On a not-so-nice day

Some days I don't feel nice. I tell myself I should go and write a good fight scene or kill off a few bad guys in one of my stories. Or level a couple of cities. Or maybe destroy a spaceship or two.

Isn't it grand being a writer? You can commit acts of utter destruction on a whim, without the bother and expense of accomplices and supplies, or the exhaustion of planning and effort.

And if it doesn't work? Well, you just scrap the scene and start over. Or if you like the plot and the action too much, you adjust the setting to the act instead of the act to the situation.

Yeah, writing is so much better than doing the actual thing.

Well, not always. No, really. Think about it. On a good day, there are many things I'd rather be doing than writing about...

Yeah. Umm. Well, never mind.

So back to writing on not so nice days.

Sometimes, even a scene of destruction won't do, because the words won't align themselves. The images won't appear, and the story-film won't roll.

What then?

I had a thought. Should I write reviews of books I hated?

There's something cathartic about saying what you think when you really can't be nice. Because I actually like to be nice. I enjoy making people happy. But sometimes, I just want to have fun.

Yes? No? ... ::sigh:: Nah. I don't think so.

For one thing, I can't think of a book I really hated.

Oh. Not true. I had to read something by Gorky in graduate school. I truly, deeply, absolutely hated and despised that.

But to write about it would involved a socio-politico-cultural rant you surely don't want to hear.

Goings-on at The Long and Short Reviews

There's always something happening. Reviews of books for all tastes, my shortest story ever, and this month...

Transition

I have a thing about transitions.

I absolutely hate them.

Mostly, I hate writing them. The best transitions are those that disappear under a scene change (you know, when you see the mysterious *** or ### or even a singe * in the middle of a page).

But even then, you have to start the next scene with a smooth introduction. If it were a movie instead of a written story, you would have to be sure to have a well-crafted camera movement. No jerks, no broken film. No discontinuity where your character is suddenly wearing a purple dress instead of a Marine uniform.

But transitions happen in life, too, and I hate them with just as much passion. You're motoring along, everything is fine and dandy, and then something hits you. You have to slam on the brakes on the highway, or you have to get up in the middle of a fine dinner, or you have to interrupt your TV watching right at the best scene...

Or you're trying to start a new story after you've finished a marathon session on the previous one.

It's not like I don't know where I'm going.

It's all planned out. I have met my characters and I like them. I even like my villain (as much as one can like a villain).

So I keep procrastinating.

Someone kick me. Or something. Not too painful.

Of course, getting sick for a whole weekend extended weekend didn't help.

But still.

Where is my Muse when I need her?

While you wait

... for the stories I've been talking about...

It's not an excerpt! Not a
tidbit! It's a Whole Story!!

http://www.longandshortreviews.com/story.htm

The Long and Short Reviews
is publishing my short-short story (1,000 words) "Unexpected Bounty"
this week.

After that, it will go into the Archives, so you'll still be
able to find it if you miss it.

It's short. It's fun. It's
science-fiction. It's still a romance.

And I still have no idea how I
pulled it off. The shortest story I ever wrote!


Cross-posted from:
The Writing Life

It's coming!

March 20th! Next Thursday! I have a free read coming out at The Long and Short Reviews. It's my first short-short story (under 1,000 words!!), and
of course it's pure sci-fi.

Be sure to check it out in 7 days!

It's worth a look

Check out the link I posted here:

The Writing Life

While you wait

...for my stories to make their true debut at The Wild Rose Press, I have a free read coming out at The Long and Short Reviews on March 20. It's my first short-short story (under 1,000 words!!), and of course it's a cute little sci-fi romp. Be sure to check it out in 13 days!