*Sadly unpublished — so far…*
Untitled: (1998-1999) The first book I ever started writing (easily made it to novel length with no end in sight). It was a strange mixture between Edward Abbey and Hunter S. Thompson. It was basically the story of a man walking across the country in a drugged out haze trying to remember who he was. The further east he got, the more about himself he remembered. The idea is one I may go back to one day. What I finished had some nice imagery, just not much cohesion. I ended up introducing way too many characters and too many themes and lost my way.
While Scoring Green: (2000-2001) A surreal and somber unfinished novel about several inter-connected characters dealing with death and loss in a mental health ward of a hospital. It is a treatise on the nature of faith. One of the characters sees angels after a near-death experience and causes miracles. I intend to get back to this one after I finish the Selkie trilogy.
Untitled Science Fiction Novel: (2001-2002) Another sprawling mess of characters and themes. This story revolved around a culture where no one died thanks to genetic technology, and the religious implications that this would have on society.
*2006* The year I got organized…..
The Forest for the Trees: My first completed novel, written through the Summer/Fall of 2006. A sprawling contemporary surreal fairy tale set in the rural South. It has a myriad of characters from toys that come to life, to gnomes, to hunters punished into an existence as woodland creatures, to various gods, goddesses, and other creatures from legends, myths, and folklore. Most of this one is set in the lower Appalachian woods of northeast Alabama, but a large portion takes place below the surface in the dream world of Hades. A strange mixture of elements, and so far hard to sell (to be fair, it’s only gone before two publishers so far — one friendly personal rejection, the other a friendly personalized form), but I personally love this book.
Return to Riversterke: (early 2007) The first book in a planned young adult trilogy concerning several cultures beneath the muddy waters of an Alabama river system. Full of exotic creatures and locales. True Southern Fried Weirdness. I have high hopes for this series.
Writings on the Wall: (late 2007-early 2008) The second novel in the trilogy. Where most of the first novel takes place below water, this one takes place on the surface across a modern Southern landscape.
Untitled 3rd Selkie Book: My next project. In planning stages now. I plan on starting this hopefully before the end of the month or perhaps early May. The rough draft of the entire project should be done by late summer/fall. I want to re-read the other two books and make some detailed notes first to make sure the details are correct and that my planned conclusion to this little saga makes sense and wraps up all loose ends.
T.J. McIntyre: A Southern Fried Weirdo 
So… you haven’t written any novels for 4 years? 😀
Best of luck with the selkie trilogy. It sounds very promising!
Thanks, Rose. Good point; I left a hole there.
*2002-2006* — I had a couple false starts, all under novelette length (under 10 k words). I wrote a few short stories and a lot of poems, but generally it was a more unproductive time than any other in my life. I was kind of discouraged that I didn’t seem able to finish any novel-length project that I started. I was sitting on my hands and waiting for the muse instead of taking the initiative to chase after her.
In 2006, I decided to write a story for my kids as a way to deal with the loss of my grandmother and create a little story to help my child deal with the loss. It grew and expanded from that simple children’s story into … well … something else which was much darker in places. I realized I was writing an adult novel and forced myself to write 2k words a day (an insane schedule with a kid and a day job — not recommended) and it turned into Foreset for the Trees, a 100,000k epic (after some editing) written in around three months. After finishing something this length, my confidence came back.
Since then, I’ve found a schedule more comfortable for writing novel-length fiction w/ all that I have to balance: around 5k a week or about 20k a month. Typically I write 1k a day w/ two days off devoted to family. It takes longer to get out a novel this way, but it doesn’t leave me feeling burnt out. The overall writing is much more clear and concise as well.
Also, for the purposes of this meme, I only included works that made it over novella-length (40,000 k) before giving up on them. If I included every idea I had started on, this list would have been too long to type 🙂
So… you haven’t written any novels for 4 years? 😀
Best of luck with the selkie trilogy. It sounds very promising!
Thanks, Rose. Good point; I left a hole there.
*2002-2006* — I had a couple false starts, all under novelette length (under 10 k words). I wrote a few short stories and a lot of poems, but generally it was a more unproductive time than any other in my life. I was kind of discouraged that I didn’t seem able to finish any novel-length project that I started. I was sitting on my hands and waiting for the muse instead of taking the initiative to chase after her.
