Austin Worley's Blog: Writing, Reading, and Living with Austin Worley, page 15
February 5, 2021
Update: February 2021
Sorry about the incredibly long gap between blog posts. Juggling my role as a de facto teacher, writing, a couple bouts of illness, and the general craziness of this world provided plenty of distractions. This year, I’ll be opting one blog update every month to help ensure a more regular schedule. Occasionally, you may see a post discussing some of my influences or announcing a new story.
With that announcement out of the way, let’s get on to the actual substance of this post!
When it comes to writing, I’ve spent the last few months primarily focused on poetry, polished up some stories for submission, and expanding my social media presence. There have been some really cool developments, though.
First, my tanka “Republic Awaiting Spring” earned a Daily Deviation over on DeviantArt. This brought in tens of thousands of views and a bunch of new watchers. I’m…absolutely floored by how much attention it has received.
Second, I performed another editing pass on my fantasy western novella Folk of Rock and Water and political fantasy piece “She Shall Be King” before sending them off to a couple promising markets. Here’s hoping I get a bite! Especially on Folk of Rock and Water; the publisher it’s currently under consideration with pays very well. The fact this novella picked up a request during #PitMad gives me hope.
Another pass over “The Death of Liberty?” is in the pipeline, too. The market for a superhero political thriller short story isn’t very big, but everything that has happened recently makes its message even more topical than when I wrote it back in 2019. I’m currently looking into finding a good cover artist and self-publishing through KDP.
Third, I finally sorted out my Wattpad account and created an author page on Facebook! Social media isn’t my forte, but every little bit helps. Porting my publicly available poems and short stories onto Wattpad has been tedious and time-consuming, given the need to create a cover on Canva, so there’s not much there at the moment. Meanwhile, my Facebook page is just getting off the ground. Feel free to give it a like if you haven’t already.
Fourth, I’m revisiting a positively ancient story I wrote back in my high school creative writing class. An assignment to write from the POV of a member of the opposite sex, it was a military sci-fi/space opera tale in the vein of Honor Harrington. However, due to length/time constraints and the nature of the assignment, I opted to brush over the final battle. But not this time. I’m currently ~333 words into a proper space battle scene and should be able to finish it next week if all goes well.
Finally, I have four writing goals for 2021:
1) Have at least one story accepted for publication.
2) Complete an in-depth edit of my novel manuscript The Silver Shrike
3) Gather funds for the anthology I hope to compile
4) Complete pre-writing for my next novel
With another stimulus check on the horizon, I think I’ll be able to accomplish #3 without much issue. Once my precise budget is set, I’ll post a call for speculative short fiction submissions set in Oklahoma and start looking for artists.
Most of my January was spent working on the fourth goal, specifically getting acquainted with writing romance and romantic suspense. Neither genre is something I ever expected to write, but they seem like the best fit for a novel adaptation of “Law, Love, and the Whippoorwill” or a prequel. My focus is now turning toward research on modern Comanche culture so I can portray Topsannah in a realistic, respectful manner. Once that’s done, I’ll start outlining.
First, however, I plan on returning to Arlise Dun—my first, and most successful, recurring protagonist—with a short story targeted at sword & sorcery magazine Whetstone. Things are still fuzzy, but my current idea is to show the incident which prompted Arlise to join the Order of Watchers in search of redemption. Hopefully they buy it, which would allow me to check off that first goal.
Once that’s dealt with and things settle down, I hope to finally give The Silver Shrike one last full edit before deciding how to deal with the project.
My reading over the past few months has been focused on either research, such as Morris W. Foster’s Being Comanche: The Social History of an American Indian Community, or romantic suspense comp-titles like Next of King by Jae.
Recreationally, I’ve continued gamemastering our Dungeon World campaign. Things are really heating up, with the party on the verge of confronting a recurring villain important to the backstory of two of the player characters. Can’t wait to see what that will be like!
Back in December, I managed to get a fantastic look at the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. It’s a shame astrophotography equipment is so expensive, but I captured a couple decent images through the eyepiece with a phone camera. You can actually see all four Galilean Moons, though they're pretty faint.
Hopefully everybody reading this is well. Or, at least, as well as you can be during times like this. See y’all in March!
