bradsalomons It’s been a weird week of snow and stuff and such and I haven’t done much #writing or had many #coffee sessions, but with Friday here and the month settling into some end of year finality, I made it out to get some words on the page. Of course, I’m sitting here posting this, so you can speculate on exactly just how well that is working out, but—

bradsalomons The Canmore #coffee scene has a #paranormal vibe that I’ve incorporated quite judiciously into my fiction #writing — that is to say the fictional City of Birchmont and setting for my recent word-craft is based heavily on this little town, no doubt, and influenced by our frequent visits. Yet somehow I hadn’t noticed the #cryptozoology vibe in the town until I started writing paranormal fiction—but now I see it everywhere.

I got a couple scenes written while we visited this weekend, so inspiration meets perspiration, huh? The first book in my Stories from Birchmont series will be completed soon, maybe even by the end of November if I stop goofing around and write the last few chapters!

8r4d Despite the shartyness of the week so far, I have been making significant progress on my #writing and specifically the #editing of the novel. I’m hoping to have all of part one to the next stage by the end of the day, and this #sunrise view and a #coffee is certainly going to help with that effort. [read more...]

8r4d The Kid booked the makerspace at the library for a couple of hours so that she and her friends could try recording their podcast there, so as a resultI—the responsible, waver-signing adult—needs to hang around and kill a couple hours #writing and having some tlc with my #keyboard. Oddly, a bustling library on a Sunday afternoon is less ideal for my creative efforts than I would have imagined.

8r4d I find myself unexpectedly on #whyteavenue on a Wednesday evening, sipping #tea and #writing because The Kid needed a ride up to an #improvtheatre orientation up here. I didn’t really expect to be up here and, yeah, I tried the library but where my #keyboard is usually quiet enough for the background him of the cafe to not be annoying, I felt very self conscious about the clickety-clack in the super-quiet library what with people, probably students, studying all around me. So—I paid for a peppermint tea and here I sit, trying to feel inspired or something.

8r4d …Meanwhile, after a week of free fancy #bakery #coffee drinks here I sit, back to #writing and spending some quality time with my #keyboard in my favourite Starbucks this morning.

8r4d This gives new meaning to the term “field work” doesn’t it? #keyboard #writing #summer

8r4d The new #keyboard arrived in the mail sometime this morning after a string of email notifications that I’d signed up for last week when I got the original shipping notice. So that’s that then. I’m one of those guys with a fancy retro keyboard and no more excuses not to get lots and lot of words onto paper. I think I’ll be heading over to a cafe of some sort this afternoon just simply to make up for lost time and get some #writing done. One of the nicer features of this device, and I’m sure it is pretty much standard on any old keyboard these days anyways, is the multi-device functionality. That means with the press of a key or two I can flip between typing on my iPad (serious writing) and typing on my phone (for text like this.) I could go through a lot of rigamorole with the old keyboard unpairing it, repairing it and then back and forth that way, but it was a real big pain. It may not be something I ever use, or it could be exactly what i needed to get some more extensive posts going on here. Who can say? [read more...]

8r4d I’ve had a bout of what some may call writers block. Sitting somewhere with a #coffee trying to type out a block of fiction on a regular basis is a great plan, but sometimes you just sit there and stare at the keyboard and none of it works. Today has been a bit better and I’ve got nearly a full chapter knocked out, but #writing can be a helluva chore. I saw a post yesterday that said something like: Oh so you want to be a writer? Ok: Imagine having a homework assignment every single day for the rest of your life.

8r4d I probably should’ve gone down the #keyboard rabbit hole back when I was just starting my #writing efforts on this novel, but the slow deterioration of my current wireless keyboard (pictured) has made it a bit of a necessity this week. By the way, did you know there is a whole subculture of obsessive, keyboard enthusiasts? Visiting a crazy subculture is a neat way to spend an evening and I don’t think I’ll stay there, but I did buy myself a new mid range wireless keyboard out of the deal. These are folks who go far beyond your typical Logitech or Apple office peripheral and instead build and modify, highly customizable, high-end keyboard products with in-depth details and reviews on things like the pressure sensitivity of springs, the latency of key press, transmission, typing sound profiles, and of course, battery life. My biggest concern was to treat myself to a reasonably quality, portable, smallish keyboard to help with my fiction writing on a day-to-day basis as my trusty chiclet keyboard approaches the end of its life.And ultimately as a result of my adventure thru the looking glass I opted to buy a fairly good quality, but very small profile, portable mechanical keyboard, which should allow me to keep typing and maybe even finish this damn novel soon.

Microfiction or microstories are bits of #writing exercises that are meant to stretch the creative muscles. I'm having a creative December, so I'm gonna be posting lots of art and words and other related stuff. With my microstories I like the idea of committing to a work for 30 minutes and fleshing out a story in 200-300 words and then moving on. And forcing myself to do it from a random prompt makes it so that I don't write 30 stories about time travelling robots. Today's is kind of an allegory for a kid stumbling onto social media. See a theme here?

For my #creativeadvent challenge I've got a list of daily creative chores to do for the first twenty four days of December. While you're scarfing little chocolates from your advent calendars, I'll be #writing #painting and #posting. This is your feed for that. Like for today, I did the first of my December #microfiction posts linked below: