Memoirs of an English Major

“A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life” - John Milton  

    Over the course of the past two weeks, I have written and created four separate drafts on my short story, each one longer that the last. I’m fine with the word length, but I feel if I make one more revision, it may become longer that I had originally intended, so I am stopping at this moment with my final draft. I will make a couple of grammar checks and pacing revision, but as of now, the short story is complete. Once the contest is over, I will repost the story here so that all can read. It’s been a great process and I really couldn’t have written as I have without the use of PageFour. It is a great piece of software. It just works for me as a writer.

read on…

“Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters,” - Neil Gaiman

   I know I haven’t blogged in a while, but I have been racking my head trying to write this short story for the short story competition on Bebo Author. Originally, I figured I would start off with a small project that would force me to lead into one of my larger planned projects, but it just wouldn’t come out the way I wanted, perhaps thinking of a different medium for that. So , I then contemplated writing something bit closer to home and it occurred to me the topic over this weekend. I started off writing about it with a certain approach, trying to work in a conversation a friend and mine had on it, using that as starting point. But that didn’t work out. And then it hit me… I was writing without a muse.

read on…

Since I am going to enter Claire’s short story contest, I felt it was time to re-look at how I write and see if I can find a better. These days, I tend to write sporadically and non-linear, capturing whatever comes from my mind when it comes from my mind. With this in mind, I am trying out PageFour, a word processor made specifically for fiction writers. Even though I have only lightly touched it, I love it. It feels entirely different, allowing me to organize my sporadic thoughts within folder structures and pages, allowing my mind to keep thinking the way it is. Even though it is currently in demo mode, if by the end of the week I’m still in love with it, I will make a purchase. Possibly within the week, I’ll write a full review of the product, but so far, I am recommending it. I know tonight’s post is shorter than expected, but I am some what written out. The first draft of the short story should be done by this week and I will share it with everyone here. The basic concept actually comes from a bigger concept that I hope to write soon. What Radical Dreamer’s did for Chrono Cross is what I hope my short story shall do for mine.

read on…