Every Spare Moment

I'm learning to discipline myself to write whenever I have a few minutes of time. I carry my little Moleskine notebook with me, usually in my back pocket, and when I have a few minutes to spare (like when I'm waiting in line at the bank or proctoring a test) out it comes. I generally try to jot down a few lines for whatever short story I'm working on at the time. The most difficult thing for me when I do this is getting my head back into the story, but I think it's getting easier with practice.  

Square One on the Detective Story

Okay, sports fans. It looks like once again, I'm scrapping most of the work I've done so far on the story I was tentatively entitling "Firewater." It was nearly done this time, too, but somehow, it still wasn't right. So after a few days of working through it, I decided to wipe the slate clean and start from the beginning. First, I did some research on the genre by dowloading actual detective stories from the 1920s and 30s and reading through them to get a feel for typical stories in the genre. Though this seems obvious, I hadn't actually done it up till that point. Then once I read a few, I started afresh. I was amazed how quickly I was able to get the voice of my character. I've found that with my best stories, once I have the "voice" of my character or characters, the story practically writes itself, as I always have a really good idea what they're going to do or say. I have a general idea of where the story is heading, but I let my characters take me there.

Anyway, I'm encouraged. The new story's clipping along nicely and it feels like a much better story, too.

Back in the Saddle

I have been on a kind of hiatus, due to trying to recover from jet lag and an extremely frenetic time in the States. Now that I'm starting to feel like a human being again, I'm getting back to work. My favorite editor (my wife) got "Sinking NeoVenice" back to me with her edits and suggestions. Fortunately, she liked it. I have yet to hear opinions from others in my circle of first readers, so I'll ask them for feedback and then wrap up my final edits on that story soon. I also worked quite a bit on editing my other story "Firewater" the other night and then sat and wrote towards the ending. I've been kind of stuck on how to proceed with the ending, but I think after a couple of false starts, I've finally got a direction to head towards. Once it's done, then it'll be off to my friend Jim for feedback and we can start working it up into a screenplay. 

Anyway, the rusty gears are grinding but the writing machine is starting up again. 

"Elbow Room" is Published

My short story "Elbow Room" has now been published in RayGun Revival Issue 27. You can download the complete issue as a PDF if you're interesting in reading the story.

Working on the fly...

On my plane flight over to the States, I got a lot done on my "Firewater" story. Overall, I wrote over 2,500 words and got within one scene or two of the end. Of course, this is just the zeroth draft, but it is encouraging. At least I'll have a ball of clay on the table to work with now. 

Slow going

I got a little bit of work done last night on "Firewater," but it was slogging work. Between packing and other housework, and a healthy bout of procrastination, I didn't get much done. I got one short scene written and some details worked out, but that's about it. Oh well. Maybe I can get more done when I'm at the car wash today.

On the Shortlist at ASIM

Just got an email from ASIM that my story "Woman is Cipher is Woman" has now made it to the third round, also known as the shortlist. At this point, it's in the hands of editors, who are trying to find a place for it in one of their upcoming issues. According to the email, about 1 in 3 submissions make it from this point to full publication, so it's not a sure thing, but it is encouraging. Also, they said that they'll contact me within two to three months, so it may be a while before I hear again on this. I'll post an update as soon as I know more.