Happy Holidays

I'm back, finally. It's been a frustrating few weeks, but I'm hopeful that things will be looking up now.

I was out of town for awhile, with limited Internet access, so I wasn't able to make any updates, or do any serious writing. It looks like I missed most of the December prompts that I had wanted to follow.

My next goal, to make up for my last few failures, is to write 31 short stories in 31 days. (Through the month of January) It might be more than I can handle, but I'm up for the challenge. I'm not going to make a set length, a few of the ideas I have will be fairly small stories overall. I'm not going to post all of them here, either. I might share a few, especially if I get some requests. (hint hint)

One of the ideas I'm looking forward to exploring is an empty birdcage. Why would somebody own a birdcage, with just a few feathers strewn around the bottom? I don't know yet, but it's an idea I want to try out. I might even go through a few different angles.
-Bird died, and cage is a memorial.
-The thought of a pet is just as powerful as the pet itself, so the owner bought an empty cage.
-Bird has flown the coop.
This idea came from a scene in Ghost in the Shell: Innocence. The cage was just a background image, but it stayed with me. It's such an open idea, I look forward to exploring it, along with a lot of other ideas I can finally get out during January. I might also try some strange challenges, if I'm feeling overly ambitious. Things like writing an entire story without using the letter "E", or starting each sentence with a different letter, alphabetically. If you have a reasonable challenge, post it here.

In my next post, I'll go over some books I've read recently (I'll do a better job this time. Formatting nightmare last time I posted my "recently read list") I might also go over some of the ideas I'll be working on during January.
There is also a chance that I'll do a post on my experiences with Linux so far. It's become such a large part of my daily (computer) life that I feel I should discuss it.

I'll leave you with a final Happy New Year!

Dec 5, 2010 (Reverb 2010) Let Go

Now, back on schedule with today's prompt:
December 5 – Let Go
What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why? (Author: Alice Bradley)

This is a difficult one. I can't think of anything specific that I've let go of during the past year. I think I would be justified in blaming my memory for part of this, and the fact that I don't think I've "let go" of anything valuable (based on the fact that I don't remember it)

I think that if I'm going to pick anything, it will be anime/manga. I still have my collection, and still work on adding to it, but I haven't read or watched any of it during the past year.
There are a few reasons for that. The first reason is that they are in storage, and difficult to get to. The other reason, would probably have to be that I just haven't been interested enough. There always seem to be other things to do with my time. I'm a bit upset about it, there are so many great inspirations I can get from anime. "Serial Experiments Lain" is one that always makes me think. I've been wanting to re-watch the 13 episodes for at least six months now, and still haven't.

This might not be the best example of something I've let go, it wasn't exactly a conscious choice. Reflecting back over the past year though, it feels like the one to write about.

Dec 4, 2010 (Reverb 2010) Wonder

I'm a bit behind on my blog. I know... Big surprise, right? At least it's only a few days behind this time. I've looked over the past few prompts for Reverb, and I'm starting to get a mental block when it comes to personal writing. I've decided to do the prompts for the last two days though.

December 4th's prompt:
December 4 – Wonder.
How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year? (Author: Jeffrey Davis)

I have not done too much, personally. The first thing I did, was get a digital camera. I'm not a photographer, but it was time for a cheap point and shoot camera. Once I got it, and started looking at the online community for that brand, I saw the world differently. A tree was no longer a tree, but a huge and complex being. Each part of it looks different, based on perspective, and every leaf is worthy of it's own picture.
The other thing I did, was participate in NaNrWriMo. It gave me another perspective when looking at the world. It started while I was watching "Shawn of the Dead". Every scene, I was thinking about how to translate the movie into words. The descriptions, actions, and conversations. I've taken that outlook into the real world; walking down the street thinking about the scenery, the objects that would get noticed first, and what makes them stand out.

I'm sure that as a writer, these should not be new to me. They are not completely new, merely forgotten. I don't know if I can compare a new view of the world to a "Sense of Wonder", but that's what I'm going with. (And I'm sticking to it)

If you are wondering about December 3rd's prompt, here it is:
December 3 – Moment.
Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors). (Author: Ali Edwards)

Usually I love descriptions, but my memory couldn't produce a significant moment to write about.

Dec 2, 2010 (Reverb 2010)

Today's prompt
December 2 Writing.
What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?
(Author: Leo Babauta)

That's a loaded question/statement. There is a lot of things I do each day that don't directly relate to writing. Reading, I'll pass off as being "research", and a healthy form of entertainment.

The big one of course, would have to be games. From short online games on Kongregate to time wasters like Nethack. I'm hopelessly addicted to games in many forms.

It "should" be easy enough to resist the urge to waste time playing a game, but they are usually a good way to calm me down, and let my mind relax between tasks. I might be able to eliminate gaming entirely, if I could convince myself that it's what I want to do. The problem arises when I realize that I'm trying to lie to myself, and promptly ignore any further communication from that part of my mind. This is usually achieved by playing yet another game.

