Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! A new opening has been written and integrated into the manuscript in progress. Callooh and callay and all that. No seriously. I am genuinely frabjous about it. I mean it didn’t grow unwieldy, it seems pretty elegant in terms of adding depth to character interactions and will help …
Author: rodericktmacdonald
Writer, pool player.
Find me at rodericktmacdonald.com
Late to the party
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Late on a Tuesday I post this, my weekly update. I keep the streak going! Once again I cannot lie to you, my friends, it is because it has taken until this day for me to finally break through my own resistance to rewriting the opening. Sometimes the …
17+ Problems and the corned beef conundrum
Hello my friends and the occasional relative! I come to you somewhat shame-facedly, on account of my total failure to engage in the real work facing me: rewriting the opening of the novel. I have nibbled at, then chewed on the bones of all the other available listed problems, and any that remain can all …
44 problems, or nibbling away at progress, or forest management, you decide!
Hello my friends and the occasional relative! Not the most inspiring title, eh? Fear not. While I freely admit to having failed to make the huge strides toward the completion of rewrites I would have wanted, there has been progress, and it is good. The problem is that there are some large scale projects left, …
Continue reading 44 problems, or nibbling away at progress, or forest management, you decide!
Sometimes it pays to stop, and remember
Hello My friends and the occasional relative! On a wall, in a bathroom, lived a laminate. Beneath that laminate the chipboard swelled, and grew warped with time, but for years I beheld the message that laminate traced for me, and like it or not, some of the phrases never left me, or versions of them …
53 problems and managing the cascade of consequences
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative. No exclamation point this week, because I am in the middle of it. This is the hard work. Getting down from 855 to 53 was easy. And 53 to zero would be fine if 10-15 of the 53 did not have to be solved by rewriting the opening. …
Continue reading 53 problems and managing the cascade of consequences
855 Problems
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! So yes, I have compiled some feedback files and have 855 problems to address, aside from the need to significantly upgrade the opening chapters, which are much as they were when I first vomited them out in order to get started, and adjust some aspects of the finale …
The Dog Days of Summer
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Strange to use this title when for the first time in many weeks I needed more than a sheet to sleep under last night, after noticing that already the days grow shorter, and on my work days I rise in darkness once again. *Looks up dog days* Ha! …
A Quiet Week and SPFBO 8 cohort #9
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! This week has been a slow one in terms of achievements and deadlines because my next deadline is August 12th, when all my feedback on The Slaves and the Djinn (still debating that title, by the way) is due back. I received more feedback this week, and it …
Time and World Building
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I’ve talked about world building before. And today I’m going to talk about it again, because I’m trying to get a solid outline of my next book drafted before my deadline for receiving feedback on The Slaves and The Djinn. (August 12th, btw.) Now I intend eventually to …
Roderick T. Macdonald 