Today, I finished handwriting the last of the latest short story I was working on for the book coming out this year some time. It was five pages and my thumb joint jot a cramp near the end, but it was worth it. I still have to type it up and polish it up some, but it ended itself pretty well. I haven't decided yet whether to attempt to write the companion story for this story before putting out this book or have it be the first story I write for the next book. It'll probably depend on how well the writing attempt goes before I make the decision.
For now, my biggest decision will be what to title the first book of short stories. I originally had one thing in mind, then another. Now, I'm leaning towards Dark Stories For A Restless Night. I might think of something more awe-inspiring later.
For now, the book consists of the following stories (And a quick blurb about each):
Mary's Painting - A woman buys more than she expects when she purchases a painting on a whim
Sins of the Father - A priest defends the mission he presides over
The Fall - A young boy awakens after a bad accident while playing
Darkness - A group sets out on a rescue mission in the Mexican jungles and finds themselves at peril
Cat's Eye View - Find out why cats behave the way they do
The Viewing - Witness the last days of life on a distant planet
The Journey - A man travels exestentially through the cosmos
Un-Separation - A man's unhappy and unexpected reunion with his wife
That's all I have for this entry, thanks for reading.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Connections
Today I created my author page on Facebook (It already has 74 likes in around 5 hours! Thanks), so I have most of the social media outlets covered in case anyone actually reads my book and decides to "follow" me. Here's the list of ways to follow or connect with me so far. Let me know if there's any other ones I've missed that are mainstream enough to be considered (i.e. not MySpace):
Connect with Me
Connect with Me
Follow me on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/TAllanBishop
Follow me on Twitter:
@TAllanBishop
Follow my blog: http://anblicksanamorphosis.blogspot.com/
I’m also on Tumblr: http://tallanbishop.tumblr.com/
Favorite me at Smashwords (This will be the publisher for all the sites other than Kindle):
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/TAllanBishop
Find me on Google +: http://plus.google.com/+TimBishopTAllanBishop
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Putting more squiggly lines on the paper
Well, I worked Mid Shifts (overnights, 3rd shifts, etc. for those of you not familiar with the term) for two nights at the end of this week, and hoped that it would result in writing some of my story. Instead what I found was that Mid Shifts are not at all conducive to writing. They are not conducive to any creative thought, unless it's the ones that keep you awake when you're TRYING to go to sleep instead of trying to stay awake. Well, aside from that, I did get a few hundred more words written towards Darkness.
I hope to write some more towards it later today or tonight. Either way, I did at least make progress towards finishing it.
On the non-writing front, we got the curtain rod and curtains for Megi's room today when we went out for a flag pole. I'll likely hang them this week some time, which will leave paint touch-up, painting doors (both closet and main bedroom door, carpet cleanup, and moving in the dressers which we will likely sand and re-stain after the weather turns warmer (April time frame). I'm not sure what the next actual project is for getting the house the way we want it, but I suspect it'll become the master bedroom.
Anyway, that's all I have for this blog, thanks for reading.
I hope to write some more towards it later today or tonight. Either way, I did at least make progress towards finishing it.
On the non-writing front, we got the curtain rod and curtains for Megi's room today when we went out for a flag pole. I'll likely hang them this week some time, which will leave paint touch-up, painting doors (both closet and main bedroom door, carpet cleanup, and moving in the dressers which we will likely sand and re-stain after the weather turns warmer (April time frame). I'm not sure what the next actual project is for getting the house the way we want it, but I suspect it'll become the master bedroom.
Anyway, that's all I have for this blog, thanks for reading.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Christmas Day So Far In The Bishop Household 12/25/2013
The day started at three o'clock in the morning. Gabe actually woke up around twelve thirty, but we managed to hold him off for another two and a half hours. The morning proceeded for about a half hour for Donna and Gabe to see what Santa brought them (and for Mom and Dad, too). We then convinced them to take some of their stuff upstairs to their room to play with while we tried to get just a tad bit more sleep. We then got up at seven for Megi to see what she got and for the immediate family to open presents from each other (and from family that would not be in attendance later today). She handled it much better than I expected. I expected her to be so overwhelmed that she'd shut down, but instead, she, though overwhelmed, took it mostly in stride and really got into the unwrapping part. She was not at all pleased with the "quality" job that toy manufacturers do at securing the toys in the packaging. Neither am I.
