Thursday, February 16, 2012

Writing Journal: 2/16/2012 Update



Since this is a writing blog, I think I should give periodic updates of what I'm working on as a writer, just in case you're interested.

  • I currently have a few things out in submission -- a science fiction short story (about 2k words), a flash piece (just under 1k words), and a few 50-word stories.  I won't give many details now because if they're not accepted, then they'll probably get tweaked and resubmitted elsewhere, and --hopefully-- I'll eventually be able to point you to some actual published work of mine.

  • I'm making decent progress on a re-write of the first chapter of my novel.  It's going a little slowly because I am also creating a rough top-level outline for the book.  The whole "outline vs. just letting it happen" debate is a good topic for longer discussion some day, but for now, let me just say that I am somewhere in the middle -- I like the spontaneity of the seat-of-the-pants (SOTP) method, but have also run into several  problems using it on this novel, so now I'm trying to outline to at least sketch out the overall plot structure.  We'll see how this goes...

  • I'm finishing up the last version of a short flash (<250 words) piece I'm going to use as an entry for the current contest at Flash Fiction Chronicles.

  • I also have a few new short story ideas I'm mulling over and will be putting them onto paper soon.

  • I'm staying involved at the Creative Copy Challenge , frequently playing around with the 10x10 concept (10 sentences of 10 words each, using the CCC's 10 prompt words in order AND in position within the sentence according to the number of the word).

  • I'm also trying to be a little more social on fellow writers' blogs.  My buddy DL Hammond's blog (Cruising Altitue 2.0) is one I frequent (he's currently doing a fun "WRiTE CLUB" contest), and I've met several other people whose blogs I follow.  This is a lot of fun, and I'm getting to know many great fellow writers, but I also have to say that I am wary of getting too involved in this.  Not that I'm anti-social, but I don't want all my free time to be spent blogging and socializing.  As a full-time working engineer with a family, I only have so much free time, and I want to err on the side of writing more than blogging and socializing more.  So if you're someone I follow and you ever wonder why I don't comment more on your blog, please don't take it as a slight or a sign that I don't like you or what you post. 

  • I'm reading as much as I can.  I think being a writer requires a lot of reading.  I always have a novel in-progress, and you can stay up on that by following the books I post to the right.  But I also love reading the short-story and flash work of other authors.  Every Day Fiction, its sister site Ray Gun Revival, and Daily Science Fiction are some of may favorite places to visit.  I've discovered some really great writers at these sites (Milo James Fowler, Ruth Nestvold, K.C. Ball, and so many others).  I definitely encourage anyone interested in great flash, short stories, and just damn fine writing to check out EDF, RGR, and DSF.

So that's where I am as a writer these days.  I guess the most important thing is this:  I'm still writing.



10 comments:

DL Hammons said...

I hear you about the whole blogging taking over your life thing. This week is challenging with the ORIGINS blogfest and WRiTE CLUB, but things will get back to normal next week and there will be more of a balance. You do meet some AWESOME people this way though! :)

StratPlayerCJF said...

I hear you Don! I have met several great people -- many of them through your blog, LOL!

LTM said...

you reminded me that I forgot to vote over at DLs on Saturday. Weekends are pretty much always my "offline" days. :p

But this is all good stuff. Great progress! I'm actually going to do more plotting on my current WIP as well, but mostly b/c I've got a lot of stuff going on there, and I started the MS like spring 2010... crazy. :D <3

StratPlayerCJF said...

Thanks, Leigh!

Yeah, me too -- I tend to be offline
much more on the weekends.

And hang in there on the WIP -- It'll happen, I know it!

nutschell said...

Wow! It's great that you're keeping busy with your writing. And reading is a big requirement for writing. :) I read at least 1 book a week--most of the time through audiobooks. :)

StratPlayerCJF said...

@nutschell: Yeah, I love to read, too. And even if our ears are doing the reading, lol.

I should do more audiobooking -- my daily 45 min. commute (1 1/2 hr per day) would be a great time to get in some aural 'reading'.

Dianne K. Salerni said...

Good luck on the submissions! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

It can be really hard to keep up with the blogging and still have time to write (not to mention the day job and the family). I try to hit everybody's blog now and then, but couldn't possibly visit all blogs every week.

Not to mention, my blog roll widget is acting strange, and now I have to resort to more inconvenient methods of getting to all the blogs I follow. Grrr.

StratPlayerCJF said...

Thanks, Dianne -- I appreciate the visit and the good luck wishes!

I'll take all the luck I can get, lol!

Anonymous said...

What day isn't today?

StratPlayerCJF said...

@Anonymous: Well, let's see...

There's Doris Day, birthday, holiday, Arbor Day, Independence Day (the holiday and the movie), Boxing Day, Daniel Day-Lewis, Christmas Day, Morris Day, Earth Day, moving day, Groundhog's Day (the holiday and the movie), washing day, Judgment Day (the event and the movie), and probably a gazillion others...

Did I hit any of the ones you were thinking of?