Ian Swenson .com

I haven’t been writing here much (not that I do otherwise) because I’ve been furiously penning fiction for NaNoWriMo. I’d love to post some of it here, but it’s a raw first draft. Some will be posted soon, I promise.

But for now I have a bit of a motivation problem. It’s starting to feel like one of those big papers I had to write in order to pass a class. I didn’t care about those. This I care about because it’s mine. It’s what I want to write. I have had these ideas ready to ink for ages and now I’ve actually begun.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not behind or anything. I’ve written just over 21,000 words, well over the minimum required for this time (16,000+ for the record). But most of it is what I considered the easy part. My initial idea for the book concerned essentially what I’ve now written. I always had the idea of how to start, but struggled with figuring out where and how to end it. I keep jumping from character to character, writing until I hit a block.

Now I’ve somewhat run out of the fun stuff to write and I’m delaying. I’ve written the bare minimum for the last four days, even though yesterday and today I’ve had plenty of time grind it out. I’ve even tried tricks to get myself going (like the wickedly wonderful Write or Die tool on kamikaze mode), but they’re temporary fixes at best.

So this is blog post is a catharsis of sorts. It’s admitting to myself (and the world) that I need to get going with this, fun or no.

I’m looking forward to the editing process. I’ve always been good at that. It’s this beginning part I suck at. Wish me luck! I mean it.

My ten-year high school reunion is this weekend. And no, I’m not going.

It’s not the typical “my life blows” rationale either, at least I don’t think I’m rationalizing that. Rather, I saw the list of attendees and there were only a couple people with whom I wished to reminisce. Those few I can do so on an individual basis.

But it has made me think of and encounter those awkward greetings after extended interims apart. You know the ones, those “how have things been since the time I saw you last” exchanges. They never much get any where. Plenty of “things are great”s and “I started a new job”s but never any meaty, meaningful admissions.

Anywho, that led me to a different sort of extended-separation correspondence. Without further ado, here is an Ian update, headline-style:

Kayak industry falters, makers peddle on

New couch decorates den

Girlfriend now wins bread, brings home bacon

Death creeps closer as birthday passes

With truck acquisition white trash ranks swell

Discovery Channel appearance explodes ego

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No, no. It’s not something Mork would say. Check that, Mork probably would say that.

Nonetheless, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. Actually, November is NaNoWriMo, and this year, I’ve signed up!

That’s write (dur-hur), yours truly is planning to set out on the wonderful expedition of novel writing. Of course, it’s not really wonderful. It’s excrutiatingly tiring and I so dislike writing, but I feel the need to try it this year.

A few years back I was living with my cousin, Cameron, and he participated. He successfully completeted his required 50,000 words and finished with a nice, steaming pile of crap. And that’s what I want to do!

To be fair, I’m aiming for double that amount of words, and, ergo, I suppose, double that amount of crap.

I don’t want to get to heavily into plot ideas now, because I want to have the liberty to change it as I will. Writing the plot down now would leave me with some sense of responsibility of staying with my preconceptions even if I find out they’re not working too well.

But I will say these things: It is to be a fantasy novel set in the fantastical world I created when I was ten. I have six main characters in mind now. I plan on using a format similar to the frame story of Chaucer with the main main character’s story being primarily told through his interactions with the others and interludes.

That’s the plan, at least. I have good beginnings for each character in mind, but I haven’t the foggiest idea how I’ll get them all together and move them toward this vague climaxy thing I have in my head. We’ll see!

When I finish and edit, I plan on posting some of the excerpts here. I’m sure I’ll eventually self-publish it for my own enjoyment, but who knows. Maybe it’ll be good enough to submit to publishers. I’m not holding my breath, but it’s possible.

It’s been some time since I last posted. I was writing a big series on how I made this web site, then the Olympics interrupted my rhythm, and I never got it back. Other projects have snatched my attention and I have neglected this site. I apologize.

To make up for it, I have a couple commercials here I want to talk about. Which should we do first, the good or the bad?

I think good first. So here we go:

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Here we are, back again with me railing and lauding commercials. Good fun, eh?

I say “eh” because my favorite commercial of my extensive Olympics viewership so far this year has come via the Canadian Broadcasting Channel. This video took tons of hunting down to find, as apparently no one in Canada has heard of YouTube.

Obviously the commercial has the cute factor going for it, which doesn’t always reel me in. But for some reason, here it does.

The commercial shows pretty much all of the major winter sports and does so in an entertaining fashion. It made me want to watch the Vancouver Games tomorrow.

Good job, Wonder Bread (called Wonder+ because it’s for kids? For Canadians? Bunch of hosers, I say).

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