J.D. Moyer

sci-fi author, beatmaker

Month: June 2013

Keeping a Daily Writing Log

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On June 29

In Creative Work/Career, Fiction Writing, Getting Organized, Life Purpose & Goals, Metaprogramming, Writing

Picture unrelated to post (except in a feeling kind of way) ... mostly I'm just into the photography of Luis Hernandez right now.

Picture unrelated to post (except in a feeling kind of way) … mostly I’m just into the photography of Luis Hernandez right now.

Recently I read two posts that approach the same problem from different directions; how do you get to a different place in your career (or develop a new career) when you are far away from your goal? Pavlina talks about the cumulative effects of daily habits, while Newport talks about the false narrative of courage in relation to career changes (hard work, persistence, and planning are more relevant).

With the same topic in mind, I’d like to share the initial results of a new habit of my own,  keeping a daily writing log (inspired by Phil Jourdan).

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A Fourth Branch of Government, Unelected and Unregulated

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On June 17

In Culture Rants/Shares, Politics

Everything you say and write is now public.

Everything you say is now public.

Americans are pissed off, and don’t trust their government. Congress is unpopular, Obama has been written-off by the left and demonized by the right, and the Supreme Court (with the exception of the recent wise ruling against patenting the natural products of genetic evolution) has made a number of short-sighted decisions that favor corporations over people.

Snowden has confirmed what most of us already suspected; the tendrils of the national security apparatus go deep into many databases of what we consider to be private information, and the corporations that own the servers are for the most part happy to oblige the backdoor access.

How serious is the problem? Who is responsible? How do we fix it?

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Limited time offer — free download of Kleidosty's ambient album "Edifice of Artifice"

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On June 7

In Electronic Music

Kleidosty's debut album Edifice of Artifice

Kleidosty’s debut album Edifice of Artifice

For a limited time Loöq Records is giving away a high-quality mp3 download of Kleidosty’s brilliant, ground-breaking, drone-tastic ambient album “Edifice of Artifice” to new and existing list members. Click on this link, enter your email in the widget, and receive a free download link.

The offer will probably end with the release of Kleidosty’s new album “Hydras at the Helm” (July 3rd). If you missed the offer you can buy the album on iTunes.

Why Breaks Are a Bad Idea

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On June 3

In Creative Work/Career, Life Purpose & Goals, Metaprogramming, Writing

Feel the burn every day.

Feel the burn every day.

I’ve been working on a new novel (if you’ve been wondering why my recent posts have been shorter, that’s the reason). It’s my third attempt at a novel, and hopefully I’ll be happy enough with the results to seek publication. Writing 5-6 days/week is difficult, but also extremely rewarding.

So here’s my realization. It had been a couple years since I stopped working on most recent novel before this one, an alternative-biology mystery. I wrote it without an outline or ending in mind (big mistake for a mystery!), and the end result was filled with plot holes and continuity errors. It’s probably fixable, but after a couple rewrites I decided I was better off taking a short break and starting a new novel project (this time with a proper outline).

Well, that short break stretched into two-and-a-half-years. Which is about the same amount of time between my first attempt at a novel (an adventure story that tried to cram every idea I’d ever had into it; after finishing it I realized I had better just start a blog to give myself a proper firehose outlet). And I had the same stupid idea too — give myself a “short break” before starting the next project.

So I figured out why that doesn’t work.

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