One routine I've picked up recently is reading a short story every day/night and tweeting about it. Nicole Cushing has been doing this on the #storyeachnight hashtag for quite a few months. Here are the stories I read this week along with the comments I made on them.
2/5 - "Exit Interview" by Lynne Heitman from BOSTON NOIR: Office/gender politics & a hostage situation.
2/6 - "Cellmate" by Theodore Sturgeon from an old paperback of E PLURIBUS UNICORN
2/7 - "Fever Dream" from THE VINTAGE BRADBURY: Child realizes a danger no one else sees. Some chilling aspects. But it also felt a bit dated and not just because it had a doctor making house calls. "Fever Dream" & last night's "Cellmate" were both late-40s Weird Tales stories. I felt that Sturgeon's held up better.
2/8 - "Night Nurse" by Harry Shannon from FAVORITE KILLS: A nightmarish trip to a hospital for the MC in this story.
2/9 - "Mrs. Hatcher's Evaluation" by James Van Pelt from 3/12 Asimov's. Fun story,very critical of modern education theory
2/10 - "The Secret of the City of Gold" by Ron Goulart from the 1-2/12 issue of F&SF. It featured series character Harry Challenge, seems to have been intended to evoke the feel of old (old) school pulp fiction. I think I tend to be more forgiving of originals than pastiches & this didn't strike me as a terribly amusing pastiche.
2/11 - "Scrap Dragon" by Naomi Kritzer from the 1-2/12 F&SF. A fairy tale or bedtime story with LOTS of..."editorial" suggestions by the "listener." Quite enjoyable; it put a smile on my face.
As I do every Sunday, I've gathered together links I've liked/gotten something out of from things I've read this week. Here are this week's links...
"The New World of Publishing: What Indie Production Actually Costs" (Dean Wesley Smith) - An interesting look at ways to reduce the cost of putting together a good-quality product for writers who want to go the independent publishing route. I think that Dean painted a bit of a "best case" scenario here, but it's certainly thought-provoking for anyone who's dismissed that approach as being "too expensive." It certainly doesn't have to be.
"You Must Be This Long to Ride This Genre: What to Do When Your Novel's Too Short" (Janice Hardy at The Other Side of the Story) - Truthfully, I suspect I may end up needing this advice when I get to work on revisions of "Adrift," the novel I wrote a first draft of during November. At 57,000-ish words, it's not overly-long even for a YA novel. And, from what I've looked at so far this month, I suspect there's going to be some fat to trim from those words. So, I read this post with a lot of personal interest. Janice always puts together quality blog posts, and this is no exception. If you're struggling with a too-short novel, stop by and check it out!
"One Writer's Guide to Cheating Time" (Ami Hendrickson at Museinks) - A good post by Ami on time management and several of the techniques she uses to get the most out of her time.
"Writers -- Get Ahead By Proofing Backwards" (M. J. Wright) - I've heard this advice before -- to proofread your own work, read it backwards to prevent yourself from going on "autopilot." It seems like a good enough tip, but what really made this post something that stood out for me was the list of all the different kinds of proofing and editing that go into a finished manuscript through a publisher. (And, ironically, I noticed two typos in the blog post...)
"You Must Be This Long to Ride This Genre: What to Do When Your Novel's Too Short" (Janice Hardy at The Other Side of the Story) - Truthfully, I suspect I may end up needing this advice when I get to work on revisions of "Adrift," the novel I wrote a first draft of during November. At 57,000-ish words, it's not overly-long even for a YA novel. And, from what I've looked at so far this month, I suspect there's going to be some fat to trim from those words. So, I read this post with a lot of personal interest. Janice always puts together quality blog posts, and this is no exception. If you're struggling with a too-short novel, stop by and check it out!
"One Writer's Guide to Cheating Time" (Ami Hendrickson at Museinks) - A good post by Ami on time management and several of the techniques she uses to get the most out of her time.
"Writers -- Get Ahead By Proofing Backwards" (M. J. Wright) - I've heard this advice before -- to proofread your own work, read it backwards to prevent yourself from going on "autopilot." It seems like a good enough tip, but what really made this post something that stood out for me was the list of all the different kinds of proofing and editing that go into a finished manuscript through a publisher. (And, ironically, I noticed two typos in the blog post...)
Additionally, here's a recap of the posts from this week on my blog:
"Why Blog?" - Monday I talked about the reasons I blog and asked others for their thoughts on this topic.
"D. Thomas Minton Interview" - Thursday I posted an interview with science-fiction and fantasy writer D. Thomas Minton.
Have a great writing week, everyone!
I love to read GLIMMER TRAIN short stories. I think it's a great way to get a quick charge for my brain. :)
ReplyDeleteI'll have to pick up an issue of Glimmer Train sometime. I'm sort of aware of the publication, but don't think I've ever read it.
DeleteI love the idea of reading a short story a night. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteIf you decide to join in, I'll be curious to see what you read. #storyeachnight could definitely use more participants. :)
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