My WIP bug

I've added the WIP bug I mentioned in the previous post. I put a word goal of 20,000 for starters but I may come to the end of the story sooner than that. May get there later than that too. But the bug is up, and that's good.

Moving forward on my WIP

I added about another thousand words to the work in progress last night. Then about 350 more this morning.

It's a three part story* and I solidified the path to the end of part one. I knew where I needed to go but didn't know how I would get there. I figured that out last night. I also figured out how to work in a bit of characterization I needed to work in with my main supporting character. I wrote that part before work this morning but I'm afraid it needs to be amped up. There are guns drawn and shots fired. It should be more exciting that it seems to be right now. I need to reread what I wrote, but it seems flat.

I am thinking that I will add one of those WIP bugs on the right side over there in the next few days. To keep me accountable.

Here's another sample from it, with a bit of an explanation of the idea of data running that I'm playing with. Let me know if it doesn't make sense. And keep inmind that these are all first drafts.

As we walk back to Raul’s to get ready for that night’s action we try and stay on the streets that are well lit. The sun in going down and casting long shadows down the asphalt. The buildings are getting taller as we head into downtown and I am explaining what it is that Carroll does.

“It’s called data running,” I say, waiting at a corner for a man pulling a small cart on the back of his bicycle to pass, the orange flag attached to the seat is popping in the breeze. Berger nods like he knows what I am talking about but I know he doesn’t, he can’t.

I lift my left sleeve and show him the port in my arm, just below my elbow.

“You’re on the wire?” Berger asks.

I nod and tell him that I could be. “I’ve got the equipment, but I don’t use it. Not often anyway.”

“So, what does that have to do with Carroll and this job?”

“It’s how they run data.” We turn the corner and pass the restaurant we ate at a few nights before. We hear generators rumble to life. Shop keepers are starting to turn on the lights outside their front doors and little pools of light are beginning to litter the sidewalk. I continue. “They sit a guy in a chair, hook him up to a feed. They dump whatever info that needs to travel securely into a part of the brain that’s not being used and send him off with an address on a page and name of someone to ask for. Once they get to wherever it is they are supposed to go they get hooked back up and the data is pulled out of their heads. All we have to do is make sure they get there.”

* Possibly a novella since we are at 4,000 words now and not done with the first of three parts. We are looking at probably 25,000 to 30,000 words when all is said and done. Plus, it being a novella plays well into something I have been kicking around in the back of my head. More on that if something comes of it. **

** Thanks to Joe Posnanski for this little aside device. SO much easier than trying to work that info into the main post.

A look at the future

There's an interesting discussion going on over at The Kill Zone. It's about ebooks and book books. The most interesting part of it all is going on in the comments. All of the folks who post there are published writers and they are sharing how much their ebook sales have grown. Check it out.

The rise of ereaders and ebooks is incredibly fascinating to me. With the iPad being launched I think you are going to see a huge rise in ebook sales with in the next few years. I'd even predict and almost 50-50 split when it comes to sales. Half of all book sales will be ebooks. That's how fast this thing is changing. I have no data to back that up, but as iPad competitors come out you'll see the numbers just continue to rise. I think there are a huge number of people out there who contemplated buying an ereader of some sort -- Kindle, Nook, etc ... -- but decided against one since they didn't serve any other purpose. But with these tablet computers coming out that's changed/changing.

Anyway, go check out he discussion at The Kill Zone. Interesting stuff.

An update

I wrote a paragraph this morning and that's the first new thing I've written in probably a week. Been busy with the non-writing part of my life.

Still thinking about the Needle Flash Fiction Challenge. The original idea I had been playing with isn't really panning out. It's a few bits of tasty dialogue but not much more than that. Not really a story that goes anywhere. I have another idea -- really an idea for a setting -- that I am going to think about and see if I can't make it go anywhere.

A busy weekend

We spent the weekend working around the house so I didn't get much done on the writing front. I thought some about the Needle contest. I have an idea that hopefully can contain itself to the 1000 word limit. Not sure yet.

The WIP is just sitting there. I have been thinking about where it's at and I am afraid that I have written my characters into a situation that does nothing to advance the story. They are walking some place and will have to walk back to where they came from before anything happens that pushes the story forward. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense if you don't really know the story, but it doesn't matter really. All you have to know is that I realize I need to delete about 300 words that I've already written. Not a big deal, really. There is one little bit that I like that I'll keep and work in somewhere else. All I am losing, really, is a little world building and atmosphere. I am feeling pretty comfortable with the atmosphere of the piece. The reader gets a dystopian feel and that's what I want. So losing these few words isn't a killer. Just disappointing that I wrote myself into a hole. But better to realize it now, I guess, than 1,000 words from now.

Needle magazine's flash fiction challenge

Since I don't have enough going on right now I decided to throw my hat into the ring and participate in Needle Magazine's flash fiction challenge. More detailed rules are here, but it boils down to this. Write it, but no more than 1,000 words. Post it, or find some place that can, by May 18. They will draw a name from those who posted and they win a Needle t-shirt. The only catch is that the story has to include a needle somewhere.

So, the prize winner is picked at random, but there is this.

We’ll also look through the stories to see whether anything might be a good fit for the summer issue of NEEDLE, expected out around the first of July. If it seems like a fit, we’ll chat about it.

