No earth-shattering news this week, but I'm happy to say I got back to my short story "Macdougal Street" and now I'm off and running.
American Chronicle
I wrote another two articles for AmChron this week. The first one, entitled "Reason and the Eternal Abortion Debate," discusses many of the ambiguities and arguable points made by both sides of the abortion issue. The other article I wrote, called "September Showdown - Last Chance for Bush In Iraq?" goes into extended detail about the timeline of the Iraq war and shows how the White House changed the message to fit the circumstances since even before the war. As always, at the very least I hope I'm making my case and raising a few eyebrows in the process.
In Verse
I wrote one poem this week, but I haven't posted it anywhere. As I mentioned last week, I plan to start posting poetry on my site http://www.michaelcordellauthor.com in the very near future. In fact, I have an idea related to that, but I'm not going to mention it until I have the energy to follow through.
Short Fiction
As I mentioned, I made a lot of progress on "Macdougal Street" and I even have an ending set up in my head. All I have to do is finish the first draft and read it.
This week, I bought a book to help me target my stories for the right magazines. It's called The Best Magazine Markets for Writers 2007 and it has great descriptions of all the magazines that I may want to pitch to.
Screenplay
I registered A Perfect Tenant with the WMA and sent it to the US Copyright Office for registration. Also, I sent an email to the producer I spoke to last year to see if she was interested in this new work, but I haven't heard from her. I'm going to wait until next Sunday before giving up and posting it on Inktip.com.
No progress on Original Idea this week, but I have been keeping busy.
Reading
Still reading Chris Vogel's book, The Writer's Journey. It's not a fast read and my falling asleep when I read anything doesn't help.
Other
My MySpace friend count is now over 700! This is good from a networking perspective. I pity those poor people when I send a bulleting announcement touting my new book come February of next year.
I continue to refine my new submissions tracker I created in Microsoft Excel. Who knows, maybe I'll give it away some day (after I tart it up a bit).
That's all for this installment. Have a wonderful week!
Michael C. Cordell
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Monday, May 7, 2007
Fire When Ready, Gridley!
This week's news … I finished A Perfect Tenant, my new screenplay and now I'm ready to peddle it. The other news … I decided to quit EditRED.com. As I've mentioned before, editing others' work was taking too big a bite out of my writing time. I found that my production schedule was faltering as a result Now with the completion of my screenplay, I don't have time for much non-writing work. Marketing my script is going to be a large part of my efforts.
American Chronicle
I wrote two articles for AmChron this week. The first one, entitled "In The Aftermath of May 1st," is a piece about one of my strong beliefs, the problems caused by illegal immigration. The other article I wrote, called "Homing In On The Homeless Crisis" discusses my suggestions for addressing a major societal issue. These two pieces show my significant differing views on issues of our day and that one does not have to follow the party line one way or the other. I believe what I believe and don't apologize for it. No one else should, either.
I joined the Yahoo group for AmChron writers. Hopefully I'll be able to make good contacts there, too.
In Verse
No poems this week, though I have an idea about poems that I'm planning to launch on my website http://www.michaelcordellauthor.com in the very near future. As I mentioned, I left EditRED, so I don't know if any of my poetry submittals would've made their anthology, but I didn't want to pay for another quarter to find out.
Short Fiction
I'm still working on "Macdougal Street," but haven't made a lot of progress since last week. That's near the top of my list this week.
I did hear from Glimmertrain about the three short stories I submitted earlier this year - "Baylor," "Shad Fishing in Northern Connecticut" and "Street Life." Unfortunately, none of them made the cut, so I need to accelerate my submissions and spread them around to other magazines. I've been rather lax doing that, I'm afraid.
Screenplay
I completed all four drafts of A Perfect Tenant and like I wrote in the preamble, I'm getting it ready to sell. I'll have it registered with the WMA in the next day or so, then it will be off to the US Copyright Office for registration. Meanwhile, before I put it on Inktip.com, I'm going to see if the producer I worked with last year on The Rebound Guy (now called Ricochet Man) is interested. I've already written several loglines and a tight synopsis to see if I can gain any interest.
Meanwhile, I pulled out the long treatment for my next screenplay, Original Idea. More on that whole process in the coming weeks and months.
Reading
Still reading Chris Vogel's book, The Writer's Journey, though admittedly I'm taking my time with it.
Other
I decided to increase my MySpace friends and I'm near 700 as of this writing. I want to make it to 1000 by August. It doesn't hurt to network!
I created a great submissions tracker using Microsoft Excel. It's better than what I used on EditRed and eventually, I hope to include an income tracker with it, too. First, I need to sell something.
That's all for this installment. Have a wonderful week!
Michael C. Cordell
American Chronicle
I wrote two articles for AmChron this week. The first one, entitled "In The Aftermath of May 1st," is a piece about one of my strong beliefs, the problems caused by illegal immigration. The other article I wrote, called "Homing In On The Homeless Crisis" discusses my suggestions for addressing a major societal issue. These two pieces show my significant differing views on issues of our day and that one does not have to follow the party line one way or the other. I believe what I believe and don't apologize for it. No one else should, either.
I joined the Yahoo group for AmChron writers. Hopefully I'll be able to make good contacts there, too.
In Verse
No poems this week, though I have an idea about poems that I'm planning to launch on my website http://www.michaelcordellauthor.com in the very near future. As I mentioned, I left EditRED, so I don't know if any of my poetry submittals would've made their anthology, but I didn't want to pay for another quarter to find out.
Short Fiction
I'm still working on "Macdougal Street," but haven't made a lot of progress since last week. That's near the top of my list this week.
I did hear from Glimmertrain about the three short stories I submitted earlier this year - "Baylor," "Shad Fishing in Northern Connecticut" and "Street Life." Unfortunately, none of them made the cut, so I need to accelerate my submissions and spread them around to other magazines. I've been rather lax doing that, I'm afraid.
Screenplay
I completed all four drafts of A Perfect Tenant and like I wrote in the preamble, I'm getting it ready to sell. I'll have it registered with the WMA in the next day or so, then it will be off to the US Copyright Office for registration. Meanwhile, before I put it on Inktip.com, I'm going to see if the producer I worked with last year on The Rebound Guy (now called Ricochet Man) is interested. I've already written several loglines and a tight synopsis to see if I can gain any interest.
Meanwhile, I pulled out the long treatment for my next screenplay, Original Idea. More on that whole process in the coming weeks and months.
Reading
Still reading Chris Vogel's book, The Writer's Journey, though admittedly I'm taking my time with it.
Other
I decided to increase my MySpace friends and I'm near 700 as of this writing. I want to make it to 1000 by August. It doesn't hurt to network!
I created a great submissions tracker using Microsoft Excel. It's better than what I used on EditRed and eventually, I hope to include an income tracker with it, too. First, I need to sell something.
That's all for this installment. Have a wonderful week!
Michael C. Cordell
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