Writing is what I like doing, and what I want to do. But I do notice that when I read, words are not as hard to come by. By reading, I set my mind into looking at, and for, words to use in the story I am writing. The words still struggle, but I’ve more focus for the writing, and this also benefits in that there are more synonyms that come to mind for a word, and that makes reading more interesting.… [READ MORE]
New Amazon author site, and thoughts on ‘branding’
As stated in the title, I’ve an Amazon author page. It is difficult as all get out to find, unless you use the link here. There are a LOT of J Dark out there, authors, parts of names, etc. One very important part of sales, both books and nearly everything, as sales people will tell you is ‘branding’. What is it that makes you unique, or intriguing. With books, it’s the cover, and your name. Niki has done great things with the cover, but my name isn’t terribly unique. it may be that a pseudonym would help make me and
Saying Goodbye (A short story) – J Dark – post 2
Mom dressed all the time in old clothes and dark colors. When we went out to the store, it was usually in the very early morning. Mom always told me that it was best, because there weren’t many people around and it made shopping easier. Looking back, I think it was because at those hours, hardly anyone she had met at her ‘job’ would be around. She table-danced, or stripped, whichever describes it best for you. Mom hated it, and came home crying a lot. That would make Dad unhappy and those were when the biggest fights happened. About her … [READ MORE]
Saying Goodbye ( a short story ) – J Dark – part 1
Do you know how you’re going to say goodbye to someone? Is it going to be a loving embrace and a soft caress of their cheek before they go to the great beyond? Or, is it going to be heated words and a pistol stuck in their belly as they try to argue, or to plead with you, not to pull the trigger? Or is it simply a call in the night? A quick stop at the mortuary to look at a lump of flesh bloated with formaldehyde, because that’s the law? Or, will you, like me, wonder what happened … [READ MORE]
Saying Good-bye
Good-bye is a word we use a lot. When it’s going away for a couple weeks, or leaving to go home from visiting parents or children, good-bye is the one word everyone uses. But, what if, it is the last thing you are able to say to a loved one? How does it change in meaning? How do you resolve those words in yourself after uttering them, knowing that the one you’re talking to, will hear them as your last communication? It’s a deep gut-wrenching reality that everything in this universe is finite, that everything will, at some point, … [READ MORE]
The New Year, and a skill plateau
Hiya, as you can tell it’s eight days into the New Year and this is the first post. it’s been a little slow, and for that I apologize. To get to the situation, Book Three, (current working title “Beguiling Words”) is stubbornly refusing to finish. It may require a rewrite of the last portion again to find that elusive path to the end.
Frustrations aside, things feel like when a person is moving from conscious thought to a more instinctive reply. There’s a point in practice, where, at the start you have a steep learning curve, and then a plateau, … [READ MORE]
National Novel Writing Month
NaNoWriMo is coming up soon. Tomorrow at midnight the new 50k challenge starts.
The setup’s done and now what’s needed are words, lots of words. 50,000+ words by the end of November. That’s the goal, and the writing is the Journey.… [READ MORE]
Skid Style part 3
Stumbling over a generator cable, he caught his balance, then was in the clear once again, until a few docks later when the process repeated. Four minutes and a good deal of dodging later, Charlie came to the north end of the dockyard. This was where the burglaries had happened. Skid slowed to a stop. The docks here were thinner than the south end, and older. The wooden planking was grey from weathering. The planks had cement poured next to them, building the dock area outwards to hold the larger loading equipment. The warehouses abutted the edge of the docks. … [READ MORE]
Skid Style – 2nd post
He turned off Belcher, then slowed and turned on Collier. The street ran north and fronted the warehouses that stored good from the ships being serviced at the docks. The pace on the docks and warehouses was frantic. It looked to Charlie like an ant nest that had been kicked open. Cranes were moving cargo off the freighters in large pallets. Another freighter was sliding containers down a ramp to waiting eighteen wheel tractor-trailer flatbeds. The line of trucks stretched over a quarter mile by his estimate.
He looked back forward just in time to avoid drifting into the curb … [READ MORE]
Reality vs Stubborness
There is a quote from Calvin Coolidge above my computer:
‘Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved, and always will solve the problems of the human race.’
This is also the case in writing, with a caveat. Writing requires personal determination and persistence to finish a story once begun, because there always … [READ MORE]