Outlining

I'm currently engaged in a fairly new undertaking for me. Basically, I'm analyzing a lot of raw material, then outlining in preparation for distilling it down into an interesting and compelling non-fiction narrative which will form chapters of a future book. (another author is working on the other half of the book) In a sense, I will be writing it, but in another sense, it's someone else's work. I guess that's what ghostwriting's all about. It's an interesting learning experience. 

Done with the Devos

I'm finished with my first draft of the week's worth of devotionals from Philippians I was asked to work on about a month ago. 

I like how they turned out, but I'll be running them by the wife just to make sure I didn't write anything really heretical.

Feedback

I've recently joined an online writer's community called Christian Writers.com, and it's been really great so far. 

Many of the people who post there have similar vision and focus as me, and there's a fiction writing workshop area which allows you to post your work and receive feedback on it. It works on a point system where you get points if you post edits & suggestions to others' work. You can then use the points to post your own work. 

I posted "The Crimson Rod" and got some really valuable feedback, plus rave reviews. Highly encouraging. 

Finished

Well, after a week of frantic work when I could make the time, I'm done with the first draft of my story set in Palestine.  I've still got a portion of one scene I need to write, and some tightening and tweaking yet to do, but I'm about 98% there, I estimate. 

This is going to be a fairly busy writing week for me, since I also have five devos to write as well. I'm trying not to panic about those, but to apply my little "bird by bird" rule to them (courtesy of Ann Lamott). 

Anyway, I'll be very glad when these two projects are done with. 

Second round

My short story "In Plain Sight" has made it through the first round of readers over at Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. It's now in the second round, and within 2-3 weeks (or less) I should hear whether it's made it to the third round. I've never had a story make it all the way to publication with this magazine, but I have had a few make it to the third round, only to be eventually dropped. We'll see what happens with this one. I don't have tons of confidence that it'll make it all the way, but we'll see. 

Finished one, started another one

I wrapped up my short story "The Crimson Rod" this week, and right now, it's in second draft edit phase. I like how it came out, and after it undergoes some tweaking, I'll start looking for a market for it. 

Now I'm working on another one that I hope to finish over the next couple of days. This one's set in modern-day Palestine. I've already written about 1500 words into it, and it's still going strong. An essay that one of my students wrote served as inspiration (though the events that occur in the narrative are completely different than what she wrote in her essay). The rest of it is based on my own experiences in the West Bank, though again, the actual story is completely fictional. I'm frankly a little surprised but pleased how easily the story is writing itself. That's a good sign, as my most successful stories have come out that way. Anyway, we'll see how it all comes out. 

Sold another one

I just found out that I sold another story to a literary startup magazine called "Semaphore," based out of New Zealand. They should be publishing "Woman is Cipher is Woman" in their December 2007 issue. I'll post a link for it here once it gets published.

In addition, there's a possibility that the story will be included in a year-end anthology for the magazine, but whether that happens or not remains to be seen.

Anyway, I'm pumped.

Full Plate

Looks like things are ramping up a bit for me these days. 

• I've got a short story to finish for this lit mag I'm writing for right now (and as a followup to my last post, I rewrote the words that I lost and then kept going, so things are going alright there, aside from lost time). 

• I've got research data (mostly anecdotal stuff) to analyze, collate and edit for this book I'm ghost co-writing. 

• I've got other stories coming up that I'll be editing, a couple of my own and a bunch of others' that I promised a friend I'd help edit. 

• I'm also writing some devos as a freelance assignment as well as giving feedback on ones written by other authors. 

So I'm busy. But it's a good kind of busy. 

Aaagh!

I diverged from my usual practice of writing my fiction in longhand and then transferring it to the computer, and now I'm regretting that decision. 
My computer hiccupped (something to do with battery problems) and caused me to lose over 1,500 words from the story I'm working on right now. That means the work of an entire writing session (one I was very pleased with, by the way) lost. 
I'm pretty upset, to say the least, and a bit depressed by it all, but I'm trying to make the best of it. 
I'm recreating what I can remember from my notes and hopefully the scene I rewrite from memory will be even better than the one I originally wrote. 
I've learned my lesson, anyway. Backup any digital work.