To Answer a Challenge

With everything in life there comes the inevitable necessity of challenges. Life wouldn’t be worth living if we existed only upon the mundane, therefore, a good challenge is inspiring. For me, this month, my challenge has been writing a book in just 30 days. At this point it is not for anything more than a new personal achievement, but it is a worthy challenge that I’ve stepped up. There have been a few moments when I’ll easily admit I was concerned if it could be done, and that is because I know what I went through to write and finish the first book. But, even with those moments of concern I’ve kept myself focused and even on those days when I just couldn’t make myself write I made up for it by writing more the next time I sat to my computer… The Challenge is being met… I haven’t completely met it yet because for me this challenge is going to be two parts… 50,000 words for the NaNoWriMo challenge, and then what ever it takes to actually complete the book because I still want to finish it by the end of November. With each day of writing I see the climatic end getting closer and Closer and I cannot wait to see just what happens to all of the characters as they are about to turn Tampa upside down and possibly set things on fire. This story is becoming quite the tale of drama, deceit, betrayal and Murder… There’s still time to play catch up and get your copy of Tainted: the Book of Revelations before I finish up Tainted: the Book of Retribution… Are you Ready?

It’s been a Minute

Well hello, greetings, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night … Salutations… Hola… blah blah blah … so on and so forth hahaha.
Yes it’s been a minute since I’ve sat down and update my time here. Oh I’ve been writing quite a bit and I’ve been keeping uber busy, but I have been neglecting you select few you have taken a moment to actually try to follow with my rantings and ravings. So, let me first start by saying… Thank you, thank you select few who sit through and not only read what others write about, but you try to read through mine and you haven’t said anything negative about any of it… Yet. Thank you. Thank you for your support as I try to get yet another faucet of my writing up and running smoothly as a means of keeping my writing growing not only in tonality but in overall comprehension and that enjoyment factor. Thank you… for reading through this mish-mash of combined words that sometimes just seems to string along until it at long lasts hits a brick wall and you find yourself sitting there scratching the top of your head saying to yourself – “Damn, what in the Hell is he yammering on about this time?” – and yet like the proverbial train wreck you keep reading because … well just because… So, Thank you… Thank you… THANK YOU!!!
*putting down the megaphone*

So, yes it really has been a minute since I’ve sat and written something for my blog, but I truly have been writing. A couple of weeks ago I was looking through some posts in one of the groups I’m kind of a part of on Facebook and they kept bringing up this writing style referred to as “Flash Fiction”… oh I was intrigued and so I went on a hunting expedition to find out more about this … Flash Fiction. I was so elated to find out that its something I actually had thought of doing – wait, wait Wait… let me give you a bit of a run down of what Flash Fiction is –

What is Flash Fiction

The question what is flash fiction (FF) is a loaded one because people have strong, varying opinions as to the ‘correct’ answer. Here are three of my own:

Answer 1. A complete story in 1000 words or less.

Answer 2. A unique type of story that has been whittled down to its essence whilst remaining a complete story, with plot, narrative, character/s, conflict, and resolution.

Answer 3. One of a number of terms used to describe answers one and two. Other terms used are: microfiction, short short story, sudden fiction, prosetry, and postcard fiction.

In answer to the question: what is flash fiction, as mentioned above there may be differing answers as there is no concensual definition, mainly in relation to how many words an FF story should consist of. It is generally agreed though that 1000 words is the maximum. But FF is so much more than a short short story <— via Flash Fiction World (http://www.flash-fiction-world.com/what-is-flash-fiction.html) … Great stuff, oh yes, great stuff… and so I read on and on and on.

This was wonderful because I’d been thinking of doing some writing very similar to this and didn’t know there was not only a writing genre for it, but it was a pretty big thing. Little short stories that basically just dropped you off right into a story and got you up and running quickly but didn’t leave you high and dry. It was pretty much the full thing, but what I’m finding is if written properly – oooooh the many directions you could go with it. I’m Loving it… Loving it… LOVING IT *damn putting the megaphone down once again*

So for the last couple of weeks I’ve been plugging away learning more and more about my writing abilities and my writing needs. Yes, as an Author I have writing needs, and they are not complicated. Pretty much it’s just ideas… I need ideas and thankfully I have a brain full of those, and Flash Fiction is pretty much feeding that needy addiction. LOL. I’ve done a few in Horror, a few in Urban Lit, a couple in Sci-Fi, and of course a couple in Erotica… but my favorites are the ones I do that are pretty much a Thriller with the surprise endings… Yeaaaaaaaa… really loving those. So now that I’m doing these Flash Fiction stories I’m rolling over ideas that I’ve presented to my Publisher (Ms. Dawn Rivers of Vantage Point Publishing) and we have a few new things we’re adding to our already over full, over extended plates and looking forward to a busy 2014… Are you Ready? because I am.

Now if that’s not enough I’ve also become a part of this book writing challenge called NaNoWriMo and the premise behind this … write a manuscript of no less than 50,000 words before the end of November… and what book did we choose to write? Well none other than Tainted: the Book of Retribution which is book II in the Tainted series. Yes, yes, yes I’ve had people asking about it, I’ve had a couple tell me that they are patiently waiting on it and I’ve even had a few playfully tell me that they are going to come here and sit here with a shotgun held on me to make certain I write it out – Damn, sounds a lot like the story Misery to me… as long as they don’t hobble me I guess we’re all good LOL. So far its been a good 3 days and I’m doing pretty good I’m up almost 15,000 words… and the ball is just starting to roll.

This is what I love to do… this is what I Live to do… Writing is not just a passion for me… its what keeps the sanities and insanities in play even when Im at rest(what ever that may truly be). Writing is that magic I feel I possess that keeps me in tuned with this world. Its that one thing I long to leave behind when I’ve left this plane… its what keeps me going… its what keeps me driven… its what keeps me grounded… its what keeps me elevated… its what keeps me going when I feel that I cannot go any further. Like I’ve said before and I’ll continue to say…

I am a Writer… I am a Storyteller… I am a Mistrel of Words… I am that which I’ve longed to be and that which I shall forever remain from this day forth… I give to you that which you long for, an escape, but in doing so I’m giving you an all access pass into My mind… the mind of a Writer…

Are You Ready?