I am working as hard as ever to make something myself both career and hobby wise. In a previous post I had mentioned that I would follow the example of acclaimed author Stephen King. He read four hours a day and wrote in the other fours of the day, he easily wrote 3,000 words on average. Following that, I would read chapters/passages of a book after work and then write to meet a quota of a 1,000 words before going to bed. There have been days I meet the goal, some days I got beyond 1,000 words, some days were I am shy of a 1,000 words, and there some days I do not write at all. And that is okay because this is a new venture in my life I am now focusing on. Over time I will get better and better as I continue this focus on my serious hobby.
It's a Constant Inspiration
Exactly what it states, I have a constant inspiration to write now because I read so much now. Let me put it to you this way: my PlayStation 3 was recently fixed back in early July, and I have only turned on average about 3 hours during a work week and 8 hours on the weekend. What does that mean? It means I have no distraction nor a desire to play video games as much as I used to. I would rather read a book than play video games. Do not get me wrong I will turn the PS3 and play some downloaded games or 3D Dot Game Heroes but in the end I do more reading. When I do this leisure reading it helps give me an idea how I would write my own stories. At this very moment I am a little over 8,000 words in my new short story. I should be working on it now, but I want to update my blog because this is basically where my writing began.
Recent Reads
Under the suggestions of my good friend David J. Sushil, to read the books The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and On writing by Stephen King. Strunk's book I have thumbed through to get ideas of how I should word my sentences, paragraphs, etc. However, with Stephen King's book I cannot for the life of me put it down. I bought it on Friday (July 29, 2011) after I finished the book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, which I finished around Monday or Tuesday (July 25 - 26, 2011). With this book On Writing by King is hands down a great read. I am only over a quarter way close to half way now through the book and I had started yesterday (July 30, 2011).
On Writing is such a page turner because it is part memoir depicting King's experience in writing and how his experiences influenced his writing. Then it is part a guide of how authors should write. Sushil is just like my father when it comes to Stephen King. They are huge fans of his work, and I, for one, never read his work until recently. My father had a large number of King's books and I remember growing up I would thumb through them, but I lacked the attention span to ever read them. Recalling my earliest memories to relate to my father, Louis Dieppa, I would watch movies based on Stephen King's work and I have always enjoyed them. The same day I started On Writing, I decided to call my father and talk to him about this book. As soon as I told my father I was reading a King book he went off talking about how much he enjoyed his work. The other week I asked my father to send me some of his Stephen King books, specifically The Dark Tower Series which I do not know is a good place to start, but I want to read them.
Reading the Stephen King book, I am noticing how much he and I relate as authors/writers. On Writing just really resonates with me in the way how King draws from his experiences with people and life in general that influences his writing style. Some of his habits I can relate to as well. I never had a drinking problem or a drug addiction, but there was a point I was addicted to playing video games for a while. Especially became addicted to playing an MMORPG by the name of Final Fantasy XI. I never wrote as a kid as King did, but I did have a very active imagination and I used to improvise stories when I was at school. Stephen King's book has really resonated with me and I am taking everything he says to heart. Love him or hate him, Stephen King knows how to write a book and capture a reader's attention.
Opinion Time
As I mentioned earlier in this post, I recently finished a book titled Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. This was quite an interesting book and for the simple fact I purchased on a whim after reading the description of the book on Barnes and Noble's website. I bought it and downloaded it onto my Nook (loving that piece of technology). The book has a sense of quirkiness and eeriness surrounding its text. The book recently came out over a month ago and it is the author's first attempt at writing a novel. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Have to say the whole thing like A Tribe Called Quest) really captured my attention from the get go. It describes a boy named Jacob who heard these stories from his Grandfather about this home back in Wales of this children that were peculiar. One child had bees living in him, a girl that can levitate, a brother and sister that can lift more than their own weight, a girl who can create fire, and a boy who is invisible. These children were watched by a little bird who kept them safe from people that would not understand them.
Here comes criticism time, the book has a solid plot, but its story was pretty predictable. I pretty much knew the ending less than half way through the book. However, I really enjoyed the main character's interactions with the other characters such as his father, his psychologist, his mother, his grandfather, Miss Peregrine and the peculiar children. All of that was very solid writing. The characters were not mundane, but full of color (or life). Another place where I felt like faltered but I ended up forgiving it was when the main character fell in love with the female protagonist rather quickly. Like I said, I forgave it because the main character is 15 years old, and I remember falling in love too quickly with girls when I was his age (Holy shit that was 10 years ago....smh). Overall, if you have time and looking for an odd book to read, then I suggest you pick up Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
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