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  • Day 6… and 7… and Now 8

    Day 6… and 7… and Now 8

    Welp. Today is Day 8 of the Kris Spring Writing Thingy. That may or may not be the correct name of it so i’ll link to it here.

    Anyway, every day we get an email update of where Kris is on her challenge and how she got there. I’ve opened every email but i just scroll to the bottom to read her word count for that day.

    That woman is non-stop!

    As you can see, she averaging 2,400 words a day! And with my current restart, i’m at 1,500 words a day.

    Now, this is a dangerous thing for us writers. Comparing ourselves to others. Kris has published millions of words and sold millions of more copies and i just finished book nine in my writer’s journey. Full novels i should say. I’ve also started to focus more on the short story format which i’m really digging.

    Anyway, if i compare myself to Kris, i can become a sad puppy. She’s writing 800 more words than me per day and has written 6,000 more words total than me.

    Now, if i was to get a case of compare-a-itis, i’d feel like a big loser. Furtuanlty, my case is mild since i know that she’s sold tens of millions of books and i’ve sold tens of tens of books (hot dang, that’s a good joke i stole from that Progressive commercial).

    But compare me to most would-be artists i’m actually killing it! I’m probably in the Top 1% of writers on Earth this month. Not a lie. I haven’t started Day 8 and in 7 days eg one week, i wrote 10,000 words! That’s insane.

    So, yeah, i’m a little bummed that i’m not keeping up with Kris (You should go on a ski trip to Antarctica this week, Kris. Heard its beautiful this time of year 😉) i gotta be honest, this has been the best i’ve spent on myself in a long time.

    Yesterday, i finished another book/short story that was 16,000 words in total! Usually, these would take me about six months. But since i’m writing a half hour to an hour a day, i finished a project in a week that otherwise woulda taken me months. And now, i get to finish and work on my second story/book. And at this pace, i see no reason why it won’t be done next week or even this week. That is wild.

    So, this is just a big thank you to Kris. Kris and her husband Dean, two of the greatest writers to have graced the Earth, make writing seem easy. Kris could have chosen to keep this writing funk to herself. Remember, there is no such thing as writer’s block, just Project Block. One deserves to be a proper noun and one doesn’t, that’s how serious i am. Instead, Kris chose to go public and show that she’s—gasp!—human! And as she and her husband Dean teach in their workshops, one of the most important things to do is to be accountable. We all know the negatives of social media and i honestly believe there is next to nothing good about it, but it is a fantastic motivator. And Kris decided to open up her restart with others so we could join her.

    I was going to write that they even made money on this but they’re giving everyone one credit for another class or two classes if you keep up with her. So, even though i’m not gonna get those two classes, i will be getting one. All because Kris and Dean wanted to do with me what they’re doing with other writers: making them believe in themselves and their writing again.

    God i love 2024. I love how happy everything is and i think this year is God’s way of saying good job on surviving 2020.

    So, tl;dr Thanks, Kris.

    Okay, gotta get back to work and then get some words in tonight after the j.o.b.

    Peace!

    th

  • Day 5 – WAY Behind Kris

    As i feared, Kris hit her 2,000 words on her Wedding Anniversary. WHY WON’T she take a day off! 🤣 In all seriousness, it was worse than 2k. She hit 2,400 words! So if i do my plan of catchup by writing 2,500, i’ll now be gaining 100 words instead of 500 😔

    BUT there is good news. I won’t repeat yesterday but i wrote 733 instead of not writing anything when i was in write-nothing mood.

    The bad news is, this story has blown up to over 10,000 words and i’m at its end. Why is that bad? ‘Cause i need to read and edit the whole thing to make sure it all makes sense. What we writers call a continuity pass. They’re fun even if most writers don’t like it but it’ll up an hour or two of writing. I nearly always add words when i do a pass, but there’s a part that i’m going to trim down. So, not only will i be losing time, while i add 400 words doing the pass, i’ll probably lose 500 when i cut this one section. So, basically, i’m gonna lose hours and in those hours and gonna have to SUBTRACT from my work count 🤦‍♂️

    C’est la vie. Or as the French say, « Such uhhhh iz uhhhh the life, non ? »

    My words before starting this morning:

    5,006

    Kris’s word count before starting this morning:

    9,180

    Ugh. AND i hope to go to a peace rally too 🕊️

    WHY WON’T YOU SLOW DOWN, KRIS?! 🤣

  • Day 4 – Gonna Lose… But At Least Lose On My Terms, Fighting

    As i feared, i looked at today’s email and what did Kris do? Write over 2,000. Which brought her over 6,000 yesterday versus my 4,000.

