Fantasy Football thoughts

After 15+ years of not playing fantasy football I was talked into playing this year in a small league.  I don’t know about any of you, but playing it sure changes the way you watch on Sunday.  Before this year I had pretty much given up on the NFL for the college game on Saturday’s, but I have to admit fantasy football is fun.  Having the NFL ticket helps too though.  It’s nice being able to watch any game you want and track your players live.

However it’s also frustrating.  Somehow every time I bench a player they go off the next week for huge points.  My defense did it to me this week.  I bench San Francisco for Atlanta and what happens they get 5 sacks and 2 INT’s for touchdowns.  Really?

Anyone else looking forward to seeing Notre Dame in the BCS Championship game?

Writing Milestones

Some days this month have been about pushing through to make sure that I am on track with my word count.  Then there are days like today that are filled with excitement and milestones.  I just finished a very important chapter in my book where my main character goes though some serious emotional and physical trauma and comes out stronger on the other side.  It was so amazing to write those last words of the chapter and to see the character transform.  It was even more powerful to know that I did it.

This month I am finally learning what it means to really be a writer and not just a person who likes to write every once in a while.  I am growing by the day just like my characters.  I am learning that I have control over their story and my own.  Today I have so far written close to 4,500 words and I am not done.  I can’t stop because the story demands that I work on it and finish it.

Today was an important day for me because I pushed past a wall to see that I am becoming what I have always wished, dreamed, and hoped for.  Today I can say that I am a writer.  When I finish the story I will be able to proclaim that I finished my first novel. 

So far my book is going better than I could have ever hoped for.  

Good luck to everyone who aspires to dream.  Work a little bit on them every day and you can make them a reality.

Good night and God Bless.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!!  I hope everyone is taking some time out to spend the holiday weekend with family and friends.  I myself had a great day on Thursday.  I cooked the turkey for my wife’s family this year and it was a great success.  It was nice to catch up with family, watch some football,  and I even managed to get in some Black Friday shopping to get a jump on Christmas.   I love this time of year; there is Christmas music on the radio, and people are nicer to each other just because.

It has been a busy month of writing for NaNoWriMo but all is well and I can see the finish on the horizon.  As of today I am close to 39,000 words.  I have only 11,000 more to go to make my goal of fifty thousand words in thirty days.  I can tell you this NaNoWriMo is not easy.  I would not be this close to finishing without my family whom have been super supportive during this endeavor.  Some days are better than others and as a result other projects, helping around the house like I would like to, and sleep have gone on the back burner for most of the month.  I did get the Christmas lights up (Yay for a burst of warm weather) and the lawn mowed one last time.

On the story front I am still really excited.  I can see the story developing and I can’t wait to see where the story is taking me.  My goal of having a finished first draft by Christmas still stands, but I see the story being a little longer than I first envisioned so we will see.  Either way I will be editing by the New Year. 

A few last notes before I sign off and get back to writing:

1.        It’s nice that the election is over and my phone is done ringing off the hook with robot calls telling me why I should or should not vote for somebody.

2.       Bowl season is almost here and it’s nice to see Notre Dame relevant again.  They should win tomorrow and they will in all likelihood verse a SEC team. (I was so hoping for Notre Dame vs. Oregon)

3.       Ski season is coming soon and I hope we get a lot of snow this year.

Have a great week!!!

NaNoWriMo Update

Excitement is putting it mildly. I am three days into NaNoWriMo and I am just over 6000 words into my new novel. So far the process has been going smoother then I could have ever imagined. I know the hard part is going to come at around 10,000 to 20,000 words, but as of now I am basking in optimism.

To anyone else out there who is engaged in National Novel Writing Month: keep plugging away. It’s the weekend so try to get ahead; that is what I am going to do. Plus remember its daylight savings time tonight so we get an extra hour. That’s an hour to catch up on the sleep you will be losing later writing or an extra hour to write tonight.

