Once upon a time, I realized I enjoyed writing.  I’m not sure I can isolate when.  Was it when I joined the School Paper in Middle School?  Or was it when I secretly wrote stories in my notebooks while I was supposed to be listening in Chemistry class in High School?  Was it when I jotted snippets of stories in a notebook while on the road with my college baseball team.

It was probably earlier.  It was probably when I realized that I enjoyed reading.

About ten – fifteen years ago, I began writing in earnest.  I participated in National Novel Writing Month annually.  I even wrote to completion on a couple of novels.  I took a Creative Writing class at the local Community College.  I joined and participated in writing groups.  I read like a demon every book, website, magazine on what it took to be a writer.  I was impassioned.

A couple of problems led to me letting it all go.  Namely:

• Over consumption of all the expert advice had me spinning my wheels. A lot of the advice contradicted itself, and I probably lacked the self-awareness to identify which, if any, of these rules could apply to me. Some of the advice, made writing not fun.  Looking back, it seems that should have been the telling thing for me.  Any advice that took the joy out of something I enjoyed doing, should have been ignored.
• Sharing my work.   Ultimately, we tell stories to be heard/read.  I never got in the habit of sending my work off for fear of rejection.  This is something I still must conquer.  A lot has changed in the 7-8 years since I was writing earnestly.  I suspect I will be going directly to readers with novels.  Shorts, I probably will be collecting rejection slips.  When it’s all said and done, I still have to face the fear.

I want to write, though.  And I want to have fun doing it.  I want to write the stories that I enjoy reading.  I want to get better, too.  And to do that I will need to practice a lot.  So Pulp, it is.

The Pulp writers wrote tons of words in stories for the Everyman.  For readers like me.  Now, I make no guarantees that everything I write will fit neatly in one of the Pulp Genres (Detective, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Western, Weird/Horror), but I hope to write in the spirit of the Pulpsters.

So what’s this all about?  I’m going to share how things are going here.  I’ll share what I’m working on and how it is progressing.  Beyond that, anything goes.  Maybe, I’ll share my thoughts on stuff I read or watch.  I’ll try to keep it on topic, though.  The topic is Story (and writing).

What am I working on now?

Glad you asked.

Pulp Detective Novel with the working title of “Happy Hour” – 7,700 words currently

Short Story titled “Welcome to the Jungle” – approx. 300 words currently.

What about goals?

Daily = 1,500 new, clean words per day

By midnight Halloween => 71,000 new, clean words (to include completion of Happy Hour and a total of 6 short stories)

I hope you will cheer me on.

Tony