Is Everyone Here Make Believe?
October 24th, 2008 § 1 Comment
Usually, I title my updates about my writing expeditions “The Writing Writer”, but I got kind of tired of that, so I just named it this. Hooray song lyrics!!
Anyway, I’ve sadly dropped my last project. I had 13 pages finished and I, once again, lost the motivation to continue writing it. Maybe one day I’ll start it up again and finish it and it will sell dozens…or hundreds…or HOPEFULLY hundreds of thousands or POSSIBLY millions.
On a happier note though, I started a new project. This time, I’m going to handwrite it because I feel like handwriting it makes you enjoy it more. It takes more effort to actually write something than to type it.
So raise your glass and toast to new beginnings because I feel good about this one.
Cody
p.s. If anyone has any ideas or would like to read it, email me.
cjkloock@vwc.edu
In A Car Underwater
October 23rd, 2008 § 1 Comment
So the title of this post is “In A Car Underwater” for several reasons.
Reason Number 1: It’s become one of my favorite songs.
Reason Number 2: I’ve narrowly avoided death while in my motor vehicle about four times in the past two days.
Reason Number 3: I’m starting to feel like I’m trapped and that I’m going to drown because of mistakes that I’ve made and that I feel like I’m stuck in Norfolk.
Let’s start with Number 3. So lately, I’m starting to have my fear of failing manifest. Failing is probably one of those things that everyone is afraid of doing. It’s the universal phobia. No one wants to believe that what they want to do with their life could be impossible. No one ever wants to hear that something is impossible because that’s what dreams are. Dreams are the impossible. If they were anything else, they wouldn’t be dreams.
What would’ve happened if people told Franklin Delano Roosevelt that just because he was in a wheelchair that he could no longer lead this country? More importantly, what would’ve happened if he believed them?
The Man, will always be there trying to keep us down. And…I just want to leave Norfolk…
On to Number 2. What is it with people driving on Newtown Road? All I’m ever trying to do is either A) Go Home or B) Go Back to School. Those are my only two options on that road, otherwise, I would completely avoid it 100% of the time. I’ve almost been killed by a Pepsi truck [even though I love Pepsi...I'm very disappointed in your company's drivers]. I was almost killed by someone driving down the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD [honestly...how hard is it to realize we're not in England?]. And then someone ran a redlight while I was trying to go through my green light [there was really no excuse for this...it mostly just pissed me off so I flashed my high beams in their face].
Lastly, Number 1. It’s just a pretty good song. Nothing else really to say about it.
Well basically…here is what I know about my life:
- I’m 18.
- I’m a man.
- I’m straight.
- I go to college [although it still feels like high school to me].
- I’m a writer.
- I have a few people that matter to me.
That’s pretty much my life…right there. That’s all I’m sure of, that’s all I know. More to come later…
Cody
Update on the Creative Process
June 29th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
I decided to cancel my last project, or at least put it on pause for a while. So…now I started a new one. And it’s going to be grand. Just an update.
The Writing Writer, Revisited
June 9th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
So this will be the first of many posts off of my new laptop. Something feels great about writing from something that you can walk around with. Just now I’m writing at my kitchen table, but soon I could be writing from my den, from my bedroom or even from the comfort of the bathroom(although that would be odd…so I won’t do that….)
ANYWAY
I’ve started writing my novel again…sort of. I’ve just recently added a whole paragraph and a few lines of dialogue. My entire novel is practically mindless verbage back and forth between the characters. I’ve only revealed maybe .05% of the plot by now and I’m roughly seven pages in to it. By now someone should have died or received terrible news or contracted cancer at least, but sadly, in my novel, all they have done is talked. There is actually an entire page of just speaking.
Now I just realized that by telling you the basic makeup of my novel it’s probably turning you off of wanting to read it, but I hope that’s not true. It’s not a bad story, but I’m biased. I have some epic ideas for how I want the main character to mature and grow and such, and I also have some ideas for characters I want him to meet.
