The trouble with habits

Habits are funny things. The bad ones are hard to break, but easy to develop. The good ones are hard to develop but easy to lose. Good ones can turn into bad ones if taken too far. Bad habits can often be the most enjoyable. Good habits can sometimes feel like torture. 
If there is anything that I know, it's bad habits. Had them my whole life. Lots of them. I have defeated a few, picked up others, defeated others and picked up more. Good habits? Not so many I'm afraid. Lately I have had to change my thinking somewhat. There are some things that I did, which brought me a lot of enjoyment, that I stopped because they are considered by most to be "bad" habits. I never felt guilty doing them until someone told me that I should. Granted, sometimes habits can behave like addictions, and I admit that I have had my share of those. But if it is done in moderation (I'm not talking controlled substances here so stop worrying) I just don't see how it is all that bad.
I have come to the point where I have cut out from my life almost everything that I used to do for stress relief because it has been labeled by one person or another that I love as a bad habit. I now have a lot of stress, probably more than at any other point in my life, and no way to let it out. I have considered looking up "hobbies" on the internet and going through them like some sort of shopping list hoping to discover something that I might enjoy that won't get in the way of anyone's agenda for me. Alas I like to have peace in my relationships. I like to please those that I love. Many times however, the cost of pleasing those around me comes at the expense of my own enjoyment and quality of life. Perhaps I am being too honest. The trouble with habits is, I don't seem to have any anymore.

Update

14000 words and counting... :)

Evoloution and Adaptation, a writers best friends?

It is funny how you can have a plan on how the story is to go. You write away, merrily humming, then, without warning, your character does something that you did not anticipate. This changes the direction of your story, it adds a previously un-thought of (though, now obvious and correct) dimension to that character, and totally changes your plan! You find yourself needing to adapt to something that your character did all by themselves! I am an advocate of the school of thought that the story already exists, and we as the story tellers are the tool's of it's will, not the other way around. I am discovering as I write, the depth, humor, and emotion of real people having real experiences. This may sound somewhat schizophrenic, but the more I write, the more real these characters become. So, adapting and evolving based on the unexpected things that your characters do. Is it a good thing? Should a writer allow their characters the freedom of agency in their actions or should a writer exercise tyrannical control over the actions of their characters? What is your opinion? The quote for this entry comes from (I hope originally) the story that I am writing, "Time is the enemy of memories." Anyway, leave your comments and questions below. Is there any aspect of writing that you would like me to address in this blog? Any good ideas for amateurs like me? Give me feedback. Let me know that I am not simply spewing words into the endless depths of cyberspace. Until next time...

I wish for fish with my Ish Wish Dish!

Here is life how I envision it. I am sitting in my office one sunny afternoon with the light comming in through windows that afford a beautiful view of a forested valley. I am working on my latest best seller. My faithful dog Charles lounges at my feet and growls softly every time I make a grammatical error. (He is a magical grammar dog). My son pops his head in to discuss a particular point from his studies of Plato, or Socrates. I of course give him the answer he needs and then get back to work. After a few minutes my daughter starts to play Mozart on the piano in the living room. She is, after all, a very accomplished pianist. The music is soothing and helps me to come up with more ideas for my manuscript. Just then my manager calls "Congratulations," he says, "we just hit the one million mark for pre-orders on your new novel!"
"Wow!"I say, "I have not even written it yet!"
"Well," he replies, "Your fans just love you THAT much!"
Thrilled I go to tell my wife the good news. "That's great!" she says, "We should eat the home made pecan pie that I just made to celebrate!"
Yeah. That's pretty much how things will go on a daily basis. What? I can dream can't I? Can I at least have the pie?

November? Write a novel month?

So, apparently November is national write a novel month. How anyone expects to finish a novel in a months time is beyond me. Maybe an unemployed person who has no other obligations could do it, but those people tend to be lazy. Anyway, I'm stoked to find myself already in the midst of writing a novel when November hit. I decided that the best option for my little conundrum is to just write through it. The editing process is a wonderful thing. You can just whisk away pages of pointless material if you want. As I am writing the pointless stuff I am getting ideas and the pointless is slowly gaining shape and becoming...err...pointed? Anyway, on a different note, I have an mammal identification class tomorrow in my animals class and we are in the rodent section. Let me tell you, Mice All Look The Same. Maybe I'll write something about that. But I digress. Well, Yay November! So here is my challenge to you. Anyone want to join me in the quest for literary greatness? Send me your experiences. We can inspire each other.

