8r4d Morning #coffee and a #writing sesh making use of one of my #breakfast coupons at the local dub. A big luscious breakfast everyday would do me in but am occasional indulgence (particularly when i’ve neglected to bake bread this week) is great, right?

bradsalomons I’ve been spending a lot of time #writing and drinking #coffee but progress on the novel has been a little slow this year so far. I had a great big push late in 2024 to get though the second half and then hit a bit of a block.

Many writing folks will tell you to push through the block and put in the effort and just write, and I did that, getting in my daily word count on other side projects. And that was fine to a point, but none of it was dislodging the plot block in the novel.

Last week I decided to brute force the damn thing and so I’ve set my daily word goal a bit lower and have been writing a bare minimum of words into the novel regardless of other factors.

Specifically, where I was usually tasking myself with sitting down and writing a scene, usually amounting to between 1000-1500 words, now I’m setting the daily goal of 250 words. Yeah, that’s a lot less, but after a week of generously meeting my goal each day I’m nearly 2000 words ahead of where i was last Monday, and that accounts for (sadly) more than half of the words I’ve written in 2025 on this project.

Happily, progress is progress is progress, and the “just write” advice is definitely locked in and valid.

8r4d Oh, doesn’t this seem familiar. Back at the #coffee and #writing routine as we dive into the first post-holiday day of 2025.

bradsalomons It’s been a weird week of snow and stuff and such and I haven’t done much #writing or had many #coffee sessions, but with Friday here and the month settling into some end of year finality, I made it out to get some words on the page. Of course, I’m sitting here posting this, so you can speculate on exactly just how well that is working out, but—

bradsalomons The Canmore #coffee scene has a #paranormal vibe that I’ve incorporated quite judiciously into my fiction #writing — that is to say the fictional City of Birchmont and setting for my recent word-craft is based heavily on this little town, no doubt, and influenced by our frequent visits. Yet somehow I hadn’t noticed the #cryptozoology vibe in the town until I started writing paranormal fiction—but now I see it everywhere.

I got a couple scenes written while we visited this weekend, so inspiration meets perspiration, huh? The first book in my Stories from Birchmont series will be completed soon, maybe even by the end of November if I stop goofing around and write the last few chapters!

8r4d Despite the shartyness of the week so far, I have been making significant progress on my #writing and specifically the #editing of the novel. I’m hoping to have all of part one to the next stage by the end of the day, and this #sunrise view and a #coffee is certainly going to help with that effort. [read more...]

8r4d The Kid booked the makerspace at the library for a couple of hours so that she and her friends could try recording their podcast there, so as a resultI—the responsible, waver-signing adult—needs to hang around and kill a couple hours #writing and having some tlc with my #keyboard. Oddly, a bustling library on a Sunday afternoon is less ideal for my creative efforts than I would have imagined.

8r4d I find myself unexpectedly on #whyteavenue on a Wednesday evening, sipping #tea and #writing because The Kid needed a ride up to an #improvtheatre orientation up here. I didn’t really expect to be up here and, yeah, I tried the library but where my #keyboard is usually quiet enough for the background him of the cafe to not be annoying, I felt very self conscious about the clickety-clack in the super-quiet library what with people, probably students, studying all around me. So—I paid for a peppermint tea and here I sit, trying to feel inspired or something.

8r4d …Meanwhile, after a week of free fancy #bakery #coffee drinks here I sit, back to #writing and spending some quality time with my #keyboard in my favourite Starbucks this morning.

8r4d This gives new meaning to the term “field work” doesn’t it? #keyboard #writing #summer

8r4d The new #keyboard arrived in the mail sometime this morning after a string of email notifications that I’d signed up for last week when I got the original shipping notice. So that’s that then. I’m one of those guys with a fancy retro keyboard and no more excuses not to get lots and lot of words onto paper. I think I’ll be heading over to a cafe of some sort this afternoon just simply to make up for lost time and get some #writing done. One of the nicer features of this device, and I’m sure it is pretty much standard on any old keyboard these days anyways, is the multi-device functionality. That means with the press of a key or two I can flip between typing on my iPad (serious writing) and typing on my phone (for text like this.) I could go through a lot of rigamorole with the old keyboard unpairing it, repairing it and then back and forth that way, but it was a real big pain. It may not be something I ever use, or it could be exactly what i needed to get some more extensive posts going on here. Who can say? [read more...]

8r4d I’ve had a bout of what some may call writers block. Sitting somewhere with a #coffee trying to type out a block of fiction on a regular basis is a great plan, but sometimes you just sit there and stare at the keyboard and none of it works. Today has been a bit better and I’ve got nearly a full chapter knocked out, but #writing can be a helluva chore. I saw a post yesterday that said something like: Oh so you want to be a writer? Ok: Imagine having a homework assignment every single day for the rest of your life.