With that announcement out of the way, let’s get on to the actual substance of this post!
When it comes to writing, I’ve spent the last few months primarily focused on poetry, polished up some stories for submission, and expanding my social media presence. There have been some really cool developments, though.
First, my tanka “Republic Awaiting Spring” earned a Daily Deviation over on DeviantArt. This brought in tens of thousands of views and a bunch of new watchers. I’m…absolutely floored by how much attention it has received.
Second, I performed another editing pass on my fantasy western novella Folk of Rock and Water and political fantasy piece “She Shall Be King” before sending them off to a couple promising markets. Here’s hoping I get a bite! Especially on Folk of Rock and Water; the publisher it’s currently under consideration with pays very well. The fact this novella picked up a request during #PitMad gives me hope.
Another pass over “The Death of Liberty?” is in the pipeline, too. The market for a superhero political thriller short story isn’t very big, but everything that has happened recently makes its message even more topical than when I wrote it back in 2019. I’m currently looking into finding a good cover artist and self-publishing through KDP.
Third, I finally sorted out my Wattpad account and created an author page on Facebook! Social media isn’t my forte, but every little bit helps. Porting my publicly available poems and short stories onto Wattpad has been tedious and time-consuming, given the need to create a cover on Canva, so there’s not much there at the moment. Meanwhile, my Facebook page is just getting off the ground. Feel free to give it a like if you haven’t already.
Fourth, I’m revisiting a positively ancient story I wrote back in my high school creative writing class. An assignment to write from the POV of a member of the opposite sex, it was a military sci-fi/space opera tale in the vein of Honor Harrington. However, due to length/time constraints and the nature of the assignment, I opted to brush over the final battle. But not this time. I’m currently ~333 words into a proper space battle scene and should be able to finish it next week if all goes well.
Finally, I have four writing goals for 2021:
1) Have at least one story accepted for publication.
2) Complete an in-depth edit of my novel manuscript The Silver Shrike
3) Gather funds for the anthology I hope to compile
4) Complete pre-writing for my next novel
With another stimulus check on the horizon, I think I’ll be able to accomplish #3 without much issue. Once my precise budget is set, I’ll post a call for speculative short fiction submissions set in Oklahoma and start looking for artists.
Most of my January was spent working on the fourth goal, specifically getting acquainted with writing romance and romantic suspense. Neither genre is something I ever expected to write, but they seem like the best fit for a novel adaptation of “Law, Love, and the Whippoorwill” or a prequel. My focus is now turning toward research on modern Comanche culture so I can portray Topsannah in a realistic, respectful manner. Once that’s done, I’ll start outlining.
First, however, I plan on returning to Arlise Dun—my first, and most successful, recurring protagonist—with a short story targeted at sword & sorcery magazine Whetstone. Things are still fuzzy, but my current idea is to show the incident which prompted Arlise to join the Order of Watchers in search of redemption. Hopefully they buy it, which would allow me to check off that first goal.
Once that’s dealt with and things settle down, I hope to finally give The Silver Shrike one last full edit before deciding how to deal with the project.
My reading over the past few months has been focused on either research, such as Morris W. Foster’s Being Comanche: The Social History of an American Indian Community, or romantic suspense comp-titles like Next of King by Jae.
Recreationally, I’ve continued gamemastering our Dungeon World campaign. Things are really heating up, with the party on the verge of confronting a recurring villain important to the backstory of two of the player characters. Can’t wait to see what that will be like!
Back in December, I managed to get a fantastic look at the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. It’s a shame astrophotography equipment is so expensive, but I captured a couple decent images through the eyepiece with a phone camera. You can actually see all four Galilean Moons, though they're pretty faint.
Hopefully everybody reading this is well. Or, at least, as well as you can be during times like this. See y’all in March!
November 9, 2020
How Many Projects Is Too Many Projects?
The title is something I've been grappling with lately. Like I mentioned a while back, I have more ideas than I can shake a stick at. Especially with virtual schooling and the general craziness of this world providing ample distractions.
When it comes to writing, I'm currently doing a little copy work on "The Curse of Yig" by HP Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop, which I plan to reprint in an anthology of speculative fiction set in Oklahoma.
