R.K. Gold's Blog, page 5

Okay, so truth be told I am pretty mediocre at keeping my new year's resolutions. Maybe not mediocre. . . more like amazing with the small stuff and unreliable with the rest. I did manage to dedicate more time this year than 2016 to writing, unfortunately, editing had to take a back seat. Though I managed to write 4 (well finishing the 4th) first drafts for different manuscripts this year, the only thing I was able to polish to any degree was a 40k novella released in August.

See the whole post on my blog

Anyway, this was when I first heard about David Foster Wallace. It was 2010 and he was still the "it" writer for young white men with ironic tattoos on their forearms and who only smoked hand-rolled cigarettes. I remember the first time looking at Infinite Jest and just thinking "damn I should just sparknote that shit."

Read the full post on my site

Before I started this routine, I used to think “I only have ten minutes, I’ll write later.” Don’t fall into the trap. Even if you can only write 200 words (shoot even if you can only write 50) in that time, it’s still more than you would have without it.

read the full post at my website

If you follow authors on social media you've probably seen the news by now. Goodreads is changing their Giveaway service for authors; well they're not really changing anything. They list 4 features for their standard package, which is $119, but most of those features already exist in some capacity. It's a bold move to charge authors (a lot of them indie) to pay over a hundred dollars to give their book away for free. It might end up working out for Goodreads but I know it won't be from me.

The email from Goodreads announcing these changes really bummed me out. Personally, I loved giving my books away to anyone willing to read them (reviews or not) because I like the idea that I'm entertaining another person. Sure they might think what I write is a piece of shit and laugh the whole way through (or just use the book as a frisbee) but it's still entertainment.

I will not be participating in the Giveaway program anymore, but I am pretty liberal with my product so if you want to read my books (present and future) feel free to just drop me a line and I'll most likely send you a copy. Ask politely with the right emoticons and I'll probably send you a paperback.

"Progress is man's ability to complicate simplicity."
-Thor Heyerdahl

It's funny, I look back at my three main works on here and they all share a glaring resemblance; I have not published a full-length novel yet. It's not for a lack of trying. As I look through my unedited manuscripts now I see there are 11 incredibly crappy texts ranging from 55-110k words, all easily passing that 50k threshold, but for some reason, none of them have called to me the way my shorter and published works have.

I like to joke when asked that editing novellas are just easier than full-length manuscripts but in reality, my shorter texts just had that it factor that drew me back before the others.

For Brinwood it was Milly. I knew I had to finish a tale that included her. For Lost in the Clouds it felt more like accomplishing/finishing a story I began telling back in the 4th grade. As for Just Under the Sky; when I began editing that I only had one other manuscript on my computer (a crime comedy called Hopscotch and Keyes, which had a completely disastrous ending I didn't want to touch with a ten-foot pole).

But I'm all out of novellas now, and it's sort of terrifying because I know the next thing I publish will be a full-length book, which means it will be fairly compared to other full-length novels and I can't help but feel I may not be at an adequate level as a writer just yet. I mean to be fair do we ever reach that level? I like to think self-doubt is as American as apple pie and more common than oxygen, but it doesn't make dealing with it any easier.

As exciting as writing is it also carries a weight that the moment you publish you are being compared to the people you were idolizing years ago (maybe not explicitly but at the very least subconsciously when people jump over your title to get the one your hero wrote because why settle for the poor man's version of it?).

It's this constant battle in my head, and I am sure in other writers' heads as well that I want to simultaneously be recognized for my work without the actual spotlight. I don't know, it's like what I love about writing is exploring the infinity of my personal space. What brings me joy is sharing its limitless boundaries with readers; then what terrifies me is having those boundaries invaded by those who want to know more, which is a direct contradiction to the thing I just said brings me joy so it just keeps pounding away in my head until I write again.

It's funny because even now I think I may be writing this blog post because I finished a portion of my writing duties for the day and I just don't feel ready to transition back to my daily duties just yet and was looking for some sort of buffer.

I'm just editing this book right now, working title is The Absolute, and it's a doozy and it's some sort of funny-sad because there are parts of this I am just pouring everything I got into and I still know it'll never compare to the people I read for my pleasure.

I mean I'm writing a book where the protagonist's ultimate goal is to literally kill God (with a big G) and all I can think about while I'm exhausting myself with edits is "Who's really gonna read this piece of shit?" I mean it's too pretentious to be commercial, and it's too sloppy to be pretentious, and then I'm scared I'm just gonna be seen as some wannabe genius (if I'm lucky enough to be seen at all) when in reality I'm just writing the fucking book that comes to me.

I don't know; I know this blog post has become a bit of a bumble ramble bomble and I apologize for boring anyone who took the time to read it. I usually put at least some thought and measurement into the words I put into the world but maybe instead of searching for some sort of ending to tie this whole thing together I just shut the faucet off and let the sink drain.

