Keepers DAY 1

What a crazy year this has been! The ups and downs... the highs and lows... I have learned some valuable and personally insightful lessons during it all and though I wouldn't trade this new-found strength and self-awareness I occasionally wonder if there was an easier way to learn it...

BUT...

Long overdue, I am returning to my blogs (this one and "The Gospel According to Guy" with a new direction and purpose that I hope will lend itself well to consistency (on my part) and genuine interest (on your part). I am going to experiment over the next few months with a "journal" of sorts my day-by-day experience writing a new book, chronicling the challenges and rewards of drafting and composing a new novel.

My next novel, currently titled "Keepers of the Sword", is the first in a series of books telling a "behind the scenes" story I am convinced runs the length of the Book of Mormon. Though not the "main" storyline, I think the story I am going to tell over the span of several volumes is there and played a valuable part of this great and influential book. With the detailed outline nearly complete, I am gearing up to start my intensive writing stage where the plan is to write 2000 words a day, which is roughly 10 pages double-spaced. This is an ambitious goal, but I want to try it and see if I can get this book written (first draft, anyway...) in about three months.

And you're going to be right there with me as I do it.

So, if you ever wondered how in the world someone writes a book, here is your chance to follow one struggling writer on his next project. I expect the blog entries to be short, detailing the efforts and work of the day before, sharing the struggles and triumphs of that all-consuming effort to write a story in one's head and put it down on paper to be shared with the rest of the world.

Here's to hope...