That Time Again

By Dan Haring

What's that you say? It's been 2014 for over a month? Already? Whoops. Well, better late than never, I guess. The last month has been a super busy one. We're down to the very last few shots on Rio 2, which comes out in April. It should be a good time, and if your kids liked the first one, they'll love this one too!


I've also been doing crazy lots of freelance graphic design-type stuff, so I really haven't had much time for writing. But I'm working on a MG graphic novel synopsis and am excited to get going on that. Hopefully the rest of 2014 will be as good as the first month has been. But for now, a few goals:

Read more, but don't ignore the kids to do so.

Put the phone down. Look around more.

Draw and write.

Enjoy every day.

I think that's about it. So far I'm doing all right. Hope you are too!

I'm a NaNoWriMo Loser (And That's Okay).

By Dan Haring

November is the month many exciting things happen. My wedding anniversary, birthdays for two of my kids, Thanksgiving, Movember, and more. But as a writer, one of the coolest things about November is NaNoWriMo, or for the acronym-averse among us, National Novel Writing Month. The idea is simple. Write 50,000 words during the month of November.

Notice I said the idea is simple.

The reality is much harder. Which is why of the three times I've attempted to "win" NaNoWriMo, I've never even gotten close. November is also, without fail, a month that piles up with busyness very easily. (Those things I listed above play a big part, except for Movember. That one pretty much takes care of itself.) So not only is it hard to find time to write with the normal full-time job and full-time family life, but all the extra stuff makes it near-impossible.

But still, each late October, in the midst of my Halloween happiness, I get the itch, the idea that THIS will be the year that I dominate NaNoWriMo. And that indomitable spirit usually carries me though a good week or two of November. And then I realize I've only written 2000 words total instead of the daily goal of ~1600. But it's okay, I tell myself, I'll just double up my word count for a few of the days and I'll be right back on track!

And it's usually just about this time that real life comes clomping over and reminds me of all the silly realities and details that I'm supposed to be dealing with, and inevitably my NaNo book falls by the wayside. 

But in the end, I'm really okay with the way things work out, for several reasons.

One is that it's a goal of mine, albeit one that I fail at all the time, to take advantage of the opportunities each day offers. Some days that means having a few uninterrupted hours to write at night. Other days it means that with time spent with kids and my wife, my writing time is minimal to nothing at all. But I'd rather my kids have memories of me spending time with them than of me hunched over the computer, grumbling to myself.

The other main reason is the goal of NaNoWriMo is to get you to write. Write a novel, sure, but write. That's the key. Right now I've averaged just under 500 words per day for the month. I wish it were more. I wish I'd been able to get closer to my goal. But I'm okay with it because I'm a lot closer to finishing this book than if I hadn't tried to do NaNo again.

And I think most people who tried and failed, like me, probably wrote way more than they would have without it. So wear your loser badge proudly. Because you're not a loser in the traditional sense. You're on your way to winning. you're on your way to finishing that book, even if it takes a little longer than 30 days.

PS Happy Thanksgiving!

Looking Up

By Dan Haring

I've always been enamored by the skies. Whether it's shooting stars or sunsets or rainclouds, I've always loved looking up. I don't know why. Maybe it's some desire to escape, to soar above this world. Maybe it's just the vastness of it all. Maybe it's the inability to measure what's in a cloud, or to imagine that the moon is shining down only for me. For whatever reason, I've always loved it. Before digital cameras, I'd routinely fill up rolls of film with pictures of the sky. Now I just fill up my phone.

I was riding down the freeway with my family the other day when I saw a massive cloud churning across the sky. I tried to snap a picture, but a wall of passing trees was too quick and obscured everything. So I had to wait a few miles before I caught sight of it again. When I finally did, it had changed to this:

I know it's not a perfect likeness, but my first thought was, "It's FALCOR THE LUCKDRAGON!" Now, The Neverending Story might be one of those movies that people love because they grew up with it. But being one of those people who did grow up with it, I'm proud to say I love it. If you haven't seen it, you should still check it out. It's a fantastic tale, even if the filmmaking effects don't quite hold up. But back to the point, if I hadn't been looking up, I would have missed this pretty spectacular cloud. 

There's an Ani Difranco lyric that goes "When I look down, I just miss all the good stuff. And when I look up, I just trip over things." I'm not saying we should wander around with our heads in the clouds all the time. Everyone has responsibilities and I'm not advocating we abandon them. But once in a while, take a break from checking Facebook on your phone and look up, look around. See what beauty and inspiration is out there.