In 2006, I decided to write a story for my kids as a way to deal with the loss of my grandmother and create a little story to help my child deal with the loss. It grew and expanded from that simple children’s story into … well … something else which was much darker in places. I realized I was writing an adult novel and forced myself to write 2k words a day (an insane schedule with a kid and a day job — not recommended) and it turned into Foreset for the Trees, a 100,000k epic (after some editing) written in around three months. After finishing something this length, my confidence came back.
Since then, I’ve found a schedule more comfortable for writing novel-length fiction w/ all that I have to balance: around 5k a week or about 20k a month. Typically I write 1k a day w/ two days off devoted to family. It takes longer to get out a novel this way, but it doesn’t leave me feeling burnt out. The overall writing is much more clear and concise as well.
Also, for the purposes of this meme, I only included works that made it over novella-length (40,000 k) before giving up on them. If I included every idea I had started on, this list would have been too long to type 🙂
So… you haven’t written any novels for 4 years? 😀
Best of luck with the selkie trilogy. It sounds very promising!
Thanks, Rose. Good point; I left a hole there.
*2002-2006* — I had a couple false starts, all under novelette length (under 10 k words). I wrote a few short stories and a lot of poems, but generally it was a more unproductive time than any other in my life. I was kind of discouraged that I didn’t seem able to finish any novel-length project that I started. I was sitting on my hands and waiting for the muse instead of taking the initiative to chase after her.
In 2006, I decided to write a story for my kids as a way to deal with the loss of my grandmother and create a little story to help my child deal with the loss. It grew and expanded from that simple children’s story into … well … something else which was much darker in places. I realized I was writing an adult novel and forced myself to write 2k words a day (an insane schedule with a kid and a day job — not recommended) and it turned into Foreset for the Trees, a 100,000k epic (after some editing) written in around three months. After finishing something this length, my confidence came back.
Since then, I’ve found a schedule more comfortable for writing novel-length fiction w/ all that I have to balance: around 5k a week or about 20k a month. Typically I write 1k a day w/ two days off devoted to family. It takes longer to get out a novel this way, but it doesn’t leave me feeling burnt out. The overall writing is much more clear and concise as well.
Also, for the purposes of this meme, I only included works that made it over novella-length (40,000 k) before giving up on them. If I included every idea I had started on, this list would have been too long to type 🙂
So… you haven’t written any novels for 4 years? 😀
Best of luck with the selkie trilogy. It sounds very promising!
So… you haven’t written any novels for 4 years? 😀
Best of luck with the selkie trilogy. It sounds very promising!
So… you haven’t written any novels for 4 years? 😀
Best of luck with the selkie trilogy. It sounds very promising!
Thanks, Rose. Good point; I left a hole there.
*2002-2006* — I had a couple false starts, all under novelette length (under 10 k words). I wrote a few short stories and a lot of poems, but generally it was a more unproductive time than any other in my life. I was kind of discouraged that I didn’t seem able to finish any novel-length project that I started. I was sitting on my hands and waiting for the muse instead of taking the initiative to chase after her.
In 2006, I decided to write a story for my kids as a way to deal with the loss of my grandmother and create a little story to help my child deal with the loss. It grew and expanded from that simple children’s story into … well … something else which was much darker in places. I realized I was writing an adult novel and forced myself to write 2k words a day (an insane schedule with a kid and a day job — not recommended) and it turned into Foreset for the Trees, a 100,000k epic (after some editing) written in around three months. After finishing something this length, my confidence came back.
Since then, I’ve found a schedule more comfortable for writing novel-length fiction w/ all that I have to balance: around 5k a week or about 20k a month. Typically I write 1k a day w/ two days off devoted to family. It takes longer to get out a novel this way, but it doesn’t leave me feeling burnt out. The overall writing is much more clear and concise as well.
Also, for the purposes of this meme, I only included works that made it over novella-length (40,000 k) before giving up on them. If I included every idea I had started on, this list would have been too long to type 🙂
So… you haven’t written any novels for 4 years? 😀
Best of luck with the selkie trilogy. It sounds very promising!
