On "what the hell have you been up to?" - An A to Z post

It's been - several - months since I've posted here. I always have these great plans about writing here, and then life finds a way to distract. So, as part recap of 2014, part what I'm looking forward to in 2015, part journal, part whatever I feel like calling it, I'm posting an A to Z list. We shall call it the What the Hell Have You Been Up To? Or WtHHYBUT? for short.

Arrow
I will be the first to admit that when I heard that Arrow was going to be on CW my first thought was "teeny bopper drama, NEXT." But something (I honestly don't remember what) got me to sit through a few episodes, which turned into binge-watching seasons 1 and 2 and watching season 3 now live.  This is good stuff. They made him a little Batman-ish, but that's not so bad.

Brandon Sanderson
I try to write sometimes. And then I read Brandon Sanderson and feel a complete and utter failure. Man, this guy is good. I was behind so I read both The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance this year (as well as his YA books). Just read his books. All of them. Any of them. But particularly the Starlight Archives books.

Cinemas
Quiet year for the movies for me.  Seen a good number. Just nothing I feel worth talking about too much. Good movies were generally the ones you'd expect from me. The Hobbit, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America. I suppose John Wick was an unexpected surprise of a good, fun movie.

Dungeons & Dragons
Nerd card admission time. This is the first time I've ever played D&D. Just never seemed like it would be my thing. A friend in town wanted to start a new game and asked if I'd like to join and I finally just said "why not?" So. Much. Fun. And an excuse to write. I think I've written around 30 pages of backstory for my character. Dwarf Fighter incase you were wondering. And yes, my first act was to go to the bar and get a drink.

Expanse
This gets two nods. 1) Cibola Burn came out (book... number...  four?). And it was one of the best of the series in my opinion. And 2) the TV show starts in 2015 on SyFy. Trailer is out now. Go look it up. Then sit and wait as impatiently as I am.

FOOTBALL!!!!
It needs to be said that way.  Got a few Ravens games on TV up here (I don't live in Baltimore). And they made it to the playoffs, only to lose to Evil Little Bill (as GRRM calls him) and the Pats. /grumble.

Game of Thrones
Continues to be on TV. I continue to watch it. And continue to wait while GRRM does everything but write the next book. I'm not buying that coffee table book. No way I'm supporting him stalling the next book even longer.  I'll think about it after Winds of Winter comes out though. I like big coffee table books.

Hunger Games
I was not a huge fan of the books. Just. Not. Thought the first one was ok. But from there, meh. Not that it was awful. Just wasn't for me. But the movie was good. And then the second movie was really good. I know the first part of the third movie (why do we keep splitting third movies into two?) is out, but I haven't seen it yet.  Looking forward to it though.

I should probably have used H to talk about The Hobbit. Oops.

Joe Abercrombie
Binge-read the First Law books. I don't know why I was so reluctant to read them. I had heard countless recommendations for him. Was already following him on Twitter. Just never felt the urge to pick up the books.  Did. Loved them. Third was my favorite, so worth sticking it out if you haven't read all of them.

Keep moving.

Lawrence, Mark
If I want to cheat and use last names for some and first names for others, I can. It's my blog. Bugger off. No, don't do that. I'm sorry.  Keep reading. (Deckard Cain voice) Stay awhile and listen. So, this was a year of Mark Lawrence. I was rather far behind with his books and read all four in 2014. Prince, King & Emperor of Thorns. Prince of Fools. All good stuff. Thorns if you like the bad guy anti-hero type. Fools if you like the humorous anti-hero type. And the next Fools book is out in 2015, so there's that to look forward to.  Pretty sure I reviewed the Thorns books on here. Not sure I did Fools. SO. FAR. BEHIND. on book reviewing.

Marvel
Yeah. Insert something Marvel did here.  Awesome.  Next.

Netflix
Binge watching TV shows? Check. Weird movies I'd never go to theaters to see? Check. Wasting huge chucks of time in front of the television? Why not? I watched Troll Hunter. Yeah. I don't think I can say anything else. I might be a TV addict. And it'll be worse in April with Daredevil (see M), Game of Thrones, ... ... ...

On to the next one.

Puppy
Got a puppy.  Forgot how much work they are. But he's cute. And he's definitely not a Schnoodle. He's a Giant Schnauzer mix. What's he mixed with? A Standard Poodle. So, a Schnoodle? No. Be quiet you. Maybe a Giant Schnoodle. Speaking of... time to walk said pooch.

Q-Bert
Just because.

Rothfuss, Patrick
While we wait for the third book of the Kingkiller Chronicles. And wait. And wait. And wait. *Looks at watch* Still waiting. Pat has released The Slow Regard of Silent Things. I'm not sure I need to mention this here. The book has been getting much praise. And for good reason. However, it's not for everyone. I just happen to like the playful language. Plot people shouldn't go for it.

