Story A Day in May 2012 Challenge

That’s write!  I need a kick in the derriere, keep it in the chair and write till it is DONE.  I do write each day.  I have a group of shorts I have been hacking (editing) and revision spills from me as though I’d slashed data byte storage on my docs.  Time to find new writing muscle.

• May 1 – 5   romance
• May 6 – 12  science fiction  (not fantasy)
• May 13 – 19  historical fiction
• May 20 – 25  memoir bits
• May 26 – 31  Who Are These People

With this plan, I will be more productive.  Stories will be 500 to 2000 words.

Hoist the anchor, set the sails, and away!

Edit, Rewrite, Edit, Polish and Do It All Again to Submit

The title describes these many months passed and daily routines.  The writing of newer work continues while the WsIP get a regular grooming.  The time has come to launch a few of these.  I created a submission calendar and have made a self pledge to use it.  Reports here as progress is made.  Even rejection is progress.  Each rejection brings the accepted ms closer.  Positive thoughts, positive actions.

Here we go …  And thanks to those offering support, encouragement and who venture back to the neglected blog.  That too is a renewed goal… carving the clock to get it all done.

Challenges Abound

Can’t imagine anyone is checking in here as I have not posted in ages.  But it is a place I log my thoughts on writing.  Short stories have been the playground of my muse for sometime.  There are a few WIP concepts I have been developing or have been nagging at me for long periods of time.  I am back at them now.  One in particular.  I have a three inch pile of paper to wade through.  Parts have been subjected to various critiques.  I have collected all the comments and suggestions to make one master check list.  This is a great task and has repositioned me in the ZONE to move it forward.  For this I have to thank a couple of writer pals, Caryn and Karen.  They offer encouragement and support.  Since finding Florida Writers’ Association and participating in critique groups, writing has a new degree of focus and progress.  It is essential a writer have a support source.  It’s a lone task, indeed.  However, a critique group can shore one up through snags and slow spells.  Revitalize the muse an push you on up the hill.  Here I offer my gratitude t those participating in the critique groups.

On another note, I am saddened by an act of nature in the neighborhood this past week.  Beautiful pair of Cardinals nested in my neighbor’s lime tree.  We have an abundance of feral cats in the neighborhood and cats with nice homes who are allowed out at night.  A prowling cat made sport and feast of the mother Cardinal.  Alas, her friends gather in the bamboo of my back garden chattering.  All I can imagine is that they are discussing the recent and brutal murder of their friend.  

Feeding feral cats?  Be responsible and neuter them at least to help with the explosive population.  We don’t have enough songbirds to go around!

Ideas for Stories

At the Bedouin Market in the Atlas Market

Where do story ideas come from?  A thought, a scene on a mundane errand?  Yes, both and more.  Some characters jar me awake and demand life via ink either from pen or printer.  Living virtually on a computer screen, back-lit and all doesn’t always appease.  Old photos, paintings in museums, surfing through the net along the river of my favorite sites often conjure stories into the making.  Smell is the best though.  Some odor, aroma, scent or combination triggers images or mind movies.  I had those long before cable or youtube.  Jotting down details from these can create plots, settings, conflicts.  Kitchen antics throw me into the writing mood often.  I think  this is all true for me because I grew up along side many adults in various settings.  Tools in the garage, problem solving organizational issues anywhere prompt a tale.  Weather, insects, silence.  There is no shortage of sources to one observing, collecting and with the need.

Look at the Date

It has been right at a year since I posted here.  I have indeed been writing,  however.  Slowly but surely a few things have developed. I come today to post about a new writing challenge I have taken up thanks to storyteller, Stuart Nagen.  His challenge is titled Rule of Three, where writers are challenged to create a story of three characters in Renaissance, a village of his description.  Prompts are given, writers create and write, then post.  Look for new story parts on Wednesdays and Thursdays of October.  Google Rule of Three, and you should find his home page with details.  If you are a writer and want to join, it is open to all.  From his page, I think you will be able to read the stories of each who have signed on to take up the gauntlet!  Mine story parts will be posted at talespinner.wordpress.com. Come for  a visit, leave a comment and be sure to read creations by others.  Let the story web develop!

Back in the Writers’ Chair

If there is anyone reading here, I am surprised and appreciative.  I have long since been absent. Side tracked with the job, family, changes galore.  Returned to my senses that writing is my anchor and from where I can make sense of all else.

I was recently inspired by a writing partner and I did not brush away the muse or give into distractions.  Words flew to the page about a story which has haunted me for decades.  Because some of it is family based, it has been difficult to get into the gritty bits so what I had previously written was dribble and boring even to me.  I couldn’t torture anyone with a request for reading through that sludge.  Now, I have a whole new beginning to that tale, a running outline of characters and events.  In all honesty, this saga may never be completed but parts have great potential in the short story realm.  Another benefit from the day’s efforts is the fact that I got so much of it on paper finally.  Now there is open space in the head for new creativity and for that I am thankful.

So, if you pop in Maria, this is a big thanks to you and your tenacious writing attitudes that once again got the creative juices flowing.

Passages of Many

Here is the scoop on a beautiful windy February day in South Florida.  The last post was in October.  November’s NaNoWriMo challenge consumed me for the month and brought several successes.  However, it left this page blank.  Then arrived December and the hullabaloo of the holidays and all the ‘memory-ies’ blues that can accompany december for so many.  Not going into detail here, but mid month right along side my birthday ( a monumental one for me) came a new job.  The interview,  but successful.  December 20th saw the details solidified and the days of freedom  numbered less than twenty.  With the onset of 2011, a new semester at the school began and I was back in the classroom making my way toward a first paycheck in almost two years.  This has to be good, I kept telling myself.

Now, here on February 5th, exactly a month later and  all is well.  Settled in, established as a teacher on staff and not a substitute, progress comes in many shades.

Writing took a dive.  Last week I discovered a writers’ group meeting locally to write.  No reading, critiquing, no sharing; just writing.  Social chit-chat must come only after the writing session officially ends.  The first session went well.  I wrote a bizarre short story that has since given me bad dreams…. now is the story so bad or is it that the story was that unsettling?  MMMmmmm. . .  to ponder.

Now easing into mid quarter, progress reports are going out.  es, I have recorded some grades with more papers glaring at me from my school bag while I type this.  Dinner plans away this evening urges  productivity.

It is however, all in the days and nights of a writer, isn’t it?  If you are here, you are reading.  If that is so, what a good soul you are to care for a stranger enough to endure.  I have learned that posting short stories on such a site as this diminishes the chances of future publication elsewhere.  Therein lies a conundrum, how to get feedback and practice while guarding one’s chances of future publication, you see.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave your thoughts in a comment below.  Be polite if not complimentary.  I am not seeking compliments on any level, but rather acknowledgement cyberspace has readers.  Until the heavens twirl once again,

that is 30 for today