Happy Fourth of July to those celebrating! Hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend.
We have plenty of sunshine to begin our day, the lake is calm and glistening, with a pleasant 75F/24C temperature forecast. If it continues, we’ll get our kayaks out and enjoy the water.
This will be a short ramble due to the holiday weekend. Regards to all.
Why I want to Write–What’s Led Me to This Stage in My Life
Last week I provided a few line from my first venture into a futuristic/alternate world as I prepare a short story as a contest submission. I dubbed this, ‘Countdown to Extinction’. Here’s the final installment:
Sam walked around the impression, stopping at the drill bit. After running a short diagnostics program to ensure there weren’t any hidden issues, he instructed the MUA to resume drilling operations.
With a whirl and a roar, the bit sank into the rock and continued its trek.
By the time Sam reached the surface, a new communiqué arrived:
Cargo pods and transports ETA ten minutes.
Once the digger-bots commenced their tasks, he sat on his basalt perch and composed a voice message.
“Inbound vehicles arrived intact and on schedule. Drill operations proceeding according to Tasha’s plan. Recommend launching first wave of tankers.”
“Tasha, look. Our wild ideas saved Earth.” Sam pointed at the fleet of tankers returning to the planet, filled with life-saving water. “We did it!”
My Work in Progress
It’s been a busy week with my works in progress. ‘A Cartel’s Revenge’ remains on hold for the next week or so, pending critiques from a group called Round Table Pals, where we take turns reviewing three chapters written by the six participants. Once the group finishes, I’ll be making edits and continuing to write.
The first draft of my short story ‘Countdown to Extinction’ is now complete. I have about a month to polish the story before the submission deadline
The first chapter for the second book in the Bedlam Series, ‘A Malicious Affiliation’ is now complete and posted to the two subscription writing sites I use. In just a few days, II received eleven critiques. A couple of areas to tweak, but overall very positive feedback. Next week, I’ll include some snippets in my ramblings.
This week I also submitted a short story, ‘A Dangerous Occupation,’ based on ‘A Cartel’s Revenge,’ to the Thriller/Suspense Film and Screenplay Festival. Short submissions had to be 400 words or less.
Books I’m Reading
As part of my ongoing reading, I’ve switch to one of my favorite authors, Clive Cussler. I use his novels not only for reading pleasure but also as a sort of classroom text, where I analyze how certain scenes were created. Mr. Cussler teamed with Boyd Morrison to create ‘The Emperor’s Revenge (The Oregon Files). My comments will be posted next week, as I’m only about halfway through the book.
Blogs/Author Pages/Writing Sites I’d Like to Share
I’ve expanded this section from being only about blogs that I follow but also introduce you to some new authors and a few writing sites. Hope you’ll check out the links!
Philip Lloyd – a gifted and witty writer, published in more than 100 magazines in twelve countries. Philip also shares his knowledge learned over the years with other writers, helping them to expand their horizons.
Katzenworld – to follow up on the two blogs I highlighted last week regarding cats, here’s another for cat lovers.
Writing Resources
I don’t have any new writing resources to share this week. I hope to have something as soon as I resume my research. Have an enjoyable weekend.
Once again, we’ve come to the end of another ramble. Hope you’ve found something of interest or at least useful for your own writing. Until the next time, thank you for reading!
© Copyright 2016 Randall Krzak. All rights reserved.
That’s a great start to your short story. I’ll look forward to reading the rest. See you! Ollie
Many thanks, Ollie!