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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 have been home for about a week in the last 2 months. Vacations and work. Today, I wrap up my work at my current client site and head home. I am not scheduled to get on another plane for 3 weeks after today. It never works out that way but hopefully... I am in the 15-15 contest and may miss one of the stories. I can make it up later. I intend to do a lot of writing in the coming weeks. My book certainly needs some attention. J |
| Every now and then I wake up and wonder, "Where the hell am I?" I travel a lot and this is just part of the job. I just spent two weeks in Budapest and then went home in California for 2 days. Now I am in Richmond, Virginia for the week. My workload is really heavy, which takes away from my writing. I miss regularly entering the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge. I am entered into a contest that started yesterday and goes on for 15 days. We get a daily prompt and then spend about 15 minutes writing a story. You have to participate or get dropped (there is some forgiveness built into it). I think this is perfect for me right now. I am off to work. J |
| Well, I am home from Budapest and its nice to see my kids and dog. At the same time, I have left my wife behind and I miss her. I think we will hook up again sometime in February. In the meantime, I have a lot of work this next week. I leave for Virginia on Monday and will not get home until Saturday. For some reason, there is a spike in the number of people reading my stories; better said, there is a spike in the number of my stories that are being read. It could jst be one person but, over the last two days, nearly 100 different stories have been read. I had hoped to complete Chapter 8 yesterday but now I think I will shoot for having it done by this Sunday. My son in in a wrestling tournament today and I want to go see that. I hope to enter a Flash Fiction later today. j |
| Slow day today, a 2-hour flight followed by an 11.5 hour flight. Nothing to it. I had hoped to finish chapter 8 of my novel on the flight home but I think I have to spend some time on my day job. I will miss my wife. She comes to me in California in late February for a visit. I had 43 different stories read out of my portfolio yesterday. That seems like a lot to me. Maybe it was just one reader with a lot of time on his/her hands. In any event, it's nice to be read. Goodbye Budapest! J |
| I wrote an essay earlier this week entitled How to Write Good Flash Fiction. I am really surprised by the feedback. Everyone seems to find something helpful in it, at least those that gave me feedback. I initially wrote this for me. After all, who am I to try and tell someone what they need to do to improve their writing? In the end, I asked Arakun (Daily Flash Fiction Challenge) if I could post it in her forum and she said "sure". It must mean that I have learned something by participating in WDC. I am a math kind of guy with no training in writing. I always wanted to write but stayed away from it because ... well, math guy do math. Anyway, WDC has certainly given me hope. My novel AWARE is coming along nicely. I hope to be ready to submit it for publication before summer 2009. j |
| It is very cold here in Hungary, about -8C which is about 16F. My wife and I go for a long walk every day, at least an hour. We dress up nice and warm and then off we go. The Hungarian hills are right out of a postcard. There is no snow but the frost has made everything white. I am anxious to get back to my writing but I know Erika, my wife, has priority. Next week when she goes to work, I will have some time to write. I had hoped to post chapter 8 of my novel by the end of this week but now it looks like that will not happen. J |
| My wife and I are hosting a dinner party tonight in Budapest. My contribution is a taco salad. It will be the only thing on the table I can pronounce. I need to take this opportunity to publicly thank Octobersun for reviewing the last couple of chapters of my book AWARE. Not only is she making considerable effort to do a good job, she does so out of the goodness of her heart. And, I might add, she is very good at it. Her editing comments are very detailed and always right on the money. Thank you Octobersun!. Happy Holidays! Jim |
| I am in Hungary for two weeks visiting my wife. The first week is vacation so I will not be writing much. Next week she goes to work and I work at our house office. I will write then. J |
| I would like to wish everyone in WDC, and those just visiting, Happy Holidays. I opened presents today with my kids here in California. Tomorrow, I fly off to spend Christmas with my Hungarian wife who lives and works in Budapest. It's an interesting life I live. The most important thing that has happened to me this year is WDC. I have written over 200 stories and such and read/reviewed even more. The encouragement and help have all been overwhelming. I hope to return the favor as time permits. I am currently reading a book manuscript for a WDC member. I do this gladly knowing that I am helping someone. I also get to read a Sci-Fi story before its published. I also know that what goes around comes around. I help and am helped in return. There is a life lesson here. I hope everyone has a Happy, Happy and a Very Merry. Jim |
| I wrote a 55 word story about a woman falsely accusing a man of rape. I actually know someone that this happened to. He spent 3 months in jail and it was her word against his. He lost his job. She kept hers. He was imprisoned and she was free. Before the trial, she confessed that she did it to get back at him and all charges were dropped. She was not charged with anything. She said he had kept her imprisoned for 1 hour and for that he should go to jail for 25 years. She had him imprisoned for 3 months and nothing happened to her. His picture was in both local papers along with a story about how he was charged with these brutal acts. After she confessed, the papers ran no story. His family went through hell all because it was her word against his and the presumption is that men rape and women don't lie about such things. I am monitoring the feedback on the 55 word story. Thus far I have two ratings of 4.5 stars along with comments. I also have a rating of 3.5 stars without comments. I wonder what was going through the person's mind that gave the relatively poor rating and left no helpful comments. My guess is that that person did not like the content; the idea that a man accused of rape could actually be the victim. I also believe that that person is in the majority; I know I was until it happened to someone I know. |
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