I read the end of Hired/Fired at my writers group yesterday. I got a good amount of feedback as I usually do, and some thought my portrayal of the FBI agents was unrealistic. I have rewritten the beginning and will look at the ending to see if I can incorporate some of the suggestions into the story.

Next week I will start reading Snowcrypt, which is a little away from my norm. I look forward to the groups comments.

A senior member of the group, who has two published novels, has consented to teach a two day class on novel writing. I signed up immediately and hope to learn some good things.

Happy New Year to all!
and...Write!
JH

Ok, I'll provide links to make it easy for you.

Southern Cal is free today, Monday, and Tuesday:  http://www.amazon.com/Southern-Cal-Jack-Haller-ebook/dp/B00B2E2268

A Scary Vacation is always free:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/303660

If you like those, the other stories are available at $.99 each.
 Reviews are always welcome.

Merry Christmas and
Write!
JH

Shameless promotion. Ebooks make wonderful stocking stuffers and you don't have to fight the crowds or burn your precious gasoline. For $.99 you can't go wrong!

I have 3 short estories on Amazon and 3 on Smashwords.com. Click on the story and then click "gift". Enter the email of the giftee.

A Scary Vacation is free on Smashwords. You could gift it by cutting and pasting the www address in an email to the giftee.
Also, Southern Cal will be free on Amazon on Sun, Mon, Tues Dec. 22-24

Be sure to make time during this busy season to write.
JH

Got my Sony dvd player with wifi. Now I can sell my Wii which I was using as a Netflix interface. I haven't used it since I bowled a 300 game.

Got another rejection this week, twelve for the year.

Saturday was the writers Christmas Party. I tried to write humor and I did get one laugh and some nice applause. The food was great and since I was in Arizona last Christmas I wore my Sedona tshirt, the closest thing to festive that I own.

Am rewriting Lt. Pedro Leon using the advice I got from Saw Palm Magazine. Originally it had to be less than 1,500 words for the library contest. With those restrictions gone the story is at 1,900 and growing.

I feel I'm getting close to beginning work on a novel, at least on the synopsis which I intend to write first.

Write today!
JH

Continued reading Hired and Fired and got some positive feedback from the group. They liked the fact that the protagonist discovered gibberish inside the stories he was publishing.

Next Saturday is our Christmas party. I sat down to write a short humorous piece, but it didn't come out that way. I may not be the humorous type of writer.

Got a rejection the other day, and it also contained some advice:  "Thank you for submitting to Saw Palm and giving us the opportunity to read “Lieutenant Pedro Leon.” Regrettably, we have decided it is not the right fit for the journal at this time.
Many of the editors suggested focusing on the story in the diary, as that seems to be where the action is, as opposed to the discovery of the diary. We wish you the best of luck placing the story elsewhere.
Kind regards,"
That was the same story I had submitted to a local library contest who didn't consider it. Magazines have professional people looking at your work, not some locals who think they can judge good writing.
I was happy to have some advice along with the rejection and read the email to my writers group who thought that was a good thing.

I read something about writing a synopsis before starting the story. That way you know where you are going with it and can just start in writing. Perhaps I will do that in January with the goal of having it pertain to a novel instead of a short story.

Waiting for my dvd player to come today. Will watch Christmas With The Kranks which is taken from a John Grisham story titled Skipping Christmas. They are both worthy of your time.

Write today.
JH  

Changed the name of Swap Meet to Hired and Fired and read some at PINAWOR Saturday. Got a lot of feedback as usual. I didn't get into the action quick enough. I realized it was slow coming and tried to throw some anticipation in there with the words: "before I met that scoundrel Donald Banks." It wasn't enough to keep the story from dragging. I will rework the beginning to get to the action sooner.

One of the students for my epublishing class has published a story. Made me glad I gave the class.

I got a rejection from Lamplight Magazine. It took 3 months instead of the week to ten days I'd been getting. Perhaps they took a longer look at my story.

Cyber Monday today and Christmas is upon us with the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting coming on Wednesday.

Don't stop writing!
JH