The Hitchhiker

I have an odd relationship with this piece. Like most of my stories, I wrote this years ago, had it workshopped once, then let it sit. I tried revising it a year ago but didn't get really far. Then I signed up for a short story workshop and knew this was the piece to work … Continue reading The Hitchhiker →

Sticky Singles

This publication marks a major milestone in my creative writing - it's the first acceptance I'm being paid for! It's a token payment, and they pay via PayPal, so there's no check to frame and hang on my wall, but I'll still take it. Another first for this one is that it was professionally edited … Continue reading Sticky Singles →

The First of the Month

This is apparently the year of short shorts for my writing. They are easy and fun to write, and I'm getting all of them published, which is, of course, fantastic! I received some nice comments on this one already, and there's a chance that I will get paid for it. They select certain stories to … Continue reading The First of the Month →

The Other Side

Yay, my third publishing credit of 2022! And this one is a bit longer - flash fiction, instead of micro fiction. If you've read my writing posts in the past, you know that most of what I write is inspired by events in my own life. This one is different in that (channeling my inner … Continue reading The Other Side →

Keeping This Brief

While a story of 100 words might seem easier to write than one of 1,000 words or 10,000 words, if you’ve ever tried, you’ll realize it’s not so. To communicate everything crucial about your character’s background, personality, current circumstances, and emotional state in so few words, and to add a compelling plot around it all … Continue reading Keeping This Brief →

Burnout and Bad Habits

I started off 2021 really well with respect to my creative writing goals. I took two short story workshops and a novel revision workshop, and I made a ton of progress for the first seven months. Especially when I was living in Northern California, there was something about the place I was staying in or … Continue reading Burnout and Bad Habits →

Thirty-Six Hours in a Remote Corner of Texas

In the final days of 2020, I managed to secure one more publication for my writing. One writing goal I gave myself at the beginning of last year was to submit all 15 of my short pieces for publication, but that was an uber-ambitious goal. Only one of the pieces was finished at the beginning … Continue reading Thirty-Six Hours in a Remote Corner of Texas →

Still Love

I wrote this story originally about three years ago and back then, it was about one-third the length. I gave it to a critique group I belonged to at the time, which has since disbanded, and then to a professional editor. It wasn't well-received and everyone had a lot of suggestions for improvements, which I … Continue reading Still Love →

The Road to Gold Ridge

I'm pleased to announce that I've published another short story, this time in the Metaworker. I submitted this story to five magazines back in January and didn't get any acceptances. But I did get one personalized bit of feedback (thank you, Novel Noctule editors!) that included the following: The writing was solid, but we felt … Continue reading The Road to Gold Ridge →

Read Me!

Last week, I wrote about how this blog has helped me develop a writing practice and become better at the craft. I'm a late bloomer when it comes to writing. Although I've been writing for a long time, I've always been a dabbler, trying this and that style, starting projects I've never finished, getting easily … Continue reading Read Me! →