Productivity is up

I've been writing more since Thanksgiving than I had during much of the year, and four new short stories are going in the mail the next time I leave the house.

Including these four, I've completed and submitted five new stories since Thanksgiving. I've also started numerous new stories and have made progress--sometimes significant progress--on a number of other stories in various stages of completion.

Why the sudden flood of work? I'm not certain, but I did spend Thanksgiving away from home, away from my office, away from my computer, and away from writing in any form. I think I came back refreshed and ready to get back to work.

Why I support the writers' strike

While I should support my brother and sister writers in their effort to receive fair compensation for their work in television and movies, I don't. I support the strike for a purely selfish reason.

As my favorite television programs run out of new episodes and are replaced by reruns and bad reality TV, I find myself spending more time writing. The longer the strike lasts, the more I write. The more I write, the more I earn.

So, strike on brothers and sisters. At least this writer is benefitting from your struggle.

Published

My story "The Philandering Private Eye" appears in the January issue of True Confessions. Although published in a confession magazine, this story is straight-up crime fiction. And the title isn't mine; there's no private eye in the story.

Letter published

I have a letter in the current issue (#102) of Mystery Scene.

First publication in 2008

My story "In Love With Mr. Coffee" appears in the January True Story, making it my first publication of 2008. I have two other stories scheduled for January publication, so I might start the year with a trio of publications.

"In Love With Mr. Coffee" was originally slated for the December 2005 issue, but was bumped. I've had stories bumped before--many times, actually--but I don't think I've ever had one bumped 25 months!