Month: July 2025

Turns out nobody in college football knows about my kid.

Good.

This is how you sneak up on teams. I’m guessing by week 9 he will be a known commodity just in time for schools to discover he is the commodity they need. The feeling this season is that he and his entire team are going to sneak up on people. That is the only feeling you can get after winning but one game in three years. My boy appeared in 8 games (supposedly) last year, but only really played in about half those games. When he did he shut down the opposing WR. He locked up some of the top guys in the conference and only allowed 1 catch against a dude that was drafted to the NFL in the mid rounds this year. That’s not half bad for a 17 year old trying to establish himself. Wait till you see what he does with 18.

The same can be said for the high schooler. They won two games last year and forfeited those wins due to bad paperwork. When you look at the teams in 6A with the easiest schedules, 5 of the 10 easiest have Desert Vista on it. That’s sneak up on you numbers. The thought is that the defense cannot stop anyone in the pass or run game and the offense is not capable of consistent scoring. The run part has been true, but the kid at free safety this year is mine, and he intends to change that. If he does, he’ll be known too. That is what they both need.

Novel is extremely close now. Principal rewriting is complete and it came in just under 104k. Tomorrow is about editing it to the point where it feels as polished as it should be when I send it back out the editor. It is a lot better of a story and I’ve learned quite a bit from the process about how I shape stories as well as what I need to do in the future to be a better storyteller. I backend a lot of stuff, and I shouldn’t. The buildup I create is wild. Then the action happens very quickly. I need to try a story where the action hits right away. The Lady Talis suggested I take some notes from the King (Stephen) in terms of structure and I am listening. I am also back to learning. I realize I do not know everything. I realize that I teach this stuff to the best of my ability, but there is still plenty of room to learn.

I see the power of process. I am going to imbed process-based techniques into everything I do moving forward. Writing on the beach was and is incredible. I do much better when I don’t have network access. I will find a way to replicate this in the desert.

I did not make it through a chapter today. This one, as you may remember, was a mess. I had to really sit and talk it out with the Lady Talis to unwind some of the nonsense I’d built up. It is a dark ending. It is darker than I expected, but feels a bit rushed as well. The characters are authentically themselves by the end with all that comes with that. You see both sides of a few characters. It is going to fold neatly into the Coda… when it is done.

I expect that to be tomorrow. I expect I’ll be back at the beach and away from distractions. I had to leave today because the bees were after me. They wouldn’t let up and that made it impossible to focus. I finally gave up and walked home. That presented its own challenges. The internet is here. The kids reaching out and asking for things. Wanting to help the lady do things and solve problems. All of those are distractions to the work. It is why I ran out of time and concentration to get the work done.

Hours later, I am here blogging it out. I am excited to get back to it tomorrow and strip away the slew of distractions. I need it. There are two chapters left in this book. I can knock this out before the first. I expect to do so. I want to try and finish both chapters tomorrow and then spend some time editing spots to get the flow right. What I’ve learned about myself as a writer is that how it sounds matters as much as the story being told. The flow is important. I need to strive for more balance between flow and story (plot and plot structure). This novel is a stepping stone to better ones in the future.

I have this creeping fear that I’ve written myself into a corner and by doing so will need to rewrite a fair portion of this novel… again. I am hoping it isn’t true. I am going to let my hindbrain work on the problem overnight, so that I can manufacture a solution that gets me out of this thing. It doesn’t make a lot of sense the way things are wrapping up right now. The end is a bit of an escape room, with the timer not being as fully present or as critical as I want. It all feels forced and feels like it is going to end abruptly. This all turned sour on the twist, which I wanted to slip in there but hadn’t fully digested the consequences of.

That twist leads to a compromise that introduces a squad of new characters at the very end of the novel. This is a writing faux pas. Not a good look in any way. So, I need to figure out how to minimize the arrival of these new entities without distracting from the main thrust of the plot and the ticking clock rushing the story towards its conclusion. I have to figure all of this out tomorrow in this last chapter before the Coda.

I have no idea how to make that happen. The reality is I’ve dug myself a hole that is quite deep, and I need to figure out where the edges are so that I may attempt to patch it. Sometimes it takes ten minutes just to sort out the problem in your head so that you have a chance to fix it.

I am loosing track of time. I had to rewrite the heading of the blog yesterday to reflect the actual number and day. It wasn’t Thursday yesterday at all. That means it is Friday today. I’m blogging from this beautiful backyard after a failed beach session. I put together roughly 1200 usable words but I did not finish a chapter. It was far too crazy and hectic on the beach to really settle in and focus. Normally that sort of background chaos is okay for me, but it was also hotter than I’m used to as it was much later in the day. As the hour closed on 4:30 I started to think I was screwing up and not doing what the Lady Talis needed–which led me to up and quit.

I developed a routine and then I broke away from it for very good and productive reasons. However, trying to slide into a new time slot was a rough start. I believe I ought to go back to the basics tomorrow and try to get this chapter done. There is one more following it before the Coda. That pushes a finished draft back another day to, possibly, the 1st of the month. That is the deadline at any rate. From then forward it is all about the wedding and settling into the rest of this honeymoon we are on.

Some Thoughts:

1. Continue to be blessed in this wonderful place. A local artist is allowing the Lady Talis to wear one of her fabulous custom pieces to the wedding–NO CHARGE! Just take pictures, she says. Heck yes we will.
2. The initial photos from the engagement shoot dropped. Sick pics. Really really nice stuff.

