Ten Days to Die.

Just the other day as I left my apartment, a strange man wearing a red scarf and a fedora bumped into me and whispered "In ten days, you'll be dead." I whirled on him immediately to demand what he meant by that, but he was gone.

Even though I've asked all my neighbors about the man, no one seems to remember anyone like that. I'm beginning to think he's either a crazy drifter or else I dreamed the whole thing, but it's been nine days of searching for him, so I'll let you know tomorrow.

Whenever I'm writing, I'm constantly plagued by this feeling that I'm not writing enough, or else I'm in a hurry to get to some other part of the story. What's helped me is to slow down, take my time to really enjoy every part that I'm writing, and remember that the chapter will be over when it's finished.

Same thing on the book itself. The book is done when you've finished telling the story. I've found that the more I write, the more likely I am to have a complex story with a well-defined beginning, middle, and end pop into my head all at once.

After that, I plot the whole thing out and start trying to fill in details to connect the pieces together. When I work on any given part of the outline, I keep reminding myself to write until its finished and don't rush it. What happens is that I get into a groove of how long my chapters are (and I tend to write shorter chapters) that I shoot for going forward.

Doubtless, I'm the only one. Sometimes, it seems like a chore that only you are pushing yourself to do. Unless you have an accountability system with a friend or fellow writer, it's easy to find excuses for not sitting down and working on your current book.

Tired. Got other things to do. Don't want to lug out that computer. Not feeling inspired. You name it, you've got the excuses too.

I usually fail to get around these excuses, but if I'm doing well, it's because I've done some ground work to get a plot going and I feel excited about the story. After all, if I'm not excited, why should a reader be? And there's another excuse: not excited. But don't you find that it's when you actually sit down to write something, anything, that ideas start to flow? I know I do.

Even if it's just getting out a blog entry, sticking with writing in spite of the excuses is something I need to commit to. No one else is going to push me. No one else is going to believe in me until I do first.

"Whenever you read a good book, it's like the author is right there, in the room talking to you, which is why I don't like to read good books."

I kid! I kid!

But, speaking of good books, I'd like to suggest you check out Scott Westerfeld's "Leviathan" series, which is a lot of fun. I liked the series a lot more than "Uglies" which was a good book, nonetheless. Still, this series had all these amazing historical tie-ins, detailed steampunk and bio-machines, adventure, suspense, and a character story that kept me engaged through all three books.

By the way, I almost forgot to post a link! This is a really cool website: www.scottwesterfeld.com

Calloway Stevens loves her cat, Sox. He is her constant companion and her confidante. A friend told her, rather childishly, "Cally, if you love that cat so much, why don't you marry him?"

In fact, that's just what she did. She had a lovely outdoor ceremony with a few friends, a minister, and Sox in a little kitty cat tux. Some may call her feline affection bizarre, but what do they expect? She's only five, after all.

I buckled down and got a chapter of DGVH2 (secret project) put to bed. Unfortunately, it was really late and I was so spaced out that it felt like I had written a lot more than I had...don't you hate that?

At any rate, it brings me to my point: getting distracted vs. actually getting something written. When you don't "feel it" just about anything is more exciting than writing, including chores you've been putting off for a while. But what happens is that you go from one distraction to the next until you come up against a hard deadline...like eating or sleeping or going to work.

Preaching to the choir here, but I know that I "feel" more like writing when I just sit down and do so. It helps me to have an outline, a boost of caffeine in my system, and some loud music in my ears.

Music has an immediate and undeniable impact on our moods, I mean as long as your choice of music doesn't stink. I go with head-pounding electronica most of the time. Also, there are a few tracks or bands that have a distinct atmospheric quality that I like when I'm trying to capture a mood.

I like to write with music blasting in my head because the earbuds I use block out distracting external sounds in addition to delivering audio inspiration directly to my skull.

A few things to note:
1) new songs change the mood...I might have one on repeat a while
2) lyrics can be distracting, but instrumental is good, or Japanese lyrics
3) if it's too loud, I get distracted by it so that I can't hear my own writing, which is why I often go for just instrumental or have to turn it down for a bit
4) readers can't hear my audio accompaniment, so the words I write had better stand on their own

At the grocery store, I saw a young man helping run errands for the clerks, putting things back on the shelf, rounding up buggies and whatnot. As I watched him, he was replacing a styrofoam container of Thai noodles to a shelf, but was holding it aloft, over his head as he shuffled down the aisle. Presently, he lowered it to his nose and inhaled deeply. Now, clearly, he was mentally challenged, so I dismissed his behavior as out of the ordinary, but understandable.


Not long after this, I saw him grab some coupons from the register's printer and sniff them before handing them over to the cashier, taking great pleasure in doing so. Doubtless, his behavior is odd, but it just made me wonder if maybe I just don't smell things nearly enough.

Two Men. One Flat.

John Raines entered his flat at dawn after a long night of drinking, tossed his keys on the dresser and stumbled off to get a shower. A rattle at the door handle followed by the creaking hinges brought him back in a flash, armed with a toilet plunger, to confront an intruder. The man who entered was shuffling through a stack of junk mail and idly tossed his keys right on top of John's. When he looked up, the shock registered on his face mirrored John's own: they were perfect twins.

The only difference was that the man who entered was better dressed and much less drunk. To make matters more confusing, both men could offer proof that they were both John Raines and had both rented the same flat exactly three months earlier. Shocking as this may be, what happened next would change the two men's lives forever.

First Post. Quick introduction. My name is Brandon Little, a full time graphics geek, father, spouse, repairer of broken toys, and part-time author. Hopefully, we'll get that switched around a bit as time goes on and I get to spend more time writing. That, of course, is completely up to you.

My philosophy of writing has always been that it should be fun, first and foremost. Before you get to be deep, philosophical, world-changing, or soul-searching, you have to make sure that your readers actually want to read what you scribbled out on the page. With this in mind, you'll find that, even when my writing isn't introspective, it will always be entertaining.

When it comes to writing for a younger audience, I stick by two points: 1) It's got to be clean-cut. I don't mind being exciting and I love action and adventure, but I'm not going to be graphically violent, use profanity, or have adult situations. 2) Defy the rules. If I ever kick myself over anything, it's that I didn't get even MORE outlandish. As long as a writer sticks by their own made-up sense of logic, it doesn't matter if it conforms to the rules of the real world. After all, if you wanted real, you'd pick up the newspaper.

That's all for now. I'll post some flash fiction next, and hope to have (as my darling wife and social media guru suggests) "Flash Fiction Fridays."