This blog has moved to the main Poguri website.

http://www.poguri.com

As I tried to write the “Great Freeze” Fable, it felt more like a distraction from the novel than anything that added to the overall story or the Poguri universe. I found myself using similar themes – particularly the spreading of some worldwide condition. The “Freeze” in the fable felt a lot like the “Blight” in the novel. So I scrapped it. I still think that the idea of Nou Fables is a good one, and I do intend to work on something along those lines soon, but for now, the novel has returned to top priority.

For my upcoming Jabberwocky meeting I completely reworked Maddie’s introduction chapter, taking all of the feedback I received from various sources into consideration. I feel good about this version. Like before, it is available for everyone to view on the website.

Maddie’s Introduction
http://www.poguri.com/maddie.html

I even threw some pictures in to break up all the text. I figured that would also be more reflective of the final product, since “Land of Nou” is intended to be an illustrated novel. I hope you all like the rewrite, and whether you love it, hate it, or don’t feel one way or the other, I encourage you to leave me any feedback that comes to mind.

Thanks!

There are two things – the Poguri “Celebrity” page, and the Poguri profile. Feel free to add him as a friend, or to become a fan of the book (even though it’s not published yet!). Show your support! Please?

Greetings all…

Nightmare in Daywatch

A whole slew of new concept art has been posted to the official site, including the second full-scale illustration, which shows the bogeys attacking Daywatch and the effects of the Blight. The contrast between this image and the “Fun in Daywatch” image sets the tone for the novel.

In other news, I am working on the first Nou Fable, tentatively titled Poguri and the Great Freeze, which I hope to have complete by October 15th, in time for a writer’s event being hosted by Philadelphia Stories, as well as another meeting of Jabberwocky – a small writers’ critique group.

Based on the feedback I receive from these two events, I hope to be able to put Poguri on the [not-so] fast-track towards publication. For the few of you out there actually following this thing, you may be happy to know that Poguri and the Great Freeze will be posted on the website once it is complete. The Nou Fables are not intended to generate any kind of profit for me, but to help me flesh out the Poguri universe and to familiarize all of you out there with the characters and setting. So I’ll be looking forward to your feedback as well. Well, that’s all for now. Stay tuned for the next Pogress Report and other information from the Land of Nou…

After receiving feedback from other writers, I have decided, finally, to take a crack at writing short stories. The catch for me will be coming up with a something that is simple enough to cover in a small space, yet also compelling enough – for ME. I tend not to be dissatisfied with stories if they are too simple, so this is really going to be a challenge.

The plan is to create several Nou Fables, self-contained short stories that will not only help me hone my skills for writing the novel, but will also flesh out the Nou universe for my future readers. Who knows, maybe they’ll help me generate a following, too – a legion of fans eagerly anticipating the release of the novel! Wishful thinking, I’m sure, but how could I ever hope to write Poguri without the ability to dream?

One of the reasons I was aiming to complete the book by the end of the year was so that it coincided with the start of an MFA in Creative Writing Program in which I planned to enroll. However, a reality check flew in with the subtlety of a brick when I was rejected by not one, but two separate MFA programs.

At worst I could see these rejections as evidence that I am not a good writer, and at best…well, frankly, there is no silver lining. I am wrestling with the possibility that I am not a writer, but rather a “conceptualizer” – the guy who comes up with good ideas, but may not be so great at delivering them.

On the other hand, I am aware that if the idea is good enough, the writing doesn’t have to be, as long as it doesn’t “get in the way” of the idea. I can think of at least one popular book series for which this seems to be true, although I wouldn’t really say the idea for that series is too good, either. While the rejections dampened my enthusiasm towards this project for several days, I’ve decided to forge ahead. I am now determined to spite these two schools by writing the “next great children’s novel”. Whether or not I can achieve that, of course, remains to be seen…

The “Pogress Reports” [sic] will be semi-regular updates on the progress being made in writing the novel. As of now I have committed to write an average of 2 pages per day in order to finish the book by the end of the year. I think it’s a pretty modest, if not underachieving goal, because some days I’ll be able to write 5 pages and some days I won’t be able to write anything.

So far I’ve done pretty well and I’d say that the book is 40-50% complete, which is not taking into consideration the extensive edits I’ll have to make once that first draft is at 100%. This is where the goal of finishing by year’s end becomes more daunting, but I am sticking to it.

Fun in Daywatch

Also worth noting is the promotional artwork being done by Angga Satriohadi, which not only allows all you folks out there to visualize what’s in my head, but really helps to motivate me to write. As of right now he’s already fully completed the first of three that I’ve hired him for, which is available for viewing on the website, and he’s 95% finished with the second, which I’ll be sure to post once it’s complete.

So that’s it for the first “Pogress Report”. I hope you’ll all stick with me…