Problems are meant to be solved. I spent half a day with my new TV Guide, mixing and matching first names to last, creating a master list of character names I can use. Adam Kidd, Erica Durst, Shannon Keith. They don’t exist at the moment, but they sound good, right? I could populate a subdivision with them, give them assorted children, and even give a few of those children an imaginary friend. Pet names, too. I need lists. These lists will help me move forward at breakneck speed, without getting lost. Who is who, and what they do. Objects and things, they need to be listed too, with descriptions on content, use, or capabilities. Odd physical descriptions of objects must be explored as if the objects in question are in front of me. That takes care of the physical world about to be created. I don’t have to guess at the details, because these details already exist for me. I know this world, and the characters that inhabit it; down to the last hairy wart on a boney flat ass, or juicy wad of gum in a crosswalk about to be stepped on. I provide only the details needed to keep the story moving with real depth, without slowing the pace.

My next problem: Plot is cause and effect.

It’s true. Most writers confuse plot with the idea behind a novel, but an idea isn’t plot. Plot blends all of a novel’s elements; the physical and emotional; between protagonist and antagonist; always diffuse yet genuinely dynamic. Plot is cause and effect. To that end I had to come up with a list of things that would further my plot, keeping it somewhat loose, yet fully structured. Something could happen I didn’t expect to happen, but it becomes a good thing. A happy accident. Whatever, and whatever it takes. A few items include: move him around, and then enclose him. Bring the tension up with real danger. Add a touch of strained romance. The punishment must fit the crime. Personal sacrifice due to circumstance too enormous to control. What is the motivation between segments? Can the emotional growth be mapped, beginning to end? I’m using plot to turn the screw.

I managed 8,000 words in the last two weeks. Not bad, but not good, either. I can do more, and need to do more. See you next week.

First up, my watermelon. This monster melon weighed in at just over 43 lbs. That’s my big boy, cradled safely in my arms. I’m rather proud of that melon, because it shows what composting everything compostable, week after week after week, can do for a garden.

My own publishing efforts are on hold due to negative cash flow. Yes, I could have turned myself into a clearinghouse publisher, publishing anybody willing to pay the large fee, but that’s not me. That will never be me. Mistakes of my own making or not, I want to be a real publisher of substance. Start with what I have, and then work my way up.

So, with a lot of research under my belt, it’s time to shit or get off the pot. I need a marketable novel, something that can become a series. I’m (hopefully) working on something wanted and popular that no agent or publisher in their right mind would turn away. I’m writing urban fantasy, with a male protagonist. I’m passionate about the story, and I’m having fun. That’s important. After that, something else wanted and popular. I’m thinking something with tweens. Several agents over the years have told me I can write, and I know I tell great stories, so I don’t see any problems with this plan.

The platform I’ve chosen is well within my abilities, and the concept I have for my comic art will evolve over time. I started production on the cover panel of a graphic novel. Graphic novels are a market segment that is growing in popularity, and will continue to do so over the next decade. I have an idea notebook I’m running as I work, so not to miss an opportunity. I’ll size the image on the panel, do my pencils, ink it, then color it with the airbrush. Crayola manufactures a watercolor set for around three dollars that makes (the most perfect) airbrush paint by the pot. 32 popular colors, allowed to melt in a film case three-fourths full of hot water. Shake, pour, spray. It’s that simple.

Letting potential fans know I’m out there with finished comic panels, that’s as easy as a Facebook and MySpace page. The art and the storyline should draw fans of all ages. I should be able to sell some books, too. See how it all ties together? All I need to do now is put in the work. As of yesterday I finished chapter one. I’ll keep sketching (using a 6H pencil) until I have what I want as a cover, finalize the art with a sharp number 2 pencil, and then add the ink and the paint. Each week I’ll share my progress. See you next week.

I found my flash drive here in the house.

Yeah, I feel stupid. See you Monday.

I’ve been looking into various e-publishing options; pretty much taking names and numbers. Everybody thinks they got it goin’ on. The fact is, readers are still needed everywhere I look. Publishers expect their future authors to have platforms. A base of fans/potential readers ready and waiting for any offering publishing produces. From a publisher’s POV I can see this as perfection personified, but the average author just can’t pop platforms out of their assholes on a whim and a fancy. Most authors have no idea where to start building their platforms, much less how to lay that first brick. How can authors be everything for a publisher before their first book is even published?

Think about it this way. What can you do? What are your skills? Can you make a name for yourself, doing what you do with the skills you have? If so, that’s your platform. It’s almost the same thing as, go with what you love the most, and then figure out how to make money from it.

Damn typos! Why can’t I see these things when it counts? See you next week.

I’m posting early. I lost one of two flash drives with all my writing on it. There was nothing personal on it, no passwords or banking information, but the fact that I may have lost it at the laundry mat bothers me. Nobody can sell my work. God knows I’ve tried to sell my novels for fourteen years without success. I have stacks of rejection slips to prove that, by the way. If I do find my work out there with someone else’s name on it, the lawsuit will be legendary. Be warned. So, I can only hope two things. I hope the wash cycle destroyed the information contained on it, or it’s still here in my house, somewhere. All I can do.

I really don’t have anything to say this week. I’ve been reading books. I’ve been sketching. Book seven is done, and now it needs to sit in my drawer for a few long months. Books eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve; they’re permanently on hold. Close to my heart or not, I can’t sell them. Writing is a business. As an alternative to what I want to do, I’ll write in two requested genres, pounding out potboilers. That’s all them agents and editors and publishers want, and that’s what they’ll get. See you next week.

This week President Obama and my-special-self, we both turn 48. Wow. Sucks, huh . . . Possible trends spotted were realistic military action in space, steampunk (look it up for yourself), and men’s urban fantasy. Think the Dresden Files. Add to those trends vamps and zombies. So, children, stupid yourselves down for the most part. Wonderfully written prose not wanted anymore. Learn updated Buffy-speak, all the modern cultural references you can shove into your head, and pepper with modern slang. Thinly plot your modern epic fantasy series, hoping you can come up with the big encompassing idea needed to actually make it a series. Now go for it. Some of you might make it.

Or you can imagine, if you will, someone asking you for a TV series. 22 episodes per year for five years. What is the core idea behind the series? Before any network will touch you, you have to have it all mapped out for them, and they have the money, but also the collective IQ of a pile of cashews. Spell it out for them. Keep the level of the series either adult or younger, but be consistent. Since you need to turn the above into five novels you have to pound out in a year or two, this is your guide. Characters, action, humor, mayhem. Lay it all out. Think as if these novels were to become movies. The money is already in your pocket. See the circular logic? How it might work? I do, and so should you. I’m wholeheartedly embracing the future, but not lowering my ideals. I have to think the readers out there actually want real substance within their genre fiction. Also, by continuing to see the world as I want to see it, perhaps I can find a way to shape it. I even figured out how to give myself a platform within the growing graphic novel segment.

Also, I’ve been noticing who has been dabbling in Young Adult (YA). James Patterson, and now Robert Parker. Who would have thought . . . See you next week.