The best laid plans...

Historically, April is a difficult month for me to accomplish much in the realm of writing and blogging.  It seems like every year, there are a large number of contests and calls for submissions with a deadline at or near the end of March.  So March tends to be a whirlwind of writing activity, which sometimes dries up the creativity for a bit.

April also brings with it major time-killers with regards to my coaching and planning duties at the Boys and Girls Club.  Playoffs and All-Star events take place for all four levels of the floor hockey league, and with preparation for the end of season awards banquets is always time-consuming.  At the same time, preparations are in full swing for the upcoming baseball season, including coaches meetings, schedule planning, rules revisions and umpire training.

Usually means virtually nothing occurs on the writing front for most of the month.

But this year was going to be different.  See, an odd quirk in the hockey schedule meant that I had two Saturdays off at the very beginning of the month.  Along with that, baseball planning had begun earlier than normal, and was running smoothly.  April 2018 would NOT be a writing wasteland after all!

Umm, yeah....so....

This is my first blog post since March ended, and I've written nothing of any real substance in that span either.  And I have no real idea why, other than perhaps lack of motivation.  Apparently the April slump has become too habitual. 

Curse you April.  Curse you.

Review

The editors shared a review of the anthology on the group's Facebook page yesterday.  I haven't paid a ton of attention to the reviews, but at the time that I received the Facebook notification, I was on my break at work, so I clicked on it.  (NOTE: You'll have to click on the pic below to read it - making it bigger didn't play nicely with the blog format, apparently.)

Yay!  Someone other than my wife and I enjoyed my story!   :)

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So, the anthology was named an "Amazon Best Seller" for reaching the top 100 books in its category (I believe topping out in the low 60s at some point). Given the sheer number of books in the Amazon system, it's a pretty major accomplishment for a small press like Anchala.  I'm honored to have been a tiny part of their success. 

 

 

Still a little surreal seeing my name on the page of a real book, though.

 

 

 



March 2, 2018 - a red-letter date in the history of science...

OK, so maybe not science.  (Kudos to those who get the quote.)  But a fantastic Friday on tap nonetheless!

March 2, 2018.  The date of the release of "The Collection: Flash Fiction for Flash Memory", featuring my story "One Night Only".  Along with a number of other outstanding pieces, of course.  (Check back here tomorrow for a link to purchase on Amazon!!!!)  I'm proud and excited to be a part of this project, and I hope many of you will decide to invest in a terrific collection of stories.

March 2, 2018.  Tickets go on sale for Metallica's long-awaited return to Buffalo, NY. (which will be my son's first Metallica show!)  We missed out on getting to see them last summer in Toronto, but nothing will stop us this time around.

March 2, 2018.  A late winter snowstorm will blanket Western new York and make travel very difficult, and cause frustration and backaches throughout the entire region.

OK, well I suppose two out of three ain't bad.    :)

Appearances...

Sure, she was attractive enough in a plain, conservative sort of manner. But no one would have guessed what the staid, gray pantsuit was hiding as she strolled into the office. It was even less likely that that someone would have realized that her hair wasn't tousled by the wind during her lunch break...

Anthology update

So, the anthology which will feature a short story of mine now has a firm launch date, which nicely coincides with "National Read Across America Day" on March 2nd.  For those who need a little background on the story, see this post:

https://a-writer-in-progress.blogspot.com/2017/12/note-to-self.html

The editors recently put up a "Meet the Writers" page (link below), and those of us contributing to the anthology were asked to ensure that our information was displayed correctly.  I did so, and then browsed through some of the other writers involved.  I was immediately humbled.  There are real writers being featured in this collection.  People who get paid to create stories!  Authors of books, writers whose stories have been featured in a number of literary journals, and creators whose work has won prestigious awards.

And me.  The hobbyist who scrawls a few sentences when he isn't overwhelmed with work, coaching, volunteering or family.  I'm both flattered and terrified to be included with such a talented group.

Anchala Studios - Meet the Writers

The anthology is titled "The Collection: Flash Fiction for Flash Memory". The inspiration behind the creation of the anthology is beautiful and heart-tugging - after you've checked out the "Meet the Writers" page, click HOME at the top of the screen and read the story behind the stories.  The moment I finished that page, I knew I wanted very much to be a part of such an amazing project.

And now I am.  It's all a little surreal and unexpected.  To this point in my life, the only time my name was in print was in advertisements during my previous career in sales.  Yet in less than two months, my name will appear in an actual, published book. 

Damn.

And the point is...

So, as I alluded to in the post regarding writer's block, the only writing that is currently making real progress is a piece that I didn't really set out to write.  Well, at least not in the form it seems to be taking.

I began writing a piece directed at a contest where the theme was "body language".  I had this funny pair of lines in the writing journal that seemed like the perfect starting point, and began crafting a piece about two women on a video-chat date.  It allowed me to weave in different types of body language that would help tell the story and describe the women at the same time.

