I know: you guys don’t care about the web server. But, see, the old one was limping badly. We used it for lots of things besides this site, including a couple of small businesses, so it really needed to get replaced. Actually I should’ve fixed it months ago–but, you know, I was busy and didn’t. So there’s that.

Also I realize it’s not September yet–so I guess this means you don’t have to read the story? Since it kind of doesn’t count?

Ha. While that may be true, it also means I went ahead and posted the story on the site. Just trying to get into the groove before September first, so I wrote Call me Pinocchio this morning while other people were sleeping.

This one is for our foster daughter. But please don’t get the idea that it describes her or her life in any way–the only “real” part of it is that she got an English assignment that pissed me off, so I wrote about that.

Meanwhile, I have lots of other things to do, and I imagine you do too. So let me know if you love/hate the story, and have fun out there!

Hi!

Yes, I changed the count. This is (or should have been) the second story of my current series of weekly freebies. But it’s also the 19th thing I’ve posted this way…so I decided it’d be slightly more reasonable to just continue the count from where I left off last time.

But it’s not a story. It’s more like Chapter One of something much longer. I didn’t know that was going to happen–and I let it mess me up. See, I’m already working on two novels. So this one wanted to get brain-time too. And I knew I wouldn’t finish it in time to post it on Wednesday, so I kind of gave up on it. Then I decided to post it anyway.

Don’t get me wrong: I like it. I want to write more. But I think I need to spend the next couple of nights writing a few paragraphs of several potential stories, instead of just trying to do a single story from scratch each week. Maybe that way I can try to identify the ones that want to run longer than I need for a weekly-story gig? I ran into the same sort of issue before, too, with “stories” about Marvin and Destiny. They wanted to grow into something larger, and didn’t really fit the weekly-release format.

Which is okay, I guess. Sort of. I mean, I’m writing the Destiny novel now. Finally.

Anyway, this week’s freebie is the first part of something called “The Neighbor” and you can check it out here. Just don’t expect it to be complete! It’s looking like it might turn into something fun, if I get around to finishing it. Which I hope I’ll do.

Or…would it be okay to post chapters as I go? Sort of a serial-novel thing? The problem is, people who missed the earlier chapters would have trouble figuring out the storyline. So maybe that won’t really work.

Next week, I’ll have an actual story. One way or another. I promise.

Have fun out there!

Hey!

I have to tell you, I’m not entirely certain I like this week’s story. A shame to lead off with it, if it doesn’t work, though I did get a favorable beta-reader response. (Semi-spoiler: I was told it had a happy ending. Who knew? Not I. Maybe you’ll see what I mean…)

On the other hand, it’s very cool to be back in the story-writing swing. And it generally takes me a while to figure out what I do or don’t like in a story, or even what it’s about. I’m very glad to have written ’em all, to date, so I guess I’ll just put it out there and see.

Out where? Why, it’s right here. That URL will remain constant, because trying to track down the stories on the blog, and keep the rest of the site updated, every time I want to publish something is a pain in my ass. Um, I mean it’s a hassle, and I’d rather spend my time on other things. So, this way, there’ll only ever be a single page to update. And you can feel free to just check the page directly whenever you like. From time to time there will be new stuff.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with the older stories as I take them down. They could end up being published elsewhere eventually, either directly by me (but I don’t know how to get short stories in front of many actual readers, except as freebies) or by someone else.

This story doesn’t have a cover image. Yet. Maybe it should? We’ll see. I’m trying to keep this simple, for now. I’ll probably figure something out as I go along.

For now, just come on by and read the thing? Let me know whether you like it. And there ought to be another one up next week.

Have fun out there!

Way, way back in the fog of stuff that happened earlier than today–specifically in the year of our sins 2013–I started posting a free story every week on this here blog. It was a lot of work. I was doing book covers, too, and trying to keep up with publishing them on various retailers’ sites. I kept it up for 17 weeks, about 1/3 of the 52 I’d planned.

