Day 121 – Martins Ferry Elementary

Posted: 18th May 2012 by Mike Gasaway in Publicity, reading, writing
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The idea of me giving an autograph is still so weird to me.  Every event I do I’m always asked to sign something.  I oblige every single one of them but it’s still weird.  The oddest was at my 20 year class reunion when I was being asked by folks I have known since the first grade.  I understand it but it was just odd for me to sign something for a great friend.  I guess I would do the same thing.  Still it was very foreign for me.

Today, however, was very cool.  Not that any other time wasn’t but today was a little special.  I talked at my Aunt Barb’s school where after over 30 years of teaching, she’s retiring.  She only has a few more days of school left and I was lucky enough to be there for one of the last.  It was fun because I read the Mikey book to her class and another.  It went well and the kids asked a lot of questions.  What was awesome was after when almost all of the kids started bringing me THEIR stories and reading them.  Some were even showing me their drawings.  They even gave me some of their work.  Very impressive!  I started signing stuff for them and it felt really great.  They were so excited to meet an ARTHUR, as one said.  Some even gave me their home phone numbers! (Don’t worry parents, I won’t ever call or share any of that information)

After that, I headed to the library to do more writing.  I’m definitely addicted at this point.  I have to write a ton each day now.  Having that outline, I tell you, is awesome and keeping me on point.

The prologue is now finished and it is pretty cool.  I LITERALLY was typing faster than I ever have typed because I wanted to get the words out as soon as my brain fired them off.  It has monsters that are part machine that are fighting someone withe weird powers.  There are fur balls that are filled with electricity…it’s pretty crazy…and a TON of fun to write.

MOST DEFINITELY will there be more tomorrow!

Day 121 – TONS of writing

Posted: 17th May 2012 by Mike Gasaway in writing
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Never thought that I would enjoy this so much but the last few days have been beyond spectacular as far as writing goes.  I was finishing up the basic outline when I started to feel a little burned out.  Then I said to myself, Johnny – I call myself Johnny sometimes – can you get the hell out of the room so I can do some writing.  Johnny left and I got down to some serious writing.  I’m so glad I outlined because I FLEW through the first few pages.  I got to 1000 words in not time flat – about an hour.  The only reason I stopped was because I had to go eat something and then get Reece.  I had her read the pages and she loved it.  It was funny because her one criticism was there was too much description and not as funny.  This novel isn’t meant to be funny.  There will be funny things in it but it’s more of an epic action adventure.  I explained it to her that it wasn’t like the comedy books of Mikey and she said she liked it even more.

Then I had Summer read it this morning.  She’s exactly the demographic for whom I’m writing.  She likes the books that have become big – Harry Potter, Hunger Games, even Lightning Thief and other things.  So I want to write something that her age group likes.

She read it and got mad at me…because there was only a few pages.  She said she LOVED the descriptions – funny how opposite it was from Reece.  This criticism just got me more fired up to write more.

So I did today.  Another 1500 words.

Now, I have to say that the word count may not mean that much to most of you.  It means a lot to writers and definitely publishers.  A good word count for a novel like Hunger Games is around 80,000 to 150,000 – so I have a LOONG way to go.  BUT the good news is, my story is tracking right along with where my outline predicted word count.  In other words, after I get it all written, it should come out in the lower 100′s.

Right on track!

Day 120 – Pix up!

Posted: 16th May 2012 by Mike Gasaway in writing
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I’ve posted the pictures from the various appearances we’ve done that last few weeks.  I’m still getting more in and will be updated when I can.

Check out the page labeled APPEARANCES at the top.

or you can click HERE.

Day 119 – Fun with Outlining

Posted: 15th May 2012 by Mike Gasaway in writing
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Nearly complete with the outline!  Well, at least the HEADLINES for the outline.  I’ve been going through the book and getting what each chapter will be.  I’ve already written the entire spine of the story and now I’m just fleshing things out to make sure it still flows.  What I’m also doing along the way is fleshing it out even more.  I know it sounds weird but remember, I’m a shiny object type of person and can get caught up in the minutiae when writing.  I start to write WAY too much and then have to stop myself.  I want to get the overall outline done first…but I get scared that I won’t remember what awesome stuff (yeah right) I come up with so I write that down as well.

