{"id":220,"date":"2009-08-29T20:38:55","date_gmt":"2009-08-30T00:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.talechasing.com\/2009\/08\/29\/contest-win-your-own-home-made-sound-recording-studio-box\/"},"modified":"2009-08-29T20:38:55","modified_gmt":"2009-08-30T00:38:55","slug":"contest-win-your-own-home-made-sound-recording-studio-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/talechasing-com.local\/contest-win-your-own-home-made-sound-recording-studio-box\/","title":{"rendered":"BTS: Real Convos 1: Planning for ReInvasion \/ Word Counts \/ Ch 5 BSing"},"content":{"rendered":"

I mentioned a while ago that I wanted to completely honest and open about my writing process. The easiest way I\u2019ve found to make this happen is to capture conversations. Thanks to a great writing partner, Ryan E Stevenson from The Dead Robots Society<\/a>, he let me post one of our recent discussions (while we were both multitasking). I have quite a few other of these sessions I might skim over to see if there are other hidden gems waiting to be posted. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Enjoy!<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.S. It\u2019s a bit long but quite informational. I also apologize for the type size if it\u2019s an issue. Just a warning.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>:So how’re things otherwise?
Kimi Alexandre:<\/strong> I’m procrastinating writing
Ryan E Stevenson:<\/strong> Any reason? Just in general?
Kimi Alexandre:<\/strong> well i was doing holly’s motivation class<\/a> and it turns out it’s mostly cause i’m afraid I’m gonna do it wrong
Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Hey, that sounds familiar. Sounds like me.
Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: heh
Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: honestly i don’t know why i don’t write. i just don’t
Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Are you willing \/ interested in just going for it, right or wrong being damned?
[8:28:42 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: I’ve managed working out 3 days in a row
[8:28:45 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Good for you!
[8:29:00 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I WAS, but I screwed up my back. It seems to me you and I have surprisingly aligned goals.
[8:29:07 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i have to. i have to turn in a story in a few days
[8:29:17 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: and i HAVE to finish Guardians<\/a>. it’s not an option
[8:29:25 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Anything I can do to help?
[8:29:30 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: just encourage me
[8:30:08 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i keep looking at Cherie Priest<\/a>. She’s doing everything I want to do and going…why am I NOT doing what she is doing?
[8:30:23 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: and the only answer can be "i’m lazy"
[8:30:38 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i want to be invited to dragoncon<\/a> each year to talk about my book
[8:30:42 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: books
[8:30:51 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i want to be invited to talk about Guardians next year
[8:30:58 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: that won’t happen unless i get my ass in gear
[8:31:08 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i want to be on the dark fantasy panel
[8:31:20 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i’d LIKE to have it published
[8:31:35 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: but i want to be among the dark fantasy novelists really badly
[8:32:08 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Okay.
[8:32:10 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: and i’d like to not be among tee<\/a>, pip’s<\/a>, et all of "wondering if i can do it or not"
[8:32:18 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: cause right now…i think i’m out of rope
[8:32:29 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Hmm.
[8:32:55 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I think I agree with what you’re saying. I’d like to be past the "can I do this" phase, but to address that, I’d like to point out that no doubt, Cherie Priest was there as well once upon a time, right?
[8:33:14 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: she use to only be on the live journal panel
[8:33:39 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Ah.
[8:33:47 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i have to get back on a 2 to 3 week schedule again
[8:33:52 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: it needs to be a non-option
[8:33:59 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Does scheduling your time work for you?
[8:34:09 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i don’t know
[8:34:31 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I’ve tried two tricks, with mixed success. The first was scheduling writing time. The second was setting what-seemed-like low word-count goals. The second worked great.
[8:35:27 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I tried Terry’s trick, saying "500 words a day". Which I can do in about 20 minutes, tops. And I was hitting it, and even though it was slower than I wanted to go, it was still progress. I found that it’s like the 5 minutes you spend on the bike \/ treadmill BEFORE you actually start lifting weight, if that analogy makes sense.
[8:36:11 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i was doing well when i was mandating a chapter every 2-3 weeks. putting up one i mean
[8:36:54 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: I’ve lost all my cred with everyone. i have to get it back
[8:37:06 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: only way I’ll get it back it so start meeting Guardians deadlines
[8:37:24 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I believe that. But I wonder if doing smaller steps will serve you better than the community. 1 chapter every 2 \/ 3 weeks is great, but what I worry about is you burning out if you miss one of those deadlines.