You're probably going to trip over more things. But I'd rather do that than miss all the good stuff. 

A Few Thoughts on Storytelling

By Dan Haring

I'm lucky enough to work in animation and make movies for a living. It's a fantastic job and for the most part I love it. But one downfall about the part of the production I'm in is that by the time the shots reach my department, the story is more or less set in stone. I do lighting and compositing, which is basically the last step of the animation pipeline. So shots go through screenwriters and storyboard artists and animators and the director by the time they come to me, and my main two goals are 1: Make it look awesome and, 2: Make sure the storytelling comes through clearly. So I have an important part to play in the storytelling process, but I don't actually have any say in what's happening in the story. And that's fine. I'm not trying to complain. But I have to admit it's frustrating sometimes to be working on a shot that contains a joke or story elements that to me just don't work. But again, I'm not trying to complain. I will make that fart joke scene look as beautiful as possible, and I'll do it happily.

But that's one of the reasons I write and make my own stories. Not that I'm better than the professional screenwriters and storyboard artists that work on these movies, but because I can have the freedom to craft the story and lead it in the direction I want to go. When I was working at Disney, from time to time they would showcase different departments and what part they played in the film-making process. Being someone who loves writing and loves story, I was always really interested when it was the Story Department's turn to be highlighted. One time they gave out a packet of "Story Flashcards". I've kept them with me and once in awhile will read through them as a refresher to what some of the important elements of story are. It's interesting that these are universal ideas, not just meant for one form of storytelling or another. So I thought I'd share a few of them here.

I think most of the time the audience/reader is right there with the main character and what he/she thinks and wants. As we throw wrenches in those plans, the character is going to react a certain way, and hopefully the reader is able to feel at least a small part of that same emotion.

Your characters' true selves will be revealed by the choices they make. It's not about the game they talk, it's about what they do when they're up against a wall. And, as we know from Batman, this is true in real life too. (Batman is totally real life)


And finally,

This one goes hand in hand with the last one, and I know you've probably heard it a million times. But it's still relevant. Don't tell me that this character is smart/funny/good/bad/whatever, SHOW me. It, along with my love/hate relationship with adverbs, is something I struggle with. But it's always more effective to show what you want to say instead of just saying it. It's not going to be easier, but it will be better.

I hope these help a little. I know they have for me, and I'll keep revisiting them until I get them right.

I Don't Want to Grow Up...

By Dan Haring

...if growing up means being like you.

The year was 2001. I was 22 and driving tour buses for the summer in Seattle. On an off day some friends and I went to Freeway Park, which is a cool park that happens to sit right above the Downtown freeway. We were running around, enjoying the splendid summer air, when we happened upon a place to play hopscotch. We decided hopscotch was a grand idea and commenced playing. We'd been up to it for a while when a young guy who couldn't have been much older than us walked by and said, "Aren't you a little old to be doing that?" We laughed it off, but from that day on, obviously to today since I'm still thinking about, I've felt sorry for that guy.

Call me crazy, but growing up has some major pitfalls. Sure, I can eat ice cream for dinner if I want to, (as long as the kids don't see me) but there are a whole lot of negatives that come with the territory. Too many to list, in fact.

Last week at work someone put out a huge stack of MG and YA ARCs, free for the taking. A bunch of us wandered over to see what there was to be had. As we were perusing the titles, a guy came walking up and asked his friend what was going on. The guy made some disparaging remark about only checking them out if you liked reading "kid's books."

You know what, Hopscotch Guy and YA Book Guy? There's a reason a lot of growing up sucks, and it's you. What part of growing up says you should stop having fun, stop doing silly things, stop reading about fantastical places and people and things?

Why is it not cool to have childish wonder?

I submit that it IS cool.

If you think you're too much of an adult to play a kid's game or read a book aimed at teenagers, don't do those things.

But don't blame it on growing up. Growing up doesn't have to be staid and stiff and boring.

It shouldn't be.

Blame it on your own lame self, because you're the one who's more concerned with looking cool than having fun.

The rest of us are going to be enjoying both adult and kids books and activities. And eating ice cream for dinner. 

Timing is Everything

By Dan Haring

I have a confession to make. I don't really like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. In fact, I enjoyed the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp version more, other than those horrible songs.

