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Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Whew

Mrs. Fetched is not at the manor tonight. FINALLY, I get to catch up on blog stuff!

Saturday was one of those weekend days I’m not terribly thrilled with: when I’m doing everything except what I’d like to be doing on a weekend. On a whim, I kept track of my hours:

08:00 - 10:30 Watching Mason
10:30 - 12:00 Video shoot (for one of DoubleRed’s classes)
12:00 - 02:30 Lunch with Mrs. Fetched’s dad (plus a side trip)
02:30 - 03:30 Trimming the hedges, something that was really needed
03:30 - 04:30 Taking M.A.E. to work
04:30 - 07:30 Watching Mason, took him to the park (see below)
07:30 - 09:00 Supper (at Ryan’s with Mrs. Fetched’s parents)
09:00 - 09:30 The only free time I had all day
09:30 - 10:30 Doing taxes
10:30 - 11:45 Picking up M.A.E. from work
11:45 - bedtime

The reason I did this? I was anticipating hearing Mrs. Fetched gripe about why I hadn’t finished the taxes yet. She wisely chose to not say anything.

During the afternoon Mason shift, I took him to the park. He was indifferent to getting in the car, but got really excited when he saw where we were going. I had absolutely no problem bundling him into the stroller and taking him there.

He had a pretty good time — especially since he decided he was now brave enough to go down the slides. So he went down…


…and up, proving he’s The Boy’s child.


If you haven’t been keeping up with White Pickups, the last episode drove off last week. Of course, I haven’t resolved many important issues, including the nature of the pickups themselves. The sequel, Pickups and Pestilence, should tie up all the loose ends. There’s still the work of transforming the original story into a regular novel and doing “something” with it. Whether that “something” is trying to get an agent and go the traditional publishing route, or short-circuit that whole circus and indie-publish, is something I’ll be wrestling with for a while. Whichever way I go, I want the entire story complete.

Somewhere along the line, I decided to give Scrivener a try. It comes highly recommended by several writers I know, and you can download it and try it free for 30 days, so I figured I had little to lose. It took me about an evening to realize it caters to my episodic novel-writing style, and another day or two to realize it can export to the major eBook formats, so I decided to cough up the $45 for it. Being a cheap so-and-so, when I saw the “enter coupon code” field in the web order form, I hunted up a coupon code online and got it for $36 instead. The sequel is already in there, and now I just need to bring in the original… and FAR Future while I’m at it.

Over the weekend, one of my Twitter buddies retweeted a link to a writing contest, hosted by a fantasy journal called Hogglepot. Brooke hadn’t received any entries, with only a week left in the submission period, and I just happened to have a story that fit the criteria — a longer version of The Philosopher’s Stone. To get it close to the 1000-word flash criterion, I’d cut it down to the point of damaging the story. The longer version might get a chance to breathe in a different venue. I hope there’s some more entries — I’d be thoroughly embarrassed if I ended up finishing second in a field of one — and Brooke has extended the deadline for two weeks, so if you have a fantasy short you ought to send it along.

Since I’ve been cranking out lots of #FridayFlash stories, I also need to figure out what I want to submit for Best of Friday Flash Vol 2. If I eliminate the serials (there go G-5 and Accidental Sorcerers), and anything over 1000 words (bye-bye Philosopher’s Stone), I still have several stories I think are worthy for consideration. But picking just one (that’s a requirement) is difficult. Maybe y’all can help? Which of these is the best one? Check ’em out if you can’t quite remember them…

Leave a comment with your preference or tweet me — or heck, send me an email if you like. Just help me out, okay?

It’s not Wednesday, but just in case I don’t get a chance to wibble tomorrow, I’d like to welcome G.P. Ching to the free-range insane asylum. Ms. Ching is a Friday Flash stalwart, and has a debut novel out, The Soulkeepers. Go check her writing out!

And now, I’m off to type in what I wrote at lunch: some of Pickups and Pestilence. I’m down to five blank pages in my Moleskine…

11 comments:

  1. I'm looking forward to the White Pickups sequel, Far. BTW, Mason is a sweetie. As you well know. ;-)

    Good luck with the publishing. I'm sure that you'll do well whichever route you choose.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for mentioning Scrivener. I've been thinking of giving it a try. It comes highly recommended.

    And I too am churning on the BOFF submission. Meh. Maybe we should pick out of a hat.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I really like the Philosopher's Stone, but I didn't realize it was as long as it is. (Good stories have that effect, right?)

    My vote would go towards Assignation. I like the intriguing setting and the way it unfolds quickly at the end.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yay! Glad Scrivener is working out for you.

    now I just need to bring in the original… and FAR Future while I’m at it

    Once you do that, I'd love for you to send me the compiled product (.mobi). :)

    Keep on keeping on!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Heck yeah, coupon codes! Never buy anything online without checking for one first.

    I vote for Assignation. It simply feels distinct from any other future-scifi, a little warmer and smart in its inversions. I commented similarly at the time you first posted it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey all!

    Boran, thanks for the vote of confidence. Yup, Mason's the World's Cutest Grandkid!

    GP, no problem. Maria (see below) is one of the people who recommended it to me.

    Chuck, the flash version weighed in at 1050 words, and even at that point it was taking damage — the ending was unclear, for one. The non-lite version is closer to 1400 words, which means I removed 1/4 of the story.

    Maria, which one? Both? Is this an offer to beta-read? ;-) (God knows I need one, but I know you're swamped.)

    John, I agree. It's not that difficult to find them either.

    OK, that's two votes for Assignation. So far so good!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was worried when I didn't see the usual Monday update, Farf. Glad to hear all's well, even if all's busier than heck.

    One of these days I should tap you for tips on writing...

    Bri2k

    ReplyDelete
  8. Bri, I'll be posting short pieces on Fridays if you still need your fix. ;-)

    Tip on writing: life's too short to deal with pens that don't work. They're cheap. Get a $2 pen and a $1 pad of paper, and start writing!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'd vote for Assignation. Both that and Go Out With a Bang are probably the strongest, both have a good human element and solid plot, but I think Assignation has more originality and and has more to say about us out here, in the 'real' world. ;)

    I enjoyed reading some of your pieces I hadn't seen before too. =)

    ReplyDelete
  10. My vote is definitely for 'Go out with a bang'.
    Besides being a zombie fan, I found it the most compelling of all the stories. The characters were well thought out and I empathized with the MC.

    ReplyDelete
  11. John, I think I agree that those are the two strongest. I have to remind myself that the best stories aren't always the ones I had the most fun writing.

    Thanks for the contrarian vote, Ganymeder. It says I didn't get lucky just once. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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