Writing

 I've been watching some interviews with a writer/actor named  Jack Grapes . The interviews are on a YouTube channel called Film Courage, but I also just found that he has a site here  https://jackgrapes.com/ . He is very interesting to listen to and seems like an excellent teacher. He talks a lot about what he calls your deep voice. Basically, what I think it means is writing with your own voice, not trying to make it sound overly embellished, not using a lot of big words or over doing your descriptions. According to him, this style can be used, but it should be used sparingly throughout the writing. Switching into this style and back to your deep voice will make the writing interesting to the reader. I continuously learn new things. I will try to post some examples of my writing soon using this newly learned technique.

This is a story about man-kind facing a disaster that would require making some hard choices. I will probably finish this or a similar story at some point. I also have some other ideas about different situations where people consider changing humans to better face challenges they come up against. Survival at all costs. What does that mean? No price is too high? Survival or the individual? Survival of the species? Survival of life on Earth? If Earth was threatened with destruction, what could we save? Given a deadline of a year, what would we choose to do to give our species, or any life, the best chance for survival. It has just been discovered that a small black hole is approaching our solar system. It will swing around our sun in about two years and disrupt the orbits of all the planets in our solar system. Scientists have calculated the approaching black hole will pull the Earth out into a higher orbit. In approximately a year's time, the surface of the Earth will become inhospi

  This is the final version of my third short story. Let me know what you think. I have been revising it for a while, but I finally decided to just be done with it. I have so many other ideas that I want to get to. "What's that sound?" It's a cabin pressure alarm. The ship is leaking atmosphere. "Something is happening to the ship. My course brought me too close to a star. Where am I? I must have gotten off course. I'm going to have to land and make repairs. There is a planet here that should work. I'll have to work in the suit if the air isn't breathable. I can do it. I've done it before." "There it is. It looks red and green from up here, like the swirling colors of a giant marble. I hope that is solid ground. Why am I talking to myself? There's no one else here." After some maneuvers, the ship slides into a relatively stable orbit around the planet. The scans show I should be able to survive down there if the repairs take som

  This is a story I started a while ago and never got back to.  It probably won't end up as a long story, but I would like to finish it. It was part of some practicing I was doing with suspense and adding conflict or setbacks to a story. John heard his mother calling from downstairs. "John, they're here! Come down!" Who was she talking about?  His mother sounded concerned.  Probably dinner guests he had failed to remember.  John was lying on the bottom bunk on his wooden bed.  The yellow undecorated walls of his room surrounding him.  He sat up and slid out of his bed.  He hit his head on something.  There was a loose screw that he had been meaning to tell his dad about. "I think my forehead is bleeding." he said out loud. John walked out into the hall and started towards the bathroom.  Suddenly, his older brother ran out of his room past him towards the stairs. "They are here John.  We need to get downstairs." said his brother. "Who is here?&

  I've got several things planned for the next few weeks. Editing and revising of my third short story is almost complete. The final version of that will be published here. I ended up creating some interesting characters in that story. I am hoping I can write some other stories with them. I will add some character notes and draft versions of that story over on Patreon. I will also post some other shorter stories I have started here on my blog. Maybe if there is any interest in them here, I will get motivated to finish more of them. In the meantime I have been trying to do some kind of writing at least three times a week, daily writing being the end goal there. After my third short story is finished, I plan on going back to work on my novel. That was the whole reason I started this. I have an idea for a novel involving time travel, or more precisely, changes to the timeline. During the process I have come up with ideas for two other books. One will be non-fiction and related to real

  I just added something on Patreon that I wrote today. It is a story about meditation. It was just something quick I came up with based on some of my own experience. I'll post a portion of it here. I have meditated many times before, but the last one was very different. I sat down on the floor in front of the couch and crossed my legs, as I often do. I closed my eyes and searched with my mind. I could feel the window and the grass and trees beyond. I could feel the life outside watching me. I tried to reach out further, there was life everywhere. I left my body, as I have done occasionally. My body sat motionless on the floor below me as I floated upwards. I floated up further through the ceiling, glimpsing my attic, then I saw the roof. Slowly I spun around and the night sky came into view. It was a clear dark night, with no moon visible. The stars were all visible, like pinholes in a black sheet. I continued upwards. I could feel life all around me. Below me on the ground, in t