I'll see you when I come up for air...

Writing.

testing this out from igoogle

I had tried igoogle before, but not really played with it. It is really slick. With one window I can check gmail, google reader, facebook, livejournal, and twitter. And update my blogspot blog. So far, I'm pretty happy with it.

Bingo Story

Well, it was rejected at the first spot. Sent it to Strange Horizons now. Who knows what will happen. On the plus side of things, I didn't write about anything they said they'd seen too much of.

Spam Poetry

This poem brought to you courtesy of my spam email subjects. Enjoy!

Come check boobs
The air around you will smell like love.
Who was he?
Horrible news from the white house
Medications that you need.

I have no doubt more poetry will surface in the future.

Small Update

Just a small update here.

I haven't in general made time for updating this lately. Time being finite and all. And wanting to have something worth saying, not just filler. Suppose though that this post counts as filler. I have some writing related posts I want to make, but as I am a relative nobody in the writing field at this point, I doubt that stuff would get read too much anyway.

I guess the bottom line is that the writing is important, all else is secondary. Until I've "Made It" (TM) all of this stuff is secondary.

I've been working on the midsommer madness over at liberty hall, but at my own pace. I don't know what made me think I'd be able to keep up with their schedule, that lasted about a week. But the projects Mike created for it have been great. I'm just a bit farther behind than the rest. Still working on it Mike!

My wife got me an awesome hand crafted pen for father's day. The middle of the pen is made of wood. It's pictured above. It writes wonderfully. Of course, without me to use it, it serves little purpose. That leads to the obvious conclusion. I must write.

It's funny, but something so little as writing down the date next to my current writing has prompted me to keep at it lately. Having the date there as made me 1) not want to miss a day and 2) want to write at least as much as I did the day previous.

Should mention that the current project is tentatively titled the Dragon Lords. Or it will have another title and be "A Dragon Lords Novel". The bingo story wasn't as done as I'd thought. But now it truly is done, conclusion and all. Need a final read through then I'm sending it out to the wider world.

Thanks to Joshua over at Blue Ink Alchemy for inadvertently prompting this post.

Bingo Story - Done

Well, re-writes are done. Need to do a pass or two of edits. Get a ride from a cop friend of mine to check out his car and run some stuff by him. Then this story is out the door. I'm liking it a lot better this time. The ending feels right. Hopefully editors agree. I'll keep you posted.

Comments Working

Something about being embedded below the post was messing it up. But it's working now. Happy commenting!

Caught Up

Well, I'm caught up from the notebooks. Everything is digial now. What a relief. The process was good to get me refreshed on where I was at in the novel too. It's not world class writing, but it's there, and I can work with it.

I'm tired. Currently nursing a diet pepsi. Will be a coffee night tonight. Anyone have a time travel device so that I can do what I currently do and get eight hours of sleep?

So my to-do list is as it stands:

• Novel - at least I know where I need to go with it for the immediate future.
• Edit Bingo story - figured out what I need the end to be, for a more satisfying conclusion. Sub that.
• edit pre-quel short stories or complete them. predates events that are happening in novel. Probably a total of three stories. Then sub them.
• short story cycle - i still want to finish this. probably the longest of my short projects.

Kurt mentioned he was having problems commenting. So if you're reading here, please try and comment. Or let me know if it doesn't work. Thanks!

The box, it's over there --->

I was thinking that this wasn't very flexible. Blogger that is. But then I was playing with the format a bit and low and behold, I have a links section at the top now that I can use to link to specific pages. I want have some free fiction up there that is easy to find. Now I just have to find some stuff I want to post there.

Wow, I did this?

Getting stuff typed up... looking back at this old writing, it's from October 2007.

Part of me wonders if there is even a point to typing it up. It's pretty old, I don't even know if I'd use it anymore. But I feel the need to do so. Getting on my PC. The character I was writing about is near and dear to me. He'll make it into a book at some point.

The other part of me is thinking wow, my writing has improved quite a bit since I put this down on paper. So that's good at least. A little ego boost never hurt anyone. OK, back to typing.

Organized - Mostly

OK. My three notebooks are now an array of brightly colored coded post-it notes.

Orange for Novel related items.

Neon Green for not needed items.

Pink for short story items.

Kinda dissapointed I didn't end up using the blue post-its too.

So, a bit of typing and I can be back on track. I found the missing novel parts that I was looking for the other day. I really thought I had already typed that stuff up, but apparently not. Fortunately, it is all in one notebook. That's good because once I get it down to just this one notebook, that's all I'm working on until I'm done. (well, except for the occasional short story that pops up here and there.)

If you're interested, Flogging Molly makes for awesome organizational music. Or maybe it's just awesome music.

Now to get some typing done before Alex gets up from his nap.

