Writing is challenging. This is not a task to be taken lightly, and certainly not one to go into expecting an immediate level of satisfaction. I can pump out one thousand words a day, but do I feel good about them? Am I satisfied with the quality of the work I’ve done? Will I ever be? It’s as much a battle of writing words on a page as it is of one’s ego, because even if I feel like a genius for dumping out text, we are also still subject to the opinion of the masses, or at least our peer review group.
There are standard templates of plots and storylines. “Nothing is new under the sun,” as they say, and that goes particularly true in writing. The only newness an author can provide is his or her individual take on the story and it’s elements: perspective, style, tense, pacing. We only improve through practice, and by attempting to open ourselves to different types of writing, whether that means a genre change, a subject change, or what have you.
Which brings us back to, “writing is challenging.” It’s not just challenging to do, it’s about challenging yourself as a writer. And so, this brings me around to the list of stories we have today, and specifically to one of our authors, Keith English. Part 2 of “Death Blooms” was, he states, a difficult story to write. He had to go deeper into the darkness of a human soul and find out what drove him there. It may not be for everyone. Some readers will love it, and some will hate it. Some won’t think anything different, perhaps desensitized by the brutality of the real world in which we live. But to put those words on paper, and put that paper (electronically) out in front of the world, is not only to expose his writing, but a part of himself. I applaud his courage and his fortitude in completing this story.
I would also like to applaud Jim Owens, who bring us the first of a five-part story — another huge endeavor, as he has already written drafts of the following four parts — and solidifies our publishing schedule for at least the next year. The rest of our writers (myself included) would do well to keep that same pace. We’d have to publish ten times a year to keep up with the stories!
As ever, read well, enjoy, and let us know what you think in the feedback sections.
-Jon
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