So instead of going completely insane, I have TWO outlines going at the same time.  One has just the basic headlines and the other expanded outline has a few sentences (in outline form) of what I want to happen.  This is very crude but it allows me to keep my thoughts straight.

Or is that a straight jacket of which I wear?

Not sure…

Here’s what it looks  like:

Basic outline———————————————–

Chapter Three

Lunch Prep

  • Headmaster’s Speech
  • Mac and Reggie busted

Expanded Outline—————————————-

c. Lunch Prep

i. The headmaster’s speech

1. Heard over the tubes.

a. Talks about a new family coming today looking for a big brother.

b. Mac and Reggie are excited but doubt they will ever get picked.

2. Mac wonders who the headmaster really is and why they have to go to a class before going to lunch.

ii. Mac gets busted and had to be punished.

1. Reggie stands up and takes the blame.

2. They both get punishment – cleaning up the dishes after lunch.

a. More of Dustin being an asshole.

 

I know; I’m crazy…but if I don’t do this, I won’t know where I am and will write myself into a corner…

 

Day 118 – Work interrupted

Posted: 14th May 2012 by Mike Gasaway in agony
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What a difference in a week.  Seems a bit tame to last week’s running around.  I picked up an extra class in Animation Mentor for the week and it took most of my day.  Unfortunately, AM does zap the creativity out of me.  Unfortunate for me but very fortunate for my students.  I can’t give a half-assed (technical term) critique of their work.  I like to study the animation first before giving any notes.  It takes a lot of my brain power.  Since my brain is very small, it doesn’t take much.

So the outline awaits and languishes, waiting to be finished.  Hopefully tomorrow?

Day 117 – Saving up

Posted: 13th May 2012 by Mike Gasaway in agony
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Not every day is spent writing or being super creative.  Today was more of a rest day for sure.  I do recharge the batteries big time.  Plus it’s a rainy sunday.  It’s better to just hang out.

I’m looking forward to a relatively light week this week.  Nothing like last week, for sure.  Only one school at the end of the week so there should be a lot of writing going on.  The outline is getting close to being finished so there will be some actual writing very soon.  It’s hard to gauge just how long it will take to write.  I’m going to try and do about 20-30 pages a week but at that pace, it would take about 10 weeks to complete.  Hopefully, I can get that a little quicker than that.

Day 116 – More outlining

Posted: 11th May 2012 by Mike Gasaway in writing
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Man, this writing stuff is fun.  I couldn’t stop today.  Before I get really into the days writing, I do a little warmup that is also used in my writing.  Today, it started with finishing a few bios.  Today was especially fun because I had to write about this character who is a jerk.  I based it off someone I went to school with (not a friend for sure) and made him out to be a real bastard.  Well, that wasn’t very hard because this dude was a bastard.  I just used some run-ins with him and elaborated a little.  It’s amazing how cathartic it was.  So watch out, jerk faces – I’ll try and make you famous!

The cool part about this jerk face is that he gave me some very strong story points that I was having some trouble with.  It’s amazing how that works.  You do a biography of someone and then you think, HEY! That can work in this scene!  What worked for me was I didn’t know how to get a character out of a situation.  I simply put this new jerk face (trademarked now since I used it thrice) in the scene and my character found a way out.  If you know your work so well, things like that happen.  Life finds away, said a poet in Jurassic Park…or something like that.

The outlining is coming along swimmingly too.  I have nearly15 for part 2 making the grand total around 22 or so.  That’s playing out to make the novel close to 400 pages.  That’s exactly where I want it.

Here’s the coolest part of it all.  I LOVE the second act of this book.  This character has to find ingredients for a recipe to build a machine and we follow him on his journey to gain said ingredients…and they are WEIRD.  He has to do strange things to get the parts.  It was very easy for me to outline that part.  The thing was…getting him there.  I liked the beginning but didn’t have anything that made me go OOOOHHHHH.

NOW I DO!

By simply throwing obstacles in front of my character, the first act became very dynamic and exciting.  Now there are some scenes in that act that really move and are quirky and cool.

…and I haven’t really even started writing this yet!!!!

Outline should be done in less than a week and then the fun starts.  I’m hoping to have all of this done in the next few months.  Join in on the fun!!!

