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It’s always good to use a Beatles title. That aside, it’s totally true. Writing is NOT a lucrative job. One writer said this: “after I had my second NYTimes Bestseller, I thought maybe I could make a job out of this.”
The first piece of advice I always heard was: don’t quit your day job.
While it’s true, unless you have a trust fund, you won’t make your living writing from the start, you do need time.
That is what I find to be the essential conundrum of the writer. When can you do it?

-AJ-

Just 2 days ago I finished my big edit of my third book (GOD’S EYE). I call it the ‘big edit’ because I don’t know what else to call it. It’s the one I do, on my own, before I ship it off to the publisher. They may (will?) send some changes back, but at this point, likely not anything big. So this wasn’t the first edit, or the last, but it was the big one! I’m off to crack open the champagne, then figure out to crack open the local Fire Department. I need a ride-along!

-AJ-

I think I’m like a lot of you in that I’m really picky about my keyboard. I have a close friend who wants his keys to click each time, but I like mine really squishy.
Another keyboard issue I have is this: I never learned to touch type. I know, how can I be a real writer if I can’t really type? Well, when I get going, I can touch type, but not consciously.
Then add in that I did a huge project for work a few years back and I typed so much that my left arm went numb. Really.
I decided it was time for a change. And here is the change I made: I switched to a Dvorak Keyboard.
Qwerty history (Qwerty is the standard keyboard configuration) – it was designed to slow people down. Yes, it was. On the old typewriters, if you typed too fast you would jam the swing arms that came up and printed the letters. So there was a maximum speed. Word processors changed all that, but the keyboard stayed because everyone was used to it.
Dvorak designed a different key layout that was made for speed and for reduction of wrist strain.
I’m never going to break any land-speed records on this thing, but I did teach myself to touch type when I started with my Dvorak keyboard. I also tilt the board away to mimic the natural set of the human wrist.
Though none of this is necessary, some kind of consession to comfort has to be made for anyone spending high quantities of time typing.
Dvorak has big advantages, but also drawbacks. Though my arms and wrists no longer hurt, my typos are unique. Because the vowels and common consonants are all clustered together, typos often create real words. ‘Whole’ becomes ‘whale’ or even ‘whore’ – and spell checker doesn’t catch it!!

Here’s my keyboard – crazy letter configuration and squishy keys and all!

 - AJ -

My desk is a crazy place. I’m one of those people who knows which pile each thing is in. And that means the desk is covered with piles of papers. On top of that, I’m sitting at my desk so much (my other job also requires computer work!) that I realized I was getting sedentary. Plus, I’m a fidgetter! It’s really hard to fidget in a computer chair.
My solution? An exercise ball.
The floor space in my office got eaten up, because I still have the chair, too. But I use the exercise ball about half the time and, as the yoga gurus would have you believe, it’s true – I have much better core strength now.
I will warn you this though: if you are sitting on an exercise ball and you start to laugh, you can roll right under your desk. It’s really funny/scary to the other person if you are on camera at the time!

 - AJ -

12/15/09 – Eli and I were writing up some business documents last week and I realized that the name “Recognition” doesn’t suit me. We change the title to “Phoenix”. This is, of course, after we check Amazon for other books with this name and buy the corresponding PhoenixTheBook.com webpage! But it’s official, Jason’s story has a new title. I like the marriage of the story of Jason and the Argonauts and the journey idea with the myth of the Phoenix rising from the ashes to start a second life.

- AJ -

In a previous post, I mentioned how I get my ideas. One way is through transforming actual events. For example, one day I came home with the groceries and as I entered my house I heard really creepy music playing. All I could think was how stupid I would feel when a serial killer hacked me to death. How many times have you wanted to yell at a movie screen, “Get out! Don’t you hear the music?!?” Well, I heard the music! It turned out that someone had left the audio on from a DVD menu . . . from that experience came the short story “Dumb Blonde”. What if a serial killer really had been in my house?

I often take a break from the book I am writing to write something else. What I have learned, though, is that the break can only be for a few days, for something like a short story. Otherwise the novel can wind up getting put off. “Dumb Blonde” was a quick side jaunt during the writing of “God’s Eye”.
(You can get “Dumb Blonde” on Kindle for just 99c)

6/14/08 – I re-name the main character of the book Jason. I like the reference to “Jason and the Argonauts” and the idea of the journey. I had to google the story to be sure it was a good match for mine. (I wound up with the wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonauts). But I love the idea that Jason takes his journey to return something. Though that ‘something’ is very different for my Jason, the idea is there . . .

- AJ -

4/16/08 – The main character of the book is a firefighter, hopefully in Dallas. I’ve found out that the Dallas FD has an USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) division. This sounds like just the thing for my firefighter, though I know only a little about it. (More on the Dallas USAR team – http://firechief.com/tactics/firefighting_upgraded_usar/) I read up and make a series of calls to get the name of the division leader who can get me a ride-along. I have to write a letter. I write. I mail. Now I wait.

- AJ -

3/4/07 – I have no memory of where the idea for Phoenix came from. (Some of  my plots come from ‘wouldn’t it be interesting if’ thoughts [Camelot - book#5] and some from dreams [Fortune - book #6]) But this is the date I wrote and saved the first idea of the book, I have nothing documented before this. But, as this is a 3 page synopsis of the story, it is relatively well fleshed out by this point. Though lots will change before it hits shelves, it is currently saved under the title of “Recognition”

- AJ -