Ray Daley's Blog, page 47

Ray Bradbury Challenge, Week 34.

Not long finished this weeks story, inspired by another reddit writing prompt.

Came out at 1410 words. Not long, but long enough to say what I wanted it to.

Not entirely terrible, not great either.

It won’t set the literary world on fire.

At least I am done for this week.

Now I’ve got to get my head into the right frame of mind to attend my oldest sisters funeral tomorrow.

This isn’t going to be easy.

Ray Bradbury Challenge, Week 33.

Just finished this weeks story, 4408 words.

I had a different idea on Wednesday but it just wouldn’t fly. There wasn’t enough to it to make it work, no matter how I approached it.

I waited until today and wrote this one fairly easily apart from the ending which is pretty terrible and will need work.

But it IS finished.

I wasn’t sure how I’d manage this week after the death of my oldest sister.

I’m sure she’d want us to carry on living our lives as normally as possible.

I’m more determined than ever not to fail this far through the year now.

I want to succeed. Not just for me.

Life without someone loved

It’s not long gone midnight here.

Which means I’m now officially living the first day since the past of my oldest sister to cancer.

Our ten is now nine.

And I’m still not sure how to process this.

I don’t know what’s going to happen with the writing challenge this week.

Or for the rest of the year from this point onwards, in fact.

I’ll cross that bridge when we reach it on Wednesday.

Somewhere an extra star is shining tonight.

Ray Bradbury Challenge, Week 32.

Just finished this weeks story, from a reddit writing prompt.

Wrote fairly easily, considering the personal stuff I’m going through at the moment.

I was determined that nothing would stop me writing this week. It’s important to me and those concerned would understand that I feel this way.

1267 words in just over an hour.

I’m unsure about the ending but I’ll leave it a few days and see how it looks with a re-read then.

Still on track to complete the resolution.

The further into this year I get, the more I don’t want to fail.

Tough Week

Having one because there was some bad personal news in regard to a family member.

I’m having a hard time processing this, it’s a lot to take onboard in a short time so excuse me if I appear a bit weird at the moment.

I’ve had a chance to talk to someone (virtually) to unload and feel a bit better but it’s not the kind of news you get every day. I don’t want to give a lot of details (actually I don’t really want to give any, it’s my business – not yours) so I won’t be saying much in depth.

Bear with me. I’m coping with heavy shit.

I’m not sure if I’ll be doing a Bradbury Challenge story or not this week.

We’ll see what life has in store for me first.

Ray Bradbury Challenge, Week 31.

Just finished this weeks story, 1342 words.

It would have been sooner but I was working in the garden.

It’s not great but it IS finished.

What goes into writing (AKA The bits you DON’T see!)

The stories you read are exactly that, stories.

But they are a great deal more. Or some of them are.

Today I’m developing an idea. I’m not writing. Far from it.

I’m developing the background of the story.

This is stuff I will never use, never refer to in the story.

All you will see is the story, it’s about a reality show on an island.

You won’t see the development process.

Like how many weeks they were on the island.

How many competitors were taking part.

Ratio of men to women.

How the show worked each week.

How the support crew worked with the contestants.

How long it took to get to the island.

How quickly people got sick from “the illness” (it currently has no specifics).

Some of this may be referenced briefly, maybe a line or two here or there.

But 90% of this information and detail will remain unused, known only to me.

You as the reader would never be aware I had even put this level of work into the piece without this blog entry.

Next time you read a story, take a few moments and think about what time and effort went into the making of it. There might be reams of material the author did that you’ll never see or know about.

But at least now you have a rough idea how much some of us do just to bring that story to you.

Ray Bradbury Challenge, Week 30.

I’ve literally just finished this weeks Bradbury Challenge story, I’d written some of the end to it in the early hours of this morning. 2582 words in total, about 2 hours of writing.

I’m not super sure about the ending but I’m happy to have completed this weeks story.

Writing stuff

Finished my Bettie Page story. Just under 1000 words.

I couldn’t finish the story I started yesterday.

After several hours on it I did write more but couldn’t complete it.

It’s simply too depressing so I was having a day on something else today.

I just checked the Bradbury Challenge Folder.

I’ve written 89 stories so far. And it’s only week 29!

And another submission!

2nd story submission out in as many days.

This time off to Third Flatiron Publishing.

I hope they like it.