Progress Report for August 11th, 2014
I took a minor vacation this last two weeks from writing progress reports because there hasn’t been much activity (due to my birthday) these last two weeks. I submitted a lot of pieces to different competitions (these will be available as soon as I hear from the magazines) and entered a few this month. One piece – that is completed – is Relationships and another piece – that is being outlined – is called Three in 1. One of my old professors came back into town and gave me more tools to hone my craft. The idea that sprung up from an exercise is Three in 1 and it will be my most daunting foray into experimental writing. For reference, the exercise he suggest had nothing to do with writing a piece in this format, but – by practicing the exercise – I decided to tell the story in this format. I am excited; I am finally going to attempt a style of writing that has been on my list for a year (it is a surprise). In other news, I am sending out the third treatment for Journey to God and it will be accompanied by a treatment of Tesla’s Travels. So, I keep pushing forward and reading fiction (finished The Siren’s of Titan on Saturday) and nonfiction (research). The fourth book is still in the research phase, and I am hoping to begin the first chapter at the end of August. Thank you for listening and have a wonderful morning!
Read MoreProgress Report for July 27, 2014
Another successful week has come and gone. I have begun the research into my fourth book (working title: BlackBox Enterprises). The research has begun to illuminate the path the book will need to take in structure and content. I am excited to begin work on it soon. I also finished reading two books: The Heart of A Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov and The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I have read Bulgakov before (The Master and Margarita), but now I have chosen to read the majority of his work (next to be added to my ever expanding reading list is The Fatal Eggs). My first Sherlock Homes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) was fantastic, and I decided to read all four of the full length novels in sequence. Both books (Bulgakov and Doyle) were widely different in style and fantastic to read. Also, I wrote two more pieces: Redirect and Smiles. Progress is happening on multiple fronts, but I am personally getting tired of submissions and writing cover letters for my short stories. Alright, time to get back to work.
Read MoreProgress Report for July 21, 2014
It has been a very busy week. If you read my last post, I completed Tesla’s Travels on Tuesday and was emotionally and intellectually drained. That state of mind lasted about a day. Now, I’m in full blown submissions mode for magazines and competitions. Since the last progress report, I wrote six short stories: Carbonation, Arm and I, Drops in an Ocean, Medallion, Cookies, and Bourbon. Cookies was actually a competition piece that I had 24 hours to write, and I completed it in 2 hours. More changes are coming to the Short Story section of the website, this section will be separated into a main navigation page which will lead to groups of short stories (Flash Fiction, Normal Short Stories, and The Old Stuff (aka the stuff that makes you question my ability to write)). This design change is to help with organization. At the same time, I am in the process of changing all the pictures on the website to be more web friendly (a lot of them are taking too long to load). Now, it is time for some Candide and bed.
Read MoreTesla’s Travels – Completed
Too tired to really write anymore. Tesla’s Travels is completed and moving to editing. It is currently 71,597 words. Editing will have that number fluctuating heavily.
Added to post three days later: The final chapters were emotionally an intellectually draining. It is weird to spend so much time developing fictional characters and then lose them. Like a farmer, I sit there and plant seeds and sometimes – by the end of the book – I choose not to grow that plant. I will miss the characters in Tesla’s Travels, and I now see the draw in writing serialized work. Because, the author, gets to see their children over and over again. But, I can always visit them. So pick up a book and visit your favorite world!
Read MoreProgress Report for July 13, 2014
I completed my summer course – for my MBA – on Wednesday. On Thursday, I wrote another flash fiction piece Dipper which sits at 992 words. This week, I finished reading another book: As I Lay Dying. All in all, it has been a very productive week for my writing and reading. There are only three chapters left in Tesla’s Travels, withthe second to last chapter being my hardest literary challenge to date. The goal is to have the initial rough draft of Tesla’s Travels completed by Wednesday. I want two days of time to edit before I have to compete in a contest on July 20th. Finally, I have decided to enter a secondary contest that will no longer take submissions at the end of July, which means, I need three 500 word flash fiction pieces in a very short period of time. One is half done, and the other two aren’t even close to being formulated.
Progress on Tesla’s Travels
Last progress report I had written 60,147 words. As of today, I am at 65,426 words. Thus, I wrote 5,279 words this last week. By next weeks report, I will be done with the rough draft.
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