The Inspiration Diaries: TW Brown & the Zombie Horde
Throughout the on-season, we’ll be asking Wrimos to share one inspiration-filled day, tracking every plot bunny, heart-thrill, and eye-opener for 24 hours that will help them to set the tone for their NaNoWriMo novels.
Read on for TW Brown’s very apropos post-Halloween Inspiration Diary!
Fall can be my slow season (until November, of course). The upside is that I get caught up on a lot of things that have piled up over the summer. This last summer was busier than usual as my name had been heavily circulated around the small-press and indie scene as an editor.
I’ve been officially diagnosed with OCD and am one of those types who has to schedule his days out meticulously. Of course, today of all days, I overslept.
6:51 a.m. I am usually up and out of bed by 6:15; Aoife, my Border Collie, normally crawls up from where she has curled up against my legs and licks my face if I sleep in. I guess the game last night wore her out, too.
So now I am behind… and today is the day I am supposed to wow the NaNoWriMo folks with a snapshot of my daily routine. Great.
7:10 a.m. Doggie business is handled and Aoife is happily snacking on her breakfast with blueberry yogurt mixed in as I sip my coffee from my newly arrived Camp NaNoWriMo mug.
Maybe a little music will help as I bring up my soon-to-be released short and comb over it for final edits. Future Sound of London ought to do nicely.
8:20 a.m. Stopped for a moment to clear my head. This is a good time to take a reading break. I am fortunate to have been asked to provide a cover blurb for an upcoming horror anthology, Tales from the Mist. They were kind enough to provide me with an advance copy so that I could read it in plenty of time prior to release.
I still can’t get over the feeling of “Why me?” when people ask for these things. Having just left my day job seven months ago to make writing my full-time gig, I still feel a bit overwhelmed.
10:36 a.m. Just watched the Dead Island: Riptide trailer, and then the one for the original Dead Island game. Somebody was very clever and reworked the original trailer in reverse. Then it was time to watch the Walking Dead trailer… again.
I am resuming work on my fifth book in the DEAD series today and need to start seeping my mind in all things zombie. I will be writing at noon, so I’ll squeeze in one last session of editing, and then I have to go to my “dark” place.
12:00 p.m. Dawn of the Dead soundtrack by Goblin? Check. House totally free of distractions? Check.
I know going into this session where I think the story is headed. I know that my fanbase for this story has high expectations. I also know that I have to keep that out of my head as I write so it does not cause me to force my writing. The song is “L’alba Dei Morti Viventi”. It feels suitably dark for what I am about to write.
12:54 p.m. 1,000 words. That signals my first break. I almost always stop at the thousand word marker even if it is in the middle of a sentence. This keeps my brain churning on the story line. To date, I have never suffered writer’s block using this method; knock on wood.
1:31 p.m. Must not turn on the Xbox, must not turn on the Xbox, must not turn on the Xbox…
2:47 p.m. Time to put in another writing session. This should take me to the end of chapter nine in Dead: Siege & Survival. That will put me at the halfway point. A little Tangerine Dream to set the mood, and it is back to my Dead world.
4:10 p.m. Another 1,000+. I was so close to the end of the chapter that I allowed myself to finish. 56,099 words is where I stand at the end of chapter nine. That marks the halfway point.
My wife came up behind me at one point and hugged me, resting her head on my shoulder. I kept typing. Finally, I stopped and then asked her if she would like to hear what I wrote during that moment. I read it out loud.
Her response? “You are very icky.” What a superb compliment.
4:44 p.m. So far, with the day I have put in, I feel pretty good. I will get in some more editing this evening, but I have earned some time with ESPN. I just know that the first thing I hear will be about my Seahawks.
Probably not the best thing for my hypertension/high blood pressure, but I have a book to retreat to if I get too worked up.
7:30 p.m. Listening to Holst’s Planets suite and editing my short story about these spider-like aliens. Have you ever been simply walking along minding your own business and felt that sensation of a spider web strand on your face? What if these aliens placed these webs to make telepathic contact?
9:00p.m. Time to watch Face Off. As a lover of all things horror (except that whole “torture porn” thing; I just find that pointless) it is amazing to watch these special-effects make-up artists’ creative processes.
It is always the most talented of the lot that thinks what they’ve done is “just not good enough.” And, of course, when the judges comment on how wonderful their work is, they can’t believe it. Are all creative types crazy? (My wife looks at me and nods.)
TW Brown is the author of the Zomblog series and the Dead series. He is deeply immersed in pursuing his dream of being a “full-time” writer while trying to balance the duties of husband, father, friend, and border collie owner. He keeps busy reading and editing the submissions for May December Publications. He has had short stories published by Pill Hill Press, Living Dead Press, and others.
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