Why’d I stop? I got busy with other things, and I thought focusing on other efforts might be more helpful…by which I mean I wanted to get books written, and the stories got in the way. I never figured out how to get paid much of anything for them, so what was the point?

I’ll tell you the damn point: I had huge piles of fun with it! So I want to do it again. Screw logic anyway. It never did me any favors.

Last time I did book covers. This time I won’t. Last time I posted the stories as individual blog entries and left them up till the stories were published elsewhere. This time I won’t. Last time I had a few previously unpublished (at least outside my What Happens in September… collection) stories sitting around as a buffer. This time I won’t. Last time I published a couple of things that were probably the beginnings of novels rather than standalone fiction. This time I’ll do that again. Hey, sometimes an excerpt can be fun. Right?

Know what, though? I don’t even have time to write tonight. I’m helping a buddy with a minor issue with his software startup, and I’m going to have to cut this a bit short. Plus, I’m going to cheat and post this tomorrow (Thursday) to keep up my blog-every-day streak.

So, to recap: I have no stories prepared. I am working on two separate novels. I’m busy with lots of other projects. And yet, next Wednesday I’m pretty sure I’ll send out a story description and a link to a new “free story” page on the site. I’ll refresh that page, and talk about it on the blog, every time there’s a new story. Ideally it’ll happen once a week, but we’ll see how it goes.

Sound kind of dumb? Cool! That’s what I’m aiming for. And hey, it might even happen. You think?

Have fun out there!

(New-fiction word count: I’ll bet you can figure it out. I’d say I’m sorry about that, but I just ain’t. Plus I think I’ll make it up to you before long. YMMV.)

Or it will be, fairly soon. I’m still messing around with the cover and so forth. Maybe in the next couple of days it’ll be done?

I realized recently that I have a couple of stories published on the blog that have never been anywhere else–and I also have stories from the September collection that could pretty easily be published separately.

So what I’m going to do is put all the Weekly Challenge stories, or all of the originals at any rate (since a few were kinda borrowed from the September collection) into a new book. And I’m going to publish most of the stories individually, too, since when I give ’em away as freebies they’ll serve as advertisements for the collection. Whichever one they “came from.”

Sheesh. I have seven stories I could put up with very little effort. I’ll probably hold off on Destiny’s Dance, ’cause it’s really more of a prologue than anything else, but the others might as well get out in the world.

I’m also quite likely to start doing print versions of at least the novels and the story collections. I’ve decided, because I decide things oddly, to put lots of time into this writing/publishing gig after all. And the new fiction is coming along nicely…I hope I’ll be able to be a bit quicker with the next novel! (And nope, I haven’t figured out what it’s about yet. I’m writing it, you understand. I just don’t know what it IS.)

So. That’s this corner of the world. How’s yours doing?

Have fun out there!

UPDATE: I actually got the thing out today. Plus five of the stories that hadn’t been published separately. So it’s been a long slog of a day, but progress does feel good under my toes.

Okay, number seventeen. Which is a third of the way to 52, almost. But I don’t really expect to continue the Weekly Challenge past today. Unless I change my mind.

On the other hand? I’ll have a fun sort of announcement next week. I’m hoping for Wednesday, but we’ll see. So stay tuned!

Meanwhile, here are the stirring words I wrote for this story when I first published it in the September collection:

I’d been reading Lord Dunsany, and I kind of liked the way he just threw words together. So the first part of this segues into, well, a bunch of words I threw together. It sorta works, but on the other hand the first section could go in a whole different direction later on if I want to write a science fiction novel. There are some neat ideas in it. As is? Well…I’d call it an experiment, except that you’re supposed to be able to evaluate the results of those. With this, I can’t.

On with the show!

…come what may

 If ants are our successors, can we still claim victory?

