Category: "writing"
Followup #3: Short Story Marathon, Two Years Later
Two years. Wow, I really can't believe it. A lot has happened to these stories since this crazy experiment was finished: So doing a little math, if I end up selling 6 stories and publish 3 myself (there will be more at some point) that means 9 out of 30 stories made it out into t...
The Disappearing Neighborhood
big one and I can't wait. rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">Pulphouse Fiction Magazine: Issue #6! height="445"> anthologies and gotten paid for a fair number of stories at this point, this is the first one I was paid a
Followup #2: Short Story Marathon, One Year Later
Well, busy, but I bet you guessed that. And thirty stories with a total of over 118,000 words is a lot to wrangle. But more than that, I had some good news to share (which I still can't share) and that led to so much procrastination. I didn't want to come talk about these stories...
Seeing Forever is Out!
Maybe you can tell from the above image, I'm very excited about the release of Seeing Forever. Today is launch day, where this baby goes out into the world for you all to read. If I could put on a firework display to celebrate, I would.
Drawing the Dead on Sale (January Writing Update)
It's a brand new year, and I have a lot in the writing pipeline. The last few years have been pretty thin on releases and I am going to remedy that this year. So, to that end, I am planning to do a monthly update on all things me and writing.
New Release! Of Things Not Seen, A Ghost's Memoir, Book 3
Wow, there is a lot to say about this one, but I'll keep it brief up here an expand down below.: This is the 3rd "A Ghost's Memoir" book, long sidelined by personal challenges. Unlike book 1 and 2, this is Jesus's story and follows him from when he leaves Tucson in
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Followup #1: Short Story Marathon
Wow. This was so intense. I've been using the term "fierce focus" to describe it. It was both exhausting and exhilarating. I loved being possessed by story after story (and yes, possessed, is kind of what it feels like, but in a good way), constantly moving to the next.
Day 34: Short Story Marathon. FINISH LINE
A quick pass on "Through Other Eyes," a bit of cleanup, and off to Dean! And if you are wondering, I was up early and writing. Started another story that is a follow up to "Wink, Plum, and the Bones that March." I wanted to dig into Woody and June #5, but needed to do some resear...
Day 33: Short Story Marathon
Last story today! Really, can't believe it. Last night when I was pondering it, the pressure descended. Last story of the challenge, better make it good. Nope. By the morning I had shaken that off. Pressure like that is terrible for the creative process.
Day 32: Short Story Marathon
Late start writing today at 6:45 a.m. (hey it's a Sunday) and wrote a short time travel story called "Goodbye Mrs. Hopkins." I thought it was going to be another piece of flash fiction, but not quite. At 1,300 words it's very short. It is story #28.
Day 31: Short Story Marathon
Another tough start this morning, but not as bad as two days ago. After a few false starts, I dug into a new story called "Last Days with Mary." It's #26 and 2,700 words long and is another, very different, android story. It features an unlikable...
Day 30: Short Story Marathon
Finished up "Death by Apathy" and sent it off. That makes 24 stories out the door in 30 days! Aleia really liked this one, but I didn't think much of it yesterday. A little time away, another pass through, and one small flourish at the end, and I like it now. It's a nice addition...
Day 29: Short Story Marathon
So I think I worked too much yesterday. I got up a little late, and made it to writing at 6:30 a.m., but couldn't get anything going. I started several stories but I was either heading into already covered territory, or bored, or clear it would be a long story. So I gave it until...
Day 28: Short Story Marathon
Another very busy day. Wrote a story about a magician called "One Last Trick." It's #23 and 4,300 words. This one did some big, unexpected twists at the end that had me have to go back and revise half of the scenes. It went from one Point of View (POV) character to two. The story...
Day 27: Short Story Marathon
Busy day, but managed to get #21, "Woody and June vs. the Ex" out the door to Dean. Wrote a short sci-fi story called, "Article Seventeen." It's #22 and at 2,800 words is a much better length. Took a few minutes and entered the changes into #2, "Daisy's Heart" from my proofreader...
Day 26: Short Story Marathon
Finally hit the end of "Woody and June vs. the Ex." At 10,000 words it was a blast to write, but a streak buster for sure. Fun was more important here than the streak. With the four of these I've written (one last month while I was training for this) I'm up over 30,000 words. A f...
Day 25: Short Story Marathon
Onward with "Woody and June vs. the Ex." Things slowed down a bit today. Our heroes are at the bottom of the Grand Canyon just having escaped a zombie hoard. These stories are very much about place and I have to spend time looking at the landscape and the trails, seeing...
