Adrift in a Sea of Unfinished Stories v.2

 

uncoverydiscoveryblog

(Eight years later, not much has changed. Though this year I have submitted three shortie short stories with one rejection. David Mamet had a good take on writer procrastination: It's a way of avoiding the writing of a shit first draft. Interesting.)

Haven't finished a short story in over six weeks. Not even a first draft. Zip. I have no idea what I'm waiting for. Certainly not inspiration. Or the perfect metaphor. Or a really ironic Twilight Zone ending. I'm not even pushing the cursor around the screen, filling pages with swill that I'll edit later. Can't be fear. Whatever it is, I'm not producing.

Only a single short story remains under consideration with a magazine. Maybe I should switch to Flash Fiction until this malaise passes. "Death Honk" was fun, a thousand words, and still floating about online in Microliterature. I recall writing it very quickly. Could not other tales be written equally fast?

Back running and walking again, using my new chi running techniques. This morning, a friend called during my post-run stretch. I took the call and finished tasking my hamstrings, realizing that I'd become the person I swore I'd never be: one who combed physical activity and a phone call. At least this transformation took place in Griffith Park and not a gym, where those nearby would be hostages to my infernal chattiness.

Okay. Away. Keep it short.

 

Not Short Stories Again!

Yes

As in 2009 and 2016. Both times I had specific goals. This go-around,  I intend to publish and LEARN. To teach this old dog a new trick, I've begun on microfiction (stories 100 words or less) and flash fiction (stories under 1k words).

I've always been enchanted by quantity. This time it shall be the oft-discussed quality. Since beginning last month, I've finished a trio of short fiction and sent it off to three publications. I should start hearing back around the end of spring. But the goal now is to continue finishing stories, trying new techniques and new genres.

Like I probably should've done in 2009.

Reedsy.com

Book Review: Irreal Fiction Focuses on Dreams

The Irreal Reader: Fiction & Essays from The Cafe Irreal by G.S. Evans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An anthology of short stories most strange, but that's the nature of irreal. Irreal is defined as "works of fiction in which physical reality reflects psychological reality in a manner that imitates the reality of a dream." Hence, the reader samples fragments both deeply personal and very international in their use of generally recognized symbols.

In these pages you'll encounter a doctor skilled at diagnosing love, the happenings in a town that caught a Minotaur, and a young man who receives a new father courtesy of the CIA.

I missed a great deal of the symbolism. But taken for what they are, the tales are overall intriguing. My main critque was the large number of essays in the back defining irreal, separating it from surreal, allegory or magical realism. While well-written and concise, the essays occupied around a third of the book. Like the literary style they explain, less is definitely more.

View all my reviews

Story Du Jour #11

All Story Du Jour tales are available online and free! A small presentation in these trying times.

Speculative Fiction

The Colored Lens

"The Memory Jar" - by George Lockett

5,227 words

A married woman discovers that giving someone a piece of your mind can have devastating consequences. 

Here's a sample of the writing:

"That night, Anna slipped out of bed and back into David’s office. She took the jar from its cubbyhole and padded up to the linen closet. If she stooped her head, she could just squeeze herself into the space beneath the bottom shelf. The closet was wholesomely warm, like being enfolded in a thick blanket. She pulled the door to, leaving a crack large enough to admit a shaft of moonlight, then held up the jar and watched the shapes inside.

The movement was faster now, almost eager, the darkest patches of oily blackness pressing up against the glass and spreading like ink before receding into the grey depths. The motion repeated. It reminded her of an octopus she’d once seen in an aquarium. It would climb the glass, then throw itself off the top and drift down the tank. It did this over and over. They could be playful creatures, the staff had said, but it seemed restless to her. Trapped."

More fiction fun soon. How's that?

Kurt Vonnegut's Short Story Hacks

Seven Reader-Centric Thoughts from a Pro

These have been around awhile, but they're always worth reviewing. Curt, witty and to the point.

h/t: GerryJustice

Short Story Du Jour #7

Branching out into short fiction.

The Dark 

 “The All-Night Horror Show” 

by Orrin Grey 2434 words 

During a home invasion, a washed up old actor finds the best solution lies within. You can see how this one will play out, but nonetheless enjoyable.