I also waste a large amount of time online. Since I still have not found out what I'm doing for the large spans of time that disappear every time I open an internet browser, I can't say if it's possible to eliminate that activity or not. There is email, which takes five minutes to check, and clear out the junk. It's rare that I get a message that's worth a response, so I can't say I spend much time with that. Facebook used to occupy a large portion of my time, but during NaNo I learned to ignore that particular time waster.

So... My final answer is going to be games, with a small possibility that I can trim the time wasted on them. It may not be possible to cut it out entirely, but a good trimming is always possible.

Dec 1, 2010 (Reverb 2010)

Today's prompt:

December 1 One Word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?
(Author: Gwen Bell)

My word for the year would be pathetic. I haven't done anything of value this year. Most of my time has been spent doing pointless activities, that accomplish nothing. If I were to jump ahead a year, I would like the one word that summarizes my accomplishments to be:

Successful! It's not the money that I care about, it's the feeling of satisfaction that I get when (if) I complete a project. This is even more important if the only thing of value I have to show for the year is a single piece of writing (My NaNo 2010 novel). I can only hope that over the next 12 months, I manage to edit my novel, and get it sent off to a publisher or agent. I would love to have it in print, but having a polished novel is more important to me than a published piece of male horse manure...

Regardless of the actual steps it takes, I am already thinking about what I will need to do to make my word for 2011 come true. Successful, or accomplished, and I will feel that the year was not wasted.

Good luck to any writers reading this, in the year to come. If you're not a writer, I still wish you luck, but if you've some luck to spare, I'll take it off your hands!

As always;

Until my next post... Good luck, and have fun writing!

End of NaNo; Start of Reverb 2010

First, I'll do a quick update on my NaNoWriMo standings.

I started my next novel, but haven't got past the first few paragraphs. I'm eagerly awaiting the free time that will allow me to work on my novel. It's December already, but I'm unwilling to start editing yet... I've done some reading, trying to prepare my mind for the next novel. I would like to get somewhere between Douglas Adams and Tom Holt, and have spent a lot of time reading both. I'll post the exact books in a later blog post. So far, I'm still thinking of NaNoWriMo, and the people I've met so far. One of the local leaders (Municipal Liaison), suggested Reverb 2010. I'm going to try and do a blog post each day, based on the prompts given by Reverb 2010

I have also been reminded of my next short story idea... A horror story based on "Frosty the Snowman". Frosty clearly states that he will "Be back again someday..." The twist is that he returns as a killer, not a playful man of snow. I've studied the lyrics, and have thought of this particular story for a few years. It's on the morbid side, sure... But I think that every story should have another side to it. From the Wicked (book/musical), to "Little Red Riding Hood" meeting a Warewolf. The last part of Frosty has always had a sinister undertone to me, when he says that he will "Be back again... Someday!" If a magic hat can give him life, what could it do to him over a period of ten years? Or the next generation? What if the group that laughed and played with him had children? If Frosty was really alive, human emotions (might) turn him into a psychopath... It's a leap (of faith??) that makes a kind, playful snowman into a killer, but somewhere between the book "I Know What You Did Last Summer", and the "Black Christmas" movie, I should be able to fit a serial killer snowman wearing a magical silk hat.

NaNo Week 3: The week from...

This has been a horrible week. It started off great, when I finished my first novel, but quickly went downhill.
My computer died. The hard-drive and motherboard both quit. I had a backup of my novel, so it's fine. I did lose a lot of other stuff though. Pictures are the most painful loss. The hard-drive is gone, and the pictures aren't worth the crazy fees a professional would charge to attempt retrieving them. I've tried quite a few suggestions that I found online, and nothing has worked yet. My final option is an external case for the drive, when I have the money in a few months.

Something to be thankful about, is the many spare computers I have laying around. The computer that quit was one of four that I got for $10 each. I'm not running current generation hardware, but it doesn't sting quite as much when a $10 computer dies.

I've grown a bit more paranoid, and I have three hard drives in my current system. (All of them 30Gb) As long as I remember to make a copy of everything I'm hoping that things will be okay. I also noticed that as of October, Microsoft no longer supports Windows XP. This has been my operating system of choice until now.

That, along with other factors, led me to try one of the free Linux operating systems. I'm running it with Win XP, meaning that I have the option to load either Windows or Linux on startup. I'm pleased with the results so far. I chose Ubuntu 10.10, and it runs great. It can handle the same number of applications as Win Xp could, without any slowdown. There are a few areas that feel a bit slower, but not many. There are other distributions that are focused on lower system requirements, and I might give some of them a try, if it becomes a problem.

I'm completely new to Linux, and fairly inexperienced with most programming languages, so it's going to be an interesting journey. The desktop on Ubuntu is easy to use for all the standard uses, but there is a lot of potential if I decide to try to learn something new.