I know. Crazy, right?

Before you pull out the tar and feathers, hear me out. I didn't grow up with the Gene Wilder movie. In the days of VCRs and lousy cable television, that was one movie my family never got around to watching. So it wasn't until AFTER watching the Johnny Depp version and my wife telling me how it paled in comparison to the Gene Wilder version that I finally watched it.

Let me just say that I was underwhelmed. In fact, I wasn't even close to being whelmed. From "Cheer up Charlie" to the obvious sound-stage look to the factory, it just didn't do anything for me. And as creepy as Johnny Depp was, Gene Wilder was much stranger/creepier to me.

I mean, look at this guy:

That part was in the movie, right? My point is that the movie was just strange and didn't do anything for me on an emotional level. But if nothing else, it's responsible for the Condescending Wonka meme, which is actually quite enjoyable.

I might be alone in my Wonka feelings, but how about this? You go up to a couple of your friends who are laughing about something. They tell you why, and maybe you give a courtesy laugh because it's really not funny. But to them it's hilarious. And one of them says something along the lines of "guess you had to be there."

The point is that just like events in our lives, the stories we consume are often rooted to the time we watched/read/listened. Is Alf a good show? Probably not. But I grew up with it, and even if it doesn't hold up, you can bet I still have fond memories of it.

I'm 34 years old. I'm married and have kids. I even have a 401k, as ridiculous as that may be. If I picked up Jack Kerouac's On The Road for the first time today, I might think it was interesting, but I guarantee it wouldn't connect with me the way it did when I was 21. It's one of my favorite books not only because of what's inside it, but also because the first time I read it I felt like Sal Paradise was talking to me. It made me want to take on the open road. And I did.

The same goes for something like Harry Potter. While it definitely holds up, there was just something special about reading those as they came out. I will always remember the anticipation and excitement of picking up a copy of Deathly Hallows at midnight and reading if straight through. My 8 year old son is reading the Harry Potter series right now, and although he's loving it, I don't think he'll have quite the visceral connection to it that I do. But it's all right. He's going to have his own Harry Potter. He's going to listen to music that makes me do this:

And that okay. That's just how life works. I just hope my kids find books and movies and music that truly speak to them, so that when they're ancient like me they can look back fondly and draw from those experiences. Because the right stories at the right time can change your life.

Bored

By Dan Haring

Lately I've been feeling a bit like this:

Work has been pretty slow, and I'm kind of in a holding pattern on my current WIPs while I wait for notes, so my mind has been flitting around, distracted by pretty much any shiny thing I lay eyes on. Believe it or not, there's only so much web surfing you can do, so each day has a fair amount of this in it:

I really just need to start working on something new and pour all my effort into it. But it seems like as soon as I start, work is going to get busy and I'm going to get notes back and the new project will have to be put on the back burner and I'll feel like this:

But I guess it's better than doing nothing at all. I mean, there's only so many times I can watch stuff like this.

 (but I have to admit the number is surprisingly high.) So tomorrow I'll be starting up on an old WIP and seeing where I can take it. At the very least I'll be able to exercise my brain a bit more, and I might even finish the story.

The Power of the Unknown Word

By Dan Haring

I recently read a book that I quite enjoyed. But one word stuck out to me and made me enjoy it slightly less as a whole. 

Here's the sentence. Tell me if you can pick out the word.

"Around them, the susurrus of voices and activity in the inn's barroom had diminished to a creak and whisper."

Did you find it? No, I have nothing against inns or barrooms or creaks and whispers. The word that tore me right out of the story was that little eight letter word "susurrus".

 What does susurrus mean, you may ask yourself, which is exactly what I asked myself when I read it. Now, most people would be able to take a pretty good guess at what it means, just based on context. And I was able to, and I moved along and it was fine. But as someone who loves reading and writing and words in general, it kind of bothered me that I'd never heard of the word before.

So I looked it up. According to Merriam-Webster, a susurrus is a "whispering or rustling sound."

Something like this I guess. So that's kind of cool, but it got me a bit more bothered. I feel like I have a decent vocabulary. After almost 34 years on this earth, I've consumed a lot of media, low-brow to high, and I'd never heard of this word. That part of it is fine, really. I love learning new words. I've been caught reading the dictionary from time to time. I'm not scared of new words, nor do I usually feel like I'm the smartest guy in the room.

I'm really okay with that.