While I would never turn down a t-shirt, that would be the real prize.

More from the current WIP

King of the abbreviations drops another one on you. WIP is work in progress for those who don't know.

Sue asked for a little more of what I am working on. These, by the way, are just a random few paragraphs. Not from the beginning or the end. And they don't go together so don't read this one as a continuation of the last one.

Berger takes a bite of his sandwich then mumbles with a full mouth, “And what did you do before you got started fighting?”

“I was a soldier, then a cop.” I look for the woman who took our order and ask her to bring us two beers. “These are on me,” I tell Berger. He nods his thanks then asks more questions.

“That where you learned to fight? The military?”

“That’s where they taught me how to throw a proper punch. Nobody teaches you how to fight. You just know how to do that. Born with it.”

The redhead sits two label-less brown bottles on the table. They are a home brew and I take a long drink. It’s bitter and I shut my eyes tight as I swallow, fighting to get it down.

“So, a soldier, huh?” I say to Berger and reach down to my boot and pull a pistol that’s been holstered to my ankle and put it on the table. “I guess you know how to use one of these.”

Berger smiles and says, “Yes, I’ve used a gun before.”

“How long ago did you last shoot?”

“Basic training.” He puts what’s left of his sandwich in his mouth and washes it down with a swallow of the home brew. “I worked the kitchen, and let me tell you, I make better sandwiches than these things. Better beer, too.” He slides his empty plate to the middle of the table and pulls his napkin from his lap.

Writing ADD and what I'm working on

That's attention deficit disorder, not just random capitalization. But I do think I have writing ADD. I have a tough time finishing things. And it's not because I think whatever project I 'm writing isn't good. It's just that something else in my head grabs hold of my attention and chokes it to the ground. For example, I have two pieces that I have started but sort of abandoned in favor of something that sprung into my head the other morning.

I wrote on it the other day and then again last night and we are around the 2,500 word mark right now. The words are still coming easy, and that may be why it's what I am wanting to write at the moment.

Here's a little taste of what I've been doing.

I push him off of me and he stumbles out to the middle of the circle. He struggles to stand and I come at him with a flurry of punches. First a right, then a left, then another right. I throw one more hard left and Berger’s head snaps back. He falls to the ground and the crowd starts to shout. A pair of men fight through the mob and grab Berger under the arms and drag him into a back room. I follow them, accepting congratulations.

Once the door shuts behind us one of the men who had been dragging Berger waves smelling salts under his nose. He shakes his head and his eyes blink open.

Raul stands up from the desk that’s in the corner. He approaches Berger and me with two stacks of cash, Berger’s bigger than mine since he took the fall.

“Sorry it can’t be more, boys,” he tells us.

“It’s alright,” I say, speaking for the both of us. “It pays the bills.”

And it does. That’s why I do this, not because I want to, but because I need to.

I sit with Berger for a few minutes after Raul has left. He’s given me the keys and asked me to lock up. We are in the basement below his store, a shop that sells a little of everything but specializes in nothing.

“Sorry that one was so rough,” I say to Berger as he pushes himself off of his back and onto his elbows. “I think I got carried away.”

Berger just smiles and tells me not to worry about it. “I’ve taken worse beatings,” he says. “At least I am getting paid for it now.”

I nod and agree. At least we are getting paid for it.

Beat to a Pulp says no

Well, Beat to a Pulp said "Thanks, but no thanks" to my story Getting Even. It was by far the most encouraging rejection I have received so far. Here's what the editor said.

I really appreciate you submitting to BTAP and I certainly hope you do again. GETTING EVEN contains terrific writing and an interesting world that you have created. Unfortunately, the ending just didn't do it for me. I don't usually get this specific in rejection letters but I wanted you to know I liked many elements of this tale. Once again, please feel free to submit to BTAP (especially sci-fi) again in the future.

So, he really liked the writing. That was great to hear. Makes me think that I can do this. There is still work to do. I know I struggle with endings. It was something I was aware of before getting this rejection. This reinforces the point.

It was also nice to hear that the world was interesting. This takes place in a world that is fully formed in my head, but I don't know that I am doing it justice when I put it on paper. Looks like i may be on the right track.

Overall this is the second, and maybe third, personal rejection I have received. It's something that I was under the impression was rare. Maybe it is and I am just getting lucky. Doesn't matter, I'll take it. The personal feedback is making me better.

A sample book cover

The compressor on our air conditioner broke some time between the last person moving out and us moving in. We had no idea until we tried to run the A/C last week. Gina knew it was broken a few days before I did. I took a little more convincing. But I came around and we had someone come out last week to check it out. That's when we get the news about the compressor. The guys were out today to fix it. I took the morning off work so I could be there when they got there. Instead of writing or taking care of some things around the house, I decided to play with Photoshop and some free stock photography I found online.

I see writers all the time on message boards and other places get worried about things that they shouldn't worry about until much farther into the publishing process. They worry about what their pen name should be. They worry about how they are going to get someone to publish all three of the books in their series when they haven't finished the first chapter of the first book yet. I am by no means an expert, but I always tell them to just write. Don't worry about all that other stuff until it's time to worry about. Just write. Today I didn't listen to my own advice. I goofed around and made a book cover. Let me know what you think. Would you buy this book? Is it professional looking? At least a little bit?