Thanks, Rose. Good point; I left a hole there.
*2002-2006* — I had a couple false starts, all under novelette length (under 10 k words). I wrote a few short stories and a lot of poems, but generally it was a more unproductive time than any other in my life. I was kind of discouraged that I didn’t seem able to finish any novel-length project that I started. I was sitting on my hands and waiting for the muse instead of taking the initiative to chase after her.
In 2006, I decided to write a story for my kids as a way to deal with the loss of my grandmother and create a little story to help my child deal with the loss. It grew and expanded from that simple children’s story into … well … something else which was much darker in places. I realized I was writing an adult novel and forced myself to write 2k words a day (an insane schedule with a kid and a day job — not recommended) and it turned into Foreset for the Trees, a 100,000k epic (after some editing) written in around three months. After finishing something this length, my confidence came back.
Since then, I’ve found a schedule more comfortable for writing novel-length fiction w/ all that I have to balance: around 5k a week or about 20k a month. Typically I write 1k a day w/ two days off devoted to family. It takes longer to get out a novel this way, but it doesn’t leave me feeling burnt out. The overall writing is much more clear and concise as well.
Also, for the purposes of this meme, I only included works that made it over novella-length (40,000 k) before giving up on them. If I included every idea I had started on, this list would have been too long to type 🙂
So… you haven’t written any novels for 4 years? 😀
Best of luck with the selkie trilogy. It sounds very promising!
Thanks, Rose. Good point; I left a hole there.
*2002-2006* — I had a couple false starts, all under novelette length (under 10 k words). I wrote a few short stories and a lot of poems, but generally it was a more unproductive time than any other in my life. I was kind of discouraged that I didn’t seem able to finish any novel-length project that I started. I was sitting on my hands and waiting for the muse instead of taking the initiative to chase after her.
In 2006, I decided to write a story for my kids as a way to deal with the loss of my grandmother and create a little story to help my child deal with the loss. It grew and expanded from that simple children’s story into … well … something else which was much darker in places. I realized I was writing an adult novel and forced myself to write 2k words a day (an insane schedule with a kid and a day job — not recommended) and it turned into Foreset for the Trees, a 100,000k epic (after some editing) written in around three months. After finishing something this length, my confidence came back.
Since then, I’ve found a schedule more comfortable for writing novel-length fiction w/ all that I have to balance: around 5k a week or about 20k a month. Typically I write 1k a day w/ two days off devoted to family. It takes longer to get out a novel this way, but it doesn’t leave me feeling burnt out. The overall writing is much more clear and concise as well.
Also, for the purposes of this meme, I only included works that made it over novella-length (40,000 k) before giving up on them. If I included every idea I had started on, this list would have been too long to type 🙂
Thanks, Rose. Good point; I left a hole there.
*2002-2006* — I had a couple false starts, all under novelette length (under 10 k words). I wrote a few short stories and a lot of poems, but generally it was a more unproductive time than any other in my life. I was kind of discouraged that I didn’t seem able to finish any novel-length project that I started. I was sitting on my hands and waiting for the muse instead of taking the initiative to chase after her.
In 2006, I decided to write a story for my kids as a way to deal with the loss of my grandmother and create a little story to help my child deal with the loss. It grew and expanded from that simple children’s story into … well … something else which was much darker in places. I realized I was writing an adult novel and forced myself to write 2k words a day (an insane schedule with a kid and a day job — not recommended) and it turned into Foreset for the Trees, a 100,000k epic (after some editing) written in around three months. After finishing something this length, my confidence came back.
Since then, I’ve found a schedule more comfortable for writing novel-length fiction w/ all that I have to balance: around 5k a week or about 20k a month. Typically I write 1k a day w/ two days off devoted to family. It takes longer to get out a novel this way, but it doesn’t leave me feeling burnt out. The overall writing is much more clear and concise as well.
Also, for the purposes of this meme, I only included works that made it over novella-length (40,000 k) before giving up on them. If I included every idea I had started on, this list would have been too long to type 🙂
Thanks, Rose. Good point; I left a hole there.
