Author Archives: Richard Reilly

Substituting, Peace Corps, Writing, OH MY!

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What a busy day.  I spend today substitute teaching at a third grade classroom way across town.  Luckily they were a great class.  The day flew by.  Having a conversation with a 9 year old can be more inspirational than anything else.  After the day of subbing, I when to a Peace Corp meeting and realized I likely may be sent out on my 27 months far earlier than I expected.  More on that later.

By the time I sat down to write, I was exhausted and pissed off (people can’t drive for shit in this town).  Then things started turning around.  I got two cups of coffee for free, put my music on, and started writing.  It started off rough.  By the end, it was flowing out of me.  I ended up doing 1,300 words today.  I hope to do at least double that tomorrow considering I have much more free time and know exactly what I want to write next.  But, for right now, I am exhausted and hungry.  It’s time to go home.

Before I go, a couple more influences.  This time, BOOKS!

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Science Fiction at it’s best.  The entire series is breathtaking.  Card’s imagination is on a whole other realm.  His ability to give his characters incredible depth and intelligence is something I have never seen before.  I use this book to gauge someone’s intellectual level.  Give this book to a elementary or middle school student.  If they identify with Ender, you know that they suffer from increased intelligence.

Testimony by Anita Shreve
Probably my favorite literary book ever.  Shreve writes so beautifully.  Each character is so unique that you don’t really know who to root for.  Her ability to make you cringe, laugh, and cry is unmatched.  When I think about how I want to develop characters, I look here.

Writing Without Wisdom (Teeth)

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I went into the dentist today to deal with a few cavities.  They ended up telling me that it would be safer to remove my wisdom teeth than to put fillings in them.  A few minutes later, my first wisdom tooth was being extracted with pliers. Fun stuff.  It’s more than six hours later and the last of the numbness is finally fading from my face.  I can finally eat and taste things again!

I was worried that the dreariness of the antithetic would stop me from doing my thousand words today.  As the numbness started to fade, however, I decided to go to my coffee house anyway.  That was two hours ago and I just finished pumping out 1,700 words.  I’ve never been this dedicated to writing.  Off days don’t stop me.  Full days don’t stop me.  Surgery doesn’t stop me.  This is my 18th day of writing and I just passed the 30,000 word mark.  Only 40,000-50,000 words to go!

Today, I present a couple more movies that inspire me.

American Beauty
This is probably the most beautiful movie I’ve ever seen about the internal plight of every human being.  What I especially like about this movie is that it means something different to me each time I watch it.  No matter the message, it is always profound.  I want to be able to produce something this subtle and beautiful.  A story without at least a hint of the human condition isn’t worth it to me.

Remember Me
This movie is on my list for several reasons.  For one, I love the characters.  The character that Robert Pattinson plays is absolutely incredible.  The other aspect I like is the hidden storyline.  I am a junkie for twist endings.  However, I know they cannot come out of nowhere.  Remember Me is genius in it’s placement of subtle clues.  Even if you do realize what the twist is before the end, the tension will make it impossible to look away.  I need to learn how to do this.

Writing on an Off Day

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I am having a bit of an off day.  I know I should have accepted a substitute position today, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.  My mind is throbbing with anxiety and fear.  I waited all morning for a call about a loved one’s surgery.  Finally I got it and felt relieved.  Now, I am without a schedule and wish nothing more than to be at work rightnow.  Instead, I am at my coffee shop–working on this and that.

Luckily, the knowledge that the rest of my week is scheduled puts me at some ease that today is open.  I spent my morning updating this and that.  I read a bit as well.  With all these petty assignments down, I can focus on the main attraction.  I need to pound out at least 1,000 words on my novel.  I guess I might as well get started.  Here is a poem for all my readers.

At the Base of the Waterfall
One of my favorite hikes is to a place called Horsetooth Falls.  The trail winds through a few valleys and ends in this beautiful little pond.  I rested at the waterfall for a while during my most recent hike and wrote this.  I am practicing being concise and reading my work out-loud.  I hope it works.

