Completing in Pieces

I took a business trip last week to Arizona, and the flight from Hawaii gave me an opportunity to get some work done.  Additionally, there's not a lot of nightlife in Flagstaff, so I had plenty of time to work.

(Spread your wings!)

Now, I've mentioned before that I've started yearning to write my next novel, but I really want to wait until near the end of July to begin.  That gives me plenty of time to recuperate from my last book, as well as finish the editing process on Wrongful Death.  However, that doesn't mean I didn't want to write at all.  I needed to write for two reasons - first, because it's always a good thing to practice and hone the craft; and second, because writing is like going to the gym - skipping one day makes it easier to skip the next.

How to keep writing yet not get so engrossed in something that it consumes my life?  I found the answer - write short stories!

One of the works I plan to put out is a short story collection, somewhere around book nine or ten(after I've managed to build a base of readers).  The great thing about a short story collection is that I don't have to do it all at once.  The very nature of a short story is such that I can write one or two, come back to write more, and I don't have to remember where I left off because the next one is a whole new story.

(Short stories - always open for business)

The first one was an idea I've had for a while now, and it's very personal in nature.  I wrote it from a first person point of view, and it's kind of a self-confession of feelings I had from an earlier point in my life.  There are paths open to us in life that we can exercise that may seem noble but are really cowardly, and this story helped me express that.  I can't write tales like that too often, for they can be emotionally draining, but I hope it makes an impact on people.

The second one I wrote is a prequel story to the novel I'm going to start in about a month.  It's a fun sci-fi romp through a period of intergalactic travel and the settling of new worlds.  It's silly and was a nice respite from what I'd written earlier in the week.  Doing stories like that help me figure out the world I'm going to explore in a future novel, so they can be of great help.

I wish I'd written at least one more, but I didn't.  My goal is to have between 25-30 short stories for a collection of near 90,000 words when it's done.  Great thing is that I can chip away at it over the next year or so and still get a break from what I'm working on.  I'm already a third of the way to the goal, and best of all, the stories have all been edited already(some have even been entered in a few contests).

Maybe I can get another few done prior to the end of July, but I've got something to edit too.  Sheesh, when did life get so crowded?