Okay, so I wanted to add this for a while, but I had some work to do on this website before I could…First, some quick context: A while back (last December, if I remember right), I read as part of my MFA class on the school’s radio. For it, I read Knock Knock Knock, a short “horror” story (I put it in quotes because I’m not 100% it hits all the horror check boxes). Back when I did the recording, this website was still in its old version, so I had all of my old flash fiction pieces up (which I’m slowly restoring, though revising them before putting them up). That’s why the host mentions over 300 samples free of charge. Sadly, as of the date of this post, there’s only three…But, I do plan on getting those up soon! On a side note, I will actually do a proper […]

Coyote Radio – MFA Reading (Knock Knock Knock)

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My eyes burned, and I felt as if I had too much alcohol before bed. I pulled the watch from my nightstand, and muttered the words to myself, “3:33am,” a part of me hoping that the time would be different. I cursed. It was the same time I’ve seen every night for over a month. Tossing the watch back on the nightstand, I turned around to face away from the damn clock, and stared at the wall. The threes floated around in my head, my mind drifting back to sleep, part of my consciousness already in that surreal world. Yet, the threes came back and ripped my eyes open again. *** When it first began, I did not think much of it. I thought it was just something strange, a coincidence. And like most of the weird things in life, I reasoned that with time it would pass and I […]

Knock Knock Knock

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When I set out at the beginning of the month, I chose the 50k word goal because I knew I had about that much to “re-write” for my novel’s revision (and because it was a nice comfortable number I knew I could hit in one month); but sadly, that goal doesn’t actually cover the entire revision. I still need somewhere around 40k words more to go over and make sure they work within the confines of this new draft. So where does that put me? Well, I actually hit the 50k word goal at some point in the last week, but it seemed that wasn’t enough to cover all the re-writes necessary to “complete” the draft. This is when I get very specific about the novel… So, at the beginning, I crafted a plot map of about 22 chapters (give or take one for further development if I were to need […]

NaNoWriMo’s End & Revision Going Forward

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I know I haven’t been as active as with other nanowrimo/camp nanowrimo events in the past. It’s been sort of…a tough last couple of weeks. I hate to use something like that as an excuse, but it really has been. But, there’s good news besides that! Let’s talk about this week and give a little update on this current nanowrimo 😀 I’m actually very happy that I’ve restarted this website in this more “talky” way. I’m treating it more like a normal blog than some crazy “I’ll upload fiction everyday” challenge. I’ve realized that when I do challenges like that, they start to feel like a shore, and that really messes me up as a writer. And after a few “revelatory” moments in the last couple of weeks, I’ve really come to understand I need to remember how it feels to enjoy this side job of mine. And this week […]

The Week in Review: On Revision and Camp NaNoWriMo

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When Jean saw her for the first time, he nearly froze, a hiccup in his mind, but let it go as a passing glitch. A janitor, after all, never stood a chance with an actual Tempus University student. However, when he saw her a second time, he could no longer lie to himself. It wasn’t just his programming. So, for the next two weeks, he kept “bumping” into her, trying to play it off as a coincidence though it was an excuse to say hello, talk for a bit, and learn more about her, bolstering his obsession. Her name was Estrella Fuentes, an engineering student, one of the best. She kept her hair short, styled to the left, and wore a flower behind her ear every day. But what caught Jean’s attention more was how she changed the flower depending on what she wore, making every day exciting. In the […]

Estrella

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Jean Clarke Oliver was small, much smaller than the rest of the people in the Tempus University, which made him feel strange as he walked down the hall, dragging a mop twice his height and a bucket full of water. Although he didn’t mind having to look up to people when he talked to them, he did hate how some people treated him because of his height. Students walked right by, never even saying a hello, and the faculty mostly did the same, some ignoring him completely while some others said hello but never held a conversation longer than a minute. Still, he did not complain. Jean dragged the mop everywhere, following the strict schedule set by the school. In the morning, he dragged the mop through the main hallway, making sure to leave the entire place spotless. In the afternoon, he cleaned the windows; and in the evening, during […]

Jean Clarke Oliver

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Well, look at that day! It’s halfway through the month, which means (for anyone doing camp nanowrimo) that this is now officially going down the mountain. Personally, I think I hit the midway word count a few days ago, since I was ahead thanks to a couple of days of crazy inspiration. Sadly, I’m not as far as I’d like to, mostly because I didn’t get to write yesterday, but I’m still caught up! All that said, I do want to go on a little talk about plans, outlines, and projects. I’ve mentioned before that I’m actually revising something for this particular Camp NaNoWriMo scenario, which means I technically already have an outline of what I’m doing, and a good sense of where it’s going. Which would be nice, if I were able to follow my darn outlines :/ To summarize this month’s experience so far, I’d say my story keeps […]

Mid-month update :D

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There’s a “draft”, an unpublished post I wrote like three days ago, on this website that I haven’t been able to push myself to publish, but it explains quite a bit of my recent radio silence in most forms of social media I play around with. Still, I do want to mention some other aspects of this silence here, and talk some nanowrimo updates too, cause why not. Starting backwards there, I’ve managed to keep up with the word count, and I don’t even know how. I’ve struggled every day, but I’ve managed to hit that minimum of 1.7k a day somehow. It’s baffling, honestly. However, I’ve also been really down on other aspects. This week, as a whole, has been…eventful…and educational. I’ve really hit a moment of realizing that not all people are going to be professional, even when they’re in a position where they are required to be. […]

Camp NaNoWriMo & other things

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Holy! It has been how long? Nearly a whole year? Seriously, what have I been thinking!? How could I go without updating my blog, my little personal website, my baby, for so long? And, even after I paid that Mexican to do design it and all? [for the sake of political correctness and avoid people complaining if they ever find this, I’m that Mexican, and this is my stupid bad joke]. Regardless! How could I have treated this place so badly? Honestly, I don’t know. And to be even more underwhelming than that answer, my comeback does not come with any crazy type plans. Nope, null, zero, nada, ni maiz. I’m here, just updating my blog as, well, how other writers update their blog. If anything, I guess I will finally take on the blog title up there points up. To reiterate (since this is a “return” post), I want […]

Eventual Return, AWP, and Camp NaNoWriMo 2016

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