Midnight

Sep 28, 2010 Daily Writing, Short Stories

I’ve titled this last one “Midnight at River’s Edge.” It’s quite short, but seems to work for me.

Now we get to see if it works for anyone else. [grin]

A Quiet Walk

Sep 27, 2010 Daily Writing, Life

I’ve been doing a lot of reading and listening about the information overload that human beings are suffering in modern days. We’re reading on phones and e-readers in snippets of times where we were in downtime before, or we’re listening to iPods, or staring at TV screens while we’re working out–activities that were once the bastion of brain-wave downtime.

I’m totally guilty of this, of course. I want to cram as much stuff into my waking days as I can.

But this Saturday I found myself planning to walk to the health club (it’s about a mile and a half away), but realizing my iPod battery was dead. After a quick panic attack, I decided I would actually try to do the walk without any devices.

I admit it felt odd for a bit.

It was a great day for a walk, though, and my body warmed to the task, and before too long I was thinking about things and a story came up and I started gnawing at it, filing off a rough edge, then setting it aside for fifty steps or so and them thinking about it again. I counted steps for a bit, then considered the story at a different angle. I brought a couple of my own memories into the fray, and next thing you know I arrived at the health club with an entire story fleshed out.

I did my weight work and let the framework settle on my mind. My mind gave me back a character, and a motivation.

And on the way back I started envisioning what the opening, middle and closing might actually sound like.

This morning I sat down and hammered out an entire draft.

Take it for what it’s worth. But, me? I’m considering leaving my iPod alone for a bit.

——-

I don’t use this term often, but this is awesome.

Deca-Dad is Published

Sep 25, 2010 Business, Short Stories

I’m pleased to note that my short story “Deca-Dad” has now been published in the December issue of Analog (yea, I know it’s not yet December…I don’t make the rules).

Picasso’s Cat available at Smashwords

Sep 21, 2010 Uncategorized

I already mentioned the Picasso’s Cat & Other stories is available for the Kindle at Amazon.com. Now I get to report you can find it in other e-formats at Smashwords, complete with a free pre-read portion. Hope you enjoy it.

Getting it Together

Sep 20, 2010 Daily Writing

This morning I set my iTunes to Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick and set out to plot out the rest of this book I’ve been fiddling with.

First, let me say that Tull’s TaaB is a great writing background for me. It’s full of rich, intertwining musical riffs without too much in the way of obtrusive vocals to get in the way f my brain waves. It’s also got that overblown, understated British sense of humor all about it that lends itself to metaphysical audacity. Though my story is not humorous, I’m seriously thinking of using Gerald Bostock as one of my characters.

But on to the book. You remember the book, don’t you?

I’ve been in a long string of discovery writing–which is fun, and uncovers lots of interesting things I wouldn’t have thought about before. But it’s also very inefficient, and for someone like me, a little troubling. I have only a few brief moments to write each day it seems, and so I need to feel progress occurring in order to keep my sanity. I had begun to feel augured into the firmament of the story over the past week or two, and the breakout I had this weekend made me think that now was the time to get my act in gear and charge toward the finish line, wherever the heck that winds up being.

So I went back to Randy Ingermanson’s snowflake methodology and developed a top-down model of the plot. I don’t generally follow any single method, of course. I do things my own way. But I find his guidelines fit my brain fairly well.

So now I’ve got this picture in my head that’s firming up, and the world seems to be getting back into focus.

All good, I say. It’s all good.