Day 115 – Back to the outline

Posted: 10th May 2012 by Mike Gasaway in writing
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After having the busy week I had, I wasn’t sure I could jump back on the writing train and get going.  I was very wrong.  The train took off so fast, it almost left me at the station.  I jumped back on to the outline and didn’t look back.  I’m figuring out that the first book is going to be broken up into 3 sections.  It’s not QUITE on the act breaks but I am trying to write the book with a screenplay in mind.  While I’m putting together the sections, I’m breaking it out into chapters as well.  The first section is done and it will have seven chapters.  I’m figuring about 10 to 12 pages per chapter getting me to about 70 pages or so for the first section.  That’s timing out nicely.

I’m also finding out just how valuable it is to plan this stuff out.  I finished the main character bios first and then started back on the outline.  When I was going through the outline, I put a lot of stuff from the characters in and even had the backgrounds drive the scenes.  This added tension and thickened the plot.  Not to mention, this made conflicts that could be resolved in book 2 or 3.

Writing today really put me on that high too.  The only reason I had to leave my office (library) was because my stomach was gurgling so loud, I was afraid I was going to get kicked out of the quiet room.  I can’t wait to finish the outline maybe tomorrow or this weekend since I’m flying solo for the first time in months.

Momentum is picking up for sure!

Day 114 – Pittsburgh Rotary

Posted: 9th May 2012 by Mike Gasaway in Publicity
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What a great ending to a whirlwind three days!  I was the main speaker today at the Pittsburgh Rotary.  There was a fantastic lunch followed by a few speakers and then I took the stage.  I had a BLAST.  Usually, I set something up for a speech or something but today I wanted to make it more cozy and off the cuff – it paid off.  There were plenty of laughs and then when it was all over, plenty of questions.  That was the main indicator about how well it went.  There were a lot of great questions that lead to fun interaction.  The best compliment I got was that someone wished I showed enthusiasm when I was speaking.  They were joking and also said it was one of their best speakers in a while.

That felt pretty good.

I know that this will lead to more engagements and more meetings and then who knows.  It’s all about networking and getting the word out.

Tomorrow its back to writing…all day!

Day 113 – Hampton Central

Posted: 8th May 2012 by Mike Gasaway in reading
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Another day another elementary school.  I’m getting pretty good at this schtick.  Today, we went to Hampton Central where Lisa’s daughter goes to school.  For some silly reason, they wouldn’t let her join us but we read the book anyway.  The book plays in great to interact with the kids and they are playing along perfectly.  There’s a part in the book where I talk about how Mikey is different.  That he can’t go in the sun, that his teeth are too long and that he hates garlic.  When I get to the garlic part, I ask the kids if they like garlic.  They all resoundingly scream, “YEAH!!”  So I come back with asking if they like garlic bread to which they scream again, “YEAH!!”  Then I say, who likes garlic bread for breakfast?  To which they all scream, “EWWWWWW!”  It’s pretty funny.

Today’s group was very raucous.  They were yelling at the right time and laughing right on cue.  The most fun that I have is seeing the kids look at me like I’m some sort of celebrity.  It’s great to see the glean in their eyes.  Some are a little star struck and that makes me feel good.  I remember when a “celebrity” came to our school when I was a kid.  I always thought it was neat if that celeb would say something just to me!  I try to do that with every kid.  I’ll smile at them or say something silly or bump into them.  They all think it’s the coolest.

Lisa and I were hanging out in the library talking to wonderful librarian there who gave us a lot of suggestions to get the book out there.  She wants me to come back to read the chapter book possibly this summer.  I like that idea immensely.  The funny part was when we were about to leave, another class was coming in.  The word got out that I was a director and a few of the kids walked us out asking if they can be in my next movie.  That was classic!  So of course, I asked them to have their agent call me…not really…it would have been funny though.

Tomorrow is a little bit of a different thing. I’m speaking at the Pittsburgh Rotary in downtown Pittsburgh.  This should be a fun event and a little different than what I’ve been doing.  The crowd is a little bit older and not quite in my demographic but I’m going to read the illustrated book anyway.  NO I’M NOT…but that would be funny.  Can you see me reading to a bunch of older men and women a book aimed at 7 year olds?  That would be pretty funny…at least to me.

I promise, pictures will follow.  Probably not of me reading to the rotary but definitely from the other schools.

 

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