And... Bringing it back to NaNo again, the free software I use to write, Open Office, is available on both Windows and Linux, making the switch even easier.
That's the end of my moaning and complaining. It's been a tough week, and I've let my writing slip. Hopefully my next post will be positive, with some new achievements to report.

NaNo Day 19

It's hard to believe that NaNo is two thirds over. I have come a long way over the past 19 days. I should say the first fourteen days, as I have not written anything since the 14th. (You can find out why here)

My Thoughts So Far

The Good:

• Well, I've finished my novel, earlier than I expected. I completed the finishing touches, and final chapter on Nov. 14. The halfway mark, and I was up to 70,000 words with a finished novel.
• I feel a partial sense of satisfaction, at having completed the novel. It feels great to not only have reached the suggested goal, but to complete the entire story.
  
• I've met some great people on the NaNoWriMo forums, many of them local. I
• There's also a deep personal joy, at having suppressed my inner editor for so long. Now that I know it's possible, I should be able to continue the trend, in my other projects.
  

The Bad

• Writing more than 5,000 original words a day wasn't too hard for me. It has been a strain though, and a few days my hands and wrists were feeling it.
• I feel at a loss, being so far away from my personal goals. I would love to start another novel, or finally get some of my short story ideas out of the way. I may still do that, but it's been a horrible week and I'm still trying to get over it.
• Knowing that it's going to take just as long to do the first edit and rewrite is a bit overwhelming. I'm 70% happy with this draft, which is great compared to what I see other people saying. Compared to what I usually write though, it's a lot lower.

Overall, it's been a great experience. I've accomplished what I set out to do, I finished a novel. There's more than a week left to go and I would love to try and do more. I'm already looking forward to next year!

NaNo Day 5

Starting the fifth day of NaNo. I've managed to keep up to my overachieving goal of 5k words a day. I'm now almost half way to the traditional goal of 50,000 total words.

The first day I took off, and did more than I had expected. The second and third day I started to fall behind. I was still ahead of my total word goal, but not making my 5k/day. Day four I went crazy, and wrote close to 10k words, to make up for the previous days.

The novel itself if making progress. I have managed to follow the chapter summery, generally. I've expanded on some of the thoughts and ideas. So my novel is up to eleven chapters, while following my summery, I have only got through four or five of the chapters.

It has been an odd four days so far. My free time no longer belongs to me. Every free moment is used in front of the computer, thinking, typing, or trying to do a combination of both. I'm reading a great book, but I can only get stolen glances at the page before being drawn back to my novel. My characters have become just as real to me as any book I have ever read.

The feel of the keys beneath my fingers, as they fly across the letters is addicting. The faint tapping sound, just loud enough to hear over the music. Even the blinking cursor at the end of the line is encouraging. "What happens next?" It asks, then blinks. "What's next?" Blink "Keep going." Blink. As the blinking continues, the prodding speeds up, the sentences becoming words, until it repeats a single word. A question, an answer, a command.

"More?" Blink. "More?" Blink. "More." Blink. "More." Blink. "More!" blink. "More!" blink.

I have to choice, but to comply. "More" I think to myself, and continue writing.

I have also started a blog, from the viewpoint of my main character. I'm writing the novel in third person, and the chance to do a first person alternative is a great way to keep me on track. If you want to take a look, you can find it here: Marcus Dreamwalker

This is a chance to get a small taste of my novel now, as I'm writing it. Let me know what you think.

NaNo day 1 "Caging my inner editor"

As the first day of National Novel Writing Month approached, I felt more than a little apprehension. The last time I made an attempt at this novel, I rewrote the first few chapters over and over again, until I gave up entirely.

To help me get some control over that little beast, I met up with a few other local NaNo participants to create a clay model of my inner editor. Other people smashed theirs, but I chose to cage him for the month, I'm sure he will be of use to me later.

(Yes, it is a rather pathetic looking figure, but my artistic ability comes from crafting words, not clay)

24 hours into my first NaNo, and it seems to have worked. My inner editor struggled, but I have been able to limit him to spelling, and removing the occasional word. As for my current word-count, I've passed 7,000 words already. I don't know if I'll be able to keep that pace, but I'm going to try. I am confident though, that I will complete my novel by the end of the month. I'm starting to wonder what I can work on, if I finish it with time to spare.

I'll keep you posted on my progress. I'm also thinking about starting a blog, from the perspective of my main character. The novel timeline won't match the actual blog posts, but it might be fun to write.

National Novel Writing Month

Once again, I've neglected this for too long. I've been distracted by the discovery of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It's a month long event, to try and write 50,000+ words. I've got a few ideas for novels that I haven't worked on, and this will be the perfect opportunity to do some serious work on at least one of them.

I'll post status updates here throughout the month, with my current wordcount, and whatever else I think is relevant.

