Sunday, February 16, 2014

The Life of the Writer's Son (a local color post?)

Well hello there, readers of Andrew’s blog.
If you didn’t look at the title, this isn’t actually the man himself, Da- Andrew. This is his son. The writer’s son.
Or, perhaps, the writer? Who is the son of a person who also happens to be a writer?
Or maybe I’m the person who happens to be the writer as well. Perhaps because my father is a writer? I honestly got no idea. (Bad grammar... and I thought I was good at writing...)
So, dad assigned me to write this post. Why? I’m not sure. He felt like it. He likes to torture me.
But I do know that I wasn’t assigned to write this to beat down dad’s feelings with hurtful words about how mean he is to me. No, that would only get me grounded...
I was assigned to write about writing. Woah. Write-ception.
Um, anyway, so. The writing. The subject of this mess. Let’s get on with it.
While I’m doing the writing, it’s not the best thing in the world. It seems really boring, like a waste of my time. I would much rather be doing other things. Sometimes, only sometimes, I actually get writing really quickly and I like it a little. It’s sort of fun then, but when I’m stuck and going slowly it’s not so great.
And I do get stuck. I actually get stuck quite a bit. I am currently working on three different stories and I don’t know where to go with them. I say to myself, “How do I get this character out of this situation? I’ll solve that today,” and then when I try I fail. That’s not a nice feeling, not nice at all.
The nice feelings happen when I complete a story. A good story. Seeing a story all finished and fancy gets my hopes up; I feel like I’ve accomplished something. Have I really? I’ve got no idea, but it sure does feel like it. Although, when my stories go into collections or when I earn money off of them, I’ve probably done at least a tiny morsel of good.
Hmm, the collections. Every year, dad makes a collection of stories out of the good ones that he gets from the elective he teaches at my school (this year he actually has his own entire class period on Friday afternoons) called Charter Shorts. It’s nice to have a story or two in there, and I’ve had at least one every year. My favorite is actually the first one I ever wrote, one that combines the House on the Corner -- the book that my dad wrote -- and Star Wars. I know you know what the latter is. If you don’t, may I hang you on a ladder?
Okay, I’m honestly sorry for that pun. It wasn’t any good. Please forgive me. Don’t eat me alive.
Okay, um... well, I don’t have anything else to say. Is this the most awkward exit ever? Quite possibly. Uh... bye bye. Go away now.
No, really. If you’re still reading this, then there’s something wrong with you. Leave. Leave before I drive you insane. Maybe I should just write this entire thing out again. Which would turn it into an endless loop of itself, since this is at the end of it. Okay, fine. Let’s do that.
Well hello there, readers of Andrew’s blog...

***
Actually, don't leave yet!
There's a reason I wanted my son to write a post for me about writing, so let me get to that. Just ignore him telling you to go away. And, by the way, for those of you out there that write, did any of those problems sound familiar?

My son mentioned his first story, so let's talk about that. He won a prize for that first story which he is still proud of even though he tries, sometimes, to play it off as no big deal. [He was only 10 when he wrote it, by the way It's impressive talent for a 10-year-old.] Because it fits the parameters of what I wanted as backup stories in the Shadow Spinner collections, I thought I'd share it. So, today, the fourth (and final!) collection of Spinner chapters is available! WooHoo!
You can pick up "Collection 4: The Undying" right here. And you should totally do that! And leave a review.

But wait! There's more!
My son has this other story he wrote, "The Language of Nythos," that I absolutely love. It is my favorite thing by him (at least until I get to the stuff he's working on for this year's Charter Shorts). But there are a couple of problems:
1. Although it works fine as its own story, he actually wrote it as the introduction to a longer story.
2. He refuses to write more! He says he decided he doesn't like his idea and just will not continue it, no matter how much cajoling I do.
3. Briane Pagel has published the story over on his site lit, so you should go over and read it.
4. Leave him an encouraging message (if you like it) so that, maybe, just maybe, he will be inspired to write some more of it!