A minor problem soon appeared.  The contest had a strict limit of 1200 words - and there was no way this piece was going to wrap in that space.  So I put it aside to work on other things. 

Or so I thought.

Every time I tried to work on a different project, the video date story reared its head.  A thought would enter my mind, and I'd write a few more paragraphs.  Then came my trip to California.

I had a week-long trip to San Jose scheduled for some job training.  I'm not much of a traveler.  Not a huge fan of flying (as odd as that may be, given that I work in the aviation industry!), and mostly would just prefer to be at home.  So I make sure to have plenty of distractions when I fly in (usually fruitless) attempts to make the time pass a bit more quickly.

I brought a couple of books, and some of my writing work.  Including the video date story.

I started out the flight to California with a movie, but eventually pulled out my writing.  And the story just came pouring out.  With very minimal effort, I'd filled close to fifteen pages.  Throughout the trip and the return flight it continued.  And now I have this sprawling piece, and I have no earthly idea what the correct direction is.

It's too long for a short story.  Seems like a pretty limited concept for a novel, or even a novella.  The story is currently taking the shape of a real-time view of this date, which I think is approaching hour four or five.

Don't ask me what the point of this post is.  I don't have a clue on that direction either.

Pardon my dust...

No, I'm not remodeling.  Just reviving my long dormant blog.  It's amazing how much dust collects when something is neglected.  Blog gadgets that no longer function, old posts that don't seem to make sense anymore, links to sites that no longer exist - even a blog description that doesn't really fit the mission now.  So, a little clean-up, a few modifications, and...well, I suppose I actually AM remodeling,  so to speak.

A quick review tells me the last time this blog was active was about six years ago, with the last sporadic posts happening in 2012 and 2013.  Boy, has a lot changed since then.  I was still considering writing as an eventual career plan back then.  But life has a funny way of heading n a direction you didn't really set out to pursue.

Instead, I am now a college graduate (yeah, a little behind "schedule") with a career I enjoy.  Writing remains a "side project".  But one for which I still carry a tremendous passion.

So I write.  Almost every day.  Most of my work still leans toward short stories, and I've even begun submitting pieces for contests again.  It's not a career pursuit anymore, but maybe one of these days I'll actually get the right combination of inspiration and opportunity to finish one of my in-progress novel projects and make a few dollars.

In the meantime, it may not be the trip I set out upon many years ago, but my journey can still be followed here.

Capture

These few lines have taken on a life of their own since I wrote them nearly two years ago for a writing group I belong to, and are the first lines - and the driving idea - of the novel I am currently working on.  Maybe it will even be finished some day.

Beautiful is far too cliche for a girl like her - and not terribly accurate either.

Entrancing, or maybe captivating?

Yes, captivating - that's the right word. I was definitely a captive from the first moment I looked into that girl's intoxicating deep brown eyes.

Listen to me, calling her a 'girl' like I'm some pubescent teen chasing the head cheerleader - no, she was all woman.

And she turned my world inside out like a tidal wave - completely fascinating, yet utterly devastating.

Coincidence? Or grasping at straws?

I was having a discussion via text with a friend about my recent lack of success in submitting writing pieces to various publications.  I generally text using the "T9" predictor method - much faster than standard typing.

During this discussion, I attempted to type the word "rejected".  Typed quickly and moved on, catching a moment too late that the first word the predictor chose for that combination was not, in fact, "rejected".

Instead it pulled up "selected".

At first, I found it amusing that the same combination of keys created two very opposite words.  Then I began thinking.......is it some sort of sign?  A coincidence that holds more significance than a simple coincidence should hold?

Or am I simply grasping at straws, trying to find a positive in the giant pile of negative that recent times have become for me?

Stuck in a rut......

I'm plugging away with seemingly little production to show for it.  I refuse to stop writing, but so little of what I'm putting to paper lately has any real value that I'm having a difficult time staying the course.  I desperately need some inspiration.......

Lost

About two years ago I wrote a short piece as I was approaching my birthday, reflecting on the state of affairs in my life at that time.

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Thirty-four.

It hit harder than I expected it to - I've never been one to worry about the passing of birthdays. It's just another year, I told myself, just like I always do - it happens every October, and it never so much as registers a blip on my personal radar screen.

But thirty-four is different.

This year, I'm a failure - on the way down instead of struggling to move forward. I'm not getting closer to success; in fact, I'm not even standing still anymore - the ground beneath me is unsteady, and I'm slipping backwards as my plan for the future fades into yet another unattained dream.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Another birthday approaches (thirty-SIX for those who care.....LOL ), and I am struck and saddened by exactly how similar things are two years later. 

And I'm still just as lost for answers..........