    To catch up with the math is easy: write 2,500 words a day. Those 500 words’ll add up.

    But i am tired today. It’s 4 pm and i want to nap. So here is what 99% of the world does. They call it quits for the day, knowing tomorrow is another day and that Future You’ll kill it tomorrow. There are going to be bad days. Heck, Kris will have a day where she doesn’t write. You can catch up there.

    But i refuse to be the 99%. So, i’m gonna write knowing that i’m gonna lose. But at least i’m trying. Something none of my friends and family can say.

    Will it be just a hundred words? Doesn’t matter. The fact that i’m going in, full well knowing i’m going to fail means i already succeeded.

  • Day 3 – Here We Go!

    So, i read the emails from Kris (the lady in charge of the writing challenge) and she’s posted her last results from the first two days. She is averaging 2,000 words a day and has written 4,000 words. So, by the day’s end, she should be at 6,000 words. I want to beat her or at least keep up with her and i have written 1,000 words. The goal for today is 4,000 words. Should be 5,000 but i once did a challenge to see what would happen if i spent all my energy writing and got 6,000 words. With a goal of 4k, i can technically “catch up” by the weekend.

    No more video games, TV shows, or sports. Just writing, writing, and more writing.

  • Day 2 – Second Day… So Far

    Focus, Mate!

    Now that i sound like a Brit or an Australasian demanding that you focus, it’s actually the name of a program that is helping me focus, Focusmate.

    The funny thing about finding this site is that there’s this Facebook Ad where a guy invented a similar program. But it was a ton of money. At the time of this writing, Focusmate is only ten bucks a month. It works as so.

    You pick a time—half hour, hour—and then someone gets matched up with you. They can see your face and you can see theirs. It’s like Facetime but no one talks. But, man oh man, does having an accountability partner work! In the last hour, i’ve wanted to use the restroom or goof off. Instead, i edited over 3,500 words and got to writing this here article. Pretty sweet, huh? I woulda gotten up 10 outta 10 times before this. This made me stay in my chair.

    (Hold on one second as the timer is about to go off and me and my partner check-in with each other. Bee are be.)

    SPOILER ALERT: I never came back.

  • Day 1 – First Is Second, Second Is First

    At the moment of this writing, it is May 2nd, 2024, 12:20 am. When i mark down the time of my writing, i will put the date as yesterday, the first, by saying that i started writing this post at 11:20 pm. The reason for the little white lie? I still haven’t gone to bed yet so, even though it is technically tomorrow, this is a post for today. Which is technically yesterday.

    Confused. Do be. You are entering the world of Tony Hernandez. Buckle up!

    Like most writers, i get into writing funks. You know, “writer’s block” or whatever other lie we call not writing. For the record, there is no such thing as writer’s block. Maybe we can touch on that in a later post.

    Anyhoo, my friends at WMG Publishing are doing something special. Kris Rusch, one of the most prolific writers in the world, is in need of a push. So, she came up with this challenge that’ll start on Friday, just a few days from now.

    The way i understand it is, she’s gonna write and then share her daily ups and downs and finally her word count. She hasn’t directed any of us to follow along and blog with her, but i’m gonna give it a go as well. The reason is that i want to do exactly what she’s doing, getting into the habit of writing usable words. Fancy stuff for writing fiction or blog posts. Emails and Facebooks arguments don’t count.

    And, even though this starts in two days time, i want to try and write 1,000 words a day. And then pump that bad boy up.

    All while having a regular job and life while i try and play and have fun too.

    As i was about to hit the beddy-bye, i realized that i was going to start day one without writing a word or editing a word. I couldn’t have that. So what i did was, i did an editorial “pass” and did some 2,200 words. It only took 15 minutes ‘cause all it is is a basic spellcheck. But what i usually do, i use that spellcheck all the way until i get to the end, mark where i ended the spellcheck-voice check thingy, and then i start with the actual, real new words.

    So even though i did a pass of 2,200 words, does that count as my 1,000 words? I don’t think so. I’m at over 400 words with this post and these are genuinely new words, so they’ll count.

    The goal then is to write 1,600 new words or so. Again, gonna aim for 1,000 new words a day and since i’m behind, i gotta make those up tomorrow.

    Which is technically today.

    Good night, and see y’all tomorrow.

  • What Will Be Your Legacy?

    What Will Be Your Legacy?

    I get a lot of slack for being too serious or not having enough fun. I readily admit that I have a stick up my butt the size of full grown oak tree but there are several reasons for that. One reason I can be such a prude is, legacy.

