In this column, you'll find articles about Thomas McAuley's writing including progress on current works, updates about new works, contest results, proposals, advances, submissions, rejections, meetings, write-ins, word counts, challenges and successes.

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112708
Rain Progressing Slowly. Second-guessing Title Again.

Rain, which is currently called Rain of a Southern Sun, is progressing well, though slowly. I am finishing up the final rewrite on chapter 3 and am already very nearly done with the first serious rewrite of chapter 4.

Though I had hoped (planned, actually) to be finished with the final rewrite by the end of 2008, the liklihood of that happening appears remote. As I've mentioned before, I'm treating the writing of Rain (for short) as my second college. It's important to get it right, even if doing so means drawing out the process. The good news is I've finally found the tone of the story and, as a result, my rewrites have become very focused.

The downside of k nowing the story better is that I'm rethinking the title of the story again. Naming the story is a proven important element to selling it. I figure I'll wait until the very end of these rewrites before I spend a lot of time nailing down the final title though.

If there's anything I've learned during this process it's that the story doesn't stop evolving until the last period of the last rewrite. Only then will I know all I need to know about the story to give it an appropriate and well-designed name.

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110308
Honorable Mention in the 24-hour Writers Weekly Competition

The 24-hour writing contest that

Writers Weekly holds quarterly was held October 28th. They kept their word when they said the judging would end in a month-ish.

I received an email last Friday (113108) notifying me that I and about 20 others had won honorable mention. Initially, I didn't trust the subject line to match the contents of the email, but when I read the confirmation, I nodded and smiled.

This was my first entry and my first sort of win. I didn't get the monied recognitioni, but I was thrilled nonetheless. Maybe I should stop now while I'm batting 1000. I don't see that happening.

I shared the news with my family. My boys, who see me plan guitar and design websites and write endlessly and attend writing-related meetings probably saw the news as just another detail in my strange path. My wife, who knows how hard I work at it but who is far from excitable seemed pretty excited. More surprised because she's read more first and second drafts than finished pieces, but there was some excitement in there.

None of those closest to me gave me the charge I was looking for per se, so I did what any other proud man would do. I called my mom and she did not let me down. She squeeled and said 'proud' and 'honey' a few times.

So now I have to decide what to do with the story. The rules specifically give permission to publish it however we please after the contest has been judged, so I guess I'll have some questions to ask at our next San Antonio Writers Guild meeting this Thursday.

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In this column, you'll find articles about the actual process of writing including reviews and opinions of instructional books, inspirations, misconceptions, tips, motivations, information about tools of the trade or anything else I can think of that doesn't fit nicely elsewhere.

Words on Words Archive »

112708
Important Lessons Learned in Recent Critique Meeting

In a recent critique -- chapter 2 of Rain, if it matters -- something very important was pointed out to me regarding point-of-view (POV).

Rain is written in third person. I felt I was keeping true to my POV and, technically, I was. However, another writer pointed out that I showed a tendency to sum up action with passages like: They spoke with the ease of old friends each morning from that day forward.

To this, I met my critiquer with a blank stare. I didn't see the problem. He explained that I was breaking POV. Not boldy, not outright, rather I was doing it subtly. In fact, he admitted, I was arguably not breaking POV, but I was cheating the reader in a POV-related way.

After everyone at the table had a go at explaining the subtle idea I was missing, something finally clicked.

What I was doing was changing my narrative distance. Everything else in the story is told very close in Mr. Salley's POV. By what amounts to synopsizing, using they, I was pulling back out of Mr. Salley's head and looking at the story from a detached position.

So, though I was still in third person, I had stepped to another podium, so to speak. This realization, really this understanding, lead to the newest complete rewrite. It proved to be the reason for a huge delay in finishing the novel; however, it was a welcome lesson.

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090208
When Life Gets in the Way of Writing

I profess writing every day, no exceptions. And in August, I technically kept my word: I wrote everyday. But the writing I did can't be confused with progress. Sometimes life gets in the way.