Study
So, I am going to take my PMP (Project Management Professional) in 2015 (goal is for June, but we will see). How not bloggy for me to talk about work stuff.  This is supposed to be my escape.  Oh well. So, once I get studying for that you'll likely get some radio silence from me (again). But the bills must be paid, so...  yeah.

Twitter
Jumped on the Twitter thing. Don't use it too often. Follow / reply to people more than I post my own thoughts. Do put up some random comments or word counts or playing with the trending stuff. So, some activity. I use the Twitter under @DougCFisher. Think it might be time to remove the Szever name from this and just call it like it is.  Hi, I'm Doug. And I'm outta heeeeeere.  Maybe someone will get that.  Maybe Szever sticks around and the Doug name gets buried with this post.  We shall see.

U2
2014. The year that U2 clogged our iDevices. Listened to it once. Yup. That's it. I think they apologized for that afterwards.

VNV Nation
A new album out for VNV. Transnational. Typical VNV album. Two or three really strong songs...  Retaliate...  Awesome. Then the rest on the slower end. Not that slow = bad. But, I just love a nice strong beat.

Writing
Very, very, very slowly. Currently at 9,100 words though and the story has barely begun, so shaping up to be something big.

X-Men
Ok, so I saw the latest X-Men installment.  Meh. What I'm really looking forward to are X-Force and Deadpool. Thank you, Fox for FINALLY getting Deadpool going. Took long enough.

Yo Gabba Gabba
Kids are now 5 and 2 (almost 3). I think I've seen every episode of Yo Gabba Gabba 100 times over.  Been watching it since the older one was an infant.  Still going.

Z...  zebras? zoo? zodiac? zero... ZERO!  I got nothing for Z.

Now I know my A, B, C's...

On Writing

A follow-up to my first post on writer's block.  Read this.  First drafts of some famous works.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-storytelling-animal/201203/crappy-first-drafts-great-books

On Drafting

Lost amidst the lights and noise of the NFL Draft.  I don't even watch college football.  I suppose it's just a short FOOTBALL fix between the Super Bowl (go Ravens!) and next season.  Not even knowing who the players are, there's just something about the idea of drafting that is intriguing.  Maybe it spawns from picking your dodgeball team in elementary school.  Maybe there's just something in our nature that makes us want to "pick" things from a list of items.  It's collecting.  Gotta Catch 'Em All.

It makes me miss the trading card games.  They don't play World of Warcraft TCG at my local store, and I just cannot justify starting Magic: The Gathering this late in the game.

This does remind me that Blizzard announced...

A man can hope his trading card game cravings are sated by an online card game.

Drafting also reminds me of colors (read the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks; which I am currently on book 2), which reminds me of writing, which reminds me of how little I have accomplished.  Perhaps now is as good a time as any to research some more names.

EDIT (4/26/13):
Conked out before the end of the NFL draft.  Happy with the Ravens' selection.  Everyone thought they'd go with the Notre Dame linebacker - replace Ray Lewis! they screamed.  But, in Ozzie we trust, and I have to believe in the Free Safety choice.  His highlight reel is pretty crazy.

On Purpose

I saw another blog that had something like this and I like the idea, so, as they say in creative writing classes...  steal, steal, steal.  What I want to make is a list of accomplishments to strive for over the next year.  Maybe having something as such in writing will help.  And since there's power in the number seven (seven kingdoms, seven gods, seven satrapies, seven colors, seven great purposes, seven elevens, seven dwarves, seven chipmunks twirlin' on a branch eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch), I shall have my own seven purposes.  They tell you goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.  I probably won't hit all of those as some of these are more vague notions than SMART goals, but without further ado...

1.  Be a better father

This is not to say I am a bad father, but this will probably tie into some of the other items on the list (watch less TV didn't end up making the list...  so...  just read on).  I have the propensity to take the easy way out of things, and thus the kids probably watch more TV than they should.  So, in this will be - less TV, more interactive playing, reading, etc.

2.  Be a better husband

I would like to start dating my wife again.  Over time, and with the addition of children, careers, responsibilities, chores, hobbies, etc. it is easy to start taking things for granted.  Daily life falls into a rhythm, and the spark that brought it all together sometimes falls to the background, sometimes in a slow fade, other times in a ball of fire.  LionEyes and I are in the process of buying a new house, and maybe it is a time to start things with a clean slate...  to make each other a higher priority again.  

    (brownie points for picture choice?)

3.  Read more (at least more than last year)

Entertainment has been mindless for too long.  As it stands, I am on pace to exceed last year (and the year before that...  since there's the fun discrepancy of I read more books last year, but more pages the prior year).  I should pass both with so many things to look forward to...  NOS4A2, Joyland, Abaddon's Gate, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Codex Born, The Republic of Thieves, Steelheart, and that's not counting all the prior year books I never got to.  