    We are all leaving behind a legacy that was never possible before. With the advent of the Internet, we are now leaving a trail that will forever follow us, even after we’re gone. In 2,000 years your bones will be dust but that image of you drinking a beer will live on. And is that how you want to be remembered? Is that the legacy you want to leave here on earth?

    “Here lies John Doe. He liked arguing with people on screens. He spent most of his life looking at his phone. His preferred attire were shorts since he enjoyed exposing his legs for the world to see.”

    Or,

    “Here lies Jane Doe. She liked complaining about everything, talking about what she’d like to do and never actually doing it.”

    Life is so short, so fast that, as soon as your born, your’e just counting down the days till your death. I don’t mean to come off as a nihilist, but just honest about the limited time we have on this earth and what we can accomplish in that short time. My truth is, we live on this earth for a short time to prove we are worthy to live in the next life for an eternity, but that’s another story for another day. What we are talking about here is, what we are leaving behind, on this earth, once we’re gone.

    Before, humankind didn’t need to worry too much about this. Either you were a king or a pauper and the former would live in the eternal hall of fame that we call history. But not so anymore. Now, everyone, from the leaders of the world to those that clean their toilets will have some type of legacy left behind, a record, that shows what that person did with their lives, forever.

    Given that we now have this huge, daunting, pressure of legacy that is now on all of us, you would think that mankind would do a better job of reaching for their goals, but sadly, we are not.

    I think that it will take about a century or two for people to appreciate the legacies that we are now leaving behind. In a few decades we will all be dead. And at these funerals will be scenes of us holding beer bongs and wearing fake mustaches at weddings. Maybe there will even be a 15-minute slide show to showcase all the food and drinks you consumed that you thought were so important to share.

    That’s the legacy we are leaving.

    What about children? Yes, that’s how we pass on our genetic legacy but it has nothing to do with what we have actually done. If your proudest moment of accomplishment comes from the fact that you got drunk and horny and forgot the condoms a few times, I’m sorry, but that’s not really climbing Mount Everest.

    And while your genes may live on in your children and their children’s children and so on, your memory will be all but forgotten to everyone who knew you since they will all be dead too. All your future decedents will search up who their great-great-grandparent was and see someone who enjoyed taking pictures of their feet while on vacation.

    There is so much more to you than that, to all of us. It’s scary, I know, but we have to try. Even if you don’t succeed in reaching your dreams, at least you will be better remembered as someone who tried than someone who just went through life, coasting on whatever path was made for you.

    That’s why, for me, my writing has become so important.

    For the last two to three years I have rarely gone out. Few parties and nightclubs. I mean, sure, I have gone to them and will continue to go to them, but I’m there for a half hour, tops. It feels like such an empty waste of time. I have spent the last few years writing a novel, particularly, on weekends when I have more time. While it might seem crazy to be “working” on the weekends, it’s actually been fun…for the most part. Trust me, there have been more days of me doubting myself and wanting to stop than those few, special days when I feel “flow” and the words just come out and I feel like a complete human being. Fleeting, but worth it.

    My book might sell five copies. I am terrified that it will be horrible, something that my friends and family can throw in my face for the rest of my life. “You worked on this garbage? You do have a legacy all right Tony. It’s called crap.”

    But that’s just my inner-critic, my Daily Dragon, doing what it does best. I may not leave a legacy of great work or art, even though that is my dream. My legacy might very well just be that I tried. But that’s good enough for me. More than most can say.

    I tried.

  • We’ve Been Wrong The Whole Time

    Handi-Man-Living-Color-Wayans-h1

    This week, the National Hemophilia Foundation is having their annual meeting in Dallas Texas. This wonderful meeting is America’s premier bleeding disorder yearly reunion. And it got me thinking about two themes that I have been told nearly all my life as a person living with hemophilia. Those two things are, one, that people with hemophilia are not handicapped or disabled and that, two, people with hemophilia are an inspiration to others. Both are, mostly, false. I say mostly because, the advancements in hemophilia have left the younger generation free from major joint damage. But besides that, many of us are disabled and handicap and all of us are no one to look up to.

    Looking at the first distinction, the handicapped or disabled label, people are quick to say that we are not. While we can all agree that being disabled or handicapped is not a goal or something anyone should aspire to, for those of us that do have mobility issues, we should not feel shamed or feel less than the next person just because we have mobility issues.

    It took me a long time to realize that and I still fall into the trap every once in a while. It took me forever to get a handicap license plate. Why? Because I was too proud. Because being disabled was “bad.” Well, I am handicapped. I am disabled. I am a cripple. And you know what? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. It just is what it is.

