Tag: writing

Update On My Scifi Dramedy Novel For Oct. 23, 2025

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Things are going fairly well with the novel right now. I have only four or five more scenes left in the first act before I can start working on the “fun and games” part of the novel.

That is, of course, if everything goes according to plan.

If things are going to collapse, it usually is in the transitional phase between parts of the novel that it happens. But I really need to stop drifting towards my goal. I really need to focus more and actually get work done on this novel even when maybe I’m not…feeling it.

It’s really tough, though. I’m so used to just drifting towards my goal — hence why I’ve been working on a novel of query-level writing for so long — that meh. Sometimes, it’s tough.

But maybe things will change. Maybe I’ll find some way to summon up some focus and actually buckle down. Wish me luck.

An Update On My Scifi Dramedy Novel For Oct. 22, 2025

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I did not get nearly as much work done on this novel today as I should have. I was just feeing meh and did not want to do anything all that productive. But there’s a chance I may get a second wind this evening and get more done.

I’m trying — trying — to write at least three scenes out a day. That’s the goal.

And I’m getting pretty good at doing that. But I have a lot more scenes to write and there’s always a risk that the whole thing will collapse in on itself AGAIN and I’ll have to start from scratch.

Usually, the whole collapsing in on itself happens because I realize something about the novel’s structure that causes me to stop believing in it.

Anyway, there’s always tomorrow. I’m growing more more nervous that if I don’t get this thing done by spring 2026 that something will happen to dramatically change the context of the whole effort.

My dream, of course, is to sell the novel in 2026, make enough money to get the fuck out of this tyrannical MAGA country and never look the fuck back. But that would be like winning the lottery.

As it stands, I’m probably going to be dodging bombs and bullets like everyone else whenever the country implodes because of fucking Trump. Uh. He’s America’s Hitler.

Update On My Scifi Dramedy Novel For October 21st, 2025

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m currently cruising towards the end of the first act for my latest attempt to write this scifi dramedy novel. My biggest irritation at the moment is I really want to show the first few scenes to some people, and yet, no.

It’s kind of bad luck to show people what you’re working on before it’s beta-draft ready. I say this in the context of in the past whenever I’ve shown any of my work to people either I don’t really like what they have to say one way or another or the whole thing collapses after they’ve looked at it so their advice is moot.

Ugh.

But my goal at the current moment is to just finish the first act. Usually, the most problematic issues with filling out an outline comes with the transitions between acts. For some reason that’s when I’m most likely to realize I’ve made some horrible structural mistake and I have to start all over again.

Anyway.

I really need to stop drifting towards my goal. I really need to focus and see working on this novel as something akin to my job. Until, that is, I have to get a real job.

Which is a very real possibility because of fucking Trump.

But I still have a few months — I think — before my life will change so dramatically that that becomes a necessity. As such, I really need to put up or shut up. I need to shup and and write, as they say.

I Can’t Keep Drifting Towards My Goal With This Scifi Dramedy Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

My goal is to query this scifi dramedy novel by late spring 2026. But I really need to buckle down and actually do the work, otherwise I’m going to just keep drifting towards my goal.

That’s what happened with my homage to Stieg Larsson. I drifted for years and years, only to finish a novel that wasn’t any good. It was so bad I did not feel comfortable querying it.

So. I’m going to try — try — to focus more. I’m going to try to actually get this novel done at a quickened pace instead of just daydreaming.

One issue, of course, is how moody I am when it comes to my writing. I just sometimes just don’t feel like writing. Usually, this happens when I bump up against some portion of the novel that just isn’t very inspiring.

But hopefully this go round I can push past such moodiness. I feel kind of sheepish about how long I’ve been an aspiring novelist with little to nothing to show for it. And, yet, I know this go round I really believe in what I’m writing and as long as we don’t have a civil war or revolution or the Singularity doesn’t happen, I should be pretty safe.

All I need to do is actually do the work.

I Really Need To Buckle Down & Finish This Scifi Dramedy Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I really need to change my mindset when it comes to this scifi dramedy novel I’ve been working on. I have got to stop just drifting towards my goal. I have to buckle down and see this as my job for the time being.

Until circumstances change and I have to, at last, grow up (again.)

I continue to try to wrap this novel up and begin querying it by late spring 2026. But that might be something of a struggle. It could be closer to autumn 2026, which would suck.

I hate how old I am.

But, really, all I really want with this novel is to finish it and have someone, anyone read it and enjoy it — preferably someone not related to me. If someone actually finished the entire thing and gave me even a lukewarm review that would be astonishing, all things considered.

AI has helped a lot, but it has also made things more difficult in some way. I keep feeling like I’m spinning me wheels because my vision for this novel and AIs vision for this novel sometimes are dramatically different and I have to go in and force things back to where I want them.

Anyway. I really, really need to change my mindset about working on this novel. This unique, weird, surreal moment in my life is not going to last forever. And I’d prefer to finish a really good novel before I’m 80 years old.