Then mom made French toast for everyone for breakfast, which was quite good. We finished watching A Christmas Carol that we tried to watch last night (until dinnertime interrupted the movie temporarily and then Grandma commandeered the television to watch ID). Then the kids played for a while as Candice and I cleaned and made preparations for the meal later today when the extended family arrives. And now Grandma is making more finger foods and nick-knack foods that no one wants just because.
Candice was totally in the Christmas mood this year (for the first time in a while) right up until Grandma started adding to the menu last minute and taking over the space in the kitchen we needed to prep for the meal (along with monopolizing her time that we needed, too, because her "it won't interfere" line was total crap. It turned into "do all this for me.") Now Candice is completely out of the mood and dreading the rest of the day. Grandma is completely oblivious to this fact. And now, instead of having too many leftovers for the fridge, we're almost certainly going to have too many leftovers for the fridge, plus a bunch of other stuff that no one wants to eat, and it'll sit around until we throw it away in a week and a half.
I was dumb yesterday. I wrote over a thousand words towards my story Darkness, and then forgot to email a copy home. It was mostly just rewriting myself back to the point where I was a few months ago, though it feels much better to me now. There are two less characters and I have a better feel for how the story will progress. The first death in the second party has occurred and they're trying to figure out the best approach for the immediate future. Logically, they should turn back and take the body to town, but they're farther away from the town than they are to their destination, and with an unknown predator that they can't be sure where it is, they are essentially stuck until they can decide. They find that the backpack with the satellite phone is also missing, so calling for help is out of the question. They're going to decide that there is probably another satellite phone at the campsite they're heading towards, which will push them forward and into the climax of the story.
In a few minutes, I'm going to put the sweet potatoes in the oven, since we're planning on having everyone eat dinner around three in the afternoon. After that, I guess we need to start boiling the mashed potatoes (I've already peeled and diced them) and make the stuffing. Then it's get dressed for the big event and enjoy the afternoon.
Then mom made French toast for everyone for breakfast, which was quite good. We finished watching A Christmas Carol that we tried to watch last night (until dinnertime interrupted the movie temporarily and then Grandma commandeered the television to watch ID). Then the kids played for a while as Candice and I cleaned and made preparations for the meal later today when the extended family arrives. And now Grandma is making more finger foods and nick-knack foods that no one wants just because.
Candice was totally in the Christmas mood this year (for the first time in a while) right up until Grandma started adding to the menu last minute and taking over the space in the kitchen we needed to prep for the meal (along with monopolizing her time that we needed, too, because her "it won't interfere" line was total crap. It turned into "do all this for me.") Now Candice is completely out of the mood and dreading the rest of the day. Grandma is completely oblivious to this fact. And now, instead of having too many leftovers for the fridge, we're almost certainly going to have too many leftovers for the fridge, plus a bunch of other stuff that no one wants to eat, and it'll sit around until we throw it away in a week and a half.
I was dumb yesterday. I wrote over a thousand words towards my story Darkness, and then forgot to email a copy home. It was mostly just rewriting myself back to the point where I was a few months ago, though it feels much better to me now. There are two less characters and I have a better feel for how the story will progress. The first death in the second party has occurred and they're trying to figure out the best approach for the immediate future. Logically, they should turn back and take the body to town, but they're farther away from the town than they are to their destination, and with an unknown predator that they can't be sure where it is, they are essentially stuck until they can decide. They find that the backpack with the satellite phone is also missing, so calling for help is out of the question. They're going to decide that there is probably another satellite phone at the campsite they're heading towards, which will push them forward and into the climax of the story.
In a few minutes, I'm going to put the sweet potatoes in the oven, since we're planning on having everyone eat dinner around three in the afternoon. After that, I guess we need to start boiling the mashed potatoes (I've already peeled and diced them) and make the stuffing. Then it's get dressed for the big event and enjoy the afternoon.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Venialia
Today's obscure word of the day is venialia. It means minor sins or offences. I might need to find a way to work that word into a story, I find it to be a neat word.
