Minnesota Writer

April is over. I didn’t accomplish everything I set out to do in this last month (the lack of 15 blog posts should make that more than obvious), but I do still find myself beaming with happiness.

Let’s get the things I didn’t accomplish out of the way real quick. I didn’t blog fifteen times. I didn’t cook five new recipes. And I didn’t workout every day in the month.

But that’s okay (I’ll be coming back to these things in later posts).

One of the most important things I did do was finished the first round of edits on my novel. I can’t tell you how good it feels. There is a lot of work to be done, but as of Monday, I started writing the 2nd draft. It’s the first time working on a second draft (of a novel) and it is very, very exciting.

Getting to go through and put everything in order is lots of fun. Making it all make sense and connect where it should. It’s wonderful.

More on the 2nd draft process to come in some later posts.

My other great success from the month of April has been the Keto diet. Initially I started this diet to challenge myself, but in the end it turned out to be a whole lot more.

At roughly six feet tall and 203lbs I didn’t feel that I needed to lose a lot of weight. I was pudgy and soft, but not fat. The fact that I went from 203lbs down to 190lbs in 29 days with minimal exercise is quite wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but it is on the less exciting end of this diet for me.

What is really wonderful is the way that I feel.

After starting the diet I hadn’t really been paying attention to the changes in my body until I stumbled upon this article. Give it a read. It’s not about Keto, but it is about the author’s life after cutting sugar from his diet.

In his article, Rick Foster talks about all the benefits of cutting sugar from his diet. As I read through his piece I began to see how I was experiencing many of the same things in my own life.

Until I started this diet I used to take an ant-acid nearly every night of my life. Now, I never need one. This is perhaps the best part of changing my eating habits. I don’t know what the side effects of taking those are (I’ve never worked up the courage to find out), but I’m sure taking them as often as I did wasn’t something a 26 year old man should be doing.

Another great thing about my life after Keto has been the ease with which I fall asleep. I no longer lay in bed for an hour or more trying to visit the land of nod. Now, I simply lay my head on my pillow and drift off into a peaceful, uninterrupted slumber.

Uninterrupted being the important word there. I used to wake up 3-5 times during the night, sometimes because of painful charlie horses in my feet. Now, I sleep soundly through the night.

It’s bliss.

And the most awesomely-delicious part of this entire diet is my new found energy levels. From the moment I wake up until the moment I go to sleep I have found myself with a consistent — not to mention large — amount of energy every day.

I could go on and on about how great I feel, but I won’t.

In the beginning my plan was to do this diet for one month and be done with it. But now it’s become the way I live. I’m not going back. Not with how good I feel.

I don’t know if this way of eating is for everyone, but I can absolutely tell you it’s for me. I won’t be as strict as I was during April, I’ll allow myself some beer and other things, but not in the capacity I used to.

I think my problem before was that I didn’t pay enough attention to what I ate. I thought I ate healthy for the most part, but I never considered the four bite size snickers that I ate while at work or the beer or the whatever.

I only ever thought about my three big meals – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – but never bothered to remember all the little things in between them.

The first week of this diet sucked, and I had to be really strict with myself. Now I can’t imagine eating any other way.

So while I didn’t acomplish all of my April goals, I think it’s okay. In the end I’d still say it was a very successful month.

And besides, I’ve got plenty of time to get through the rest, as you’ll soon see my dear reader.

Until next time, long days and pleasant nights.

I read an interesting post the other day about indie publishing over at learntolive.com. The article in question,  How Indie Publishing Could Revolutionize Expression But Often Doesn’t, had a title that intrigued me.

It’s a good read, but it wasn’t what I was looking for. So I figured I’d write something of my own.

In his post, author André Klein talks about the ease of modern day “publishing” and whether or not to publish.

To (unfairly) sum up, Klein seems to be saying that a writer’s ability to self publish hasn’t necessarily increased the amount of good books available, but has mainly succeeded in producing “more of the same, less of something else.”