I'm still undecided, as to what I'll be doing, but I've narrowed it down to two choices. There was a novel I started earlier this year, but didn't finish. My other choice is a an idea I've been holding back on for the past year, and I want to make sure I can give it the attention it deserves.

Either way, once I start on one, I'm going to stick with it for the month. If it sounds like something you want to try for, take a look at the NaNo site: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Banned Books Week

I can't have a blog about books and writing without mentioning Banned Books Week.

The week is September 25 to October 2. It is a week to support the people behind banned books, educate people about the current censorship, and join together to make a statement.

I will admit that I did not know about it until today, but now that I know I will do what I can to spread the word.

A few things I've learned in the past couple of hours. Books are being challenged and banned, today! Schools and public libraries are taking books off the shelves, refusing to let the general public, and students, read them.

I'm sure you heard of the commonly banned books of the past, "The Catcher in the Rye", "Animal Farm", "1984". A number of Classic books have been banned throughout the years. There's a list here, with 46 of the top 100 books being banned/challenged at some point in time.

*Top 100 books based on Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century.

Click here for the list

You might be surprised by some of the challenges/bans on authors you know and love:

• Judy Blume ("Blubber", "Forever", "Deenie", "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret" and "Tiger Eyes")
• Roald Dahl ("The Witches", "James and the Giant Peach")
• Margaret Atwood ("The Handmaid's Tale")
• S.E. Hinton ("The Outsiders", "That was Then, This is Now")
• Paul Zindel ("The Pigman")
• Louis Sachar ("The Boy Who Lost His Face")
• J.K. Rowling ("Harry Potter" - Series)
• Stephen King ("Cujo", "Carrie", "The Dead Zone", "Christine")
• Ken Follett ("Pillers of the Earth")
• Lois Lowry ("The Giver")
• Katherine Paterson ("Bridge To Terabithia")
• Caroline B. Cooney ("The Face on the Milk Carton")
• Ray Bradbury ("Fahrenheit 451") *rather ironic*
• John Grisham ("A Time to Kill")
• Alice Sebold ("The Lovely Bones")
• Garth Nix ("Shade's Children")
• John Gardner ("Grendel")

This is in no way a complete list, and I am not trying to place additional importance on these authors or books. I selected the authors and books I recognized, and felt would be widely recognized by others. They were selected from two lists, the top 100 banned/challenged books of 1990-1999 and 2000-2009. You can look at the full lists here:

1990-1999 and 2000-2009

One last thing I would like to share, is a map of the USA, marking each area that has made a significant challenge/ban on a book. I found it shocking, such a large part of the country involved in censorship. Take a look for yourself: http://bannedbooksweek.org/Mapofbookcensorship.html

Now that my rant is over, I'll let you know what you can do about it. There are three pages you can visit for information:

1. Banned Books Week homepage
2. American Library Association (The place where challenges/bans are filed)
3. The Banned Books Week Facebook page

What can you do about it? Read a banned book, spread the word. If you work with books, devote the week to banned books. Write some letters, and visit websites that belong to groups trying to ban books. The Banned Books Week homepage has some great suggestions, and a lot of other resources, and links.

In the end, it is up to you. I can not put it into words any better than the logo for Banned Books Week, which says "Think for Yourself and Let Others Do the Same"

What I'm working on

To make a long story short, I haven't written anything substantial for awhile. I do have a lot of ideas, for short stories, and some more details to add to my novel.

Without giving away too much, some of those ideas are:

• Fantasy: What will you give up for money and power? Your life? That's a common question. What about your sanity? Your mind? What use is money if you go over the edge and become forced to live the rest of your life paralyzed, alone, or crazy...
• Sci-Fi: Robots, Artificial intelligence, and the death of humanity. Can a robot cross the final barrier between machine and intelligent life?
• Fantasy: Dreams. They must have a meaning, hidden somewhere. What is the invisible bond between twins? Is there something causing nightmares, and how can it be found, or stopped?
• Sci-Fi: Time travel. (Yes, I know time travel has been done before). If you travel in time, how does that affect other dimensions, other realities? What do you do if something goes wrong?
• Suspense/Horror: A killer, an assassin, a thief. What makes this one different? He doesn't aim for houses, he stalks the condos and apartment buildings. Would you close your windows at night if you lived on the 18th floor? You should!!

A few other random things I might work on, eventually: Something based on "Serial Experiments Lain", where the lines between the internet and reality become blurry. (Side note:Can a God exist without faith, or followers?). "The Books of Blood", by Clive Barker, if I tried to build up a collection of horror stories... Yet another idea based on hunting or freeing ghosts,(NO! Nothing like "Ghost Whisperer") more like the manga series "Mail" by Housui Yamazaki.

What do you think? Do any of these ideas jump out at you? Do they sound like stories you have to read, or do they sound too common to bother with? Let me know. (I probably won't change my mind, but I can admit I'm wrong, and I'm willing to work on an idea until it's perfect)

An obvious final note. Although I kept these idea vague, they are still mine, and I would prefer it if you didn't use them without my permission.