What bothers me about the use of this word, is to me it's bad storytelling, for a number of reasons.

First, and perhaps most obvious, is the fact that the author pretty much wrote, "Around them, the whispering of voices and activity in the inn's barroom had diminished to a creak and whisper."

I think you can see why that's not an ideal sentence.

So why did the author write it that way? The second reason, and what bugs me more, is to me it smacks of showing off. Ask anyone you know what susurrus means. Go ahead, I'll wait.

I'd be very surprised if anyone knows. Again, it's not my ego talking. It's just the fact that is a very uncommon word. Type susurrus in a word processor or an email. You're going to get a red squigly line underneath it, just like I'm getting when I type it here. 

So what was the point of using it? Like I said, most people don't know what it means, and I have to think the author knew that. And, knowing its meaning, it makes the sentence rather clunky.

I tweeted the fact I was bugged by this word, and got some interesting feedback. My wife's cousin, who is a great guy, a lawyer, and an avid comic book reader (take that, stereotypes!) disagreed, saying "sometimes there's only one word that will perfectly express your idea."

I countered that while this his was definitely a valid argument, I didn't think it held up in that case.

He responded, "Can't compromise to fit hypothetical reader vocabulary. Every word is going to confuse somebody out there."
 
Again, it's a valid argument, but again, I think it fails in this context. There are thousands and thousands of words that aren't going to confuse anyone but the most basic reader.

As a storyteller, it's your job to immerse the audience in your story. You need to get them hooked in there and make them want to stay until the whole thing is over.

And overall the author was successful in that. I really did enjoy the story. But that one little word pulled me out of it long enough to remember that it was just a story I was reading, written by some person somewhere. And for what? To use a word that no one I've asked has any clue what means in a somewhat throwaway sentence? 

Like I said, it just seems like the author was showing off. Like they have a "word of the day" email and this came up and they decided to throw it in, as if using it in their book would make them the smartest person in the room.

I don't know. Maybe I'm totally wrong about this. I'm all for expanding your vocabulary and learning new things, and if an author can instruct at the same time as entertain, that's great. And there are plenty of words I read in books that I rarely, if ever, hear in spoken conversation. I don't want to dumb down writing to fit into a certain vocabulary.

But I think storytellers need to be wise with their words. Just because they can do something, it doesn't mean they should. And if they're sacrificing the immersive quality of their story in order to throw in a shiny, rare word, I think they're making a mistake. 

Thoughts?

You Are a Writer

By Dan Haring

Raise your hand if you're an aspiring writer.

I'm sorry, but you're wrong. You're not an aspiring writer. You are a writer.

What does aspire mean? "To seek to attain or accomplish a particular goal. From Latin aspirare, literally, to breathe upon."

I see you over there, in the corner, breathing onto your laptop.

"Shhh...I'm aspiring over here."

No you're not. You're writing. 

If you have, at one point, put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and written something - a poem, a short story, a screenplay, the first chapter to the next great American novel, you are, in fact, a writer.

Now, if you haven't, if you're still just breathing on the paper, but not putting anything on it, then, I guess, technically you're an aspiring writer. But that's okay. The great thing about writing is all you need is that pen and paper or that keyboard. There should be very little, if anything, physically holding you back.

Now, you might say that I'm stupid for that whole breathing thing. You might be thinking "I really AM an aspiring writer. I want to write the next Harry Potter or Twilight or On the Road or Catcher in the Rye."

And that's great. It's great to have those goals. But let's go back to the definition of aspire. To seek to accomplish a particular goal. You are an aspiring best-selling author, which is something altogether different.

It means you're serious about this whole writing thing. It means that you're not just going to mess around, but that you're going to take your craft and make it into something people will pay you money to read.

And that's awesome. You need to have goals, whatever they may be. But that's just it, The goals are the finish line, and you're never going to reach them if you don't pick up that pen.

So just write.

Some of you might be rolling your eyes and saying "Ok, we get it, can you move on to the next visual?"

The answer is yes.

This is me and my two sons at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con. The lady we're with is comic book writer Gail Simone, who has written tons of comics, including characters such as Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Deadpool, etc. (My kids are obviously impressed) And this is right before I turned to her and asked if she had any advice for an aspiring comic book writer.

I'm pretty sure I even used those exact words.

I'm not even going to make an excuse for myself. The point is, the second you make that effort and start writing, You've changed into a writer, so don't sell yourself short.

The reason I'm spending so much time on this is I've heard so many times from friends. "Oh, that's cool you wrote a book. I wish I could." Like it's some magical fairytale thing that I somehow managed to do and that they'd never be able to.

But it's not magic, it's just a matter of working hard.

So stop aspiring. Start writing. And if you've already started, keep writing.

I promise it's not as scary as it sounds. 

Happy New(ish) Year

By Dan Haring

2013 already? Almost February already? Holy cow. Well, happy new year everyone! I'm sorry for this being my first appearance here in a while. Work and writing and life have been pretty busy lately. We have about seven weeks to finish up the movie Epic, which is what I'm currently working on. I'm really excited about it, and you can check out the trailer here.


As far as writing is concerned, I'm just finishing up a pretty major revision on my MG fantasy book. It feels like I've been revising this book forever and I'm pretty sick of the process, but I have to admit it keeps getting better. So I'm definitely glad I did it, it just wasn't tons of fun. But that's the life, right? So hopefully this will be the version my agent feels is ready to go out into the world. Fingers crossed!

At the beginning of the year, you know, exactly four weeks ago, I did a quick check to see how I did on my 2012 revisions. Overall I did all right. Still didn't hit some things I really wanted to, but if felt like I put up a pretty good fight.

So I'm sitting at the (almost) beginning of another year, and I'm trying to come up with new goals for this year. I don't know if it's a copout or not, but I'm thinking about just keeping the goals I didn't hit from last year.

Honestly, right now I'm pretty happy with life. I have an amazing family, great job, and I'm able to write and do side projects. There's always room for growth and progress, and I want to keep striving for those. But right now I really just want to enjoy life, enjoy each day for what it is. I want to enjoy the little moments and not always be hoping and wishing and waiting for things.

Because hey, I'm alive for another day, and that's pretty cool. All the best to you and yours this coming year!

Happy Holidays!

It's Winter break here at ADR3NALIN3. During our holiday hiatus, we'll be spending time with our families and friends, and celebrating all the traditions that make this time of year wonderful. We sincerely thank you for visiting our blog and becoming part of our online family. We wish you a truly awesome Holiday Season and a great 2013. From Dan, Ilsa, Carol, Jamie, Anita, Jennifer, Maureen, P J (Trish), Amanda, Michelle, and Jordan to all our friends and visitors, Seasons Greeting from ADR3NALIN3.

See you back here on Monday, January 7.

Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men

 By Dan Haring

This will be my last post of the year. I was planning on doing a sort of year-in-review, but then the tragedy happened last Friday, and it made everything else irrelevant.

How could it not?

As a parent of small children, two of which are in school, I can't think of anything more sobering or terrifying than what happened in Newtown, CT. 

I live in Danbury, CT. From my doorstep to Sandy Hook Elementary it's only 15.6 miles. To say this tragedy was too close for comfort is the understatement of the year.

I don't mention this to bring attention to myself. I don't personally know any of the victims, and thankfully, my children were never in harm's way. I bring it up because this is the closest I've ever been to anything like this. And as I sat at work last Friday, reading all the reports coming out, the only thing I could think of was going home and being with my family.

I needed to hug my kids, to kiss them and see their smiles. Not for their sake, but for mine. Just as I didn't really know what joy was until I had kids, I've never known anything remotely close to the fear I have of losing them.

And thankfully I've never had to feel the unbearable pain of losing them.

When I got home from work my kids were asleep. As I do every night, I checked on them and made sure they were snug under their blankets.

My heart broke knowing that there were twenty sets of parents who should have been doing the same thing, but who were instead staring at empty beds.

In the following days we've heard stories about hero teachers and students who saved lives on Friday, some of them giving their own to do so. It's good. We need those stories. We need reason to hope.

Especially at this time of year, especially with an event so unbelievably awful, we need something to believe in. I hope more stories come and I hope as those children are laid to rest, their parents and families will find peace and comfort.

I hope the holiday season is a good one for you. I hope the coming year has more love and happiness than this one had. I hope for more peace on Earth, and for more good will to all mankind.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

My Stupid Book

By Dan Haring

Writing a book is a little bit like having a child.

I can't really comment on whether or not it's like actually giving birth, since I'm not equipped to make that comparison. And as hard as writing a book is, after watching my wife go through four pregnancies and c-sections, I'd say writing a book is, in fact, very tame. (p.s. My wife is amazing)

But, being a father, I think I'm qualified to make the case of books as children. You spend hours agonizing over decisions and choices and tiny little things that might have huge repercussions. You stay up late with them, you clean up their messes, you strive to make them the best they can be.

