27 August 2008

An Ultimatum For Myself

Some of you out there know the tangled history that is my writing career. I started in July 2001. By Spring 2004, I had completed my first novel, Legacies. It was 142,000 words long and it was a steaming pile of shit. In the years since, I have worked and reworked Legacies. I wrote Legacies Draft Two, completing two of the five intended books. Then I scrapped that project, started Draft Three, which was again restarted and renamed We The Dreamers. (Trust me, that's the brief explanation.)

Anywho, the drastic changes I've made have been for the best. Still, I've always felt bad about what happened to Legacies Draft Two. In particular, I remember my friend Jeff and how much he enjoyed the reading the whole thing during our calculus class. Though the writing of that book is pretty terrible, the story itself is a solid adventure/Bildungsroman.

So, I have decided to resurrect Legacies. The finished product will be a five book fantasy-adventure series, centered around the protagonist Alexander A'Zura.

Here's the ultimatum part: I want to finish book one of Legacies by September 15. By 1:30 PM to be exact. At that date and time I have the first meeting with my adviser for my independent study. If I have the first draft of the book completed, we can then spend the semester working through it.

This feat should not be as difficult as it might sound. The major work--creating the story--is already done for me. I've already re-read Legacies draft two and taken out all the key elements. So long as my determination does not falter, I can do this.

Of course, I must also create the perfect writing playlist. I'm thinking an eclectic mix. Tiesto and Underworld, Jimmy Eat World and Disturbed, some Dragonforce alongside some happy hardcore. I'll throw some eurobeat in there for fun.

18 days. Ready. Go.

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