Finding "Old" Writings

Yesterday, my new printer came, and although it's about the same size as the previous one, it's got the trays and things arranged differently. This meant that I had to do a little shifting of things in that section of my office, which precipitated my checking the last (one can always hope) of the 3.5 inch floppy disks I still have to make sure I have everything off them.

Found a few things that had not been previously backed up, including a nearly finished essay about when Chips was a puppy. He was such a special dog, I'm really glad I didn't lose this piece of writing. Here's a sample:

At two weeks of age, puppies really do look like their plush counterparts, the Pound Puppies." He was a fat little ball with legs splayed out sideways, and a stub of a tail that oscillated allegro. His nose was flat and wrinkled. But his color was fascinating. You could never say that he was white, because he wasn't. You could certainly never say that he was yellow; that wasn't right either. The closest way to describe it would be to imagine swirling a little bit of coffee into a cup of milk until it was almost, but not quite, mixed. When the light hit his fur, though, he shone, like the color of fresh-split wood chips in the sunshine. His ears were short, his eyes were dark buttons, and he had one smudge of brown from his nose to his chin, as if he had just tried to lick a chocolate pudding pop, and missed. Instead, he licked my face. I knew I was hooked.

Succinctly Yours- Flash Fiction

Grandma's Goulash regularly runs a Flash Fiction challenge. Here's my next installment of 140 words. The extra credit word is "expedient." Here's the picture that is to be the inspiration:




Here's my story:

Ralph basked in the late afternoon sun. His future was an open door! It would be so expedient to enter- the odor of slightly spoiled warm bologna wafted past. He allowed his mind to drift–to become one with the enticing aroma in which he was now bathed. Eugene and Tyson had long since flown through that portal into the heavenly realm beyond. Ralph hesitated for only one reason; his scouts had not returned. It was so unlike them to selfishly sate their own appetites without returning with bits of the treat stuck to their feet to present to him, the Fly King.

What could be the cause of their delay? Ralph knew that it was not prudent to follow without the report from Eugene and Tyson, but, overwhelmed by the temptation, he raised his wings and buzzed into the kitchen.

____________

To see other entries visit Grandma's Goulash

Not Much Writing Happening

Not much writing has been happening here lately. I've been swamped with other responsibilities, and I just got two new short term contracts for other service work. Money is really good! But there is little time left for thinking creatively and writing.

I have selected my new printer and ordered it. This is the direct result of the pay for writing the article in Your National Forests magazine.

Thinking About Short Story Options

Most of us are still waiting for our digital short stories that were winners to appear on the Twin Trinity Media site. It just takes a long time for all the mechanics to happen. Eventually, I will have three stories there, in addition to six that were good enough to be chosen for books.

Meanwhile, there is one lonely story that didn't make the cut for an award. Of course, I think it's a fine story... just didn't appeal to the judges that month for one reason or another. One possibility is that it's pretty straightforward and has a happy ending. The theme was "hope," and I didn't try to twist that in any way.

I've looked up lists of the seven virtues, and found: four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, restraint or temperance, and courage or fortitude, and the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. So, this makes me think about ideas like a group of seven stories based on these themes. These stories would be uplifting, no nasty twists or angst-laden endings. Hopefully, however, they would not be trite.

Not all of my stories have happy endings. In fact the two first stories that will be up on Twin Trinity are darker. But recently, I seem to be inundated with stories with more questions than answers, bleak endings, and tragedy. Maybe I'm just ready for some positive input.

Of course, the question is, would anyone buy these? I'm not sure how much credibility I have as a short story author until some of them actually come out on TTM.

Ivy and Midge Recommend North Country Cache

One of the prizes for a contest on my other blog, My Quality Day, was a copy of North Country Cache. It was won by Ivy in the Philippines, and after 5 weeks in the mail, she finally received it!

The fact that she likes the book means a lot to me, since I have come to count her among my friends, and sure would hope to meet her in person some day. Here is part of what she says:

I got the parcel notice from the post office on Monday, so Marguerite and I went there on Tuesday to claim it. I started reading it right away and couldn't put it down. My initial plan was to get my writing assignments out of the way first before I settled down to enjoy the book, but I made the mistake of sampling just one essay and got hooked.

Her daughter Marguerite (Midge) is posing with the book-- it's quite an adorable picture, don't you think? And she's allowing me to use it for publicity. Hop over to Spinning Lovely Days and see what else Ivy has to say.

Ludington Daily News Column- June 2011

 I did get my newspaper column done on time, but forgot to blog about it. It was due on Monday, and I actually zapped it off the the editor several hours before the deadline.

Several times a year the column features other people who "get off the couch." This month I wrote about a paddling journey that a group of people took this month the entire length of the Muskegon River. It was named Voyage of Discovery, and had the purpose of surveying the river's ecological health.

I called the watershed organization which sponsored the trip, and also one of the people who paddled the entire distance, for interviews.

"21st Century Voyage of Discovery

The Manistee River is the third-longest river in Michigan. Can you name the two that are longer? Did you guess the Grand, just because of the name? You are right; it’s longest. Which one is in between? That would be the Muskegon..."

Chapter 10 of News from Dead Mule Swamp

This chapter has taken forever to finish. I started it almost a month ago, and then decided that it was time to have something significant occur to keep the plot moving along. That changed the chapter from one of mostly dialogue to a lot of moving people around and meeting someone new, and setting up this next piece of action.

That took a lot of words! In fact, this chapter is twice as long as the previously longest chapter. Hmmm. Maybe it should be split into two.

Nevertheless, I got a big chunk of the story done to take to the West Side Gang writers group last night. Since it was really rough (I finished just in time to take it), they offered some good suggestions.

It is a little odd to hear one chapter of a book about once a month. I know, since some others are also bringing chapters. There usually needs to be a little update to remind people who the secondary characters are and what previously happened.

I should be good to go with the next few chapters now, as this latest plot complication plays out.