Double Dipping

This week wasn't one chock full of writing accomplishments, but what I did do, I'm pleased with the results.

Concurrency

As I wrote last week. Lucinda Dreyer is making her second appearance in my new novel On A Gelding's Trail. I call this my "third" novel because the first one (the 820+ page affair) is the one I have closest to completing and the second one (called Those Who Live In Shadows) is well-outlined and the first draft started. Something tells me, though, that this third novel will get completed before any of them. It certainly has been a blast to write so far.

So, with this short story turning into a novel, I needed an idea for another short story. This one may be a little moralistic, I don't know - I'll leave it to those who review my work, if I'm fortunate to have someone to do that. Regardless, I'm quite far into the story right now (called "Prized Possessions"). I should have the first draft of this one done by next Sunday (2/18).

As for A Perfect Tenant (my second screenplay), it's still idling at the end of the second act. My concurrent efforts described above have kept me from returning to it, but I'm not worried. I have that one completely outlined and it's only a matter of sitting down and cranking out the pages.

On-Line Efforts

I've completed posting all my works - my stories, essays and poems - on Writing.com (as I had done on EditRed.com). Right now, I've tentatively titled my short story collection "In The Foothills" and a collection of my poetry will be called "Songs of Montrose." I'm debating right now if I will publish them as one work.

A major part of the online experience is reviewing others' work as you expect them to critique yours. Both of these sites I mention strongly encourage that (and in fact, reward that behavior in various ways). I'm really enjoying interacting with other creative types. My God, there are a lot of them, too!

Same with MySpace … I've been concentrating my networking with writers and artists, because that right part of my brain craves the give and take creative people have. While I'm very technical, I need the balance that art gives me. My wife has said from when she first met me that I'm half science, half art (or as I like to tease her, she's really just saying I'm a half-wit).

Blogs

I'm pleased I've been keeping up with my blogs every week. Besides this one (which I mirror on my MySpace blog), there's one called "The Villa on the Hill-a" (http://villa-hilla.blogspot.com/). This is one about our life in the foothills and our house we bought last may that reminds us of a Tuscan villa.

Another blog is really just a transcription of my journal I kept when we went to Eleuthera (in the Bahamas) in 2004. You can find it at http://eleu2.blogspot.com/. I've gotten some comments from other lovers of Eleu on the blog site, which pleases me.

So, I close now with my fond wishes to you all. Have a creative and satisfying week!

Michael
http://www.editred.com/socalvillaguy
http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/user_id/socalvillaguy
http://myspace.com/socalvillaguy