Writing Journal: First Time 'Published'!

My short-short story "Expectations" has been posted at Fifty-Word Stories.  This is my first-ever accepted and published piece!  (Click on the story title for the link, or click HERE).

At Fifty-Word Stories, each work posted by the site host Tim Sevenhuysen or a guest author has to be exactly 50 words -- not 49, not 51. It's a fun challenge to try and get a cohesive 'story' into such a tight constraint.

"Expectations" is a little different than the genre (mystery, science-fiction, or suspense/horror) stories I typically write, and while it's only a short micro-fiction piece, it's still a thrill to have something I wrote be accepted and posted.

It may be just a short baby-step, but at least it's a first step in the effort to become a published writer...  ;^)

I hope you enjoy the piece -- as usual, any comments, suggestions, or other feedback is always welcome.  Thanks for reading!

Writing Journal: Wow! An Acceptance!

Just to give a quick update.  I'm still recovering from Vacation week time-wise, and regrettably lagging behind on my writing goals, so I don't have the time I'd like to take for a longer post (I also have some ideas for other posts I'd like to make once things settle down some). 

Anyway, I did manage to complete a story last week for my W1S1 commitment ("Storms", submitted to Every Day Fiction), although I'm still a week behind.  Hopefully I can get an extra one finished this week (unlikely) or next (more likely), and get back on  my goal target.

Also, I've actually, amazingly, wonderfully, and awesomely (to spew adverbs in a very non-professional-writerly way) had my first acceptance!  My 50-word story "Expectations" was accepted by Tim Sevenhuysen at Fifty Word Stories, and will be published there later this week!!!!  Too cool!

I'll update when the story is posted and give a link.  In the meantime, I'm scrambling through another busy week and trying to somehow trying to get some writing done amid the chaos.

Writing Journal: 7/13/11 Update

Wow -- back from vacation, and while it was great having a week off, man, OH MAN, am I now swamped and do I really feel behind in my writing!  As far as writing, here's what I accomplished last week:

• I did some writing on a short-story, but I didn't finish it, and so it wasn't submitted in time to meet my W1S1 goal for last week
• I didn't get any work done on my novel WIP
• I missed a whole week at the Creative Copy Challenge
• I didn't do any updates or writing on my own blog here
• I didn't post on any of the blogs or writing sites I like to frequent

Pathetic, isn't it?

And so far, this week has been crazy, and I'm slipping behind on this week, too!  Arrrgh!

So the journal update for today is that I'm back, I'm behind, and I'm busy.

I'm working to get out of just surviving the rapids to make it to a slower pace where I can catch up on everything.  Still, I'm writing -- slowly, but if nothing else, I'll get something done for this week's W1S1 goal, and then hopefully will be able to catch up and do a double-submit next week.  The week off also gave me some much-needed new inspiration on my novel that has been in a spot where I just haven't been happy with anything I wrote on it, and so now I'm eager to put some serious keyboard-time into that, too.

And while it was a week acceptance-free in terms of the work I have sitting in various publishing slush piles, it was also a week that was rejection-free, too.  So that's a plus, or at least nothing to complain about.

This week, I'm back and writing, but I may not have much of an on-line presence at the CCC or anywhere else I normally frequent, so if you're visiting here from one of those sites, let me tell you that I'm alive, and plan to make it back as soon as possible.

So that's where I am in this writerly life on Wednesday-the-13th...

Thoughts at Large: Happy 4th of July!

Not too much to update in this blog post -- I apologize for the brevity.

I'm on vacation, and not spending too much time in front of the computer this week, although I'm still putting in writing time working on my W1S1 submissions, and also trying to finish up a chapter in my WIP novel.

But other than that -- I'm pretty much in vacation mode.  ;^)

So I just want to wish everyone here in the States a wonderful 4th-of-July holiday!

I may post again later this week, but if not, don't worry -- it just means I'm having a great vacation. I hope you have a wonderful week, too!