So, as you may have noticed previously in my blogs, I prefer to write all my stories by hand first. I have a logical reason for that. If I'm typing on a computer, I tend to make immediate corrections, and edit, and edit, and edit as I go along. This slows down the creative flow, and often causes me to lose focus on what I'm actually writing. As a result, the first time I get my story typed up, it's actually my second draft. I find that the edits and corrections are more suited to the story after the segment is already written, and therefore does not detract from it as much as not getting the segment properly written would do. It also helps me attempt to keep up with my creative mind. Granted, neither method of input comes close to keeping up with my mind. Some stories I write the entire story before typing anything up, others I will write a few pages at a time before typing it up. Either way, the only personal writing I do directly to computer are items like this (my blog posts, Facebook statuses, etc). I've also tried to have a portable recorder of some type to dictate, but that doesn't work for anything except ideas. I don't "see" what I've dictated, and have a tendency to lose focus if I'm trying to orally state a story. Also, if I'm orally stating a story, I have to be in the mindset with a story in mind already to tell it, otherwise, my creativity completely drains out (often for days at a time).
My wife will hear me when I start typing something long, because I have a strong typing method when I type fast. When I'm typing something short, the keystrokes tend to be softer. When it's longer, though, my speed and intensity increases, which sounds harsher on the keystrokes. It's especially noticeable with the space bar on most keyboards, probably a result of how the space bar takes input and is much larger with more hollow area underneath it for a sort of echo sound. She often thinks I'm typing up a response to someone being an idiot online, because until recently, I haven't been doing much writing (also, as noted above, I tend to hand write most stories first).
Lately though, I've been using http://750words.com to try and keep momentum going. It's a sort of challenge to use it for my intended purpose of story writing, but I use it as follows: I type up my "second draft" of my stories there before cutting and pasting them into the Microsoft Word document the words will eventually call home while they wait to be published. I also type up my blog posts there before copying them to my blog site. I have noticed that I need to copy it on the same day I type it, because once it goes into the archive, if I "export it" it no longer has carriage returns, etc. to mark paragraphs, so I either need my hand written version to use as a guideline, or I need to figure out where they are on my own. It's a real pain to do after the fact sometimes (unless there's lots of dialog, in which case it isn't quite so hard).
I've made some changes to my blog site recently. I've put a picture behind the blog title. Currently, it is Michael Konrad Hirt's A vanitas still life with a candle, an inkwell, a quill pen, a skull and books. I might change it up from time to time. Also on the side is recent books I've finished reading (which usually, though not always, means unabridged audiobook). I also have struggled to figure out how to get my blog posts to automatically post to my other social media sites, then I found "If This Then That" (http://IFTTT.com) where you can set up a "recipe" that, in this case, says "Anytime there is a new blog posted, create a post on <Facebook> or <Twitter> or <Tumblr>" (I had to set up three recipes for it. It seems to be working so far, so I no longer need to post a link, or copy the text and paste it anymore to accomplish the same task as I used to do. In theory, every blog post I make will be linkd from each of those sites (and any others that I join in the future).
That's all I have for this blog post. Thanks for reading.
So, as you may have noticed previously in my blogs, I prefer to write all my stories by hand first. I have a logical reason for that. If I'm typing on a computer, I tend to make immediate corrections, and edit, and edit, and edit as I go along. This slows down the creative flow, and often causes me to lose focus on what I'm actually writing. As a result, the first time I get my story typed up, it's actually my second draft. I find that the edits and corrections are more suited to the story after the segment is already written, and therefore does not detract from it as much as not getting the segment properly written would do. It also helps me attempt to keep up with my creative mind. Granted, neither method of input comes close to keeping up with my mind. Some stories I write the entire story before typing anything up, others I will write a few pages at a time before typing it up. Either way, the only personal writing I do directly to computer are items like this (my blog posts, Facebook statuses, etc). I've also tried to have a portable recorder of some type to dictate, but that doesn't work for anything except ideas. I don't "see" what I've dictated, and have a tendency to lose focus if I'm trying to orally state a story. Also, if I'm orally stating a story, I have to be in the mindset with a story in mind already to tell it, otherwise, my creativity completely drains out (often for days at a time).
My wife will hear me when I start typing something long, because I have a strong typing method when I type fast. When I'm typing something short, the keystrokes tend to be softer. When it's longer, though, my speed and intensity increases, which sounds harsher on the keystrokes. It's especially noticeable with the space bar on most keyboards, probably a result of how the space bar takes input and is much larger with more hollow area underneath it for a sort of echo sound. She often thinks I'm typing up a response to someone being an idiot online, because until recently, I haven't been doing much writing (also, as noted above, I tend to hand write most stories first).
