Revise Early and Often

These days it seems like I can't go more than a few paragraphs before I stop and revise what I'm doing. That's not a bad thing but it does add to the time it takes to complete something.

I suppose the real culprit here is not have a good solid few hours to work on any one thing. All the interruptions force me to refocus and then revise what I'm doing.

And I'm realizing that revise is probably the wrong word here. Review is probably more accurate. Yet during my downtime away from everything, I do truly revise and change bits of stories so I can go back the next day to fix what I've done.

It's all about saying what I want to say and saying it the way I want to say it. Sometimes I don't have a preference on the what I want to say but I want to say it in a way that is interesting. The recent combat scene I finished the other day in Book 4 is an example. It didn't matter to me what the particulars of the combat were. But I absolutely wanted to describe them in an engaging way. That was hard because I find writing combat scenes not very interesting.

So when I revise I look for what is being said and what is not being said. Is there anything to add? Can I clarify my point by changing words? Can I simplify the whole mess and say this in a more straightforward way? Often I'm doing all of these things at once in a really heavy edit. But more often than not, I reserve those time to when I can step back and see a story or section of a story in its entirety because editing here and there is like making a patchwork quilt. And in general, that's not my goal.

The other thing I ask myself when I re-read my work is this: Do I like the way it reads? I edit for the ear as well as the eye, you see. I re-read the first chapter of Book 2 the other day to see if I still liked it. And I have to say there's something there I don't like. I can't put my finger on it but I'm sure I will. Eventually.

Keep writing -- and revising -- everyone.

Publishing Schedule

I had to swap my Monday and Tuesday schedule to accommodate a medical appointment. That done, I'm back writing.

I've been hammering on the writing projects I've got open. Book 4 has been giving me lots of trouble. I keep writing and rewriting the same scenes over and over trying to reach a point that I'm happy with. The short story I'm working on has along been hard to finish. I think I figured out where it is going and how to get there. 

In both cases I've had to think about the story in question in great detail to ensure the story works because I've got several stories that I've completed that aren't working for me now. They will have to be rewritten. 

Part of the problem here is I've had much less time to focus on my writing. This happens from time to time. Fortunately, my schedule should settle down soon. So I'm hoping to make more strides forward soon. 

In the meantime, I am waiting to see the physical proof of Book 1 from the publisher in April. Also in April, I will receive the artwork for my promotional material. This includes the final cover art, marketing images, and a PDF of the book interior. In May, virtual tour bookings will begin. And sometime in between now and the end of May the book tour should be ready.

That's the word I have about what's coming. I'll let everyone know when the book is available for presale. Stay tuned everyone.

And keep writing.

Everyone's a Critic

For those who don't follow me on Twitter, my name there is @feitelberg. Now, as it happens there's a @jfeitelberg in the area and I some time get his tweets and I'm sure he just some of mine. Yesterday, I got several from his crew.

The first commented that my twitter feed was weird. I don't know what that means since my twitter feed mirrors my blog posts. So I ignored that tweet. I have nothing to say to that. If someone finds it strange or weird that's their opinion. There are entitled to it.

Next there was a question of where they could find my stuff? By this I assumed they might my stories. So I directed this person to my web site feitelberg.net. There are links there to my work along with other things.

Lastly, there was a tweet about why I had not received the physical proof of my novel yet. I didn't understand this since it is only of interest to me. But I answered nonetheless that the physical proof is due next month.

Then I did a little checking on these people. They all appear to be young (20-ish) and more interested in sports than fantasy novels. It occurred to me that this might be a form of cyber bullying that you hear about but at the same time they might buy my novel too, I suppose.

But I think the bigger issue here is that in a world of social media, everyone's a critic and offers an opinion even when it is not insightful or thought provoking. I was raised differently and I try not to open my mouth unless I have a point to make. Hopefully, my blog posts reflect that even if my points are small ones and minor. That's better than have no point and just making noise.

But I suspect once my novel is out, I'll be fielding comments that are a lot more noise so I suppose I'll just have to get used to it.

Upgrading Technology Needs to be Easier

My wife and I have suffered through a few technology upgrades recently. I say 'suffered' because the process could have been a lot easier. Here's what happened:

My wife's laptop died and she needed a new computer. She had a backup but the operating systems of the backup and the new computer didn't match. So she could do a full restore. She had to install all her applications from scratch and then adjust them. And she had to move all her data back herself too. In some cases that was tricky because the operating system wants things in certain places and we had to jump through hoops to get the data in the right format.

We also upgraded phones. Again we couldn't just backup and restore the data because the operating system of the phone was older than that of the backup. We had to update the new phone first. And even when my wife did that she was missing all her apps because they didn't transfer from her old phone to her new computer when she synced it months ago. Instead, she had to install all her apps onto her computer so they could be transferred to her new phone.

Frankly, I found both processes a lot harder than they should have been and I'm finding that new versions of software that I've used for years, harder to use than before. The redesigned iTunes is a perfect example. The download feature is buried in the right corner at the top. Since I use that a lot to update apps I've purchased not finding it in the left navigation any more was very confusing.

The search feature in Word is another example: there are three levels of search and I usually want the third level so I have to click through a few controls every session so I can get to the controls I want. I find this needless, but I'm sure Microsoft changed this because the advanced search confuses people. So I am punished because I understand it and am a power user.

And I say all this as someone who has written about technology for years and have helped design teams with usability. Usability is, of course, the study of how people use things. What they find intuitive and what they can't use easily. The idea is to make products so easy to use it is effortless. Technology companies are failing in that practice, I think. Increasingly I find new products harder to use which means I am less likely to upgrade unless there is a compelling reason to do so.

My wife had to change computers, for example, her old one died. And I wanted the faster 4G LTE on my phone, which is why I upgraded that. But I'm not upgrading my desktop computer even though the operating system is two versions old. Instead, I'm likely to buy a new laptop. Why? Because it avoids a standard upgrade path. But I'm still thinking about it so I might forget the whole thing and like with my aging computer.

The bottom line here is this: technology is suppose to enhance our lives and make it easier but the effort to stay current is getting to be too hard and is not always an improvement. Technology companies would be wise to pay attention to this and make their products as effortless as possible.

Upcoming Schedule

My novel is definitely on a slow march to being released. The next thing on the schedule is getting a physical proof of the book. This is due in April. About the same time I should very some of the marketing materials the publisher is creating so I will finally be able to show everyone the image of the cover and maybe a few other things too.

What is not clear is when will the book trailer be ready. I asked about this and got the very vague answer it will be ready by the time the book releases. If it weren't for the fact that making the trailer requires lots of images I don't have and a soundtrack for music, I'd create the thing myself. I even when so far so to search for some images but when I reviewed the storyboard I developed I realized I cannot do it justice.

I suppose I could try a scaled-down version with less images and more words, but I'll still need some music. I'll have to search the web to see what I can find and decide on the feel I want for the trailer.

I think the lesson here is not to leave this to others in the future, which will be hard less I really don't have the resources and finding good royalty-free images and music that's appropriate is really hard.

In the meantime I have another short story to finish and I need to try to move Book 4 along some more.

Keep writing everyone.