January's story came together kind of last minute.  I had an idea for a story, but when I began to write it, I knew it wouldn't work as a shortie.  I was writing part of a novel, and it would remain part of a novel no matter what I tried to do with it.

After some brainstorming, I came up with a new idea and wrote the first and very rough draft in two days.  That was a rush!  Nearly a month-long word drought and then they just came pouring out of my fingers like water.

I'm looking forward to February's challenge category.  I hope to get a better start on it than I did on January's.

Welcome to my short story challenge!

The first order of business is to change the name of the challenge, partly because it's not easy to say or remember, and partly because an acronym search revealed the MGSC is already taken by the "Mouse Genome Sequencing Consortium."

The challenge shall henceforth be called: Short Story Genre Challenge. 

The SSGC genre for the January story will be...[insert drum roll here]...

                                                        Fantasy

Short stories are due by the 25th of the month, which gives a nice three weeks in which to plot, research, write and edit.  Good luck to all participants.  You may begin...now.

December got away from me and here we are in a new year. Goodbye, 2017! It was a fairly good year for writing. I reached my 2017 word goal with one minute to spare, and I nearly finished the first draft of my mainstream novel.

On to 2018:

This year, I want to work more on short stories. I will be doing a Multi-Genre Short Story Challenge, hereafter referred to as MGSC(the 's' stands for "shorties"). This challenge is not official in any way, and was designed by myself, in conjunction with my editor at Collier Bluff Books, as a fun way to explore other genres.

The MGSC guidelines are fairly simple. I shall write a short story each month, from January through June of 2018, with each story being in a different genre. The deadlines for the shorties will be the 25th of each month.

You are all welcome to join in the fun. There is no prize other than bragging rights and the satisfaction of having written something this year. I shall announce the month's official genre here on this blog.  Suggestions for genres or sub-genres are welcome. Leave a comment or shoot me an email. 

Also new this year is me not having a day job. This may be a temporary change, but I intend to take full advantage of the time to write, and write some more.  Good luck in the new year, everyone!