Published My Poem

I am very pleased to announce that I, Scott Gano, recently received a notice that one of my poems (Inspiration) will be self-published in a book with a collection of over a 100 other creative poets across the world! It has been published under Miles to Go - Promises to Keep Volume 1 Collected Poems, and is ready for pre-order.

Miles To Go is a clothing, art, and accessories business created by Greg Kerr based solely around Literature. Literature pieces like Brave New World, Time Machine, The Bell Jar, Invisible Man, Moby Dick, War of The Worlds, and much more. If you love reading and writing as much as I do, I suggest checking it out. Miles to go has an excellent background story and is an excellent place to shop.

The book I am self-published in is a recent new idea that has been put together. If anyone would like to order a copy (either hardback or softcover) or would like to browse around.. here is the website:

http://store.milestogoclothing.com/product/miles-to-go-poetry-collection-promises-to-keep-vol-1-pre-order

Thank you and enjoy!

1st Draft Novel Completed

That is right! On January 21, 2013, I was able to complete the first draft of my very first novel. I was ecstatic! I was thrilled, overjoyed, and most of all...relieved. It was an excellent feeling to experience. One that I hope all writers will get to experience once their stories are complete. After printing out the first draft, I tucked it away in a drawer and walked away from it. My mind needed a break from it. To forget about it. Two weeks have just about passed and I've decided to return to the novel that I wrote.

A few days before those two weeks, I did a little research on how to approach the next step. If you go to Google and search for "finished 1st draft of novel" you get about 11,300,000 results..... Holy crap!! To narrow that down, I clicked on 5 to 8 sites to find the similarities and picked out the methods I know would work well for me. Not to mention I have also currently started reading On Writing by Stephen King to get a little extra assistance.

There is no order to do this. Some of the methods I list here I have taken, plan to take, or are thinking about taking:

1. Take a long break so the mind can relax, focus on more/new creative ideas, and have an open mind when going back to rewrite and edit. (2 to 6 weeks)
2. Read the novel from beginning to end. No editing. Only mark areas to locate grammar, punctuation, misspellings, etc. as you read.
3. Allow others to critique (outside family). More than 5 people.
4. Gather all the notes taken for the novel. Remove bad ideas with fresh ideas that have come up while writing/reading the end of the novel's 1st draft. And improve original good ideas (includes characters, scenes, plot, etc.)
5. Rewrite the outline draft again to better-organize the structure of the story properly.
6. Gather critique suggestions. Change areas that have constant repeated concerns.
7. Rewrite outline to make it as perfect as humanly possible.
8. Rewrite the novel.
9. Find an editor or someone with excellent editing skills.
10. Send out to publishers.

Doing the Math

A 1,000 words completed today! Yes!

I did some calculations recently to figure how long it would take me to finish my book and these are my results:

If I write at a minimum of 500 words a day = 3,500 words a week

3,5oo words a week = 17,500 words a month

17,500 words a month = 105,000 words in just six months

So after figuring all this out..I came to learn that words are a lot like saving money. The more words I put down and save, the more valuable my work will become. And after collecting enough words..I will have a complete novel.

It is actually quite nice to see this math be done this way and have it be shown like this. To me, it takes a tremendous amount of weight off my shoulders as a writer. All I have to do is put a little bit down every day to make this work and I've been doing that. And if I lose a day...I make up for it like I did today by writing 1,000. Once I'm in my head and writing, those 500 words spill out onto the page easily.

Thank you Mathematics! For once you are useful.

Outline Progress

Making really good progress on my second draft for my outline. At the moment, I'm half way through on getting it completed. I hope to finish the outline off sometime by the end of next week so I can start writing the first draft of the novel.

I have been putting in three to four hours a day...sometimes five hours a day if I'm lucky toward writing. I try not to let an entire day go without accomplishing some form of writing, especially writing for this blog. I usually kick myself in the pants if I do miss a day to write. It just feels wrong when that does occur. But I do what I can to make sure that never happens.

Right now, like I said, I'm about half way through on getting my second outline all typed up and ready to go. I am actually debating though if I should make a third draft for my outline or not...

The first draft is sloppy and is like a skeletal structure for the novel.

The second draft I'm currently slapping on some meat to lengthen it and to give it some more details and descriptions on areas that are too vague.

I'm just unsure if I need to do a third draft outline. I'm tempted to finish this second one and begin writing the novel where I left off.

What do you think? Any suggestions or ideas would be most helpful.

Sprouting Ideas

I love when new ideas sprout out of my mind for new stories just waiting to be written. I already have one major piece I am working on, and then I have another that is still in the works of being put together. But to have a 3rd project...

Lions, Tigers, and Writers...Oh My!!!

Although..I do like the images and thoughts this 3rd piece is forming together in this little brain of mine. It touches a lot in the genre of Science Fiction like outer space, planets, rockets, robots, and all that other amazing Jazz. It is a type of area that I thought I would never be apart of mostly because it did not feel like it was for me. I wanted to take on the world around me, not to look towards the stars above and imagine greater.

I am proud to say though that I am starting to look up at the stars. And that my imagination is taking on new realms of endless possibilities.

First Draft of My Outline

I recently completed the first draft of my outline a few days ago! I'm so relieved to get the whole outline of my novel down on paper. So so relieved!!! My first outline of course is a total mess and needs some serious attention. I plan to do two more drafts of the outline to get all thirty chapters completely organized. And only then I can continue writing out the first draft to my Fantasy novel. Yes!!

And for the record...I used to hate outlines with a passion, but now I'm starting to appreciate them for what they can do. This is obviously a really good way to help boost my career as a writer. I just need to remember to keep on having an open mind..never stay closed.

Eleven Questions Answered

1. Do you like being tagged in question games?

Yeah, I have nothing against it :)

2. If you could stay a certain age forever, what age would it be?

Twenty-seven years old. I'm only 25, but for some reason that age always seemed to stick out the most for me.

3. Do men like chocolate as much as women?

Absolutely! Especially chocolate cake or brownies depending on the individual and how the recipe is made.

4. What would you name the autobiography of your life?

Scooting Down The Line

5. How do you balance social media and writing time?

I don't balance the two by setting schedules or anything like that. Usually one turns up a little higher than the other. But lately I've been cutting my time of going out and having fun to strictly doing nothing but writing or at least reading books I have recently bought.

6. Describe yourself in one word.

Evolving

7. What is your favorite writing related website?

Poets & Writers

8. If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?

Nothing. Everything that has happened has purposefully shaped me into who I am today.

9. What fictional character do you most resemble?

Dexter: Born with something that most people will never experience and is continuously evolving by life's obstacles. The only difference between this fictional character and me is that I don't have a growing urge to go out and kill people. Sometimes I want to though just like anybody else lol.

10. Star Wars or Star Trek?

Star Wars! May the force be with you.

11. What's the first word to come to your mind right... now?

Compress