Category: Challenge (Page 1 of 4)

Get your popcorn ready…

11/21/2019 / Mike / 0 Comments

First thing’s first. Check this out: FILM ANNOUNCEMENT! After that, why don’t you hop on over here to find out a little more.

The excitement of knowing that something you wrote is going to be made into a movie is inexpressible.
Knowing it’s also going to be a movie shot in 3D makes the excitement unbearable.
Looking at the timeframe it takes to make a movie is sobering.

While this post is mostly announcing the fact that someone thought something I wrote was interesting enough to try to make into a movie… it also gives me a chance to talk about something else that has had an impact on my life as a writer. Tempering excitement.

Why I’ve chosen speculative fiction…

04/02/2019 / Mike / 0 Comments

I’ve chosen to go with the label of ‘speculative fiction’ when it comes to explaining the stories I write. Almost all of my stories are different from each other, and almost none of them can be socketed neatly or cleanly into one of the main genres used to describe books these days.

“But why?” you ask. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples:

When the snow hits…

02/12/2019 / Mike / 3 Comments

Last night, it snowed… about 10 inches. Last night I also got sick (at least, began feeling the effects of getting sick). Today I woke up a little before noon because my body needed the rest. I’m still tired and sore and doing my best to keep my head in one piece. I’m also recovering from blowing the snow off the driveway and scraping the car.

Why didn’t I call in sick? Why am I still going to work tonight? Because a coworker has called in sick every day for the last week. I’ve seen how it effects everyone else’s schedules… how people need to be called and shifted around, how this person is asked to stay longer, how management is suddenly on the hook for people not willing to come in. When a monkey-wrench is thrown into a well-oiled machine, things tend to go downhill fast.

How many words per day should I write?

06/05/2018 / Mike / 1 Comment

First of all, that title is a little bit misleading. Some people like to use words… some like to use pages… others will only set aside blocks of time. It really doesn’t matter what you use to measure progress, though. Whether you write 5,000 words per day, or 5 words per week, progress is progress.

While setting a goal is important, one part of the process that people tend to forget is setting ‘reachable’ goals. Something you are actually able to do. Not only does this mean setting an attainable goal, but to also take into account what you are physically and/or mentally capable of. Those with disabilities and/or illnesses (be they visible or hidden), aren’t always able to sustain, maintain, or even reach goals that are repeated on website after website (such as: Write every day). So, the caveat regarding advice is: Take what you can, throw away what you can’t, and tweak what you need to for it to fit your needs.

The tunnel…

07/17/2017 / Mike / 0 Comments

I’m not happy with today’s prompt (again), so I’m going to ‘borrow’ a prompt from a friend. They were asking for help regarding a situation in their book, and my brain just went nuts. I’ll try my best to keep it short today. Here’s the prompt: In an attempt to get somewhere safer, two people suddenly appear in a very dark tunnel. For reasons unknown, they can’t get out the same way they got in.

Now I’m drivin’ a Porsche…

07/15/2017 / Mike / 2 Comments

Imagine you’re just getting your license to drive, and you’re given a Smart car to drive around… one of those little mini things that fit one and a half humans inside and look like they’d blow off the road in a stiff wind. While not everyone is enamored with such a small vehicle, it does the job at getting you from Point A to Point B. It may not have the best handling, or power, but you can drive on the roads and park in any spot just like any other car.

Now, imagine you get a job as a courier. You deliver packages and whatnot all over the place. You get paid more if you can deliver more packages at the same time, and if you get them there faster (forget about stupid things like speed limits for this exercise). What kind of car do you think you would need for this job? Probably one with a pretty good sized cargo space… one with a big gas tank so you wouldn’t have to fill up as often… one with good aerodynamics to keep you going fast… one with a powerful engine to keep your speed high… one with great suspension for handling corners and rough terrain (like the billions of potholes in Spokane). What if you could get a car like that for $20.

This is a Trigger Warning…

07/10/2017 / Mike / 0 Comments

*cracks knuckles* Today’s post is gonna be a tough one for me… not only because of the controversial topic, but because of my life experience that has led me to this topic. Today we’re talking about trigger warnings (and I don’t mean a sign telling you about Roy Rogers’ horse over there).

If not already apparent, a trigger warning is: a statement cautioning that content (as in a text, video, or class) may be disturbing or upsetting. There’s been a vehement argument in American colleges over the last few years regarding the use of them. I read an article the other day (yesterday, actually) that spoke of someone using their ‘sick’ days to take a ‘mental break’ from work… to essentially decompress and allow their brain to settle into being able to work productively again. They expressly used the excuse in an email to their boss, to which they got a response of, ‘good for you’.
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The way the cookie crumbles…

07/09/2017 / Mike / 0 Comments

Today is National Sugar Cookie day (and what I’m supposed to be writing about in today’s blog)… but, I’m not going to write about sugar cookies, because they’re not my favorite. What you see over there in the picture is a stack of perfection, also known as a stack of Snickerdoodles (yes, I capitalized it, they mean that much).

Now, from the uninitiated, I’ll get the, “Yeah, but aren’t snickerdoodles just sugar cookies rolled in cinnamon and sugar?” No no no no! While they share the same basic ingredients, snickerdoodles have one ingredient that is a necessity for them to become the mighty snickerdoodle… cream of tartar.
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Newton’s first law…

07/08/2017 / Mike / 0 Comments

We’re into our second week of blog posts. *weak cheer* Today’s prompt is: 8. How do you conserve energy?… and I’m not really sure how to tackle that one.

I prefer to be like that cat over there… a couch potato. I spend a lot of time on the couch, but it’s not just all watching TV (there’s YouTube, too). Ever since getting my job at Michael’s (yes, I’m the ironic guy… a Michael working at Michael’s), I’ve been putting in the miles by walking all over the store. An average, 4-hour shift, will tend to net me about 5-8000 steps. A day where I’m on the floor stocking, it can easily add up to a 10K steps day (that my phone insists is what I should strive for every single day).
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About as random as it gets…

07/07/2017 / Mike / 0 Comments

Has it really been a week already? 7 days, and I’ve already been close to giving up this blog thing twice. Today’s prompt is: 7. What does your blogging schedule look like? One second… *super loud laughing in the other room*

WHEW! I needed that. Before this challenge of writing a blog post a day for a month, you were lucky to catch a post once a month. I know I set a goal of one blog post a week almost a year ago, but that went down the tubes pretty quickly. I’m relatively new to this ‘keep to a schedule’ thing.

So, what would I like my blog schedule to look like? I’m glad you asked.
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