Hmmm…not sure about that title, but what the heck. The second draft of “Life on Mars” is complete, taking two mornings rather than the one morning I had originally predicted. I’m sure it needs another few things, but I’ll let it sit a day or three and come back to it with fresher eyes. But […]
Read More ...Category Archives: Short Stories
It’s Raining Novelettes
I’ve now diverted my work on this novel twice, both times to work on a short story idea. Both times I’ve been happy with the result, but somehow my short stories keep growing into novelettes. This last one is now titled “Life on Mars,” and runs something around 10.5K words. This is fine and all, […]
Read More ...A K Every Day
LISTENING TO: Neil Young I’m claiming another thousand words this morning, though honesty requires I state it’s probably a little shy. Damn you honesty! Two primary movements remain to be told to complete the story. Still think the final draft will be done Friday, of course it helps that I’ll be off that day and […]
Read More ...One Title, Coming Up?
This is a bit of an unusual story for me in that I don’t have a working title for it. Usually I have an idea what I want to call something I’m actively writing. But this one has just kind of grown organically. But I got about a thousand words down this morning, and an […]
Read More ...“That’s Nice”
LISTENING TO: Joan Baez – “Ring Them Bells” After a brief bit of derailment, I’m back to writing a new short story. I keep thinking I should be plugging full-bore on the novel, but I’ve had two ideas clashing around in my head for a week now and they’ve come together the past two days. […]
Read More ...Do the Work
Good progress so far this week. It’s a simple equation: do the work. It’s part of a phrase a co-worker and I came up with to keep spirits up on times of high stress, but it fits here–no matter what, do the work and things work out. Somehow. In my case, doing the work each […]
Read More ...Elipses … Sees “The End”
It was a banner morning in the Collins basement. “Elipses …” is together, and through second draft. I really works for me, though I feel that the last two or three paragraphs need to be crafted a bit more. Yesterday I was also thinking the title might need to be reworked again, but this morning […]
Read More ...On Stranglehold and Relativity
It’s fair enough to say that the first draft of “Holes in the Ground” is complete–though I’ve decided its new title is “Ellipses…” We’ll see how that works for a bit. I think I like it. As can happen, finishing this draft has caused me a little set-back because I learned a little more about […]
Read More ...Another day …
… another thousand words. “Holes” is moving along well and may perhaps be done through first draft tomorrow–maybe Friday. It’s now a matter of time rather than raw creativity. I’ve again found it works for me to write in the basement. I know, I know. I knew it before, why did I go away from […]
Read More ...Focus
I was at lunch yesterday and overheard a few snippets of conversation between four guys at the table next to me. They were talking about health care, and apparently having a great time swapping scenarios and complaining about various things. I admit I tried not to listen, focusing instead on the story I’m working on. […]
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