Writing Journal: 6/28/11 Update

So as an update for the end of June, where am I in my writing life as of today?   

Probably, at least at some level, where I'll always be:

I am a writer who is working towards becoming a writer.

Clear enough?  Or do you think it doesn't make sense?  Okay, let me try to explain by breaking it down:

Well, "I am a writer", because I'm writing.

I'm regularly writing created-in-the-spur-of-the-moment stories for the Creative Copy Challenge prompts (and posting some of them here to share also).  I'm also regularly creating short stories, flash pieces, 50-word stories, or even 5x5 25-word stories as part of my Write1-Sub1 output, and submitting them each week.  Finally, I'm also semi-regularly (much too slowly, I confess), continuing to work on the first draft of my first novel.

So -- just by the fact that I'm doing all of that and generating around 3,500 words per week, I'm a writer.

But I'm still "working towards becoming a writer", too. 

Not because I remain (so-far) unpublished, although that is part of it.  But more-so simply because I don't think my writing is good enough yet.  Not that I think it's terrible.  In fact, there is usually something I like quite a bit in every piece I complete -- some nice phrasing, characterization, a fun twist, some decent scene-setting, or whatever.   But it's not consistent.  Hell, frankly, it's virtually uncontrollable.  The more I try to make something particularly good, the less likely it is to turn out that way.  Damned if I know why, but most times, the parts I like are the ones that just basically happened.

Still, I would like to improve -- to be able to generate those magical moments of writing more often.  To be able to know going in how to make sure that a new story is going to be good, and to be able to control it somehow.

But I'm discovering this may not be completely possible.  

Sure, I know that writing more and more stories will make me a better writer, but I don't think it will ever be possible to totally control that magic; to ensure that any given story, scene, or even sentence will be decent before it's written.

The renowned and admired writer John Steinbeck said as much in this "Letter of Advice for Beginning Writers" that I came across.  

"Over the years I have written a great many stories and I still don't know how to go about it except to write it and take my chances.  ... after many years, to start a story still scares me to death."

Damn.   

Even John Steinbeck, towards the end of a long and hugely successful and highly-awarded lifetime of writing, considered himself essentially the same thing:

A writer, working to become a writer.

Writing Sample: "A Date With Wendy"

Well, there's not too much new and exciting on the writing front to share -- at least no acceptances, but no new rejections, either.  I'm plugging away on this week's W1S1 story and hope to have it finished by tomorrow, then give it a final edit and get it submitted on Saturday.  I also have a re-write of "Waiting Backstage" completed and ready to submit also.

At some point, when I want to share a piece of my writing, I'll hopefully be able to just give you the link to wherever it's been published, but for the time-being, how about another writing sample from the latest posting I made at the Creative Copy Challenge?

This is fresh from today's prompt, based on the following ten words:

1.         Sordid

2.         Velocity

3.         Unanswered

4.         Concretize -- to make real or specific

5.         Miscalculated

6.         Raincoat

7.         Stalactite 

8.         Creepy

9.         Bumpy

10.        Arduous

As I like to do with the CCC prompts, this piece was a rapid, improvised story, written on the spur of the moment, as soon as I saw the prompt words.  I enjoy seeing what I can come up with and discovering where the story will go in as fluid and organic a way as possible.

I hope you enjoy it -- as always, comments, suggestions, and any feedback are always welcome.  Thank you very much for reading!

Writing Journal: Now I am Officially a Writer

Well, I knew it was going to happen eventually.  It's virtually impossible to be a writer and NOT have it happen.

But knowing its going to happen doesn't always make it easy when it does.

I received my first story rejection...

Well, technically, I'd been turned down before on my 50-word story over at the 50-Word Story blog, so I guess that was really my first rejection.  But this seemed, somehow, more "real".  It was for a story that I'd spent quite a bit of time writing and honing, and so I think I had more emotional investment in this piece.

