Jeff Coleman's Blog: Jeff Coleman Writes, page 34

A Case of Mistaken Identity: An Update

It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted the last installment. I’d like to explain why. As I was going through previous posts and sharing them with others, I was discovering that a lot of what I’d written was inconsistent and needed substantial revision. I’ve taken the time to do so, and have finished editing parts 1-5.

I’m going to revise part 6 next week, and then I’ll continue on with part 7 the following week. Thank you so much for your patience, and I hope you’ll continue to enjoy the s...

A Case of Mistaken Identity, Part 6

You can read part 5 here.

The sky outside my cell is lightening. I can feel Death approaching, hastening his footsteps. It won’t be long now. If I’m going to finish my story, I’d best get on with it…

Needless to say, my childhood in that house was miserable. My true mother never did come to rescue me. Neither did mirror-Eugene return to tell me it had all been a cruel joke. I held onto this foolish hope for at least seven days, staying up late into the night, staring at the inside of my new clo...

A Case of Mistaken Identity, Part 5

You can read part 4 here.

I felt like a caged animal. I was growing short of breath, and started heaving like I’d run a mile as I clawed and scratched and pounded at the wall that had only recently been a door.

I don’t know how long I’d been banging and shouting, begging for mirror-Eugene to let me back on the other side, but at some point I heard the door to the room sail open, and I turned just in time to watch the knob smash into the wall.

“Eugene! What’s gotten into you? Stop that banging no...

“The Others,” Coming to an E-Bookstore Near You

I’m interrupting your regularly scheduled programming to update you regarding the publication of my soon-to-be-released middle grade fantasy, The Others. A Case of Mistaken Identity will resume next week.

As I mentioned back in April, I’ve been working on this book since 2013. Here’s a working (and very rough) synopsis, to give you an idea of what the story’s about:

Jason is your average eleven year-old boy. He likes TV. He has a babysitter he could do without. His little sister Janie is his ar...

A Case of Mistaken Identity, Part 4

You can read part 3 here.

I can show you how. My double’s words reverberated inside my head.

He’d said he could show me another world. Suddenly, my room, the house, the world, even the stars in the sky, paled when held up to the blinding light of a cosmos much richer than I could ever have imagined.

I wanted to explore. I would often pretend that I was an astronaut or an adventurer; I’d had access to a host of secret worlds whose only keys lay within the confines of my imagination. Now, the adve...

A Case of Mistaken Identity, Part 3

You can read part 2 here.

For the next few weeks, my double visited me in my room at night.He was the identical twin brother I never had. We hung around in the dark until the small hours of the morning, talking about random things.

We often swapped stories of our families. I was fascinated to learn that he had an older brother. I too once had an older brother, three years my senior. Unfortunately, he’d died in a car crash along with my dad when I was five. I wondered if my brother had looked th...

A Case of Mistaken Identity, Part 2

Read Part 1 here.

The boy stared down at me, my mirror double, and once again I wondered if this was all a dream. I imagined that if only I could keep calm, if I could give myself time to wake up, the strange apparition would evaporate. But that hideous alter ego of mine never wavered.

“Don’t scream,” he said, his mouth set in a wicked rictus. “If you try, you’ll be sorry.”

I struggled against the hand that covered my mouth, and it pressed down tighter. In that moment, I knew monsters were real...

A Case of Mistaken Identity, Part 1

My name is Eugene Peter Carver. I’m 27 years old. Despite unsanitary living conditions, I’m in pretty decenthealth, have been since I was very young. Not that it matters any longer. By the time you read this, I’ll be dead.

I can hardly believe I’ve reached the end.You always thinkyou’ll live forever, that no matter what happens, something will save you from your own personal end of days. But death catches us all by surprise, especially those of us who expect it the most.

Sometimes, I can hardly...

Times, They Are A Changin’

Nothing stays the same forever.

This is true of life, and it’s also true for my blog. As of next week, the format will change. You’ll be seeing a lot less of my thoughts about life and a lot more original fiction.

It was always my intention to post more stories, but the perfectionist in me always got in the way. I thought that if I wanted to share my writing, I would have to make it perfect. I’d have to go through the same kind of lengthy editorial process that’s required for books and magazine...

My Critique Group is Awesome (or, “Why Critique Groups are Crucial for Success”)

I’ve been meeting with a critique group for a little over a year.

At first, I was petrified by the idea of making myself so vulnerable. What if they didn’t like me? What if they didn’t like my work? I knew I had to break out of my shell, that I had to start meeting other writers if I was ever going to improve my craft and get to a point where I could publish my work. But I was terrified of rejection, and a few months passedbefore I finally found the courage to join a group and put myself out t...