[REDACTED 10/12/2015]

I’m making many of my stories Amazon-only for a while. Their “Kindle Unlimited” deal is very nice for short fiction. I hate to leave people out if they prefer buying stuff at non-Amazon sites, but…(1) nearly all sales and downloads, for me, have always come from Amazon, (2) while I’ve had issues with Amazon, they’ve been very responsive in dealing with them, (3) I can’t say that for any other online distributor (well, Smashwords is actually pretty nice), and (4) this may boost visibility at Amazon…kind of the core of my business. If you really really hate the idea, please let me know.

Well, here’s another one. And it’s Marvin, who’s back on the blog after too long an absence.

Too long according to whom, you might ask. Well, to me. I like the guy. He’s fun to write about. His stories seem to go by quickly (again: for me) even though they’re about twice as long as most of the others. Which is not a bad thing. I think.

I’m not totally sure I’m going to keep publishing all these stories beyond posting them here, especially installments of Marvin’s and Destiny’s (I’m currently planning to post Destiny’s next bit next, by the way), so…well, I may stop creating covers for them. So I’ll admit up front: I didn’t work too hard on this one. For what it’s worth, it’s actually the same model with his hand out. So there’s that.

As for why I may not publish all the stories elsewhere? Well, I’m fairly sure Marvin and Destiny will end up as full-length books. So that’ll be fun, and there’s not much point in having them out in bits and pieces first. ‘Course I might be wrong about all of that. There’s no need to decide right now.

Meanwhile, on with the show! ‘Cause you’re probably here more for Marvin than for me. Aren’t you? It’s okay; I don’t mind.

Marvin Learns to Drive

I strongly recommend reading the earlier Marvin stories (pages are here and here, currently with links to the blog posts). But that’s just me talking, and I could be wrong. If you’ve done that, I don’t think this one needs much of an introduction. If you haven’t, I’m curious to hear what you think of it without one. Also I’m well known to be almost unbelievably lazy. Science can not explain it, but there it is. So here’s the story.

[REDACTED 10/12/2015]

I’m making many of my stories Amazon-only for a while. Their “Kindle Unlimited” deal is very nice for short fiction. I hate to leave people out if they prefer buying stuff at non-Amazon sites, but…(1) nearly all sales and downloads, for me, have always come from Amazon, (2) while I’ve had issues with Amazon, they’ve been very responsive in dealing with them, (3) I can’t say that for any other online distributor (well, Smashwords is actually pretty nice), and (4) this may boost visibility at Amazon…kind of the core of my business. If you really really hate the idea, please let me know.

Hi!

Well, you know, this is the fifteenth. Which is falling on the sixth this month. Who’da thunk it? Truthfully, who’d have bothered to think it? Guess I’m just in a good mood, so I’m babbling. You’re welcome. {8′>

Still with me? Cool! For some reason I’ve been on a sort of “YA” kick lately. Maybe it’s because an ex-foster kid may be coming to live with us yet again (cough). Or maybe it’s because I’m fascinated by their deep and everlasting romances that can begin and end in a few hours, with heartfelt proclamations of love all over the place.

Don’t get me wrong: I think kids are cool. I’m just bemused, because it’s obvious they’re completely serious about this stuff. Picture this scene, for instance:

I’m giving a 14yo kid a ride home from school a couple of years ago, and he’s telling me his girlfriend dumped him that day.

“She thinks I’m cheating on her,” he explains.

Surprised, I mull that over. “You mean…she thinks you’re not holding hands in public with some other girl? How can she tell?”

“Shut up,” he responds with justifiable heat.

So there’s that. Meanwhile, on with the show. I hope you like this week’s story.

True Mesh

The automobile, I’m told, did a lot to revolutionize courtship behavior in those societies rich enough that they became widespread. I believe it. So has the ubiquitous smartphone of today. Thing is, the march of technology hasn’t stopped. What will kids of the future be dealing with? Beats me, of course, but here are a few notions I came up with…plus a bit of goofiness, just because.