My flash-fiction story "Waiting Backstage," the first piece of writing I ever actually submitted, was rejected by Every Day Fiction.  It was a positive that it even made it out of the slush pile and referred to the editors, and the rejection was a personal rejection, not just a form rejection, so that's another positive.

Plus, the rejection had feedback and comments from three of the staff at EDF, and there were many positive things said about me and the story, most notably "I'd like to see more from this author."  Several of the comments suggested ways to improve the story, and they were truthfully spot-on.  Overall, they were fair, very positive, and extremely helpful on how I might make the story better, and I have to admit that I agree with them on what were some weak points of the story.

So, in many ways, it was a positive experience.

But it was still a rejection.

I'll edit and tweak the story to make it better incorporating the feedback from EDF, and then throw it back into the submissions pool at another venue.  And I'll also keep writing and submitting other work to Every Day Fiction (in fact, there's another story of mine over there currently in the slush pile).

So the rejection isn't the end of the world.  It's just part and parcel of being a writer, right?

I expect I'll get more, so I'd better get used to them.

But it still kinda bites...

Writing Sample: "I Bring You Wonders!"

For this writing sample, how about something hot off the press (or at least the keyboard)?

This is from today's prompt at the Creative Copy Challenge, consisting of the following ten words:

1.         Hit

2.         Boy

3.         Girl

4.         Seminar

5.         Stellar

6.         Resources

7.         Timeliness 

8.         Feral

9.         Eucalyptus

10.        Hobby horse

As I like to do with these prompts, this piece was created essentially off-the-cuff; an improvised riff that, frankly, pleasantly surprises me with how it turned out.

I hope you enjoy it -- as always, comments, suggestions, and any feedback are always welcome. 

Thank you for reading!

Writing Journal: Wow -- I'm a Winner!

Wow! I can't believe it -- Something I wrote won a contest!

My 50-word story, "A Trashy Story" was selected as one of the three winners at the GeekingOutAbout 50-word story contest!  Awesome!!!

While I didn't win the grand prize, I am still amazed and very honored to have had something I wrote be selected.  Also, technically, this qualifies as my first-ever 'published' piece, since someone other than me had to accept it and then post it or put it in print.  So a two-fer of awesomeness!

There may not have been a huge amount of entries ("over 25"), but I think the ones they selected to post show tremendous talent, and I'm extremely flattered to have one of my stories chosen from among them.

Click HERE for the Announcement Post.and to read the other winners.

Too cool!!!  I'll be smiling all day...   8^)

Writing Sample: "Come See It"

Well, it's been a while since I offered up any writing samples here on my blog, so how about another one now?

This is an impromptu piece I did for a prompt at the Creative Copy Challenge.  If you've read this blog for a while, you know that this site offers a prompt of ten words, and encourages you to come up with a story using the prompt words.

For this prompt, the words were a tough group, all pulled from the same section under the letters "Bo" in the dictionary: 

1. Botulism
2. Bouillabaisse
3. Bougainvillea
4. Boulevard 
5. Bouffant
6. Boudoir
7. Boulangerie
8. Boondocks
9. Bosun
10. Bosom

Out of these, the word 'Boondocks' kind of jumped out at me, and I came up with an idea about something out in a cabin in the woods, and a kid being scared to go see it.

The piece was intentionally left unresolved, because I wanted to experiment with a suspenseful "what-will-happen?" ending.  But I'm not sure it works, and I may actually visit this again at some point, and use it as the basis of a longer story.

This version has been edited slightly for clarity.  If you're interested, the original off-the-cuff version can be seen HERE.

I hope you enjoy it -- as always, comments, suggestions, and any feedback are always welcome.

Thoughts at Large: Max

Although this is not really a personal blog, I do want to share a family update:

We have a new family member!

His name is Max.  This is him:

He's a one-year-old Lab and Border Collie mix.  He came to us through someone my stepson knows, who was moving and going through some other life changes and really had to give him up, although she hated to do so.

