Day 150: The Tough Ones

Some days on the writing challenge are tougher than others. Even a seemingly easy day like today was, in which I took the day off from my hour and a half long workout routine and mid-day shower, still threw me for a loop with an unplanned power outage right before a deadline. I have yet to finish all of my 2,500 words thus far today, but on the bright side, I did receive my largest freelance writing check of all time from my freelance gig. It's true that I still have some work left to do today, but getting a nice sum of money that I can place toward my dead will soften the blow somewhat :).

In writing news, I worked on Identity Interrupted, posted a blog post for character writing prompts on the subject of partiers and continued to make headway on my blog tour posts. Happy hump day everybody!

Day 149: Colbert Super PAC

I've been fortunate enough to be able to follow a lot of this Colbert Super PAC business and I think it's brilliant satire. Recent reports have stated that Colbert has raised over $1 million from his fans and other supporters and there are a whole lot of people who don't get it at all. What are these people donating to this clown for, they might say. Here's what they're donating for.

The Colbert Super PAC has shown one of the many reasons why our current political system is broken. The whole interplay between Colbert and Stewart with the renamed "Definitely Not Coordinating with Stephen Colbert Super PAC" showed how easy it is for candidates to raise a ridiculous amount of money for a campaign. What if some of this money went to creating jobs instead of creating attack ads? That's in the subtext of this whole Colbert Super PAC business. Colbert and Stewart are bringing these laws into the light so that the laws, like vampires, can burst and be reformed in the next couple of years. Personally, I think that these campaigns should be capped at a certain (reasonable) dollar amount. If they get money beyond that point, they should immediately donate it to charity. Won't that make them look better than an attack ad would anyway? Food for thought.

Today I continued writing guest posts for my upcoming March and April blog tour for The Post-College Guide to Happiness. I think it's going to be pretty awesome and hopefully it will get my book a lot of attention (61 straight days of anything on the net is bound to get a few folks to turn their heads). In addition, I worked on Identity Interrupted and posted a blog post of character writing prompts about the work obsessed. Hope everyone is having a great warm Chicago (or elsewhere) kind of day!

Day 148: Facebook IPO

Well, it looks like the Facebook IPO is on its way to reality and that it will create many millionaires from all of the people who have owned shares during their work there. Some of those wonderful Facebook IPO millionaires will stock a great chunk of the money away to pay for their kids' college funds and a select few will even put all of it away for the future for their own retirements. I have a feeling that most of them will run into the mo' money mo' problems situation. I realize that I am not a millionaire, though I hope to be one some day. From reading books like The Millionaire Next Door, I've come to learn that most millionaires got that way by living below their means and making sure that they pay themselves first. If you inherited a large sum of money or you got a huge promotion, where would that money go? For me, some of it would go toward my large debt, a tiny bit would go on one trip or one piece of jewelry for the lady, but the rest of it would have to go into savings. It's the only way that makes sense for sustained wealth.

If I can get to the point where I'm selling 100 (or even 1,000 books per day), I will have gotten to the point where I could save up and become a millionaire in my lifetime. I used to think about get rich quick schemes or creating some company and finding myself in a wonderful situation like the Facebook IPO folks are in. If you have had a successful venture such as this, make sure that your savings and paying yourself first are the biggest priorities for you. Not a new car/house/etc. I would wait for at least a year to see where the other shoe drops before making such a big purchase. I mean, look at NFL players who make tens of millions and end up broke halfway through their career. Save. Invest (safely). Live below your means. That's how you too can become a millionaire.

In the writing world today, I worked on Identity Interrupted, worked on a blog tour post and I posted a character writing prompts page about sports fans.

Day 147: 10 Minute Trainer

For the last three weeks, I've been busting my buns on Tony Horton's 10 Minute Trainer and I've been loving it. I had already been running 10 to 15 miles per week in training for the 10 miler Soldier Field race in May, but I had not been working my arms or my core very thoroughly at all. The best thing about 10 Minute Trainer is that nearly all of the workouts work the core quite well. I feel stronger and more healthy in general as a result of the work I'm doing. Is it tough to fit in the three recommended workouts each day (other than Wednesdays, which are the "day off," much better than the Sunday day off in P90X in my opinion) along with a run about five or six days per week...yes. I'm lucky to be someone who works from home, so that I can get the workouts in at practically any time of day, whenever I can squeeze them in.

I like these workouts better than P90X for a few reasons. They aren't as hard and time-consuming (though the ab video is comparable with P90X's ab ripper x). They aren't as tough on the joints due to their strong concentration on the core. And even though the results from P90x probably came more quickly due to longer duration, I'm still seeing some results in both my body and the amount of energy I've had each day. I definitely recommend it to anybody having trouble fitting a workout in.

