First off, I have the next chapter available for "Agent Shield and Spaceman." In this chapter, Frankie wakes up in Waco, Texas oddly refreshed until he remembers that this is the day he must enter a pit-fight with a bunch of deadly snakes. Other than a few glimpses, this is the first time our heroes get a good look at the serpents and the impression, perhaps needless to say, is not favorable.
Summer is over.
I had a really great one. My wife and I renovated the upstairs, went camping, saw plenty of friends and family. I did my writing thing, drafting four new stories and revising a few others. When are they going to be appearing, you ask? Not sure. The simple fact is that none of my stories has been accepted this year. I've made my peace with the fact 2016 might slip past without one of my stories appearing outside of Ancient Logic. I can't remember which writer said it but some years you flap and some years you soar. I think this is a year where I'm doing a lot of flapping. Flapping doesn't always look graceful; might even appear completely ridiculous - but it's necessary if you want to gain altitude.
In other news - I took over facilitating the local Writers' Workshop from the gifted and ambitious Nick Mancuso. I'm grateful to Nick not only for entrusting the group to me but also for helping my writing immeasurably. This especially fortuitous because even as Nick was considering moving on from the group, I was thinking about setting up my own. This seems like the best of both worlds.
So far I've lead two workshops and both seemed to go well. I've found when you're in a group of talented writers, you often find yourself learning more from the conversations around stories than any critique of your own writing. This was very much the case last week. It's also making me wonder if some of the really great observations from the workshop couldn't find a home at this blog.
For the most part I've shied away from the advice column article on Ancient Logic. To put it bluntly, I'm not sure what good any of my advice would be. But I do think there's a value in conversations about writing. If nothing else, talking about the craft might lead to new avenues of exploration, new unconsidered possibilities.
I've got two longer articles coming up. First I'm putting some finishing touches on an article devoted to Cosmic Horror and moving beyond Lovecraft in weird fiction. I've also got a few short stories to recommend once we get into September.
As always, thank you for reading!
Summer is over.
I had a really great one. My wife and I renovated the upstairs, went camping, saw plenty of friends and family. I did my writing thing, drafting four new stories and revising a few others. When are they going to be appearing, you ask? Not sure. The simple fact is that none of my stories has been accepted this year. I've made my peace with the fact 2016 might slip past without one of my stories appearing outside of Ancient Logic. I can't remember which writer said it but some years you flap and some years you soar. I think this is a year where I'm doing a lot of flapping. Flapping doesn't always look graceful; might even appear completely ridiculous - but it's necessary if you want to gain altitude.
In other news - I took over facilitating the local Writers' Workshop from the gifted and ambitious Nick Mancuso. I'm grateful to Nick not only for entrusting the group to me but also for helping my writing immeasurably. This especially fortuitous because even as Nick was considering moving on from the group, I was thinking about setting up my own. This seems like the best of both worlds.
So far I've lead two workshops and both seemed to go well. I've found when you're in a group of talented writers, you often find yourself learning more from the conversations around stories than any critique of your own writing. This was very much the case last week. It's also making me wonder if some of the really great observations from the workshop couldn't find a home at this blog.
For the most part I've shied away from the advice column article on Ancient Logic. To put it bluntly, I'm not sure what good any of my advice would be. But I do think there's a value in conversations about writing. If nothing else, talking about the craft might lead to new avenues of exploration, new unconsidered possibilities.
I've got two longer articles coming up. First I'm putting some finishing touches on an article devoted to Cosmic Horror and moving beyond Lovecraft in weird fiction. I've also got a few short stories to recommend once we get into September.
As always, thank you for reading!
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