This idea for this project--tentatively entitled "Sweeping Down the Plain"--captured my imagination a few years back and never let go. Once there are enough funds to pay contributing authors and artists, I hope to open up a call for submissions. Something like four original stories in each of the four target genres--fantasy, sci-fi, speculative horror, and alternate history--and a reprint section with four more stories.
Personally, I doubt this project will get off the ground for a couple more years, but I'm hopeful.
Otherwise I've been recreational writing for our Dungeon World campaign, planning a fresh round of edits for "The Death of Liberty?", and weighing a couple short story projects.
Now that my prescription has reined in my ailments and craziness of election season is past, I'm hoping I can concentrate a little more on giving all these projects the attention they deserve.
Hopefully I'll have another blog post ready for y'all next week!
When it comes to writing, I'm currently doing a little copy work on "The Curse of Yig" by HP Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop, which I plan to reprint in an anthology of speculative fiction set in Oklahoma.
This idea for this project--tentatively entitled "Sweeping Down the Plain"--captured my imagination a few years back and never let go. Once there are enough funds to pay contributing authors and artists, I hope to open up a call for submissions. Something like four original stories in each of the four target genres--fantasy, sci-fi, speculative horror, and alternate history--and a reprint section with four more stories.
Personally, I doubt this project will get off the ground for a couple more years, but I'm hopeful.
Otherwise I've been recreational writing for our Dungeon World campaign, planning a fresh round of edits for "The Death of Liberty?", and weighing a couple short story projects.
Now that my prescription has reined in my ailments and craziness of election season is past, I'm hoping I can concentrate a little more on giving all these projects the attention they deserve.
Hopefully I'll have another blog post ready for y'all next week!
October 14, 2020
I'm Back!
Sorry for the long wait! Between virtual schooling and health issues, I haven't had the energy for blog posts. Not too much has been going on anyway, but I'll go ahead and fill y'all in on what I'm up to.
On the writing front, I've been editing "A Helping Hand" and considering what to do for my next project. I'm tempted to write one more scene for the story and see if it strengthens the ending, but a call for submissions to an anthology has caught my eye. The end of the year deadline makes it especially appealing.
At the same time, I'd like to tackle at least part of my final edit on The Silver Shrike. The novel-in-stories starring Arlise is also begging for attention. Hopefully by the end of the month I'll be able to pin something down.
Recreationally, I'm almost finished plotting out the first act of our Dungeon World campaign. Can't wait to see how the PCs react to the challenges headed their way.
We've wrapped up the first quarter of virtual schooling here, and I finally made it to the doctor and received a prescription to treat my ailments, so things are looking up at the moment. Hopefully everybody reading this can say the same.
With a little luck, I'll see y'all next week!
On the writing front, I've been editing "A Helping Hand" and considering what to do for my next project. I'm tempted to write one more scene for the story and see if it strengthens the ending, but a call for submissions to an anthology has caught my eye. The end of the year deadline makes it especially appealing.
At the same time, I'd like to tackle at least part of my final edit on The Silver Shrike. The novel-in-stories starring Arlise is also begging for attention. Hopefully by the end of the month I'll be able to pin something down.
Recreationally, I'm almost finished plotting out the first act of our Dungeon World campaign. Can't wait to see how the PCs react to the challenges headed their way.
We've wrapped up the first quarter of virtual schooling here, and I finally made it to the doctor and received a prescription to treat my ailments, so things are looking up at the moment. Hopefully everybody reading this can say the same.
With a little luck, I'll see y'all next week!
September 23, 2020
Epiphany
Inspiration struck over the weekend, breathing life into a universe I hadn't planned on writing in ever again.
If you read my work, you're probably familiar with Arlise Dun. Most of my published stories star her in some way, whether as a member of the Order of Watchers or a noblewoman. When I first began writing, I planned for my first novel to follow Arlise on a mission which would fully resolve her redemption arc...but I never felt up to the task.
Instead, I concentrated on short fiction and tried my hand at writing novels with what became The Silver Shrike. Genre-blending fantasy with elements of Weird Westerns or superhero fiction caught my eye. Next to the variety such work offered, the more typical fantasy world of Anura seemed...dull.
Sure, I'd try to find homes for the best unpublished stories set there. Adapting "The Gale at Quiet Cove" into a full-length novel crossed my mind a few times. But I never imagined I'd write new stories featuring Arlise.
