Update

Hey everyone and happy new year.

I can't believe it's the year 2010! Where are all the flying cars and houses on the moon? I guess that might be more realistic in the year 2020, or maybe even 2100. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Here is a quick update to get everyone out there reading a chance to catch up (listen up all three of you).

Back in August of 08 I started writing again (I had previously, but nothing too serious). I thought it would be a good idea to start this blog as a way of keeping track of what I was doing and maybe give some inspiration to other writers out there.

Between August and November I wrote three short stories and submitted them to various magaziens etc. to be published. FYI I used Duotrope's Digest to find sites to submit to. All three were horror/sci fi and around 5,000 words. As of now none of them have been published, but I am still hopeful. I'm a reasonable person and I know that I can't expect to get my stories published right away when I still have so much to learn.

In December I started a new story, but unfortunately have had a hard time finding time to work on it. I am just now finishing the first draft and hope to be finished with it soon. The current story (The House Next Door) has been very challenging. I have basically one character who spends a good 75% of the story sitting around in his house not doing much. I think part of the difficulty has been not having big chunks of time to work on it. I'm much more productive when I have at least two plus hours a writing session.

I think this is going to be a good year. I'm shooting for at least one new short story a month and I am really optimistic about getting one of them published.

Wish me luck!

New Short Story Finished

I just finished writing a new short story called The Pool Boy and submitted it to be published. Here is the synopsis.

Tony Smith might just be having the worst summer of his teenage life. First, his girlfriend dumps him, and then his dad tells him he has to clean the neighbor’s swimming pool while they are out of town. He puts off cleaning the pool until the last minute, and when he finally remembers to do it, he finds the water is a green and polluted. Worse yet there is something dangerous lurking below the muddy surface.

I'm already working on an idea for a new story and plan on starting it soon.

New Short Story

I just started working on another short story.

I have been tossing ideas around for the last couple weeks and coming up with an outline. I came up with some ideas that I think might end up making a great novel or novella, but I'm not quite ready to tackle something that big just yet. I would like to see if I have any luck getting one of these short stories published before investing that much time into a project.

Luckily, I had a lot of other ideas floating around. I decided to tackle something a bit more "manageable" for now.

Its a horror story with a "deadly creature" that takes place in Florida. The hero is a teenage named Tony.

I will post more about the new story when I get a few drafts done.

New Story Finished!

I've just finished my second short story, Click You're Dead, and am getting it ready to submit for publication.

Here is a synopsis:

Photographer, Jim Waters, has a bit of bad luck when his camera is destroyed in a hiking accident. His bad luck continues when the replacement camera he is borrowing starts malfunctioning, resulting in the loss of valuable photos of a famous musician taken hours before his death. Meanwhile, the city of Seattle is in chaos when people start dying in the streets for no apparent reason.

Wish me luck.
Travis

Writing Update

I'm currently working on yet another draft of Click You're Dead. I've got feedback on an earlier draft and making a few changes.
I've hit a few unforeseen roadblocks, however. I did an outline for the story but left a few things out in the open that I thought I could fill in along the way. This was a big mistake! I've decided to sweep these problems under the rug for now and try to take this as a learning experience. I'm definitely an outline writer, I need those little guide points along the way or the story starts to fall apart.
I still think its a good story, even better than the last one. I'm writing fiction too, and I think I have the right to take a little creative license.
Anywho, the final draft should be done soon. Then off to the next project.

Writing Update

I'm currently working on the third draft of Click You're Dead. A short story about a photographer.

New Short Story

I just completed the first draft on a new horror short story called Click You're Dead about a photographer who has a streak of bad luck and people around him start dying.

I'm looking forward to getting started on the second draft and fleshing it out a bit.

Submitted My first Short Story!

Big news!

I finished my first short story Closed for the Season and submitted to be published. I don't want to give too much info away at this point. All I can say is Closed for the Season is a suspense story about a camping trip gone wrong.

I will post more info when I can.

Cross you fingers (and hairy-toes) for me.

Travis

Breaking News: The Gathering Storm

I just read that the next installment in the Wheel of Time series The Gathering Storm will be released earlier than expected.

Here is the announcement from brandonsanderson.com:

"This afternoon I got word from Tor that the release date of THE GATHERING STORM has officially been moved up one week. The new on-sale date in the U.S. and Canada will be October 27, 2009, so mark your calendars. We don't yet know if other markets will be following suit; as more information comes in I'll keep you posted.

Jason Denzel at Dragonmount is one of the lucky few who has had the opportunity to read the finished book, and he posted his review of THE GATHERING STORM at the end of July. The review does include some very minor spoilers that he's marked off so you can skip them if you want the book to be completely fresh when you open it up in October. Also over at Dragonmount today Jason posted my comments on the situation with the outriggers and prequels. Short version: A MEMORY OF LIGHT is what Harriet and I are focused on right now.

I got home late last night from Worldcon, where Howard Tayler was beaten to the Best Graphic Story Hugo Award by the much-deserving Phil and Kaja Foglio with Girl Genius. Congratulations!

In this week's Writing Excuses episode Howard, Dan, and I talk about trimming—tightening your prose and reducing word count without changing your story. And while at Worldcon we recorded three episodes with the puppeteer and Campbell-winning writer Mary Robinette Kowal, so that's something to look forward to in upcoming podcasts.

And since it's Tuesday, a new MISTBORN 3 annotation has gone up and I have three links to give you: Part One Wrap-Up, Chapter Fourteen, and Chapter Fifteen. The beginning of Part Two is when Spook shows up, so these are chapters I particularly like. It's more setup, but with a more epic scope like HERO OF AGES has, more setup is necessary."