Cuyler Callahan's Official Home Page

So November is coming up soon. I participated in NaNoWriMo in the years of 2006 and 2007. I pretty much fell of the wagon when it came to writing for 08 and never started to pick it up again until October 09. Even then, I can not say my writing has been very focused. I finally finished the Soldier Qualification Serials, but those were not professional and very focused work. Sporadic at best.

I really need to focus on writing a book. I don’t need to write a best seller, I don’t need to write something that is even publishable; though I am going to try. I just need to focus on writing and completing a book. So I will enter NaNoWriMo for the third time this year of 2010. I will write the 50,000 words in 30 days.

What will my story be about. Not sure yet, but it will be fantasy. I need to write up an outline, some characters, and develop a world. Nothing to complicated, but enough that I can put together a believable story in a month. Once this story is complete, I will spend December editing it to a professional standard, then I will either send it off to an agent, or try to sell it myself on this website and the internet.

If any of you are interested in getting some motivation to write, then NaNoWriMo is the month to do it. Thousands of people around the world write to win the NaNoWriMo contest. You win by completing the 50,000 words before the end of the month. If you are interested, check out their site at www.nanowrimo.org

They give you your own little section on their site to post up your word count, tell other WriMo contestants about yourself, and your book. It’s a pretty cool site. It is a fun go. Really, when you think about it, you are only writing 1667 words a day. That is very achievable, especially when at the beginning you are excited and write like 3000 a day. You are then left with a little breathing room from then on.

Check it out at nanowrimo.org

This is a writing piece from a free flow writing session I had a little bit ago. It’s the first one I did when I was just starting to get back into writing. I found it and realized I forgot to post it on the site. I have organized it a bit so its easier for you to all read it. You may find it interesting, you may not. It helped me learn more about myself however, and that is the main purpose of it. This is more for me then for anybody else. But it’s here for people to read if they so feel inclined.

Also if you are afraid to learn things about me that might disrupt your perception of who I am, then don’t read this. My free flow writing sessions are basically putting myself on paper, and sometimes deeper, dark, secrets can end up on the page. If this is something you don’t want to know, don’t read. If your willing to read and accept who I am, then continue on.

Enjoy,

Cuyler Callahan

*******************************************************************************************

Free Flow Writing Session November 17, 2009

Holy shit I haven’t written a story in almost two years . Actually if I think about it it has been two years. 2007 was when I wrote a story last. Even now as I write I can tell that my writing fingers have slowed down, I spell words wrong cause I am trying to type faster then my hands are used to. I used to be able to type so fast.

I also found my memory has gone to shit. I don’t know if it is the military that kinda turned my thinking into mush, or if it’s all the drinking, or maybe as you get older you just start to not be able to think properly. Sometimes I think I’m almost high feeling, its weird. Maybe the weed I did when I was in the city wrecked my mind, but I didn’t do enough of that stuff to effect my brain.

No what I think it is, is my brain has gone rusty. I haven’t thought about anything new really for a very long time. I don’t even like video games much anymore. My mom said that is a good thing, but video games kept me thinking . When I was back in writing up to about 2007 I used to play video games and write and read. That’s all I did. And at that time I was also working out, and reading up on working out. At this time I was very intelligent. I remembered things, I was on the ball I was working my brain at 100 kms an hour.

Now how am I? Even now i am trying to remember what I was trying to write about. Oh yes, now I don’t do anything special when it comes to thinking. Every weekend I try to go out and find a girl to fuck, but usually I don’t do it, mostly because of old moral habits which I’m glad for most of the time. I find myself out more looking for a good girl to date. Which is a good thing. But that’s what I do on the weekend I go out drink, and look for girls, and when I don’t have money, I stay in, watch movies, and try to work on my internet business.

I’m not going to say I don’t write, cause for my internet business I need to write good content for my website, but the content I write is quick and not as good quality as it should be. Good quality is what I used to write, now for my business it’s mostly content made to get out there and just get some clicks to my site. This isn’t what I need. I need good quality work, and post that on the internet cause if people are really interested in my articles cause of the quality, I’ll probably get more clicks as a result vs, if I write a shitty article and post it out there.

Good articles will get referenced too, people will point their friends to it to read it, people will book mark it, and share it with others. If it’s shitty people will probably not even read the whole thing and leave before they get to a link to click to. And they won’t share it, it’ll be seen by a few and forgotten. That’s why I need to write good quality work. So getting back into writing and writing good quality work is what will one day get me somewhere.

So this will benefit me greatly to start writing a lot again. I also need to start reading lots of more interesting information, I need to start getting back into writing stories, cause I haven’t actually worked on a story in a long time. I haven’t created a character and explored that character . I haven’t explored a world I created. I also haven’t read any books in a long time, which I should do.

So whats the plan? What is it that I need to do to start getting my brain flowing? What can I do to grease up the axles and erode the rust away, and get everything like chrome again? How can I get out of the daily grind of the military, without really getting out. Cause i like the military, but I need to get my mind out of it’s hold, I need to do what I need to do, but I can’t be like some machine, that just does what it’s operator tells it too. This is the problem I’m in, I’ve been in a rut, following the same wagon ruts that every other soldier in front of me has followed, and I’m going to the same place as them. It’s not a bad place, but I need to make some stops on the way, and change course a bit.