Hmm... Okay, so that was more than a couple. Just go read the story and leave him a note. And don't forget to pick up "The Undying"!

11 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the final collection! Have they been selling better as a collection than individually?
    Can definitely tell he's your son - same writing style.

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  2. I think most teens, particularly boys, would rather be doing anything other than writing (or school stuff in general), so it's impressive your son's done so well. You should be proud! :)

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  3. I'll head on over to Briane's.
    And "Andrew's son":
    1. I think it is okay to leave a off writing a book. But keep coming back to it. Read it from start to finish again and just start writing something. Write the ending. Make up a list of preposterous ways (B's) you could get from A to C. You might connect the dots with a great idea! As a matter of fact I have to do that today with the sticky stuck part of my story today.
    2. I like that your father tortures you.
    3. Write just a little again tomorrow. Write a little bit until you aren't boring yourself. Write little bits of excitement.
    4. Have a cookie.
    5. Thanks for writing today.

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  4. This was hilarious. I liked "Write-ception." That alone was worth the entry fee.

    I'm not the only person Phillip charged an entry fee to, right? He swore it was standard!

    You have a lot of talent, Phillip. I feel for you: I'm the exact opposite. While I'm doing the writing, everything is fine and dandy like sour candy. It's when I'm done and I have to edit it *shudders* and format it and publish it that I hate the process. So we should team up.

    Your story is doing well on lit, and it'll make it into the first anthology from that site, so if that helps, great.

    And now, much as I have to do with Rusty:

    WRITE MORE OF YOUR STORY. For Pete's sake, what is with you writers putting out something awesome and then leaving people hanging? Be like your dad. He FINISHES stories. I wouldn't be surprised if some paramilitary team were to swoop in on you and Rusty and spirit you off to a secret base in Antarctica where they will give you word processors and Gatorade and keep you there until we get the endings to the various stories you have started... but then you guys would probably manage to fashion the word processors into some sort of weapon and tunnel out through the ice, stealing a nuclear submarine and almost making it to Chile before the soldiers caught up with you, at which point there would be this awesome undersea battle and it turns out that Rusty knows MAGIC and ...

    gotta go.

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  5. Ooh, nice! Will pick this up when my next Amazon gift card comes through (next few days). And of course leave a review.

    Also, I wish I had a kid to push my blogging off on. :(

    "Hey, boy, I'm feeling lazy. Go draw a few cartoons for daddy and post them."

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  6. I chuckled out loud at the Star Wars ladder pun. That was clever.

    Maybe I need to get my son to blog for me. I need a day off.

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  7. Alex: That depends upon how you look at it. Now that new chapters are no longer coming out to drive sales, the sales have slowed down.

    Lexa: I am proud. And he's good. Definitely better than I was at his age. Or any kid I've worked with at the same age.

    Donna: Oh, no, he can't have cookies. That would take away from the torture. :)

    Briane: I have threatened to Douglas Adams him, but school keeps getting in the way.

    ABftS: Hey! I wasn't feeling lazy. In fact, this has been sitting here for weeks waiting to be published. I just wanted him to have a voice in how I make him write EVERY day.

    Jay: When he gets home, I will let him know you liked his pun. He has a love/hate relationship with them.

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  8. You wanne be careful Andrew, he might outstrip you. Jeff Hargett's daughter just published her first novel and she and I are both trying to get Jeff to get his out there.

    Have to go read his story.

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  9. Jo: You know, I hope that he does. That's why I have him write. It's like his sister having to practice her accordion. I didn't have anyone when I was his age who would say to me, "Hey, you need to sit down and work on this," and, now, of course, I really wish that I'd had that kind of presence in my life with... anything, really. So, as much as he hates that I make him sit down and write, I hope that later he will thank me for it.

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  10. Best of luck to both of you! I hope you convince your son to finish his story.

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