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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 keep finding that work is getting in the way of my writing. I'm sure this hasn't happened to anyone else. This may be one of the reasons I write so many short stories. Finding half an hour here and there is not a problem. But finding 2-3 hours to craft a chapter is hard to do. By Thursday, the load will lighten considerably and stay that way for 3 weeks. j |
| I've been busy on two fronts. First of all, working on my novel. Secondly, starting a new business that I can hand off to my 17 year old son sometime soon. The new business is One-Page Webbies. It's a site (httP://onepagewebbies.com) where you can have a web site designed for $100 per page. It also offers help with setting up and designing a blog. Not a big deal but something he has a talent for. Jim |
| Right now, I'm working on the book from NaNoWriMo - Seedlings. I have 42 chapters that I am editing. I am finding that I need to push through. Now that I am not in a hurry (1667 words a day in November) I am trying to write too well. The reality is that this is going to be a fun book, not my Hemingway (that's next). I'm also publishing, on Kindle, chapters for my professional book. That book is also written and being edited. I have a goal of publishing two professional chapters a week while sending my mom (editor) a chapter from my fun book every day. At this pace, the professional book and fun book will be done by the end of March. I then set up an account with Amazon to self-publish. Then, I go after the last half of my Hemingway - Artifact Man. |
| The 15 for 15 contest is over and I am now in the process of trying to fill my mind with something other than story ideas. My two favorite contests are the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge and the 15 for 15 contest. Both result in a story of about 300 words resulting from a prompt. However, there is a very big difference. The DFF posts a prompt and you have to post your story within 24 hours. However, you can spend as much time writing and rewriting the as you wish. This being the case, my approach is to often write the first line or even the first 200 words without knowing where the story was going. I can do this right off the top of my head. if I find myself going nowhere, I can start over. Typically, it takes me about 30 minutes from start to finish, including rewrites. Sometimes more, sometimes less. In the 15 for 15, you have to post your story within 24 hours of the prompts, just like DFF. However, you are to spend no more than 15 minutes total, writing. There is no limit to "thinking" time. What this means is (1) you have to get the story right the very first time since there is no time to rework it and (2) Thinking time can take up an entire day as I fret over one story line or the other. So, the 15 for 15 is a much bigger part of may day, even though I spend half the time writing as I do with the DFF. Now, I am editing my NaNoWriMo story - Seedlings. Hopefully it will grow from 50,000 words to about 120,000. Having finished the Prologue and Chapter One, it does seem to be growing. It's weird to write when there is no word limit. I have to be careful though. The good thing about word limits is that you can't afford to get boring or slow. Finally, I love the fact that there are better people in the world than me. Those that give of their time on this site to run contests and help others...I just don't know how they do it. But I'm glad they are here, amongst us. j |
| The contest in getting near the end. The picture prompts have been great. I am missing a couple of the usual players who have been unable to compete this time around. Still, its nice to meet some really talented people. |
| Here I sit at the San Francisco airport waiting for my plane to get here so I can go there. Posted a quickie for the 15 For 15 and am now pondering another short one for the Daily Flash Fiction. As I write, they have delayed yet again. I am heading to Salt Lake City where I will go straight from the airport to a meeting. This means I can't travel in my jeans; something that I find depressing. A pretty girl walks by and I remember I am getting old...53 this coming Friday...alas. Jim |
| Tomorrow I head home from Budapest to California. As far as writing goes, I was on vacation this trip so spent a lot of family time and very little writing - one short story for Flash Fiction and a couple of blogs (jimdillingham.blogspot.com) I am a couple of stories away from my 300th Flash Fiction entry. I want to complete the edit of my NaNoWriMo story by March and then look at self publishing (part of longer term strategy). My main book that I have set aside for a year is back on a front burner. I finished Part I and then quickly wrote myself into a corner of Part II before giving up. Now I have Part II figured out. Complicated but basically, I am changing my POV. Instead of the story being told by someone that is 100% aware of everything, I am going to have it unfold as someone observing someone that is 100% aware. This is much easier to do than having to come up with a way to describe how a person may see probabilities unfold. Anyway...feeling very pumped on writing and looking forward to January's 15 for 15 contest. Hear that Kim? Jim |
| I wish all of WDC a Happy New Year. Let's all make some publishing resolutions. I have mine made: Seedlings by Early March. Jim |
| Opened presents with my kids yesterday. On my way to Budapest today to spend the holidays with my wife. |
| After a couple of weeks off, I am back to my Nano-novel. I am going to try to publish a chapter a day or so. I have 42 chapters and I need to fill out a couple that I think are thin or missing altogether. |
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