But pretty much, the main character is a lot like me. The people in his life are either previous versions of me, or they are people I have met on my adventures. I have, of course, changed names to protect the identities of the innocent, but I’m sure those people will realize it’s them I’m writing about and then have a problem with it. But of course, it won’t be them, it will be Character X or Y. (By the way: I am now seated in my living room.)
I’ve spent a lot of time on the seven pages I’ve produced, I’ve rewritten them about three times because I feel like they aren’t good enough for public consumption yet, and I’m probably right, but oh well.
Have a good evening America, I’m off to write some more, because that is what I do.
Cody
Side Note: If anyone wants to read what I have, ask me at cody.kloock@yahoo.com , suggestions are also welcome.
Writing For a Living
May 27th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Sorry for the absence of a post yesterday, too much to do and too little to talk about. I practically cleaned my room and my house for six hours. I did a lot of…cleaning out my closet so to speak, physically and metaphorically, but that post can wait til another day or possibly never.
ANYWAY
Today during Journalism, we had to draw editorial cartoons (mine is pretty good in my opinion and I am terrible at art) for class. I however, had to rewrite a story about something I knew practically nothing about. So I studied someone elses previous draft of the story, interviews I did, and quotes from the teacher of the class, and twenty minutes later I had a 300+ word story about AVID. I was on deadline, and that’s just what I do. I work well under pressure. I had the story typed, edited, approved, and in the newspaper design all within an hour of Newspaper Studyblock’s start.
So what I came to realize after this slight “emergency” was that I really don’t think I want to be a journalist. I mean, I love the idea of creating something that hundreds/thousands of people read and react to, but I just don’t think I can deal with all the bureaucratic crap that goes in to the typical newspaper. I really enjoy the atmosphere of deadlines though: the air is supersaturated with energy, mostly negative, as tempers flare and people are constantly bickering over completely unimportant things. The panic is stimulating and I love the feel of getting everything done, PDF’ing the paper, and submitting it to print. It’s such a fantastic feeling..but I don’t know if I can handle that EVERYDAY of my life. That’s too much stress because technically, everyday is a deadline day, and that is just too much supersaturation.
I could probably be a novelist though, granted anyone can be a novelist. You just have to have a laptop, an idea, and a need to sit in Starbuck’s while you work so you LOOK like a writer. I mean, if I had a laptop, I’d be typing up this post at the Starbuck’s in Barnes and Nobles on Virginia Beach Blvd sipping a delicious beverage; but I don’t, so I’m not.
Speaking of novels, I’m on page seven of the one I’m writing. Now I know what you’re thinking “Oh wow. Page seven. That takes all of three minutes to read.” right? So all I have to say to you is, “Suck it.” This summer I’ll be writing everyday and I swear I will finish my novel by the time I finish Freshman year at Virginia Wesleyan. Anyway, for those who have read it, I changed the beginning to something else that I hope you will enjoy. End speaking.
So now I’m thinking a degree in History would probably do me better because I think I could probably teach history for a living. I love history, I love learning history, and I love showing people how much history knowledge I have. Yep, I’m THAT guy.
Anyway, have a good evening America. I’m off to practice my solo project which I’ll be presenting tomorrow, and needless to say, I’m nervous.
Sleep well.
Cody.
The Writing Writer
February 10th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
I hadn’t written a single thing in about 4 months. The last thing I wrote was a story I started with Tricia, where I wrote a chapter and she wrote a chapter and it was going well. But the interest in that fizzled I guess. But Friday night, I felt inspired. I laid down on my futon, turned on Donnie Darko, and just stared at the blank paper in front of me. I stared at it for over an hour before writing a single friggin word. I just stared and stared, and then it just came to me. I wrote a poem, which the people who’ve read it, have classified as “sophisticated”, “deep”, and “way over their head”.
I really didn’t think it was that good. I apparently have a knack for writing, according to a certain fantastic AP Government teacher and contrary to a certain AP English 12 teacher and. Maybe I could actually write for a living. Much like a young Ernest Hemingway, except I won’t be a drunk, fight in a war, or commit suicide under the weight of my genius.
I don’t know where my new found inspiration has come from. Someone once said that “Inspiration comes in times of great darkness” and I’m assuming they were smart, because they were right.