That's it for today! I'm not sure what my next post will be about, so make sure you come back to find out!

The Coldfire Trilogy

In my last blog post, I mentioned that I'm currently reading a series of books, "The Coldfire Trilogy", by C. S. Friedman. I also forgot about another book I had read, "Be Mine Forever", which is part of a vampire series by Rosemary Laurey. If you're into vampire books, it might be worth a look, but otherwise it's not very noteworthy.

Getting back to the "Coldfire Trilogy", these books deserve a detailed review, and they have provided a lot of personal inspiration in different areas.

The books are Fantasy, and the use of magic is very well defined. Rather than magic coming from a personal 'Mana pool', the source of power is a part of the planet itself. Different areas, and events can increase, and decrease the ease of "spells", or "workings", as they are referred to in the books. The source of power is called "Fae", and it flows like water throughout the land.

Most of my writing is Fantasy based, and these books have given me a lot of inspiration, and have made me think about the way magic is used. I would never 'mimic' the nature of magic found in her books, but many of the books I read take the source of power for granted.

I also enjoy the fact that her books tend to be 'darker' than other books in the same genre. The lines between "Good and Evil" come in an assortment of grays, starting with a prophet who defined religion only to be cast out of it, labelled as "Evil". One of the main characters, a priest, has to continually evaluate his beliefs. The old standby is present, "What is justified, when it comes to the greater good". I find the varied use of religion in the books to be well executed, and it's part of what makes the story stand apart from the crowd.

If you're interested in finding out more about the author, and the books, take a look at her site: http://www.csfriedman.com/

I have also read "Feast of Souls", the first book in her "Magister Trilogy", and was quite impressed with that book as well. Too bad she hasn't finished that series yet.

You can also find "The Coldfire Trilogy" on Amazon. The books are 1. "Black Sun Rising", 2. "True Night Falls", and 3. "Crown of Shadows"

C. S. Friedman book list

And that's it for today. If you haven't read the books yet, give them a try. Libraries are great resources, and if you really like the series, I'm sure you will want to add it to your collection.

In my next post, I'll give a brief overview of what I'm working on, what I've recently finished, and some of the 18 other ideas flying around my head, begging to be released into the world.

Reading lately

Yes, it's been awhile. Once again I have taken a break from posting on my blog. I don't have a personal response to my last post, but I hope that didn't discourage you from trying it yourself.

I've been doing more reading than anything else lately. Sadly, that includes updating my blog. On the positive side, I've got a lot of new ideas that I can work on now.

I don't want to do a full review on all the books I've gone through. To be honest, many of them aren't outstanding, or noteworthy. They just happened to be the first unread book I saw on my bookshelf. I did enjoy them all, for different reasons, and I'll let you know what they were, and leave it up to you to decide if you want to give any of them a try.

(I'll give you some Amazon links to the books, and yes, I do get money if you make a purchase)

First, I finally finished re-reading the Sherlock Holmes collection. I always enjoy the stories, and although it got a bit tedious after awhile, I prefer reading them all at once. The stories are classics, and they are available as public domain, if you don't mind reading them as an ebook, or on your computer. A good place for free PD classics is Project Gutenberg. If you prefer the actual book, there's quite the collection of them on Amazon, such as these hardcover copies by Barnes and Nobles: Vol. 1, and Vol. 2.

Next I wanted a light, easy read and decided to turn to an author I had not read yet. Joy Fielding. They are closer to romance than mystery or suspense. I read 3 of her books, "See Jane Run", "The Deep End", and "Don't Cry Now". I wasn't overly impressed with them, but they filled my need for a "Nice light snack". They did give me some insight into writing thoughts, and emotions. They were a refreshing change of pace after the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Joy Fielding has quite a few books published, if you're interested in trying them out, I would suggest a visit to the library before you commit yourself to purchasing any. If you do decide to pick a few up for yourself, you can take a look here: Joy Fielding on Amazon

The next book on my shelf was even further from solid mystery/suspense, and closer to a romantic book with a plot. It was "Night Whispers" by Judith McNaught. Another 3 hour read, and it didn't leave any lasting impression.

After 2 days of easy reading, I decided to re-read some of my favorite Fantasy books, "The Coldfire Trilogy", by C. S. Friedman. More information about those books next time.

And that's it for today. I might not have been as helpful, or interesting as usual today. I'm trying to get into a comfortable grove with the blog, so please bear with me, and let me know what you think. Do you want real book reviews, examples of my writing, random tips?

A picture is worth 1000 words.

I'm sure you've heard it said that a picture is worth 1,000 words. Do you believe it? Today's warm-up exercise is going to test that.