So far it's only been one day, but he's smart, well-adjusted, loving, and very well-behaved, and we're happy to be able to give him a good home.  We had lost our last dog, Kelsey (a Lab-Afghan mix), quite a while ago, and have been thinking about getting another dog, although Kelsey was such a great dog and an ingrained member of the family that it was not something we just wanted to rush into.

Max seems to be one of those 'just-the-right-dog' at 'just-the-right-moment' things, and so far it's working out well, although our cat has voiced her disapproval of the whole idea.  But we think that in time, she will come around.

So what does this have to do with writing?

Well, not much, other than from now on, if I decide to write any dog stories, I have a new technical adviser.

Writing Journal: Write1 Sub1 -- First Week

Just to update you on how I did with my first-week attempt at the Write1 Sub1 Challenge:

I completed it!  > Small Victory! <  (Hence the trophy above that I awarded to myself)

Writing Journal: Write 1, Sub 1

You may notice a new badge over on the right side of my blog: "Write 1, Sub 1 -- 2011 / Weekly."  This is something I stumbled upon this past week, and I've gone and signed up.   Let me tell you about it...

Writing Journal: Cop Class

As a developing writer who is eager to improve his craft, and as one who likes to dabble in the mystery genre, I think one of the most important things is research.  I think it would be horrible to have somebody read something I've written and be wrenched out of the story by the realization that what I wrote was inaccurate, incorrect, or a jumble of completely ignorant ramblings.   

Yes, what I write is fiction, but it has to be believable fiction in order to hold the reader's interest.

That's where research comes in.  I want to try and make things as realistic and as accurate as possible, and so I need to research.  Even though I've only been writing a short while, I recognize the importance of research, and think I could probably write a whole blog post about it.

But this isn't that post.

This is instead, about one way I'm currently doing some research, a way that I'm finding fascinating, enjoyable, and one I'd heartily recommend to any writer:  Attending a Citizen's Police Academy.

Writing Journal: 5/19/11 Update

My slow process of evolving from a "wanna-be writer" to a "writer" continues, and I thought I'd give you an update of how the writing is going:

Writing Sample: 50-Word Stories II

For this update, I'll give you another writing sample in the form of a few more fifty-word stories.  As I posted BEFORE, the idea of these stories comes from the blog 50-Word Stories where a new fifty-word story offered every day.

As I said in that previous post, the concept is simple – each story should be exactly fifty words.  Not 49, not 51 – 50 words exactly.  It's fun and a little challenging, but I like how just a little twist can really make these interesting.

I had mentioned before that I'd sent a sample of my 50-word stories ("She Left") to the owner of the blog as a possible submission.  However, I've heard nothing back so far -- either he hasn't had a chance to get to it yet (his site did mention that he'd recently gotten married and that surely eats into a blogger's time), or it's the dreaded "no reply = NO" submission response.

I'll probably try e-mailing at least once more, with a few more of these, just to see if there's any interest. 

But at least there's no issue of exclusivity according to his submission guidelines, so I'm always free to post them here on my own blog, regardless if he accepts them or not.

As always, I hope you enjoy these, and your comments and feedback are always welcome and much appreciated!

=====

Thoughts at Large: How Often?

As I set down to write a new post, I felt like I should begin with an apology for not having put anything new on this blog since last Wednesday.  I have been busy, and I certainly don't want anyone who visits here to ever think they're ignored or unappreciated, or that I don't care enough about them to post new material for them to read.

But then, I began to wonder:  How often should I actually be posting?  

Once a day is probably unrealistic given my schedule, but once a week seems like it might be too lax.  So what's the right balance?  Heck if I know -- I'm new at this blogification thing, remember?

Writing Sample: "The Look of Murder"

I guess it's time for some more reading fun -- so how about another writing sample?

I had mentioned in an earlier post that I've been working on a series at the Creative Copy Challenge.  I hadn't planned on putting any of it here since it was a series, and I want to focus on stand-alone pieces here, and besides, I'd be done with it soon because I was planning on making it around ten episodes or so.

Well, so far it has grown to thirteen episodes long*, and it seems clear that it will go to at least twenty* before I get to the final whodunit reveal.  Since it has expanded so much, I thought I'd go ahead and post the first segment here, to give you a taste of a larger piece of my work.  If you like, you can visit the CCC to follow along with the on-going story.  This first episode was HERE and I give a link to part two* at the end of this.

The story is a retro private-eye murder mystery, and gives me a chance to have some fun with a Raymond Chandler / Dashiel Hammett type hard-boiled protagonist.  I kind of call it my "Detroit Noir" series since its set in Detroit in 1949.

Of course, because this is being done at the CCC, each episode incorporates the ten prompt words from each day.  When I do a stand-alone piece on the CCC, its fun to improvise a story out of whatever comes to mind based on the words.  But with this series, I have set up some definite plot points I want to get to, so it becomes a case of trying to work the words into that pre-conceived story line -- definitely a different way to deal with the words.

For this first episode, the prompt words were

1.         Grim

2.         Gravy

3.         Gravity

4.         Sultry

5.         Torrid

6.         Frigid

7.         Blistering

8.         White

9.         Tempest

10.       Blizzard

Thank you very much for reading!  I hope you enjoy it, and your comments are always welcome.


*****
* 6/13/11 UPDATE:  This series is now complete, having spanned 24 episodes and over 28,000 words.  It is also now fully assembled into one place HERE.  Enjoy!

*****

Thoughts at Large: Ideas?

Somebody who'd read a few of my stories asked me something the other day, and I believe it's a question that probably every writer will have to field at some point:

"Where do you get your ideas?"

Seems like a pretty open-ended question, but it's really a very easy one to answer:

Right here, in my brain, of course...

Writing Sample: "Celebrity"

For this edition of a writing sample, how about another prompt from the Creative Copy Challenge? 

When I did this one, the words somehow led me to a tongue-in-cheek riff on celebrity.  The ten words for this writing prompt were:

1. Serendipity
2. Indigo
3. Motorboat
4. Scold
5. Entity
6. Delicious
7. Alabaster
8. Hiding
9. Fluctuate
10. Cartoon

In this prompt, I even managed to use all the words in order, something I'd never tried before. 

This version is slightly edited, but the original off-the-cuff version is HERE if you'd like to read it.

I hope you enjoy this, and – as always, any thoughts or comments you might like to make are greatly appreciated!

Writing Journal: Guides and Inspiration

I still consider myself new to being a writer, but the truth is, I've been dabbling with it in a half-assed way for a few years, and have thought about becoming a writer for ages before that.  It's only recently that I decided to become serious enough about being a writer that I began to...you know, actually write.

But as I was building up to my commitment, I spent time trying to get input on the best ways to go about becoming a writer.  I'm an engineer by trade -- I rely on being able to find facts, data, and information to help me do my job, and also have a good piece of book learnin' under my belt, too. So it was only natural that as my thoughts of becoming a writer began percolating, I started nosing around for guides and instruction manuals and sources of helpful inspiration.

Writing Sample: "The Return"

It’s time for another sample of my writing, I think.

This story was another submission to the Creative Copy Challenge.  It’s a little different for me – evidently I’m a bit of a romantic.  ;^)

This one is also unedited – it’s exactly as it turned out as a rough draft, and as it originally posted HERE.

The ten words for this writing prompt were:

1.         Vaudevillian

2.         Snapping turtle 

3.         Spork

4.         Wielding

5.         Ninja

6.         Monkey

7.         Yard

8.         Belly button

9.         Lint

10.       Festival

I hope you enjoy this, and – as always, your thoughts and comments are always welcome.  

Thank you for reading!

