Monthly Archives: May 2011
At least it’s an update
It’s Sunday again, and I haven’t managed to write anything all week. Ah well, this week I’m going to recommend everyone read The Path of a Struggling Writer, an excellent blog by the talented R.C. Murphy. Here you’ll find horror stories, erotica, and horrific erotica. The vampire smut is particularly recommended.
I have a personal soft spot for her work, as it directly influenced me to create this blog you are currently reading. So be sure to take a look and see if you like it.
Also, the first round of votes over on Pictosociety has ended, and my chapter won! It’s just as well that I’m stuck with a cramped little netbook keyboard, or I’d probably crow about this for a few more paragraphs. Well, that’s all until I have a proper keyboard again.
Twitter has Follow Friday, WordPress should have Subscribe Sunday
As the title says, I think Sunday is a good day to blog about someone else’s blog that I think people should read. So this week I’m going to recommend Pictosociety, a blog based on the age-old game of writing a story by committee.
The rules are here, but in short you read one or more of the stories, then write the next part before the deadline. As an added bit of democracy the entries are voted on to determine which submission becomes the “official” next part of the story.
It’s a fun idea with some neat story seeds, and since the first deadline is tomorrow at midnight British Summer Time, (that’s 4 pm Pacific Daylight Time, Californians) you still have time to participate right from the start. Come play, the more people contributing the more fun it’ll be!
Writing is hard
I never learned how to write an outline. I just don’t get it somehow, something eludes me that’s so basic and fundamental that I can’t articulate it usefully, and nobody’s ever been able to help. The closest I ever got, I think, is when I wrote a lot of little synopses for a collection of short stories with a loose continuity between them. Tiny, one paragraph summaries like you might see in TV Guide telling you what to expect on Tuesday’s episode. I think maybe I had the essence of it there, perhaps I’ll try building on that concept later. Read the rest of this entry
A dream
It’s that time of year when I’m too hot under a blanket but too cold without one. When I’m too hot sleeping I often have nightmares, and last night gave me a doozy. Here’s what I can piece together from attenuated memories and the notes I scribbled just before dawn. Read the rest of this entry
Blogging about microblogging
As you may have noticed, I like Twitter. I don’t actually have many people to interact with on it, but that doesn’t stop me from merrily tweeting away whatever random nonsense wanders into my mind, or replying to the few that I follow, or annoying@RCMurphy. (It’s the secret to happiness) There’s a sort of simple joy to trying to cut ideas down to 140 characters which appeals to me somehow. It’s a bit like haiku, I suppose. Read the rest of this entry
On Death, Conspiracy Theories, and Wars on Concepts.
So Osama bin Laden is dead. When I first heard this, my reaction was “So what? Game of Thrones is on.” Clearly not everyone shared my apathy, and I really don’t understand why. Read the rest of this entry
The Adventures of Leo Tarvi 