Writer, Dabbler In Things
I hit a couple of notable benchmarks today. This isn’t to be confused with hitting the magic number I mentioned recently. That’s a whole other thing. And not a good one.Don’t confuse personal bests and personal worsts, people. It can’t end well. No, this time the first benchmark, albeit the less significant of the two … Read more
I’ve been keeping you posted on the progress of entries for the NYC Midnight Microfiction contest, and the results for the final round came in today. Of the top 10 finalists and the top 10 honorable mentions, I… wasn’t listed. It wasn’t a particularly surprising outcome, given that my last entry felt like the weakest … Read more
I’ve just been informed that I made it through the second round of the NYC Midnight Microfiction contest I updated you on recently and am on to the final round this weekend. As always, it feel good to get the approval of people who vet fiction professionally. Looking forward to the next challenge. Update you … Read more
A couple of friends of mine forwarded this post about a deal that a TV and movie production company struck with Netflix, which will see a number of films from unrepresented writers get a solid shot at getting made. In a couple of decades of writing movie scripts and entering contests (or at least keeping … Read more
I mentioned recently that I was entering the NYC Midnight Microfiction contest, wherein writers have to write no more than 100 words for a story the organization assigns rand0mized genres, actions, and single words for. Well, the results came in, and I was in the top 20 of my group, so advance to round 2. … Read more
I like coming across new words in the material I read. While it can get a bit tiring at times to have to look up, say, a few words a page (*clears throat loudly and looks pointedly at Lovecraft*), it’s always good to learn new things, and words are included. What I don’t like is … Read more
I’ve written previously about the importance of finishing projects you start. It’s something I finally got around to committing to way too late in life, which led to decades of untold numbers of just-started or half-finished stories and scripts in my wake. But the flipside to that is the importance of knowing when a project … Read more
I’ve done a number of contests through the NYC Midnight organization, including short stories and short scripts. Just over an hour ago (midnight NYC time, not coincidentally) we received the assignments for their latest contest: 100-word microfiction stories that are to be completed in twenty-four hours. What the NYC crew does is randomly places the … Read more
As I’d mentioned previously, I get a daily newsletter for free and cheap ebooks for my Kobo e-reader. It’s something I really should stop, because while it sounds good in theory–what’s this? Free books? Yes, please!–the facts are that a) I continue to be a slow reader, and collect way more books through this newsletter … Read more
I’m a sucker for books. My wife foolishly still leaves me unattended in book stores sometimes, and the result is almost always me ending up with a book or two (or… okay, three) for the kiddo, plus maybe one for her and one for myself. And while I’ve written previously about preferring physical books to … Read more