While I was trolling around the Internet for ideas on something to blog about today (yeah, it's going that bad 'cause the Patriots lost to the castrated Broncos) I came across this meme in my newsfeed, in which people who are tagged must say 14 things about themselves.
So I figure, why not. I'll say 14 things about myself and maybe, just maybe, I'll be either stretching the truth or actually telling the truth. Nah....I got a better idea. Instead of pumping up my ego until my house can no long hold my head, I'll just come up with 14 things about my writing and my stories. Things that have been cultivated over the past 8 years or so of me semi-successfully stringing all kinds of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, participles, clichés, commas, periods, question marks, exclamation points, ellipses, etc. etc. etc.
So, without further ado and to seriously waste a holiday (MLK day here in most of the United States), here are 14 things about my writing that you may or may not know or even care to know about anymore.
1} I started writing in 2006 because it was the absolute cheapest form of therapy that money could buy.
2} Between 2006 and 2009, I churned out almost one dozen novellas of assorted lengths and styles. All but two have been locked away in the black hole of nothingness that is my slush bin.
3} Novella number one that survived the cut.
4} Novella number two that survived the cut.
5} Without really knowing what the hell I was doing, I actually submitted all of those early stories as is to various literary journals, publishers and agents during those years.
6} Spending money unwisely (Eaton Literary Agency, ASI) was an early component of my writing.
7} Between 2009 and 2010, the flash fiction bug bit me and I churned out almost 6 dozen short stories. All but one were posted to a now closed short story blog, and that one story plus two others can found here.
8} I got the idea for my first commercial published novel during the weekend of Super Bowl 2010. I was semi-asleep Super Bowl Sunday when the idea took root and slapped me awake. It took me about 2 1/2 months to write the first draft.
9} Roughly 97% of my stories have either a Connecticut based setting or uses something from Connecticut. Even point #4 and point #8 has either a Connecticut based setting or something from Connecticut.
10} The inspiration for my second published short story was a female cashier at my local supermarket who was dressed up as a cat during the week of Halloween 2009. I actually completed writing that story while manning the door Halloween night.
11} I sold my debut novel on my 13th query attempt.
12} The inspiration for the novella that I want to self-publish this year, Shadow's Vengeance, came from this particular blog post.
13} I have written short stories that cover such diverse subjects as: the four seasons and the four stages of man, stop signs, junkies, alien life forms, live sex show, cooking, punk rock, summer romance, best friends/friends with benefits and the government.
14} I have written exactly one G-rated story, which was published in late 2009. Sadly, I do not have the link as the e-zine that published it is still recreating its vast archive of previously published stories. Once it becomes reposted, I will post the link on my "Published Stories" page. The reason why I have exactly one G-rated story is that some 7 years ago, I decided to challenge myself by writing something out of my comfort zone, and for those of you who are familiar with either my writing or my blogging, can appreciate how difficult that was for me to write.
(c) 2014 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved.
Writing a g-rated story is actually pretty impressive. We've covered a lot of ground with our writing, but I think it'd be really, really hard to commit to that without putting SOMETHING off-color or profane in there.
ReplyDeleteABFtS: Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI was still trying to find my proper voice at the time, and as a result I was churning out all kinds of R & X rated stuff. So after several months of this stuff, I was running out of ideas. Then the idea of challenging myself popped in and what better way to challenge myself than to write something that a child could read.
A G-rated story by GB?! Mon dieu! That I want to read, bro.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed by the range, btw.
M: I'm surprised you haven't read it yet. I thought we hooked as blogging besties in early 2009, which would've given you plenty of time to read it.
ReplyDeleteEither way, as soon as it goes up, I'll post a link to it.
And someday, I'll challenge myself to write another G-rated story, or at the very least, tweak one that I already got.