I have been in love with story since before I even knew what it was, before I could separate fiction from reality (jury’s still out on how well I can do that). My parents and grandparents read to me from the time I was an infant. My grandmother disliked the nastier details involved in some fairy tales, so instead she read me A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories, so these …
The first day of the year is always a time for reflection, at least for me. Not for everyone. For some, it’s a time to recover from a hangover, but I digress. It’s my tradition to take a walk every January 1st and look back on the year that’s just passed and set some expectations/goals for the year to come. So, I did that this morning. And really, …
I think I’m confusing the algorithm. I’ve finished five complete works of fiction so far this year. They are: A romantic sci-fi novel. An epic fantasy short story. A contemporary paranormal romance novella. A secondary world Urban Fantasy Novel A steampunk murder mystery short story. All of these will be published, one way or the other, maybe by me. All of them under the name Chad Grayson. I’m currently working …
i have been very busy the last couple of months. I wrote a short story to submit to writers of the future, so we’ll see what happens with that. Then I wrote an paranormal romance novella I plan to release this fall sometime. It’s a gay love story with ghosts! Very different than anything I’ve ever written before, not least because it takes on modern day earth. Between The Sacred …
I have been busy the last month or so. Mostly writing, but also doing other things, like taking guitar lessons, and spending time with my grandchildren. I have been writing 2000 words a day, 4 times a week since last September, and that is a pretty good pace, but especially after having a pretty low word count in May, I decided I wanted to get to doing 10,000 …
I belong to Apex writers and am part of the Accelerators group, led by Forrest Wolverton. In Accelerators, Forrest uses brain research to help us unlock our writing and career goals (It’s more complicated than that, but that’s the gist). Last week, we were talking about the rituals we all use to get us in ‘the zone’ for writing, and it made me think about how we all do that, …
In 2020 I read something like 148 books. This is the most books I’ve ever read. Mostly, this was because I was in quarantine most of the year and there was nothing else to do. By contrast, in 2021, I read 78 books. This is the lowest number in the last ten years. I did a lot of writing, and the library I work at was open all year. …
I’ve always thought of myself as an Artist. When you say that, most people think of a visual artist of some type. And I used to draw and share my drawing with others. (This was before the internet so fortunately there is not a deviantart account out there with my name on it) But my drawings were terrible, no matter how polite people were about it. I always wanted …
2021 started with sadness and relief. Sadness at saying goodbye to my grandmother, who passed away on New Year’s Eve last year after a fifteen-year battle with Alzheimer’s. Relief, because her struggle was finally over. It took it as a sign that it was time for new beginnings. I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions, but I did decide to reorganize my house, and make progress on some goals. So, …
The cold assaulted Will’s skin as soon as he left the building. As he took in a few deep breaths, trying to find his stride, the sting of the brisk air made him cough. He ignored the protest of his lungs, and by the time he reached the end of the block, he’d acclimated to the weather and no longer sounded like someone dying of consumption. He ran, trying …