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!