Thoughts at Large: I'm a Thief

I realized something the other day as I was working on a story -- a scene I was writing seemed a little familiar.  Not anything blatant, but enough to kind of gnaw at me.  Then I suddenly realized that there had been a similar situation in a Robert Crais book that I'd read months ago.  

Again, it was nothing glaringly obvious.  It wasn't the exact characters doing the exact same things, but man, I could definitely tell where the influence had come from, at least in the setup for that scene.

At first it bothered me.  Here I was trying to create something original, and something I'd read long before had filtered in and come out onto the page.  How could I ever be a decent writer if I couldn't come up with only my own unique, totally original ideas?

Writing Sample: 50-Word Stories

Sorry for the delay in updating this blog – I was out of town the past week and had limited Internet access.

For this version of Writing Samples, I’m offering something a little different -- some Fifty-Word Stories.   

I stumbled upon this website, 50-Word Stories, which is a blog of a new fifty-word story offered every day.  The concept is simple – each story should be exactly fifty words.  Not 49, not 51 – 50 words exactly.  It sounded fun, so I thought I’d give it a try.  As I experimented, I discovered that the word length requirement is kind of a neat restriction, and makes for some entertaining snippets.  I toyed around with it a bit, and I have three samples to post here – “She Left,” “A Nightmare Realized,” and “A Trashy Story.”  Each one was fun to do, and I think allows for some interesting quirkiness to come through.  

By the way, the author of the 50-Word Story site also allows submissions for a guest writer every Monday, so I’ve e-mailed him “She Left” to see if he’d be interested.  His web site says that there is no exclusivity required for posting on his website, so there should be no problem with me posting the stories on my own blog.  So far I’ve heard nothing back yet, but we’ll see what happens.

I hope you enjoy these, and -- as always -- any comments are welcome.

Writing Journal: Current Projects in the Pot

So far, all the writing I’ve shared on this blog has been samples I’ve done with the Creative Copy Challenge.  These are fun, off-the-cuff pieces that I put together as practice and to stir my creative juices.  Although what I post here are slightly edited versions, I generally try to make them as close to rough drafts as possible, because I like to treat them as a form of improvisation – jamming with my writing, so to speak.

I have no problem sharing them on this blog because I treat them as in-the-moment pieces that won’t have much of a life past the point where they’re originally created. 

But is this the only writing I do?  

Nope, not at all, and the purpose of this journal entry is to fill you in on what else I have cooking in the pot

Writing Sample: "Movie Night at the Diner"

How about another writing sample?

This one is another story originally created for the Creative Copy Challenge, a site of writing prompts based on a given set of ten words.  The ten prompt words for this one were:

 1.  Neutrino

 2.  Invigorate 

 3.  Macabre

 4.  Explode

 5.  Hemp

 6.  Satiate

 7.  Incendiary

 8.  Flip

 9.  Cacophony

10.  Recollection

Like "Treasure", this one's a little dark, but slightly more tongue-in-cheek.  I like how it came together, and I got a laugh or two out of it.

As usual, what you see below has been edited a bit from the original.  If you'd like to see the piece as it was first done, visit HERE.

I hope you enjoy this late-night lark, and -- as always -- your comments are more than welcome, and thank you very much for reading!

=====

Writing Journal: Why Write?

A big part of what I want to do with this blog is to track my writing development, to make a bit of a journal about where I am as a writer, discuss things I’ve written, and highlight my evolution from wannabe-writer to ‘successful’ writer.

So this is the first entry, and it starts with the most basic question:  Why Write?

Do I do it only to become that 'successful' writer?  Then what do I measure success by?  Whether or not I get published?

But... What if I never get published? 

Does that mean that this blog is pointless?  That my writing is unsuccessful?  That I’m a failure?

Writing Sample: "Supplier Training"

A new month, and another post to start it out.  

