A Silly Husband's Musings...

So I've been meandering about this novel so long that finally I have a fire lit.  According to the publisher I want to go to, it could take up to three months for them to review and approve/deny the manuscript.  To keep up with my tradition of reading a published book to my unborn child, I'll have to get this done in the next few weeks!  Our second kid is 3-4 months along so by the time the book is ready (hopefully) we'll be around 6-7 months!  I think it's time to get my priorities straight and get this thing written.  Wish me luck, have me break a leg (haha, kinda happened once already), and pray for me.  I'll keep you posted.

As for the title to this post, it is ironic because I'm writing about time travel and I'm now wishing I had a time machine so I could go back a ways and leisurely finish this!  Oh well!

-B

Wrote a bit more this week, mostly because I was donating plasma.  Sure, it was interesting, but writing with one hand forced me to think about what I was typing.  I wrote a page or so, but even up to that point I had been able to connect a few big chunks of my story together, and that alone was pretty fulfilling.  I hope to write, and donate, again this week and make a little more progress.  I know I haven't lived up to writing a chapter a week, but I still have my motivation.
With my first book, 'Aer Infirma', I had it published about 6 months into our first pregnancy with our son Noah.  I was able to read to him while he was in the womb, and I felt that was a real bonding experience.  I want to do the same with my second child, now about 14 weeks along.
Another thing I have to do, as much as it pains me so, is cut back on playing video games.  Okay, you can stop laughing now.  Seriously.  I will unfriend you from Facebook...ANYWAY.  Games have provided entertainment and stress relief for a long time, but I think playing in moderation will help me get my work done.  I truly think that people will get a chuckle or two out of my book, but I really want to be able to read it to my 2nd kid (and the first when he's older).  Here's to staying motivated, I know my wife and son have been there for me all along!

P.S.  Here's the cool toy my son got from Grandma and Grandpa. Thought I'd share:

So things have still been a wee bit hectic in our household, what with our 10 week old pup and 2 year old son running around.  After a mere two weeks back in town, I've been whisked off to balmy (haha) Boulder, CO for training a client.  Thinking I'd be leaving the cool damp climate that Wisconsin is currently enjoying for warmer weather I foolishly packed only a spring jacket.  It's still winterish here (yes, winterish).  And that's not even the worst part.
The flight from Minneapolis to Denver was very bumpy due to oncoming weather hitting the Midwest, so my ride in the back of the plane was...um, fun?  Went through a lot of turbulence as we circled the Denver area 3 times before finally being cleared to land.  For most of it I had whipped out my laptop and started writing again.
The writing part was good!  Picked up on the last chapter I had barely begun and tonight I hope to finish it!  What I love most is that I'll be tying together two sections of the book that for a long time had been separated by what I call a 'writer's gap'.  Basically it occurs from writing different parts of the story, then working your way back through to tie those parts together.  Needless to say this will be a big accomplishment for me.  Keep sending your positive thoughts (or not; no pressure) my way as I push through the next chunk of my book.

Stay Groovy! (I said it.  Don't judge).

P.S.  I brought Mario along (kind of playing off of that 'Traveling Gnome' guy).  He's been giving me pointers.

     A chapter a week IF I was healthy.  Yes, that's it.  It's not that I don't want to write, but it's honestly hard to focus when so much keeps happening.  First off, I went to a work conference last week in Florida.  What's there to complain about, you say?  Not much (well, see my previous blog entry) other than some barotrauma from the flight there and back.  As of this evening I'm still suffering from an ear infection (Amoxicillin to the rescue)!
     My sister-in-law also just had her baby girl yesterday morning!  Elaine Grace Langston.  8 lbs something ounces (I forgot, maybe 2 or 6 oz).  Anywho, I'm super excited to have a niece finally!
     We also adopted an 8 week old puppy on Saturday named Daisy.  She's an American Staffordshire Terrier and she's definitely my girl.  Nothing cuter than having this little twelve pound pup curl up in your lap and snore away.  SO, with all this going on I plan to write again by this weekend, but I really want to overcome the ear infection first.  Then again, with the time/energy spent writing this entry I could have gotten a chunk of my book done.  Don't look too much into that.  Goodnight all!

     So my weekend is being shaken up by a work conference we have bi-yearly (I think that's the correct term) down in Florida.  After having been delayed a couple hours in LSE, my coworker and I get to MSP and chill for a few hours before taking the 7PM flight to Tampa and arrive around 11.  Got to the hotel and checked in, took my keycard to my room, opened the door only to find it had been locked with the extra bolt.  I wasn't expecting that, since that particular bolt has to be tripped from INSIDE the room.  I thought perhaps I needed to wait an extra second for the door to read my card, in case it released that lock.  I tried two more times until someone tugged the door open!
     Standing before me was a man, maybe in his late 40s, who had obviously been woken by my attempts to enter MY room, staring half-shaken and half-dazed at me. I promptly apologized, thinking I may have actually had the wrong room and went back to the lobby and explained what happened.
Turns out the man I had scared half to death had a similar last name, and when reservations were being made he had accidentally gotten mine and my room.  The manager at the time apologized to me and him profusely as they reset his keycard and got me a new room.  He even offered to buy me dinner one night, which I felt was unnecessary, but it was a nice gesture.  I write this now as not being so funny, but it will probably mature overnight into a comical story that I'll mention to a few coworkers.  But you get to enjoy it now.  I wonder how the rest of this trip will go...
     Side note: Had some time on my second flight to write a good page and a half in my book.  I figure I have til the end of the weekend to get that next chapter done.  Wish me luck and goodnight.

SO HERE WE ARE...

     I've decided recently that it would be much easier to maintain a blog vs an entire website while I write my book.  Perhaps when I'm all done with said book I'll have a little more time to play with web design and make it look like it's not stuck in the 90's.
     I'm 31 chapters into my book, "When are We?  A David Wilco Adventure", and getting to the heart of the plot.  On Facebook I recently stated that I would get a chapter a week done, and so far I've held up my part of the bargain.  I think when all is said and done I'll have around 50 chapters!
     One of the hardest things to do right now is stay focused.  It doesn't help that this weekend my son got sick and has coughed up a lung an a half.  My heart hurts every time I hear it.  Even still, I often get distracted by this thing called the 'Internet', and before I know it an hour's gone by and I'm still looking at blank Word doc after closing the browser.  It's like a quote I read earlier in the week: "For a writer, the Internet is more dangerous than whisky".  How true it is.  I don't even like whisky.  So I liken the Internet to Captain Morgan.  Stupid captain.
     Anyway, I think I'll wrap things up here by letting you know that I will get another chapter done this week.  My end goal is to have this book written, published, and in my hand to read to our 2nd child while in the womb.  It's a tradition I started when Noah was still on the way.  I read my first book, 'Aer Infirma' to him and he wasn't too critical of my writing.  An occasional kick or punch my way let me know he was still interested.  If anyone's interested in checking out what's on my old site: brandonmeyer.webs.com.  Thanks all!

-Brandon