Day 24: Short Story Marathon
Last night after I posted yesterday's entry, my wife was in kitchen late, cranking the Eagles and cooking. Not wanting to be at my desk anymore, I grabbed my laptop and sipped red wine while she cooked. We chatted and I banged out the start of a story while she cooked. It was str...
Day 23: Short Story Marathon
Up in front of the computer just before 6 a.m. again, no idea what to write. My brain came up with an interesting sentence written from the perspective of an android that has just been powered up and doesn't know what happened to the world. It's one of those "paint yourself in th...
Day 22: Short Story Marathon
Did a short session early, but cut it off to go run before the heat hit and the work day started. That sure helped; got my body moving and my emotions perked up too. The pace of this challenge is starting to wear. Oddly this can give me trouble starting a story, but once the stor...
Day 21: Short Story Marathon
Busy work day so harder to get the hours in today. Early, lunch, and late. Did another "Death by" story in the world of Shuffled Off. This one is "Death by Cookie" and is about 4,000 words. Fun to bring JJ and Banquo out to play with.
Day 20: Short Story Marathon
Had a tough time getting going this morning with writing. While I like "Jump in Time" a lot, it took a lot of energy and I didn't get enough rest over the weekend. This is a pacing issue. I'm going to shoot for short for a few days to try to recover.
Day 19: Short Story Marathon
Out for an early run today--the heat wave making it too hot to run later, even up here on the mountain--and the pieces of "Jump it Time" floated around my mind, tempting me. So, back to it today and not on the back burner as I thought yesterday. Stories have a way of doing that t...
Day 18: Short Story Marathon
Back to "Jump in Time," but this thing has taken on a life of it's own and is over 5,000 words with a ways to go. Lots more research and a much more complicated story that the other "In Time" stories. I'm not even sure if it's a short story anymore. Ack! This puts the streak at r...
Day 17: Short Story Marathon
Back to staring at the blank page this morning. I've done it many, many times now but it's always intimidating--and I think that's okay. The trick is to just find something, anything and start, reduce infinity down to something measurable. and go from there.
Day 16: Short Story Marathon
Back to the scifi story I started last night, this one has a good, solid title: "With Light Years Between Us." Made some progress early, but something wasn't right. Realized I was writing too distant and was not including my protagonist's complicated emotions. This uses a scifi c...
Day 15: Short Story Marathon
Started up on a new scifi story early, taking on the blank page again--that is, starting with nothing, not even an idea before getting to the computer. What popped out was an idea I had worked on a little last month. I got a bit over 1,000 words in and realized it wasn't working,...
Day 14: Short Story Marathon
I had trouble sleeping last night and had this whisper of an idea that felt like it would be interesting and short. By the time I got up, my mind was derailed by worries about cultural appropriation and I had no idea what to write. So, I took a few minutes and found an equivalent...
Day 13: Short Story Marathon
Back to "A Long, Hard Fall" this morning. I think I was tired at the end of the day yesterday (5,000 words is a lot for me) and needed to clean up the plot a bit, and the climax got tossed and replaced. It's a murder mystery, so the villain needs to have an understandable motivat...
Day 12: Short Story Marathon
Decided to go back to the world of Shuffled Off and have some fun with my ghost detectives Walter and Emily (their first case is in Life After) in a story called "A Long, Hard Fall." I had written a 900 word star...
Day 11: Short Story Marathon
Had a interesting image occur when I walked Madison (our ridiculously adorable spaniel) last night of an android walking along a sand dune all alone. So took that this morning and did 1,000 words and realized that the perspective I was writing it from was too cold, but got a bett...
Day 10: Short Story Marathon
Day 10! Into the double digits here on this marathon of writing. Didn't know what to write this morning and browsed some exiting starts and saw one I had tried 3 different times that had a simple, poetic idea and ignored the starts an started over. It is tentatively titled, "The...
Day 9: Short Story Marathon
Busy day and away from my computer for most of it. First meetings and then a summer picnic with the company I work for. Up early, the early sunrise waking me up earlier than normal which is not fun but good for this challenge, and back to "Wink, Plum, and the Bones that March." W...
Day 8: Short Story Marathon
Got back to "Home in Time" and finished it. It's ready to read to Aleia, but no time today. It came in at 4,450 words, again longer than planed. Later, grabbed a 875 word fantasy start from my training month, tentatively titled "Wink, Plum, and the Bones that March," and added 2,...