Too Much

I have too much.

I have several different versions of documents (draft 1, draft 2, draft 3 starts after the party that is in the blue notebook), text files, abiword documents. Somethings are saved privately on livejournal.

Some of is written out in a notebook. Some of that is even typed on pages that were printed out and stuck in the middle of my notebook at what is likely their corresponding spots.

Man what a mess. I have three novels in various states. One, some portion through it. A second, this conjumbled mess of things everywhere. A third that is mostly outline notes only in my notebook. Probably some printed pages to go with that.

That's just novels. I'm not even sure I want to look into the short story folders. Though fortunately all short story stuff is typed up. None of that floating around notebooks. Can thank Liberty Hall for that, they're responsible for the bulk of my short story work, and it's all be done at a PC.

It's driving me nuts. I need to organize this all, somehow.

Everyone has Dreams

I've started reading Storytellers Unplugged. It's a great blog by a lot of different writers. They have a lot of great tips there. On the 30th, Alma Alexander had a great post called Second Fiddle.

Which falls in line with things I've been thinking lately. Everyone has dreams, hopes, goals, desires. The janitor. The guard. The stablehand. The intergallactic a/c repair guy. These people are more than the sum of the tasks that we asign them. While not everyone can be center stage, they can do more than just assist the protag with getting to his/her final goal. This is something I've been trying to keep in mind in my own writing.

Update

I did a flash over at Liberty Hall last Friday. Response was descent, considering I didn't have time to finish the story and just kind of dropped it off in front of the door. Literally and figuratively. Oddly, having a dog in the story has gotten a good response. So I was working on that, but now it's time to watch Castle, one of the few shows I make it a point to watch. (The other being Dollhouse, and now maybe The Mentalist.)

But until this post had been working on some more of that story, and listening to Floyd. By and far my favorite writing music. Anyway. the story is a Pittsburgh where a virus has broken out and the people left there are trapped within the city. So that's you know, coming along.

This is very random... kind of all over. Lot going on right now. Too much cleaning to be done around here. Never done.

Two More to Edit

That leaves me with two other stories to edit and send out. One a fantasy, the other a modern magic/mysticism story. One, the modern story, is my bingo story that I submitted to Shimmer sometime last year. They liked it, but pointed out some things that need a change. I'm finally getting around to that. I agreed with their assessment, I just wasn't sure how I wanted to change the ending. So I left it sit for a while. I think I have that ending now, just need to execute. They are accepting submissions again, so maybe I'll shoot it back to them and see what they think.

The other story was one I'd written for a game world and had been accepted until the magazine folded. I've edited it and made it truly my own. So, I'm excited to get that one out too. It ties in to my novel(s).

So that's you know, coming along.

One story out the door - tomorrow

I just need to do another read through tomorrow (when I'm hopefully less tired) and I'll send this one off to a contest. I'm hopefully. I like the story. We'll see how it goes.

Naming the Unnamed

I used to have such an easy time figuring out a name for characters. Now, more often, I sit there and stare and stare and stare at it, trying to figure out what to use. I think part of it us I'm over thinking it. at the same time, I know there are some word combos I repeat a lot. Since I've noticed I do that, I try to avoid it. Maybe try too much.

Updates

I must start by first thanking my wife. Thanks babe. Thanks for watching the kids. I totally wasn't expecting any quiet time right now, I promise I'll make the best of it. So, no blowing off the morning playing WoW.

Of the 7 stories in the short story cycle, I finished 2. That's not very good. They have probably both come in around 5000 words, so extrapolating that would give me 35,000 words which is considerable. Nice little novellette going for me. Toward the end of the second story, I was rushing it. I don't think it came out good at all, and need considerable work. But the story is done. I got my hero to the point that he needs to be. And the rest of the crew hungering for revenge. Sorry for blowing that deadline Mike, I'm just not a fast writer. It seemed so doable when I started. We all write at different paces. Mine, a bit slower than most I'd bet.

I still need to edit Lost Pages. I want to get that out to the markets, see if it can find a home. I like the story. I think too in writing this last story for the Cycle, I've decided I like writing fantasy a lot more than sci-fi. I love reading sci-fi, but I'm not so good with writing the science side of things. Mostly just ends up an adventure in space. Not that there is anything wrong with that, other franchises have seemed to pull that off pretty well (Star Wars?). I have a lot of themes in the Cycle that I'm trying to tackle at the same time. Maybe too much.

I still want to tell the story of the Vhor (my aliens in the Cycle), but I think for the immediate future I'm going to take a break from that, and write the follow-up story to Lost Pages.

I've also decided I write much better when I have some kind of outline before me. It gave my cycle a lot more direction. I have a loose outline for the Lost Pages stories. Once I finish both (Lost Pages, and Cycle) I need to look seriously at writing up an outline for the novel. It's still rolling around in the back of my head, but I haven't worked on it in a few months.

