Now Playing: MY LIFE FOR HIRE by A Day to Remember
Just Read: THE RUNAWAY JURY by John Grisham--Another good one by a great author. He does a terrific job of keeping my interest, not giving too much away, and keeping the ending just out of sight. Worth studying!
Reading Now: THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH by Ken Follett
A while ago, I had this idea for a story about a robot. It struck me that it could really be a great story. I don't always think this about my works in progress--I usually think a story could be competent, sometimes even good. But I'd like to think I can honestly examine my own work, and not a lot of it reaches that top tier of being worthy of the description "great."
But I really had high hopes for this one. It was a story I loved watching over and over again in my imagination. I saw moments that tugged at my heart strings, suspense and tension, and a good sense of adventure. I read a lot of Writers of the Future stories, because I'm always trying to win that contest, and I thought this robot story, perhaps more than any other story I'd ever written, had a chance to soar to the top.
I'm always hoping my submissions are climbing up the ladder at WotF, but never more than this previous quarter. I received an email saying my story had passed the first read and would now be read by head judges. I was ecstatic. I'd never received such an email before, though I had won six Honorable Mentions.
Ultimately, I received another, my seventh. I feel as though that's a lot, and I'd like to think it means I'm on the cusp of breaking through into the "Finalist" arena, maybe even winning.
So this week, now that I've gotten started with my new day job career as a nurse anesthetist, I started writing the robot story. Today I got in over 3000 words. It isn't finished, but I like where it's going, and I'm way ahead of my usual schedule for submission for WotF. I'm hoping to finish it, let it sit, then edit it until it's as close to perfect as I can get it for submission for this quarter, ending December 31. I hope hope hope I can nail this one.
