Yes, I Can (Dammit)

Are you a confident or delusional writer?

I was thinking about a friend-of-a-friend the other day; he is a successful entrepreneur and author. Very spiritual and centered (he's a Sikh, which helps) but in a stange balance, is full of himself. But it works for him, and he is a very likable, approachable person...albeit very driven, and very likely to bring himself and/or his business up in conversation. But, to the point of the above link: that's kind of what it takes to be a working writer, isn't it? The ability to be confident when the odds are pretty much stacked against you? I know personally that everything I write feels risky (i.e., how weird is it to sit around and make up other peoples lives, and to write in a flourished way that I don't speak aloud?), but if I lose confidence in what I'm doing, even for a minute, I'll give up and not try.

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Good week of writing...I've been averaging close to 1k every day this week, and over 2k last night; I think I passed 10.5k on Aquarium last night, which made me happy-dance on the way to bed. I'd love to crack 15k this weekend...there are some parts coming up that I really want to see.

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I was never a fan of the comic, but I am kind of excited to see Watchmen when it comes out next week. I think the flaws and humanity of superheroes (a la Spiderman, Wolverine) are really some of the best parts of the story.

Miss Alaini

Random stuff...

Amazon is doing their annual writer's contest. Not sure what to think about it; the first comment on that blog is telling, though: 

"Quick question:What happened to LAST YEAR's winner of this stupid contest? Exactly..."

Article over at Nathan Bransford's pad with some links and blurbs on the industry. Random House's CEO is promoting a demand-based pricing model for ebooks; on the whole, the industry seems to continue to favor the Hollywood-style big-tent model.

I'm halfway through Ghost Story, and loving it. Just got Updike's Rabbit, Run in the mail today.

I'm dipping my toes back into Mojave, but it's slow going. I keep veering off into other story ideas, and have done nothing but notes and (wait for it:) a wad of story notes that turned into a half a poem. My notes just started rhyming, so I wrote it all out in a 1,1,2,3 pattern. Kind of fun, I never do poetry. I may try to incorporate it into the story that spawned it, if it ever gets written.

All of a sudden my fonts are wonky, and I'm too lazy to fix them. Must be time for bed.