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New contribution to Totally Novel on writing, update on Sweet Sixteen Killer

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I've been pretty quiet lately on the blog, sorry about that. I've been laying mostly low, though I did recently begin contributing to a new website for writers and readers called Totally Novel. My first contribution for members of the site is a post I titled 3 things that prevented me from writing a novel. To read the post, sign up for a free trial. Take a look around and if you don't wanna stay, don't renew membership. That said, it's a pretty cool effort being put together by a former Google+ member like myself. As a matter of fact there are several members on the site from the old Google+ days. (Side note: there is a free membership option)
I will be contributing to the Totally Novel blog bi-monthly for now. My next addition will be in August. I'm super excited for the site and I hope you can come join us and become a part of the groups, forums, blog, workshops, and more. 
All that said, I haven't given up here. This is still my primary site and blog. 👊

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I'm feeling pretty good about my writing WRITE NOW

Ever since last Fall, I took on a couple of writing projects. The first was publishing the Josephine the Dragon stories by Taylor Christine on the blog. The second was writing the next installment in the I Will Kill You for $5 project.

But, alas, it felt like I had really fallen behind on the blog and writing in general. Life has been crazy, to my credit. However, as is the case a lot, I dump on myself a lot about writing.

https://twitter.com/babylontales/status/739960281099436032

No doubt about Josephine though, I did fall behind on publishing those stories. Meant to do like one a month or so, but it's been like... um... not that.

However, I wanna pat myself on the back for a second. Because I rarely do that as a writer, I'm sure other writers are the same way. We really like to self-torture ourselves about our ability to spew words.

But the thing of it is this...



  • Yes, I did start writing a short story in October.

  • Yes, that was a long time ago.

  • Tonight I just finished it.

  • Yes, that does seem like a long time to write a short story, especially for me.

  • But the thing is that it's really long.

  • Like way longer than my usual stories.

  • I typically average around 2,000 to 6,000 word short stories.

  • Once, I wrote an 8,000 word story.

  • And I can actually write 1,000 words per hour.

  • So, a 2,000 word story can be done in 2 hours.

  • So, that whole October thing seems like a long time.

  • But the thing is that this story is the longest short story I've ever written.

  • It's so long, I'm not sure it qualifies as a short story anymore.

  • It's over 15,000 words long.

  • To put that in perspective, my collaborative novella Fatal Flaws is 19,000 words long.

  • And, I deleted a "scene" or two along the way, in an attempt to shorten the story.

  • Basically this... it's the longest short story I've ever written.

  • It's also the one of the longest "complete" stories I've ever written by myself.

  • And even though it took me quite a while...

  • I look at what I have, and look back, and I don't feel bad at all.

  • I felt bad during it. But not now.

  • Why? Because the result. The result is something way bigger than I intended.

  • And that BIG thing has proven something to myself.

  • It has made a statement to me.

  • It says, "Dude. You can write long form, just don't expect to do it overnight. And don't beat yourself up about that. There's nothing out of the ordinary with that."


CURRENT MOOD: David Bowie's "Heroes"


So. Yeah. I'm kind of in a celebratory mood. I really feel like I've accomplished something, and that feels great. Like I've really discovered something about myself. And for the first time, I realize that the nagging voice in the back of my head telling me I'm failing--yeah, it's full of it. Totally full of it.

That being said... if you are like me, and like to brutalize yourself internally as a writer, remember this--the Voice is your enemy. You're better than the Voice. The Voice in your head can't even write ONE BLESSED word. Eat that Voice.

A few Tweets from the journey


https://twitter.com/babylontales/status/739198362088407040

https://twitter.com/babylontales/status/740712375595081728

https://twitter.com/babylontales/status/745058835736334336

https://twitter.com/babylontales/status/745072463814352896

https://twitter.com/babylontales/status/745083250373066752

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