biggerboat's building boondoggle blog
I started this in H&F but this seems a better place for it. These are my H&F posts. A bit long-winded but hopefully en
I finished my first run-through of my novel, trying to clean up things mostly. I've been bothered by parts of the plot not really tying together neatly. I finally figured out how to do that, but it involves creating a new character. I've pretty much done getting her in where I want her, but it involves quite a bit of cleaning up more things. Plus, the book just keeps growing.
But, I'm back into it mentally so hopefully I can get through another round of editing fairly quickly.
I still think I need to hire a professional editor, though. I'm really happy with what the book says, not so much how I say it sometimes.
The city has compiled a list of over 11,000 homes that are non-compliant with building permits. They admittedly have said that they have no idea if those homes have actually done any work, or need to do work. Several people have already been interviewed as being on the list even though their elevated house is 12' above the ground.
We haven't been notified, but I'm not sure if anyone has. There's a website where you can check by entering your address. Not clicking that.
What does that mean? That they've done modification without pulling permits? Or that they did a drive-by and saw obvious out-of-code stuff?
What does that mean? That they've done modification without pulling permits? Or that they did a drive-by and saw obvious out-of-code stuff?
I have no clue, nor does anyone else that I know of.
Finished the bar. Did it in one day. I ended up putting a four plug outlet close to the middle. It'll be fine. Super happy how it came out
Thanks.
Plumber came today. He put this valve in so if there is a backflow of sewage in a future flood, it won't come up in our house. Also put in a cleanout. Can't believe we didn't have one.
They also ran something through the lines to clean out all the old stuff thats been accumulating for years. He put a camera through and said our 50 year old pipes look pretty good.
getting caught up after a few weeks away
I try to keep this kind of stuff out of my blog, but it's kinda heavy on my mind.It's scary what's going on right now. I have to talk my wife off a ledge every day. Hell, I gotta talk myself off a ledge every day.I feel like our way of life is quickly coming to an end. I'm just not that hopeful.I've spent my whole life believing humans were inherently good, with bad tendenci
heavy on many of our minds
seems we either take action or surrender ostritch with heads in sand with no grounds for complaint
Finished the bar. Did it in one day. I ended up putting a four plug outlet close to the middle. It'll be fine. Super happy how it came out
yeah, i would be totally happy with that
Thank you bigger for being apart of my best ever werewolf moment!
For those who weren't aware, there were like 3 Wolves left with 30 other villagers and I binged one of them. It was a great shot! Read the follow up for the villager reaction.
I completed my first pass of the entire novel. Woooo, it is looonggg.
Still have a lot of work to do but it's coming together.
Well google tells me a novel should be 80,000-100,000 words. Mine is over 140,000.
It feels long to me, at least when I try to edit it. I keep going back and forth to make sure I didn't contradict myself in the story. It's sort of painstaking I guess.
The other thing about all of this is I doubt seriously if this would ever appeal to the masses. It's stuff I think about. No murders or spies or anything. Just people trying to make sense of things.
140,000 words is nothing.
Don't worry about the word count. The standard should be - is it long enough to fit the entire story (cutting just to cut makes a bad book, the entire story needs to be told) and the flip side does the story need to be so long. You need some alpha readers to tell you which one you have. You're too close to get a feel for it.
Is this a horrible first chapter or does it make you want to read more?
Patrick Hollingsworth sat alone on his couch, staring at the .357 magnum laying on the coffee table.
The coffee table itself was barely visible beneath the piles of newspapers, fast food wrappers, and beer bottles. The only things on the table not covered by garbage were his bong and rolling tray, wallet and keys, his telephone and a rolodex overflowing with business cards that he haphazardly shoved in.
The coffee table was a microcosm of Patrick’s apartment. The dirty dishes in the sink overflowed onto every countertop in his kitchen. The dishes shared space with more beer bottles and half eaten TV dinners.
Patrick had carved out two paths through all the trash lying on the floor of the living room. One path went from the kitchen to his couch, the other from his couch to his bedroom. Open newspapers covered most of the space in-between, but there were now more unopened newspapers than those he had read.
The newest addition to the debris on the coffee table was the .357. Patrick had owned the gun for more than 10 years now. He bought it when he got out of the Army. He didn’t know why. It had been sitting under his t-shirts in the bottom of his chest of drawers since he bought it. The gun was like everything else in his life. It just stayed where it was put so many years ago, never moving. Until this night.
Patrick had been sitting alone for hours now, an emotional war spinning in his head.
“What’s the point?” he would ask followed by “maybe it gets better.” But he had been saying “maybe it gets better for what seemed like forever, and it never did. “Why am I so unhappy?” He thought. It wasn't Vietnam. It wasn’t his dead-end job. It wasn’t his failed relationships. It wasn’t the betrayal by a family member. It wasn’t the recent death of a loved one.
It was all of that.
And none of that.
He felt the hopelessness of never moving forward. He thought about many things. But he didn’t think about his father.
Patrick knew it was time. He had to do something. He had to make this pain go away. He reached down to the coffee table and grabbed what he hoped might set him free.
IANAC. Nor much of a writer. So, lump of salt.
I think it builds tension nicely. Perhaps a bit wordy. Not sure what's gained by describing the mess on the table, then the apartment; maybe one or the other?
Spoiler
I'm going to assume he goes for the bong.
Omg did you really live there? I lived on winstead right off windsor but in the 90s.
IANAC. Nor much of a writer. So, lump of salt.
I think it builds tension nicely. Perhaps a bit wordy. Not sure what's gained by describing the mess on the table, then the apartment; maybe one or the other?
Spoiler
I'm going to assume he goes for the bong.
Thanks for the input. It is greatly appreciated.
I do struggle with describing the scene. I always wonder if I should describe in detail what I'm thinking or leave it to the reader to imagine. I do this a lot and quite often go back and delete stuff.
You assume incorrectly, but you'll have to read the book to find out :p
This is good. I'm a bit interested. I have no idea what the book is about or anything (I may have forgotten if you ever mentioned) and it still seems interesting based on just this.
However, the tension does have to be paid off decently. It can't just do this every chapter and have nothing happen lol.
Imagine spending 6.5m to have your house destroyed by a hurricane every few years.
This is good. I'm a bit interested. I have no idea what the book is about or anything (I may have forgotten if you ever mentioned) and it still seems interesting based on just this.
However, the tension does have to be paid off decently. It can't just do this every chapter and have nothing happen lol.
Thanks!
