And Next!

Yesterday, after 8 hours of glorified babysitting (I work at a teen-youth transitional facility) I came home and soaked in the love of being a father. My daughter, 12, is at an age where she simply can't ignore these social events printed on our calendars. I'm a known grump when it comes to holidays and have said making Halmark a little richer doesn't make me feel any more accomplished as a father. My son, 5, is excited anytime presents and cake is involved--that it was NOT my birthday took some explaining.

So, there was no card involved yesterday. A favorite meal of mine--roast with mashed potatoes, fresh bread, coupled with German Chocolate cake (from scratch) and homemade dressing.
I also was gifted a snazzy pocket notebook with a textured cover with a sewn in bookmark and matching band that wraps around the notebook to keep it closed no matter what you've got folded and stuffed in there--oh and a nice green cover, my stated favorite color. I also got two Zebra writing utensils, a pen and pencil combo, as I also have a little known preference for the solid, fine lines.

After all the merrymaking, stuffed stupid with dinner, desert and attention, I waddled over to my computer and pulled up my words. Feeling fat and stupid, I didn't work on anything new. I opened Lucky One out of habit and the first draft of "Kittens: Free Or Best Offer" that I was going on about the other day (first draft ended at 4,233 words spilling over 8 pages). I read through some of my fiction but wasn't feeling it. I closed "Kittens" and added some light verse to Lucky One, maybe 500 words total.

But I was okay with that. I wish everyday could be a 4k word day, but I've accepted it can't. Now, I have all day ahead of me but my wife has the day off and it's summer, so both my lovely children will have free reign of the house too. How much you think I'll write today?

Well! It's all about me!

The original concept for this blog was to be a shared place for some fellow writers. And it still is, but we all have our lives and schedules and I still invite you all to contribute (or if you know someone who might want to join and post) I encourage you to!

But in the meantime, my own constant writing has continued. I am still working on Lucky One and then I also have been trying some short stories, something I can refine I send off to someone who publishes such things.

The funny thing is the short stories seem so much different than Lucky One. They aren't scifi by any stretch of the imagination but I am compelled none the less to write them. Today I wanted to get a first draft done and I have spent all day cranking it out and am almost done with it--this post is actually kind of a break.

Anyways, I want to start using this blog to talk about my own writing process, if for nothing else than for shits and giggles (in that order, if you please).

So today I started working on a short story I had in the back of my mind for awhile now, loosely based on the experience I had trying to give away kittens. It seemed like it would be a quick and easy write, but at 4,045 words and a day spent writing (children and the wife won't be ignored) I am wondering what my daily average will be.

Stay tuned I guess! I write everyday but sometimes it's no more than a couple hundred words.