Now for Q&A time, brought to me by the one person that answered my call for comments, Mr. Ryan K. Lindsay. So here we go!

Where do you write? And when?

I write almost exclusively at my computer, though my iPhone has gotten a bit of a workout as a rudimentary writing pad when something comes to me. As for time, I usually write at night, once everyone has gone to sleep and it’s quiet. I tend to get distracted by the smallest of things, so it helps me focus in.

What helps you write? Music, darkness, virgin’s thighs,etc.

My most frequent companion when writing is a pair of earplugs. When all I see on the screen is words and all I can hear is my fingers hitting the keys, I can really get into the zone and pound out a ton of work. Of course, being a writer, especially being a writer of hardboiled crime, a stiff drink makes its way to my desk every once in a while. I’ll sometimes mix up a whiskey sour or a gimlet to put myself in the right mood to let my mind wander and feel out my story. I don’t write drunk, ever, but a drink sometimes provides nice lubrication for the brain

What websites do you most frequent?

When I’m not writing…well, hell, even when I am supposed to be writing, I spend a lot of time on Twitter, paging through my Google Reader news items, and I waste way more time than I should on Wikipedia doing research (it starts off as research, anyway…but usually ends in me looking up astonishingly obscure facts about things not even remotely related to what I’m writing)

Do you eat/drink when you write?

I usually have some sort of drink with me when I’m writing, but I usually don’t eat anything while I write, it’s too distracting.

When you write do you edit in your head, or just dump it out and you’ll heavily edit later on?

It’s a combination of both. I go back and edit details every once in a while, but I try not to. I try to keep my momentum going, because I feel when I have to spend my time fixing spelling errors, I just lose it. I guess I’d say that I write to write, not edit. Editing can be done later.

Please list a top five/ten of some of your favourite things, it’s the ultimate way to get to know someone, High Fidelity style!

You know, I’m really not good with lists. Never have been. Sorry. My favorite movie of all time is Chinatown if that makes it more info-y

Alright, and here’s (maybe) what you all have been waiting for. Here is a little sample of the novel I’ve been working on. Be warned, it’s the first draft of it, completely unedited. Things will be changed, hopefully it’ll get better. Enjoy.

Tina Hampton writhed in bed, the four aspirin she’d taken didn’t do anything to dull the pain, and she was fairly sure that she wasn’t going to stop hurting for a while. She hadn’t gotten to bed until seven in the morning, stripping out of all her dusty clothes and collapsing onto the matress, exhausted at what she did, her hands aching and bruised at the knuckles. Tina was sure that she wasn’t going to wake up until well into the night, and if it weren’t for Mrs. Thompson’s call at around one in the afternoon, she would have. Mrs. Thompson asked whether or not she’d heard from Sarah that morning. Of course, Tina hadn’t, so she told Mrs. Thompson the truth and assured her that Sarah’s phone probably just died or she was hungover, or a litany of other excuses. All of them were within the realm of possibility, right?
Tina looked at her cell phone by her bedside. Three in the afternoon. The pain wasn’t going to get any better just laying in bed, and maybe if she did something with her day she’d forget about it. She hoped she’d be able to forget about the whole thing, but there was no way she’d be able to just give something like that up. She rolled over and got out of her bed, and she didn’t get more than a few feet across the carpet of her bedroom before she felt her stomach throb more intensely than she’d ever felt before, and she had no choice but to dive toward the toilet as fast as possible, nausea getting the best of her as she threw up violently sitting on the floor of her bathroom. If she’d actually been able to stomach food in the past twelve hours, it would have been worse, so Tina was thankful for the one positive to come out of this situation. After she finished vomiting, she rested her head against the tile wall of her bathroom. She didn’t want to confront reality about her situation, but her body was forcing her to. Fighting against whatever her body was saying, Tina got up from the floor, wiped down her face and chest with a warm washcloth, and stared at her face in the mirror. After everything, at least she still had her looks…nothing she did could take that away. No matter what path her life would go down beyond this point, she was still a knockout. Maybe not as much of a knockout as Sarah, but she was pretty sure she’d be able to deal with that.

Also, I think I’m going to stop with these daily updates. I think the tedium of them is setting in as I’m really getting into the meat of my story. I already know the characters, the plot’s laid out in front of me, so there’s really nothing new to report.

Keep an eye on this site for other stuff and major announcements about my novel’s progress, but the day-to-day minutiae is out of here unless someone demands otherwise.

I might start doing more reviews and stuff soon, but simultaneously starting a new job and moving is going to put the brakes on that stuff for a little bit.

UPDATE:

I realized how stupid it was to say I didn’t feel like writing. Days like this are the days where I need to man up and just power through the thing. So that’s what I did, and ended up at about 1,500 for the day, and it only took me about a half an hour to put down those extra 800 words.

Here’s my challenge: I love traffic on this site, and I really love comments from the people who read it. You guys (and girls, though I don’t think I’ve had a female commenter that I can tell so far) have kept me motivated and dropped pearls of wisdom onto my blog more than once. So, because I like comments, and because some of you have an interest in seeing what I’m working on, each time a unique person comments on this post within the next five days, I will post 100 words from the novel I’m currently writing. So, the more interest I see happening about this book, the more I’ll tip my hand. It’s that simple. 5 comments means I’ll be posting 500 words next Thursday, July 30. There’s no upper limit to what I’ll post, so bring your friends along to my site to leave comments if you want to see more. If I get enough, hell, I might put up everything I’ve written to this point (though I doubt I’ll get 160+ comments, but one can dream).

So at this point, you’re wondering what to put in the comments you’re sending me. Well, I want to make those comments work for my readers as well. In the comment, ask me a question about myself, my writing, who I am, whatever. Pretty much anything that gets asked I’ll answer (except for you, yes, you out there wanting to ask me the sicko questions. I won’t be answering those…on this blog at least). No question is too mundane or too esoteric, so go for it. This is sort of a double whammy for all of you out there, since you get to know me a little bit better, plus you get to see what I’m working on.

And because I didn’t go to pitchman school for six years for nothing, wait, there’s more!

If I get ten comments on this post, I’ll publish a never before seen short story on this blog as well.

Alright, everyone, let’s get the comments rolling!

It’s a short update today on the word count, due to the exciting news I’m posting about previewing my novel in its raw, first draft state. Take a look above this post for the details.

I’m going to try to overwrite a little bit in the next few days, an extra 500 words or so, to make up for these shortcomings. All things considered, seeing that I’m about to start a new job, about to move, and dealing with some familial issues, I’d say the pace I’ve been chugging along at has been sort of admirable. Still, this thing doesn’t mean anything to anyone until I write “The End” at the bottom of the last page. So, the quest continues.

And, in completely unrelated news, I got a job today! I’m excited, though it’s not what I would call an ideal position (or even a career for that matter) but it’s something that will pay the bills. It’s going to be tough as hell to save money to get to New York in a year, but I’ll manage. I guess some money is better than none at all.