One Month Down, One to Go

Well, well, well, here we are on the last day of the first month of The Once Upon a Time Challenge! How many short stories did I write this month, you’re wondering? Let’s see…

thus far in the Challenge I officially have:

2 novellas,

6 short stories,

&

 4 bedtime stories!

               Of which

10 are finished

and 2 are almost finished.

J

    Which makes a grand total of: 10 short stories written in the month of March!

Phew, I think I need another ice tea.

But this is no time for a tea party! I still have a month to go! Don't worry, though, I have plenty of Ideas and lots of plots to carry me through ;) and when this is all over I can’t wait to share some of these adventures with yall! Guess I’d better go get writing. 20 short stories here I come!



Putting the Long in Short Stories

Pssst! I have a secret. Shhhhhhhhh don’t tell anybody! Swear you won’t tell? Cross your heart?

……………………………………….

Ok, I believe you, so I’m going to tell you.

Here it is.

(Pause for dramatic effect).

I can’t write ‘short’ stories.

I know! Shocking, isn’t it? You would think that shorter is easier, right? WRONG! I just can’t swing it! It’s hard for me to condense a complex plot into 1,500-10,000 words while balancing the emotions, the actions and the scenery without making it over a hundred pages…

Wait a second.

 I can see you scratching your head probably going, “100 pages is short?”

Ok let me explain:

I think that anything under 10,000 words is a short story. Between 10,000 and 50,000 is a novella (a short novel too long to be called a short story) and anything 50,000 to 100,000+ words is a full-fledged novel. And all my short stories long to be full-fledged novels, LOL! That’s why this challenge is such a, well, challenge because keeping things “short” is my

kryptonite.

But challenges are good, right? Challenges are what makes life FUN!

They give you goals to achieve…

Stars to shoot for…

Dreams to seek...

And this is good practice for me, I guess.

You'll never get good at something unless you Practice.

So I'll just keep on keepin' on!

 Let the INK flow! :)

P.S. In The Once Upon a Time Challenge I have 9 finished short stories!

I love my job <3

Re: Heaven’s Txtin'

Heyu!

Just thot I’d txt, been missin u

 I kno ur busy, u kno how u do

Just wanna say ur luved

& that day/by/day I’m watchin 4m abuv

So call me if u need 2 chat

Sorry there’s no app 4 that

Just letrs in my book

Theyr there if u need some RNR

& remmbr I’m not 2 far

ILuvu2

BTW: I paid the pri$e

To: You

From: Jesus Christ

11:38 PM 2/8/11

Copyright 2011

You just read Heaven’s Txtin’, one of my newest poems! I hope it touched you if you needed a little extra love today, because Jesus is trying to reach you. Feel free to leave a comment on this and any of my other works and for more poems like Heaven’s Txtin’ ~ including another new poem! ~ check out Poetry Corner up there on the Tool Bar (see it? Up there. Right up there). Kk, God bless your day, and happy reading J

Head's Up!

Hey, hey, hey! Guess what! I’m gonna post a couple new poems! So check back here on Monday, March 21^st ‘cause I’ll be posting new poems right here, on March 21^st, a new poem, posted here… so check back and join the fun J

The Beauty in Bedtime

Children’s stories are much more different to write than what I’m used to.

The plots can’t be too complex

(ummm),

and there can’t be too many characters,

(uhhh)

and it can’t be too long.

(uhoh).

Yeah, but there is a beautiful simplicity about the traditional bedtime story, a creative property that comes with the fact that it’s written for kids.

I love that,

the freedom to be completely utterly expressive and imaginative!

    Bedtime stories nurture a little kid’s creative side, they’re meant to make you laugh and to comfort you; they’re the gateway to the realm of Dreamland. There are no limits to a little child’s imagination thus there are no boundaries to the subjects of the Bedtime Story.  

 When you’re 6,

                   it’s easy to believe in Fairies flitting around your backyard,

and princesses locked away in high towers. 

    So all I have to do is capture the essence of that imaginative property running wild inside the child in me and put it down on paper, without being wordy, over-descriptive, or too complex.

This might be harder than I thought.

But hard doesn’t mean impossible!

BTW: I finished 2 more Short Stories today, for a complete total of 7 stories in the Challenge!

Once Upon a Time; there was a Challenge…

So far I’ve created 6 short stories! 2 of which are (almost) done (alright… emphasis on almost). But 2 Bedtime stories and 2 Young Adult adventures (which you might just see popping up here in the near future) are FINISHED!

J Man, I love my job J

Let me just say this:

Unicorns,

Ninjas,

Pirates

Mermaids

And

(Wait for it),

Blue Princesses.

    LOL!

    So that is your Challenge update.

    Now back to your previously scheduled programming.

Destiny Tamers

Dear Reader,

(WARNING: this goes back to “having a million projects going on at once”)

Guess what! I learned something this week, something important; some age-old wisdom that if you master in your youth it’ll make the rest of your life much easier………………………………………………. Oh, right, lol, guess I’m supposed to tell you……………………………………

Alright here it is:

Stop putting off the destiny God has planned for you.

     Mmhhm, that’s right. Sometimes the Lord has already given you all the means to achieve what it is you keep asking Him for, so that means He’s just sitting up there waiting patiently for you to get a clue!

    That’s where I am right now, at the ‘geez ow, girl, get a clue!’ stage. For weeks I’ve had a package prepared for submission, but I’ve been putting it off (whether from distractions, procrastinations, many other reasons ending in –tions).

But not anymore!

    Today, I finally submitted my Novel to a literary agency whom I really, really like and they look really, really promising and I'm really, really excited but we never do know, only God knows, so I’ll just sit patiently and keep writing (I’ve got plenty to keep me busy ; D ) but say a prayer for me cause I have a feeling that the start of adventure is right around the corner! 

This is gonna be so much FUN!

So watch out for me, ‘cause I’m a’comin',

And remember:

You can do anything in the Lord, Jesus Christ, who strengthens you!

Any dream is within your reach, too.

The Power of the Tongue

I was just thinking; it’s no accident that the words: ‘Sword’ and ‘Word’ are only different by one letter. It says in Proverbs:

"The tongue has the power of life and death

and those who love it will eat its fruit" (Proverbs 18:21).

Doesn’t that give the term,

                     ‘Make it, or Break it’

a whole new meaning!

Simply put: our words are powerful and how we use that power is as simple as taking a breath and speaking a series of letters. But we must choose our letters carefully, because, sometimes,

it only takes one letter to turn a word into a sword.

(Another edition from Nutmeg's: Random Thought Files)