1,000 Word Minimum

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Today was the first warm day in awhile.  I spent the first part of my day hiking in the mountains.  I wrote a piece of poetry up by the waterfall that I hope to upload in the next few days.  I love the feeling of completely exerting my body.  Afterwards, I came to my coffee shop to write.  The coffee never tasted so great.

Today is my 16th day of writing my new novel.  Take a look at my daily word totals:

8 April 2012: 600 Words
9 April 2012: 2,700 Words
10 April 2012: 4,300 Words
11 April 2012: 4,800 Words
12 April 2012: 8,700 Words
13 April 2012: 9,900 Words
14 April 2012: 10,700 Words
15 April 2012: 11,600 Words
16 April 2012: 13,800 Words
17 April 2012: 15,900 Words
18 April 2012: 17,500 Words
19 April 2012: 20,000 Words
20 April 2012: 21,100 Words
21 April 2012: 22,100 Words
22 April 2012: 25,300 Words
23 April 2012: 26,200 Words

I am now squarely in the second third of the novel.  At this point, I will not let myself stop until I finish.  I have decided to implement a 1,000-word minimum rule.  Even if my day is packed, I will schedule time to write and pump out 1,000 words.  I am so thoroughly enjoying where I am in the novel that the past few days have had a few 2,000-word writing binges.  Whatever it takes.

Today’s update includes musical influences.  I always listen to music while I am writing stories (not poetry).  I listen to music mainly for it’s lyrical content, but I won’t deny that it needs to sound good.  Some music, although not much, I listen to remind myself of certain ideals and to rejuvenate my mind.

Flobots
This band is probably the most influential band I have ever listened to.  Their music is political and angry in nature.  I have been to two of their concerts and was completely blown away by their talent and passion.  Nothing moved be more than when thousands of people screamed as one the lyric, “We the people did not want war.”

Air
I first came across Air while listening to the soundtrack to my favorite movie: Lost in Translation.  I borrowed one of their CD’s from the local library and was in awe of their originality.  For my most recent novel, their Talkie Walkie CD is almost always on in the background.  They are well worth a listen.

Early to Write

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I woke up early on a Sunday so that I could get to my coffee shop by nine in the morning.  Now it is ten in the morning and I have already written 1,000 words.  I used to call myself a nighttime writer.  I know I enjoy writing overnight, but that is far to limiting.  If I can control my schedule so that I write every single day, i shouldn’t matter whether it is dawn, dusk, noon, or midnight.  I just need to write.  I finally teaching myself this lesson.

I hope to get past 25,000 words today.  With a goal of 70,000-80,000 words, that brings me to about a third.  The novel is on pace to fall within that range.  I have several spots in my mind where this story could end.  Once I’m within the range, I’ll have to pick on of those points and go with it.  In all my years of watching movies and reading books, I’ve come to find that that best stories don’t really have an end.  The best stories are snapshots of a people’s lived during interesting times–while acknowledging that there was plenty that came before and plenty still to come.  I intend on incorporation that idea in my novel.

Time for some viral videos…

There is a moment when near future technology suddenly become present-day technology.  That moment, when you realize what you world is capable of, is one that I will always try to capture in my work.  That moment of complete awe and envy is a strange emotion that we all feel all too often now.  It’ll only get more and more intense over the decades.

If you haven’t caught the theme yet–I am addicted to near-future technology.  This video depicts the sunny side of the near future…but I still can’t look away.  Having a fully interactive world is something that I can’t entirely wrap my head around.

Write Every Single Day

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Today was full of events.  We went up to the mountains as a family to celebrate my niece’s birthday.  Still, I found the time to write.  Even if it was only 1,000 words, I have found just how important it is to write every single day.  I am now at 22,000 words and am loving where the novel is heading.  When my schedule opens back up (likely tomorrow), I suspect that I will write a huge amount.  Nothing is better than seeing a novel take on a life all its own.  This is why I write.