So, that's where I am. Time to get to writing.

Writing Along

I was wrinting along last night, all was going well. Then I dozed off and completely lost my train of thought. Picked it back up this morning and all is well again.

This challenge is 7 interconnected stories. Yet they need to be able to stand alone. ABDCE. While I am enjoying the project, it's certainly not turning about to be short by any stretch of the imagination. Then of course is the worry about whether or not I'll be able to sell it later. Maybe pick the best and send that one off, hoping a mag would pick up the others afterwards. Or try and sell it as a group. We shall see. I really am enjoying writing the story. I guess that is the main part. I'd just like to see something come of it after I'm done. Something more than my own satisfaction at seeing it completed.

edit: I guess I should worry about getting this done more than I should worry about whether or not it will be published.

Friday the 13th!

I haven't updated this in a bit. I had Strep and I'm recovering from that now. Life keeping me busy. Knocked out taxes last weekend. Kids keeping me busy. You know, that kind of stuff.

The story for the challenge is still moving along. Mike moved the deadline back to the end of the month, but I still don't know that I'll be able to finish it. I don't write short short stories (at least not well) nor do I write fast. I'm almost to the end of the second story. I like the way it's coming together, just need to put the time into making it happen.

Joss Whedon's Dollhouse is premiering tonight, so we'll definitely be watching that. In Joss We trust.

Flash of Insight

Ahhh... Always at the strangest of times. I've figured out why my antagonists hate the humans, and probably turned my humans into the villians. At least as a race. Now to just get the story written.

New Challenge

Mike Munsil, creator of Liberty Hall Writers, has posted a challenge in the interim while they get the system working. It's a Short Story Cycle, based on a trigger he has provided. So if you haven't stopped by in a while, check it out. If you're not a member of the Hall, look into signing up. It's a great place to write and get feedback.

Using the trigger, I have a loose plot for the first 6 stories. Just need to figure out the 7th. May have to write a bit and figure the rest of it out before the last one comes around. I'm excited for this challenge. It ties in some settings/themes I had already wanted to use. Needs to be done by Feb 15th though, so I'm not sure how well I'll do in the time frame. All I can do is start writing and don't look up until all the stories are done.

Lost Pages

Finished the first draft for Lost Pages last night. Once I got to the middle of the story, it was flowing pretty well. As I mentioned earlier, I already wrote this story once. The climax came pretty easily, with only a few minor adjustments from last time. So now I just need to edit it, then out the door it goes. There is a polish challenge coming up at Liberty Hall soon, so I may post it there too.

My wife got me Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird for Christmas. I'm really enjoying the book. The best thing I've taken from it is she mentioned ABDCE.

A - Action

B - Background

D - Development

C - Climax

E - Ending

I hadn't heard of this before, but it really crystallized the project for me. I saw a clear delineation for each section. I'll be keeping it in mind for the future.

So now to edit the story. It definitely needs to be cleaned up. I'd like to have it submitted by the end of this week, but I think next week is a much more realistic goal. I'll keep you posted.

The words flowed like water

onto my paper. At least until I got too tired to hold a coherent thought together (not sure if the Pink Floyd was helping or hurting this). We stayed up for too late last night. Which was completely my fault. Sorry babe. Anyway, off to bed shortly, maybe I'll be able to catch up on some sleep. More writing to come tomorrow.

Another Monday

has arrived. I'm looking forward to getting back home.

I didn't write over the weekend. Largely, I was lazy. No other reason. I can very clearly picture several blocks of time where I could have been writing. I just need to keep reminding myself how I should be slicing up that free time.

Took the kids to the Carnegie museum with some of their friends on Sat, which was a lot of fun. Then on Sunday we took them both to the live show Elmo Grows Up. They both loved it. Though I got a good laugh at the parents readily shelling out $15 for an elmo balloon, which is most likely out of helium today. Next weekend is Tori's birthday, which I'm hoping she'll enjoy.

From the ashes...

Comes a story.

I've written this story before. Had it accepted for publication. Then the magazine folded. While I was a bit disappointed at this, I think it will work out better this way as I can change the story now. Truly make it my own. Previously, it was set it another world, governed by the laws of that world. Now that the magazine is no more, I can do what I want with it.

Oddly, this is turning out to be tougher than I thought it would. At first, I thought simply going through and changing locations would be enough. It's not. I'm still ironing out some things in my world. So while I know the story, a lot more complications are rearing their ugly heads. I'm not entirely sure at which point in time I want to start the story anymore. I had a 3k limit on the story previously, so I had to cut some things. Now the flood gates are open. We'll see how it goes.

Free Fiction: Title

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