am. I am married and live here in Sequim with my wife Cheryl. Our kids live in nearby cities. Writing is now an exhausting exercise, but something I plan to keep working on.
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