[8:37:26 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: I’ve started proving to myself i can meet them by going to the gym…
[8:37:46 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: I’ll go back to 1 chapter a month…2 if possible
[8:37:47 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: There ya go! So if you can transpose some of that victory over to your writing, you’re set!
[8:38:01 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: because i have to manage tale chasing as well
[8:38:27 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i just can’t put a week between writing and getting the chapter and audio done
[8:38:30 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: that’s what i was doing
[8:38:38 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i’d finish a chapter and get it out to the cast
[8:38:48 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: and i’d put writing off until the chapter was DONE
[8:38:50 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i can’t do that
[8:38:59 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i can give it a day or two but not a week
[8:39:16 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: brb. i have to get back to getting dinner finished
[8:39:50 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: np, drop me a line when you’re back.
[8:58:11 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: back
[8:58:28 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i realized downstairs that i might be asked for some help in a few months
[9:00:38 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: "downstairs"?
[9:01:04 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: downstairs cooking….upstairs (here) in the office
[9:01:19 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: yeah i realized that i’m going to need some brainstorming help
[9:01:33 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i don’t know where all the middle stuff happens in the book
[9:01:52 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i know the next couple of chapters. i know a few candy bar scenes in the middle and i know the end
[9:03:42 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: cool \ud83d\ude42
[9:03:47 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: So is brainstorming something I ca
\nn
\nhelp with?
[9:04:09 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i’m sure LOL. nothing we are doing right now LOL
[9:04:43 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: it’s like we talked about the other day. asking questions to help the other person figure things out
[9:05:05 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Okay. But in order to achieve that, I need to know what components you need help with. Tell me roughly where you’re stuck.
[9:06:45 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: ok for example i am up to chapter 5 basically. Reagan goes to see her sister and while they are talking at an outdoor cafe she notices that there is a man near the church where she just picked up her sister across the street seeming staring at them. she also notices that she’s picking up weird vibes and slightly weird "images" from him….i’m not sure where to take that. i don’t think Reagan would just let him be..but i’m also not sure she’d run into a fight either
[9:07:25 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: oh and this is after she’s been told by Ackerman and co that their are angels and demons and she basically told them to get stuffed cause their weren’t
[9:09:30 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Okay … random thought process begins … now …
[9:10:19 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Ackerman and Co tell Reagan that there’s angels and demons and such. Do they tell her anything about how they appear? Any characteristic to them that she might notice in this stranger? Anything that might make her wonder about the connection between the stranger and the out landing story she just heard?
[9:11:18 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: If the supernatural element of the world has been secretly fighting their war, how would they take to someone new being introduced? Any chance this stranger is an agent of some unity that wants to know what to expect out of Reagan? Perhaps, if someone’s out for Ackerman, now they’re also out for Reagan?
[9:12:02 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: no they basically just told her about the watch they want her to help protect. they didn’t go into a lot of detail. she hasn’t fully accepted the job..where by they would have given her some detail by what to expect though they wouldn’t have been sure really what she could have seen….this scene will give them an idea that she can see more of their world….
[9:12:09 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: this scene is here to do a few things…
[9:12:34 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: a) introduce the "ghost\/soul" who’s been called to help the "minor" bad guy
[9:12:51 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: b) show that now the minor bad guy is aware that Reagan is on the case
[9:13:28 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: c)let Reagan see that someone "weird"\/supernatural is stalking her
[9:13:47 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: d) maybe Ackerman and trace deserve another conversation
[9:13:57 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: e) Jessica may be in the way now
[9:14:09 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: and a few others i haven’t thought of yet
[9:14:31 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: so number 1 you’ve already helped me see that i need another scene with Ackerman and Erin re this scene
[9:15:03 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: … okay … so how "assertive" is Reagan? Would she do something like point out to her sister the name that’s watching them? If she’s not going to run into a fight, would she at least approach him to find out why they’re being watched? That isn’t to say she could catch up to him…
[9:15:21 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: (will it disappoint you to be the only one to know where this book is going?)
[9:15:47 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: she wouldn’t say anything to Jessica in hopes that it wouldn’t involve her sister more
[9:15:59 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: My gut reaction was to take that lead. Nothing this opaque, but basically have Ackerman say to Reagan "supernatural beings glow" (or whatever). She dismisses him: what a coot! And then not a day later, here she is, and she’d swear she’s seeing that glow (or whatever). Is she making it up to make sense of Ackerman’s story? Was there something to it? Is she tired? That kind of thing.
[9:16:33 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Will it disappoint me to be the ONLY one to know? No.
