CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

So, this week's flash fiction challeng e was to write a 100-word story in any genre on any topic, within three days, due by noon Monday 19 November. I am so glad I looked at this one on Friday! Word counts do not include the title. Here's Result 1 at 99 words due to the condition of 'and under 100 words': A Partnership The dragon waited, ready to strike. I entered. More scales shook loose and she shivered, enraged. She was a small dragon, ferocious and fast. If she forced a fight, I’d die. I unslung the cow haunch and watched her nostrils flare. The haunch hit the floor with a fleshy thump. “Yours,” I told her, and she clawed the haunch close to her chest. Again she growled. “You’re hurt,” I said. “Let me tend your wound.” She glared, eyes narrow. “You would ride me,” she snarled accusingly. “Only with your permission,” I replied. She considered it, before letting me close. And here's Result 2 at 100 words  A Partnership The drago...

What a crazy week! In spite of it all, progress was still made. Current Projects I made the following progress on my current projects: DarkFantasy1A: Edited and revised chapters 16-18, and added 7,000 words. Project1: Edited and revised chapters 1-5, and added 3,000 words Project2: Edited and revised, added 300 words. Publishing Tasks Wrote 5 blog entries for my blog and 1 for my publishing blog. Corrected formatting for Novellas6A-7A for CreateSpace and rereleased. Updated free fiction page . Craft-building Tasks Developed a response to this week’sterribleminds flash fiction challenge , but did not complete the challenge. New Arrivals The following stories arrived out of the blue this week: Anthology34: to contain stories of war, battle and those involved in them. ShortStory50 —title to be arranged; in response to the incomplte terribleminds challenge. TeachersNotes2A —based on something not my own, but a writer’s work that I love, so I will ...

So, this week's challenge didn't go well. Excuses? 1. I got sick; 2. I got distracted by my current work-in-progress, DarkFantasyNovel1A; 3. I got sick... What did I get done? Well, since you insist... here's what an unfinished flash fiction story looks like: Unfinished Result: The man was hanging on the window outside her office. There was no ledge or sill, just a two millimetre strip of rubber, holding in the glass. The window itself was six floors up. Rachel had watched him scale the building, a feat he had achieved by bouncing between her office block and the one opposite, light as a feather, but too solid to be shifted by the breeze. When he’d seen her sitting at her desk, he’d come to a complete stop and his face had lit with beatific smile. He started to speak, realized she couldn’t hear him through the glass, and vanished upwards, like a human spider clothed in a loose-fitting tunic and baggy cotton pants. Rachel didn’t expect to seesomething lik...

This week’s flash fiction challenge consisted of writing a story of 1,000 words or less that combined the theme ‘Love demands Sacrifice’ with two sub-genres randomly chosen from the list provided. Initial Thoughts: Out came the d10. First roll was a ‘9’, second roll a ‘4’. ‘9’ – Wuxia … What the…? I had never heard of wuxia. So, on top of a tight writing schedule, I now had to do some research, which will slow everything down. On the upside, I’m going to learn about a new genre, and that was always fun! ‘4’ – Urban Fantasy . Hah! I know what that one is… at least, I think I know what that one is. Maybe I should do a little bit of research on it as well, just to make sure. I mean, I used to think I knew what ‘sword-and-sorcery’ was, and when I checked that, I discovered I was only ‘almost’ right. I’d rather not be ‘almost right’. Theme – ‘Love demands sacrifice’. Well, this could turn out to be very depressing. I don’t like depressing; there’s so much that’s depressing i...