Progress Report for July 7th, 2014
I apologize for the delay, it is summer time and that means going off the grid. I am back on the grid, as you can see, and I returned with a short story but no updates to Tesla’s Travels. Tesla’s Travels, sits at its current place from last week but that is due to a heavy focus on my new short story (Allure) and class presentation in two days.
A little information about Allure: it sits at a hefty 976 words, is considered flash fiction, and is in first person past tense. I have decided to play with the flash fiction format (under 1000 words) and see how dense I can make a story. Sadly, I am not adding Allure to the site yet. When I published a short story to my site, it makes them less desirable to a magazine because they are no longer unpublished. This makes magazines skeptical about paying for a piece that is available for free on my personal website. Thus, I decided that all new short story’s will sit in limbo for five weeks and go to a single magazine that best fits their style. If I hear from the magazine sooner, I will publish or give an update. It is killing me – I want to release it – but I need the publishing credit for credibility with an agent. I apologize because there haven’t been many short stories posted, and now I am holding them back from you – my audience. Once again sorry! Time for bed, thank you again for your support and have pleasant dreams.
Also, I completed reading Welcome to the Monkey House it was wonderful. Great way to get into Vonnegut’s different styles (it is a collection of short stories).
Read MoreProgress Report for June 29th, 2014
It is odd, I damaged my wrist last week and it isn’t still up to speed but is getting better since I wear a split at night. Currently, I am writing with a splint on my left hand and spending most of my time on: school work, the website, reading, outlining, writing, and submissions to magazines… and having fun when it crops up. As such, the numbers for this progress report will be slim, because I am only writing when my wrists feel normal.
So, where am I and what am I doing? After a day of outlining, I have the rest of Tesla’s Travels outlined and it will be about seven more chapters. I say about, because I will split chapters up if they are too long. Personally, I am a fan of shorter chapters because it provides time for reflection on what was recently read. I find it more readable and – as a story teller – my job is to tell a story.
I joined a book club. The book that was initially chosen was As I Lay Dying (I am pushing for us to read Candide next). Unlike my friends, I have to video conference into the club because I am one hundred eighty miles away. At the same time, for my reading list, I am enjoying Welcome to the Monkey House by Vonnegut. While, I said I will never advertise on this website. I don’t believe discussing reading is an advertisement (because I never state my opinion or endorse them) but an important aspect of my progress because all writers should be constantly reading new and different things.
So here are the hard and fast numbers for Tesla’s Travels. Previous amount of words: 55,152. Current words: 60,147 Which means I wrote 4995 in the last two weeks with an injury. Not a record breaker, but I should be done with the rough draft in the next week depending on how my vacation time goes. Have a wonderful night, this guy has to thumbs and is going to bed.
Read MoreProgress Report for June 22, 2014
Took a week off of writing to focus on school. I also finished reading Nine Stories. Back to studying.
Read MoreProgress Report for June 15, 2014
Another busy week, so this will probably be a short writeup of the work I completed in the last week. The week has been busy, between work and my summer class, I haven’t had much time to write. But, the goal is to write at least 10,000 words a week. So, I stayed in and worked on Tesla’s Travels for all of Saturday and Sunday. That is why this post is so late in the day, I literally just finished up the thirty third chapter. Also, I was able to finish reading another book: The Suicide Shop.
But I am tired, so let’s get to the numbers for the week. Tesla’s Travels is now sitting at 55,152 words and is 33 chapters long. That means, I wrote 10,884 words in the last two days. I think, based on the outline, the rough draft will be completed in a week or two. Then to editing!
Read MoreProgress Report for June 8, 2014
This one will be short, because I am in Chicago with friends and took a break to write up a quick post. So, in the last week I have finished reading Light in August then started and finished The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea. Being home, it is hard to focus on writing because there are constant distraction.
However, I was able to get Tesla’s Travels to 28 chapters and 44,268 words. That means, I wrote 10897 in the last week.
Read MoreProgress Report for June 1, 2014
On Friday, I noticed pain in my left hand while typing and it kept getting worse. So, I took the weekend off as a mini vacation and iced it. Instead of writing, I began outlining two short stories, prepping short stories to go to magazines tomorrow, reviewed an arc in Tesla’s Travels, and played pool and had some beers with friends. Also did a little editing for a great friend of mine and read the bulk of Light in August. Still haven’t heard from the agent who has my current treatment. That means, I will begin prepping a new treatment to go out in two weeks.
As far as Tesla’s Travels goes, I am now sitting at 33371 words and 22 chapters. Since Sunday, I have written 8156 words. It is slow moving, but I think I can have the initial draft done by mid June; if I increase my pace.
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