Writing progress update

I hit a little snag in my writing schedule recently. What happened you ask? Life happened. I went home and spent time with my wife and moved from an apartment to a house. Moving is always difficult and never fun. With all the moving behind me now it’s time to get back to writing.

I’m trying to produce at least one short story per week. My goal is to  practice my craft and grow as a writer. While I do this I continue to work on the Fat Boy Hero project. I am still exploring some ideas for the story and plot.  To aid in the creation of this story I was on the Roundtable podcast and it will be out this week. The twenty minutes with is already available and I believe the workshop episode my drop today.

Not long ago an Author and friend I was chatting with offered to read one of my short stories and give me some feedback. He told me that the story was a mess but he saw potential. I think it was more in me than the story he read. So he has agreed to continue reading my works as I produce them and give me feedback. We have only done two so far but the difference I have seen in my own writing is incredible. I can’t express enough how grateful I am to my friend for this.

So far I have gone a long way toward fixing my issues with tense and I’m now working on word choice. Additionally, my focus is on   creating dynamic characters that are worthy of read’s attentions. I’m probably a long way from having this figured out but I have a starting point. I know I need my characters to be sympathetic and easy to relate to. I need to also ensure my characters seem to have a life before and after the story. A rich history, weather the reader learns of it or not, will help to make rich realistic characters. At least that is my current thinking on the subject.

As if that weren’t enough I have decided to start challenging myself more by exploring genres that I have not yet touched. My latest story delved into the horror genre and I’m thinking of going into thriller next. To add to the challenge I will be writing the other more than I have previously. By this I mean I’ll be writing stories from the perspective of people that are as far removed from myself as I can go.  Stories starring a female protagonist, for example, as well as characters of other races and more importantly from different backgrounds then me.

On to a non-writing topic. I have decided to start drawing a small and simple picture to accompany each of my posts. The first of which is attached to this very post. These won’t be anything special just a quick down and dirty sketch. My hope is that this will give me the practice I need to become the artist I once was and eventually to surpass my previous skill level.