Random Thursday

I had planned on putting up a writing excerpt yesterday, but unfortunately I had a really awesome idea lodge in my brain and it's been bugging me ever since.  And since this is something I think I'll want to turn into a full-fledged story, I didn't want to post it.  Also unfortunately, that left me no way to write anything else.

Such a thing doesn't happen to me often, where an idea just bugs me and bugs me and demands my attention.  It's kind of cool, but kind of scary when I imagine what the implications are.  Either I'm starting to really think like a writer or I'm losin' it big time.  Let's hope it's not the latter.

On another note, if you haven't noticed I've put up a counter to keep track of just how long I have to wait until Beth Revis' tour comes to Colorado.  Am I excited?  You're darn tootin'.  Beth is incredibly cool, she's managed to get her debut book to be #7 (so far and I won't be surprised if it climbs higher) on the New York Times Best Seller List, and she's going to be gracing us with a tour?  Maybe I can ask her if it's okay for me to tattoo the Godspeed across my chest.

Kidding Beth, totally kidding.  Besides, I already have Superman and the Incredible Hulk there, so it just wouldn't work.

Seriously though, yeah I'm excited.  It's been so much fun learning from Beth, and it's really cool to see her book literally take off.

I'm also reading Tom Clancy's new book Dead Or Alive, and although I'm not too far in yet, the fact that Mr. Clancy hasn't put anything out for a decade seems to have put a dent in his abilities.  For starters, it's not a good sign when an entire word is missing from the first line.  Okay, maybe that's the editor or publisher's fault, but it doesn't give me the reader a warm fuzzy.  I also have noticed that he seems to have decided everyone should know all the past history of his characters (stuff that occurred in previous books with these same characters).  Now thankfully I'm a fan and have read most of his books (both the fiction and non-fiction), so I understand the references he makes.  But if I were a new reader who picked him up for the first time, I'd be lost.  There are references to past events for his characters that even I don't remember.  I will probably post a review when I'm done, but it'll be a while since the book is a rather large tome.

That's all I have for now.  I'm off to do some outlining on this new idea I have.  Yes, I said the O word.  I'm trying out new things, and since this idea is so very vague at this point, I'm hoping a rough outline might help fill in the pieces.  Don't rip my Pantster membership card away yet though.  I'll still likely unfold most of the story as I go.