Week Ending Sunday, April 26, 2015

Chapter 53.

949 words.

More to come today, but it's 2:41 a.m., so I should probably sleep.

...Okay, did that.

Chapter 54.

2,105 words.

So over 3,000 for this day so far.

I hope to finish Chapter 55 tonight.

So exhausted I'm making silly mistakes and the words aren't coming like they do.  I even made some saving errors, which is really bad.  But...


For the week (drumroll, please):


Chapter 49 = 689 words.

Chapter 50 = 372 words.

Chapter 51 = 3,002 words.

Chapter 52 = 803 words.

Query letters = 224 words.

Chapter 53 = 949 words.

Chapter 54 = 2,105 words.

Chapter 55 = 396 words.

Chapter 56 = 509 words.

Chapter 57 = 79 words.


9,128 words!  YES!!!  I can't tell you how great this feels.  And it even felt great doing it.


And now vacation ends.  I really, really hope I can produce even half this much during a workweek.

Week Ending Sunday, April 12, 2015

Work this week had to mostly intrude...

With the words from earlier this week, and the last couple of days, I'll estimate at about 2,500 words, same as last week.

But the work is good and the end of my novel-in-progress is in sight.

And I go on vacation this Friday evening.

The goal is to finish this novel manuscript by the end of this upcoming vacation.

I believe I can do it.

Week Ending Sunday April 5, 2015

With Wednesday's production and bits throughout the week, I'll approximate my total word count as 2,500 for the week.

Not great, but minorly productive, and better than last week.  Baby steps.

I've also borrowed the weekly schedule from The Productive Writer by Sage Cohen.  I like how the upcoming week is scheduled out.  Not set in stone, but organized.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday and long weekend.

Week ending Sunday, March 29, 2015

Today I finalized 617 words of a so-far three-page poem that I think could be something special. 

I've always liked writing poems and I've been paid for a couple, but I've only sent out those two.  But as I've been researching markets for my stuff--which is what I've been doing most of the week, besides working at home at my job that pays The Man--I've seen a ton of places to send out my many poems.  I won't send them all out, maybe, but...

Well, not much this week, so I'm sure I'll get my butt kicked again.  Very, very frustrating week.

1,000 words earlier this week + 617 words of this poem + about 350 words, just a couple of pages of the next chapter of my almost-finished book.  ::sigh::

So let's just call it an even 2,000 words again this week.  I thought there'd be more.

Next week there will be.

Tuesday March 24, 2015

Spent most of the afternoon and night writing and sending out query letters to different publications.  I had a backlog of pieces to send out, so I had a business day of research and writing.  Very stressful.

Approximately one thousand (1,000) words.

But at least it's done.

Now, back to the actual writing...

Week Ending March 22, 2015

One poem today: 246 words.

1,345 words on Wednesday.

1,345 + 246 = 1,591.

Assorted almost-sent query letters would round it up to 2,000 words for the week.

Not very good, but considering the week I had, especially at work...

I'm not feeling bad about it.

One finished short story, and one finished poem, and a few finished query letters.

Really not bad for the week I had, and I've done much worse than this.

I'll do better.  I must do better.

But I'll definitely take 2,000 words for this week, and those finished pieces.

March 9, 2015

Very exciting.  New short story I started today, after reading John Cheever's very good--and very strange--"Torch Song."  Give it a read.

I have no idea why reading Cheever's work compels me to start a short story that only just barely, maybe, resembles something of his.  This is the third time; the other two--non-genre pieces--have sold.  (Knock on wood.)  Anyway, one does not question what stirs awake the Muse.  Or tunes in to my antenna.  Or whatever.

You take it and you run with it.

I ran with it.

Short story, tentatively named "Tito's."  2,179 words.

That's over 2,500 words in the past 24 hours.

If only that could always be the way.

But...why can't it?

March 8, 2015

Been sick with severe inflammation, seemingly everywhere.  I know I'm supposed to write when I'm sick.  I know, I know...

