Under a Gibbous Moon

Sorry about the lack of updates through the month of November but NaNoWriMo really kicked my ass this year.

I did manage to hit 50,000 words again this year but it was a push near the end. I did basically the last half of the novel in the last week. I was totally unprepared this year which was kind of sad because I had the basic idea planned for most of the year but then I decided I didn’t like it and started prep on another, decided I didn’t like that one, and then went back and reworked my original idea into something different. Come November 1st, I didn’t even know how the novel was going to start.

I spent hours of precious writing time just doing the research that I needed to do the actual writing. It was not a pretty sight. My browser would have so many tabs open that it was difficult to actually click on them.

So now that it’s finally December I can go back to doing other things with my free time  than just writing.

Still, it was worth it.

It finally arrived in the mail. Wait, I should probably go back a step.

Everyone who completed their NaNoWriMo novel back in November was given a free print copy by createspace.com (Amazon’s publishing arm). I finally got around to doing the final edit and submitting it to printed. The process was much faster than the 27 March date they gave me, but I’m not complaining.

Anyway, here it is:

The cover, so glossy!

The spine, a full 233 pages thick

Even though its not really “published” it is still neat to be able to physically hold a book that I wrote. It shall have a revered and holy place on my book shelf.

OK, I’m done now.

Finally, after a long, long, long, long, long time, I have finished the final edit of my 2009 National Novel Writing Month Novel. There is one joy to going back and editing something long after the fact, you realize exactly how much it stinks.

Truly, though, that was the point of the exercise. Well, not so much to write a crappy novel as to just write one at all. I, like many others, get caught up in whether or not the writing or the plot and whatnot is good enough that we never actually getting around to writing anything.

It’s not the worst thing that I’ve ever read but it’ll never be a classic. So here, for your enjoyment, is my novel.

But this time, with a story:

Darth Vader stood at the edge of large desert, the smoking ruin of his tie fighter sticking out of the dune behind him. He knew that he must cross the desert to get off of this miserable planet but he also knew that he lacked the provisions for such a trip.
Vader had nearly resigned himself to his fate when a great feline sped across the sands and came to a stop next to him.

Seizing upon his luck, Vader asked the beast if it would bear him to the nearest spaceport.

The great feline sat back upon its haunches, gave the request a moments thought, and then shook its enormous head.

“The Dark Side and you are one,” it said, “Surely you would slay if given the chance.”

“Never would I do such a thing,” Vader replied, “for I were to slay you in the heat of the desert, I would surely die.”

The cat cocked its head and considered the logic,” All right, climb up on my back and together we shall ride.”

Grabbing onto its fur, Vader mounted the beast and soon they were naught but an orange blur racing across the sands.

Without warning, the great feline felt a tightening in its throat. Gasping for air it tripped and it fell, sliding into the base of an enormous sand dune. It fought and it sputtered but in the end its struggles were insignificant next to the power of the Force.

As the feline breathed its last, it managed to gasp, “But why? Now you will also surely die.”

Darth Vader merely shrugged his shoulders, “I’m a Dark Lord of the Sith, what did you expect?”

Yes, you’ve probably heard this one before, but it’s in the public domain. Take that Aesop!

You may notice a new link at the top of the page. I have decided to release some of the stuff that I have written (and actually finished) under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike License.

If you have the inclination to get in some free reading, take a look around. There isn’t much at the moment but it will grow over time.