Spring Break

With Spring Break finally here I have some time to write. Already I have scratched a couple things off my list. First I organized all of my writing into a few categories which is helpful for when I'm trying to find something: poems, short stories, plays, free writing, books. I am usually working on a few things at any given time, so organization is important to me. I also managed to rewrite the plays I've written for my church in an effort to sell them. Only recently did I learn the play writing format and so I had to take some time to re-write them. I feel better now that it's done. The last thing I have to figure out is what to write this break. A few days are gone already, but there is still time. Here are some of my options.

1. Book: Sureshot 3 (not the real title). I really didn't want to work on this until I have sold Sureshot 2, which is not going that well, but I love the story, and it might be helpful to finish it because I could move on to something else. It is a good story and I have written about 10% of it here and there and would like to get it done. That said the prospects of finding a buyer for it are basically nil since I've not sold the second one yet.
   
2. Book: Blood Aliance. This story is about (Please don't judge) zombies. I know they are overdone but I like them. Again I've written about 10-20% of this story already and it would be nice to finish. I don't think the prospects of me selling the book are high given the current flood of similar stories, but I think it could work. Besides, I love the premise.
   
3. Book: French Revolution. I started a story last spring that followed a character in the French Revolution. I intended to use the narrative to teach the French Rev in class with the hope of developing a broader collection of stories that could be used in a high school class. I feel like I need to rewrite the story because I wonder if it would be better as a bunch of newspaper articles rather than a narrative, but still it is something that is fun and potentially useful in my classroom.
   

Well those are the books I've already been working on and need finishing. Let me know if you have an opinion as to which one I should focus my attention.

Short Story: Jiminey Cricket's Performance Evaluation

I decided that in order to continue to move towards an actual writing career, it was important to write every week. So I give myself a specific assignment every week and so far I have managed to write something each week and build on the myriad of writing I have stored up just waiting for someone interested in paying me for it.

Recently I wrote a short story entitled "Jiminey Cricket's Performance Evaluation." It is very tongue in cheek of course, but I had a couple goals in writing the piece that I hope came through. The first was that after hearing Pinocchio a dozen times as my kids watch it over and over again, I decided that Jiminey is probably one of the worst consciences ever. He doesn't really manage to do anything right the entire film. He is a failure from start to finish, and yet at the end he gets a little medal and promoted?!?! Terrible. The second thing I was hoping to poke fun at is human resources. I get evaluated every year by someone at the school, and it has been someone different every year, and the whole process of evaluating is rife with waste. It is another bureaucratic tool for wasting every one's time.

I thought it would be funny if the famous Cricket had to go through the same process. Well the piece is decent. It accomplished the things I hoped it would, and is entertaining enough as well. I have a few more short story ideas that I might pick for my weekly writing goal. I don't think I'll post it hear, but if anyone is interested in the piece, let me know.