Today in the writing challenge, I worked on the ending of Identity Interrupted (now I just have to go back and write the middle :)) and I posted a BCWI post about characters who are overweight in this character writing prompts page. Very excited to do my three 10 minute trainer exercises today, kick back and watch some UNC basketball and to hang with my lady. Happy Sunday all!

Day 146: Chuck and Bryan vs. The Goodbye

Last night, there were two major goodbyes in my life. In the world of television, I said goodbye to Chuck, which had its series finale last night. I've seen a lot of haters out there referring to the ending as a cop-out. I disagree. By having Sarah start to regain her memories and to fall in love with Chuck all over again, the two of them can have an even brighter future the second time around. I don't know if the kiss they share on the beach will restore her memories. It's obviously one of those "Are you a hopeless romantic or aren't you?" kind of TV scenarios. I think that if it didn't restore her memories, it certainly restored the emotion behind them. That's all they need, in my opinion.

In the real world, I said goodbye to my friend Swam, who will be going to India for three months and will follow it up by taking a high-paying job in either Washington, DC or Delaware. As my best friend from high school who will mostly likely be the best man at my wedding, it will be sad to have him in another country and then another city. Over the years in Chicago, I've had friends leave or fade away and as a shut-in writer, it can be difficult to get out there and meet new people. Most evenings, Amy and I stay in and thoroughly enjoy our time together. I still have some people I hang out with from time to time, but their numbers are dwindling. On the bright side, Swam being elsewhere does give me the opportunity to visit someone in a cool city :).

In writing news today, I continued working on the coda of Identity Interrupted and I began working on my happiness blog tour articles. I also posted a page from the character writing prompts book focused on criminals.

Day 145: Changing the Game

I've decided to make a slight alteration in the writing challenge to help me out with some promotion on my book The Post-College Guide to Happiness. I want to do a 60-day blog tour throughout the blogosphere to promote the book, which I think can be a real juggernaut sales wise if I can get a certain number of reviews. The blog tour will help me to get reviews, since I'll be giving out free digital copies of the book for the whole challenge, leading up to May (graduation season)!

Previously, I had said that the writing challenge consisted of 2,000 words toward my books, 400 words toward a blog post on my website and 100 words toward this blog. Since I have over 50 pages that I have yet to post on Build Creative Writing Ideas, I will continue to post one blog per day there and I will use my 400 required words per day for blog posts to tackle the blog tour. This will allow me to create the 60 unique posts for the tour without having to tax myself with an added blog post every day. When the blog posts are posted online, I'll definitely link to them everyday on this blog. It should be fun and hopefully it will increase traffic here, to BCWI and to my Amazon sales pages!

While the most exciting thing by far and away is the Chuck series finale tonight (!!!), I did have an enjoyable time working further on the climax of Identity Interrupted and on a blog post entitled working from home on the best ways to ensure a successful day of productive work. Tonight I'll also be wishing one of my best friends well for a three-month trip to India! Should be a fun evening all around :)

Day 144: Chuck Bartowski

I know that I don't usually write a blog post twice on the same subject, but I'm literally counting down the hours until the show "Chuck" shows its final two episodes on Friday night. Characters Chuck Bartowski, Sarah Walker, Morgan Grimes and John Casey are some wonderful fully realized characters and I have absolutely no idea how the series will end (though I'm sure they'll find some way for it to be happy). I haven't been this excited over a series finale since Friday Night Lights. I know that it's silly to be so obsessed over a TV show, but I feel a great connection to Chuck and the funny wittiness the show has demonstrated. Some day, I'd like to work on a show like Chuck that so deftly blends comedy and action. Friday night on NBC. Check it out! :)

Today, I wrote the BIG REVEAL SCENE in Identity Interrupted, though there's still plenty of scenes to write before it. I just got too excited to put off writing that fun scene. I also wrote a blog post about where to find inspiration. Less than 48 hours to go, y'all! :)

Day 143: The Editing Room

The toughest part of this challenge has been to make sure I put as much time into editing my books as I do writing them. My book, 1,000 Character Writing Prompts: Villains, Heroes and Hams for Scripts, Stories and More, is now in the proper order, has a kick-ass cover and is poised to be my next big hit. The only issue is that it's not edited and has plenty of errors and poorly phrased sentences that need tuning up. I need to set aside about 15 hours to edit this puppy from start to finish and add a few hours to the end of that for some formatting. These are the parts of writing I don't enjoy, but until I get to the point that I can afford a full-time editor, I will have to take on some of these responsibilities myself.

