Free Fiction

The Chain Story just released its 23rd tale: The Cost of a Tasmanian Tiger by Paul Genesse. Paul’s a great writer, and you’ll enjoy his addition to the project.

I also wanted to point to Dean Wesley Smith’s blog for free fiction—among other thing, including a great series of posts about writing and writing careers. With free fiction what Dean’s done is to challenge himself to write 100 stories this year. Each story will appear for free on the website, to be removed when the next story comes up. This is a site you’ll want to bookmark and check frequently, because he writes very quickly. Blink and you’ll miss a story.

The coolest thing about the challenge is that offering yourself a challenge is a great way to self-motivate. It took looking at Dean’s site to remind me of that. As I was going through the process of organizing inventory to go into the new store build, I realized that I had a ton of stuff ready for the store, a bunch that I need to get ready, and then a whole boatload of things I want to get ready. It was very easy for me to get locked into the narrow view of seeing how much I want to do and lamenting how little time there is to do it.

Instead, I needed to sit down and just start writing on the projects I want to do.

I was reminded of my very first job, back when I was in high school. I washed pots and pans in a kitchen at a small college near my house. I kept trying to figure out ways to make the work easier. I was smart, I knew there had to be a better way. But my boss came up to me and said, in essence, “Sometimes, the best way is just the application of elbow grease.” That keeps coming back to me when I find myself over thinking situations. I just have to plow ahead and get the job done.

So, if you want to write, sit down and write. Set a goal, don’t stop until you finish. Get that one thing done, then pick another. Before you know it, you’ll be pushing Dean’s total of stories!