Writing Update

tyunglebower ♦ June 21, 2012 ♦ Leave a comment

Today I wanted to share with my readers a brief update on my writing projects and plans. I like to keep people in the loop about what I’m doing, just to show that I don’t just talk about writing, but actually do it.

To begin with, the third draft of my light-fantasy novel Flowers for Dionysus is currently in the hands of several test readers. I finished the draft in mid-May. It is probably the last draft that will deal mostly with structural issues, such as chapters and scene sequences. The next revision, (which I plan to begin no later than the end of August, and have finished by Christmas time) will begin to focus on word choice. On some of the poetic aspects of any given scene. This isn’t literary fiction, and some of that consideration has been present throughout the drafting process, as I always like to use words that sound good. Yet in the upcoming 4th draft it will probably be a central focus.

I am in the final revisions of a short story I will be submitting to a contest at the end of the month. Sponsored by the annual Winkie-Con, the story must take place in the land of Oz, in any of its incarnations. Any tone is accepted, so long as it is less than 10,000 words. My first draft was just over that amount, but the subsequent revisions have knocked off at least 2,000 words, and I can probably excise even more, though with the deadline approaching I won’t have many more revisions left.

I’d say it’s about 80% of the way towards its final submission form. It’s sort of a darker, but not bleak take on some smaller aspects mentioned in passing in the Oz books. I can’t say more, nor can I print it here until the contest is over. (As publication in a blog is grounds for disqualification.) First prize is 100 dollars. Whether I win or not, it has been a great exercise for me. I tend to do somewhat better with a few perimeters within which to tell a story. When all is said and done, I will post the entire story here to be read. Probably in chunks, as it is on the long side for a blog post.

Also, I am considering  this online fiction journal’s call for submissions. No prize per se, but publication in their special issue. They are looking for stories, (also 10,000 words or less), pertaining to or set during an apocalypse, or in a world after same. I have no clear cut ideas for this one, and I may not participate. It is due sometime in August, which gives me a decent amount of time to come up with something, and write it if I so chose. About as much time as I had for the Oz story. (Though with that one I had a world already built for me.) I have some very broad notions of what I might do with this, if anything. Should I decide to go for it, I will let you all know.

In the non-fiction world, I have a piece that will appear in the summer issue of FiND iT FREDERiCK Magazine. I shouldn’t say much about that, as the magazine is not out yet. But as I have said here on the blog before, I have contributed to that publication several times over the last few years. I will link to the article directly when it comes out in the online edition.

I’ll also mention that I continue to write a twice-monthly column for Showbizradio.com about acting. I have been doing that for a few years. I have some thinking to do about that one these days.

I hope to get some local freelance writing work from some arts organizations. I have not contacted any of them yet, but plan to in the near future, once I tailor a “pitch” or offer of service to each of them.  I do enjoy writing for and about the arts.

On that note, if you haven’t already, go subscribe to my other blog, please. Always Off Book has been a place for me to record my adventures, thoughts and concerns about acting for the last six years or so. I muse on my characters, relay highs and lows of any given performance, and just talk about what it’s like to be in a show. If you enjoy my writing here, or if you just enjoy theatre, do drop in and tell me what you think.

So that is the gist of what this writer is up to, and plans to be up to for the near future.

What are all of you up to, lately? What are you plans for say, the next three months?