But no April's Fool jokes -- as much as I enjoy being a smart-ass, today is both my wife's birthday and our wedding anniversary, so that always takes priority for me.  So here's a "Happy Birthday" and "Happy Anniversary" to my wonderful wife!!

This is another sample of my writing, and this piece below was one I enjoyed.  I think it's quirky with a twist.  As with my previous two samples, this one came from a ten-word writing prompt at the Creative Copy Challenge. 

The prompt words for this one were:

 1.  Dug

 2.  Broke 

 3.  Fake

 4.  Steal

 5.  Flush

 6.  Open

 7.  Bought

 8.  Mumble

 9.  Muscle

10.  Common

As usual, what you see below has been edited a bit from the original post.  If you'd like to see the original post, visit HERE:

I hope you enjoy this, and I thank you very much for reading!

=====

Thoughts at Large: I Am Not Unique

After setting up this blog and working with it a while, I've confirmed something I had suspected for a while: 

I am not unique.

Not in the "Hey-I-started-a-blog" way, or even the "I'm-an-aspiring-writer" sense -- those I already knew.  There are a multitude of blogs out there, and you can't kick over any Internet rock without a horde of wannabe-writers swarming out.

No, I mean in the way that a kid christened "John Smith" encounters very early in his life: 

What the Hell are all these other people doing with my name?!?

Writing Sample: "Treasure"

Another writing sample for you, and another story that was originally done for the Creative Copy Challenge.  Once again, this is a site that gives 10 random words for you to create a story around. Here are the words from the prompt that led to this story:

     1.  Exhausting
     2.  Thankful
     3.  Koala Bear
     4.  Speaker
     5.  Positive
     6.  Flashlight
     7.  Cactus
     8.  Squeeze Ball
     9.  California Raisin
    10. Lighthouse

As with the previous sample, this story has been edited a bit from the original rough-draft version.  If you’d like to compare with the original post, it is HERE.

Here’s a little tale of treasure: 

Thoughts at Large: Fiddy!

As I was putting together the "About Me" page, one of the statistics that I wrote was: "age 50." 

Sure -- makes perfect sense, right? Age is one of the first things we use to describe ourselves, and that's how old I am right now.

But I kind of did a double-take when I read it back:  50.  Fifty.  Five-zero.  Fiddy!

Wow...  How'd that happen?  It seems like just yesterday I was turning thirty.

Writing Sample: "Invaders"

OK -- If this is going to be a blog highlighting my creative writing, I guess then the first thing I should do is post an example, to give you a taste.

But first, a little set-up:  Last month, while looking for some prompts to use for writing practice, I stumbled across the site, "Creative Copy Challenge". This is a site that provides ten-word writing prompts every Monday and Thursday for writers to use for practice and fun.  The emphasis is on positive feedback, and admin Shane Arthur does an amazing job of keeping everything running smoothly and comments personally on EVERY post.  This site is by far one of the most active sites that I've found of those specializing in the 'writing prompt' niche.

So Why a Blog???

So why a blog?

Well, this whole Internet thing seems like it just might take off, and I wanted to get in on the ground floor before it gets too big -- you know, make a blog while there still aren't that many people doing it.

Oh wait -- it's 2011, not 1991.

Now days, there are probably more blogs out there than there are grains of sand on the beach. And most of them are long-dead, untouched, and left forgotten in dusty and cobweb-filled attics of the Internet.  Many of the early bloggers who were actually successful at them have long-ago gotten bored and moved on to other social media sites like facebook and twitter. And frankly, even that wave may have peaked, and the used-to-be-bloggers are sharpening a new cutting edge far below the radar of aging, un-hip, and out-of-it people like me.

A blog?  Really??? How quaint and retro and doomed to be forever-unread....

So why start one?

The Ripple...

Did you notice that?

The slightest ripple in the cyber-inner-webs???

That was me.  Dipping my toe into the electronic ether...

I've started a blog.  This is it.

Welcome!

(...Click on the "Home" on the menu bar to see what's new...)