July Writing Exercise

 The other day while at the park I was doing a little writing. I had some prompts to go off of and I wrote the following short piece. It isn't much, but it was a fun exercise.

PROMPT: It's the middle of the night. There's Light snow falling. You're in the countryside. There's a charming feeling to the place.

Why am I still awake? On a chilly winter night like this, I should be all wrapped up in my blanket next to that cozy fire inside. Instead I find myself out here, in the snow. And the dark, can't forget it's dark. I came here to get away from all of the noise, the people, the distractions. I needed the rest. And I'm trudging through snow in the middle of the night. Not exactly restful. Or is it?

It is quiet. Snows like that, quiet I mean. And there are no other people around at the moment. The other guests at the lodge are inside. Wrapped up and warm. Probably enjoying hot cocoa as well. But I need this right now. I take another deep breath and watch as I exhale. It is a soothing sight, seeing my breath drift out of my mouth. I walk down to the edge of the woods. That's about as far as is safe this late at night. I hear faint sounds of the forest. Not any closer I remind myself. I don't want them sending a search party from the lodge in the morning.

Ha, that would be something. But no, I'm fine here. And I should head back shortly anyway. But I'll enjoy it for a little longer. Tomorrow is my first full day at the lodge. I arrived pretty late this evening. I'm here for a full two weeks. I'll have plenty of time inside. And out here in the countryside.

Two whole weeks of not having to deal with co-workers. No more neighbors blasting their TVs or music. No revving engines when I'm trying to go to bed. Not wondering if that plane flying over head is going to come crashing down on my house. No, I don't really believe that would happen. Don't be silly. Still, one never knows.

I hear a train whistle in the distance. Back home, that would have bothered me. Here I really don't mind. Whelp, time to head back in. Just from this little experience, I can tell I'm going to enjoy my vacation.

Until next post, I hope you enjoy.

Update June 6

 Well, I had to scrap the Starr Siren story I started last week. I found another series of books with nearly the same story and even the same main character name. Disappointed but something like this has happened to me a couple times before. I'll just move on to The Harvester which I was pretty much ready to start anyway.

And I do still have more stories from Silver Gauntlet to write. So this is only a minor set-back. And I'm glad I discovered it before I'd gotten much writing done and before I published it. I only had one chapter written and was about halfway through the second. So not much time or effort was wasted.

I am still doing well with everything and this isn't stopping me.

Flash Forward Friday! # 1

 It's time for my first Flash Forward Friday. Lets get right into it. 

We'll start with The Harvester. I made a few aborted attempts to work on this a few years ago but I was just never happy with it so I set it aside until I could work out what I was doing wrong with it. Now I think I have it.

The Harvester is a mysterious pulp crime fighter. Set in a medium size Mid-western town during the 1930's he wields a cursed scythe that while giving him powers is also slowly driving him insane. Fun stuff.

Crawford came to town to collect his inheritance from his late grandfather. He had no idea it would include a family curse .

Next up I have Starr Siren. Another one I came up with a few years ago but side aside. I didn't make any attempts to start this one. I liked the concept but just didn't want to work on it then.

Starr was once a princess on her home world but renounced her throne. Now she travels the space ways in search of adventure in her rocket ship The Siren's Call. Sometimes this makes her an outlaw, but she's okay with that.

Nanny was originally Starr's robot nursemaid as a child. Now her only trusted friend and companion on her adventures. She can still be a bit protective, it's hard to get past that old programming after all.

And that is two of the projects I've been working on to follow up the current one. I haven't decided which one I'll work on first but I'm leaning towards Starr Siren.

That'll be it for this time. Until next week take care and I'll talk to you later.

Update May 25

 Writing has been going well. I finished two more chapters of Dark-Thorn so far this week. Chapters 7 & 8, leaving only one more to go. Tonight I'll edit them and have them ready to go. That will just leave tomorrow night's writing. I think I'll do some prep work on the next story. That way I'll be ready to start on it next week after I finish chapter 9 of Dark-Thorn.

Check back here tomorrow as well for my first Flash Forward Friday. I'll give a little preview of two of the stories I've been getting ready. Some character sketches and a little on what they're about. Until then take care.

Update May 22

 Plans for the week. Last week was good and productive and i want to keep that going. I've had the weekend off but I kept thinking about my writing the whole time. I still haven't made up my mind on what to work on next but I do have some new ideas to add.

This week I want to finish two more chapters in Dark-Thorn Spire. Both writing and editing them. Then one night will be for prep work on another of my planned stories to follow up Dark-Thorn. I do have one more I haven't done any prep on so that will have me ready to go with whatever I do choose as my next project.

I have also been sketching out some drawings of the characters from my upcoming story ideas. In a few days I'll try to scan those and post them here as a preview of what's to come. Until then have a good week and I'll talk to you later.

Update May 19

 Despite some personal difficulties I have been keeping up on my nightly writing. I finished another chapter in my current story, Dark-Thorn Spire. And I spent one night prepping for one of my other stories to follow up after I finish the current one. The plan for tonight is to edit and spell-check the work I finished this week. Then I'll be off for the weekend and be back at it next week. Planning on two chapters on the story and prep for one more planned upcoming story.

I want to go ahead and start one these other stories, but I've tried that in the past and it didn't work out for me. I need to stay focused on one project at a time. I'm just not wired to do otherwise it seems. So I'll finish off Dark-Thorn and then decide what to move on to next.

Until next week.