Stories rarely turn on the axis provided. Often they go awry, chasing the thread of whatever found the most meaning to the characters through your word and attentions. My story has done this, swelling from the original 80K to 100K with three chapters firmly remaining. It has been three for two days now. I’ve completed a chapter each of those days and found need to add another to follow it. These things are signs that the tale is telling itself. It is right, it is spiraling, and it may not survive the final edit.

I hope that it does. This last section feels like Shadowrun. It feels like what they wanted me to write in the first place. It is winding down properly and will end on the note it is supposed to. This is the way of writing–of writers. I am pleased and blessed to have that be a major part of my existence. It could have gone another way, y’ know. I could have succeeded in football, or more likely, failed in a much slower and grander fashion. That would have given my kids a greater advantage and understanding of the sport than they do now, but likely less hunger. It is better the way it is now. They have or will surpass me and then have an entire life to figure out what they want to become.

I, on the other hand, am what I mean to become. I saw an omen of that today. As I wrote on the beach, a bald eagle set down on the beach not twenty feet from me. It stood there for well over a minute watching me watch it. Crows screeched and whirled all around it, trying to force it to move on. It never flinched. It surveyed me, surveyed the beach, and eventually moved on

Siting an Eagle, especially at that distance, is a powerful omen. I don’t want to take it for granted. I seek to understand it and to use the good mana to propel me forward. I was writing without the distraction of the internet, which leads me to believe that is the right thing to do. I will find a way to keep that ritual as part of my life and to keep writing in focus for longer and longer. This is the way. This is my way.

However, the omen comes only weeks away from my wedding, so I cannot say it is about writing alone. That connection–that bond I have with the Lady Talis is so important, and I must do what I must in order to ensure she is happy and safe. I will work harder at that and I will keep her in focus. This too is my way.

It is the only way.

there are days when the blog strays very far from original intent. These are the days when I fight to write and often lose the battle. The blog is meant to make me write daily—ten minutes that belongs solely to the craft.

I can write anything I want so long as it is all that I do for that stretch of time and so long as it is exactly ten miutes. Therein lies the problem. Often I type so slowly that I spend more time trying to think up what to say than I do of the actual saying. These blogs are slower, iloften lacking real substance or a central theme.

it is Th en like writing itself. The good stuff doesn’t always come but every day you try to find it. I keep trying. I keep putting out these blogs ten minutes at a time.

I continue to produce, though the product isn’t exactly what I want. I have what generally resembles a plan to get me through the rest of the story. It went in an odd direction, and I don’t exactly know how to get out of this mess I’ve made, but I am certainly enjoying the mess itself. Violent and dangerous this ending is becoming, but that makes a lot of sense. It is also kind of fun. I just need for it to make sense in story terms. The part I am at pushes them further away from success but gives them a plan to get there. I think it is a workable plan, so I’ll spend my beach writing time getting them to a point where they can execute that plan. Hopefully it falls into place.

Some Thoughts:

1. We did the wedding photo shoot today I am wiped completely out. It took hours, which was great, but now I am at the drain mode. I need sleep. I need to reset. I’ll do that after this blog.
2. Both my kid’s football teams are predicted to lose a lot of games. Time to prove the haters wrong?
3. The UNC team my boy is with has only one 1 of its last 23 games. That is a sick L streak. However, players from the squad and coaches and staff keep getting swiped by bigger, often FBS schools. So there is talent there…
4. People are really acting like Iphones appear in pictures before phones were a thing.That is what viral marketing looks like.

I am tired. It may be wine tired or mind tired, perhaps both. Today was a long one. We spent quite a lot of time on the road and made minor progress in the things that mattered. We are making progress and that is the thing that matters the most. My fatigue doesn’t carry a physical vector, because the movement was a low for my time here. I needed that low–that lull in heavy steps. It gives my leg time to heal, if only partially. I don’t know what is wrong there, but after a 10 mile day the pain is enough to keep me awake through the night. It is a problem that needs to be fixed, but until I know what it is or where, specifically, I cannot learn if it even can be fixed. It may be a swelling issue tied to a tear, or rupture, or some such malady that is unfixable. In the meantime. I still walk.

And write.

Another chapter toppled. 5 remaining. I think I have a very good handle on the flow of the thing along with the perfect beach workspace far removed from all things internet. I live there now. Every morning belongs to this work and I am doing a bang on job of getting it out Five more days, if I can keep the pace. Five more days and then a day of editing or perhaps two and the book goes back off to the editor. We will see what happens next.

What I fear most is that a recently released book may be mirroring the ending I wrote. If that is the case, it is going to be another long rewrite… perhaps the book dies right there. No use worrying over what-ifs. Write, love, move the heck on.

This is the way.

Life is wonderful. Life is tough. Life is stress.

I feel it in moments throughout the day. We are having the big wedding in a few weeks, and that hangs over our head like this cloud of things that need to be planned and handled. Add that to the impending novel deadline and my stress levels are skyrocketing. I intended this to be a fun and relaxed trip, but there is too much to plan and think about for it to ever really be that for longer than a few hours at a time.

But those hours are exquisite.

I live for those hours. I breathe them in like it is the only air that I get. I love when those are the things on my mind and not the drama of trying to make sure we have everything handled for everyone in our lives as though we continue to be their cruise directors. It isn’t even the wedding. That part I’m excited about. It is planning and navigating every detail of when the family arrives to ensure that they have a great experience. Isn’t it our experience that is supposed to be the one that is featured?

I’m just venting because I need it. I’ll go back to planning and cruise directing and all the things needed so these kids can say, “Yeah, it was pretty cool.” and I can be happy that such a small nod of satisfaction escaped the prison of indifference that is this generation. I’ll do it and I’ll love it, not because I want that acknowledgement from them, but because it makes my wife happy. That, after all, is what it is all about.