I think I might stay in the military a long time, but I need to get my brain flowing. I find my brain gets out of the trap the most when I’m on courses. Courses make me think, like in CETT when I had to do math. I really started to think, and the math I actually found it enjoyable. What the fuck? Math enjoyable? Where did that come from? No seriously all the way from elementary when I started math to when I quite highschool I hated math. I did with a passion. I only have grade11 math and it’s the low math. And it’s super easy. I took it cause I did not want to take the middle math, and I didn’t want to do grade 12 math.

Now that I think of it, grade 12 math was what I should have got, but I didn’t and it’s to late now. But the military will help me out and get me to pass my courses, but when I was doing the math I actually enjoyed it. And the reason is I could feel the cob webs falling apart, and the rust breaking with a boom and the axles starting to spin, then some grease got in there and they went faster and faster, and pretty soon I was rambling off math equations and the answers like a pro.

I passed my math test with a 95%. That is one question wrong out of 20. and that question was worded strangely, cause after they went over it I knew how to do that stuff easily. So you see I just need to start reading again. I need to start learning stuff’, and writing stuff, and just continuing on with that until my mind is a whirl wind of possibilities and I start writing pro stuff, and people start getting interested, and publishers get interested, and I get published and I just continue on like that.

Well I think my free flow writing session is come to an end, not even sure how I know that, I just feel like it should come to an end. Well I think this helped out a lot. Goodbye.

******************************************************************************************

Well that is the end of that free flow session.

I hope you enjoy it, and I apologize if you learned things about me you did not want to learn. But that is a free flow session, putting myself onto the paper. You learned about some of the deeper parts of me. Things that are hidden to many people but those I really feel comfortable sharing with.

Cheers,

Cuyler

I was looking through my writing files and stumbled across a file called “Timed Writing”. It consisted of writing that resulted from an exercise that author Holly Lisle recommends. She says that a great way to get back your writing muse, and let you explore yourself to find out whats wrong with you, is to complete an exercise she calls “Timed Writing”.

What you do is set an alarm for 10 minutes. Then when the timer starts, write down whatever enters your mind. Don’t stop writing to correct, or to think. You must just let your fingers fly. You can write down random words if you need to that don’t make any sense. The purpose is for your fingers to continue moving.

I found that usually your first couple sentences don’t make sense, then you start piecing stuff together, and pretty soon you stumble onto some good topics that your mind has been wrestling with. I love this exercise. It is a great way to deal with your writers block, and any other problems that a person might be experiencing. It allows you to explore yourself and see what is bothering you. It’ll help you answer questions you might have.

That is what it has done for me.

These writings were from 2006. Now of course, some of these writings will consist of things that are for my eyes only because they do tend to go deep into your soul and rip out things that need to be brought to the surface.

But what I did tonight was go through one of my writings and put it into a poem so you can see the main topic that I discussed in this piece of writing.

Enjoy,

Cuyler Callahan

*******************************************************************************************

Bad Words Good Bye

I must find it,
the key to my musing
A longer time spit?
My break is abusing

Words dead ride the page.
Here a word, there a word.
A pig eating a bush of sage,
my words describe a turd

More words I must write
I must meet my deadline
My words need be tight,
or no matter the shrine

A book I must love sweet,
for then I can see true,
a horn announce a treat,
sound me among the few

To this task I must complete,
I need to begin my career
Needs be I discard my heats,
to that end I must now adhere

My fingers must be slick
An oiled piston like fly
Write that piece to click,
my bad words good bye

I want to share a few music videos I found on youtube. These are from a few various fantasy metal bands that I like listening to. I like the music. I can feel a strong sense of culture in fantasy metal bands. A great deal of fantasy metal bands come from Europe, and often the sound of their music will reflect where they come from in Europe, because each part of Europe has it’s own lore that the bands will call off of for musical inspiration. I notice that a lot of fantasy metal bands in Europe originate in Finland.

Anyways to the bands:

This is a band I recently ran into called KORPIKLAANI. I love their song called Vodka.

Another band I found is called FINNTROLL. Here is a video to a song of theirs I like called Trollhammer.

The Ex Singer of the fantasy band Nightwish, Tarja Turunen, now does her own music. I like her singing and always find it to be beautiful music. I like the cover she did of the song “I walk Alone”

Magica is another good fantasy metal band. Here is the video to their song “All Waters Have The Color Of Drowning”

Sirenia is a band I’ve been listening to for a while. I like their song “The Other Side”

I enjoy UNSUN and their song “Whispers” is a favorite.

Here is Moonsorrow with their song Pakanajuhla. Don’t ask me to tell you what it means.

MOONSPELL – Everything Invaded. It’s a pretty dark music.

Ensiferum – Hero in a Dream. These guys tell a story in this song. It’s hard to understand them, but we are lucky the music video gives the lyrics.

Well that is just some of the music I like listening to for inspiration when it comes to the fantasy genre. Some other bands include: Nightwish, Sonata Artica, Rhapsody, Blind Guardian, Apocolyptica, Dragon Force.

Sometimes it’s good to listen to music when you write. Other times you need silence. Music can affect your writing style. So if you need a certain mood for a scene, put on a song that reflects the mood. If you need a mood you can’t find a song for, it’s best not to put a song on.

For example: Don’t put a happy song on for a sad mood. KORPIKLAANI – Vodka is not going to go good with a death scene. It would go good however with a scene of a bunch of drunken peasants partying it up. I could see it going good with vikings.

KORPIKLAANI – Vodka is my most favorite fantasy metal song right now.