I Feel Like I Learned Something – Thoughts on the Year

12/29/2014 2 Comments

I Feel Like I Learned Something

Look! It’s Monday and I have a meme!

It’s been a touch-and-go year here on DBCII, which all pretty much stems from the fact that this blog is not my first priority. Well, okay, not top five. Probably not top ten.

In some ways, I have kept the blog alive because the April A to Z Challenge was so good to me. I got a lot of great posts written, met a bunch of great bloggers, added a bunch of followers here on the blog. I might mean you there, reading this right now. Hiya.

I decided what the blog needed was Features, something I had a responsibility to get posted, and which you the readers could expect from me. Something to come back for. And for a while, I kept some Features going. Indeed, I am still posting Wordless Wednesday, and I see no stopping ahead for that.

I then hoped I could harness the Features, that I could use them as a way to make myself write. To combine reader expectations, deadlines, self-expectations, a space and time… and maybe it’s time, most of all, I didn’t account for. My wife and I have kept Comparative Geeks going strong, and I have kept contributing at Sourcerer – moving on to comics when my music posts ran their course.

So I’m doing quite a bit of writing in a week. But even my contributions have been getting done really last minute, and if you’ve watched Comparative Geeks’ posting schedule for a couple of days, you know we’re writing pretty much everything day-of. I’m writing, but I’m not pulling wildly ahead, I’m not writing and writing and writing.

I had also thought for a while about whether it was fiction or blogging where I wanted to put more focus. I think I have figured out a new approach to the fiction that should work, but that can wait for another post.

We have news and plans for Comparative Geeks in the New Year, so that is going strong. But for now, I am officially putting my Features here on hold, and am returning to more of how I used to use this blog: as a space to step back, reflect, share, and discuss. I’ll be talking more about my plans here in the days and weeks to come!

Filed under Introverted, Meme Monday Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Flash Fiction Friday Four

10/24/2014 Leave a comment

As I mentioned last week, my new plan is to do my writing prompts here on Fridays, as part of rolling out Flash Fiction Friday. This is similar to what I was doing in my Muse Monday Feature. Today’s prompt is from the 3 A.M. Epiphany, and it is called War.

The four phases of war, according to James Fallows in the January/February issue of The Atlantic, are “deterrence and engagement,” “seize the initiative,” “decisive operations,” and “post-conflict”… In this exercise create an outline rather than a filled-out piece of narrative, a set of quick and dirty instructions for a scene that only occasionally bursts into full-throated song. You should also be funny. War is hell, but it can also be grimly funny, or at least it can be ridiculous and absurd. Make us laugh at this little war. 500 words.

Read more of this post

Filed under Flash Fiction Friday, Intuitive Tagged with , , , , , ,

A Step in the Right Direction!

10/21/2014 2 Comments

As I have been trying to grow my writing presence here, there hasn’t been much talk for a while about one of my other many hats – the library. Well, as of this week, I am now full-time employed in a library! Since getting my Library Science degree last year, I have been working part-time at the local university library, and they have bumped me to full-time.

I’m excited, as this is a step closer to being a full-time librarian. I had been doing some minor professional work as a reference librarian, working the desk for some of the extended hours (evenings, weekends) and some during the day at times as well. Now, doing reference work has been written into my job description! So more and more of good experience, and of the library showing trust and faith in me.

As to my writing, you may well be like “hey David, why didn’t you do more while you were part-time employed?” Well, a lot of that time was taken up by working other jobs – the reference work, and other part-time jobs. Breaking into a career is hard work, and as one interviewer put it, what I have been doing “shows a lot of sacrifice.” I think that going through this whole process has taught me and shown me a lot – and I hope that it shows me most of all that it’s going to be a lot of work and sacrifice to become a writer!

So the math is funny, as I’m not at the most money I’ve ever made, but I am at the highest hourly rate I’ve ever made. Moving upward, and no overtime, so I’ll take it as a plus. I’m happy, and more secure, and that’s all to the good. So thanks for listening to a moment of my personal life, and I hope your life has you in a good place as well!

Filed under Introverted Tagged with , , , , ,

Meme Monday? Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That!

10/20/2014 3 Comments

Write a Book? Ain't Nobody Got Time For That

We’re coming up on NaNoWriMo – and ain’t nobody got time for that! Nonetheless, thousands of people will try their darnedest to write 50,000 words in one month. Once I was one of them, and who knows, maybe one day I will be again. But not this year – going to be out of town for much of November. And while I often travel with a blank notebook to do some writing, and I’ll have my iPad and all, I don’t want to force myself – just to end up failing!

But here’s to you, folks doing NaNoWriMo. Enjoy the meme!

Filed under Intuitive, Meme Monday Tagged with , , ,

Six Word Saturday 13

10/18/2014 4 Comments

[tweet https://twitter.com/dbc_ii/status/523338774453821441]

Cryptic is fun, right? I don’t know if it counts as a story. I suppose it’s a hook.

I’ve been trying to figure out what to do here, to do with my Features. And some of what I was realizing, as I looked at them all together, was that I had two that were short-writing Features: Muse Monday, and Flash Fiction Friday. I sprung them both on myself at the same time, and have been failing at both at the same time.

For Muse Monday, the goal was a post that was based on a writing prompt of some kind, to get in writing practice. However, it takes a good period of time to do this still: picking a prompt, thinking on it, writing it up… I wasn’t giving myself time to do it on the weekend, and then Monday would come and go.

For Flash Fiction Friday, I was giving myself no prompt. Unlike the Six Word Saturday posts – where I had a goal, of at least trying to figure out #SixWordStory and how to tell a story in six words, and could spend several days in advance on Twitter posting stories. For Flash Fiction Friday, I found myself on Friday, trying to think of something to write, and realizing this defeated the purpose – might as well not write the story on Twitter if I’m going to write it and post it immediately!

So that gets me to now. I like the Friday date – I can spend several days throughout the week, figuring out a prompt, thinking on the story, getting it written so it can go up Friday. And for Monday, I need something easier, something that takes a little less thinking. So I think the plan for now would be to keep up Meme Monday for that purpose, as well as Wordless Wednesday, which I have at least been keeping up solidly every week.

It seems streamlined – let’s see how it goes!

Filed under Intuitive, Six Word Saturday Tagged with , , , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →