Tag Archives: 100-voices-in-the-night

Writing Again

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The writing bug _has_ struck me again (apparently what I said in the previous post about not wanting to writing lasted all of about 20 minutes). I’m finally working on completing my flash fiction pieces for the “Voices in the Night”:http://100voicesinthenight.com project. Over the past two days, I’ve completed two more of my stories, leaving me with just two more get done. I’m shooting to have them finished up by this weekend, so I can then focus on getting everything pulled together, edited, and revised to think about getting it headed toward printing.

Personally, it’s just nice to be in a frame of mind to write again. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it until this past week, and now that I’m back into it I almost can’t remember why I put it away for the winter. ((Oh, yes, winter depression. Yeah, that’ll do it.)) Once I get these stories done, though, then it’s back to the novel I’m writing for my wife (which may or may not ever see the light of an actual publisher’s desk) and the Gunslinger story arc I’m writing for my “Halo clan”:http://tiedtheleader.com. Beyond that, it’s short story time again for magazine submission and – hey, why not? – maybe even beginning work on a novel. We’ll just have to wait and see how things go.

Weird How That Works Out

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A “entry on another blog”:http://serotoninrain.wordpress.com/2007/01/24/news-thats-only-a-day-old/ yesterday led me on a “merry trail”:http://mis_nomer.blogspot.com/2007/01/news-on-far-side.html to this “Newspaper Clipping Generator”:http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp. That, in turn, served as the inspiration for a 387-word piece of flash fiction that I intend to use for the “100 Voices in the Night”:http://100voicesinthenight.com project. It’s kind of funny how it worked out because when the story was all written, I realized that it’s actually part of another story that’s been in my head for a couple of years now, just from a different perspective.

I still haven’t decided if the longer story is even going to get written. It’s a science fiction/horror piece, and some of the events that transpire make me a little nervous. It’s a nightmare descended on Earth, or at least one part of it, and as such is from the perspective of at least one person trapped inside it. The one I wrote yesterday is written in newspaper-style format, and details some of the events of those who were lucky enough to be outside the phenomenon.

I didn’t plan the relationship between these two stories – it just sort of happened. But it’s pretty cool that it worked out that way because it actually provides a little more focus and a few more details to the longer story that may never get written. Maybe I’ll write this little universe into existence – I don’t think there’s actually going to be that much to tell, but once I step into it, I may find it’s bigger than I first thought. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Of Mice and Men

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Well, what was planned to be a productive writing day turned out to be not so much. My niece was born this morning, and so I had charge of my nephew for the day while his parents were at the hospital bringing his little sister into the world. My plans had been to put him down for a nap and then set to with the writing. But plans have a way of changing, and I spent a good part of the afternoon at the hospital, visiting with my brother and sister-in-law and meeting my niece. So, the best laid plans of this writer fell apart rather quickly. And I’m ok with that.

I’m going to make the most out of my weekend, though. I still have a minimum of five flash fiction pieces to write for the “100 Voices”:http://100voicesinthenight.com project, and I’ve been terribly remiss in that responsibility. I also need to update the promotional site for the project, something else I hope to accomplish this weekend. We’ll see how things go. I find it’s incredibly difficult to plot out time to write and then be able to keep that time. Real life always seems to get in the way.

Here’s to a more productive tomorrow.

Gearing Up

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The “100 Voices in the Night”:http://100voicesinthenight.com flash fiction anthology project is gearing up to really get rolling soon. We’ve filled 17 of the 20 contributor seats available, leaving just three openings remaining. So, if you’re interested in getting your name out there and in writing a few stories to add to this anthology, read the “guidelines”:http://open-dialogue.com/blog/2006/09/18/100-voices-in-the-night/ to apply. We’re looking forward to seeing the final product on this and on working together to learn a bit more about the writing industry as we go. It should be an interesting ride.

100 Voices in the Night

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20 writers. 1 anthology. _100 Voices in the Night_. This is the idea that “Ben Marroquin”:http://storymask.wordpress.com/ of “Storymask”:http://storymask.com/ presented to me a couple of weeks ago. Flash fiction has become a popular pasttime of new writers. Websites have sprung up all over the web with stories ranging from 250 to 1000 words, as writers practice their craft and share these short works with their readers.

_100 Voices in the Night_ is a project to create an anthology of flash fiction stories in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. Twenty authors will contribute five stories each to amass a total of 100 flash fiction pieces. Once completed, this new anthology will be sent to a publisher and the first of what we hope to be an annual project will be born. Each story will be short enough to read in a just a couple of minutes, and many of them will provide brief glimpses into the larger universe of each author’s writing.

The goals of the _100 Voices_ project are six-fold:

  • To create an original and unique anthology of highly entertaining family friendly stories. To the best of our knowledge, flash fiction is still such a new medium that nothing quite like this has been produced.
  • To provide an avenue for authors to get published.
  • To provide the authors with a great platform to showcase their talent to a whole new audience, thereby increasing their fan base both offline and online.
  • To provide the authors with a viable product that they can offer to their fans and that will supplement their income.
  • To provide those authors working on novels with the opportunity to introduce their novel’s world and some of the characters to a new audience.
  • To provide the authors with valuable learning experiences and access to a great network of like minded storytellers.

That’s _100 Voices_ in a nutshell. It’s a project that Ben and I are both very excited about. We’re currently in the planning stages and are still inviting authors to join the team. We have several slots open yet, so if you write in the science fiction, fantasy, or horror genres and would like to join the _100 Voices_ team, please send an email to either Ben at benmarroquin(at)sbcglobal(dot)net or Jim at stitzelj(at)gmail(dot)com expressing your interest. Please also include two or three samples of your work. We’ll review your work and if we like what we see, we’ll get back to you with an official invitation to join the team.

_100 Voices in the Night_ promises to be a fun and interesting collaboration with other writers. I’ll keep you posted here as to our progress and when you can purchase a copy of the anthology.

Potlucking It

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Quick note before I dash off again.

  • I’ll be telling you all soon about an interesting and exciting new writing project I’m starting on with several others. Details to follow in the next day or three.
  • I have a book review I need to write up on “Tobias Buckell’s”:http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/wordpress/ _Crystal Rain_. Again, details to follow in the next few days.
  • Lots of stuff happening lately, including the possibility of adding another 30 acres to our property. Lots of research going into this, and we’ll see if things go through.
  • Good night of Halo last night. Good friends, good games, lots of laughs. Makes me want to jump again real soon and play some more.
  • I’m working on polishing a short story. I missed my August submission goal, but I’m going to shoot to have this one done in the next two to four weeks. I want to finish up this first draft, get a critique, revise again, possibly go for a second critique, do a final polish, and submit. That’s the plan, folks.

Aight, I’m audi…