I went to a poetry slam that got canceled last night.  I spent some time with the organizer and realized I really need to try slam poetry.  I may look into a way to record myself and upload the poetry onto this site. More on that later.  In the meantime, some more “Influences.”  This time, in the form of books.

Feed by M. T. Anderson
Near future literature is unbeatable.  Feed is the untilmate warning to the future of technology.  Almost weekly, I stumble across a news article that reminds me of something from this book.  Anderson did his research.  The future of our world will be incredible, but impossible moral questions are waiting to jump up just around the corner.  I want to be able to form a story the way Anderson is able to.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
I have never finished this book.  Both times that I tried to read it were interrupted by school work.  I plan on reading it later this year.  Nevertheless, it has already influenced me greatly.  McCarthy is the author who made me realize you need to find your own style of writing.  While exploring that, I realized that stream of consciousness is how I need to write.  Following the norm is almost never the way to go.

20,000 Words

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I should hit 20,000 words today.  That’s 12 days to write more than 1/4 of the novel.  Yet again, I am only getting faster.  The beginnings of the story are entirely set up and I am hitting the stride of the plot.  I hope to write at least 3,000 words today (1,000 are already done and I still have an hour before I have to report for work).  Considering I am not doing much other than writing this story, I am going to use these days to build the “Influences” section of my website.  Today I will start with two movies.

Lost In Translation
This movie has long been one of my favorites.  I saw it with my father when I was a teenager.  It stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson (before she was famous).  This movie holds a beautiful balance between plot and character-building scenes.  The development of romance is impeccable.  I hope to be able to write like this some day–holding onto tension to build romance and allowing for the plot to flow freely.

Children of Men
Another one of my favorite films–but for vastly different reasons.  I love near-future fiction.  If you have never visited FurtureTimeline,com, it is well worth the visit.  Anyway, the important thing to remember in near future fiction is that you can only account for certain details.  Certain inventions, disasters, or events cannot be predicted.  Children of Men not only takes this into account, but makes it a central theme–creating a semi-dystopian society in the process.

In the Zone

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I wrote another 2,000 words today–bringing me to 16,000 words on my new novel over the course of ten days.  I am on a roll.  If I can keep this up, this will be the fastest and best novel I have ever written.  Also, the style, length, and subject matter are all perfect to try to reel in an agent.  I may actually try to send this out to a few agents after I polish it up.  Yet again, I spent my day working on the novel and not uploadadble content.  Instead, I am going to link another “Influence.”

The Egg by Andy Weir
I read this story a couple years ago.  It changed my life.  It’s not something to believe.  It is something to ponder. It addressed the golden rule in entirely new light.  “Do unto other as you would have them do unto you.”  It is a little long, but worth the time.

Minimalism

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Today has been a strange day to say the least.  I am busily working on my novel.  I have constructed 13,000 words over the past eight days and only seem to be speeding up.  I hope to be done with the rough draft before the end of May.  Because of this, I am spending less time working on content that I will be able to upload.

Instead, I decided I would share some of my values and influences.  The video above is about anti-consumerism or minimalism.  I have been greatest influenced by videos and books with this message over the last several years.  If you have never read “The Gospel According to Larry,” please read it.  I have moved from more than 1,000 possessions to less than 550 over the past few months.  It is a freeing expereince.

“The more you own, the more it owns you.”

Also, I attended a poetry critique yesterday.  I hope to update over the week ahead with new poetry using some of the tactics I learned at this meeting.  I feel like it is one area of writing that I have not practiced all that much.  Hopefully I will build my craft over time.

Essay Update

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I am still working hard on my new novel–11,000 words and counting.  Now that I am back home, I am going to have to figure out exactly how to use my time so that I continue writing.  After attending church today, I felt compelled to write about my experience.  Over the last hour or two, I wrote the essay below.  I hope you enjoy it.

Community Demands
My mind is wired to see social structures.  I can look at a group of people and identified the power structure quite easily.  In this piece, I compare the communities of the two cities that I have lived in.  It is, at the same time, a very personal piece about belonging.