Thursday, November 1, 2018

November 2018

Leaves are falling, and so is the temperature. This means less time in the garden, but on the plus side, maybe easier to find time for writing. Here's what I've been up to:


New releases

A sci-fi short story entitled "What Lies Beneath" was included in Nomadic Delirium's November 2018 edition of Environmental Holocaust. The story follows the efforts of a Hamilton-based researcher to combat the spread of a virus.

A sci-fi poem entitled  "History Waits to be Written" made it into Polar Borealis #7. More details available here: http://polarborealis.ca/

Finally, a sci-fi poem "Ghost Stories" was included in the Sounds of the Night anthology from Alban Lake Publishing:



Coming Soon

I have a few stories and poems pending publication, including a couple of items slated for the November print edition of Scifaikuest.

More details to come as publication dates get firmed up.


What I'm Working On

I decided against doing NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, this November. I have this habit of starting things and not finishing them and don't need to add to the list. In fact, as of the start of October, I had 32 short stories underway in various forms of completion. Some have been sent out and rejected, others never quite completed.

When I took a look at the list, I realized that even the previously-sent-out stories would benefit from some tinkering (or, in some cases, re-tooling). My current focus is improving the link between character and plot. I've found a book entitled 20 Master Plots and How to Build Them, by Ronald B. Tobias, useful in a few cases where I liked the basic idea but recognized a need to strengthen the story line. So far, I've dusted off five of the pending stories and sent them on their way. Just 27 to go . . .

Until next month...