*2002-2006* — I had a couple false starts, all under novelette length (under 10 k words). I wrote a few short stories and a lot of poems, but generally it was a more unproductive time than any other in my life. I was kind of discouraged that I didn’t seem able to finish any novel-length project that I started. I was sitting on my hands and waiting for the muse instead of taking the initiative to chase after her.
In 2006, I decided to write a story for my kids as a way to deal with the loss of my grandmother and create a little story to help my child deal with the loss. It grew and expanded from that simple children’s story into … well … something else which was much darker in places. I realized I was writing an adult novel and forced myself to write 2k words a day (an insane schedule with a kid and a day job — not recommended) and it turned into Foreset for the Trees, a 100,000k epic (after some editing) written in around three months. After finishing something this length, my confidence came back.
Since then, I’ve found a schedule more comfortable for writing novel-length fiction w/ all that I have to balance: around 5k a week or about 20k a month. Typically I write 1k a day w/ two days off devoted to family. It takes longer to get out a novel this way, but it doesn’t leave me feeling burnt out. The overall writing is much more clear and concise as well.
Also, for the purposes of this meme, I only included works that made it over novella-length (40,000 k) before giving up on them. If I included every idea I had started on, this list would have been too long to type 🙂
Hey TJ, glad I found your LJ (this is Matt Mitchell, BTW). Hope everything’s going well. I like the new SFW website (can’t believe I didn’t rate a link on your links page…)(kidding 🙂
L8r
Hey Matt!
Good to have you on board for the ride.
Regarding my links page — I’ll put one up once I revamp that part of my page. It is long overdue for an update.
Hey TJ, glad I found your LJ (this is Matt Mitchell, BTW). Hope everything’s going well. I like the new SFW website (can’t believe I didn’t rate a link on your links page…)(kidding 🙂
L8r
Hey Matt!
Good to have you on board for the ride.
Regarding my links page — I’ll put one up once I revamp that part of my page. It is long overdue for an update.
Hey TJ, glad I found your LJ (this is Matt Mitchell, BTW). Hope everything’s going well. I like the new SFW website (can’t believe I didn’t rate a link on your links page…)(kidding 🙂
L8r
Hey Matt!
Good to have you on board for the ride.
Regarding my links page — I’ll put one up once I revamp that part of my page. It is long overdue for an update.
Hey TJ, glad I found your LJ (this is Matt Mitchell, BTW). Hope everything’s going well. I like the new SFW website (can’t believe I didn’t rate a link on your links page…)(kidding 🙂
L8r
Hey TJ, glad I found your LJ (this is Matt Mitchell, BTW). Hope everything’s going well. I like the new SFW website (can’t believe I didn’t rate a link on your links page…)(kidding 🙂
L8r
Hey TJ, glad I found your LJ (this is Matt Mitchell, BTW). Hope everything’s going well. I like the new SFW website (can’t believe I didn’t rate a link on your links page…)(kidding 🙂
L8r
Hey Matt!
Good to have you on board for the ride.
Regarding my links page — I’ll put one up once I revamp that part of my page. It is long overdue for an update.
Hey TJ, glad I found your LJ (this is Matt Mitchell, BTW). Hope everything’s going well. I like the new SFW website (can’t believe I didn’t rate a link on your links page…)(kidding 🙂
L8r
Hey Matt!
Good to have you on board for the ride.
Regarding my links page — I’ll put one up once I revamp that part of my page. It is long overdue for an update.
Hey TJ, glad I found your LJ (this is Matt Mitchell, BTW). Hope everything’s going well. I like the new SFW website (can’t believe I didn’t rate a link on your links page…)(kidding 🙂
L8r
Hey Matt!
Good to have you on board for the ride.
Regarding my links page — I’ll put one up once I revamp that part of my page. It is long overdue for an update.
Hey Matt!
Good to have you on board for the ride.
Regarding my links page — I’ll put one up once I revamp that part of my page. It is long overdue for an update.
Hey Matt!
Good to have you on board for the ride.
Regarding my links page — I’ll put one up once I revamp that part of my page. It is long overdue for an update.