I'm not an artist, trust me, I've tried. To make up for my shortcoming in that area, I try to make my words come alive when I write. Generally my writing is a lot more description than anything else. That won't work with every story, and it can turn even the best story into a boring chore for the reader if used too often. Description is one of the key points to fiction though, and to create an image in the mind of the reader, you need some descriptive imagery. With that, here's the next "Warm-up" exercise.

My challenge, as you've probably guessed by now, is to find a picture and describe it in writing.

The number of words is up to you, for a challenge, aim at exactly 1,000 words. You can chose any picture you want, from a masterpiece painting to a picture of a rose. Once you have a picture, and you feel ready to start writing, decide what you're going to write about. Are you going to challenge the picture, and write a 1,000 word description? Are you going to prove that words are better than a picture by describing the smells, and sounds in the picture? The true test is showing somebody a handful of pictures, and seeing if they can identify which one you wrote about. This is a personal challenge, so you don't win any extra brownie points if you cheat, and give somebody 30 pictures of birds, and the one picture of a castle is the one you wrote about.

You might want to stretch this one out for a few days, if you feel uncomfortable with writing 1,000 words as a simple warm-up. Once again, feel free to post your work in the comments for other people to read. You can also add a link to the picture you used (Or a list of pictures). In my next post I'll show you my example.

Until next time, keep writing, and have fun!

Thriller: Lollipops and Rainbows

The Weapon of Clowns

Walking home after work. I hate the late shift, alone on the streets at midnight. I always think I hear footsteps behind me. I joke about it, telling my friends it's not paranoia when you're alone at midnight. After the day I've had, I wish I had the money to take a cab home. The police tape is still up from this morning. I still can't believe it was only 9 hours ago...

I was on my way to work when I heard a scream. Being the nice guy I am, I ran into the alley to see if I could help. I was confronted with the view of a clown walking towards a young woman. He was holding a huge blue lollipop. You know the kind, they're as big as your head, takes a week to eat the thing. It was the lollipop that got my attention first, the sun was reflecting off it in a weird way.

I noticed the clown next. He was huge, 6 feet tall and wide. He was wearing the usual polka-dot dress and colorful wig. At least I think it was a wig. I'm not so sure anymore.

Going back to the scream, I know some people are scared of clowns. I've never understood why, but I thought that was the cause of her scream. I stepped forward, about to tell the clown to back off when he swung the lollipop at her. It was the strangest thing I have ever seen, and all I could do was stand there while he swung it again and again.

I finally regained my senses and ran towards them. At first I didn't notice that the girl had fallen. It wasn't until the clown turned around that I got a glimpse of her, laying on a pile of garbage bags.

The clown looked at me, and snarled. He was still holding his lollipop, but the blue color was gone, it was pure red. He pushing past me and took off down the street. I'll never forget that face. It was the first time a clown looked evil. I don't know what it was, the red tears painted on his white face, or the way the smile was painted. All I know is that something made it look sinister.

I ran over to the girl, and immediately saw that she was in trouble. She had cuts all over, and was bleeding everywhere. I ran back to the street and yelled for help, while taking out my cell phone to call 911. Off in the distance I heard the music of an ice-cream truck.

It didn't take long for people to run over and try to help. It was in vain, she didn't make it. The police questioned me, but I couldn't give them any new information. They explained that the clown has been loose for a week, killing people in broad daylight with a strange weapon. It was a metal disc, sharpened to the point of a knife. It was painted to look like a lollipop, and given a strong handle. Other than that, the police didn't know anything about this crazed circus killer. They thanked me for my time, and gave me a note for work. I felt foolish asking for a note, but my boss is like that. If I'm late, nothing short of death will make up for it, and there's no way he would have believed my story without proof.

Such a bad day, but like they say, when you hit rock bottom, the only direction to go is up. I can't resist looking down the alley as I pass it. Just stick my head over the yellow tape. It's too dark to see anything, but I wonder if I will ever be able to walk past it without seeing that face. It's quiet, the distant sound of cars from a few streets down. The usual music is coming from the noisy neighbors again. I can't help but think how lucky I am, not to live beside that guy. Always blasting rock music this time of night.

I'm at the halfway marker, the flickering streetlight. I've been walking this way for a year now. Not always at night, but when it's dark I've noticed that the same light has been flickering like that. I wonder if they will ever get it fixed. There's something a bit odd tonight, but I can't place it. Everything feels the same, but there's out of place.

I'm almost home, and I finally figured out what it is. I can hear an ice-cream truck. That's strange, at this time of day. Suddenly it hits me, and I remember the music from earlier today.

I run home, and as I put the key in the lock the strong smell of paint overwhelms me. I turn around, and there he is!

"I knew I'd find you"

End

I hope you enjoyed the second story in my "Lollipops and Rainbows" series. This one was again done fairly quickly. I hope you will forgive the errors that I left in it, they might distract from the story, but I wrote this piece as an example of "Warm-up" writing. I hope it shows the difference between a serious piece of work, and the liberties you can take with your warm-ups. If I'm looking through old warm-up exercises, and this piece inspires me to write a longer, detailed story, I can worry about the editing then.

