So apparently I've written and posted several short stories since the last time I remembered to update this blog. What happens is I tell myself, "You should write a post about this story as soon as you get it posted!" Then I post it to the zillion places I post to (I'm actually down to six after some culling, but it still takes a while and can't be automated) and inevitably forget. Last night it was because while I was posting to place number four, I realized I was burning dinner. Places five and six didn't get a post until this morning.
But, yeah... I wrote a short story yesterday. I started it in the local library while waiting for a ride home after accompanying a family member to get blood drawn and finished it after getting home. Then I decided to edit and post it around making dinner, which was probably a mistake. It would likely have been better to just wait until this morning to do it because I doubt having the story available earlier saved anyone's life or anything, but it did cause my skillet potatoes to cook too long.
It's a fun little story, though, and I enjoyed writing it. It's about a tentacle "monster" who would like to remind you to never use flash photography in places where it is expressly prohibited. You can read it on the story blog at https://andybrokaw-stories.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-tangled-tentacles-of-fate.html
This was the sixth week of Wording Wednesday Season 3, which means there will now be a break from short stories. This makes me a little sad, although I clearly need to spend some energy focusing on Faerie Story. If you want to catch up with the other stories this season, which included a tale of a rat who paints and that of an adorable baby nagi, you can find them here.
10/13/2019
I've been really busy this week, mostly with health-related stuff. (I'm fine. I just have acid reflux and a narrowed esophagus that we're having to take pictures of and such.) I did, however, manage to write a short piece that tackles the question, "What if Office Space had been set in Hell?"
Read A Promotion in Hell on my short stories blog.
Read A Promotion in Hell on my short stories blog.
10/7/19
My apologies for allowing this blog to fall by the wayside.
I have actually managed to write some over the last few months, even though I haven't been writing about having written...
I completed an entire season of Wording Wednesday without a peep here. For Season Two, we wrote to prompts inspired by the weather, starting with Sunny with a Chance of Pixies and ending with a snowy tale named Three Little Humans. You can find that entire series on my stories blog marked with WWS2.
Last week, I wrote a story about some monsters hanging in a cafe called Cafe All Souls at 6:36 AM and last Thursday saw a tale about a woman who walks into a teashop to find it manned by a giant spider called Along Came a Spider and Sipped Tea Beside Her.
I have also been reviewing books. I fell off that wagon for a while and have a long backlog of books to potentially write about. Last week, I talked about the fantastic Caraval series and today I posted about a Pretty in Punxsutawney, a mashup of the films Pretty in Pink and Groundhog Day.
So, you see, I have been busy. I just haven't been talking much about it for a variety of reasons. Most of my work on the faerie novel has been working out kinks in my head, but it is still on my mind daily and I hope to get into a new revision soon.
I have actually managed to write some over the last few months, even though I haven't been writing about having written...
I completed an entire season of Wording Wednesday without a peep here. For Season Two, we wrote to prompts inspired by the weather, starting with Sunny with a Chance of Pixies and ending with a snowy tale named Three Little Humans. You can find that entire series on my stories blog marked with WWS2.
Last week, I wrote a story about some monsters hanging in a cafe called Cafe All Souls at 6:36 AM and last Thursday saw a tale about a woman who walks into a teashop to find it manned by a giant spider called Along Came a Spider and Sipped Tea Beside Her.
I have also been reviewing books. I fell off that wagon for a while and have a long backlog of books to potentially write about. Last week, I talked about the fantastic Caraval series and today I posted about a Pretty in Punxsutawney, a mashup of the films Pretty in Pink and Groundhog Day.
So, you see, I have been busy. I just haven't been talking much about it for a variety of reasons. Most of my work on the faerie novel has been working out kinks in my head, but it is still on my mind daily and I hope to get into a new revision soon.
6/2/2019
Man, where did May go?
Over the course of the month, I've written a short story every week, all at https://andybrokaw-stories.blogspot.com if you want to read them and haven't. The one I wrote Friday left me shaking, which I hope means it was good. It was set in a world that I already know fairly well as I have placed two unfinished novels in it. I dreamt about one of those last night and there's a decent chance that when I finish Faerie Story I will want to return to my dragonverse.
As for Faerie Story... I still haven't finished this round of Book One. I am another chapter or two from done, but like the way it's shaping up in my mind. When I finish those chapters, I'm going to jump straight into another revision because I already have a list of alterations and additions. There's only one more week left in this season of short stories, so I'm actually optimistic I'll finally have something to send the betas by the end of the month.
Over the course of the month, I've written a short story every week, all at https://andybrokaw-stories.blogspot.com if you want to read them and haven't. The one I wrote Friday left me shaking, which I hope means it was good. It was set in a world that I already know fairly well as I have placed two unfinished novels in it. I dreamt about one of those last night and there's a decent chance that when I finish Faerie Story I will want to return to my dragonverse.