    On the other side, the bleeding disorder community also promotes a culture of victim hood, as if our pains and troubles make us someone to look up to. It’s a funny balance to hear too since, while people are trying to pass the first belief (you’re not handicapped / disabled) they also try to juggle the second which is, that we’re some type of heroes for what we are dealing with. Which of course, according to view one, is nothing.

    These two beliefs have been propagated to our community from a place of well meaning. It makes people disabled with hemophilia deny their disability (making one not feel bad) while making us out as role models (so we can feel good about ourselves). While they mean well they, to me, do more harm then good.

    It makes a person with hemophilia feel proud of having a bleeding disorder and there is no greater wrong on earth than pride.

    This “you’re not disabled / you’re a hero” is actually creating people who are disabled and anti-heroes ironically enough by living a sedentary life without any goals. After all, why should anyone aspire to anything if they’re already perfect? Not only is nothing wrong with you, you’re also someone people should look up to.

    I hear people trying to balance these two views with a myriad of excuses. It’s a delicate balancing act of bull feces that has been ingrained into our heads.

    So what are we then?

    For some they are disabled. For others, they are not. Regardless if you are or aren’t, that doesn’t make you bad. It just makes you either disabled or not. No biggie.

    So then are we heroes? Heck to the no. First responders like police, fire, and paramedics, those people are heroes. People in the military, those people are heroes. We’re just people who walk funny and have owies.

    I guess what I’m trying to say is, at the end, we are all the same. People who are physically more healthy than me can be more unhealthy in their emotional, financial, spiritual, or emotional health than me. The old saying that we all have our cross to bear is true. Just because someone might be at a disadvantage to the eyes, doesn’t mean that that person’s life isn’t easier than the so called “healthy one.”

    When people mope and complain about their physical ills, they’re more times than not just looking for sympathy. Since everyone is battling their own demons of equal weight this person does get the empathy they want all though not in the form they want it. It comes off as pathetic.

    So to all my blood brothers and sisters out there reading this, quit feeling bad for yourself and, more importantly, stop feeling proud of yourself. You haven’t done anything yet. And that’s a good thing.

    That means that we still have a lot more to do with our lives.

    That means there is so much more to life than just having hemophilia.

    That means that we accept that we have our setback, sure, but so does everyone else. And that setback is nothing to be ashamed of.

    That means that maybe one day we will be someone that people look up to through our own work, not to what just happened to happen to us.

  • Our Collective Suicide

    Narcissus (Caravaggio)
    Narcissus (Caravaggio)

    According to the Ovid, Narcissus was a young hunter who put himself first before everyone else. Enamored with himself and him alone, Narcissus led a vain life filled with doing nothing but loving himself and only doing what he wanted first.

    Then one day Echo saw him and fell in love. Echo started following Narcissus. She loved him so much, she would even repeat everything he said. When Narcissus learned of Echo, he chastised her. He didn’t want anyone to bother him and interrupt him from loving himself. Heartbroken, Echo ran away, forever hiding in the small holes of caves.

    Nemesis was furious when she found out about this. Nemesis was the spirit who would humble those who affronted the gods.

    Nemesis decided to have Narcissus look at a pond. The pond was as smooth as glass and that’s when Narcissus saw himself for the first time. He didn’t know that he was looking at himself, he just thought he saw something beautiful. Realizing that he could never see anything more beautiful, he drowned himself.

    And that’s what we are doing to ourselves. We are slowly killing ourselves one selfie at a time. We may be physically alive but our souls are dead.

    Our vanity is making us love ourselves so much that we are now destroying our relationships with others. We would rather love the false idea of ourselves than creating new connections. We are so self centered and self involved, we are now pushing away those that would better us.

    Water gives life. It can also destroy. Our smart phones can help us get to a gas station, but they can also make us yearn for approval.

    Narcissus had water. We have technology. At the end, our admiration of that same reflection will be the demise of many.

  • Puppy Wars

    George-Martin-Wolf

    In the publishing and literary world, there always seems to be some sort of scandal and today is no different. Right now, the biggest talk around town has to do with what some call Puppygate or the Puppy Wars. Whatever you call it, it is a fascinating war of words.

    This post will try to do something that others have not, try not to take a side but mainly catch people up as to what the heck is going on.

    First, some background.

    All this talk of puppies and infighting has to do with the Hugo Awards. The Hugo is an award for Science Fiction and Fantasy (SF&F) given to the previous year’s work. There are various versions of this award ranging from novels to short stories to art. It is one of the most prestigious awards in literature and the fight as to what is and isn’t SF&F is at the core of this very hostile debate.

