The schedule for last week didn't quite work out for me on the novella I was planning to write. I stalled on it and decided to shelve it for some other time. I've decided "pantsing" (writing without an outline) is simply not for me on longer pieces. I can do it with short stories, but I'll continue to create road maps for my works longer than shorts.
Which brings me to my main goal for this week. I'll be setting up an outline for a middle grade novel--my first attempt at one. It'll be aimed for the 8 to 10 year old readers, as it'll take place in fifth grade. I'm anxious to see how I pull it off. I don't want to say too much about it (my silly superstition of not talking too much about a work in progress before it's done (or mostly done), but it'll be a time-travel piece. Not too ambitious, just the main character going back a couple of days and having to dodge his past self while solving a crime. We'll see if I can pull it off.
I'm also hoping to revise a short story, as well as maybe start writing a new one. I'm going to make it my goal for the rest of the year to write a first draft and ready one for market each month. I've been so focused on my novel (which I'll start revising in August) and flash fiction stories for #fridayflash that I've neglected other short stories. I don't see a problem with having one ready for market each month since I have a few first drafts backlogged, but I'm hoping I'll have the discipline to crank out at least six more first drafts before years end.
On to the blog posts:
Monday: Speculative Fiction Writing Prompt #24 will go up, most likely in the morning. I don't have one picked out yet, but whatever it turns out to be, I hope it's helpful to at least one of you out there.
Wednesday: I'll have two short story reviews. I've already picked out the stories, and they're both science fiction this week. One is from an ezine, while the other is from a podcast. I enjoyed both, and I hope you will as well.
Friday: My #fridayflash story still needs a bit of polishing, but it's pretty much ready to go. Last week's story was a contest entry for a zombie romance, and this week's entry will also be a contest entry, this one with the theme of Happy Birthday. It's for Deanna Schrayer's blog, The Other Side of Deanna, and if you're interested, you can see the rules here. Even if I don't win, I think it's a good story, so it should entertain the readers. That's all that matters in the long run.
Sunday: You'll get another of these posts. Excitement! If you read these, bless you. I basically do them for me, to make me keep myself accountable. Didn't work last week with my planned novella, but sometimes we writers need to know when to cut our losses, too.
Until next time, keep reading and/or writing!
