Another Deadline Missed

Yes, this post is late. I will have a mid-month snippet from one of my most recent short stories; promise.

A book of short stories, “More Struggles” is in the works as I work to get a novel, “Partisan of the Blue; The Dauntless Recruits”, and a novelette, “Life on the Farm”, revised and ready for some editing. “More Struggles” will include at least six short stories; “Natural Law” and “Beyond the Pale” to name two that are in the works.

Also the epic Chuck Hammer novel advances bit by bit. I will have two teaser excerpts in “More Struggles”.

The garden has distracted me, but I am writing quite a bit now. After touting Reedsy my internet page advertisement side bars have been filled with adds for Kirkus; another company I have mentioned before. This company, Bookplex, came up on my Facebook page and it explains a lot about the similar sounding reviews I find when searching for a good book for free via Amazon Prime.

As of now, Reedsy helps motivate me to write. They offer a free platform with potential editors for hire right at my finger tips, for when I get that far. It is almost like having a team behind you without having a team.

I read many an acknowledgement by self-published authors on how many people helped them with their book. Unfortunately they must often be getting the wrong kind of help. For example, I read a pretty good story by Marco Kloos. It is a bit simple in its first person narrative but very intriguing. I was enjoying the book until it suddenly became a whole lot of telling rather than showing. I still liked the book and may try another when my favorite sci-fi series leaves me waiting for the next release.

On the other hand, Ryk Brown released the first in his second set of fifteen stories in his sci-fi series. I found a marked improvement in his telling rather than showing and it makes the book even more enjoyable than the others. Perhaps he added to or changed part of his team.

So, I learn as I read and write and though I am behind schedule, my books will be better for it.

I will post the opening for “Beyond the Pale” on June 15th. I will complete this short story but am questioning whether I will publish it.

Does missing deadlines make me a real writer?