Day 7: Short Story Marathon
One week in, 4 stories away, 26 to go. Yeah, this is starting to feel like a marathon. Up very early and threw out yesterday's start on "Home in Time" and started fresh in first person with the correct name. And wouldn't you know it, things are mo...
Day 6: Short Story Marathon
Got up early and went back to "Woody and June vs. the Grand Canyon." Corrected my misstep and threw out and redrafted a lot of the end. I had moved the character's relationship a tad too fast, and missed great opportunities for drama and humor at the end. Which, is why it didn't...
Day 5: Short Story Marathon
Interesting day. Yesterday I left "Woody and June vs. the Grand Canyon" at over 5,000 words and not done yet, thinking I might have taken a wrong turn. So, I set it aside and started a new story, "The Disappearing Neighborhood." This is based on an idea I had at the beginning of...
Day 4: Short Story Marathon
Two stories out the door! Story #1, "Woody and June vs. the Fungus-Head Zombies," and story #2, the sci-fi android story now with a title,"Daisy’s Heart". I read "Daisy’s Heart" to Aleia this morning and there were tears--a good sign for this story--and she helped me find the tit...
Day 3: Short Story Marathon
Found the end of the second story (scfi with an android), cleaned it up, and it's ready to read to Aleia. Cleaned up story 1 (Woody and June vs the Fungus-Head Zombies) and read it to Aleia--she's liking these and zombies aren't her thing, so that's a good sign. The fixing of the...
Day 2: Short Story Marathon
Busy day with work and life, so writing was slower as expected. Started with a line that came to me when I was going to sleep last night ("I was six the first time I wished I was an android.") and got about two-thirds of the way through the story. I had been working on an android...
Day 1: Short Story Marathon
Wow! I think I really wanted to do this thing. Up too early and lots of writing. I grabbed a story start for something I really wanted to write and in a morning session, evening session, and during a few breaks wrote 4,000 pretty clean words and made it to the end of the story.
A Short Story Writing Marathon: The Plan
I've been writing seriously and regularly since 2009. I started running in 2015 and it has given me great perspective on writing. You see, writing is a subjective art, running is a measurable, quantifiable sport. Applying the lesson...
A Short Story Writing Marathon: Introduction
I've been writing seriously and regularly since 2009. I started running in 2015 and it has given me great perspective on writing. You see, writing is a subjective art, running is a measurable, quantifiable sport. Applying the lesson...
Why I Quit Writing (Almost, Kinda, Sorta)
While this blog is focused on my recent experience with writing, the principles apply to whatever your passion is. [caption id="attachment1340" align="alignleft" width="300"] Image courtesy of Pansa at Fre...
A Year in Stories, 2015 Edition
Last year, I did a roundup of 2014 writing-wise and what stories had come out. I wanted to do another one around the first of they year, but January has just gotten away from me. So, better late than never, here's what stories came out
Back to the Graveyard
Enter Walter and Emily. These two have been on my mind for a long time, back when I was writing To Be a Fool. For those of you with a copy, they make a cameo in Transmission #44. Walter was a dentist and an out of work actor before that and has become something of a dete...
Making Art With Your Friends
And as I've been doing this for a while, I've met some of these folks and gotten to know them. In 2012 and against this year I went to the Superstars Writing Seminar where a few hundred of us gather, learn, talk, and play. But more impo...
A Year in Stories
2014 had come and gone in a flash of challenges, business, and unique experiences. Some good, some bad, many a humbling mixture of the two. As this blog is mostly about my writing, I thought I would list out my writing releases as a way to
100 Rejections and Counting
Back in March I blogged about hitting 50 rejections for short fictions after close to two years of submitting. Well, now, about seven months later I have hit the big 100. The first 50 rejections took 2 years, the second took 7 mo...
Indie Adventures – Part 5 – Bringing in the Pros
New to this series? Start with: Indie Adventures – Part 1 – The Starting Line This series is titled "Indie Adventures," and I am going the indie route with the publishing of my novel, but that does not mean that I...
Indie Adventures – Part 4 – Beta Round 2 (or One More Time for Good Measure)
If you missed it, See Indie Adventures – Part 1 – The Starting Line, Indie Adventures – Part 2 – Beta Read...
The Writers of the Future Contest - A Class Act
I have been sitting on this for a while, since it wasn't public, but I recently got my second honorable mention (2 honorable mentions in 3 tries). This one is for fun sci-fi adventure novelette called "Ghost Hacker, Zombie...
