Roy Heil

My final for the Internet Programming class was on Thursday, and I just finished my paper for German Medieval Literature. Now I can turn my attentions to World History. I sent in a paper for that class about a week ago. I now have five papers left, and I have until February to do them. Yikes! At least I can concentrate on this one class for the next month. That’s when my next class starts. German Folklore.

I started this blog in the hopes that it would help me organize my thoughts for all my several projects. I guess that is not happening. But I can still report my progress when I get the chance. Once I can turn my attention back to my novel, perhaps I will try using the blog that way. A novel is a much longer work, and I may need a sounding board…

Well, until my next blog, auf wiedersehen.

Working full time, having a kid in football, and taking three classes is taking all my spare time. I have some reading or homework assignment due all the time. I can barely catch my breath.

My German Literature class doesn’t have written assignment to hand in, but there are reading assignments every week, with group discussions in class. Internet Programming has a program assignment due each week. They are not usually too hard, but last week’s was a bear. And of course, World History (the correspondence course), since the assignments don’t have a due date, it is hard to sit down and do those. But the class does have a deadline, and with so many papers to write in so little time, I have to force myself to work on them.

So, it’s no surprise that I have done very little work on my novels, and no work at all on my own programming projects. But I did get a little done on my spy novel. I finally wrote the first piece of dialog in the story. It’s nothing fancy, or for that matter, not an important piece of dialog. But as I have a problem with writing dialog, it was a great first step. Chapter one is just about done.

Look at the date. It’s been over a month since I last blogged. Where does the time go?

Well, I have sent in my first homework assignment, and am waiting for it to be returned, graded. In the mean time, I have started work on my next assignment. This one is on the law documents of ancient civilizations. It sounds more in-depth then it really is. It’s really a comparative essay.

My co-worker (groupie? fan? agent?) is pressing me for the first chapter of my book. She has set a deadline for it. Conflicting deadlines. Just what this blog was meant to address. But then, if I don’t make use of it, how is it supposed to help?

I have a two week vacation coming up, so I hope to make use of that to catch up on my writing. But that’s just another way of postponing it, isn’t it? So I had better get going at it now.

I am taking a vacation from work this week, and I am hoping to catch up on some of my projects. One of my programming projects (the Library book management program) will require some research, so I will see if I can contact someone at the library that can give me some information.

The big step, however, is in getting started on my first history paper. I need to do a 4 page paper on creation myths, and I did my first rough draft today. I put down some thoughts on what I will say, but it needs a lot of elaboration. And then with a little polishing, it should be ready to submit by the end of the week.

The odd thing is, I feel guilty. It feels as if I am avoiding working on the novel. I am at a point in chapter one, where I will need to start writing dialog. This, of course, scares me, so it is natural that I will tend to put it off. However, school work DOES have priority over other projects. OK! So, if I can get the paper done by Thursday, that should give me some time to work on the novel.

OK. As I have already said, I am working on a number of projects, from school work, to computer programs, to novels. Here is a more detailed description of my projects.

I have been taking classes at the University of Minnesota for the last 27 years, and I am finally a year away from graduating. Needless to say, I am not one of the types of students that they are proud of. In fact, in an effort to send a wake-up call to us slow-pokes, they have set a deadline, after which, to graduate, we would need to meet current requirements (instead of the requirements set when we enrolled, and which we have been working toward).

So in the interest of finishing up as soon as possible (with a year to spare), I am taking a correspondence course over the summer. My first assignment involves comparing a number of creation myths. I have an idea of what I want to say, and have plotted out about half of the paper. The main problem is forcing myself to sit down and write it. That is where this blog comes in. I figure if I can get myself to sit at the computer and write for this blog, I can work-out my thoughts, and continue on with the paper.

Next is my computer programming. I have been working as a computer programmer for 19 years, and I have found that it is VERY important to keep up to date with the new technologies. Therefore, I am trying to teach myself C# and ASP.NET. First, the C#. I have a little pet project that I first wrote in Delphi, and I have decided to start over from scratch and rewrite it in C#. In Delphi it is a card game named Sevens, or SevenUp (I have it available for download on my web page). In C#, I want to create a Cards development class library, to make it easier to create any card game. I have most of the programming done for the card classes, but have yet to create the rules class.

Another program that I would like to write is a library book management program. I would like to query the local library for information on a book using the barcode on the book. No real great challenges there, just trying to find the time.

And finally, my novel. I have a couple of ideas for books, and I made the mistake of telling one of them to a coworker of mine. She fell in love with it, and wants me to write it, so she can read it. And then, to make matters worse, she gave me an idea for another book. And so I need to spend time on this as well. Although my genre of choice is science fiction, this book is more of a spy thriller, involving a stolen PC, with sensitive information on it, a terrorist plot, and an innocent bystander who can’t seem to shake the people tracking him.

I have been able to start work on the book, but I am not a writer yet, and I still don’t know how to write dialog. At some time, I will make the plunge and start. At that time, I will bring a sample to my friend, and she will be able to critique it for me. So what’s stopping me. Again, maybe this blog will help me. We’ll see.