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This blog keeps me in touch with WDC. Jamesdillingham.com keeps me in touch elsewhere. |
| I like to stay in touch with WDC, even when I'm not contributing on a daily basis. My main blog is at jamesdillingham.blogspot.com |
| I am on my way to New York once again. I should be home by Friday if not sooner. The type of work I am doing this week should allow me time to write. I just sent in my entry for prompt 1 in a 14 day contest run by Octobersun. I am first alternate so I am not officially in the contest unless someone drops out. I have to keep entering though. How else will I find out what happens next in my story? |
| Yesterday I got my 10,000th view! What a great feeling to think that I could write something that anyone would want to read. Writersbump.com is getting ready to publish (physical book) the short stories that they have collected and published online. I was in their electronic issue #1. I have seen several others that I recognize so they must come to WDC often to find authors. Once this book is published, I can change my profile to "published author". Imagine that! I have actually had several professional topic articles published in magazines. This is my first short story and I am very excited. J |
| I am sitting at the Albany, NY airport getting ready to head home for a week. I feel like I need a break. I have been doing more writing lately. I finished Chapter 9, entered the daily flash fiction a few times, updated my blog and wrote a 55 word story. On the flight home I hope to get chapter ten well underway. I am on a diet of sorts. I am 6'1" tall and two months ago I weighed 213 pounds. Not fat but carrying more than I want. I went on a diet that is essentially "No white food." No white bread or rice or sugar. This cuts out all pastries and ice cream. Man I love ice cream. I have been eating non-white like there is no tomorrow. I went from white rice and white bread to brown rice and brown bread. The pounds are just falling off and the brown food actually tastes better! I need to get a new belt when I get home. I don't mean to brag; I rather think I am encouraging others. This is a small airport and the guy announcing flights is kind of funny. He just told everyone that a plane is landing and, by the way, the Celtic are playing tonight. Earlier he told people that the green tags you use to check your luggage plane-side are free but he intends to charge $5 for each one after the boarding process starts. I like this kind of humor. I think someone has been hitting my port with great gusto. Yesterday, I had my stories viewed 62 times! I am not sure if I should be flattered or if someone is just bulking up on the GPs I give to readers. Either way is fine with me. I have lots of GPs and when those are gone, I can always get more. I wrote a story this morning for Flash Fiction about Tarzan's elephant Tantor. I cried when I finished it. J |
| I have decided to go to a writer's conference. I am considering the Jack London conference in Foster City, CA this October. It is only about an hour south of where I live so I can drive down each day if I wish. I have to admit that I haven't looked into this very hard. I need something to get me to the finish line with my novel. I get a lot of encouragement from WDC (thanks Octobersun) but I want to make sure I am on the right track. There is also a conference in Mendocino which is about 2 hours north. The Mendocino is in April but my workload my keep me from attending. |
| I feel as if I have been under water for the last several days. Work is stressful. It's going well but still, there is stress. I just finish an important milestone in a project and I now have a few days to recover. My plan is to write, write and write some more. I already did my flash fiction for today. Now I have to finish Chapter nine of my novel and then get into Chapter ten. My mom has been reading my novel since I started it over. She made an interesting observation. She said the new writing is more professional but lacks the humor and spontaneity of my original text. I knew this to be true as soon as I heard her feedback. I will have to work on bringing some of the old style back into the story. j |
| In my job, a typical project takes about 6 weeks to complete, after which time, I move on to another company and project. In each project, there is a point, about mid-way through where I have to present my findings. I am basically saying "This is what I found. This is what it is worth to you and here is how I am going to achieve it." It is a very stressful meeting that lasts about 3-4 hours, involves top management, often at a corporate level. For my current project, that meeting is this Tuesday. So, I am not doing a lot of writing between now and then. I would like to thank Octobersun for the merit badge. She continues to support my work on my novel and I greatly appreciate it. After Tuesday's meeting, I will get back to novel writing. In the meantime, I failed to complete my story for the inspirational quote contest. My trouble with the 2,000 word stories continues to be that I am trying to put too much into a short story. I like the photo for the Short Shots contest so I have a goal of entering that this month. As always, I will continue to enter the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge. J |
| I am in London, Ontario today. I flew out yesterday from California for a 4-hour meeting this morning. I return home tonight. Travel can get old after a while. I have flow 30,000 miles this year so far and ... no, I am not a pilot. I have a dilemma that many of us face. I have 4 choices; (1) write a flash fiction for the quick "rush" or (2) write a 2,000 word story for a contest to practice writing longer stories or (3) write another chapter for my book or (4) do my normal job so I can get paid. No matter which I pick, I have the feeling that I am leaving something undone. So, this morning I have work for 4 hours. My first flight (Detroit to Chicago) is short; just right for a flash fiction. My second flight (Chicago to San Francisco) is long so I can finish my 2,000 word story. I will worry about tomorrow when it gets here. J |
| My wife went back to Hungary yesterday after a week out here. She comes back out again in April. Needless to say, I didn't get much writing done in the last week. I am working on an entry for the Inspirational quote contest and I always have my flash fiction. I am sitting on the floor at Ohare airport heading to Detroit and then a drive into Canada. Time enough to get a prompt so I have something to write on my next flight. Cheers, j |
| This afternoon I fly home to California from Albany, New York via Washington, Dulles. That is one long flight. I am on the upgrade list. I hope I get lucky. It is hard to write on the flights when the person in front lays down in your lap. I want to finish chapter 9 and either work on chapter 10 or write a story for the inspirational quote. J |
| I am still in New York, actually, a place called Glens Falls in the state of New York. I head home to California tomorrow. When I do a project, it typically takes 6-8 weeks and involves an entire workforce, in this case, about 350 people (a small site for me). The first week is always hard. I am meeting new people all of the time. At the same time, I am trying to learn how the business operates. I work with all types of companies; diamond mines to paper mills to chemical plants to semiconductor facilities. There is always a lot to learn. There is always a lot to communicate as well. Very busy, very stressful. The weather here is bleak although the locals say it is very mild for this time of year. I am trying to do some writing. I want to finish Chapter 9 but all I seem to be able to do is crank out a Flash Fiction every now and then. I also want to write a story for the Inspirational quote contest but I don't feel overly ... inspired. My wife gets in from Hungary this Saturday and leaves 8 days later. I am looking forward to that. Jim |
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