I’ve been away from the blog for a bit more than a month and for good reason. My writer’s life clashed hard with the real world.
It happens from time to time, and is unfortunate. Sadly it is more than the writer’s life. It is just life.
As some may know, I’m a school teacher – high school. So school started up again and that always slows my writing a bit. However, we were less than two weeks in when I lost my planning period.
Seems our school is overcrowded and doesn’t have enough teachers. I spoke to the principal about teaching an extra class. At first I was dubious about losing my planning period, but then she told me what it would pay. Fuck planning.
To make matters worse, I enrolled in an education specialist program, which is a two year graduate program that will lead to principal’s licensure. And yes, it is a very busy program.
Add to it a new relationship and trying to spend time with my three daughters, and whew. A busy time.
The writer’s life
You have to produce. You have to be creative.
Despite the busy time. So I’ve tried to be creative. Here are a few things working.
The Beach. This is a ghost story but with a Coast Guard setting. I anticipate it finishing at about 30,000 to 35,000 words – a good novella. Right now, I’m about 14,000 words in. This will be a horror story.
The Painting. I finished this short story – about 3,000 words – and have it submitted to a couple places. We’ll see if it gets accepted anywhere. It’s a pretty good story, I think. This is a bit of a horror story.
The Shack and Other Stories. This is a collection of crime-related short stories. Some have been published, some have not. It’s not a huge collection – six stories – but it is pretty good and it includes my first-ever published piece of fiction. This will likely be my first foray in self-publishing.
The Bluesman. I anticipate a series featuring a couple of characters who have appeared in several short stories. They are private detectives and of course these stories are crime stories.
Caleb. This is my take on a werewolf story merged with a Western. I was at about 20,000 words and near the end, but the story just wasn’t working. I’ve backed up – cutting about 15,000 words – and am reworking it.
My focus will be clearing out some of my older stories and self-publishing them. With the lengths and types of thing I like to write, I think self-publishing is the route I should take in my writer’s life.
Who knows, maybe I’ll make enough to pay the water bill?
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