So far for me it’s been great. My wife is as excited as I am and is helping out in every way she can. Plus being ahead of schedule I have been able to do a Boy Scouts event with my oldest son last night and take him to his flag football game this morning. Today it’s writing till the football game this afternoon then more writing tonight. Tomorrow’s schedule includes church, helping my wife’s Uncle with some electrical work, a pizza dinner out with the family, and more writing to end the day. One thing I am trying to do is make sure that everyone gets as much of my attention as I can give and none of my kids feel left out of neglected. Friday night was Family Fun night and I spent some quality time with all three of my kids before I hit the keyboard. My writing session went late into the night and did not end until 1:30 a.m.
My tip for the day: Stay organized and ahead in whatever your job is if you want to be able to find time to write. As a teacher I am so busy during the day in the classroom and I am trying to do more with the time I have so that I can stay ahead with lesson planning and grading.

As before my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by Hurricane Sandy. I will be saying many extra prayers tomorrow morning during mass for all of you.

 

Be safe, keep warm, and God Bless.

Thoughts on NaNoWriMo, Halloween, and Hurricane Sandy.

Tomorrow is the day.  Let the writing begin and the lack of sleep start to stack up.  National Novel Writing month may test my dedication, but I plan on coming out the other side a winner with a finished first draft.  I feel that I will approach this the same way I did running a marathon: training is important, but in the end you need to pace yourself and keep running.  Writing a novel in one month goes the same way: pace myself and just keep writing.

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Tonight I will enjoy a fun evening of trick or treating with the family.  We will order pizza and the boys will each have some friends come over to go out with. We will bundle up and go head out. I am prepared with about 20 bags of candy for the flood of kids.  I love today.  Where I live Halloween is amazing.  The subdivision is filled with kids and families can be seen everywhere.  Parents have fires in their driveways and laughter can be heard in the air.  It may be cold and it might rain, but it will not dampen the spirits of my boys who woke up early this morning very excited to get ready for school and the days Halloween festivities.  My daughter does not know what today is all about yet, but she does love dressing up and at just over a year is adorable in her princess dress. 

Afterwards the writing starts.  My goal is over 1700 words a day with an attempt at 2000.  Revision is to be put off till December.  I will try to get some blogging in as well.   Have a great Halloween and happy trick or treating!!!!

On a sad and reflective note my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone on the east coast and beyond who have been affected by Hurricane Sandy.  Watching the coverage on the news has been very sobering and I know that the recovery will be long and hard.  In times like these we need to be able to lean on our neighbors for support and strength.  It is humbling to see the destructive power of Mother Nature and inspiring to see the enduring power and resiliency of the human spirit. 

To everyone involved and those on their way to help: stay strong, be safe, and God Bless. 

National Novel Writing Month is almost here and so is the World Series!!!

Today I signed up for Nanowrimo and I am really excited.  I am going to try and write a full novel in only one month.  I have reservations about the time I have to write with work and family to contend with, but I am encouraged by the support I already have at home.  My wife is fully behind this endeavor and has told me she will help in any way that she can.  I have an idea, a plotline, and noble intentions.  Now comes the moment that I need to step up to the plate and put my pen (or in reality my keyboard) behind my mouth. I will try to keep everyone updated on my progress here on my blog.  For anyone who has gone through National Novel Writing Month what are your tips for success and for those who have never attempted it check it out at http://www.nanowrimo.org/

On a different front the Detroit Tigers are in the World Series vs. the San Francisco Giants and I for one am very excited. I remember 1984 as a kid and was there in 2006 when Maggs hit the walk off homerun against Oakland to go to the World Series.  This year I will watch the games through the eyes of my own boys who are as excited as I am to watch their Tigers win it all.