Chapter 47.  Very short chapter.  439 words.

BTW, should blog entries count?  If they do, I've done a few thousand more words in the past few days.

February 28, 2015

I've found, to my dismay, that I'm more of a weekend writer when the career is in full swing during the week.  Like it was this week, when it seemed I had 27 heads and 300 arms, and it all still wasn't enough to do what I had to do.  But at least I'm still writing.

Chapter 46.  2,023 words.

This chapter I'd feared for a week, but when I sat my butt down, it was smooth-sailing, very visual, and fun.  I don't know why I get anxious, still, but I do.  Maybe it's a good thing--shows I care, right?

February 15, 2015

Well, it's been almost a year.  I've written a lot since then: four or five short stories, almost twenty chapters of my WIP, countless other things...but it still felt a bit slow to me, and I languished at this like I feel I have at my writing, though people tell me I'm being more productive than I think I am.

Common, life-long curse.

I've been on a roll lately, though, and writers are loathe to break whatever's working well.  But I came across this blog again, and I felt I needed to either use it or lose it.  I'm not ready, for some reason, to lose it, so...

Chapter 42.  880 words.

"The Zombie's Lament" Purchased by Big Pulp Magazine

 Photo: from Big Pulp's Facebook page

Mr. Bill Olver and all of the other good folks at Big Pulp have purchased the rights to my short story "The Zombie's Lament" for its anthology series.  Volume One of this anthology will hit the stores, online and physical, in June 2014.  Volume Two will be published in April 2015.  That one will have my story.

So if you like zombies--and who doesn't?!?--save your pennies and buy Volume One from Big Pulp in June.  And, it goes without saying, but if you know me, you know I'll say it anyway: Mark April 2015 on your calendar to buy the volume with my story in it.  No, seriously, go mark it right now.  Please?


What is Big Pulp?  Well, here it is, straight from the editor, Bill Olver, from Big Pulp's website:

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On March 3, 2008, we debuted with Simon Petrie's "Dragonsick", the opening story in our first quarterly online journal. At the time, I had no idea what kind of response we'd get from writers or readers. I worried that no one would submit to an unknown market and that readers wouldn't find us on the web. I also didn't know much about putting together a website, designing a publication, working with writers and artists, writing contracts, or selling anything. 

In retrospect, there was a lot I didn't know. 

But I did know good stories when I read them. I knew what I liked and I knew I wanted to create something I didn't see on the newsstand - a venue that mixed and crossed genres, was open to new writers, and pushed against the envelope of what's considered genre fiction. 

Did we succeed? Some days more than others, but over the past six years, we've refined and redefined our offerings, with each iteration getting closer to the vision I set out to achieve. We've published hundreds of stories and poems, which in combination have created a brand alongside of genre - the Big Pulp story.

At best, a Big Pulp story is smart, literate, and thought-provoking. It's got attitude, rarely takes itself too seriously, and isn't afraid to poke where it doesn't belong. It defies expectations and tropes. It hits you where you live and sometimes in the nuts. A Big Pulp story is sci-fi, it's fantasy, it might be a mystery or horror or romance, but it's rarely what you expect. 

In December 2010, Big Pulp moved into print. In 2013, we branched out into themed anthologies with Clones, Fairies & Monsters in the Closet  [...] and The Kennedy Curse. And now in 2014, we're launching a new line of publications that will continue to mix and match conventions and stretch the boundaries of what genre can do. 

Six years! I can't believe how quickly the time has passed or how far we've come as a small press. I'm proud of what we've accomplished and the writers we've published. 

Happy anniversary to us, our writers and artists, and all our readers! We couldn't have done it without you, and we hope you'll stick with us for our seventh year and beyond! 

Bill Olver

Editor

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So there you have it.  It's good stuff, so check it out, and look for mine in 15 months.  Yeah, I know, but that's publishing.