CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

On Tuesday, I completed River's Edge , the short story slated for release in August. I wrote it using a technique Dean Wesley Smith calls ‘writing into the dark’ —which means I had no idea what kind of story I was writing, when I started. This one ended being mostly science fiction, with a hint of fantasy thrown in, and a dash of first contact and crash colony, and it took a little bit to write, but wound out to 5,839 words long.

Yesterday saw me catching up on some of the short work I’ve committed to for the year. I continued writing for the next poetry collection, Another 365 Days of Poetry , a collection of mainly science fiction and fantasy poetry due out at the end of the year, and I continued writing the short story scheduled for release on the first Friday in August. I also caught up on a tonne of blogging, and began planning the covers for some of the releases later this year, because they’re nicer to have on the blog than the black and white place-holder covers. With all that in mind, Tuesday’s first words for each project were as follows: Another 365 Days of Poetry Life’s Journey Leave the broken days by the road You cannot walk with twice the load Identify what needs must be Find a new path to take your feet… ----------------------------------------------------------------- River’s Edge   I heard bootsteps ahead of me, and a brief scatter of steps behind—and then ...

On Sunday, I finished the fourth novel in the Mack ‘n’ Me ‘n’ Odyssey series. Now, I have to let is sit aside so I can edit it properly, which is really difficult to do, when all I want to do is edit it and turn it loose so it can be read. I’m aiming at having it out at the end of the month, but I want it looking its best. So – yay! This book is done, and it’s time to start plotting the next.  

I got sick last week, and then spent the first part of this week catching up, so I’m behind on the first words. Rather than hit you with four posts on the same thing, I thought I’d just bundle things up into one, so, without further ado, here are the first words from July fifth through ninth.  -------------------------------------------------------------------   July 5— Mack ‘n’ Me: The Transporter's Favour   The man clearly deserve the investigator’s title he wore. He bulked out Abby’s lead, and added to both the information known and the avenues to explore, earning a reproving “You’ve been holding out on me,” from Abby. The search didn’t take long after that, no matter how many hours the clocks in our heads told us we’d worked. “ Wanderer ,” Delight said, and the ship answered, before she could ask. “We are underway,” she said. “Your teams are in training.” Delight’s brows rose. “Both of them?” “I have brok...