Guns & Magic

Summary: That didn’t go the way I thought it would.

 

I came into November with no real plan … and I think the results speak for themselves.

 

That said, I did:

 

So NaNoWriMo 2009 wasn’t a complete bust for me. Just not as much of a success I had hoped for.

 

Another result of my experience this month is the realization that my writing process has changed. I had developed some habits and a mindset back in 2006 during my A Short Story a Day project that were good habits and a useful mindset–for that project. Now I think those habits/mindset have been getting in the way of my writing since then. Or maybe I’m just getting older and changing my approach to writing like I’ve changed my approach to a number of other things.

 

Either way: Something’s changing. I need to re-adapt.

 

And, somehow–additional evidence that something has definitely changed–I’m coming out of November with the odd urge to create my own online magazine of slipstream short stories…

 

-David

 

I didn’t write anything today. I almost feel bad about it.

 

-David

 

By David Michael

 

As Ted Millet pulled into the dark, not-as-empty-as-usual parking lot of the aging strip mall, threaded his way through the pot holes, and parked his Ford Focus-On-The-Fact-That-It’s-Not-A-Pinto in his normal space, he knew he was lying to himself. He just couldn’t decide what it was he was lying to himself about this time: his job, his life, or the huge, idling diesel semi-tractor trailer sans trailer parked in front of his donut shop.

 

Normally, at 2 in the morning, his was the only car. He had the strip mall to himself, making the first batches of glazed, cake, and old-fashioned donuts in near-perfect solitude. Not this morning, it seemed. He could feel the rumble of the massive diesel engine even here inside the enclosed cab of his Focus-On-Anything-But-How-Much-You-Hate-Your-Job, and a pit of fear opened up in his stomach.

 

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And the story is finished at just over 3100 words. It’ll be posted momentarily.

 

-David

 

Still working on the same story.

 

-David

 

The story I’m working on isn’t finished. I expect I’ll finish it tomorrow.

 

This brings my total for Nano up to 15K.

 

-David

 

Those words are from my first few outlines of new stories. Oh, yes, I’m counting them. =)

 

-David

 

At least, I think that’s what I’m doing.

 

I think I can safely say that “winging it” has not worked out as I hoped it might. So I’m looking to … un-wing it? Pull the wings off? Whatever. I’m adding some structure to what I’ve decided to call my “Mask Stories” project.

 

What I think that means (no, I’m not entirely certain) is that I’m collecting all Don’s paintings, and culling all but those that interest me the most (about 100 out of the total 130+). From those, I’ll select a sampling of 10 paintings. Then I will create 100-ish word story synopses for each painting. Finally, I’ll write those stories. Or most of them, anyway. Then it’s “lather rinse repeat” until I have 40-50 mask stories total.

 

In other words, I’m creating a progressive outline of a collection of short stories. Rather the opposite of “winging it”.

 

I seriously doubt I’ll hit 50K words this month.

 

 

Such is life. Such is war. Such is the potato.

 

-David

 

By David Michael

 

From where she hung in the heavens, she could see everything. Which meant, most of the time, she saw nothing. In the day, under the glare of Apollo’s visage, she saw least of all, not even her own son next to her in the sky. The myriad tiny details of humanity below her, and those once human around her, were all subsumed in the radiance of the gods. Even at night, from such a high vantage point, the mass of humanity below her were visible only as collections of lanterns and cooking fires. She seldom noticed one person, just as most people, looking up, seldom saw more than the moon or the Milky Way.

 

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Another short short story.

 

-David