Progress Report

The other day, I decided to force my writing juices to the surface. I hammered out a page of a story I'm calling "Next Breath" and the first page of another story called "Finder" (working title). Both stories have hidden plots--just the idea is there. Even the characters aren't fully formed yet. But it seemed to have worked. I sat down to work out some of the details on those one-pagers and got smacked with an epiphany about "Broken Gold." I had to excise 700 words to resume in a different direction and it took an additional character introduction, but I figured it out! I crushed a further 2,800 words to cap it off. It will need some work, but the ending is in place. It even turned out better than I thought it would. Now, are the juices still flowing? Can I drop back into one of those one-pagers and knock out some more words? I did the one-pager treatment on "Thieves of Chikara" and got a really good story out of the technique. Maybe this...

I noticed another open call pop up the other day, so sent out "Paradise Burned" again. Sim sub...sim sub...sim sub. Will I run out of magazines to send it to? Only time will tell. A lot of time, actually, since the earliest I can expect a response from any of these mags is September. I'm building quite the universe in my head for my next short story. So much so that I'm wondering if it should instead be my next novel. With the brain brake I had with "Broken Gold," I'm considering doing another sci-fi novel for #3, namely, this new story. Many authors have used a short story as a launching pad for an expanded novel. Maybe I should start with a self-contained short and either use it as a prologue or inflate its parts into something expansive? I've also posted a new novel review for an old Stephen King book over on Goodreads , and on my website .

To be honest, I held off on a new post in hopes I would have some more great news--namely, another publication. Alas, got the big ol' middle finger again, so had to resend "Paradise Burned" out to another couple mags. The new short story, "Broken Gold" (it's called now), started out great but I've now hit a snag. I know how it ends, only I don't know how to make that believable. Not that it's absurd, it just needs all the ingredients to be delicious. Every time I dip my finger in, it feels like it's missing something. I will figure it out. I won't just wait for it to work itself out in my head like I used to do, though. I will need to start my next short story. My next short story should be a beauty! I've got a great sci-fi idea that will require a good deal of research before I get started. My intention is to start chipping away at that tomorrow.

I missed doing an update last weekend but didn't have much to report anyway. Just working on my new treasure hunting short story, "Testing Cursed Gold," which I finally named moments ago. The story actually has less to do with treasure hunting and more to do with ... well, you read the title. It's really fun and I just finished writing a cool car chase scene with vehicles from the 1940s. I have an idea where I want to go, but I'm going to give it another week to brew.

"The new phonebook's here! The new phonebook's here! I'm a somebody now!" If you haven't seen The Jerk with Steve Martin, you must watch it. I'm saying my published short story has come to me in book form! It is on my shelf now! It does exist! As you might imagine, I'm pretty stoked to touch it. And it looks legit! Very well done. I'm impressed. Hopefully the paper version will become available again, if not, some time this year it will be on Amazon for digital purchase. I'll let you know. Today I pumped out 3 pages on my new short story, "Untitled," as I call it (working title). It reads pretty good. I've got to figure out what happens next, but it is a good handshake for the reader to this world. I've officially given up waiting for a certain magazine publisher to get back to me on "Otherworldly." When I first submitted it, I realized afterwards that I had submitted too early for their scifi theme, so I expected a ...

A pretty quiet day on the writing front today. There are a few updates to drop on ya, though. The editor of Big Smoke Pulp, Vol. 2 got back to my inquiry to let me know that the print copies are indeed on their way! In fact, the next comment on the Kickstarter a few days later was from a supporter who had received his book. I may be only days away from updating my bookshelf! Adriano also confirmed that the story will be available for purchase on Amazon after the Kickstarter is fulfilled. From The Submission Grinder (submission logging and tracking website), I've learned that form rejections are still being doled out from the last place I sent "Paradise Burned." Their average rejection timeline is about 31 days, while their average acceptance timeline is 45 days. "Paradise Burned" is on day 52. So where does that leave me? You would think I would be excited about this potential sale, but I've been fooled before. They could just be behind. Like I've said ...