In the end I wasn’t sure if Klein was for or against self publishing, but he did sum up nicely by saying,

The fact that I can publish something quickly doesn’t mean that it gets easier to publish something great, but it certainly allows for experimentation and creative development beyond my wildest dreams.

Makes me think he’s mostly for it.

As a writer, and an avid reader, I am absolutely for self publishing.

I’ll address it first as a reader. The ease with which new authors can put their work out thrills and excites me. There are certainly more than a few great manuscripts that were never published because someone didn’t think the book would sell.

Imagine if someone had passed up Gene Wolf because his writing was far too inaccessible for a large audience. Or if someone had passed on House of Leaves (which many did) because of its complexity.

Of course there are going to be people publishing books that attempt to copy Twilight or Hunger Games’ success, and really, who am I to look down on them. I want to say that those people, the ones that write a book for money, aren’t writers in their heart…but I don’t think that’s necessarily true.

If you write a book and someone enjoys reading it, well, I believe that’s enough right there.

Self publishing (especially in digital format) is still so new. I can’t wait to see what some writers eventually put out when they don’t need some entity to print and distribute their book for them.

In case you didn’t go out and read Klein’s post, I don’t necessarily think he’d disagree with any of this, but I’d be interested to hear his or your thoughts.

As a writer (and a bit of a stubborn individual) self publishing is just about the greatest thing I can think of. The idea that I can write a book, edit it, polish it up, then pay for someone else to edit it, and finally give it to you, without anyone else ever getting in the way, is like a dream come true. It’s like…it’s like magic that has made my oldest dream a reality.

No one is standing in the way of me giving my writing to the world.

Publishers and agents have always seemed like a nuisance to me. They’re something that I had to get in order to have my books go out to the world, which is really all I want. Of course I’d love to make millions of dollars, but that has never been the point.

In a recent interview conducted by Neil Gaiman, Stephen King said,

They pay me absurd amounts of money, for something I would do for free.

And isn’t that the truth for a genuine writer? It’s something we’d all do for free, not because we want to, but because we have to. Because there are stories that need to be told.

I need to write. I’m unhappy if I don’t. I can’t stop thinking of things to write. And with the advent of self publishing, I can directly publish all of my own work, interact directly with my readers, and give them my content in whatever form they want.

Lovely.

Moving on, here is my last point, the point I thought Klein was going to make when I read his title.

When are we going to see an a big name author, a King or a Gaiman, put out a book without a publisher? When will a best-selling author take a page out of Radiohead or Louis C.K.’s book?

These authors could set a new standard for the entire writing community. They could put out their books by themselves, set their own costs, and give their books to their readers in a multitude of formats.

There is no one more important to a writer than you, dear reader, and I can’t imagine why any writer wouldn’t want to do this for you.

To be completely honest, there may very well be reasons that these authors haven’t chose to self publish, but I don’t know what they are. So, if you do, please let me know.

To me it seems that the question becomes, am I writing to make money or am I writing for the love of the art? I do believe the two can be mutually exclusive, and I don’t believe that one is better than the other.

The appeal of a major publisher to me is their ability to market myself and my book better than I can on my own. To get my face and name out there, which would get me more readers and more money.

But I then have to ask myself, what is the trade off? Where do I, and all of the authors of the world, want to compromise? Potentially reaching a smaller audience, but being in direct control of how you reach them. Or reaching a bigger audience, but at the whim of something other than yourself.

For me the right answer is the former. Self publishing doesn’t necessarily mean a smaller audience, but going with a major publisher does mean someone else can control my content.

I’m just wondering who the first best-selling author will be to stop fighting the inevitable and embrase what writing and reading is becoming. Who will embrace the digital revolution that is sweeping the earth?

As always, I’d love to hear any and all thoughts, especially why I’m wrong. So shoot me an email or leave me a comment with any of your notes or thoughts.