Until next time
-Me

Small victories, small annoyances

So I bet all two of you thought that I had given up already. Ha! I did not! I have been writing. Albeit a sentence here, two sentences there. At the bus stop, on the bus, at the transit center, sometimes even sitting at home. It adds up. I have discovered one of those little things that writers don't really think about when setting off on the journey to produce a 300+ page piece of literary genius. When I think of my story I see all of the main events, the big action scenes, the turning points, and so on and so forth. The difficult part that I have discovered so far is this: How the heck do I get my characters from big important event A to big important event B without boring the readers to death with endless pointless minutia. The solution: write pointless minutia until I figure something out later (It will work itself out in the editing process). So, writing has been kind of boring lately (But I AM doing it). What is it that they say? Writing is 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999 percent perspiration? and 0.000000000(well you get the point)1 inspiration? Oh yeah, the pointy system is out. It's just depressing. I will figure out some other way to be accountable to myself. Quote of the week: (From my favorite poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
and miles to go before I sleep,
and miles to go before I sleep."
Anyone have a suggestion to help me with my "inbeteweenbigeventsisalongstreamofboringnothingness" conundrum?
I'm all ears..err...eyes...unless you send me an audio or video message.
Until next time,
Catchy sign off tag line.

-Me

Day 1 Bloggity Blog

I can't set a goal, and then not report on how the first day went. I am happy to say that today I spent an hour working on my novel. I am thinking of coming up with some kind of point system based on the amount of time each day that I work on my writing. I get 1 point for each hour I spend on my writing. If I miss a day, I lose 1 full point. I need to figure out how to put up some sort of counter on my blog to keep track. When I get to 10 points I will treat myself to something. Not sure what. Any ideas? Anyway, I am encouraged that I followed through on day one. Next stop day 2. If there is something that I know about goals is that they get harder as you go. Gotta stay focused!

As If I Didn't Have Enough to Do.

My wife just asked me how one starts a blog. I suppose asking that question is as good a way to start as any. I have reached that point where a creative output is necessary for my continued sanity. So, I said to myself "Hey Self! Why not start a blog?" To which I replied, "Why?" To which I replied, "I dunno. Sounds kinda cool." Sooooooooo. Here I am filling cyberspace with fluff and drivel for my own entertainment. For those of you who are my family and friends (and I am positive that the three people that read this will fall into one of those categories), you already know me so I won't be filling cyberspace with things about me that you already know. Plus that cuts down a little on the whole identity theft thing. For those of you who don't know me. Well, you won't be reading this blog anyhow. So without further adoodoo. The title of the blog is "Whole Life Crisis," because, I realized the other day that it has seemed to me that my whole life has been one long mid-life-crisis. As I don't see an end to that trend anywhere in sight, I thought the title appropriate. As I sat at work the other day and let my mind wander (Working in a circuit board factory provides ample opportunity for walkabouts of the brain), I was struck with the absurdity of what I was doing. My whole life I have pursued in one form or another "the arts." One could say that I am a bit artsy fartsy. Though one would probably feel silly saying something like "fartsy" in public. I realized that though my job is good, I kind of like it, and I am thankful to be working at all in this economy, it is light years from where I imagined myself to be at the ripe old age of 30 minus 1. I then asked myself, "Hey Self! Why aren't you pursuing your dreams?" To which I replied, "I don't know." Well, that "I don't know" has been hanging heavily in the air ever since and it bothers me like an itch on the bottom of the foot while wearing ski boots. So maybe I will use this blog to document the journey of a man who tries to alleviate his whole life crisis by doing something about his dreams. Don't worry, I am not going to quit school and work and hit the road as a traveling folk singer (Though the thought has occurred to me from time to time.) What I am speaking of is writing. I have always wanted to write a novel. Everyone's dream right? Pie in the sky right? I can just see the collective masses of the internet all rolling their eyes at me simultaneously as they read that sentence. Well, poo on you. I'm going to do it, and I am going to write about doing it. So I am going to write, and then I am going to write about writing, and then I am going to read what I wrote etc... It could be that I am a no talent hack. In fact, it is likely that I am a no talent hack, but at the end of the day, if I fail, it will not be because I did not try. If I do not get published, it will not be because I did not write a novel. It will be because I spewed 300 pages of crap into a word document. There remains however, the small glimmer of hope that I might have a little bit of talent. Whats more there might be a publishing company somewhere that says "Sure, we will publish this. We will even pay you." After all...there is a fish that flies.