Process; or the bane of my existence

"Getting the first draft finished is like pushing a very dirty peanut across the floor with your nose." - Joyce Carol Oates

That pretty well summarizes how I feel about writing first drafts. And it feels like writing first drafts is all that I've been doing for the last couple of weeks. Don't get me wrong, creating something out of nothing can be a magical process. But it can also be a maddening, make you want to pull your hair out sort of process. I'm not sure how others deal with the frustration, but there's a few things I've found that seem to work pretty well to alleviate some of the stress. So, primarily for my own benefit, I'm going to write down my rules for writing, bearing in mind that I tend to break them.

1. Make time to write. This has been a hard one for me, with work and school in the mix. I've recently changed my work schedule to accommodate my writing. I get up at the same time, but once I'm ready for work, I sit down and write for an hour rather than heading straight to the office. I then stay later at work. Having this uninterrupted time for writing helps immensely.

2. Turn off the internet. For the love of God, just turn it off. Facebook is never more appealing than when you're trying to reach a seemingly unreachable word count. The articles on Wikipedia were never more fascinating. Just...turn it off.

3. Turn off the music. I've gone back and forth on this one. Sometimes, I will listen to more ambient/drone type music, and I find that's OK. However, I use Spotify and Youtube for most of my music these days, which takes us right back to rule 2. So...I usually turn off the music.

4. Set a goal. For me, it's word count. You can check the word count on any word processor with ease. My standard goal for an hour of writing is 1000 words. Sometimes it's easy and I get it done in twenty five minutes. Other times....well, just read the quote at the top of this post. But having a goal gives me something to strive for, and I tell myself that I can't stop until I've hit said goal. I (almost) always make it.

5. Know the next step. In most cases, I'm writing something that won't be finished in one sitting. I try to stop at a point where I know more or less what will happen next. That way, the next time I set down to type, I'll be able to get right into it, thus sparing myself from the frustration of staring at the screen wondering what to type.

6. Maintain momentum. I try to follow all of these rules as best I can, and if I do, I tend to write quite a bit. Once I start, I don't let myself stop. It really helps.

7. When all else fails/I'm feeling completely at a loss, I watch this video, because Neil Gaiman is my favorite author and this video is incredibly inspiring:

Deafheaven - Sunbather

Full disclosure: this not an album review. I just wanted to share a few thoughts on this album I've been listening to. And with that...

I like to listen to music. Most people do. (Side note, I've stopped listening to music when I write; I find that once I click on related artists in Spotify, I don't get shit done.) I assume that other people have this experience as well, but every once in a while, an artist/song/album comes along that worms its way into my head and won't get out. And I mean that in the the sense that I frigging dig it and I have to listen to it over and over again until I'm sick of it. (2nd side note: when this happens, I'm pretty sure my wife gets sick of whatever it is before I do.)

So this happened to me on Friday. I am a big fan of metal - screaming, blast beats, the whole deal. I was perusing a variety of year end "Best Metal Albums of 2013" lists, because I find that is a good way to check out new bands. An album called Sunbather by Deafheaven kept popping at or close to the top of most of these lists. It was generally described as a black metal album with some shoegaze and post-rock influences. This is what the cover looks like:

Not exactly what you'd expect the cover of a "black metal" album to look like, right? Well, I had to check that shit out. And it BLEW my mind. The title track "Dream House" is amazing...blast beats, tremolo guitar lines, and shrieks are all there, but it just doesn't sound like most metal. 

Basically, if somebody came up to me and was like, "Hey, pick three genres of music that you love, and then we'll mash 'em up, and it'll be awesome," I wouldn't believe them (that it would be awesome). And yet, here we have a metal album that owes just as much to post-rock and shoegaze, and it is awesome. 

Here's the aforementioned track "Dream House":

Pretty sweet, right? There are four monster main tracks on this LP, with three shorter bridge type songs in between. Some reviewers have pointed out that this long track-short track-long track pattern is a bit "obvious," and it may be, but I think that it works remarkably well. It gives the listener some respite from the intensity of the main tracks and gives them album a nice flow. 

The lyrics are obviously unintelligible and the screams are not at the forefront of the mix. For those of you apprehensive about music with screamed lyrics, I would say give this a chance. And I would say that it's best not to think of the screaming as you would traditional singing, but as an additional instrument or texture within the overall sound that the band is creating. Plus, I the post-rock style crescendos make the sound more palatable to non-metal fans. 

I dig this album, and others seems to as well; oddly enough, it was the highest reviewed album (of any genre) on Metacritic. Whoda thunk a metal album would fill that slot? That's not to say that this album doesn't have it's detractors. I have certainnly seen the accusation that this is "hipster" metal bandied about. Additional, some folks have said that it isn't "real" black metal. Maybe that's true, but...I don't care??? Most of the reviews I have read say the same basic thing: call it post-black metal, call it metal-blaze, call it shoe-hipster-black-post-gaze--rock-metal, it doesn't matter. If you like it, great. If not, that's cool too. 

So, check this out if you have any interest. Might not be for everybody, but I think it's a rewarding listen and one of my favorite new albums. (3rd side note: I'm going to be seeing Deafheaven when they play with Between The Buried And Me here in Omaha in March. I'm super pumped.)

Change by Ales Kot

Change by Ales Kot is my favorite comic mini series of the last couple of years, for a variety of reasons. It may not be for everybody, but if you are even mildly interested in a different take on the comic book medium, Kot is your man.

He's got lots going on right now, and his new series, Zero, has been very well received. It's definitely worth checking out. He's also got quite a bit of high profile work coming this year at Marvel, so congrats are due to him. In my opinion, he deserves it. But I want to talk about Change in this post.

As I said, Change is my favorite mini of the last few years for a couple of reasons. The first is that, unlike a lot of other series, you can reread it. I would almost say that rereading is required for a book like this. There are so many layers to the story and the art is so...difficult at times that I don't think a single read through would really do it justice. The opening words to the comics are as follows:

"Her face was beautiful like drone video footage from Afghanistan. Eyes stuxnet worms, self replicating within his soul. The skin of her cheeks made him think of home."

Wow...just...wow. Maybe some folks think there's no meaning in that style of writing, but even if there's no direct meaning, it certainly sets the tone. That's something that I struggle with in my own writing. I've noticed that Kot's more recent writing is more accessible, and seems to be aimed at a wider audience. As I said, I do enjoy his new stuff very much, but part of wishes for the challenge of this series.

The art by Morgan Jeske, as well as the colors by Sloane Long and letters by Ed Brisson, are fantastic, unique, non-nonsensical at times, and all around beautiful. I mean, just look at this, and it's not even the most bonkers that you'll see in the comic:

Ultimately, what I love most about this mini, and the reason that I've reread it at least a couple of times, is the story. On the surface, it's about a screenwriter, a rapper, and an astronaut. I won't go into any more specifics, but it's a big story, it's a personal story, it's a story about coming back from failure. Ales Kot really takes comic story telling and gets everything out of it that he can, and I love that. I sincerely hope you check it out if you have a chance.