I am not saying that I'm a lazy writer, or that editing is not important. I am trying to show that when you sit down, and start on a small piece to get yourself going, you can start with something raw and creative, and work up to a serious level.

You might have noticed that I didn't mention rainbows at all in this story. I did mention the colorful clothing and hair of the clown. I'll let you be the judge, if that's enough to qualify. It's now easy to insert the word "rainbow", to describe the clothing and hair. If you are writing for a specific theme, and have sent the editor some questions, you can start writing before you get a reply. It will usually take some time before you get a reply, and you don't want to miss a deadline while waiting. Just make sure your story fits the general theme, and there's enough room to change things around once you get a response.

A final tip. Do not try to force a theme, or squeeze a story you've already written into a new theme. You might think it works, and every now and then it does, but editors know what they're looking for, and can easily spot that kind of thing. If you don't have anything that fits the theme, do something new.

That's it for now. I think I've covered "Lollipops and Rainbows", and I don't want to go too far with it, so my next post will probably be a new "Warm-up" exercise for you to try.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, keep writing, and have fun!

Mystery: Lollipops and Rainbows

The Case of the Candy Killer

"You all know why you're here." Adam said to the assembled officers. "There's been another murder. The same M.O. as the serial killer the newspapers dubbed 'The Candy Killer'."

"That's impossible!" One of the officers shouted. "He's been in jail for the past week."

"It's not only possible, it's true." Adam replied. "As you can see, this is a nightmare for our department. Either we arrested the wrong person, or there's a copycat killer out there who knows more about the real killer than we do. We've called in a professional for this one, he's waiting for us at the crime scene. David and John, come with me. I want the rest of you to find out if there's any talk on the streets about this. Discretely!"

With that, the crowd broke up, heading toward the exits. "One final note!" Adam shouted at the departing officers. "Until we know more, I want the press out of this at all costs."

Two black VW Bugs pulled up in front of the run down house, beside the red minivan parked carelessly on the street with one tire on the curb. Adam pulled his large frame out of the cramped front seat of the first car while David and John jumped from the second.

"I wish the department had a better selection of unmarked cars." John remarked as he finished extracting himself from the vehicle. "I feel like a clown riding around in these sardine cans."

"You're not made for undercover work." John replied, laughing. "You can be spotted from a mile away."

"Enough with the jokes." Adam said. "I'd like to introduce you to our expert. Boys, meet Shirley." Adam looked around for a moment, finally spotting Shirley on the front lawn, crawling on her hands and knees. Adam cleared his throat and tried again. "Ahem, I'd like you boys to meet our expert, Shirley."

"I heard you the first time." Came the reply from the crawling figure. "Did you even bother looking outside the house before calling me?"

"Of course we did." Adam replied, insulted. "I told you we processed the crime scene and couldn't find any new clues. There was a rainbow colored lollipop beside the body. We dusted for prints and got nothing. We went over the front and back lawn, driveway, and garage without finding any evidence.

"Obviously you didn't look close enough" Shirley said. "I've been here for less than 30 minutes and I can already tell you who did it."

"What! Are you telling me that you know who is responsible for killing Mr. Corke?"

"I don't know their name, but yes. I can tell you exactly who you're looking for. Your men carelessly trampled the grass, so it was difficult to find the footprints I knew would be here. There was a light rain last night, once I found them, the marks left by the killer were easy to tell apart from the prints your men left. The actual prints are the same, leading me to believe that they were made by the same regulation boot all your officers wear."

"Are you telling me it's one of our own? That's ridiculous!"

"Is it? There are also marks at the edge of the driveway that match the tire treads of your 'sardine cans'. You yourself told me that the killer knows information about the case that the media didn't report. It's quite obvious."

"You said you know who it is. I can't question everybody in the entire police department."

"And I do. The footprints left by the killer show that they have a slight limp. There are a few other things that might help you narrow it down. It's a male, and the print is fairly small. There can't be too many officers who wear that boot size. He smokes, and was recently promoted or given a raise."

"How can you know that?"

"I found a number of cigarette butts, the older ones were a cheap generic brand, but the butts from the past few days are an expensive name brand. With an expensive habit like that, a change in brand often shows a change in personal finance. The killer obviously had past relations with Mr. Corke, the prints and tire markings go back a few months. He used an unmarked car, so I doubt the relationship was professional. I'm sure you'll find the officer responsible without too much difficulty."

"I already know who it is, I'm just shocked that you solved it so quickly."

"All it takes is observation. If your men had taken the time to look, they would have seen the same things as I did, and my services here would not have been needed. I hope you remember that for the future, Adam."

End

I hope you enjoyed the first story in my "lollipop and rainbow" series. It's short, and I used the theme, but I didn't let the theme dictate where I wanted the story to go.