Visiting other Writer's Blogs

Today I read a very interesting blog post at http://thewritepractice.com/become-a-writer/.  The author Joe Bunting wrote a post titled, “5 Reasons you Should Consider Becoming a Writer”.  It is a really well written piece that lays out reasons to write other than to get published or to make big money.  In fact it speaks to the reason we all began writing in the first place.  It you are interested please go to the blog.  This was the first time I visited it, but after reading it I am sure to go back again.  Being new to blogging I don't know the etiquette for reposting comments I made somewere else but below is the comment I posted on his blog in response to the article:

F. Scott Fitzgerald said that “You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.”

I write because I want to say something positive about the human spirit and the potential within us all.  I write because I have stories that need to be told and ideas that need to be expressed.  I want people to come away from my writing full of hope and imparted with the idea that you can rise above your means to become a better person.  A storyteller is saying so much more than the words on the page and the actions of their characters.  In my stories I am weaving a much bigger narrative that says something about life and the limitless possibilities therein.  When I first learned to read I remember being amazed at the world out there just beyond my door and enchanted by the fact that the words on the page could transport me into the worlds of Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Alexandre Dumas, J.R Tolkien, F. Scott Fitzgerald, David Eddings, Johann David Wyss and countless other authors.  These books were not only great adventures, but they taught me something.  In those pages I learned about honor, respect, love, tradition, & faith to name a few.  I saw in those pages how to be a better man.  That is why I write.  I want to tell a compelling story that says so much more then is on the page.  Writing is exciting and a good story that needs to be told is why I sit in front of a keyboard seeing where it will take me. 

A New Path

This weekend while I was sitting in church a new idea for a book came to me.  I know that I am working on a book, but it is stagnating and maybe this new idea is just what I need.  Plus it is all I can think about.  I flushed out some of the main ideas in my head as I waited for mass to end so I could hash out my ideas and talk about them to my wife who knew something was up by the look on my face.  Since then I have outlined some of the main plot points and jotted down a semi-basic plot line. (I never do plot lines) I have also started to do research on some of the background information I will need for this novel.

Stay tuned.  It is so exciting to have a fresh new idea that is dying to get out. 

Today, Tomorrow, & Yesterday

Hello again,

It’s been a long summer with not much writing and no blogging.  If I had followers I would apologize to you.  However, it seems the only person I need to apologize to is myself.  Not only did I not write in my blog, but I did not work on my book.  In fact I didn’t even read this summer.  Am I procrastinating or avoiding?

 What then did I do:  I spent a lot of time with my family and my growing children.  I taught my 7 year old how to ride a bike, watched my daughters first steps, went to Cub Scout camp, coached t-ball, and cheered my 4 year old boy on at soccer games.  I took a camping trip with college friends and spent quality time with my wife.   All in all it was a fulfilling summer even if I didn’t get many of the things done I wanted to do.   It was another year of teaching summer school (something I hope I can one day take off from) and putting off to the end all the things I need to do to get ready for the fall.  However I feel the creative juices starting to flow and I hope I can rededicate myself to this blog and my writing.  First I need to get some followers to read me and I need to expand my horizons in reading and commenting on other blogs. 

What then to write about today.  I think the question is how to shake off the rust on an idea that has been setting to long under the dust of inactive writing.  I am sorry to say that I have not even thought about my story in weeks and it pains me to say that. Tonight I will reread the 8 chapters of the book I have finished and see where they take me.  Wish me luck. 

Memories:    My wife and I took the kids back to our college campus and it was amazing to stroll the paths we once took to class and to see that not much has changed in the grand scheme of things.  While there may be new buildings the feeling is the same and the solitude you feel walking under the trees it just as refreshing as it was years ago.  If you closed your eyes you could imagine that you were back in college and not a day had gone by. It was made all the better to see my kids running along the same paths and thinking that someday they might be arriving there as freshman.

Summer is on the Horizon.

Well the holiday has come and gone and I am finally sat down last night to write.  The rust needed to be shook off the keys and the words were hard to come by to start, but the story is coming together and I am starting to plug away at it.  I am thinking about it a lot outside of my time spent writing and that is a good thing. Word count last night was just over 400 words.  Not good, but an ok start after the holiday festivities, plus I am working on a rather difficult scene.   I hope to really dig in this week and pump out a couple chapters.

