Belated Tidings, BOTB Results, IWSG Distractions, and Groove-Floatin'

"I Was Tardy" by Alan Foster -- Saturday Evening Post cover (9/27/1930)

Allow me to wish you a belated "Happy New Year!"

I apologize for the fact that it's belated -- I'd planned on posting the results from my Jan 1st BOTB on Monday, posting the first Tuesday Newsday 200 (TN200) post of 2014 on Tuesday, and then taking part in the January IWSG yesterday, and I ended up being woefully tardy on all of them.  You'd think that after having two weeks off for the holiday and then getting an extra two days snowed in would have given me plenty of free time to get those posts written and ready to go, but...

I don't have a good excuse -- I took some time away from the blogosphere, and like my Holiday, it ended up being unexpectedly extended.  Maybe I can blame the Polar Vortex. 

Well, at least let me try and offer penance:

I was tardy. I was tardy. I was tardy. I was tar--

No, that's no good.  Who wants to read that 500 times???

So perhaps I can try to catch up a little -- belated tidings are better than none, right?  I'll save the TN200 until next week, but here are abbreviated versions of the other two topics:

1/1/2014 Battle of the Bands Results


I have to tell you that the voting on the three versions of Auld Lang Syne surprised me a little.  I thought David Grisman's bluegrass rendition would have received a few more votes. True, the holidays and my own blogging absence probably helped to lower the number of votes, but it still ended up not being much of a contest, and Grisman was left in the dust.

I was familiar with Grisman's version of this tune before posting and discovered the others on YouTube when I was searching for a version to match against Grisman's.  I've been a fan of Grisman's since hearing his Mondo Mando album back in the early 1980's -- the tune "Dawg Funk" from it is a particular favorite of mine.  And being a Deahhead, the collaborations between Grisman and Jerry Garcia are fun to me, too.

I do think all the BOTB versions are very good, and there wasn't a wrong vote -- it's just interesting to see how the votes turned out.  The Viva Girls version is extremely cool.  The mix of the beat and the Chinese instruments is great, and the playing is fabulous.  Plus, as a guitarist, I can't help but admire the playing on the Hero for the World metal version (and I suspect it would have gotten an extra vote if Ninja Captain Alex had been around). Still, I personally would vote for Grisman, although it doesn't change the results at all -- the Viva Girls won this one going away:

Viva Girls 4.5, Grisman 1.5, Hero for the World 1.0

January 2014 Insecure Writers Support Group -- "Distractions"

This (belated and very shortened) edition of the IWSG blog event relates closely to my IWSG post from last month where I shared my concerns over not writing enough:

"How can I stay focused on writing when there are so many distractions?"

I have a job, a house, a family, and many other things I spend time on -- and right now I have to confess that playing my guitar is a big one.  I love writing, although it can be a slow and painful process at times.  I have many story ideas I want to get down, and am growing more and more excited about a new novel that has been taking over my thoughts with demands to be written. But how can I stay focused on just writing on a consistent and regular basis when there are so many other things in my life tugging on my sleeve for attention?

How can I shut out the distractions and turn the stories I want to write into stories I've written?

I'm open to any feedback and pointers as to what works for you.

Floatin' in the Groove

  Finally, as my final act of contrition for my belatedness, let me try to appease you with music.

HERE's one of the pieces I put together over the Christmas holiday. A bit of a spacey jam with several guitars on top of a wikiloops drum and bass track. I call it "Floatin' in the Groove" and it's on the wikiloops shared jam site.

I found the drum and bass groove (drums by user "Gibson" and bass by user "bendeg") and just kind of started jamming against it -- I ended up actually looping the original bass and drums track twice to make it longer. :)

My playing on this piece is kind of all over the map -- the effect I was going for was kind of trippy and spacey with at least a defined bridge, and I think it succeeded at that, but overall I'm not sure if it is what I would consider a very coherent tune.

Still -- it was fun to do and I hope you enjoy it.  Thanks for listening!

IWSG -- Am I Writing Enough?

Today is the first Wednesday of the last month of the latest year of my life. So of course that means it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group (ISWG) post!

For this edition, how about some thoughts on writing goals and the concern that I might not be writing "enough:"

When I first dabbled with "becoming a writer" I was very focused on output.  I think that in a lot of ways, that can be a good thing.  A writer writes, and just making it through the process of getting words onto the page is much of the battle. But, of course, being the geeky engineering type, I naturally created a spreadsheet to track my output in words per day.

I'd read many places that the goal for many "professional" writers is 1,000 words a day.  But I've also got the day-job and a house and a family and other commitments and while those blessed few who could support themselves with their writing might be able to crank that out in a day, I knew I was too pressed for time to try and live up to that daily 4-digit dream level of production. So I settled on 250 as a goal, preloaded several months worth of my tracking spreadsheet with that daily amount, and set to writing and tracking my actual output versus the goal.