[9:16:45 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: sadly she’d want to go after the guy if the guy left while they were eating and that’s going to fuck up their "time" which is exactly what they’ve been working on…and with the subject the timing isn’t going to be good….so maybe that works for the scene
[9:17:10 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I have to admit that part of me wants it to be a surprise just like everyone else who’s consuming it, but that said, my desire to be of assistance to you is also pretty great. So I’d rather we discussed this as fully as you need to, instead of worrying about how much I know.
[9:17:45 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I think that works well. How does Reagan handle asking her sister for time, only to cut it short without much reason? Gives you a great point of conflict later, when Reagan tries to again rebuild that time with Jessica.
[9:18:02 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: well honestly you’ll have hints but you won’t know unless you want to be a reader too. i can use you for breakthrough. daddy has been my best beta reader
[9:19:08 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: *nod* Side track, but worth noting: you’re fortunate that he’s a good reader for you, and I’d say exploit that resource. He knows how you write, what you want, and can give you immediate results better than anyone else can, really.
[9:19:53 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I will do whatever I reasonably can to help. As I noted before, since our goals are so aligned, it seems appropriate for us to help one another.
[9:20:48 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: it’s both good and annoying that he’s such a good resource like that. but I’ve found that he was the best and quickest way to get 1 and 2 out as quick as i did. having him be my only beta made it fast and efficient.
[9:21:54 PM] Kimi Alexandre:<\/strong> i think what would be most helpful for me is to have you as a brainstorming\/breakthrough partner to help me like you did above. have Ken be my editor. and i am happy to help you in any way i can and in anyway you are comfortable with
[9:22:04 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: *shrug* Hopefully you agree with me on this … you asked for help on Brainstorming. The way I’ve ALWAYS seen good brainstorming isn’t to say "you should have character A do action x", but rather ask questions or discuss it to let you come to that direction yourself.
[9:22:19 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Well, before we get too far into that, is that all you needed to brainstorm?
[9:22:21 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: and in this world you get the best of both world. you get to help but the job of not necessarily knowing the story \ud83d\ude42
[9:22:30 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: *nod*
[9:22:53 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: for the moment i think that helps \ud83d\ude42 yeah \ud83d\ude42
[9:23:03 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Glad to hear it!
[9:31:54 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: here’s an unrelated question
[9:32:12 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: give’er.
[9:32:25 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: do you think i should tweet when i write, tweet that i’ve written ?# of words (even like 342), or not tweet that I’ve written?
[9:32:29 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: which would people rather see?
[9:33:03 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: or tweet my to<\/p>\n

tal number of words at the end of a sitting when i write
[9:34:27 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I’d do the last one. Less strain on you (and temptation for distraction), but still gives the fans a count.
[9:52:46 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: tonight i’m working on "the corporate ladder"
[9:54:48 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Oh?
[9:55:09 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: that’s the angel story. i might need to ask you to beta for that one. daddy wants no part of it
[9:55:26 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: lol. Okay, I can do that.
[9:55:32 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Does Wesley have a part in it? lol *jk*
[9:55:45 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: sadly. no. lol. it’s before they take over
[9:58:04 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: lol.
[9:58:57 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I haven’t really seen enough of Angel to understand what’s going on anyway, so I can help from a pure story-driven perspective, and writing, but that’s about it. I can’t tell you if anything makes sense within the canon.
[9:59:29 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: it’s ok. read it from pure story view point. \ud83d\ude42
[10:00:32 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I shall do that.
[10:00:36 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: ug Ryan…i got so much work to do before Jan
[10:00:58 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: January’s a little ways off… you’ve got time.
[10:01:34 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i figure by Jan is how i long i have to make some notice to get Derek (head of the dark fantasy track for dragoncon) to want me on his panels
[10:08:11 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: What do you have to do by January, to achieve that goal?
[10:08:29 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: get as many episodes of guardians out as possible
[10:08:38 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Okay. Anything else?
[10:09:57 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: not really. hopefully i’ll get more listeners but that’s provided w the guardians
[10:10:32 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Do you need to go to him, to ask? Or does he come to you and ask? I don’t know how panels work.
[10:11:24 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: I’m gonna need to ask him. it would be cool if i could get a ref from Stacia<\/a> and Jackie<\/a> since they have been on his panels but i’m a little worried about asking them to back me up
[10:12:06 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: okay … *puts on secretary \/ administrative assistant hat*… Stacia and Jackie aside for a second, you’re planning on an episode every 2 weeks, right?
[10:12:31 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: 3 weeks is more possible but i’m trying for 2 weeks
[10:13:33 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: okay. There’s 16 weeks between now and January. That means 8 more episodes. Is that enough? (seriously asking; I don’t know).