It was a busy weekend for me with four different parties to go to plus a parade and a game of paintball.  It was nice to relax, catch up with friends, and recharge for the final last two weeks of teaching.  The end of the year is always bittersweet.  I look forward to a summer with my family and catching up on all of the things I put off during the year.  As always I will miss the seniors who are graduating and moving on, yet in the fall there will be a brand new set of students to meet and I get to see how the returning students changed and grew over the summer break.

Over the course of the paintball outing two things happened.  One: I found out that I am not as young as I once was and that bruises do in fact hurt.  Two: Even with the bruising I had a great time acting like a kid running through the woods firing balls of paint at my friends.   Sometimes we all need to act like a kid again and remember to have a little fun.

To all the Dad’s out there: enjoy the time you get with your kids.   They are only young once and it goes quicker then we think.  My oldest is leaving 1^st grade and the years have just flown by.  I plan on taking some time this summer to enjoy seeing life though all three of my kid’s eyes.  From the excitement of superhero movies to learning to walk this summer will have a little of everything.  As a teacher I have the wonderful opportunity to spend 3 months with them and I do not intend to waste a day of it.  Between the 7 year old, the 4 year old, the 9 month old, and the family dog I should be pretty busy don't you think?

Now on to the writing!!!  The story is waiting.

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Finding the Time to Procrastinate

How do we make sure that when we find the time to sit down and write we are motivated and ready to write?  Do you ever sit down at the computer only to find yourself surfing the internet instead of writing?  I can find a million things to do to put off writing.  My favorite is playing on my I-Phone, what’s yours?

As a hard core procrastinator I will put things off to the last minute knowing that I will get it done on time.  In college I liked to say that there was no better form of creativity then the last minute.  That has been the problem with my first draft: there is no last minute, it has been too easy to put off, and a week or two of putting it off it is easy to say that you don’t have the time to get back to it.  Then when you do get back it is almost like starting over.  In one sense you have fresh eyes to look at what you had written, but on the other side is the fact that you need to shake the rust off and reconnect with the story.

Having decided to take my writing career seriously I must now confront the task of making my time at the keyboard a priority.  More to the point the struggle becomes making sure it is quality writing time.   Not an hour here or there but large blocks of writing where real progress takes place.  Writing needs to become a part of your life day in and day out.  A daily event that is thought about, looked forward to, and anticipated.  Then when we sit down we do not have to wait for the words to come to us but can instead let the words flow out of us. 

Many of you are probably like me.  By the time I sit down to write it is usually ten at night or later.  Fitting in time at the keyboard between my jobs, raising the kids, helping out with their activities, helping take care of the house, and all the little things that come up in life can be a challenge.   For me I plan on making sure that I write every day even if it is only a little.  Part of being an aspiring author is to aspire to make writing your profession.  This means goals, deadlines.

My goal is 3 to 4 hours a day writing.   My deadline:  a finished first draft by the 4^th of July

So far bursts of writing over the past few years have gotten my first novel past concept and outlining and to a total of just over 25,000 words.  Now it’s time to finish what I have started. 

Ready, set, write.

Why Meandering Marathons?

Growing up I was never a runner.  I didn’t try out for the track or the cross country team and though I thought I was fast I didn’t think about what it would take to run long distances let along 26.2 miles.  Later in life I became a runner.  I started out running on the treadmill at the gym to lose weight. Then when Spring arrived I decided to leave the gym and hit the roads.  I remember the first time I ran a really long distance, which at the time was 8.5 miles.  After 1 mile I was doing ok, at the 2 mile mark I was feeling it, and at 3 miles I wondered what I was thinking and if I should just quit.  Then something happened at about 3 miles, I started to tell myself to just push through and keep running.  I knew deep down that I could do it and that the pain would be worth the feeling I would have completingthe run.  The next mile was tough but with each step I grew stronger in my resolve and more comfortable with my stride.  The beauty of running out there on my own with the trail drew me in and made me a runner. The solace I had with my own thoughts and feelings helped the miles drift by.  That solitude and the fact that I was running around a lake and once you made it out 4 miles the only way back was to continue around the other 4 helped keep me moving.  Looking back now after having run two marathons and running around that same lake many times I value what it has taught me about life and about writing.

