Managing time –
Until 2017, I worked full time and wrote in the evenings, weekends, anytime I could find time. When I retired in 2017, I thought I'd have more time to write.
Wrong.
Too many interruptions. Some necessary, many unnecessary which writers like me allow to creep in from the internet primarily. Keep hearing solutions to this problem but the only real solution is to shut everything down but the writing. It's hard but it does work before the cats interrupt.
21st Century –
The 21st Century is zipping by, dragging me along and I'm happy to be alive, although old age brings problems. It's better than the alternative. As for this writer, I write very little set in the 21st Century for many reasons, the most pressing is things change too quickly. Forensic advances, social media zooming along at the speed of sound, CGI stuff, AI – not even sure what that is.
So I go back to the 1950s and 60s and 70s, where I remember what it was like and set the stories and novels there. Easier for me and who knows, I might enlightened a reader on what it was like to have only three TV channels and TV going off the air at midnight and dial telephones and long distance operators and information operators (before directory assistance), and typewriters and how it was fun when Dad put on the brakes or had to swerve and you got to bounce around the back seat.
"Hey, Dad. Do that again."
Lately, I'll spot something on TV and wonder who the hell are those guys. Watched part of the Emmy Awards last night and I was lost. Who are those guys?
Getting back to focusing on writing. I wrap into the cocoon of the past and let my characters solve crimes the way we used to.
That's all for now. Thanks for listening.
www.oneildenoux.com
I totally understand, O'Neil. I lived in early 1970s L.A., when you could get a cheap ID that would work for anything and everything, and vanish into the crowds. Not anymore.
ReplyDeleteO'Neil, no one writes better stories and novels about those times than you do.
ReplyDelete"I wrap into a cocoon of the past" - love that description, O'Neil! And that's just what I need to do more of. I am so pessimistic about the world I see now. I want to go back to a time when I felt hope. I write in the 1920s era now, but maybe i should look at the 70s for my next stories.
ReplyDeleteLOL, I thought I was the only one who's getting less done in retirement than before!
ReplyDeleteThis is O’Neil and it’s my fourth attempt at trying to comment. Thanks for your comments. They mean a lot to me. What my peers think of my writing is important to me. Sales may lag and I don’t read reviews but I pay attention to what y’all think. You guys are doing great with your writing. I see it all the time. Keep it up and keep focused and don’t let the big freezes slow you down. We had a water pipe broke and went 24 hours without water. Such is living in a small town in Louisiana. Remember – our state moto is Louisiana: A State of Confusion. Alternate motto is Louisiana: America’s Banana Republic. Ciao for now.
ReplyDeleteCocoon… Wasn't there a film of that name?
ReplyDeleteO'Neil, I have it on good authority that absolutely nothing of significance happened prior to ~2005 or so, roughly the birthdate of a certain 19yo keeper of ancient records on Tik Tok.