Sometimes they reward you for it and you experience emotional highs like never before.

Sometimes they throw up on you at two in the morning.

But at the end of the day, they're your creation, and you love them.

Your parents and family and friends will adore them too. They'll see past whatever flaws they might have and praise the good. At least they should. You need to have that support system, both as a parent and an author. But then things get trickier, because at some point, you send them out into the world, hoping that you've prepared them as well as you can for what's to come.

And here's the hard part. Your kids and your book are going to be judged.

They're going to be judged on how well they perform, how well they can exist in the outside world, and so on and so forth. And those judgements are going to be a reflection of you, of your skills, of your abilities, of how well you did your job.

I've heard authors say they never read reviews. While it might be noble to refrain from reading them, it's not really for me. When a movie I've worked on comes out, I religiously check Rotten Tomatoes to find out what people think. I don't read all the reviews, but enough to get an idea of what worked and what didn't. The same with my book.

Criticism is good, to a certain degree. Not only does it keep you humble and grounded, it can help reveal problems with what you've created that can be avoided in the future. No one has ever written a perfect book, or raised a perfect child, and having the flaws pointed out can help in your next endeavor.

When my book came out, the reviews were generally pretty good. Like I said, family and friends were very supportive. And people I didn't even know seemed to respond well to it also.

Then one day, I got my first one star review on Goodreads. Since it's short, I'll quote it here:

"Probably the stupidest book I have ever read. Just stupid."

I went through a lot of different emotions when I got that review. I was mad, annoyed, frustrated, hurt, and many other adjectives. I considered responding to the review, then figured it would be a bad idea. After I'd cooled off a bit, I decided to just write a short note saying something along the lines of "Thanks for reading. Sorry you didn't enjoy it." But when I clicked to make a comment, Goodreads showed this warning:

"Goodreads has found that it is not in an author's best interest to engage with someone over a negative review. Please think twice before commenting on this review."

Fair enough. I decided to simply hit the "like" button on the review and leave it at that.

As time has passed and I've thought about it more, I'm glad I didn't say anything to the reviewer. I'm also glad I "liked" the review. For those reasons listed above, I'm actually thankful for the criticism. Not only does it compel me to work harder on my next book, it serves as a reminder that not everyone is going to love my work, no matter how good I think it is. And really, that's fine. It's just a book, and I'm glad the person took the time to read it.

That's all we as authors and parents can really ask for. Give our creations a chance. Let them show you what they can do. Hopefully you'll find something of redeeming value in them. If not, we'll simply move on. No harm, no foul.

But fair warning:  If you ever call my kid stupid I might punch you in the face :)

Contest with tons of giveaways!

By Dan Haring

With my debut novel coming out this year, I was lucky enough to join a group of folks known as the Apocalypsies. We're all authors whose first YA or MG book came out in 2012. As part of that group, we've had two big contests, called the YAmazing Race with MGnificent Prizes, and they've been awesome. Basically it's like a scavenger hunt, where you go from blog to blog answering (easy) questions about each book. Once you finish, you're put in a drawing for a huge amount of free books and swag. But not only that...

That's right. In addition to the big grand prizes, most of the authors are having their own individual contests with more books and swag to give away. For instance, I'm giving away a copy of my book OLDSOUL as part of the grand prize, but I'm also giving away a copy to those who visit my blog.

It's time for the third YAmazing Race with MGnificent Prizes, and it actually starts today at 12 noon EST. So head on over to The Apocalypsies blog to get started, and have fun! (or head to my blog to catch that section first.) A ton of really good books came out this year that you may not have heard of, so this is a great way to catch up on them. And you just might win some free stuff in the meantime.

Hard Work and Inspiration

By Dan Haring

Full disclosure: I'm not a huge White Stripes fan. I like a few of their songs, but have never really gotten into them too much. But a friend recently passed this video on to me, and not only does it give me extra appreciation for their music, it gives me a lot of respect for singer(/songwriter/guitarist/etc) Jack White.