All that changed Sunday evening, when a radical new approach to my original novel idea crossed my mind during a shower. The concept of a novel-in-stories composed of old novelettes like "Hanging at Crosbhothar" and "The Gale at Quiet Cove" and some new tales followed right on its heels.
Although both of these projects are still very early in the planning stages, I feel more enthusiastic about them than anything in a long time.
In other writing news, I dashed off a piece of micro-fiction just yesterday and plan to submit it to Story Seed Vault. Fingers crossed!
On the entertainment front, I'm re-reading The Last Wish since it's exactly what I hope my novel-in-stories will look like once it's compiled. The way its framing story lines up with the others thematically is just perfect!
Football season has inspired me to dust off NCAA Football 12 and give it a whirl. For a nine-year-old game, its gameplay and even graphics hold fairly well. If only they were still making the franchise...
Speaking of things that come with autumn, Election Day is just around the corner. Yesterday was National Voter Registration Day, so make sure to check whether you're registered to vote. If not, this link has some great resources to help you out:
https://www.eac.gov/voters/register-a...
See y'all next week!
If you read my work, you're probably familiar with Arlise Dun. Most of my published stories star her in some way, whether as a member of the Order of Watchers or a noblewoman. When I first began writing, I planned for my first novel to follow Arlise on a mission which would fully resolve her redemption arc...but I never felt up to the task.
Instead, I concentrated on short fiction and tried my hand at writing novels with what became The Silver Shrike. Genre-blending fantasy with elements of Weird Westerns or superhero fiction caught my eye. Next to the variety such work offered, the more typical fantasy world of Anura seemed...dull.
Sure, I'd try to find homes for the best unpublished stories set there. Adapting "The Gale at Quiet Cove" into a full-length novel crossed my mind a few times. But I never imagined I'd write new stories featuring Arlise.
All that changed Sunday evening, when a radical new approach to my original novel idea crossed my mind during a shower. The concept of a novel-in-stories composed of old novelettes like "Hanging at Crosbhothar" and "The Gale at Quiet Cove" and some new tales followed right on its heels.
Although both of these projects are still very early in the planning stages, I feel more enthusiastic about them than anything in a long time.
In other writing news, I dashed off a piece of micro-fiction just yesterday and plan to submit it to Story Seed Vault. Fingers crossed!
On the entertainment front, I'm re-reading The Last Wish since it's exactly what I hope my novel-in-stories will look like once it's compiled. The way its framing story lines up with the others thematically is just perfect!
Football season has inspired me to dust off NCAA Football 12 and give it a whirl. For a nine-year-old game, its gameplay and even graphics hold fairly well. If only they were still making the franchise...
Speaking of things that come with autumn, Election Day is just around the corner. Yesterday was National Voter Registration Day, so make sure to check whether you're registered to vote. If not, this link has some great resources to help you out:
https://www.eac.gov/voters/register-a...
See y'all next week!
September 16, 2020
Overflowing With Ideas!
The title pretty much describes my mental state this week.
On the writing front, I've had more story ideas in the past few days than the whole rest of the year so far. Probably more than I'll be able to write, in all honesty. I fleshed out the premise of my sword and sorcery deconstruction a little, revamped some worldbuilding for my rewrite of The Silver Shrike, began toying with the idea of adapting "Law, Love, and the Whippoorwill" into a full-fledged novel, and started developing a magic system which currently doesn't have a setting to inhabit.
Meanwhile, I'm still editing "The Death of Liberty?" and plan on starting my first round of edits on "A Helping Hand" soon. The latter may need a third scene to tie up some loose ends, but I'll cross that bridge once I get to it.
Most of my focus is on writing adventure fronts for our Dungeon World campaign at the moment, since just a few hours of work can create enough content for weeks of sessions. In some ways it's more enjoyable than standard fiction writing, as there's way less pressure involved.
I'm still reading Save the Cat!: Writes a Novel, and just finished The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars; although its villain and external conflict didn't grab me as much as anything from the series, it did a wonderful job developing the romance.
Also, I finally got a chance to read a couple of the complete but unpublished Conan tales Robert E Howard wrote: "The God in the Bowl" and "The Vale of Lost Women". While Howard's racism bleeds through too much for the latter to be enjoyable, "The God in the Bowl" is an enjoyable blend of Sword & Sorcery with horror elements.
