I am not so strong as to be glad of my sufferings,
And yet not so weak as to wish them forgotten. Continue reading “Moonlit Musings – Sufferings”
Category: On Storytelling
Friday Write-Day: Numberbrag & Blogging is Weird
Numbers are cool. They can be enlightening or maddeningly erratic. Either way, I like to take some time every once in a while to review the stats for RSPC. Let’s jump in.
It’s the humble-number-brag! Continue reading “Friday Write-Day: Numberbrag & Blogging is Weird”
Friday Write-Day: Revisions Abound
Revising 12 pages minimum per day has been… more work than I had imagined. So far, I’ve done all right in revising The Warden of Everfeld: Memento — 98 pages in and about a day behind my pace to finish September 23, as planned. I hope to catch up and build a nice cushion for myself this weekend.
I suppose it should not be too surprising that revising a novel actually takes longer than just reading it. Continue reading “Friday Write-Day: Revisions Abound”
Friday Write-Day: The Revision Plan
My short story has been submitted to Five on the Fifth’s contest! I read through Wolf’s Moon Night on Sunday night, making a few small changes, then again on Monday night. I finally worked up the courage to submit it on Tuesday, one day before the deadline. Submitting to a litmag — and particularly a contest — is daunting. Continue reading “Friday Write-Day: The Revision Plan”
Friday Update: Short Story First Draft!
My new schedule is awesome. I have a new schedule at work, by the way. For well over a year I had been trudging through an early shift, 6am to 3pm. I loved having a full afternoon of daylight ahead of me when I got home, and I even enjoyed being in the office a solid three hours before most everyone else — 3 hours of peace and quiet before the fluorescent lights blazed and the coffee machines were overrun with empty mugs waiting to be filled.
Trump’s Next Business Venture Might be Terrifying
Okay, so I’m writing a Trump post. How original. But bear with me for a moment, because I had a crazy idea last week that has sounded less crazy in my head the more I’ve let it simmer.
The last couple of weeks have seen the addition of two eyebrow-raising figures to Trump’s inner circle. Roger Ailes, the former founder, chairman, and CEO of Fox News, joined Trump as an “advisor”, and no one can seem to figure out what the hell he’s supposed to be “advising” for Baby Hands. Then, Stephen K. Bannon, the chairman of Breitbart News, was appointed as the chief executive of Trump’s presidential campaign.
These alliances aren’t really surprising on their surface. Fox News jumped on the Trumpwagon as soon as it realized that Cruz just wasn’t quite sensationalist enough for its brand, and Breitbart is what Fox News would be after a two-month coke binge followed by a one-month molly bender, just to take the edge off. Both have leveraged Trump’s celebrity to push ad revenue (along with CNN, NBC, and every other news outlet), and Trump has leveraged them to incite his mostly white, mostly male, mostly bigoted, mostly paranoid support base into a fever pitch of borderline American Fascism.
So why are these appointments important or at all relevant beyond Trump’s ongoing media frenzy? Continue reading “Trump’s Next Business Venture Might be Terrifying”
Short Story Update – The Deadline is Coming!
So I’m pretty sure I mentioned last week that I’m working on a short story to submit to an online litmag contest this month. Right? Yes, here!
Five on the Fifth‘s submission deadline for their short fiction contest is looming rather large on August 31. I currently have about 1,500 words of a first draft, with a pretty clear idea of how I will set up the final act and conclude the story. I think my submission will end up finishing around 2,500 words, but I’ve been known to miscalculate projected word counts in the past. Continue reading “Short Story Update – The Deadline is Coming!”
Writing Lesson #37: Writing Consistently is about Balance
Lesson #37 from finishing my first manuscript: Try to find that balance.
Accomplishing anything effectively is about balance. Finishing the first draft of The Warden of Everfeld: Memento over the last few months was a bit tiresome. I had not met my monthly writing goals since the end of NaNoWriMo 2015, and I was constantly falling behind – according to my own exceedingly high standards. I just wanted it done, but I didn’t always have the motivation or the willpower to just sit down and write.
Continue reading “Writing Lesson #37: Writing Consistently is about Balance”
What is that Novel Really Worth?
Now that The Warden of Everfeld: Memento is officially past the stage of being just a collection of ideas and dreams locked away in my brain and/or on a flash drive, it’s time to start thinking about it in terms other than its qualitative worth. Yes, I am of course talking about money and its necessary attendants: marketing and business — the collective bane of artistry, creativity, and human-made beauty in the world.
Because when we talk about publishing, that’s really what we mean: the promotion and sale of a piece of work. As writers, we tend to lean on the adage that the writing of a novel is its own reward, and that any material gain that comes of it is a bonus. Luckily, most of us are telling the truth when we say this. Continue reading “What is that Novel Really Worth?”
We’re Now on Facebook!
Red String PaperCuts has joined Facebook! Like our page if you want to receive occasional updates (2-3 times per week) and connect with us more directly. We’ll also be sharing other blogs, articles, and fiction we find around the web on that page.
You may have also noticed that our menu bar has changed a bit. Check out our new page, “The Warden of Everfeld” for all of the most recent updates on my upcoming novel. Our individual author pages are now under the “About Us” menu, to help clean up the header a bit.
Anyway, thanks for the continued support. One love.
Steve D
Evening Satellite Publishing 