    Voting for the Hugo is a somewhat public affair as all that is needed is a forty dollar membership to World Science Fiction Society. Once you have that, you have a vote.

    Okay, so you get that there’s this award for writing and that there’s voting involved with the public. What the heck does this have to do with cute little puppies and the guy who wrote Game of Thrones?

    Everything really.

    You see, for the last several years, the Hugo has been going to, what the Sad Puppies feel are, left leaning writers and writings.

    I know, I need to stop again. What is a Sad Puppy? Well, that’s the self given name of the grass roots group who is trying to shakeup the current system and succeeding. Sad Puppies is a slight towards liberals and their fondness for animals. The original name was Sad Puppies Think of the Children and there’s even another group called Rabid Puppies. For the sake of clarity and brevity we’ll just call the two main factions the Sad Puppies versus the Blue Team.

    (By the way, coming up for a name for those on the other side of the Sad Puppies debate was a task unto itself because, as you’ll see, one of the biggest problems with this debate is the name calling. I’ll go for Blue Team since in fake battle simulations there is usually a Blue Team and a Red Team, and since both sides don’t argue that the non-Sad Puppies are more liberal in their views, I’m going with the Americancentric color of blue for them.)

    Okay, so where were we? Ah, yes, puppies, and more acurately, sad ones.

    So the Sad Puppies feel that the Hugo Award has been given to, not the best writng in SF&F, but to those that are pushing a social agenda. On the other side, the Blue Team, they claim that they are just moving the genre forward and giving it to the best writing as well.

    So who’s in the right? Depends on who you ask and what side you’re on. Let’s go over the pros and cons of each side, first starting with, what I call, Blue Team.

    Blue Team is the current clique of writers, editors and publishers that have had significant say into who wins and doesn’t win the Hugo. Blue Team’s cause is just, they believe, because before they took over the mantle, SF&F was awarded to low-brow writing and writers. The SF&F landscape was awash with straight white men and their views of what SF&F is.

    Since the Hugo has now been in their care, they have given it to a more diverse crowd who is pushing, changing, and challenging what is commonly believed to be the norms of SF&F.

    On the other side we have the Sad Puppies. They feel that the world of SF&F has become too academic and trying to push across social agendas instead of doing what the Hugo was meant for; to award the best writing. They feel that they are the Rebellion trying to take on the mighty Empire and bring justice back to the galaxy and the Force.

    But even that isn’t a good analogy since Blue Team feels they’re the Rebels who knocked down the Dark Side and are only trying to stop it from coming back. With me so far?

    So that’s how both sides see themselves. They both think that their cause is good. But before we get into the cons of each group, let’s go back again to the culture and world that made this infighting possible.

    No one on either side will deny that there hasn’t always been some sort of politicking and cliques that have pushed their agendas and writings for the Hugo. It has been going on for a long time and, as we can see with the Puppy Wars, is still continuing. The only difference from days past to now is the Internet. What was once whisper campaigns has now bled out into the public forum that is the World Wide Web.

    One of the larger problems I see here is, the name calling and both sides are guilty of it.

    If you’re a supporter of the Sad Puppies, there are tons of examples of acronym name calling that I won’t even get into. But even their stance is insulting to the Blue Team. The Sad Puppies paint themselves as rebels fighting for a just cause. That in itself is implying that Blue Team is just a bunch of status quo pushers.

    If you’re a supporter of the Blue Team, the name calling has been fierce there too. Everything from homophobic to racist has been thrown at those who are trying to disrupt the system.

    So what does this have to do with Game of Thrones guy? A lot since he has publicly come out, time and again, in support of Blue Team.

    So that’s Puppy Wars in a nutshell.

    What do I think about it? Well, I think that this has been going on for years, with control going from the Sad Puppies (historically) to now Blue Team who are afraid of losing what they thought was theirs.

    I understand both side’s arguments and see validity in both their cases. At the end, however, this is about narrative control and more importantly, what is art.

    And that’s what’s so strange to me. You can’t define art. Maybe that’s the only real definition of art, it’s undefinable.

    The main problem with the Hugo Awards is the way it’s designed. It is done in a well meaning spirit, open to fans of the genre and gives them the right to vote. The problem is, it has become too political. There are now cliques and parties that smear and slander just so they could win.

    What needs to be done? I’m not sure but all this infighting needs to stop. So far the only thing that has been resolved by the two sides is that the Hugo’s importance and validity has come into question. And that is something neither side wants.