[REDACTED 10/12/2015]

I’m making many of my stories Amazon-only for a while. Their “Kindle Unlimited” deal is very nice for short fiction. I hate to leave people out if they prefer buying stuff at non-Amazon sites, but…(1) nearly all sales and downloads, for me, have always come from Amazon, (2) while I’ve had issues with Amazon, they’ve been very responsive in dealing with them, (3) I can’t say that for any other online distributor (well, Smashwords is actually pretty nice), and (4) this may boost visibility at Amazon…kind of the core of my business. If you really really hate the idea, please let me know.

Lucky number fourteen! Only this one’s a little different. Much to your surprise? Before we go any further, please let me point this out: at least it has a cover. That’s something, right? {8′>

Thing is, it’s not really a short story. It may turn out to be a novel, or a novella. I’ll try to make it interesting as we go along…but the plot has barely started here. Even though this is about 50% longer than most of my short stories so far.

Originally I thought I’d do a bunch of independent stories, and I guess I’ve committed a few. But now there’s this thing, and also there’s the Marvin stuff, so…I guess they’re turning out to be a couple of serial novels? A chapter or two at a time, maybe? While I’m simultaneously working on writing actual intended-to-be novels. Hmm. Logical behavior, as you can clearly see, is not one of my strong points. As a writer anyway. I start typing and stuff happens. Which is, I guess, better than typing and having nothing happen. Maybe you folks will let me get away with pretending it’s that sort of a binary choice–worth a try, I figure. {8′>

Please let me know how interested you are (or aren’t!) in finding out more about this one. I’ll give you a mini-spoiler here: the protagonist’s name is Destiny. Not that she gets to use it much. I’d love to pick this one up again sometime soon, but if I’m the only one who likes her it may not be worth the effort.

Kind of a cool idea from my perspective: gauge reader interest before completing a novel. How does it look to you?

Destiny’s Dance: Prologue

Destiny (school name: Melissa) is nearing adulthood. She’s looking forward to taking her place among those who work to make life possible for the rest of the world: the Employed. Of course she may not qualify, or may end up doing something she doesn’t like. It’s not really up to her. But she has high hopes, and is working hard to master the skills she may need.

[REDACTED 10/12/2015]

I’m making many of my stories Amazon-only for a while. Their “Kindle Unlimited” deal is very nice for short fiction. I hate to leave people out if they prefer buying stuff at non-Amazon sites, but…(1) nearly all sales and downloads, for me, have always come from Amazon, (2) while I’ve had issues with Amazon, they’ve been very responsive in dealing with them, (3) I can’t say that for any other online distributor (well, Smashwords is actually pretty nice), and (4) this may boost visibility at Amazon…kind of the core of my business. If you really really hate the idea, please let me know.

Lucky thirteen! This one’s brand-new (about time, you may be saying, and I don’t disagree). But there’s still no cover. Why not? Well, ’cause I’m still getting the new laptop set up. I’ll try to get covers for this one and #12 (“Freethought”) up in the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, I’m having lots of fun here in Juneau. Getting strange looks for walking around barefoot, which is normal, but I’m also getting smiles: this is how I know I’m home.

Just for the record: I doubt I’ll make it through the winter barefoot. But I keep hoping…maybe next year my feet will have adjusted… {8′>

Meanwhile, that ain’t what you’re here to read. Or so I’ll betcha. Here it is:

Carnival Night

Gray’s just a kid in Henge, West Virginia. A carnival comes to town. I could say more, but why? That’s what the story is for. Hope you like it.

[REDACTED 10/12/2015]

I’m making many of my stories Amazon-only for a while. Their “Kindle Unlimited” deal is very nice for short fiction. I hate to leave people out if they prefer buying stuff at non-Amazon sites, but…(1) nearly all sales and downloads, for me, have always come from Amazon, (2) while I’ve had issues with Amazon, they’ve been very responsive in dealing with them, (3) I can’t say that for any other online distributor (well, Smashwords is actually pretty nice), and (4) this may boost visibility at Amazon…kind of the core of my business. If you really really hate the idea, please let me know.