CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Monday. First lecture at 0900. I got up at 0500 and checked out the word target (3,150 words) and Dean’s blog, and then decided to try something new for the day—hand-writing the story while at university and on the bus. With that in mind, I random-rolled the title 65-column 1- Fate of , and 03-column 2- in the Sun , which morphed to Fate in the Sun . Once that was decided, I wound up my emails and got stuck into making sure my littlest was ready for school, and so was I. I said goodbye at 0730 and caught the bus. The story writing started fine. I even wrote through my first lecture and by the end of the day estimated I was close to 1500 words. Going home, I realised I had more readings to do for Wednesday and that I should select books from the library   for the next assignment, and that was the end of creative writing for the day. Total Words for the Day: Unknown, a typed word count will be done towards the end of the week.

This month I made a concerted effort to get back to reading blogs - especially those of writers with more experience and knowledge than I have. I need to learn and I need to try and maintain something of a decent perspective from this somewhat sheltered and blinkered corner of the world. Also, I write in isolation. I don't have a lot of in-depth contact with people, let alone other writers. Too shy, not enough time, strong feeling of being too different and not welcome, and not fond of people, pick your reason, but those sum it up for me. Anyway, here are the blogs I got caught up on this month. There are a lot, and if one author seems to be a focus, just remember that I'm working down a list and I'll be culling that list as I go. These are the folk I am learning from at the moment, my unwitting mentors who don't know me from a bar of soap, and to whom I am very grateful. These are their words. Publishing Industry http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/writing-in-public-ye...

A.M. Up late this morning—0730—so a very slow start to the day. I took a look at Dean’s blog and discovered he’d been very busy with WMG Publishing business as well as creating a new series of lectures about turning short stories into novels, which sounds pretty exciting. After reading the blog, I decided to write up the poems I’d written in my notebook during the week, and to get to day’s poetry written, formatted and in the collection. That took until 1030. I followed this with the flash fiction, which I didn’t finish until after lunch (1440). P.M. Knowing I had a movie date with my little one at 1500, I took a look at the word goal for the day—2,400— and then randomly rolled my title. The result was: 19- Memory’s , and 26- the Vampire , which I tentatively morphed into Memory’s Vampire . With only 10 minutes to go before the agreed movie time, I started to type and was then distracted by the necessary administration for the stories and poems I had written yesterday. I may ...

This was the first week back at university, so I didn’t maintain the writing speed while adding in 6 hours of travel, 19 hours of being on campus, and around 24 hours of reading and essay writing. I’ve got a bit better handle on it, now, and will make a few changes this week to accommodate the different aspects better. On the upside, I did finally get Orb Wielder out to market. Now I just have to get Pyrie , Freeman’s Choice and the three volumes of last year’s short work up and running… and I should have at least one more short essay done by the end of the week as well, possibly two, and I will have started work on a third, longer one. Overview New words produced: 10,715 Old words revised: 0 Works completed: 0 Works revised: 0 Covers created: 0 Works published: 0 Works submitted: 0 Competitions Entered: 0 Bloggery: 1,367 University Prep and Assignments: 3,513 New Tasks ShortStory494— The Magicians and the Silk Road : added 956 words ShortSto...

Babes in London was a labour of love for a game that captured my imagination. I wrote it for sheer enjoyment of the setting and I wrote it for the challenge of writing the prehistory for the characters to enjoy, which is one of the unique aspects of the game. When I put it up, I didn't realise I hadn't finished the third act, although the outline is in place. I've noticed your interest - every day for the last week and a bit and then some. Babes a non-earner for me as the company that owned it weren't interested in seeing the module when I queried and they're not open to unsolicited submissions. Because of this, I have had to prioritise work with earning potential ahead of it. Because it cannot be submitted, Babes remains an adventure written by a fan, not officially endorsed or acknowledged, but it is one I enjoyed writing. Because of your interest, I will now look at finishing it sooner rather than later, but I'm not sure it will be completed before the end o...

Up at 0700 with the little one. Breakfast and so forth and then back to the computer. An hour of pfaffing about with Facebook, blogs and email, and then at 0830 I settled to write. The word goal is 2,800 and I rolled 28- The Heights of , and 28- Winter for my title. Should be interesting. After a stop-start pull that ended around 1330, I had 4,800 words. Went back to it while cooking dinner and ended up with 5,146 words. It was weird, given I was convinced at 2,600 that I wouldn’t go much past 3,000. The tale started out as a Medilo story and reached out to include Odyssey and Miss Delight. Double bonus—I should have never expected it to be simple. So – on to the poems and flash. Done. Story Match Challenge: Complete— The Heights of Winter (science fiction – 5,146 words) Poetry: Complete—3 pieces; 384 words Flash Fiction: Complete— 3 pieces; 774 words Word Total for the Day: 6,475