I have found that the more I write, the higher the expectations I have for myself.

This is a problem.

I sit and try to write Flash Fiction and I will only accept something that may stand a chance of winning. The result is that I write nothing. I sit there, uninspired and finally give up.

I have created a solution.

I made a new folder titled Poorly Written Stories.

This is where a poorly written story will go to die.

The idea is that I take away the fear of failure. I can commit to a story and if I end up not liking it, I have a place to put it.

Committing to a story is important. It's better to write poorly than to struggle for perfection and not write at all. This is my solution and I have high hopes.

J
 

I am a little embarassed to admit that I have added Google ads to my personal websites: jamesdillingham.com and jimdillngham.blogspot.com.

The ads, I think, detract from the websites themselves somewhat. This is especially true on the jamesdillingham.com site. That site has a black background and the ads tend to be very bright. So, am I selling out to the man? Am I sacrificing aesthetics for the big payday (my ads made $2.52 the first day). I hope not. This is just another part of my learning how to use the web as a tool to market my writing and anything else I want to put out there.

For example, I really like my blogspot page. I write differently there than I do here. This is the calm me you are reading now. The blogspot is the "ranting and raving" me or the "I have a big idea" me. I want to see if having Google ads will cause Google to drive more traffic to that site.

Now I have an Adsense account with Google. I know how to put ads on my blogspot (easy because it is sponsored by Google) and my personal site which I built myself using a third part software.

I want to enter today's Flash Fiction but I will not allow myself to do that until I crank out another 900 words on my novel. Sometimes that takes fifteen minutes; other times its a week.

If you go to my websites, don't forget to click through on some ads. I hope to someday may more than $3 per day from those.

Jim
 

I am in Kentucky this week, starting a new project. A project for me lasts a couple of months. During that time, I am home on the weekends and about half of the weekdays.

Some projects are very work-intensive and others are more strategic in nature. This is the later. That means I have time to write, as I am doing right now.

I have put together a list of Dailies for me to do. So have to do with physical activity such as sit-ups and such. Most of them have to do with writing, either a blog or a short story or a novel chapter.

Lately, I have been writing a lot of Flash Fiction. Ken, (aka Huntersmoon) is a great person to write with. When he is in the competition, I really have to step up my game.

I have also been writing a lot on my blog, jimdillingham.blogspot.com. I use that as a forum for what I would say from a soapbox in the middle of central park. I don't think I am getting a lot of hits on that site, but that's okay. I write it for me.

Now that I have made an entry here, I can put a check next to it on my Dailies.

Jim
 

I just wrote a bit of Flash Fiction with a political bent and within 10 minutes, it had been read 9 times. Two people rated it. One, rated it a 5 and gave me a review. One rated it a 2 and did so anonymously. Not hard to tell which party each of these represents.

Interesting.

Maybe I will write a religious thing next.

This makes me feel like a character I made up in the story called the Puppeteer. I kind of like it.

J
 

I love to write, but I don't write.

At least for the last several days and continuing into tomorrow.

My wife lives in Hungary and I only see her for 2 weeks out of 8. When I am with her, I rarely write. Sometimes, when I am over there and she is at work, I can write. but for now, she is out here and on vacation - so I don't follow my second passion. I don't write.

Here is something you may hear a lot about from me. We were married 5 years ago. It took 18 months before she could reenter the country because it took 18 months for her to get a permanent resident card. If we were not married, she could have come right over but only for 5 months at a time. Anyway, the first green card (aka permanent resident card) expired. We applied for a renewal 60 days before it expired as directed and a year later, we are still waiting. This means she can only come over on a green card with an extra sheet of paper saying here card is extended for a year pending approval of the next card (a 10 year card)

