Writer, Dabbler In Things
As I mentioned in my last post, the first draft of my first novel is going well. Meaning, as far as progression of the word count. As for the quality?That’s a whole other thing. I rewrote the opening three times, trying three different approaches with it, and it still feels weak. The inciting incident–a young … Read more
I hit a couple of notable benchmarks today. This isn’t to be confused with hitting the magic number I mentioned recently. That’s a whole other thing. And not a good one.Don’t confuse personal bests and personal worsts, people. It can’t end well. No, this time the first benchmark, albeit the less significant of the two … Read more
I’ve just been informed that I made it through the second round of the NYC Midnight Microfiction contest I updated you on recently and am on to the final round this weekend. As always, it feel good to get the approval of people who vet fiction professionally. Looking forward to the next challenge. Update you … Read more
I mentioned recently that I was entering the NYC Midnight Microfiction contest, wherein writers have to write no more than 100 words for a story the organization assigns rand0mized genres, actions, and single words for. Well, the results came in, and I was in the top 20 of my group, so advance to round 2. … Read more
I’ve written previously about the importance, as I’ve been reminding myself, of finishing creative projects I start. There are times that it’s easy. (Hello, handful of haiku about some inspiring or topical experiences.) And there are times when it just isn’t going to happen, at least not in that form not now. (Hello, first novel … Read more
I’ve written previously about the importance of finishing projects you start. It’s something I finally got around to committing to way too late in life, which led to decades of untold numbers of just-started or half-finished stories and scripts in my wake. But the flipside to that is the importance of knowing when a project … Read more
I’ve done a number of contests through the NYC Midnight organization, including short stories and short scripts. Just over an hour ago (midnight NYC time, not coincidentally) we received the assignments for their latest contest: 100-word microfiction stories that are to be completed in twenty-four hours. What the NYC crew does is randomly places the … Read more
My daughter came up with a board game today. I can’t say how well thought-out it was before she drew it onto a large art book-sized page–she’s hacked around with “a start-to-finish path with spaces that have effects”-style board games in the past that were clearly thought up and filled in on the fly–but this … Read more
I was recently struck with an idea for a fantasy story, almost more of a fairytale, that had some dark elements to it. Not Tim Burton dark, but definitely with some heavier overtones. I started brainstorming on it, jotting ideas in my notebook, and pretty soon realized that it had solid potential for being a … Read more
It’s been far too long in coming, but hopefully in short order, this website will not only be live (it actually is now, though no one’s checking it out because I haven’t declared it as active yet, but when I do, boy, howdy, people by the half dozen will come a-runnin’!), but will also look … Read more