Tag Archives: flash fiction

#ROW80 Check-in the Twentieth – busy busy busy

I can’t believe I have no new words to report! Well, exactly I have new words, just not on Grave Touched. I worked on a short story for the Turtleduck Press Freebie Rotation. Short stories used to be almost impossible for me to write. I’m such a longwinded writer! So for a very, very long time, I avoided it at all costs. So I wrote poetry for the TDP Freebies and all was well.

Then I was required to write a short story for one of our TDP Anthologies. Yikes! Luckily, I’d come up with an idea and was able to write pretty much to the correct wordcount (the story in question is Stasis, in our Seasons Eternal Anthology, BTW. It’s about a world with seasons that don’t ever change). And I realized, hey, maybe it’s not impossible!

Then I took Holly Lisle’s Flash Fiction class. What a challenge. Writing flash felt like writing haiku! But I worked on it and was able to write 7 flash stories. Seven! And I ended up self-pubbing In Flames, my own flash anthology, last August (and it’s freeeeeeee).

So, over the past two days, I’ve written a grand total of 2,600 words. I had a bit of trouble with the ending, the how of it, but I believe I’ve worked it out. It just needs to be edited and/or tweaked, but it’s done. I’m pretty happy with it.

So how come I’m not writing poetry? Well…my poetry muse has kinda been in hiding. I get flashes of stuff occasionally, but haven’t found anything strong enough to sit down and develop. According to my Year of No Fear Manifesto, I’m supposed to be writing poetry. But the year is still young and I’m sure something will come to me. (I did look over some drafts of poems I wrote for the various TDP freebies, some of which I’d abandoned, so looking at them again may spark some ideas).

I’ve also been really, really busy this weekend. Some of my weekends are, unfortunately. I spent most of yesterday reformatting both my poetry chapbooks because I realized I’d forgotten to include a copyright page! Granted, I was just starting out then, so it’s an easy mistake to make. So I have proofs coming soon. And our internet was a bit touchy so every time I made some progress, it’d hang up somewhere. And then came the backups. I have a backup program that does it automatically, but I am severely paranoid (or is it OCD?) about having multiple backups everywhere: on CD, on a thumb drive (this stays in my purse at all times), backup drive, Dropbox, email…yeah, kinda wacky but let me tell you, I’ve had computers die suddenly on me with 10+ years of writing on them, and I haven’t *knock on cyberwood* lost a SINGLE thing yet. So it’s working!

Today alone has been nuts, too. Went to watch the hubby bowl, took a nap (because I was up at 8am on a weekend day! Yikes!), came home, did some housework, cleaned the fish tank, and now I’m here typing this up. I’m not even sure if I’ll get to writing today. I hope so!

Not doing stats as they are identical to the last check-in.

Getting down to the wire now!

Update on everything.

Yep.  Thought it was time for an update, so here goes.  I’m on page 86 of 257 pages.  So far, I’ve rewritten the bulk of it from scratch, and I believe I might be almost done with that.  And then it should move quicker.  I hope.  My deadline is December 1st.  Which is approaching quickly. We’re pretty much into fall now.  Soon, it’ll be November and Thanksgiving and my deadline.

Health-wise, I’m doing okay.  I have good days and bad days with my eye.  I have an appointment with my neuro next week, so we’ll see what he wants to do.  I’m also a bit sleep-deprived these days because I had to change my schedule at work which requires me to get up at 6:30am.  Yeah, not real fun.

Been reading like a fiend.  Will do another WWW Wednesday soon.

In anthology news, I’m just shy of 50 downloads.  It is still free, and will remain free indefinitely.  The link is here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/349458

I’ve also been giving some thought to what project comes after Grave Touched.  I want to say Darklight, cuz it’s the most logical one, but I promised myself a whack at both the Flamebound Rewrite and Survivor.  And there’s Fey Touched book #3, Ever Touched.  I’ve also been thinking about how many books I want to write for the Fey Touched series, and I think I will cap it at 5 at the most.  Because that’s about 5 years and it’s a good run.  And I don’t want to beat it into the ground.

Covenant has been tugging at me, as well as Queen of Wolves (formerly Alpha Female).  It’s just a matter of finding the time and getting it done.  And that’s only a sliver of my Priority List on projects…

Also been trying to relearn French, which is something I challenged myself to do.  It’s been going pretty well, for someone who was really fluent in it, lost about 90% of it, and is older and it is sticking a lot slower than when she was young.  Um.  But it’s been a lot of fun.  I’ve been immersing myself in it — free classes, apps, games, podcasts, an audio course.  I think it’s really important to keep the momentum going, so I decided to do some type of studying every day, even if it’s just going through flash cards or verb conjugations.  I’m still working on present tense.

So, that’s what’s up with me.  How about you?

In Flames on Smashwords for FREE!

 

inflames6x9-1

In Flames, my first flash anthology, is on Smashwords for FREE.  All the time.  No limited period here.

Grab it here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/349458

The blurb:

This flash fiction anthology – my first – consists of six flash fiction stories, as well as an exclusive four-chapter excerpt of my debut novel, Fey Touched, book 1 of the Fey Touched series.

 The flash stories are the following:

 Blindsight – A cancer patient takes an experimental treatment, but the side effect is horrific…or is it?

 The Stranger – A grief-stricken widow has her husband resurrected – except there’s a slight problem…

 In Flames – A pissed off angel sentences everyone to hell, but refuses to see the truth.

 The Beautiful Woman – A deformed man is suddenly attractive but the woman he wants isn’t what she seems.

 Marionette – A serial killer finds he can control every victim except one…

 The Last Kill – A rehabilitated murderer faces madness when her victims become voices in her head.

Check it out.  And if you enjoy it, please consider leaving a review.  We indie writers need all the exposure we can get. 😉

In Flames Cover Reveal

inflames1aI thought I’d share the lovely cover I made for my flash fiction anthology, In Flames, to be released August 31st.

I’m very proud of this.  Being that I had to take a forced break from writing, and then slowly re-acclimate myself to it again, it’s big.  Obviously, not as big as a novel, but I had set a goal to get something published before Grave Touched releases next year.

Here is the blurb:

This flash fiction anthology – my first – consists of six flash fiction stories, as well as an exclusive four-chapter excerpt of my debut novel, Fey Touched, book 1 of the Fey Touched series.

The flash stories are the following:

Blindsight – A cancer patient takes an experimental treatment, but the side effect is horrific…or is it?

The Stranger -A grief-stricken widow has her husband resurrected – except there’s a slight problem…

In Flames – A pissed off angel sentences everyone to hell, but refuses to see the truth.

The Beautiful Woman -A deformed man is suddenly attractive but the woman he wants isn’t what she seems.

Marionette – A serial killer finds he can control every victim except one…

The Last Kill – A rehabilitated murderer faces madness when her victims become voices in her head.

 

Stay tuned.  It is coming.