Lately though, I've been using http://750words.com to try and keep momentum going. It's a sort of challenge to use it for my intended purpose of story writing, but I use it as follows: I type up my "second draft" of my stories there before cutting and pasting them into the Microsoft Word document the words will eventually call home while they wait to be published. I also type up my blog posts there before copying them to my blog site. I have noticed that I need to copy it on the same day I type it, because once it goes into the archive, if I "export it" it no longer has carriage returns, etc. to mark paragraphs, so I either need my hand written version to use as a guideline, or I need to figure out where they are on my own. It's a real pain to do after the fact sometimes (unless there's lots of dialog, in which case it isn't quite so hard).
I've made some changes to my blog site recently. I've put a picture behind the blog title. Currently, it is Michael Konrad Hirt's A vanitas still life with a candle, an inkwell, a quill pen, a skull and books. I might change it up from time to time. Also on the side is recent books I've finished reading (which usually, though not always, means unabridged audiobook). I also have struggled to figure out how to get my blog posts to automatically post to my other social media sites, then I found "If This Then That" (http://IFTTT.com) where you can set up a "recipe" that, in this case, says "Anytime there is a new blog posted, create a post on <Facebook> or <Twitter> or <Tumblr>" (I had to set up three recipes for it. It seems to be working so far, so I no longer need to post a link, or copy the text and paste it anymore to accomplish the same task as I used to do. In theory, every blog post I make will be linkd from each of those sites (and any others that I join in the future).
That's all I have for this blog post. Thanks for reading.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
More purging of toys.
We've filled both garbage cans (the ones we put out for the trash trucks to dump out) with toys not good enough to donate. We also have a huge stash of toys for ARC (thrift store that helps developmentally disabled people) and a toddler bed (since we converted Megi's crib into a daybed). It probably amounts to multiple thousands of dollars of toys that we've removed (or are removing) from our house all at once.
We also managed to get two rooms vacuumed for the upcoming holiday visit. The kids' rooms need to be swept or vacuumed and they'll be clean.
We still need to clean the office and kitchen before the big day. We also still need to finish the loft (needs vacuumed still) and clean/vacuum our bedroom, and then the house will be mostly cleaned (spring cleaning style, even)!
I haven't gotten any writing done towards my book today, but feel much better about the progress towards the house cleaning project.
That's all for this blog entry, thanks for reading!
We also managed to get two rooms vacuumed for the upcoming holiday visit. The kids' rooms need to be swept or vacuumed and they'll be clean.
We still need to clean the office and kitchen before the big day. We also still need to finish the loft (needs vacuumed still) and clean/vacuum our bedroom, and then the house will be mostly cleaned (spring cleaning style, even)!
I haven't gotten any writing done towards my book today, but feel much better about the progress towards the house cleaning project.
That's all for this blog entry, thanks for reading!
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Cleaning out the House from Toys
Today, we threw away half the kids' toys from the toy room. OK, we threw away a quarter of them and have another quarter ready for donation. We've reclaimed a large portion of the room for walking!
We also put away the boxes for Christmas decorations along with miscellaneous empty boxes. We're almost ready to clean for company Christmas day. Hooray!
I'm going to label the toy drawers for the next time they go to pick up various toys, they'll hopefully put things away in the right places.
We still have the loft to go through and throw away/donate, as well as a crap load of toys we "threw away" that are actually in bags in the basement. Almost all of it will get thrown away or donated (the rest will be kept if it belongs with stuff that we've kept before like doll house furniture, toy cooking stuff, etc).
We also put away the boxes for Christmas decorations along with miscellaneous empty boxes. We're almost ready to clean for company Christmas day. Hooray!
I'm going to label the toy drawers for the next time they go to pick up various toys, they'll hopefully put things away in the right places.
We still have the loft to go through and throw away/donate, as well as a crap load of toys we "threw away" that are actually in bags in the basement. Almost all of it will get thrown away or donated (the rest will be kept if it belongs with stuff that we've kept before like doll house furniture, toy cooking stuff, etc).
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