Words and Coffee

I found out this morning on my Google Reader (if you read a lot of blogs and don’t have a reader, do yourself a favor and get one) that my flash fiction piece After the Golden Times won Jay Lake’s flash fiction open contest. I’m thrilled. In an earlier post I indicated that I was excited to be included in the top five. To cap it off like this and win a signed copy of Green–sweet sassy molassy.

In celebration, I’ve changed my header with an honest to god picture of words and coffee, taken in my writing shed in the afternoon sunlight. That’s the cup from which I enjoy hot, black coffee and the dictionary I use when my internet connection is on the fritz.

Coming Round the Last Turn

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The Jay Lake contest voting continues. I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised that it’s gone the way it has thus far, but Adrian Faulkner is fighting back with his story “The Salt of Life” (an awesome story, by the way). This has been fun and exciting. The entries are:

The Salt of Life

Philosophy and Headwear

Tradition

Hat

and After the Golden Times (it’s untitled in Jay’s poll because I neglected to include the title. Smooth.)

I have no idea when Mr. Lake will be closing the poll, so if you haven’t checked it out yet, head on over and have a read.

Update 9/17/09 8:09PM

Jay Lake posted that the poll will close either Sunday night or Monday. You know what to do.

Early and often - alright, you can only vote once, but vote.

I’ve got a piece on Jay Lake’s blog that is in the final 5 of his flash fiction contest following the voting of Jay’s panel of esteemed judges. I’m thrilled to have made the cut. It’s for the story After the Golden Times, although in the Jay Lake poll it’s untitled (and you can read it from the poll).

Now the poll is open to readers to check out. Get on over there, check out the entries and cast your vote. Ideally you’ll enjoy mine above all others, but do what you must. I’ve enjoyed reading them all.

For what it’s worth, I had the option to post it on my blog and send the link as my entry OR post directly in the comments of Jay’s photo prompt post. I chose the latter and now realize I should have chosen the former if for no other reason than maybe driving a little more traffic to my blog. Live and learn.

Here's hoping the bones of my next short story aren't so, um, combative.

I wrapped up the first draft of my first novel three days ago. It felt good. Not great, but good. The following day, all I could think about was all the stuff that needed to be rethought, reworked and rewritten. The prospect of doing those things is daunting and exciting. I look forward to the revision process, but I also look forward to some weeks away from the novel.

To that end, I am working to stretch my short story muscles a bit. I’ve entered a few contests hosted by Jay Lake, Susan Adrian and Ken Scholes, but those were all of the flash variety. Until I started entering these contests, I hadn’t done much with short fiction since primary school. I am thankful opportunities like these exist. It is unlikely I would have written any short fiction while working on my novel if not for these authors’ offering incentive to do so. Now that I’ve done some, I’m encouraged to do more for the sake of writing. Prizes are nice (not that I’ve won any), but to explore short fiction can only help to better my writing.

Also, it is a nice break from working on one concept to explore many. The challenge for me will be to see if I can convey the feelings, tones, characters and stories economically. Today I’m mapping out the bones of a fantasy short story, probably something in the 3,000 to 6,000 word range. I’m trying out some tools I’ve come across with regard to setting up the story, so it’s an exercise of sorts. It’s also an exercise I plan to submit for publication.

From fingertips to paper

Today is day one of my new writing goals. 2,000 words a day. I feel like my story may exceed the 100k mark. In order to have the first draft of my manuscript done by the end of August, I decided to hedge by bets and shoot for more daily production. I swear I’m not juicing or anything to make this happen. I did two things that I don’t normally do before I wrote today – I ran (granted only for about a mile) and I made a big steaming mug of black tea with milk and honey. Something worked. It may be that I’m at a place in the story where I have a good feel for how this will wrap up. That goes a long way. We’ll see how the week goes. With a little luck I’ll have at least 10, ooo new words of story by Friday.

I’ve posted before that I follow Jay Lake’s blog. He’s been an inspiration for me to get more words down more frequently – and not just ramblings. Here is a guy battling cancer and he continues to crank out content that his agent is able to sell (His agent is Jennifer Jackson, whose blog I also follow). He posts often to his blog as well. Amazing. I’ve never read his stuff, but I plan to remedy that sometime in the not to distant future, probably starting with Green.

While writing my first draft, I have labored over stuff that probably doesn’t need attention until the second draft. Last night, in between fitful sleep, I decided to shoot for 2000 words/day and see how it plays out. I’m ecstatic over the day 1 results. Hell, I may even wade back in tonight.