He talks about dreaming of being able to record an album, dreaming of being able to play on stage. Once he finally achieved those things, he could have probably had a long, lucrative career coasting along, making so-so music and relying on his earlier hits to make up for later mediocrity.  Instead, he came up with a unique way of keeping the hunger there, of keeping the immediacy. He limits himself. He makes things hard to do when performing live. Little things that no musician of his stature should have to endure, he endures. And he does it to keep things raw and fresh and real.

So...this all relates to writing, right? I think it does. I'm going through a revision right now, and I'm coming to realize sometimes I just coast by. I write something that's adequate and move on because it would be too hard to stretch and try to go down a certain road. But when I do that I end up leaving so much behind that could be better.

Doing hard things makes us better, and working hard makes us better.

As Jack says, "Inspiration and work ethic ride right next to each other...Not every day of your life are you gonna wake up and the clouds are gonna part and rays from heaven are gonna come down and you're gonna write a song from it. I mean sometimes you just get in there and just force yourself to work and maybe something good will come out."

Good will come of it, but we have to push ourselves. It's the difference between telling an adequate story and an exceptional story.

Which one do you want to tell?

Catching Up

 By Dan Haring

Hey folks! I know it's been a while since my last post. The last month has been a pretty crazy one for me. My family had been living in Southern California for the last 5 1/2 years, and for the most part, we loved it. What we didn't love was the lack of job security. So when a really good job offer from Blue Sky Studios (They do the Ice Age movies) came in, we jumped at it. The only problem? It was literally on the other side of the country in Greenwich, CT, 2802 miles away. But it was a great opportunity, so we rented a truck, piled all our junk in it, and hit the road. (I'm purposefully glossing over the packing process, which was awful.)

I've driven cross-country a few times, and loved it. But I'd never done it with four kids under the age of seven. Thank goodness for dvd players and Disney. Speaking of which, on one of our last California days, we hit up Disneyland one last time and grabbed a plush Perry the Platypus, and decided he was going to be our traveling buddy.

I highly recommend driving across this amazing country. There are a million things to see, and even things like the open expanses of Kansas can be breathtaking. But again, maybe don't do it with little kids and a moving truck. (All said and done, the kids did great, though.)

After five long days on the road, we finally pulled into our new home in Connecticut. It was hot and humid, trees blocked the horizon in every direction, and there were spiders everywhere. I know I wasn't alone when I thought we should just turn around and head back.

But one word that kept coming up when we told our friends and family about the move, was "adventure." "This is going to be such a fun adventure" they'd tell us. And you know what? They were right. Getting lost and adjusting to new things and leaving our comfort zones and seeing my kids' faces when they saw fireflies for the first time. This is an adventure. And what's life for if not to have adventures?

A great American hero, Neil Armstrong, passed away this last weekend. As I was reading about his life, one quote of his really stuck out to me. He said, "I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don't intend to waste any of mine." Great words to live by, and ones I hope I can follow. I don't want to miss out on adventures because I've become complacent, even if it means leaving behind everything I know. The clock is ticking, and so are our hearts. Let the adventure begin!

And Now for Something Different...

By Dan Haring

Sorry for the late post. I just barely remembered it was my day today. I've been a little out of sorts lately, because in less than two weeks I'm moving my family from California to Connecticut. So with all the packing and scheduling and everything it's been a bit hectic. But here's the deal: We're driving out there, and although I've been to a lot of the states along the way already, I've mainly only driven through them. I've never stopped to actually explore too many of the places. So below is a map of the general route we're taking. Do you know of anything exciting/cool/peculiar/one of a kind along the way? If so, let me know, and we'll try to check it out. Next time I write it'll be from the East Coast. Crazy. Talk to you then!

Back It Up!

By Dan Haring

Is there anything worse than pouring your blood, sweat and tears into something you created, only to have it disappear?



Oh, well sure, there's THAT.

But I'm talking about non-life-threatening things.

More specifically, your manuscript. You know, that thing you've been slaving over in the hopes that someday the world will read? What would happen if it got deleted?

I'm sure there would be a fair amount of this.



But that's not going to get your book back, is it?

Trust me, it won't. And you'll just feel ashamed for, A. losing your work and, B. doing the ugly cry.

This actually happened to me with my last post on this blog. I posted it and everything was fine, then I went in to edit it and *poof* it was gone. Luckily I had a backup, and I can't stress how important it is to do the same with your work.

How? You might ask. 

There are plenty of ways, but I'll list a couple that I know about.

When I told Jordan about my problem, she suggested something called Windows Live Writer. I haven't looked into it too much, but it looks like a good option.