If I am reasonable, I have to admit there are some events that, since they only occur once in life, you have to shuffle your priorities. This summer was rife with a number of such once-in-a-lifetime events, but August was the Devil incarnate. After the annual sacrifice of the majority of July to the Tour, August brought The Olympics followed directly by the DNC and now the RNC. Thank heavens the latter is nigh unwatchable, but things are destined to heat up when McCain...who am I kidding. Regardless of my feelings about the RNC, I owe it to myself as a thinking American to listen intently to as much as I can tolerate as it is undeniably historic.

So what does a writer do at times like these? All we can do is to do our best to keep the momentum going, keep our self-talk positive, churn out something, read about writing during the commercials or over a short lunch. We can waste as little time in other areas of our lives to allow for more writing time. And don't forget all the preparation we can achieve in our heads while we're driving to and from errands or, in my case, riding or exercising. As I log miles on my bike or on the treadmill, instead of listening to my favorite music or thinking about every pedal stroke or step after step, I'm solving the multitude of problems that arise during the writing of a piece.

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In this column, you'll find articles about Thomas McAuley himself. After all, this site is about Thomas McAuley. You'll find out about things he does as a person and not (necessarily) about him as a writer, though it's becoming increasingly more difficult to separate the two.

Thomas McAuley Archive »

112708
Reading Demon

Shameful admission time. For years, I have worn my lack of reading speed, focus and stamina as a punkish badge of honor. Like saying, look at how smart I am and I can't even read as fast as most 10-year-old girls.

It's time to announce that at nearly 41, I am finally improving my reading skill.

When I first started writing, I read that reading voraciously was an unalterable must. The formula was simple: the more you read, the better you write. Hand-in-hand with this truism, I read one must learn to read like a writer, to be conscious of the writing itself as one reads.

Being a natural-born writer, I have always read in that fashion; however, I have always done so at a turtle's pace. I envy those who can polish off a 400+ page book in a day. That's about 5-10 times faster than me.

The good news is for the first time in my life I finished two books in a calendar month. Chateau Beyond Time weighs in at around 270 pages and The Man Who Was Thursday, which is only 160 or so pages but was a tad more difficult than the average read since it was written in 1908.

Since deciding to focus on improving my reading skill I have also noticed a sharp rise in my ability to read for longer periods of time. I have always gotten tired after as little as twenty minutes of reading.

My focus has also increased. Again, I used to lose myself in daydreams whenever I would read. Now, I'm finding that I need to reread passages less often and my comprehension is, therefore, much improved.

I wish I would have honed my reading earlier on. How much more I could have achieved in school had I done so? At the very least, I could have achieved the same with much less effort.

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092008
TV Is the Devil

Allowing enough time for writing while holding down a full-time job has got to be the hardest part of a committed writer's lifestyle. Add to the mix quality family time, exercise and time for self-reflection and the task becomes even harder.

Solutions: quit the full-time job; reduce the quality of work at the full-time job; get fat; do coke; go mad; suicide; bag up the family and drop them off a bridge; quit writing. All of these are poor solutions, especially the quitting writing, so what's a girl to do? (Sorry, I've been writing the Mr. Salley story for too long now.)

I've read versions of this advice a number of times in different sources, so I'll skip the credits. Basically what they all get at is how important it is for a new writer to map out what you do everyday for maybe a week. After the week, take a look at the blocks of time that you've wasted--and there will be more than you could have imagined.

Taoists (yes I am) believe that you can't save time, no matter what infomercial tool you buy, you can only waste it. That reminds me of another rule that I should add to the list of writers' rules that I've tried to compile in the past. You know, it's the one that starts out with write every day without exception.

New Rule: TV is the devil! Avoid all of it (except project runway, bbc news and english premier league football, of course).

Now that you've identified what the devil is, you can walk around him, work around it. Voila! You now have time for writing. By eliminating TV from your life (with the previously-stated exceptions) you've not only freed up time for writing, you've freed up your mind, you've saved your job, your life, your family and a trip to the bridge.

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