New Sun Rising: Stories for Japan
On March 11, 20011 a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan. We all saw the news, saw the devastation, witnessed the drama at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. When disaster strikes, what do you do (besides watch it play out on the news). Well, writers write. Which make...
100 Stories for Queensland is Here!
There is a good FAQ up on the official site. Here are some excerpts: 100 Stories for Queensland is a charity anthology of flash fiction, that is, short stories of under 1000 words, in aid of the survivors of the worst floodi...
Indie Adventures – Part 3 – Evaluating the Beta Read
If you missed it, See Indie Adventures – Part 1 – The Starting Line and Indie Adventures – Part 2 – Beta R...
The Psychology of Writing, Part 2: The Shock Box
If you missed it see: The Psychology of Writing, Part 1. Writer L.M May just did a fantastic blog post titled: Fiction Writers and Learned Help...
Coming soon: 100 Stories for Queensland
This charity anthology has my story "Soggy Shoes" in it, and this one is for flood relief in Australia. All proceeds go to Queensland Premier’s Flood Relief appeal.
Indie Adventures – Part 2 – Beta Readers or "How the Hell Do I Know If This Book is Any Good!?"
If you missed it, See Indie Adventures - Part 1 - The Starting Line. It is a serious question. How the hell do you know if your book is any good? Or movie, or game, or song. If you are on your own going indie, how...
Indie Adventures - Part 1 - The Starting Line
The publishing world is changing. Fast. A brief look at some writers blogs out there (Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Joe Konrath) will orien...
50 Rejections and Counting
On 3/18/2009 I submitted a story called "As I Shall at Death" to Flash Fiction Online. It was rejected, and that rejection was psychologically hard.
Doing What You Love + Lending A Hand = AWESOME
My story, "Soggy Shoes," was accepted for the 100 Stories for Queensland anthology, and I am personally thrilled to be able to contribute and to get into print again. It is my...
100 Stories for Queensland
I am just putting the final touches on a submission for 100 Stories for Queensland. Like 100 Stories for Haiti and 50 S...
The Psychology of Writing, Part 1
Writing is hard… No, no, that's not it. Writing is not hard; getting your writing read is hard. Hmm, that's not exactly it either. Dealing with the rejection that goes with writing is hard. Actually dealing with success is hard too.
50 Stories for Pakistan is Here!
Actually, "50 Stories for Pakistan" has been out since October 28th, and I am remiss in blogging about it. This is in no way a comment on my enthusiasm for it, just a testament to just how busy things have been.
50 Stories for Pakistan
Once again he sent the call out for submissions, this time a limit of 500 works and "no stories with any violence, death, or mass destruction." With 20 million people displaced by the flooding, I was inspired by by the effort.
Finding the Time
Writer John Scalzi has a great post on finding the time to write: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/09/16/writing-find-the-time-or-dont/
Page 190
My copies for "100 Stories for Haiti" came in about a week ago; a box shipped all the way from England. My wife was out, so I waited for her to get home to open the box. I was feeling a strange mixture of emotions and I really wanted someone to share the moment with and to make i...
100 Stories for Haiti is Here!
So, go grab a copy, enjoy some great fiction, and help people in the process! For those of you that know me, if you would like a paperback copy I have a bunch coming from the UK and can pass them on to you at my cost (buy purchasing them in bulk I have gotten the postage down). I...
A Big "First"
The first-ness of this continues, and I am doing my best to have the presence of mind to feel and enjoy the experience. Life is, of course, full of firsts: first step, first kiss, first date, first love, first heart-break, first car, first house, first job, first bike, first frie...
I'm a (Soon To Be) Published Author
I just got word from the 100 Stories for Haiti folks; “The Path of the Faerie King” has made the cut! I am, needless to say, very excited. This will be my first published story and is a wonderful balm for all the rejections I have been...
100 Stories for Haiti
I stumbled across this project on John Scalzi's blog on Monday (the original due date for the stories) and just had to start writing. There is something wonderful about leveraging what ever it is you do to help (in t...
How Bad Do You Want It?
After 17 years, 138 rejections and 870,000 words Brad Torgersen finally made his first pro fiction sale. I guess he wanted it bad, I guess you gotta want it bad. Check out his...
The Arts Are a Job Too
I gotta admit it, the arts are like a siren to me. The romance of being an actor (did tons of that in high school), a artist (
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