[10:14:00 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: that would be 10 chapters
[10:14:21 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i don’t know….honestly
[10:14:34 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: depends on how much more i have written
[10:14:43 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i think i can work on getting ahead of my self
[10:15:03 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: and go…look…I’ve got x chapters up and I’ve got x written so ….
[10:15:08 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: you know what i mean?
[10:15:35 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Okay. Let’s assume it is. My goal in this line of questioning is to water this down to goals that you’ll measure in a matter of days, rather than weeks or months. If 8 more chapters is enough, and let’s say each chapter is 2,000 words … that means you’d have to write about … 142 words a day. That’s not too bad, right?
[10:16:09 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I do agree with you. Although again, knowing as little as I do about con panels, I wonder if saying "look, I have x listeners" won’t be the stat that wows him. Which, of course, will also come with this work.
[10:17:42 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i’m not sure. i think it’s getting him hooked on my story that will get him honestly
[10:18:23 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: which means that by jan i write and say i’m on chapter 10 (hopefully) and then by dragoncon in sept i’m hopefully at chapter what??
[10:18:42 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: lol. Getting him hooked on the story, or listener count, or having a set number of chapters done … I think regardless, it’s all a matter of using achievable goals to hit that mark. It’s definitely doable!
[10:18:51 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Assuming a similar calendar year …
[10:19:09 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Chapter 28
[10:19:12 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: well i can totally hit 142 words a day
[10:19:28 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: if i were at chapter 28 then I’d be almost done assuming i’m near the chapter math i worked out
[10:19:52 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i worked out the math to be somewhere near 32 chapters assuming i don’t add or undercut
[10:20:00 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I am certainly you can EXCEED 142 words a day.
[10:20:08 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: that’s for about 80k words
[10:20:26 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: k, lemme rework my math here … *calculator*
[10:20:46 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: my chapters are around 2500
[10:21:19 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: 179 words a day …
[10:21:27 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: STILL well within your capacity.
[10:21:44 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: where does figuring in editing\/recording go??
[10:21:57 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: lol. It doesn’t, into that figure at least.
[10:22:08 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i guess that doesn’t matter since i’m writing even when i’m doing recording and editing
[10:22:13 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: But how long – honestly – would it take you to write just 179 words a day, assuming that’s all you wrote? I’d have to hope you could do that in 10 minutes.
[10:22:41 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: probably. my BIGGEST problem is….i feel like i have to write it perfect the first time
[10:22:59 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Okay.
[10:23:23 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Is that seriously your biggest hurdle? I’m not wording it that way to be demeaning, naturally; I just want to make sure, before we address that hurdle, that it is indeed your biggest hurdle to overcome.
[10:23:25 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: damnit…so often i feel like these transcripts would be great for the site. sometimes i think about putting these on talechasing \ud83d\ude1b
[10:23:36 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: lol.
[10:24:09 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: (if you can) Invite me on the show, and we’ll talk it out there.
[10:24:47 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: honestly….in my head….and i feel really stupid and (can’t think of the word)….
[10:25:16 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: saying this…but most the time when i write….i don’t have to do much editing…some editing but not much unless i just trash the whole thing
[10:25:32 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: this leads me to think that if i write…it is close to perfect the first time
[10:25:42 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: so that’s what prevents me from sitting down and writing
[10:25:45 PM]<\/p>\n

Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i know this is incorrect
[10:25:50 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i know it can’t be this way
[10:25:51 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Hmm. Interesting.
[10:25:57 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i know that there is very flawed logic here
[10:26:06 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: … Yep. But is that so bad at this point?
[10:26:19 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: yes it’s preventing me from writing
[10:27:08 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Here’s my thought: you’re right and you’re wrong, but you know both of those things, even if you haven’t addressed it. You’re wrong in that naturally, it’s not perfect right out of the gate. It simply CAN’T be. However, you’re right in THINKING that IF you stop waiting for that to simply happen. Accept it when you think it’s perfect, move on from it when you think it’s not.
[10:27:35 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Sounds like you’ve got the same problem you said I had, kiddo. I think we both need to "get over ourselves", and just go to town on the writing.
[10:27:44 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: \ud83d\ude42 yup
[10:27:59 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: it’s very easy to make excuses and a little harder to just do it
[10:28:04 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Yep.
[10:28:08 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: "there is no try…only do"
[10:28:25 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Let me mis-quote someone here … lol, not Yoda (although I think I do a good impersonation of the little guy).