As for Faerie Story... I still haven't finished this round of Book One. I am another chapter or two from done, but like the way it's shaping up in my mind. When I finish those chapters, I'm going to jump straight into another revision because I already have a list of alterations and additions. There's only one more week left in this season of short stories, so I'm actually optimistic I'll finally have something to send the betas by the end of the month.
5/16/19
I finished the rough for the story I started this morning. It's over 3k words and I wrote them all today, so I'm trying to feel accomplished. What I'm actually feeling is lazy because I'm not editing it this evening, but it's honestly better to let it sit a while anyway.
I have been writing and not updating this blog for the last few weeks. Although I have been stalled again with Faerie Story, this is the third short story I've completed since posting here. With the last two, I spent a day writing what could either be an introduction or a full piece if I wanted to stop, then another day or two continuing. Today's story had an obvious early place to stop, but I rushed right past it because I knew the main story already and knew we hadn't gotten to it yet.
I'm also behind on my book blog. I've been reading, but not reviewing promptly. I'm thinking I may abandon my reviewing my queue and just start over with the next book I finish.
Right now, I'm going to watch something with my husband. I'd tell you what, but that hasn't been determined yet. :)
4/14/2019
Today I wrote 2,211 words. And feel frustrated with my lack of progress because they ended in such as way that commits Faerie Story Book 1 to at least two extra chapters. Clearly, I need to work on how I define accomplishment. I created multiple pages of text! (About five or six when formatted for printing.) And yes, I went in a direction that's adding material, but it's doing it in such as a way that will make the book stronger and more rememberable. So I should be happy with myself, right?
I also have a list of things to add into the book before handing it off to the betas. This means I'll probably not be handing it over before the end of the month, which puts me a month behind the imaginary schedule in my head. Again, this is not something to be upset about. I spotted things to add on my own, which implies I know what I should be doing even if I didn't do it already, and, once again, the changes will make the book better. So, yeah, spotting the problems means more work, but it's still a good thing!
In other news, I'm still on hiatus from short stories, but have decided on a theme for the official first season of the new Wording Wednesday format. It shall be Beginnings. I'll be hunting down my six prompts over the next fortnight so I'll be certain they work well together. If you have recommendations for artwork or artists, please let me know! (If the piece is by you, all the better!)
Wording Wednesday is currently on MeWe and Openbook, but I am thinking I may create a blog for it to allow people not on those networks to follow along and contribute if they wish. Eventually, Openbook communities will be visible to people without Openbook accounts, but I have no idea how far away we are from that. At present, Openbook is in alpha and still lacking a lot of features like free accounts and true public visibility.
I'm going to try to relax for the rest of today and get a jump on those new chapters tomorrow. Wish me luck!
I also have a list of things to add into the book before handing it off to the betas. This means I'll probably not be handing it over before the end of the month, which puts me a month behind the imaginary schedule in my head. Again, this is not something to be upset about. I spotted things to add on my own, which implies I know what I should be doing even if I didn't do it already, and, once again, the changes will make the book better. So, yeah, spotting the problems means more work, but it's still a good thing!
In other news, I'm still on hiatus from short stories, but have decided on a theme for the official first season of the new Wording Wednesday format. It shall be Beginnings. I'll be hunting down my six prompts over the next fortnight so I'll be certain they work well together. If you have recommendations for artwork or artists, please let me know! (If the piece is by you, all the better!)
Wording Wednesday is currently on MeWe and Openbook, but I am thinking I may create a blog for it to allow people not on those networks to follow along and contribute if they wish. Eventually, Openbook communities will be visible to people without Openbook accounts, but I have no idea how far away we are from that. At present, Openbook is in alpha and still lacking a lot of features like free accounts and true public visibility.
I'm going to try to relax for the rest of today and get a jump on those new chapters tomorrow. Wish me luck!
4/8/2019
I've had a frustrating week since last I posted. I lost a day to anxiety about someone coming to fix a leaking faucet line. Then I lost a second day to the same thing because he didn't show up on the first day. Then I had a severe headache. And then I simply decided I'd rather play Smash Brothers with my son than work, because he's seventeen and doesn't ask to play with me very often anymore.
Today, most of the day was eaten by a trip to the grocery store. Yes, really. No, the trip didn't take more than an hour. But I had to gear myself up to go, then I had to decompress after unpacking everything. Then I felt I should write my newsletter, so I still haven't done any work on finishing up Faerie Story Book 1. I'm about to to do that as soon as I finish the newsletter... Although I'm feeling a little dizzy all of a sudden, so maybe not...
The bit of the newsletter that doesn't involve the stuff you can see on my other blogs is reprinted below. Cheers!
Happy Spring! (Or Autumn if you're in the Southern hemisphere...)