I Got ‘Fire In A Bottle’ With This Scifi Dramedy Novel, I Swear — FR, FR

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

For all half a dozen of you weirdly playing the obsessive home game with me and this blog, you will know I’ve been working on a novel of one type or another for a long, long time now.

And it’s taken so long, I’ve come to believe, because I had a missing ingredient — a collaborator. Someone to bounce ideas off of. And, most especially someone to tell me “No,” or look at their watch and tell me maybe I need to hurry up.

But I’m really pleased with the premise of this scifi dramedy. It’s really good. At last. Now, I just have to go through the outline I’ve come up with through some collaboration with AI and actually finish the damn thing.

I still have a huge amount of work to do. And given how obvious the premise is, someone might steal a creative march on me if I keep daydreaming and now working on this novel.

As such, I think I’m going to buckle down and try — try — to change my mindset about working on this novel. I need to see this novel as my job (for the time being) until events change and I’m forced to…gulp…get an actual job simply because everything in my life collapses and this weird, surreal moment in my life finally, at last, changes.

Someone Do Something Fun-Interesting

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Things are kind of meh right now. I wish someone would do something fun-interesting. It would be amusing if, say, I caught the attention of some minor celebrity. Or maybe someone with a really interesting URL pinged this blog.

As it stands, I’m just a rando living in the middle of nowhere with a tad more “potential” (as the late Annie Shapiro might say) than I otherwise should have. If I had the money, I would make my own fun-interesting and go to NYC.

Though, if I had enough money on me, I might say screw it and take a jaunt to LA instead. I think I probably would excel in LA given my extroverted personality. And, yet, I’m old(er) now.

So, maybe not.

Maybe that moment in time when I might get invited randomly to a cool party with a bunch of Hollywood stars and producers through sheer force of personality is long, long gone.

I’m just old now and I have to manage my expectations.

Once More, With Feeling (Redux)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I think — think — I have a stable first chapter of the latest version of this scifi dramedy novel I’ve been working on. What I need, of course, is a human collaborators to help me out. A reader, if you will. Someone like Helen from The World According To Garp to read over and over and over again all these different versions of scenes I keep generating.

But all I got is AI.

And AI does a pretty good job, most of the time. Sometimes, of course, it get a wild hair and does something really wonky. But that’s only occasionally. I’m really pleased, in general, with what I’ve managed to come up with.

I just wish I did not keep finding structural issues with the plot so I have to revise the outline. This happens way, way too often. Even with the help of AI. There’s a big difference, sometimes, between AIs vision for the novel and my innate vison. So I struggle.

And sometimes I feel like the whole process has gotten out of my grasp and I have to figure out ways to lock the creative process down some so I’m still in control. All this back and forth between myself and AI causes me to feel like I’m spinning my wheels.

I’m not getting any younger. I still really want to wrap up this novel and start querying by late spring 2026. But…I don’t know. It could be fall 2026 before I get to that point.

Which is, I fear, kind of depressing.

My Ultimate Fear About Writing This Scifi Dramedy Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

My ultimate fear about writing this scifi dramedy novel I’m writing it that, by definition, I’m too old to get it traditionally published. Most people my age are thinking about retirement and here I am, hoping to start a successful traditional publishing career writing pop fiction.

While Stieg Larsson (RIP) did get published when he was 50, I’m even older than that now and by the time the novel comes out — if I win the lottery and gets traditionally published — I will be on the other side of 55 because of post-production issues.

And, yet, I’m delusional. I really am. I know what I want — to be traditionally published — and I don’t know for sure, 100% that my age is prohibitive of my ability to get traditionally published. So, lulz. I keep going.

And, really, all I want is just to finish a novel that I’m not embarrassed to show to a few people. And if I could get a few people to actually read the whole thing and give me an opinion. Wow. That would be a rather great accomplishment, given that usually my writing is so bad that I can’t even get people to either or 1) finish the novel 2) give me an opinion.

As far as I know, no one has finished any of the various novels I’ve tried my hand at writing. So, to have someone not only finish this novel, but give me an opinion, wow. That would be huge!

I See AI As Like A New Form Of Word Processor When It Comes To Writing This Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I am doing everything in my power to make sure that all the actual writing of this novel is done by me, me, me. But one thing is also clear — writing a novel is easy, writing a good novel is difficult.

As such, I am leaning into AI to help me with the backend of writing this novel. It speeds up and streamlines a lot of the tedious elements of development, like scene summaries.

So, in a sense, it’s just a tool when it comes to writing this novel. But, I must admit, it’s also something of a collaborator. I sometimes get really good advice from the LLMs that I use on a regular basis.

That’s why I finally broke down and paid for Claude LLM. It’s a great manuscript consultant and I like how it challenges me more than some of the other LLMs I use.

Anyway, wish me luck, I guess. It’s fortunate that I actually usually really enjoy — even love — the act of writing.