First Short Story of 2014 – Love

Posted by Theodore Maestranzi on Jan 27, 2014 in Short Story | 0 comments

I didn’t stick to my hiatus and took a day off to write my newest short story: Love.  Now, I am going to be short winded and just post the link.  Time to catch up on lost time with Journey to God.  Enjoy!

Love | Fiction | 835 | January 26, 2014

Love – The State of Affairs

Posted by Theodore Maestranzi on Jan 26, 2014 in Blog Posts | 0 comments

Journey to God is going wonderfully.  The second novel is flowing well and is on track to be completed by the end of February.  However, I am still reviewing my previous works and had to break from my forced ban on short stories.

I wrote a new short story today, instead of working on Journey to God, Love.  While progress was made in the novel, it was hampered by the new piece.  My editor will be finishing the edits shortly, and that means a new piece will be added to the website.  Look for it this week.  This new piece is short, in word count, but that is a choice I made in hopes of working on my minimalism.  I feel like the density could be a draw back, but the goal was using the least amount of words possible to convey the phenomenon I try to discuss.

A Break Between Chapters and A Call to Arms

Posted by Theodore Maestranzi on Jan 14, 2014 in Blog Posts, Journey to God | 0 comments

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

Posted by Theodore Maestranzi on Nov 27, 2013 in New Short Story | Fiction, Short Story | 0 comments

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

Posted by Theodore Maestranzi on Nov 24, 2013 in Blog Posts | 0 comments

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

Posted by Theodore Maestranzi on Nov 7, 2013 in Blog Posts, Journey to God | 0 comments

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

Posted by Theodore Maestranzi on Oct 16, 2013 in Blog Posts | 0 comments

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.