Tag Archives: books

Back to Writing

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For the first time in quite awhile, I am writing again with a great level of consistency.  Along with this comes the concern of disclosing what I am writing.  It’s difficult to talk about what you are writing about without losing the excitement.  So, in the meantime, I think I am going to work on re-organizing the website so that it can include older works.

I started writing 9 years ago–at the age of 14.  It started with romantic poetry.  It developed into flash fiction.  That quickly turned into short stories.  By the time I was 20, I had written my first novel.  The thing is, I don’t have many of my older writings here.  They may not be as good, but I love the idea of presenting them as a way of seeing my progress.  I will likely start updating them this evening.

It will take awhile.  In the meantime, check out an old Sci-Fi Short story.  A recent discussion with a lovely girl reminded me of it.  I think you will love it.

The Prototype 

The Final Draft

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And, with the strong of a key, the final draft of “The Stagner Chronicle” is complete.  I’m so glad to be done and get it out for everyone to see.  I am going to order a copy today via Lulu.com to make sure the formatting is alright.  If it comes back clean, I will open the book for public sale and link it.

Four book down, a lifetime to go.

Back to the Grindstone

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I’ve taken an extended break from writing the last couple weeks.  Now, as my world settles down, I am back to work.  I am preparing a new fiction story that I will likely write into a novel…simply because I need a creative outlet.  I hate  it when I finish writing novels.  It’s like being part of a play and then realizing you have nothing to do after closing night.  Luckily, I’m in control of my own writing and I have plenty of ideas that I’d like to transform into words.

I’m also slowly working away on the final draft of The Stagner Chronicle.  I will likely have copies available to general public in October through Lulu.com.  I’ll keep you updated as I make some progress.  I’m about a quarter of a way through my final read and it is still pretty clean.  I can’t wait to get it out to you guys.

 

Kickstarter

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I’m sorry for not having any new writing over the past couple days.  I promise to upload something this weekend.  The reason I haven’t been uploading is a little complicated.  I’ve been exploring alternate projects via the internet.  I spent the entirety of yesterday working on a YouTube project.  I wrote the script and we were able to get it filmed and uploaded in a couple of hours.  It’s strange enough that I don’t entirely feel comfortable uploading it here.

But today was different.  I’ve seriously been looking into Kickstarter as an alternative for publishing my four books.  The website is brilliant in the way it crowdsources the revenue. I’ve always hated the idea of having to go through a publisher.  I love the idea of interacting directly with my readers.  So, I have a question for all of my readers.  If I start a Kickstarter campaign, how many of you would contribute?  What kind of rewards would you be looking for.

I look forward to hearing from you,
Richard

Falling Behind

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I haven’t done much in the way of writing over the past two days.  Yesterday entailed little more than helping a roommate move in followed by a party.  Today was the hangover followed by meeting with a friend.  Although I may fall a day or two behind on the memory challenge, I will continue it.

My main worry is that I haven’t been editing as much now that I have a big Elance job.  I have three days to do the second half of.  That is more than enough time.  I think I’m just going to spend the next couple hours working on editing.  I really just want to get this draft done so that I can have others take a look at it.  I’ll upload a new memory sometime in the next 24 hours.

Until then,
Richard.

Editor Richard Reilly?

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I started work on a big Elance job today.  This one is particularly interesting because the end result will actually carry by name: “Edited by Richard Reilly.”  It’ll be a great way to build my portfolio.  It’s an easy task…it’ll just take some time.  I’m just excited because most of the work I do through Elance is Ghostwriting…meaning my name will never be carried on the finished work.  It’ll be nice for some real recognition (and a good paycheck).

I spent my morning garage saling and watching a fire grow in the mountains west of town. Now I’m spending several hours writing–trading between memories, work, and editing.  Lot and lots of work to do on every front.  My goal is to finish by Elance job early and finish the third draft this week.  It’ll take a lot of work, but it will be worth it.  Until tomorrow, here is day two of The 50 Day Memory Challenge.

Day Two: Kicked Out of a Bar 

Ghostwriting Problems

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I don’t want to leave the wrong impression.  I love ghostwriting.  I like getting paid to sit down and write on random projects.  There’s just a problem that goes with it.  It forces all your energy away from your project and into someone else’s project.  I spent the last two days working on a website and real estate rewrites.  It was easy money…but I haven’t touched my novel in 48 hours.

It’s time to get back to work.  I am going to try to finish the first rewrite of my novel within the next 48 hours.  I’m still going to take sporadic ghostwriting jobs because I need the money…but I need to find the right balance.  I am currently dedicating at least three hours to writing a day–whether it is my own writing or ghostwritting.  I may bump that up to four hours.  Getting my own projects done when I have the time is the best way to not fell stressed out when i have a ghostwriting job.

Much Love,
Richard

The Intimate Sunrise

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It was strange watching the sunrise this morning.  It was the first time in many many months that I successfully stayed up all night and watched the sunrise.  It was beautiful, yes, but that barely explains it.  It’s almost like an intimate moment with a celestial object when you see it’s silver lining cross the horizon and fold into a dome over the next several minutes.  Those hours of waiting in darkness were well worth the wait.

Caffeine seems to be the perfect aide for editing.  I had three red bulls last night and got through about 20 pages of editing.  This afternoon, as I work my way through some espresso, I have almost completed another ten pages.  I now have only 28 pages of editing left to finish the second draft.  I’ve already worked out half the bullet points of things I need to work on.  This manuscript is already looking pretty clean.  My daydreams about sending it to an agent are starting to peak.  I need to control those daydreams until I have a clean manuscript.

With Love,
Richard

Fun in the Sun

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I just spent the last hour or so editing.  I want to keep going…but it is so beautiful outside.  I have a season pass to a “beach” up on a reservoir in the mountains.  Even though I know I should keep writing and editing…I can’t bring myself to do it.  I want to lay out in the sand and soak up the sun.  Nothing sounds better right now.

Until next time,
Richard