Spring is hard for me. It's difficult to say if it's better or worse than summer, but it's certainly in my least favorite half of the year. Between hating heat and being allergic to sunlight as well a very long list of plants, spring tends to lead to sniffling and depression. So far this year hasn't been so bad. I have lost days in the last few weeks to sinus headaches, but my mood hasn't crashed, so I'm not going to complain too much.
Clearly, I'm already having problems keeping this up weekly and that's not going to get easier as the year progresses. Therefore, my weekly newsletter is now officially a fortnightly newsletter. I'll be aiming for the second and fourth Mondays of each month.
I have also changed from a goal to write a new piece of short fiction every week. Now I am planning to do "seasons" of six weeks where I write weekly short fiction followed by six weeks in which I focus more on my novels. I'm doing this because while I was enjoying creating a new story every week, it was not the one day a week endeavor I had aimed for but something that takes up at least two or three days, which had a significant impact on my progress in my novels.
Speaking of my novels, I am very close to completing my current revision of Faerie Story Book 1. When that's done, I'll send it back to my betas. I'm debating whether I am then going to try to jump into Book 3's rough draft for the second half of Camp NaNoWriMo (it's like National Novel Writing Month except not in November) or start revising the second book. Since I want to release all three books in very close proximity to each other, I will not be publishing Book 1 until I have at least a solid second draft of the third book. I'm not going to rush all of this. It's been seventeen years in the making to get as far as I have, so another year or so isn't the end of the world but could mean producing a much superior product.
The only other thing I have to report is that my beloved Washington Capitals are heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs again. If you don't have a favorite hockey team, or if yours didn't make the post-season, I invite you to follow the boys from DC. I'll give you two reasons. 1.) It would make me happy for them to win. And 2.) These guys known how to party every bit as awesomely as they know how to play hockey. The headlines of their madcap adventures after their first Stanley Cup win were epic, and I have no reason to believe they won't be just as stoked to do it again. Oh! And bonus reason 3.) Alex Ovechkin is one of the greatest players of all time (that's not just me being a fan, you can check out his stats) and telling future hockey-watching generations that you remember seeing him play will earn you some cred.
I'm off to write some more for you. Rock on!
Today, most of the day was eaten by a trip to the grocery store. Yes, really. No, the trip didn't take more than an hour. But I had to gear myself up to go, then I had to decompress after unpacking everything. Then I felt I should write my newsletter, so I still haven't done any work on finishing up Faerie Story Book 1. I'm about to to do that as soon as I finish the newsletter... Although I'm feeling a little dizzy all of a sudden, so maybe not...
The bit of the newsletter that doesn't involve the stuff you can see on my other blogs is reprinted below. Cheers!
Happy Spring! (Or Autumn if you're in the Southern hemisphere...)
Spring is hard for me. It's difficult to say if it's better or worse than summer, but it's certainly in my least favorite half of the year. Between hating heat and being allergic to sunlight as well a very long list of plants, spring tends to lead to sniffling and depression. So far this year hasn't been so bad. I have lost days in the last few weeks to sinus headaches, but my mood hasn't crashed, so I'm not going to complain too much.
Clearly, I'm already having problems keeping this up weekly and that's not going to get easier as the year progresses. Therefore, my weekly newsletter is now officially a fortnightly newsletter. I'll be aiming for the second and fourth Mondays of each month.
I have also changed from a goal to write a new piece of short fiction every week. Now I am planning to do "seasons" of six weeks where I write weekly short fiction followed by six weeks in which I focus more on my novels. I'm doing this because while I was enjoying creating a new story every week, it was not the one day a week endeavor I had aimed for but something that takes up at least two or three days, which had a significant impact on my progress in my novels.
Speaking of my novels, I am very close to completing my current revision of Faerie Story Book 1. When that's done, I'll send it back to my betas. I'm debating whether I am then going to try to jump into Book 3's rough draft for the second half of Camp NaNoWriMo (it's like National Novel Writing Month except not in November) or start revising the second book. Since I want to release all three books in very close proximity to each other, I will not be publishing Book 1 until I have at least a solid second draft of the third book. I'm not going to rush all of this. It's been seventeen years in the making to get as far as I have, so another year or so isn't the end of the world but could mean producing a much superior product.
The only other thing I have to report is that my beloved Washington Capitals are heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs again. If you don't have a favorite hockey team, or if yours didn't make the post-season, I invite you to follow the boys from DC. I'll give you two reasons. 1.) It would make me happy for them to win. And 2.) These guys known how to party every bit as awesomely as they know how to play hockey. The headlines of their madcap adventures after their first Stanley Cup win were epic, and I have no reason to believe they won't be just as stoked to do it again. Oh! And bonus reason 3.) Alex Ovechkin is one of the greatest players of all time (that's not just me being a fan, you can check out his stats) and telling future hockey-watching generations that you remember seeing him play will earn you some cred.
I'm off to write some more for you. Rock on!
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