 Here’s a sample of the writing:

"That is not the crack-pause-crack of the fireworks one or two streets over. That is the sound of someone knocking on the front door, though it is late now, getting on toward midnight. “The witching hour,” he remembers intoning in his heavily-accented voice on some talk show or another a decade gone now, when people still cared who he was.

He rises from his chair and it is like rising from a coffin. His arms and legs feel heavy, bound in chains, as he was in The Secret Door. He can feel them dragging along behind him as he struggles across the hardwood floor, into the narrow hall. On the TV at his back, he is walking the other way, up a set of stairs cast in chiaroscuro."

Monday might be time for a little mystery.

Year and Decade in Review

You Only Get the 1990s Once

Now THAT was a sweet decade, followed by the roller coaster ride of the oughts. Still, as the old saying goes, at least I had my health—until 2009. Now we review the tens.

As decades unfold, 2010 to 2019 covered the spread from miserable suckery on multiple fronts to a serene stability that I have yet to take for granted. Rating ten years in football terms, I'd be 4 - 5 - 1.

Health

spring.org.uk

I entered the tens in physical therapy from my 2009 left knee surgery. (My orthopedist said I'd never run again. For six years, it looked like he was right.) But a right shoulder injury was blossoming. I began physical therapy, but would need surgery in 2011. In 2012, I developed skin cancer and required Mohs surgery on my nose. Then came 2014 and my diagnosis with prostate cancer, subsequent surgery and a number of complications. In 2016, a health upswing kicked in, interrupted by a fractured left arm in 2017, then a 2018 right knee injury unrelated to sports but not stupidity. That scrubbed running for half the year. At last, this year, running picked up again and stayed consistent

Over the decade, my  weight fluctuated, with gains, slight losses, then more gains, always trending upwards. This March I peaked at 271 pounds. My chins gave my face a soft rounded appearance like mascot for a French tire company. Fortunately, with diet and exercise, I've dropped 34 pounds and start the new year with hopes of cutting another 30 in the upcoming year.

Running

republic

Proving my orthopedist wrong motivated me in 2010. Running started out rather well. I'd taken a few lessons in chi running, read the book, cross-trained, and commenced a schedule of walking and running. In July 2010, I ran a 5k, finishing under 30 minutes for the last time. A month later, pain swelled up in the left knee. (Poor chi running form was the culprit.) I backed off running for the rest of the year, cross-trained, put on weight, then, in 2011, started building up to three miles again. That May I injured myself again. The same month I mostly walked a 5k, my last for the next five years. Running ebbed and flowed in-between operations, more injuries and depression.

In 2016, as my weight continued to climb, I committed to walking 3x a week. Eventually, I took up chi running once more, finished a 5k in April and went on to regular running 3x a week. For most of that time, I did not record my times. I figured that way I wouldn't be tempted to overtrain. I was jazzed just to be running steady again.

In 2019, I decided to record times, try and improve. My first 5k in January I averaged 14 minute miles. My last 5k in November, I averaged 11:17. In 2020, I'm already signed up to run the same 5k in January and a 10k in May. If I can increase my distance and speed without injuring myself, I might venture another marathon in late fall.

Writing

brainpickings.org

 In 2010, my animation writing career sank like a cinderblock. No work, maybe one job interview. Yet, I was writing and selling short stories, jokes, essays, along with completing a novella, and putting up 338 blog posts with comments and everything. Alas, this was the high-water mark of blogging. In years to come, social media would gobble up the Web. At the same time, our money ran out and credit card debt swelled.

Wife Joy found only part-time work at irregular intervals. In 2011, I was hired by a group of marketers, writing copy for various products. I continued in their service for the next four years, occasionally snagging a courtesy union writing project, but, otherwise an unemployable man in his late 50s, early 60s.

By 2013, I'd written several drafts of short novels and decided to embrace the wonderful, overcrowded world of ebooks. I took an extended blog post of my 2011 jury duty experience and built it into an ebook. Since then, I've written several fiction and non-fiction books, novellas, and essays. The best seller is my autobiography on prostate cancer which has sold several hundred copies. In 2020, I hope to add an audio version to the ebook and softcover.

