Back again....writer's block! And writer's shy bladder

So I got started on writing...finally named my protagonist, created a few secondary characters out of fluff, and put a few bits on the first two chapters. And got less than 2,000 words completed in a week.

I'm unhappy. And I'm having a hard time writing. Writer's block is part of it...but the other part is what I call "Writer's shy bladder syndrome". Shy bladder syndrome is where you can't go to the bathroom in public because your body freaks out and shuts down. In my case, it's that I can't write with anyone around, because I'm ashamed they'll see what I'm doing and ask questions. Only one person I know knows I'm actually doing this so far. I've hidden it from everyone else, including my girlfriend.

That's something I have to deal with. After all, one day I'm going to have to pitch my books to who knows how many faceless strangers. If I can't admit I'm writing to my loved ones...it's not a good thing.

But at least I started. Now to just keep working at it!

A Rose by any other name...might not be so boring

Well, I'm back.

I know no one is reading this, because I haven't actually given it out anywhere yet. That's OK. These ramblings are for myself, as much as for you my future readers. It's time to talk a little about my reading and writing.

I am a fan of science fiction and fantasy literature. I'll read nearly anything; my mother used to yell at me for reading the ingredient labels on things in the grocery store! But sci-fi and fantasy are my chief favorites. Exactly what I read at any given moment really depends on my mood, though. Right now I'm actually reading three books:

• 11.22.63 By Stephen King
• The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
• Ethics by Aristotle

So 2/3 are non-fiction. Admittedly a rarity for me. But I'm enjoying them all. Ethics is  is quite challenging as the sentence structure the translator is using is horribly archaic and wordy. But it means I have to think more to understand what I'm reading, so I'm happy. Not really getting into Tolle; but the subject matter is something that's fascinating to me and it's been highly recommended, so I suppose I'll stick with it a bit more. King, as always, is hard to put down. And time travel stories are fun when handled right, which I think he has.

So, what about writing, you ask? Well, as no one is reading this, the only one asking is me. But with good reason; I'm slumping. I should have several thousand words written for my novel; I haven't gotten a single one. My excuse? 

Names.

I hate naming things. I find in fantasy literature there's four possible options for naming:

1. "Borrow" a common name and perhaps alter it a bit, like Matrim or "Neuva Yor" or some such.
2. Roll your face on the vowels to sound alien and mysterious (aka how every Elf since Tolkien got their name)
3. Take a foreign (to you at least) word that means something relevant to the character, or just seems cool. (e.g. if I wanted to call someone strong and stoic Eisen , which is German for "iron".)

My problem with the first is It's not very inventive. And please Wheel of Time fans don't get on me for my  example; Mat Cauthon is probably my favorite character in the series. And Jordan made use of "common" names work in his world. But I'm not Robert Jordan.

The second option...I'll put it this way. When I read, I sound out the names of characters in my head. If I trip over my own mental tongue, as it were, it's probably a bad name. So I avoid things like "Alleialivania" and such. Pretty, but clumsy.

And for the third, there's a fine line between picking a cool and relevant sounding name and having it work well, and just making it look like a bad fanfiction Mary Sue name. If you spend any time on Internet forums you probably have run across a few dozen kids whose internet moniker is just a couple Japanese words whose translation is probably something like "Death angel" or something like that. 

So, I have a protagonist I love, but can't find a name for. And don't even get me started on cities on towns. Promising myself I'm going to take the day to search for inspiration.

Here we go!

If you're reading this, welcome to my blog!

If you aren't reading this, I've developed the unhealthy habit of not only speaking to myself, but writing to myself. So make me feel better by being a flesh and blood being, and reading this. My sanity requires it.

The purpose of this blog is two-fold: The first part is to document my attempts at becoming a published author, and detail my experiences in that regard. The second is (hopefully) to keep in touch with my readers. So we'll start this simple, with a little bit about me.

I'm a 34 yr old male, living in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. I'm originally from a small town in the Bucks County area of Pennsylvania. I have been reading fantasy fiction pretty much since I could reach the bookshelves in my house. I love the idea of creating a new world and bringing it to life, then sharing that vision with others. And so, I hope to become a successful author.

At the moment, I work in the IT industry. I don't hate my job; but I don't like it either. It's the sort of mindless tedium that comes with any office job, rife with repetitive, pointless tasks and petty cubicle politics. That, coupled with my finances, is driving me to finally get off my ass and write a little. My New Year's resolution this year is to write and publish a novel by my birthday (August 30th), and it's the first time in nearly two decades I've actually made a resolution. I don't believe in making promises I can't keep. So let's hope I don't make a liar out of me.

It's the American dream, isn't it? To find something you love doing, do it for a living, and be financially comfortable doing so. It's a fate I wish on everyone.

I'll be following up weekly with info on my first novel, its progress, and the steps I'm taking to self-publish. And yes, I am self-publishing, predominately on the Amazon Kindle market.  If you are curious about the process, I strongly suggest reading the blog of Joe Konrath. While I doubt I'll have even a fraction of the ridiculous success he's had, I learned a lot about the industry from his blog. And there's a lot of good tips for starting writers like myself.

Until next time, folks...be good, or at least be well.