Its NaNoWriMo!

What is NaNoWriMo and why is it up on this site you ask?

Well, November is the National Novel Writing Month and its a very cool concept, you take the month of November to write your novel. The site itself is run as a non-profit to help you track your progress.

At its core the concept is pretty simple if you write about 1,650 words per day you end up with about the length of a novel in a story. And if you're relatively quick about it and the idea flows then that goal isn't that much. But you aren't limited to writing a novel you can use this month to track pretty much any type of writing.

For example if you like to blog or are thinking about starting one up then the 50,000 or so words that typically make up a novel this would net you a whole lot of blog posts (500 one thousand word posts). That amount of writing would be enough to keep many a blog going for a very long time. But this site is meant for writing a novel.

Writing a novel, even one that never gets published is a huge accomplishment and one that many people would love to do this is one way to help encourage yourself to do it.

The idea is very cool, I highly encourage you to check it out.

New Approach for the Site

I want to revitalize this site and get it back up and running with a bit more info than a few odd stories. I was thinking of moving forward not only with short stories but also what I've learned writing including all kinds of writing. The difference between this site and other writing sits will be that we'll still post short stories.

Over the years I've realized being able to write and communicate through writing is incredibly important. Hopefully this site will help people express their thoughts and ideas through words. From stories to presentations to a well crafted emails. There is an art in words.

What can you expect?

A continuation of the writing I've already placed on here; that's what prompted me to revisit the site in the first place. Life is busy but crafting a good short story can be done at least every week or two along with some posts about writing and how I and others approach it.

Finally I also want to open the site up a bit and include stories and articles from others; if you have a story or post idea you'd like to share let me know and we can see about including it on the site. 

Revitalizing the site

UPDATE

I know that originally I posed a couple years back that I wanted to revitalize the site. Not much happened at the time but as you can see there are some changes slowly happening. I read through some of the writing and liked it; some of it definitely needs editing but at the core it was something I liked. I enjoyed the writing and the reading.

There will be some changes coming as well, not only fiction but other things will be coming because 500 words or so applies not only to creative writing but to everything!

updated: Oct 16, 2013

August 7th - Part IV

The day went by rather quickly after that which was rather nice since I was really looking forward to the evening. When you’re busy preparing for winter you don’t have the opportunity to just spend time with someone whenever you want. I really wish that was a possibility but even today, knowing I was going to be seeing Em I still had to work with my dad till almost 7 before I could just take off. Normally this wouldn’t have even happened simply because of all the regular routine tasks that have to be done every night and day just to be able to be as productive as possible during the daylight hours and I might add during the warm hours.

I digress, the day went quickly and I found I was taking my shower before I even knew it and I definitely needed one today. I’m glad my parents didn’t mind me using the extra water; the heater runs on electricity and you don’t want to be wasting that unnecessarily. I got dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a nice shirt, I don’t have many of those since most of my work is fairly physical so it was a bit of a treat, even if we’re only going to the pub.

I was ready, I got my shoes on and I was about to put on my jacket when my mom looked up from her papers, “Have fun Joseph, you’ve definitely earned it.”

“Thanks mom” I replied putting my jacket on then I walked over and gave her a kiss on the forehead, “I’ll try not to be out too late”

It was already getting dark out and it wasn’t even that late, maybe 8:30 when I closed the door to the house behind me. The walk to the bar was pretty quick since most of the buildings in what’s left of the town are clustered together. The building was fairly large in that it was two floors with the pub also being a local inn or hotel. There wasn’t a great deal of travel so keeping a full hotel up and running really didn’t make much sense. It also meant that whenever someone came to town everyone knew about it.

I opened the door to find the place about half full, people often came here to have a drink or just to socialize before heading home. There was also a bit of a buzz that was a bit louder than normal; maybe a traveler came into town. I saw Emily instantly sitting in our favorite booth in the back corner and headed over there right away.

She noticed me coming over and smiled warmly her eyes lighting up, “You’re late you know!” she quipped in my direction as I came to the booth.

“I wanted to look my best for you!” I jabbed back and leaned over giving her a kiss. Taking off my jacket I asked, “What’s with all the noise? Someone new in town?”

Continued from: August 7 - Part I
Story: The Longest Winter

August 7th - Part III

After finishing breakfast I grabbed my jacket and headed out the door, it was a beautiful morning the sun was shining and a few wisps of clouds were floating by though there was a bit of crispness to the air. Taking in a deep breath I started towards the storage that we used for building supplies. It was simply a warehouse that we used for storing building supplies, as did others, it’s much easier to keep one storage building insulated and standing through the winters than everyone having their own. It was a fairly big building being it was 3 floors high but I was also one of the ugliest buildings in town, it looked like a big box, no windows only a couple doors.

I could see the monstrosity just down the street, the town was pretty quiet today, only a handful of people milling around. Just then I heard a familiar voice behind me, “Joesph, wait up!” Stopping and turning around I saw Em and couldn’t help but smile; her face was bathed in the morning sun and she looked radiant even though she was carrying a large bundle, “Hey Em! I’d give you a hug but my arms aren’t quite that long, want a hand?”

She walked up and gave me a kiss, “Sure thing, you headed to the box?” She always called the warehouse the box and rightfully so.

“Actually I am, my Dad needs some supplies so I’m the lucky one to go” I answered as I took some of her bundle. Looking at the things I grabbed from Em I realized that I was holding summer blankets, “Breaking out the warmer sleeping gear?”

“Yeah, my mom was complaining about the cold this morning so before anything I was told to switch them up” Em replied, more of her was now visible that I was carrying half of her bundle, she was wearing a pair of jeans, a pink sweater and a black jacket, the effect was simple but very nice. It made her look a bit older than her seventeen years but that was ok, she always had the air of maturity and wisdom about her, it was one of the things I liked about her.
“So we’re still on for later today?” I asked a bit nervously, chores and tasks tended to delay things especially when it started to get colder.

We reached the warehouse door by this point so I grabbed the door handle and swung it open before I could get an answer and held the door for her. I got this coy smile as Em walked in with a slightly raised eyebrow not stopping she headed straight for their locker. Her brown hair hung just past her shoulders and bounced slightly as she walked a bit quicker than normal making sure to sway her hips a bit in the process. It was just enough to get my attention in the faded light inside the building.

I quickly let go of the door and quickly followed her inside, she turned the corner to their storage locker and I heard the lock being opened. Turning the corner there was Em, looking right at me with that same coy smile, “What do you think? If course we’re still on for tonight” She took the bundle from me throwing it inside then kissed me, “And that’s just a taste for later, now go before you distract me too much”

Continued from: August 7 - Part I
Story: The Longest Winter