L. Lane Bailey's Blog, page 13

About…

Another type of story I seem to have a growing collection of on Vocal are autobiographical. Some of my fiction writing is based on episodes in my life, but those are highly fictionalized. However, I have written a few things that aren’t altered… or at least no more than my memory having altered them through the years. Read More

The first was for a challenge. The subject was confessions, and I have to admit that mine was pretty light… not the deep, dark secret for which they were looking....

Essays on Writing

I wrote a few non-fiction pieces on Vocal, including a few essays on writing. If you are interested in my process, or wondering how to go about a few of the steps in creating a novel, these might help… or not. For that matter, they might be a good negative example.

The first was Just Write the Book. Seriously, that is the first step. People research until they have talked themselves out of doing things. Analysis paralysis. Break the bonds and give it a rip.

The next one might be ...

Lucinda’s trilogy

When I first started writing on Vocal, the very first story was a challenge entry called Lucinda’s Choice. There had to be a black notebook, and a character getting $20,000 unexpectedly. Lucinda was leading a hard life when she mysteriously got a package with the notebook and instructions to go to a law office.

I knew that there was more to Lucinda’s story to tell. One day, as I sat down to write, she decided to tell me a little more of her story. There was no challenge, but I knew it w...

And on Vocal…

I have mentioned a few times that I am active on Vocal. There are a few different types of content I have published on that platform over the last few months, ranging from essays to fictional and non-fictional short stories. Technically, I actually get paid when you read there… 6/10ths of a penny per read. Not doing it for the cash, obviously.

But I am often doing it for the contests… which I haven’t won any of quite yet.

Over the next couple of weeks I will load up some links to st...

Weakness excerpt

I posted up Invisible a few days ago. This one is also part of that. I wrote two different openings, and this is the second half of the other one. the concept is the same, though… Jack Dixon’s temptations as he and his wife work to find their places.

They packed up after sunset, Jack driving the van back to the small compound.  He unloaded his film and took it inside to the small refrigerator.  As he got ready to hop into the shower, he heard a light knock on his door. 

“Are you comin...

At Arm’s Length excerpt

This is a brand new story. I only started it a few weeks ago, but it had quickly rocketed to almost 24k words, with no end in sight. It involves a spy and an author. This is a little of the set-up.

Beth Campbell had enjoyed an interesting life.  While still in college she had been recruited as a spy.  A field agent.  She was good at it. Read More

She’d been posted through much of Europe, usually with a diplomatic cover involving culture.  As a beautiful woman, she blended well in the so...

Roving Goalposts

I have set two goals for myself for August… two goals I will NEED your help with. I can’t do this alone. They aren’t huge, but they will be significant if they can be reached. Read More

First, the easy and free one… it’ll only take a few minutes. Here is the sneak peek. My profile on Vocal Media.

I would like to reach a thousand total reads on Vocal by the end of the month. On 31 July I was standing at 779. Eight reads a day would propel me to over 1000. To help accomplish that,...

Excerpt from Invisible

Jack Dixon has been my goto main character. He started this whole writing thing for me. But, through it all, Jack has had one “flaw”… he’s been too perfect. His relationship with Amy seems too strong, too perfect. I’ve known for a while that there were cracks in the armor, but this story will be the one that explores those cracks. It is also very early in the process. There are actually two starts that I have written, and the final product could have elements of both, or neither. We’ll ha...

Railroaded

This story has a murder mystery and conspiracy. It is still well in the early staged of development. I started it a few months ago, but set it aside to concentrate on some other stories. The direction at the time wasn’t what I wanted… I will likely get back to it this fall.

In this clip, Kyle Abbott, the PR flack for a railroad, comes into a restaurant he regularly haunts. Ginger Phogg is who he normally has serve him. She saw a story on the news and rushed to work, knowing he would b...

Unpublished excerpts

You might have noticed…

I have posted up a few excerpts from unpublished works. I don’t know how many will be posted… honestly, I don’t know how many projects I have that are mature enough to post anything from. I’ll have to sit down and figure that out.

A few of these have been “in the works” for quite a while. Others, popped in and might get dome quickly. I have one that I might include here that, as I write this post, I haven’t started writing yet. I am writing this blog post on ...