Back in Town
I forgot to mention that I was back in town. There is nothing new in terms of short stories or updates to the website, at this time. I will hopefully be able to put pen to paper for a short story I have been kicking around in my head, but I must catch up on school work for graduate school.
On a side note the contact form has been working and emails have been reaching me. Sorry about the delays on responses but thank you for the comments. It was nice to learn that people were able to send me messages. I have responded to all of the emails I received. If you haven’t received a response please try using the contact form again. Also I have seen some registrations for the website and subscriptions appear. Good to see some people trickling back in.
As always enjoy the lovely weather and play outside. The internet will be here when you get back. Print out one of my pieces and read it under a tree, that’s where I wrote a lot of them.
Read MoreOut of Town
I am driving to Jackson Fall’s in Shawnee National Forest for a rock climbing trip. It has been sometime since I have been to the wonderful land of rock, trees, and streams. I wont be reachable at this time and will be home on Sunday, March 31. The contact form emails don’t go to my phone, this is to avoid spam, but I will check my email once I am back in town. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Read MoreShort Story Additions
I have added short stories to the website. It is important to note that these are lightly – I can’t stress this enough – edited pieces. While I was creating the excerpts for these posts I noticed some writing that didn’t make me proud. However, I think it is important to add these because they tack substance to the website. Due to the fact that I am working on my manuscripts – these are more important that short stories – I haven’t had time to edit the pieces.
I use short stories as a way to keep my mind creative while editing pieces. So enjoy them but understand that they are raw. Between my MBA program and my other works I can’t dedicate too much time to the editing processes for short stories. Otherwise, I would get nothing else done. Nonetheless, enjoy my foray into some new and different styles of writing.
Read MoreLiterary Game
One of my friends, a good friend, is also a writer. Neither of us share the same style or topics in our projects. Nonetheless, we embarked on a fun game that we designed over a skype session one day. Since he has moved from the area in order to get his Doctorate in Chemistry we only communicate over the phone or internet. Even with this limitation we created a game that challenged both of us to write in a pure form. I hope to share this exercise as I think it will benefit many people.
The Rules:
There are two stages: the first is topic creation and the second is the writing portion. Each one of the stages is 5 minutes. The first five minutes are used to create a topic for the other participant. The second five minutes is used to write a short story.
The Breakdown:
I choose a topic, in our last game I chose: “plants”. My friend chose: “Describe being on your porch drunk”.
He wrote about a person who was fed up with his neighbor and his unkept lawn. The confrontation led the neighbor to cut his grass but drove the lawn mower over gravel. This shot the gravel at the confrontational neighbors car and left dents and scratches. Moral of the story was be nice to your neighbors.
I wrote about being drunk on my porch from a third person standpoint. Describing the aftermath of a party.
On average our stories land between 50-200 words. I tried to break the 300 word barrier but was unable to, made it to 297.
The End Goal:
This isn’t an exercise in editing. Rather, it is a way to force yourself out of your comfort zone and work at an accelerated speed. After you complete the short piece you get the luxury of seeing where you did make mistakes. Perhaps you write the same word wrong multiple times. If that is the case you have made it visible. The second step is to correct the mistake.
For a real embarrassing factor we post these on Facebook for everyone to see.
Read MoreSubscription/Registration Systems Complete
I have added the subscription service to the website. This will give people the ability to notifications by email when new pieces are added to the website. There are two ways to subscribe to the website.
The first way is to register and select to receive notifications. After you register you can log in to the website and manage the categories that pertain to your personal tastes.
The second way to subscribe is by going to the subscription page and typing in your email address. There is a problem with this notification method. Firstly, you cannot choose what notifications you receive. Secondly, this method lacks reliability and you may not receive any emails. Lastly, it could send multiple emails for a single notification. I do not suggest this method.
Read MoreCategories for Subscriptions
Subscriptions are a great way for me to personally share specific pieces for different audiences. In order to help the people who read my stories I have begun creating a comprehensive categorization method for various interests. Normally, I don’t like categorizing my work, but I understand it is a necessity because not everyone will like what I write. When I turn on the subscription system all members who sign up for updates will choose the notifications they receive.
I suggest you, the reader, step out of your normal bounds and choose something you normally wouldn’t read. For example: Primo Capite and the Others is my manuscript that has a specific style. However, I don’t read that style as I am overwhelmed with writing and editing in that format. My current novel of choice is Cloud Atlas and I suggest it to anyone who takes the time to review this blog.
On a personal note let me suggest a great category – Short Story | Insane -. This was how someone described a piece after reading it (a perfect fit). I like disjunctive pieces and anti-climatic endings. Yet, these are things I put into a short story, but it is important to note that my short stories vary widely from my manuscripts. Thus, if you like my work on this website you may not like what I produce in a book, and vice versa.
So take some time and subscribe to the website. I will not abuse those that join but I will give them immediate updates when I produce something of worth.
Read More