At first, for quite a long while, I was doing well.  Even with an erratic schedule and days where I accomplished no writing at all, I was still averaging closer to 350-400 words per day.  Then life interrupted, my schedule got disrupted, more and more days slipped by with little or no writing, and my actual-versus-goal cumulative total slid into the negative and kept going that way.  

It was excruciating to watch that artificial goal I had set for myself slip further and further away from my grasp. Soon it became overwhelming.  I'd reached a point where even if I spent days writing at thousands of words a day, it would take seemingly forever to catch back up to where I'd decided I was "supposed" to be.

So I quit.

The fact that I hadn't been "successful" in getting anything published also added to me throwing up my hands and walking away from it, but that oppressive thought that I wasn't even writing "enough" to be a "real writer" was a key factor.

My writing stopped and my blogging stopped -- why blog about something you weren't doing?  I mean, if any of my blog readers could see that huge deficit of my actual writing output versus my target, they'd realize I was really a big phoney. What the heck kind of writer was I???

But slowly, thankfully, without an artificial and arbitrary target anymore, and away from the blogosphere, I came to my senses.  With the "goal" long surrendered, I eventually started writing again.  Simply because I like it and felt like it.  250 words or 2 words -- it didn't matter. I just like to write.

And that's kind of where I still am.  I'm writing, but I really couldn't tell you "how much" off the top of my head.  The spreadsheet's been retired.  And I think I'm better for it.

But I sometimes still feel those nagging thoughts start to creep in -- am I really writing "enough?"  Maybe I should set a goal and start tracking it again.

Or not...

So what do you think? Do you set a writing goal?  How rigid is it? If it's flexible and likely not to be met, is it really a "goal?"  How much do you beat yourself up if you fall short of your goal?

How do you set a goal and use it as positive motivation without it becoming a burden and a oppressive drag? 

My First IWSG Post -- Sorry If It's Not Good Enough

 

I've been blogging for a while. In my blogging life, there have been many fits and starts, stops and gaps, endings and beginnings, and even a reboot of my whole dang blog.  So I've been around the blogosphere long enough to have seen many, many Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) posts. On the first Wednesday of every month, hundreds of writing blogs bloom with the above badge as writers post about their insecurities, commune with other IWSG bloggers, share commiseration and support, and generally saturate the writing corners of cyberspace with a mix of artistic angst and altruistic allegiance.

The brainchild of blogging phenomenon Alex J. Cavanaugh -- talented writer of the excellent "Cassa" series of science-fiction novels (CassaFire, CassaStar, and CassaStorm); ninja captain to an ever-growing band of blogging brethren; omnipresent commenter on an endless sea of blogs; and all-around great guy -- IWSG has evolved from a small support group of a select few writers to a blogroll of 350 members.  It has even outgrown Alex's blog and now has its own web site.

I've always admired the thought behind the IWSG and greatly respect Alex for starting it. Over the time I've been blogging, I've grown to really appreciate it, and like reading the many monthly posts. I think it is wonderful to learn that writers everywhere share the same basic fears and insecurities; to know that many have actually overcome those fears to achieve success; and to see the kindness and support they share with the new wanna-be's who are dipping their first toes into the turbulent waters of writing. 

But I've never taken part.

Until now.

I'm not sure why it's taken me so long. Maybe it's because I wanted to avoid the pressure of HAVING to blog a certain thing at a certain time.  Maye it's my general distaste for me-too-ism -- I usually try to avoid the herd, and I certainly never want to be one of the last ones signing up for the next-big-thing.

Well, maybe...

But it could also be that perhaps I've thought that I might not have much to say compared to all the great IWSG posts I've read over the many months of its existence. Or that I could never say it as well as so many others already have.  Or that no-one would even be interested in whatever inadequate, fumbling thoughts I might try to post on my small, unheralded backwater of the blogosphere.

Uhhh... Wait a minute...

Has the dreaded "it's not good enough!" monster made me too insecure to even sign up for the insecure writers support group!?!?

Oh, the irony!

Well, no more.  

When it comes to my writing -- or any creative thing I try to make -- I may never be able to completely eliminate that nagging inner voice of self-doubt, that annoying tummy-flutter of insecurity, that heart-stopping vision of being either ignored or berated as being not-good-enough!!!  

But I can damn well not let it stop me from writing and creating anyway. 

And I can absolutely not let it stop me from letting me from taking part in a support group meant to combat it, fer cryin' out loud.

So here I am.  Joining the IWSG, adding my voice to the community of writerly support, and making my own very first IWSG post.

...sorry if it's not good enough.