Aaaannd we’re back.

Hello there my dear reader! My how I’ve missed you I hope you’ve been well. I hope you’ve found yourself with many moments of laughter and joy.

After an absence that was very clearly much too long I’m back, and so happy to be! Unfortunately when the site went down, everything went with it. I forgot the ever so important task of backing up and I’m sorry to say, everything that was, is gone.

But! There’s no use in crying over spilt milk and we absolutely must be moving on.

That being said, welcome to Minnesota Writer 2.0! A lot has stayed the same, but a lot is going to be changing.

The old Minnesota Writer, while it surved it’s purpose, just wasn’t me. It wasn’t natural or organic. It was a very deliberate attempt to write about writing, but I could only go so far with that.

I have no doubt that there are those of you out there who could talk endlessly about the splender of the written word, but I, alas, am not that candidate. Which brings me to the first change.

While I’ll still be writing about the highs and lows of a “writers life,” it will no longer be my sole focus. There’s going to be a lot more about life.

I want to inspire you, dear reader. I want to inspire you to live your life, to be happy, and to be good. I want this blog to be a force for good in the world, and that’s what it’ll be.

You’ll also notice that I took away the adds. I’m not here to sell you shit and you’re not here to buy I’ll still make recommendations, but no more links to Amazon. I want you to come here and be free of that world.

Mostly I want to open Minnesota Writer up to everyone. I want people to come here often, and leave believing that the world is wonderful.

So, with that little re-introduction out of the way, let us move on to the heart of this post, shall we?

My life as of late is, well, AWESOME! I can honestly say I’ve never been more happy in my entire life. As I said to my Ma the other day, “I currently find myself in want of nothing in life.”

And I don’t! I have enough money, love, friends, family, and a kick-ass new apartment in St. Paul. We’ve been here for 7 moths, having left Northfield to be closer to the little lady’s new job, and we are both head over heals in love with our surroundings.

It’s great and I want more.

Recently I was inspired by a post on my friends blog where he details some of his plans for April. I decided that I too would make some plans for myself in April, and stick to them. The first of which was getting Minnesota Writer back up and running by April 1.

Check!

Seeing as my mental health is so strong right now, I want my body to follow, which is why I’m doing several of the things I’ll outline bellow.

First off, inspired once again by my friend Mike, I’ll be trying out the Keto diet for all of April. I’m not going to go into great detail about the diet, but if you wish to learn more about Keto you can right here.

Along with the diet I won’t be having any alcohol of any kind during the month of April. I want to let myself clear out a little and make booze more of a rare occasion.

The last in the trio of health goals is to exercise for at least a half hour every day in April. I don’t want to be in super human shape, but I do need to make my body get up and do stuff more.

After that comes profesional goals and there’s only one. Finish the 1st round of edits on my Novel by the end of April. I’ve already moved through a good chunk of it and I’m really excited to start working on the second draft, but I can’t until I finish this crucial step towards completion.

After those goals I just have a couple of personal ones.

Firstly, and foremost I might add, amongst my personal goals will be blogging here 15 times in the month of April. I’ve missed writing here so much and, in my absence, I’ve come up with lots to say

My second personal goal is to cook at least 5 new recipes. I love cooking very much, but I feel I’ve reached a plateau with my current skill level. I plan on trying out some great Keto recipes curtsey of the wonderful community over at Reddit.

The overarching theme and purpose for all of these goals is to get some of my self-discipline back. My discipline used to be strong, but it’s been growing weak as of late and I intended to do each one of these goals with strict resolve.

Ideally at the end of April I’ll continue on into May without modifying much about the way I live. If there’s something I absolutely hate, I’ll cut it. But otherwise I’ll continue to move forward and add in more things.

That about sums everything up for now. Minnesota Writer is back up and running and I couldn’t be happier!

Be sure to check back soon, it’s going to be a busy month.

And of course, many thanks to you, my dear and blessed reader. And welcome back