Football made its return last weekend, so I'm thrilled to have something new to watch while we're all cooped up at home. Especially since the OSU vs Tulsa game is rescheduled for this weekend. Here's hoping the rest of the season goes smoothly despite everything going on in the world.
Virtual schooling has finally settled into a predictable routine, so things aren't quite as hectic as they have been. In fact, having a second to breathe is probably why I've been flush with ideas lately.
Hopefully everybody reading this is well. I'll see y'all next week!
On the writing front, I've had more story ideas in the past few days than the whole rest of the year so far. Probably more than I'll be able to write, in all honesty. I fleshed out the premise of my sword and sorcery deconstruction a little, revamped some worldbuilding for my rewrite of The Silver Shrike, began toying with the idea of adapting "Law, Love, and the Whippoorwill" into a full-fledged novel, and started developing a magic system which currently doesn't have a setting to inhabit.
Meanwhile, I'm still editing "The Death of Liberty?" and plan on starting my first round of edits on "A Helping Hand" soon. The latter may need a third scene to tie up some loose ends, but I'll cross that bridge once I get to it.
Most of my focus is on writing adventure fronts for our Dungeon World campaign at the moment, since just a few hours of work can create enough content for weeks of sessions. In some ways it's more enjoyable than standard fiction writing, as there's way less pressure involved.
I'm still reading Save the Cat!: Writes a Novel, and just finished The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars; although its villain and external conflict didn't grab me as much as anything from the series, it did a wonderful job developing the romance.
Also, I finally got a chance to read a couple of the complete but unpublished Conan tales Robert E Howard wrote: "The God in the Bowl" and "The Vale of Lost Women". While Howard's racism bleeds through too much for the latter to be enjoyable, "The God in the Bowl" is an enjoyable blend of Sword & Sorcery with horror elements.
Football made its return last weekend, so I'm thrilled to have something new to watch while we're all cooped up at home. Especially since the OSU vs Tulsa game is rescheduled for this weekend. Here's hoping the rest of the season goes smoothly despite everything going on in the world.
Virtual schooling has finally settled into a predictable routine, so things aren't quite as hectic as they have been. In fact, having a second to breathe is probably why I've been flush with ideas lately.
Hopefully everybody reading this is well. I'll see y'all next week!
September 8, 2020
To the Drawing Board!
Now that I've had a bit of time to rest up after finishing "A Helping Hand", I feel ready to brainstorm some new ideas and maybe bring a few old ones to print.
On the writing front, I plan to read over my short story "The Death of Liberty?" again and possibly make a few adjustments. The idea of self-publishing through Amazon grows more appealing the more I think about it, but I want to do it right. And that's a daunting prospect.
I've recently begun reading Save the Cat!: Writes a Novel in the hopes of using its recommended structure to outline a few ideas I've been toying with. One is a sort of sword-and-sorcery deconstruction of the themes of Robert E. Howard's Conan of Cimmeria stories, while the other would serve as a sequel to "Law, Love, and the Whippoorwill". No clue when I'll get around to actually writing them--I'll need to do a lot of cultural research to get the latter concept right--but I'd still like to have the outlines on hand.
I'll also be diving back into purely recreational writing with the ongoing Dungeon World campaign I'm gamemastering for my little brother. Obviously he's easier to please than my usual audience, but I still want to ensure our adventures are compelling.
During my break, I soaked up a fair bit of entertainment.
We finally finished The Legend of Korra over the weekend; although Season 3 remains my favorite, the themes of Season 4 really resonated with me and I plan on checking out the comics to continue the story.
Colter Wall's cover of "Big Iron" recently caught my attention. He does a great job of singing the song in a way that's both unique and true to the spirit of the original. Having listened to some of his original work, I think he's exactly the kind of artist country music has been missing for a while now.
To keep my mind sharp, I dipped my toe back into Total War: Rome 2 and cranked up the difficulty. I'm trying my hand at a historically accurate campaign, only expanding my territory and progressing technologically at the pace Rome did in real life.
Like I mentioned in writing, I'm currently reading Save the Cat!: Writes a Novel and refreshing myself with Dungeon World's manual.
