Daily Check-in 6/5/08 (Better Late Than Never)

Sorry, everyone, I almost forgot to report in today. I'm tempted to just type "Ditto," because today was a continuation of the background research from yesterday... and the day before... and the day before that.

BTW, if you visit my blog (rather than just read it via email or a feed reader), then you can check out a new feature I've added: a sampling of other blogs I read on a regular basis. You'll find it at the bottom of the left hand column below the "Subscribe," "About Me," "My Posts About" and "Blog Archive" features.

Daily Check-in 5/22/08 (A Day Late)

Greetings from Poplar Tree Bay!

Despite hours spent traveling by both plane and car, I'm proud to
report I still found time to write last night before going to bed. I
continued working on an outline I'd started the day before, in which I
was aligning the events in my story with something called "The Hero's
Journey" by Joseph Campbell (as adapted for writers and screenwriters
by Chris Vogler). It was an incredibly useful exercise... even though
it made me realize I'm using the wrong character as my hero! And it's
better to discover that now rather than later.

BTW, I'm posting this via email from my Blackberry (our only form of
Internet access right now). Call it blogging-to-go! I can't tag my
post with categories this way, but it's just cool I can post at all.

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

A New Writing Routine

Yesterday, I confessed to Scott my my plan to get up early to write before work each morning; a plan I've had for awhile but not yet implemented. Scott had his own plan: to get up early to go to the gym before work each morning; a plan he had implemented albeit inconsistently.

So, we mutually agreed to jump start our respective plans beginning this morning. And we did!

I got up at 6:00 AM; showered; dressed; ate breakfast; then plopped myself down at my desk and continued fleshing out a new fiction idea I've been toying with. Scott got up at 6:15 AM; put on his workout clothes; and went to the gym.

Here's your first official "virtual boss" assignment, family: give me endless grief if I fail to continue this new writing-before-work routine. I'll keep you posted here.

A Full-time Writer...

...for four months, at least.

I had some good news this week: MPOW granted my request for sabbatical leave, to allow me to pursue writing on a full-time basis. So, for four months beginning September 1, 2008, my (temporary) full-time job will be writer! Sabbatical leave isn't a benefit most employers offer, and I'm incredibly lucky MPOW does.

The goal of the sabbatical, as stated in my application, is to produce a book-length manuscript for a scifi/fantasy idea I'm developing. Obviously, four months isn't nearly long enough to crank out an entire book. I've a lot of research and planning and writing to do before my leave even begins. And I'm recruiting all of you to help me!

Hey, procrastination runs in our family, and I definitely inherited the gene. Since most fiction writers aren't fortunate enough to have a book deal that sets a deadline for a finished manuscript, we control our own schedules and set our own deadlines--which we're free to meet or blow off as we feel like. That lack of accountability is dangerous for a well-practiced procrastinator like me.

On January 30, 2008, the Write to Done blog published a post called "How to Hold Yourself Accountable as a Writer" that suggested the idea of a "virtual boss"--someone, perhaps even a blog audience, you answer to about your writing:

Blogs work great for this. If you tell your blog audience that you're going to post your writing one section at a time, every day, then you'll have pressure to actually write, or you’ll look bad in front of a large crowd of friends. No one wants that. Ask your blogging audience to hold you accountable. Of course, if you're looking to publish this writing elsewhere, you might not want to publish it on your blog, but instead you could just give them a word count or some other update like that each day--as long as you’re honest!

See where this is going, blog audience?

I'm going to set some goals and deadlines, and share them with you on this blog. I'll also report my progress, and (this is the important part) you'll call me on the carpet if I don't post when I'm supposed to or fail to meet one of my goals or deadlines. Fun, right?!

Now, I probably won't be saying much about the content of my writing. Writers are warned against talk about their ideas too much, because you risk depleting the creative energy of those ideas: Don't talk about your ideas; use them to write!

None of us have been very diligent about keeping up our blogs. I mean, there's a whole basement remodeling I never posted for you to see. But to be honest, my life usually isn't so extraordinary to tell you about. Using this blog to let you share in my writing process, and to keep my writing on track, seems a lot more fun and exciting anyway.

TIA for your help. I'll list you all in the acknowledgment of my first published book. :-)

Scott Has a Blog Now, Too

So, there's even more pressure for me to start keeping my own blog more up to date. I had planned to do some blogging this holiday weekend, but a head cold hit me hard late last week and had me in bed or on the couch most of the time. I finally started feeling better New Year's Eve night, although my nose is still plugged up and I'm blowing it often.

Visit "A Blog By Scott" at http://ablogbyscott.blogspot.com

Another Hofmann sibling joins the blogosphere

Did everyone notice that Jenni and Billy have a blog now?

3goldogblog

We are such a cool family!

Subscribe to Steven: The Musical!

Because some of you aren't very well acquainted with blogs, you may not realize that one of the great things about them is blogs are syndicated. That means instead of having to visit a blog to check for new content, you can subscribe to the blog and let it tell you when there's something new to read.

You'll see a new "Subscribe" button near the top of the column just to the left. Clicking this button takes you to my subscription page on Feedpass. From there you can subscribe to my blog with any number of popular feed readers (what?!?), or even receive new posts via email. How convenient is that! And what's so cool is that this Feedpass page is a mini lesson about this whole syndication/subscribe/feeds thing. Might be worth a read.

And I can try to show you how all this works when Scott and I are in Danville this weekend.

See you soon!

Generation C (the "C" is for "Content"...or maybe "Crap")

There's an interesting quote in the online article at...

www.trendwatching.com/trends/GENERATION_C.htm

...that may give you an idea of what to expect from my blog:

"Don't get us wrong: superior tools and no talent still equals useless
content. GENERATION C is and will continue to create heaps and heaps of
crap which, at best, will be appreciated only by inner-circle friends
and family."

Lucky you, my "inner-circle" of family and friends. Enjoy the crap to
come!

Sibling Rivalry

My sister Stacey has a blog. Now I have a blog, too. See my blog, Mom? Mom! Mom, look at my blog!

Oh, and Happy Mother's Day! :-)