Joy landed a full-time job in 2016 as a technical writer. It paid pretty good. Around the same time, I retired from TV animation. A small annuity showed up in my bank account every month. In early 2018, Joy traded up, finding a position at a firm right near our home. For the first time in years, we didn't sweat the monthly bills and started paying down the fat blob of credit card debt we'd run up over the last five years. We bought new clothes and took vacations once again. How very posh.

Welcome 2020

So there you are. Ten rather interesting years, more down than up, but ending on a high note. I hope I'm still around to chronicle my path in the 20s. Blogs will probably be obsolete. I'll have to implant my notes directly into your mind with technology yet to be invented. Or else I'll just write a seasonal letter.

OL27deviantart

Running, Writing, Vital Jake Plug

In Motion

Running consistently the last few months. My weight slowly trends down. With a 5k race approaching in three weeks, I'd like to work in some speed—a relative term when you're fat and slow.

No Story Like a Short Story

I'm hurrying along to finish another tale with a June 30 deadline.

T.L. Schreffler

Cohesion Press craves stories combining military and horror with an emphasis on last stands. I just so happened to have an unsubmitted story from last year that can be arranged to meet said criteria. Plus, I'm employing a new proof reader, which has forced me to advance my deadline. But we're talking upscale problems. 

"Prostate" eBook Selling Well

Very consistent sales, with a few purchases in the UK, Canada, and Australia. I welcome my English-speaking brothers in prostate cancer—and assorted side effects. I'm told this is Men's Health Month, a period dedicated to heightening the "awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys."

Back to Golf

In keeping with the spirit of the month, author Janet Farrar Worthington has been kind enough to excerpt part of my post-op cancer story on her VitalJake blog. Janet is a tireless booster of men's health in general and prostate cancer in particular. She's been a proponent of my book and I'm grateful for her promotion. 

With all the above in mind, I'm announcing the softcover version of They Took My Prostate: Cancer-Loss-Hope will be available August 9. I'll put up a pre-order page on Amazon for those who'd like to gift a guy facing this particular challenge. 

And a pleasant Sunday to all. 

Word Press Website and Elementor

 Part of my big plans from the other day may now be revealed: I'm almost finished building a Word Press website. Since I know nothing about tech beyond point-and-click, this task has been a vexing, interminable ordeal. I've already been hacked and had something unpleasant placed into my code, though this could be two separate intrusions.

(Most of my best bitching is on my Facebook author page. Scroll down past time-wasting videos.) Within a few days, I'll alert you to the launch of my bare bones site, no blog or email honey trap to build a big list, no shiny affiliate links. Just BUY THESE BOOKS!!

Upsell Jungle

That's Word Press "free" software for you. One upsell after the other. Since I have no idea whether I need this or that plugin, I fritter away hours checking everything out. I'll be grateful just to launch the freaking site and be shed of it for a time.

Website Ingredients

Here are the fixings:

Namecheap for my domain name--jpmacauthor.com (I'm still on a proxy site, finishing up the last touches.(

Bluehost for hosting. I tried HostGator and spent over an hour on the phone attempting one hack after another to get the thing installed. Finally, I learned that Safari isn't compatible with HostGator. That might've been helpful to know in advance.

Also, Safari is not 100% compatible with Bluehost. To access my control panel, I have to switch browsers to Firefox. Charming.

Word Press which you can sign-up for from Bluehost.

Elementor, a drag-'n-drop page builder. Upsell masters.

Submitting Short Stories Like It's 2009

If you want a cure for writer's block, build a website. You'll be so grateful to return to a discipline in which you have knowledge and experience and are not perpetually confounded with one step forward, eight steps sideways, and one hop in the air.

I've sent a short story off to Harbinger Press for an upcoming anthology and fired off a second tale today to a new fantasy/speculative fiction site.

Finally, I feel good about something.

More soon on my big running plans.

(Image: Power Addicts)

Big Plans, I Tell Ya

Zafar

Coming soon. Big writing plans. Big running plans. Big website plans. Big. Stinking big.