4.  Go on a trip

Note, plans to go to Disney were postponed due to the aforementioned home purchase.  So, this needn't be a major trip, and likely this will include two - as it should be something with LionEyes alone, and something with Munchkin and Peanut coming along, but away from home for a long day or an overnight just as an escape from the routine.  

5.  Add 50,000 words to work in progress

This may be lofty considering I've been frozen at 3,000 for near a month now and requires my getting on the Naming issue (and considering the overall goal is really over the 100,000 mark).  I would like to write a novel length work one day, and the only way to do that is one word at a time.

6.  Get a tattoo

For me, my family, and my lifestyle, this is sadly the most controversial goal.  Also, this is probably the least likely to occur due to my own chronic indecision on placement (currently bouncing back and forth between forearm and inner bicep) and design.  No, I will not share my thoughts on design as I don't want any outside influence to sway me one way or another (though LionEyes would be allowed a say more likely than not).

7.  Take more pictures

I suppose this includes buying a camera as pictures off the iPhone that look great on the computer tend to be rather fuzzy when printed out.  Pictures of the Munchkin and Peanut, of LionEyes and myself, of us all, of our home, of our neighborhood, scenery...  food (why not?).  I'm slowly reverting back to being a more physical person (holding an actual picture, book, etc. instead of digital...  though I will continue with e-books for the foreseeable future - not counting Joyland - thanks Stephen King).  LionEyes has already been researching cameras, so hopefully this can begin soon.

Now to try to remember to come back to this list as things are accomplished, or just require further reflection...

On a Version of Writer's Block

I read somewhere that writer's block doesn't exist (it does), and to a certain extent I agree (and it doesn't).  I think when most people think about writer's block they imagine sitting in front of a computer and just not knowing where to even begin.  But it's more than that.  It's perfectionism (face it, you are not going to get it right on the first try).  It's fear (not everyone is going to love what you have to say).  When you can get past these things, I think that version of writer's block is passable.  You fight through it one word at a time.  Words become sentences, become paragraphs, become chapters.  They needn't be perfect.  That's what editing is for (but no one wants to think beyond the first draft - I'm guilty of this myself). 

Yet as I am typing this now, I am writing at a time when I feel the pressure of that invisible block upon me (and maybe part of me is writing this as a distraction from doing the actual work of progressing things).  However, in this case, I know the problem and namely it's Naming. 

Someone said "names are important" and I firmly believe that (all bow to Patrick Rothfuss in acknowledgment of his awesome).  With some characters, all they have is their name.  So, even though I have 3,500 words (give or take) of a first chapter (for now it's a first chapter, but I've already taken a first chapter and bookmarked it for later on) written down, progress has come to a standstill.  Do I know where I want the story to go?  Yes (I have a general direction in mind anyway - sometimes not having everything figured out helps because the characters don't always want to listen to you...  but that's another story).  So, what's my problem?  I haven't named EVERYTHING yet, and I just can't bring myself to write something along the lines of "and the King of (Island Not Yet Named) turns to (Character Not Yet Named) and..." Sometimes you can get by naming something later (hell, this blog is titled Insert Title Here - was titled that...  we will see if the new title sticks), but with the bulk of the nouns you're dealing with unnamed it doesn't really work. 

I already know who the main POV characters are in title, in physical description.  I've started giving them personalities, traits, backgrounds (or have they been giving that information to me?).  They are becoming more than their clothes, profession, political titles (I seem to have a problem with the word "and" at the end of my lists).  Yet I can't figure out their names and without that, the story is behind the block - now picturing my story trapped under a giant children's block of wood carved with various letters (likely F and U are visible).  I've scanned baby-naming books, web sites, movies and novels.  Nothing feels right yet. 

On top of that, the scale of the story that is clawing it's way out of my head is grander than anything I have handled before.  Maybe that comes from all the George R R Martin I've been reading/watching lately (though I would never even begin to compare myself to such a master).  I'm an amateur and I know it.  I have a day job I am fond of (at least I tell myself that to help the days go by).  Regardless, I count at least six POV characters (only two of which have been named thus far), another 10 - 15 that require more in depth characterization (two or three names done), nine land names (one I am happy with), 12 or so ship names (three done), etc. 

Why is writing so hard when we've all been doing it since we were children?  It's work.  It takes time other than the time you spend actually typing (or hand-writing, as I had always been prone to do until not too long ago) the story to research names, customs, diction, etc. (throw an "etc." on and you don't need an "and" anymore!). 

So may this post exist as a reminder to (what the hell are you still doing typing here?! Get back to work!)