Okay, okay, it feels good to have some good news. I know it's not like I normally blast bad news all over this blog, but it's normally nothing as exciting as this.

I finished the rough draft of my latest work in progress and will be publishing it under a new pen name. This second pen name will be used exclusively for what I feel are more commercial/young adult oriented texts.

If I were starting all over again, Brinwood would've probably been published under this second pen name. I want to keep R.K. Gold a relatively selected publishing name from now on. I don't know why. Maybe I'm more protective of the image than I should be. I feel like the more I publish under it the more I expose it to potential tainting.

So I am excited to publish not only a new book, but a new name. Also, I am now back to focusing on my next Gold project: The Absolute. I'm not sure when I will be sending this one out, or if I will publish it under Earl of Plaid, but I know I am making progress on first round (major edits), which is important because there have already been some substantial changes to the plot.

This is an exciting time, I feel like writing under two names will allow me to take more risks and produce more output.

If you can't tell I'm smiling right now, even while writing this post. I am so excited about this.

So my friend Hannah Moskowitz has a podcast about Degrassi, which has motivated me to put my free time to good use and rewatch the serious that captured my early teen years.

It's funny how something can simultaneously be so dated and so endearing. One of the classes the kids take is on media and technology and they're in a state of the art computer lab for 2001 standards, which today would drive kids crazy.

In one episode one of the characters is playing an old basketball game, which reminded me how amazing I thought the graphics were back then only to look back now and see these figures as boxes with arms and legs.

If you're looking for a fun podcast to kill some time with and bring you back a couple decades of nostalgia I highly recommend Welcome to Degrassi with Hannah and Kat.

Confessions of a man who looks the world dead in the eyes and decides "not today" then crawls back into bed. Or at least I wish. It was so cold and rainy today that I can't help but wonder how much different my morning would be if I didn't down a rockstar energy and drive to school.

Now I know going to class is important, and skipping removes a small part of my soul that mentally calculates the price of every class as a percentage of tuition, but shit let's ask if you'd be willing to pay that same price to just spend all day in bed with a dog, coffee, and a nice book.

Or editing; Christ do I need to get back to that. I'm 41k into a new book but every word is just a reminder that I'm not polishing a book I wrote back in January 2016.

It's funny I look at my posts and I always have the same complaint about myself: R.K. stop writing new books and edit the ones you have.

I was editing Something About Maude, then stopped for finish writing Otherhood. Now I'm editing The Absolute and stopped to finish writing an Untitled project (working title 5 Minutes).

Whatever, life always needs more cowbell and wetness is the essence of beauty.

I wish there were a way to plug GIFs into this blog. I'm not tech savvy at all. The extent of my tech knowledge is pressing square on my PlayStation when I'm kicking ass at 2k.

I know it's been a long time since I posted, well maybe not long but certainly not short. As I talked about repeatedly it was those pesky midterms; I suppose I could've forced myself to spew out some combination of bullshit and puns that would make for a halfway decent laugh, but really what would be the point? Unless my lack of readers engage with my blog while taking their morning bowel movement, perhaps I should keep my bullshit to a minimum.

Now that midterms are over, I see a good month ahead of me of nothing but green space. Just an open lot begging for me to run through, do cartwheels and plant the occasional seed of imagination. Of course, my imagination has been stuck on a bit of a melancholy loop lately; nothing too serious just bummed out with the passing of Gord Downie.

I know there are people in the world struggling who are far more deserving of sympathies at any given time, and time spent helping those in my local community would be time better spent than mourning the loss of Gord but I just can't help it.

I never met the man but his music had such an impact on my life. Growing up in Buffalo, just a few blocks from the Peace Bridge, I was inundated at a young age with Hip songs.

Though Football was more my sport growing up, I still heard the Hip in most locker rooms, and at most Sabres games.

I was lucky enough to see them perform live at Art Park back when I was in high school and I remember sending my buddy Mark a picture of their show while he was studying for his finals at Queens.

The Hip had that strange ability to write a score for every part of life. If there was an emotion you were feeling you could find a song to match it. Even if that emotion was so ambiguous that you couldn't even describe it through grunts and body language there would be a Tragically Hip melody out there for you to sink into like a hammock.

It always hurts when someone you love and respect for their craft dies, especially when they die too young because--though it's a selfish thought, you know their continued existence makes you happier. You know that as long as they're alive and producing, your happiness can continue to grow; your utility can reach a higher indifference curve because your constraints are expanded by their outputs. Sorry sometimes when I have trouble explaining an emotion I break out my old eco 101 terminology lol.

I ultimately find myself missing a man I never met, and if he lived another fifty years I probably still would've never met. But I miss his impact, and I miss his voice, and I miss the emotions that his words (old and new) could create.

It's a day for books, a day for writing, and a day for The Tragically Hip .

Enjoy the song!