I guess I could have also called this post "The light at the end of the tunnel has appeared and now I'm hoping it's not a train..."
I still haven't moved past the contents of my last post, but I'm not still down in the dumps so much that packing the whole lot in is a continuous thought.
This Post says what a lot of writers know and have been trying to express to me about my negative thinking.
What I have decided to do about things:
I'm going to read - a lot. I'd already begun this process but K.C. is correct.
I'm going to write reviews of the books I read.
I'm going to break down and analyse the books I like. Hell, I'm going to break down and analyse the books I don't like so I don't make the same mistakes.
I'm going to create a structure template for my short stories. I have one for novels, and that works for me, so why not shorts? I wrote Wamphyri with a structure. I altered it severely as I went along but it helped me identify a few things. I also need to add a list of already known DONT'S. These are things I still fall into, especially with endings.
I'm going to create the lists suggested by Alex.
- 10 favourite movies
- 10 favourite villains
- 10 favourite heroes
- 10 favourite scares
- etc
I'm not going to worry about acceptances this year - at all. I will circulate what I currently have out, but if I don't send anything new out - I don't care. If my current batch of completed stories don't find a home, I'll self publish on the website and you all can tell me if they suck or not.
I will pass my second year of the diploma.
In a nutshell: I will read and do the diploma work. I'll write outside of that. I will improve.
Yesterday I finished reading The Schumann Frequency by Christopher Ride. Today I'm letting the after taste roll around inside my head before I write up the first draft of the review. It should be posted on HorrorScope before the end of the week. Actually, I was side-tracked while writing this post, forgot it was here, and went and did the first draft. It should be on HorrorScope tonight or tomorrow.
We move on. We move with the knowledge that I'm still learning, probably at a slower rate than others (I am after all, a painfully methodical and anally retentive person at times), but that doesn't matter - movement is healthy.
Among everything else I am in this life, I am, and always will be, a writer; a lover of the written word, whether I am writing it or reading it. I can't help it.
I have found that tearing books apart and seeing what works and subsequently doesn't work has been one of the best things for my own writing. It seems to get easier with every book I read. Good luck with your plan.
ReplyDeleteG,day I love science fiction writing, pc games and the ocean. I go diving and after enjoy the 3-d world of the imagination, sharing it with many others on the internet of games.
ReplyDeleteI have written a book called Doom Of The Shem.
Doom Of The Shem is a science fiction novel that incorporates the horror of military action with the unavoidable hostilities that occur when an alien species invade a planet in search of food. The barbarity of war is brought to light by the work achieved by the nurses and medical personnel of the planets inhabitants. While a full blown military action story emerges from an ensuing war that involves the whole planet. It is especially centered on a squad of the planets army forces, who fight the alien invaders.
doomoftheshem.blogspot.com