Rolling the boulder

A rejection today. More letters tomorrow.

Chris Runoff www.flickr.com/photos/azdodsons/

Another day, another 500 words

The constant daily challenge has been to figure out ways to keep writing while working a full-time job (which also involves writing, different sort). But I've found a better challenge: The one posed by childrens' writer Debbie Ohi. Meet her fabulous 500 Words A Day Challenge. It's working for me. I'm counting both new work and significant rewrites (not editing) and so far I've been able to reach or exceed the goal. When I'm inspired I can do a messy 500 words in less than an hour. (That's about all the time I've got). I've been able to produce some oddball flash fiction and have pulled out my book-in-a-drawer, my first rebel child, and am working on a brand new draft. So 500 words translates into about two double-spaced pages, maybe a little less. Too much? You can choose a 250-word challenge. Too wimpy? Try 1,000 words.

Self-portrait on the longest day of the year

Happy 4th -- also a literary anniversary

Today is the 150th anniversary of a sunny afternoon boating trip during when Charles Dodgson told a story to family friend Alice Liddell about a little girl who jumped down a rabbit hole. Dodgson, of course, being Lewis Carroll. Currently reading Carmella Ciuraru's fantastic book Nom de Plume, all about the pseudonyms of now-dead authors and why they chose to hide their identities -- a bit different than now, when it's usually a matter of author branding. Loving the chapter on Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Strangers on a Train). Had the chance to see Ciuraru reading in Iowa City at the famed Prairie Lights bookstore in June while I was there for the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. She added a fun element by asking us to come up with our own pseudonyms (the best: "Alfred Lord Newman"). Mine also was selected as a favorite ("Sage Watson." I thought it sounded like a writer of westerns; Ciuraru thought it was a good name for a mystery writer. Perhaps western mysteries??) I won a notebook.