Chuck Wendig on writing a novel

Can't explain how much it helped me to read this today. My first go-round, it feels like rolling a turd uphill. This morning I almost threw my idea out the window--it's been a year, and by god the first draft sucks--but I guess this is about having guts and balls.

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/06/20/25-things-you-should-know-about-writing-a-novel/

(Oh yeah, I'm writing a novel. It's been about a year. Shows how long...)

It's like hot potato with garbage

...is the game me and my wife play regarding who will empty the kitchen garbage can.

Untitled and unstructured like nature itself

Do any other children of the '70s remember sprawling days and nights of unstructured summer? It made the months seem endless as if school didn't exist. It was boring sometimes, but being bored really often meant sitting inside in the cool shade watching Goonies and RoboCop, the kind of boredom which is actually a sign of luxury.

I do want a little more structure for my kids---they don't live in the same kind of suburbs I did, with several surrounding quiet, low-traffic streets full of kids my age and a beach near by, and I don't want them on their iWare* every day; plus I can't quite trust my 14-year-old baby like I used to---but just a little more structure. Unfortunately my ex doesn't agree, and like it or not (I don't) I have to agree to a few more camps or days of camp than I would like for them.

They will have the rest of their lives to have places to be.

*My ex is also the one who bought them the iPhone/iPad, against my wishes. Sorry but I have to be a dick like that.

At Ezra's 8th-grade graduation they honored a teacher retiring after 33 years. He was a bit surprised and didn't have any remarks prepared for the graduates, so he said he'd just share something a friend of his told her daughter when they were visiting a new city on vacation" "Put down your cell phone, and look at everything."