Anyway, we go in for the interview and the parting comment was "It doesn't look good."
Me: What do you mean?
Him: It is clear that she doesn't live in the United States.
Me: So?
Him: She is required to live in the United States to get a green card.
Me: That is not true.
Him: Maybe you should have gotten a lawyer so you would know the laws of the land.
Me: I have read all of the requirements and there is nothing that says she must live here.
Him: It's in there
Me: Where
Him: It's in there
Me: Where exactly
Him: Well it is not in there but the intent is there
Me: Listen, do you have any doubt that my marriage is legitimate?
Him: No
Me: The intent of me showing her on my mortgage and the joint checking accounts etc is all to prove that we are really married. Once that has been established, it doesn't matter where she lives. The only requirement is that she cannot be out of the country for more than one year in a row. So, you are telling me that you are recommending that my wife not be allowed to live with me because she currently doesn't' live with me.
Him: I am just following the rules.
Me: But you just said the rule that you were quoting is really more of an idea, your term was "intent". I want to talk to a supervisor.
Him: That is not allowed
Me: I want a phone number to call or an email address
Him: That is not allowed.
Me: So, it is up to you, a poorly educated lawyer wanna-be to interpret the law and pass a judgment that will not allow my wife to live with me in the United States
Him: She can always visit you on a tourist visa

The above is as verbatim as I can recall.

I find out the final ruling in two weeks.

 

I am still visiting with my wife. I met her in Hungary for a week. Now she is here for a week. She gets all of my attention so writing is set aside for another few days.

I am going to start posting links at the bottom of my blog. I don't do this so you will click on them. I just want there to be a lot of links out there to my sites. The more links to a site, the higher it shows up on search engines.

Jim


http://hyperiongate.Writing.Com
http://www.jamesdillingham.com
http://shift-work.com
http://www.jimdillingham.blogspot.com

 

I am on my way back from Budapest on Monday. Wife it coming with me for a week.

Jim
 

HuntersMoon - Gone4Awhile and I challenged each other to a duel in the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge. I am in Europe so I was able to get my entry in quickly. Ken, took my entry and then retold the story from a different perspective. I thought that was a brilliant idea. Even as I was writing my story, I was wondering what was going on to the people in the habitat. Ken's story answered that question.

Arakun called is a draw.

Thanks to Ken for the fun.

jim
 

I am on my way to Budapest in a few minutes, or at least to the airport.

Writing: I wrote a Flash Fiction piece yesterday called Welcoming Night. The interesting thing about this was that I was blocked. When that happens, I usually make up a wild first sentence and the rest of the story comes right out. Yesterday, when the story came out, it was all scrambled. It was as if I had tapped into several stories at once, all the while knowing that there was only one in there that would fit. So, I wrote about 400 words and then looked and the jumbled mess. It wasn't a story but there was one in there. It felt like those pictures we used to see when we were little and had to find certain things hidden within. Anyway, after a few reads, I tentatively started again and this time the story flowed right out. In the new story, were large parts of the original but put in a different order to make the story that was meant to be. I don't know if this makes sense but it was weird and yet, somehow not surprising.

Marketing: I am trying all types of marketing things. I am marketing my ebooks with no real intent to make money. I am just practicing so that when I have a novel to sell, I know how to do it. Yesterday, I placed an ad with facebook. I pay $.47 per click through. I set it up so they click to my site www.jamesdillingham.com and the page where my books are. From there, they need to click on the book cover to go to the book seller. I set my daily budget at $5.60 per day. It took several hours before the ad was reviewed and approved. After that, it took 20 minutes for the budget to be used up. this means people were clicking through at the rate of 36 clicks per hour. In the meantime, during that 20 minutes, my ad was showed up on facebook pages more than 81,000 times! That is not a typo.

Off to the airport.
 

I am talking to my wife on the phone this morning. I am getting ready to go see her tomorrow (Monday) in Hungary. Anyway, she mentions that Lufthansa is on strike. I check and sure enough, I am booked on Lufthansa all the way there. I call United, who booked the flight for me and schedule a United flight that gets there about the same time. The cost was zero.

Here is the rub, if I had not called, I would have gone to the airport tomorrow and found no plane.

So, Lufthansa loses 33 million a day due to the strike and I find it hard to care.

So, writing-wise.

I wrote a flash fiction story. I also place an ad on facebook for my short stories. I am not trying to sell my short story collection so much as I am trying to get a well rounded, self publishing education. I try to do something each day to advance my cause. When my book is done, I am leaning towards self publishing and I want to be ready.

I will be in Hungary for a week and then my wife comes back to spend a week with me.

J



www.jamesdillingham.com