[10:28:40 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: We cannot expect radical change in our lives if we don’t experience radical change.
[10:28:42 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: \ud83d\ude42
[10:28:51 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: ok who did you mis-quote?
[10:29:15 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I take that to mean the following: you and I can’t expect to complete our works if we aren’t willing to sit down, fight through the emotions of thinking we’re stupid or wrong or wasting our time, to put in word count, etc.
[10:29:26 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Tony Robbins. He takes a lot of heat, but the man always lights a fire under my but.
[10:29:41 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: \ud83d\ude42
[10:30:19 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: He has an entire seminar where he discusses how things like scientific innovation always comes with people resisting it, because it’s not the norm. More importantly, he waters it down to a much more simplistic model: if you want to lose weight, you have to work out. Working out, for most of us, is a "radical change", and we resist it.
[10:30:56 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: You and I are doing the same thing. We’re stopping ourselves from being successful because we’re afraid of the change, I think. Please bear with me here …
[10:31:44 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: np
[10:32:15 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I think it’s pretty obvious that you’re afraid to get it wrong. I’m afraid of the same thing, at the end of the day. I can sit here and tell you I haven’t worked much on my novel because "I don’t know where it’s going", or "I’m not prepared". But at the end of the day, if I’m honest with myself, I’m not working enough on it because I’m afraid it won’t achieve my goals, and I seem to think I get only one shot at this. I think, although the symptoms might be different for you, the "disease" is the same.
[10:32:56 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Lots of people say "write for yourself", but honestly, I disagree with that. I don’t NEED to write my stories for myself, because I know them. I write my stories for everyone else. So to think that I’m going to attempt to tell this tale, and it’s going to go wrong and no one will read it is enough to turn me right off the idea.
[10:33:01 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Does this make sense?
[10:33:13 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: totally
[10:33:37 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: i don’t write for me either. i write for everyone else. same reason i watch movies i’ve seen with other people. i like watching them watch the parts i like.
[10:33:51 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: *touches nose* Exactly!
[10:33:57 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: \ud83d\ude42
[10:35:49 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: But here’s another component of this (and I’m talking this out for myself. I’m not being preachy, I assure you … unless you think I am…): we’re the first hurdle. We’ve both got to get over ourselves, and start working. I’d say we identify the roadblock, identify the way over it, and if we can’t get over it, identify the way AROUND it. You know what your long term goals are (get on the panel, get the book done, get people listening to it), and you know why you’re not there. I think all you’ve got left is to get around it.
[10:36:23 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: *nods* agreed
[10:36:43 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Okay. *phew*
[10:37:41 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: lol. what can i help you with now?
[10:38:36 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: lol.
[10:39:35 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I need to brainstorm too. But before I mention that in any more detail, did this conversation help so far?
[10:39:52 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: this is great….and a question
[10:40:00 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: mmm hmm?
[10:41:16 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: would you allow me to take out the pertinent parts of this conversation and make a blog entry out of it. we’ve done this before and i might go back and look to see if others can be salvaged but it’s too good not to use if you will allow me to. i will change your name or use it if you allow me to. i will also show you what i want to use before it goes up if you say yes
[10:41:26 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: brb
[10:42:24 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Go ahead.
[10:42:26 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: I don’t mind.
[10:45:35 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: back and was that an ok to using this?
[10:45:42 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Yep.
[10:45:49 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: ok to use your name or no?
[10:45:50 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: don’t think I’ve said anything I wouldn’t repeat.
[10:45:53 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Sure.
[10:46:02 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: want to see what i use before it goes up?
[10:46:08 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: Sure, that’d be great.
[10:46:21 PM] Kimi Alexandre<\/strong>: got a link you want to go to your name?
[10:47:13 PM] Ryan E Stevenson<\/strong>: lol. No. Never did get a webpage up. If you could link to the Dead Robots Society (www.deadrobotssociety.com<\/a>), that’d be great. And as silly as this sounds, could you use my name as it appears in the chat: Ryan E Stevenson. There’s a number of semi-famous Ryan Stevenson’s, so to enhance my Google presence, I’m using my middle initial whenever I can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I mentioned a while ago that I wanted to completely honest and open about my writing process. The easiest way I\u2019ve found to make this happen is to capture conversations. Thanks to a great writing partner, Ryan E Stevenson from The Dead Robots Society, he let me post one of our recent discussions (while we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/talechasing-com.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/talechasing-com.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/talechasing-com.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/talechasing-com.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/talechasing-com.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/talechasing-com.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/talechasing-com.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/talechasing-com.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/talechasing-com.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}