Anything you do is hard the first time and it takes practice to get good at it.  You can’t give up just because the hill is steep.  When you are running its all you, there isn’t anyone that can do it for you, and in the end you need to do it for yourself not for anybody else.  Writing shares many of the same traits.  Sometimes it can be hard, but you need to sit down and do it every day to get better.  I decided to call this blog “Meandering Marathons” because writing a novel is like a very long run and though I might make some mistakes and lose my way on the path I know where I am going and what the end goal is.

 I think that if more people took a long view of things instead of looking at the short term we would be better off.  How does what we do today affect where we want to be tomorrow?  Here on this blog I am planting the seeds of my tomorrow.  I hope that I can inspire others to do the same thing; to start something new that helps them grow as a person.  Running helped me change who I was and not in just a physical way.  Yes I lost weight and was healthier for it, but in the end it was the lessons I learned about finishing what you start and standing on your own.  The fact is that you don’t start out great at anything and that it takes training, determination, and willpower to get to where you want to be.  As for my marathons I didn’t get the time I wanted on either of them but the important thing is that I finished them.   That is the main lesson I hope to bring to my writing: Finish what you set out to do.   I just need to keep writing.  

Later this week I will let you all in on where I am in my first book.  Have a great week leading up to Memorial Day.   It’s a wonderful time to get in a long run.

The Road Less Traveled

Sitting down to write has always been a love/hate relationship with me.  I want to do it but I avoid it at all costs.  There is a fear that I will not be able to write and at the same time a fear that I will be able to do it.  I get so much out of the writing yet the process can be painful and enjoyable at the same time.  It all boils down to the unknown.  This is what writing is: the unknown.  Where will the words take me and where will the story in the end up in the end. 

 Take this blog.  Today I set out on a journey of discovery.  Where the journey will take me and where it will end is a mystery.  However the first step is always the scariest and the most difficult; in the case of this blog that step is the writing.  The second and third step that is to keep writing is for me the more difficult.  Finding time to write, getting past the excuses, and putting pen to paper with consistency is the challenge I fight.  On top of that I am letting in the outside world to critique my writing and share in my triumphs and failures. 

 So then what is this blog about?  It’s about writing and how to keep writing.  It’s about finishing a novel and getting published.  It’s about the ups and downs of a writing life.  Really it’s a chronicle of my journey to becoming a published author. It’s about making writing a part of my everyday life and turning it into a career.   F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say”. Here on this blog I plan to share my ideas, my struggles, my triumphs, and my advice.  Am I an expert?  No.  Do I have passion? Yes.  Do I have something to say? Most definitely!!

 Moreover this blog is about me. It’s about being a Dad to three children and what it teaches me about myself.  It’s about having a family and balancing it with work.  It’s about what’s important in my life and reaching towards my goals. It’s about life, love, and mostaccioli.  I hope to impart a little wisdom, gain a little insight, and grow as a person.  The scariest part is that I plan on sharing my life, my journey with whoever takes the time to read about it. 

 Who am I:  I am a husband, a father, a teacher, and a writer; to name a few of the hats I wear.  I am in my late 30’s and I have been married for 12 years.  I have three beautiful children (two boys age 7 &4, and one daughter under a year old). I teach High School History and English full time, and Adult Ed Government, History, and English two nights a week.  I like running, reading, downhill skiing, watching sports (I love college football), and spending time with my family. I am a writer.  I will become a published author.