Life definitely makes it harder to write lately. School ramped up fast, leaving my brother practically drowning complex assignments, so I've spent much of my time acting as a tutor.
Still, we managed to find some downtime to play our first session of Dungeon World in months. Took a little getting used to, but pretty soon we had the party diving into a goblin den to rescue a group of captured children. Things ended on a cliffhanger, and I'm looking forward to continuing the story soon.
Hopefully everybody reading this is well. I'll see y'all next week!
On the writing front, I plan to read over my short story "The Death of Liberty?" again and possibly make a few adjustments. The idea of self-publishing through Amazon grows more appealing the more I think about it, but I want to do it right. And that's a daunting prospect.
I've recently begun reading Save the Cat!: Writes a Novel in the hopes of using its recommended structure to outline a few ideas I've been toying with. One is a sort of sword-and-sorcery deconstruction of the themes of Robert E. Howard's Conan of Cimmeria stories, while the other would serve as a sequel to "Law, Love, and the Whippoorwill". No clue when I'll get around to actually writing them--I'll need to do a lot of cultural research to get the latter concept right--but I'd still like to have the outlines on hand.
I'll also be diving back into purely recreational writing with the ongoing Dungeon World campaign I'm gamemastering for my little brother. Obviously he's easier to please than my usual audience, but I still want to ensure our adventures are compelling.
During my break, I soaked up a fair bit of entertainment.
We finally finished The Legend of Korra over the weekend; although Season 3 remains my favorite, the themes of Season 4 really resonated with me and I plan on checking out the comics to continue the story.
Colter Wall's cover of "Big Iron" recently caught my attention. He does a great job of singing the song in a way that's both unique and true to the spirit of the original. Having listened to some of his original work, I think he's exactly the kind of artist country music has been missing for a while now.
To keep my mind sharp, I dipped my toe back into Total War: Rome 2 and cranked up the difficulty. I'm trying my hand at a historically accurate campaign, only expanding my territory and progressing technologically at the pace Rome did in real life.
Like I mentioned in writing, I'm currently reading Save the Cat!: Writes a Novel and refreshing myself with Dungeon World's manual.
Life definitely makes it harder to write lately. School ramped up fast, leaving my brother practically drowning complex assignments, so I've spent much of my time acting as a tutor.
Still, we managed to find some downtime to play our first session of Dungeon World in months. Took a little getting used to, but pretty soon we had the party diving into a goblin den to rescue a group of captured children. Things ended on a cliffhanger, and I'm looking forward to continuing the story soon.
Hopefully everybody reading this is well. I'll see y'all next week!
September 2, 2020
A Wild Ride!
The title pretty much sums up my week so far. Hectic, but surprisingly successful.
1) In writing, I just wrapped up "A Helping Hand" yesterday. This story didn't end exactly the way I'd planned, but I'm still pretty happy with the first draft. In a week or two, I'll start editing. Although there aren't many markets for superhero prose, I think this particular story has some potential as bonus content for a newsletter or large project--like one of my magazine or anthology concepts--in the future.
With the completion of "A Helping Hand", I've also completed the Writers of the Future Online Workshop and earned a lovely certificate!
I'm not looking at any other serious writing projects in the near term--things are simply too hectic-- but once things settle down I plan on making another pass over my manuscript of The Silver Shrike. From there, I'll decide whether to do a partial rewrite or a complete overhaul of the concept.
Depending on how things go, I may also self-publish my short story "The Death of Liberty?" It's one of my favorite stories, but its inherently political nature means it's hard to find a market. Nevertheless, I feel like its message is an important one. Especially in a time like this.
2) On the entertainment front, my digital contributor's copy of Under The Cape landed in my inbox last week and I really enjoyed most of the other stories. So much so I'll probably write a review for the anthology (excluding my own story, of course).
I'll be getting back to my reread of The Return of the King this week. From there, I have no clue what's next. My "To Be Read" pile is a mile high at this point.
Meanwhile, we just started Season Four of The Legend of Korra over on Netflix. I gotta give the show major props for its handling of trauma so far; tackling such mature themes isn't easy.
