Category: Random Ramblings

It’s happening again.

You never really know when it’s going to strike, but my creative juices have been flowing over the past couple of days. I’ve completed chapters three and four of Eileen – the first drafts at least.

I’ve been thinking about holding off on publishing them here though. I hate to sound too capitalistic, but I’ve discovered that it’s very easy to publish e-books directly to Amazon and sell them for Kindle. I had been looking into that and discovered that there are quite a few writers doing that. It might be a way to make some extra money – especially since I’ve been unemployed since last May.

I would keep the cost very low – most likely not more than a couple of dollars. While I’d like to be paid for my work I’d still like to make it affordable for anybody to purchase. I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll do this with Eileen yet. If the story gets long enough (more than 25,000 words) I definitely will. But if it stays under that number it’s still a maybe. I don’t know what magic number (as far as word count) separates a short story from a novel, but 25,000 words is about a hundred pages. That seems like a good cut off number. My wife suggested I sell it as a serial novel. Maybe break it up into three parts and sell them for $1 each. That idea might work too.

I thought about publishing it in both places, but I wouldn’t want people who actually purchase it to feel as if they’ve been ripped off. I have another story I’ve been working on as well, so maybe that one would be a better smoke test for Amazon.

I’m open to suggestions.

 

Consistent blogging fail

Yeah, so I haven’t kept my word 100%. Sue me.

One thing about the creative spark is that it doesn’t always start a flame no matter how much you fan it. This has been one hella busy month though. It’s amazing how busy a person can be even when they’re unemployed.

But as of right now the tinderbox is open, the flint and steel are in hand, and it looks like the wood is finally dry enough to burn.

See ya real soon.

I shore ain’t no prod-a-gee

I’ve been reading Stephen King’s book “On Writing” and marveling at the fact that writing is something he’s done consistently his whole life.

When I first started writing, I actually thought about this. You hear stories about the great dancers who started dancing when they were two, and the football stars who were born running and catching. And let’s not forget the countless music prodigies who make their way onto just as many countless variety and talk shows.

So, needless to say I sometimes feel I am starting at a disadvantage. I mean – I’m almost 40 for God’s sake! Who the hell am I to think I can be a great writer?!?

Beats the crap out of me. I don’t know that I want to be considered a “great” writer. I just want to put some stories on some pages and give people something to think about – or maybe allow them to stop thinking about things for a while. If I make some money along the way, I won’t turn it away.

Either way, it doesn’t matter that I haven’t been writing for the past 30 years of my life. It Just means that I’d better do a lot of writing over the next 30 to make up for it.

About writing…

My boys are voracious readers. For this I am very thankful.

My youngest son, just before bed, asked if he could visit Rick Riordan’s website. We browsed through it together for a short time. There was a very good FAQ section. One of the questions on there was asking for advice for aspiring writers. The one thing that stuck with me more than anything is that there are many writers who start great stories but never finish them.

I guess that’s why I started this blog – to finish stories.

 

Now departing – the thought-train – ALL ABOARD!

From time to time I get ideas for short stories. Sometimes the stories have some sort of sci-fi twist (or “SyFy” if you think that’s how you should spell it. Personally I think “SyFy” is stupid.) and sometimes there’s no twist at all. As I’m sure is the case with many writers, much of what I write comes from some sort of personal experience. Many of those experiences are hidden deeply in the story and are barely noticeable. My mind has a tendency to wander – especially when I’m formulating a story. My “thought-train” has many cars, and those cars are attached to each other through some sort of logical progression. To illustrate, I could be in the middle of a conversation with somebody and rapidly change the subject. To the person with whom I am conversing the subject change seems random, but I can almost always illustrate a logical progression… car to car to car. Sometimes my “thought-train” pulls out of the station without me and I stay mentally lost. I hate when that happens. I lose more good ideas by not making it onto the train on time.

Anyway, I’ve decided my first posting should come from a short story I began a few years ago – a “thought-train” idea if you will. The story began in my mind while I was managing a RadioShack store in Central Illinois. As I thought more and more about the story it became more and more complete and I started to put ink on paper (or, rather, pixels on screen). Right now it sits at three chapters long and is incomplete. My hope and prayer is that by publishing it chapter by chapter here I’ll be able to get some feedback from you (YES YOU!) as I finish writing it.

If you like it, please let me know. If you think it sucks, please let me know. I’m open to any and all criticism, especially if your last name is King, Rice, or Crichton (although if it’s Crichton I’ll be really freaked out).

Read on, reader. This story is called “Eileen”.