As this is just a warm-up exercise, I didn't spend too much time on it. I kept descriptions basic, and tried to let conversation run the story. It could use some editing, and that's your choice when you do a warm-up. You can use it to get the creativity started. You can use it to help get yourself ready for things like grammar and punctuation.

Come back soon, I'll have another example for the "Lollipops and Rainbows" theme. Until then, keep writing and have fun!

Warm Up: Lollipops and Rainbows

Inspiration...

It can make or break a writer. There is a lot of controversy over inspired writing, and my 2 cents on the topic is that you can't be a slave to inspiration.

Great books have come from inspiration, but you can't wait for it to come.

When it comes to talking about inspiration, my favorite topic is "Lollipops and Rainbows". Inspiration might not come as a whole story, or even part of a story. It could come from two words, and a unique relationship between them. I enjoy using Lollipops and Rainbows because at first, it looks like a story for children.

My challenge for you today, is to write a short story, or summary, using "Lollipops and Rainbows". The only condition is that it can't be a children's story.

If you want some last minute suggestions, think about genre. A mystery story could be based on a serial killer who leaves a rainbow colored lollipop at every murder scene. Horror: a creepy pedophile who drives around in a rainbow painted van, handing out lollipops to children.

Getting an idea yet? What about romance, two strippers named "Rainbow" and "Lollipop" who meet each other, and realize that their lives were empty up to that point. Together they change their lives, working through hardships and the painful past they both try to hide.

You can get silly if you want, it's just a warm up exercise. It's meant to get you in the mood, kick start your mind, and above all else, have fun with it.

How about a Western story, with a lollipop sucking cowboy riding into town on his trusty stead, Rainbow. Sci-fi/fantasy have a lot of options. The last rainbow in a war torn post apocalypse world. Where does the lollipop come in? You tell me!

Once you can see that you're in a box, it's much easier to think on the outside, and come up with something original.

Feel free to leave your story in the comments for others to enjoy, keep it in your archives in case it inspires you later, or write it and leave it. You might want to think about keeping a separate notebook or folder for warm up exercises. It's a great way to see how far you've come, and you never know what might come out them in the future.

I will post a few of my "Lollipops and Rainbows" stories in the next few days. Until next time, keep writing, and have fun!

A Humble Return

I'm back, and this time I'll keep up with posting new, helpful, and hopefully entertaining entries.

I realized that I stopped writing for my blog when it was more of a chore than fun. I had a number of saved posts that I didn't get around to uploading because it meant I would have to write more of them.

This time I'll try to keep my posts simple, and fun to write. I won't have as many tips as I had originally hoped, but I'll share them when I see a good one, or get inspired to address a specific topic. If you are looking for a looking for some writing tips, I highly recommend "On Writing" by Stephen King. Many well known authors have written a book of writing tips, and I have found this one to be among the best.

What I will try to write instead are "warm up" exercises for you to try, with examples of what I've done, and small samples of some of my current works.

I look forward to the journey this blog will take us on, and I hope you enjoy it!

First rule of writing: Write!!

Welcome back.
I started a list of writing tips, but I've got so much to say about each of them that I'll split them up, and focus on one of them at a time. Today is the most basic tip of all for a writer...
Write.
Write.
Write.
It sounds obvious, but a lot of writers have trouble with this one. Think of it as practice. Sports players practice all the time, muscisians, the list goes on. Even natural talent needs practice to grow.
You don't have to write every day, but you will have to make a concious effort to write on a regular basis. This helps in a lot of ways. It will train your mind, and help you focus when that time comes. Personally, I have trouble scheduling a time to write, so I will write at different times each day.
You don't have to work on the same project every day. I usually have a few stories going at one time. If I can't come up with anything productive for my main work, I will write something on one of my "secondary" stories. Most of my secondary stories will never see the light of day, but by working on them, I am practicing and training my abilities. Sometimes I will write a story, or part of a story in a completely new style. Something I would never do in my main work. I've written stories using just descriptions, no conversation, conversation without descriptions, etc. If you decide to write secondary material for those days you have writers block, or can't add to your main project, don't throw them out. You might not like them, you might not have any intention of letting the public see them, but they can still give you ideas and inspiration down the road. Some of my best story ideas have come from 10 year old notebooks.
If you don't write fiction, you should still practice. One of the best ways to practice, especially for non-fiction writers is to write reviews. Review a movie, book, tv show.
Anyway, I've gone on for awhile now, and I think I've got my point across. Keep writing, reading, and enjoying life!

My first post

Greetz, and welcome to my blog.
I'm new to blogging, but I love to write and look forward to sharing it with you.
I will try to give writing tips that I find, exercises, and share some writing of my own down the road. If you're a fellow writer, I hope to inspire and challenge you, as well as help you learn new things. If you're not a writer, I hope that I can make you think, and give you some entertaining stories and quips.