• April 12, 2016 /  Downer Posts, Short Story Dares

    So, 3 stories completed. Working on #4, but the week hasn’t started off well. Having a fibro flare this week that’s really kicking my butt. So I doubt I get much writing done for the next few days. Bleh.

  • Well, I gave the story a brutal cut, trimming away 300 words, but final word count was 2095 words. So…while I didn’t complete the dare to the letter, I completed it to the spirit. And I finished my taxes (and straightened my desk). So, all in all, a good day.

  • Okay, the good news is that I just finished my story. The bad news is that it’s 2475 words. Going to let it set for tonight and then look at it again tomorrow. Will see if I can cut 4 pages out. We’ll see.

    In other good news, my contributor’s copy arrived today for Street Magicks, an anthology edited by Paula Guran from Prime Books. My short story, Speechless in Seattle (which appeared in Fiction River: Hex in the City, edited by Kerrie L. Hughes) has been reprinted in this anthology. I was amazed when I saw the table of contents. I’m appearing in an anthology with Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Bear, and Jim Butcher!!! Wow…can’t believe it. 🙂

    Street Magicks

    So, today was a pretty cool day. 🙂

  • March 30, 2016 /  Short Stories, Short Story Dares

    I’m at 1200 words now. Hope to hell this thing holds together. When I get this close to the maximum word count, I have a bad tendency to rush my ending. So this time, I will make a conscious effort to write the ending as it should be written, with all attention to detail and no shortcuts. I can always go back and trim. There is always verbiage that can be cut. After I get the whole story onto my potter’s wheel, I should be able to shape it into 1500 words. Wish me luck. 🙂

    G’night!

    Listening to: Celtic Garden by David Arkenstone

  • March 28, 2016 /  Short Stories, Short Story Dares

    So, Ron made a short story challenge this time. Can’t turn down a dare. So, embarking on another short story this time. And strangely, I’m already 300 words into it. And this challenge is for flash fiction. So, gotta be lean and mean and go for the gut. Here I go. At least if I screw this one up, I can restart a few times before Sunday. 🙂

    G’night…

    Listening to: Dark Sky Island by Enya (yes, I really like this CD)

  • March 27, 2016 /  Short Stories, Short Story Dares

    So I just finished this monster dare story. Came out to be 9100 words. Needs some fleshing out though, some confusion and details fixed, but it’s done. As many of my stories do, this won took a curve off the highway, making me scramble a bit. But it’s officially a novelette. Called Water Horses (unless I think of a better title).

    G’night.

    Listening to: Dark Sky Island by Enya

  • Halfway through my dare story.  About 3200 words in and I think this one’s gonna be 6000 – 8000 words. We’ll see how many words it ends up being. With the story events halfway told, there’s a lot more ground left to cover.

    And I am sad to report that all my teams have faded from the dance. My NCAA bracket is a sad panda. Oh, well, there’s always next year, right?

    Good night!

    Listening to: Dark Sky Island by Enya

  • March 21, 2016 /  Short Stories, Short Story Dares

    Spent quite a bit of time this evening working through ideas for the dare story. Came up with some possibilities that appeal to me and my writer’s vision. A lot of details that I need to let simmer for the night. Will start writing tomorrow night, I hope. But to quote Han Solo, “I have a bad feeling about this.” Bad in the sense that I think this idea will easily be a novelette. Can see it easily hitting 10K. At this point in my career, I can usually judge how long a story will be when I begin work on one. Many times, I’ve put the word count at the top of the page and then gone back after finishing the story to look at the number. It was within ten words or right on the mark. We’ll see. I’ll know more once I start writing the actual text.

    Listening to: Celtic Garden by David Arkenstone

  • So…I challenged Ron Collins to a short story dare after he shared a cool photo with me. Beginning Monday, he and I will write a short story in a week, turn in date is end of the day, Sunday, 3/27/16. Theme is: Water-magic. Stay tuned.

    Still working on the story/novel idea I came home with, researching this and that. Still in research mode, but I’ve written the first few pages of Chapter 1. Will see how this goes as I pull together more info.

    Also, working on putting together a new short story collection. Called The Magic of Ordinary Things, it will have 14 or 15 of my short stories that didn’t appear in my first collection, The Sound of Angels. Still working on the lineup and the cover (which is very close to completion).

    Now that two of my NCAA teams have left the bracket, I have one team left. So, go Ducks! Oregon must stay til the end. If they don’t, I will have to find another team to cheer for this year. This is one of my favorite times of year. I love the excitement and drama of the NCAA tourney, especially when Purdue is still in the dance. Maybe next year, but with all our seniors departing, we’ll be starting from scratch next year. But I can still hope.

     

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  • March 12, 2016 /  Real Life, Short Stories, Writing News

    So I made it to the workshop and got through this bout of pneumonia. Had a lovely time at the workshop. Got to catch up with so many dear friends and made some new ones, too.

    Aaaaaaannnnnnddddd…

    I am thrilled to announce that I sold four short stories. And I can also officially announce my reprint sale.

    First up, Speechless in Seattle, my urban fantasy story that appeared in Fiction River: Hex in the City, edited by Kerrie L. Hughes will reappear in the anthology, Street Magicks, edited by Paula Guran and published by Prime Books. Sooo cool! 🙂

    Also, I have sold the following new stories:

    Sense and Sentientability (SF) to Fiction River: No Humans Allowed edited by John Helfers
    A Pearl into Darkness (crime fiction) to Fiction River: Justice edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
    Starfish at Ebbtide (YA fantasy) to Fiction River: Wishes edited by Rebecca Moesta
    Goodnight, Madison (thriller) to Fiction River: Pulse Pounders 3 by Kevin J. Anderson

    It’s been quite a week or so and I’m totally stoked about the sales and a reprint. These stories won’t appear until 2017/2018, so look for them sometime next year.

    In novel news, still working on a book 2 for my Sundial Inn series as well as several books in a 6-book dystopic series. And a really awesome idea came to me on my last morning at the Oregon Coast. Not sure what it will be yet, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be a novel. So, working on that as well as another short story I started at my workshop.

    So…things are going very well atm.