I have given myself a bit of breathing room by hiring an assistant for some formatting work, but because she can only work six hours a day, I'm mostly using her to set up future project work, including putting my prompts in order for my series, The Writing Prompts Workbook. After that, I'll have her help me to put the 365 writing prompts in order for The Writing Prompts Journal. If I can get all of those formatted and ready to go, I may be able to release 8 books all around the same time. In a few months, perhaps those books would lead to a doubling or tripling of sales for me! A man's gotta dream, right?

In the writing world today, I added a few more scenes to my sci-fi, detective, young adult mystery book, Identity Interrupted and I wrote a blog post called stumbling ahead about the value of leaping before you look when you get completely stuck or confused.

Day 142: Man or Muppet

A big shoutout to Bret McKenzie today, one of the two members of the "Flight of the Conchords" team, who was nominated for an Academy Award for the brilliant song, "Man or Muppet." I have made it no secret that I absolutely loved the recent movie, "The Muppets" and this was one of my favorite songs in the bunch. While I think it's silly that the Academy felt the need to only include two songs in the category (though it does lead to a 50/50 chance), I'm very happy for Bret and the whole Muppets team. I hope that the nomination brings a little more attention to a movie that lacked the acclaim it should have received as an amazing achievement.

In writing news, I continued to work on Identity Interrupted and played with some fun twists and turns. I also wrote a blog post inspired by our Commander in Chief called personal responsibility. Hope everyone is having a lovely day :).

Day 141: Success

What is success and when have you achieved it? Some people might feel success from training for something like a marathon and finishing it. Others might not feel successful unless they get a certain time or burn a certain amount of calories. Some people feel success when they complete a job at work. Others feel success when they accomplish a major several year long project. There isn't a right or a wrong way to have success in this world. The important part is to make sure success lines up with what you want in life.

Too many people don't accomplish what they set out to because they set their standards for success too low. "Phew, I finished 5 minutes of writing straight, time for a shot," versus "Phew, I finished my first book ever. Let's start on a second one." Obviously, it's not that cut and dry, but it's important to set your sights high and to keep yourself motivated in the future. Currently, I'm hitting a bit of a dry spell because making money off of my books was a major motivating factor and getting to the point where I could pay off some of my debt was a huge point somewhere off in the future that I needed to work toward.

After a good couple of months on sales, I need to refocus my desire for success elsewhere. It needs to be about what I can accomplish or who I can help rather than being about some dollar amount. I suggest that all of you reading who are experiencing the same blocks to try the same.

Today, I wrote a fun chapter in Identity Interrupted that felt like it was straight out of Pretty Little Liars and I also penned a blog post about my progress as of January 2012 in the world of writing. Happy writing, y'all!

Day 139: 20 Weeks

Tomorrow I will be coming up on 20 weeks worth of 2,500 word per day...days :). I've done a lot during this time and I'm very pleased with all of the effort I've put in so far. I need to start doubling my efforts on promotion as well and perhaps I can figure out a decent challenge as far as that's concerned as well. Maybe some monthly sales goals or something like that, but it's much easier to hit a word count than it is to meet a sales goal. I know that the happiness book will sell if I can get the word out (especially before May and then next Christmas) and some of the new journals and workbooks I have come up with will sell as well, I just need to put some time and energy into them. We shall see :).

In the meantime, I will continue to bust out some writing every single day and see where I end up. I'm also working my way through a diet at the same time and so far I've lost a little over four pounds in total in just three weeks. It's no giant blast of weight loss which I've been used to in the past from my crash diets, but I think that's probably not as healthy as what I'm doing now. The tough part about today is going out for a run in 3 to 5 inches of snow. My Saturday run is usually what helps me get a little bit lower in weight for my Sunday weigh in. I'll run regardless, I just might not be able to do it very fast as I move through the snow as efficiently as a puppy who's never seen the white, icy substance before. I may have to stop and do a snow angel halfway through :).

I continued my work on Identity Interrupted today and I wrote a blog post on how to increase self-esteem in 5 simple steps. After a long week of barely seeing my girlfriend due to her working the late shift, it'll be nice to hangout and see each other for two straight days. Hooray for 20 weeks of writing! Hooray for 4 weeks of dieting! Hooray for 7 years of a relationship :).

Day 137: Focusing In

I've had a bit of trouble focusing in on one project this month. I've bounced between book ideas and screenplays and I've never really locked onto one I've wanted to stick with. Then again, today I started a novel idea that is truly promising, called Identity Interrupted that could be a cool sci-fi detective novel. I'm going to try to write this one through to the end and then I'll pick back up the pieces of some of the recent failures to focus. That being said, I think Sheepish will be pretty awesome when I finish it.

Today, I will be fighting back against a tiny bald spot on the top of my head by getting some nutritional supplements. I asked some questions to myself about my condition in a blog post I wrote today called the balding writer. I'll let you know if these natural methods do anything to fight off the potentially inevitable!