A Break Between Chapters and A Call to Arms
It has been a long time since my last update. I have been trying to finish Journey to God but it has a mind of its own. Unfortunately, that means that I am not working on short stories. Even though I am not working on them, I have three that are outlined and have their introductions written. There was a small break where I focused on only reading (holidays). Right now, I am on Moby Dick and will be moving to Winnie the Pooh. However, I am writing again and pouring more of my time into Journey to God. Tentative completion of the rough draft is the end of February dependent on work and classes.
Before I jump back into my work, I wanted to bring up a good cause from an old and very important friend of mine. Courtney works for Teach America (in the Chicago public school system) and one of her students experienced the horrors of a home fire. For those who have never experienced this disaster: imagine taking all of your belongings and throwing out 80+% of them, including heirlooms and mementos. Nonetheless, if you are interested in her student’s story I implore you to visit the following link and donate: Click Me! Everything helps, instead of buying that nice frosty IPA buy the cheap PBR and donate the difference.
Another Day | Fiction | 5074
With thanksgiving coming around the corner (when I wrote the first draft of this post, it was 13 minutes to Thanksgiving), I figured it would be a good time to hunker down and finish editing Another Day. Between bites of salami and crackers, I was able to make my modifications. This piece is fundamentally different from my normal pieces and was an attempt at something that wasn’t heavily narrated or otherworldly. My editor agreed, and was very pleased that I threw her this curve-ball. As always, I wanted to thank her for the wonderful help, and look at that, it is Thanksgiving! Something something, two birds with one stone.
So, if you need to reprieve from the family, give Another Day a read:
Another Day | Fiction | 5074 | October 14, 2013
Have a happy Thanksgiving! Spend it with your family and not in line at a retail store!
Tornadoes in Central Illinois
I have been safe since last Sunday, but people I know have had their homes destroyed. However, I have been at the Red Cross since an hour after the first tornado touched down and helped in a technology role. Today, I was able to check and update the blog of my website. Hopefully my hands will thaw, and I can work on Another Day. For the next three weeks, I will be shelving my writing unless I get a day off.
Status of Writing
The short story hiatus is in full swing and Journey to God is moving along at a calm pace. Realistically, Journey to God will be completed by the end of November. Based on the content, it should end at roughly 50,000-70,000 words, and is currently ~13,000 words.
Since there will be a new manuscript soon, I am not sending any new query letters to agents until Journey to God is written and edited. This way, I can send two manuscripts instead of one. I feel that my writing fluctuates between multiple genres, and it is important to give the agent I query an opportunity to see my other work when they make a decision. Thus, the holding off on query letters.
Another Day is in secondary edits and should be released sometime this month. However, it is not a primary priority and has a few corrections in regard to content. Thanks for understanding the pause in releases, and I hope to have something for all of you to read shortly.
Short Story Hiatus
I have decided to focus my writing effort on Journey to God and that means less short stories. There is a short story that will be coming out soon: Another Day. It is in editing and will be released in a week or two.
While I love writing short stories, I have been looking at Journey to God and want to finish it in the coming month. Primo is currently in the hands of an agent. I have received good feedback, but it doesn’t represent what I have learned since writing my first manuscript. Thus, I wanted to get a second manuscript completed. This way, an agent can review two different styles of writing, one being more current.
Don’t worry, many of these short stories were written in a single night. Traditionally, a short story idea will appear and drive me into a maniac writing episode. During that time, I can’t stop writing and usually finish the piece in a single sitting. So, there maybe more short stories coming down the pipe.
Lastly, Faith has entered a holding pattern because there are too many points where the reader can be confused. This is because of what I tried to do, describe the indescribable, and I failed. The goal is to get another month under my belt and then come back to it. Once again, sorry for the delay.
Gopple Added to the Short Story Section
I wanted to bring this to everyone as soon as possible. My editor, she is a great and wonderful person, has a given me her critiques. Once I got the email, I edited the piece in my car and posted it on the website. My battery is dying from this impromptu editing session, but it is ready for the public. To those that helped with comments, I appreciate your friendship and honesty more than anything (in that order). Thank you for being there and helping me as I grow and develop. Now, enough of the sappy stuff. Enjoy the newest piece!
Faith and Gopple
Faith and Gopple are my new short stories. They are completed but unedited. I am hoping to have these two posted within the week. Faith was written first, it had been on the docket for roughly a month. It was completed on: September 21, 2013. Gopple, was started that night and finished on: September 22, 2013.
Some individuals have read Gopple, and I have received mixed reviews. It fascinates me that a piece can invoke many different emotions from many different personalities. What some find is dark, others see as a necessity. Who knows, I love criticism and it is great to hear how people interpret each piece.
If you have comments, drop me an email with your feelings. I love to learn about the different people that populate our planet.
Hope | Fiction | 3723 | August 23, 2013
Good news everybody, I have found an editor that is a wonderful fit for me as a writer. Her credentials are phenomenal (university level professor and a Master’s from a top institution), she doesn’t pull her punches, and is willing to deal with my insatiable desire for personal growth. This is the first piece that has included her teachings from the very beginning. The Bohr’s Protocol was the first piece that she edited. However, that piece had already been added to the short story section and sent to magazines for publishing.
However, I bring: Hope. This is a piece that is different than my recent writing. As my editor stated, “If I read Hope and The Bohr’s Protocol, I wouldn’t have figured it was the same author.” Nonetheless, it is the same writer.
Hope | Fiction | 3723 | August 23, 2013
First Paragraph, I suggest you read the whole piece or it wont make sense:
I will never forget the day my son asked for my permission to buy a gun. Henri Bergson’s Time and Freewill was spread across my fingers. My thumb and index finger were holding the page open to my favorite quote. As my eyes darted across the page, an interruption alerted me to his presence. I was reading my favorite quote and seeking answers: “What makes hope such an intense pleasure is the fact that the future, which we dispose of to our liking, appears to us at the same time under a multitude of forms, equally attractive and equally possible. Even if the most coveted of these be-comes realized, it will be necessary to give up the others, and we shall have lost a great deal. The idea of the future, pregnant with an infinity of possibilities is why we find more charm in hope than in possession, in dreams than in reality.”
The Bohr’s Protocol
One of my close friends wanted to read the short story before publication to provide notes, and I withheld the publication until now because of their willingness to assist me. There will eventually be a new version with minor edits after they have a chance to edit their draft. Until then enjoy, and I apologize for the wait!
Excerpt:
A yellow blinking light above a glass enclosure turned solid green as the pressurized air was released. It produced a short echo on the bridge of the Bohr transport craft. The chamber opened and revealed a naked man. As his eye lids twitched tiny fibers were wound around his exposed flesh by thousands of nozzles. The metallic spigots hissing as fabric flew out at incredible speeds. He reacted because of his training, and before any thoughts entered his mind, extended his arms. Soon they were covered in a green fabric interwoven with white tubes leading towards his heart. His voice box was rusty and could only release a light grown.
Soon…
A quick post about the short story I promised. I will be posting the short story by this weekend come hell or high water. It is 16 pages single spaced in Microsoft Word, and I am working on the ending. That is all.