But let's say your computer pulls one of these:


Your files are just gone forever, just like Sarah Jessica Parker, right? Not if you're smart.

The first option is the external hard drive. These are great and for like a hundred bucks you can get a 2 terabyte drive.

For those non-techspeak people, 1 terabyte will hold a couple million pages of text files. So grab one of those drives and you should be set for life, even if every book you write is longer than Ulysses.

Unless you accidentally knock the hard drive over.

A friend of mine in animation school had all his files on an external drive and he accidentally kicked it, and he totally did the Dawson cry.

So if you're going to get an external drive, I'd recommend a solid state one. They're more expensive, but also more durable.

But what if you're travelling when your computer spontaneously combusts and you don't have access to your external drive?

There are a number of online options for file backup. I've used MediaFire.com and Dropbox.com. You can get a free account with a couple gigs of storage space or pay some money and get a bigger storage limit. Be warned though. I just got an email from Mediafire saying they might delete some of my files because I hadn't accessed them recently. (It's probably been about a year) I'm not sure, but Dropbox may have a similar time limit.If you're accessing it regularly you should be fine.

But my favorite method is free, easy, and allows me to have access to my document wherever I have internet access. It's called....Gmail.

That's right. My email account. I actually wrote my first book, all 76,000 words of it, in an email that I saved in my drafts. That way I had easy access to it wherever I had internet, and it would have been very hard to delete.

I'm still a little paranoid about losing my work, so on my recent manuscript, which I wrote in Word, in addition to cutting and pasting the text into an email and saving it, I would periodically email the Word document to myself. Easy enough, right? That way my computer could get nuked and I wouldn't have lost a word of my work, because I could just download it from Gmail whenever I wanted. It ensures I don't lose my work, and it keeps my keyboard free from those bitter tears that might otherwise fall.

So that's what works for me. What about you?

It Takes Work

By Dan Haring
 

Look at that picture again.

Good.

Why are you still here?

Well, since you are, I'll elaborate a little on what Batman is telling you.

In the last five years I've been able to accomplish some of my bigger personal goals. I worked on a comic book movie. I worked on a Disney animated film. I wrote a book that got published.

I'm not trying to brag, I'm trying to illustrate a point.

A few people have told me they wish they could do some of those things.

Guess what? They can. There's no secret to it, just like there's no secret to any success in life. You work hard, you hustle, and you try to be in the right place at the right time.

Sometimes you win.

Sometimes you lose.

It's hard.

It's supposed to be.

I'm not telling you I never procrastinate. I do. I've probably wasted hours looking at baby English bulldogs.

I mean seriously, how adorable are these little guys?

 But I've also been able to buckle down and get things done.

Because I had dreams and goals and didn't just sit there wishing they'd come true.

Because I wanted them, and I worked for them.

Comic book artist/writer Faith Erin Hicks tweeted something a while back that really stuck with me.

She said, "What did you do this weekend to get closer to your goal of working in comics?"

Substitute "working in comics" with "writing a book" or whatever your goal is, and then think about it.

What did you do?

And more importantly, what are you going to do now?

It's not going to fall in your lap.

You have to work for it.

But you can do it.

I believe in you.

And so does Batman.

Reaching the End

By Dan Haring

I've been on a pretty tight deadline the past few weeks, but finally this morning, at 2:23 AM, I wrote two glorious words at the bottom of my Word document:

The End.

This is pretty much how I felt:

Followed by a good dose of this after I woke up today.

This is only my second time doing it, but finishing a book is a pretty awesome experience. (and don't bring up revisions. I'm still on a high, okay?)  It's so cool to be able to get to those last few paragraphs and realize it's actually going to happen, that this story bouncing around in my head is finally going to be completely written down.

I know the hard parts are far from over. Even after I've made it as good as I can, it still might not find a home at a publisher. That's how things go in this industry.

And even if it does get published, it might not sell well. It might get panned by Kirkus. Who knows?

But I'm not worried about any of that right now. I hope anyone who has ever finished writing a book takes the time to enjoy the accomplishment, because it really is a big one.

Whatever the future holds for you and your story, you wrote a book. That's pretty darn cool, and you totally deserve one of these.

There will be plenty of time to plan for and worry about the future of this book, and I'm also excited for that part of the process. For right now though, I'm going to celebrate and enjoy the fact that this little story I've created has actually made it into the real world.

Right after I do this.