3) Everyone's still adjusting to virtual school, as this is the first week of real work. I've managed to squeeze in some writing time around helping out with math and the like, but it's tricky. One more reason I'm glad to be taking a break from writing original stories at the moment.
Hopefully everyone reading this is well. I'll see y'all next week!
1) In writing, I just wrapped up "A Helping Hand" yesterday. This story didn't end exactly the way I'd planned, but I'm still pretty happy with the first draft. In a week or two, I'll start editing. Although there aren't many markets for superhero prose, I think this particular story has some potential as bonus content for a newsletter or large project--like one of my magazine or anthology concepts--in the future.
With the completion of "A Helping Hand", I've also completed the Writers of the Future Online Workshop and earned a lovely certificate!
I'm not looking at any other serious writing projects in the near term--things are simply too hectic-- but once things settle down I plan on making another pass over my manuscript of The Silver Shrike. From there, I'll decide whether to do a partial rewrite or a complete overhaul of the concept.
Depending on how things go, I may also self-publish my short story "The Death of Liberty?" It's one of my favorite stories, but its inherently political nature means it's hard to find a market. Nevertheless, I feel like its message is an important one. Especially in a time like this.
2) On the entertainment front, my digital contributor's copy of Under The Cape landed in my inbox last week and I really enjoyed most of the other stories. So much so I'll probably write a review for the anthology (excluding my own story, of course).
I'll be getting back to my reread of The Return of the King this week. From there, I have no clue what's next. My "To Be Read" pile is a mile high at this point.
Meanwhile, we just started Season Four of The Legend of Korra over on Netflix. I gotta give the show major props for its handling of trauma so far; tackling such mature themes isn't easy.
3) Everyone's still adjusting to virtual school, as this is the first week of real work. I've managed to squeeze in some writing time around helping out with math and the like, but it's tricky. One more reason I'm glad to be taking a break from writing original stories at the moment.
Hopefully everyone reading this is well. I'll see y'all next week!
August 25, 2020
Welcome to My Blog!
Like the title says, welcome to my first ever blog! Getting started is a little daunting, but I'm sure I'll figure things out. Right now, I'm planning roughly one blog post a week which will cover what I'm writing, the media I'm consuming, and anything interesting going on in my own life.
This week, I am...
1)...writing a short story entitled "A Helping Hand" for the Writers of the Future Online Workshop. It's a prequel of sorts to my novelette "Law, Love, and the Whippoorwill" from Under The Cape and showcases the events which led to Topsannah taking in Rosa. If my current pace holds, I should wrap it up by Friday.
2)...finally getting around to reading The Return of the King again. I first read The Lord of the Rings back in 7th Grade, and I'm realizing just how much detail I missed the first time around.
Meanwhile, on the TV front, my brothers and I are about halfway through Season 3 of The Legend of Korra. One of my favorite things about the series is how it opted for a more 'modern' secondary world. So many storytelling opportunities open up when you blend fantasy elements and advances in technology.
3)...helping my little brothers get started with virtual school. Right now, things are fairly relaxed, but I'm sure they'll ramp up next week. No doubt being a de facto teacher's assistant will make it tough to find time to write, but I'm sure I'll find a way to work around it.
See y'all next week!
This week, I am...
1)...writing a short story entitled "A Helping Hand" for the Writers of the Future Online Workshop. It's a prequel of sorts to my novelette "Law, Love, and the Whippoorwill" from Under The Cape and showcases the events which led to Topsannah taking in Rosa. If my current pace holds, I should wrap it up by Friday.
2)...finally getting around to reading The Return of the King again. I first read The Lord of the Rings back in 7th Grade, and I'm realizing just how much detail I missed the first time around.
Meanwhile, on the TV front, my brothers and I are about halfway through Season 3 of The Legend of Korra. One of my favorite things about the series is how it opted for a more 'modern' secondary world. So many storytelling opportunities open up when you blend fantasy elements and advances in technology.
3)...helping my little brothers get started with virtual school. Right now, things are fairly relaxed, but I'm sure they'll ramp up next week. No doubt being a de facto teacher's assistant will make it tough to find time to write, but I'm sure I'll find a way to work around it.
See y'all next week!
Writing, Reading, and Living with Austin Worley
Here on my first ever blog, you're welcome to follow along as I chronicle my writing process and life.
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