Tag Archives: Challenges

Friday Flash Fiction: The Hacker and The Girl

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Two weeks ago I joined a writing challenge on Chuck Wendig’s site: Terrible Minds. http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/11/22/flash-fiction-challenge-200-words-at-a-time-part-one/comment-page-1/#comments  I wrote a 200 word opening for a story and posted it. I was very interested in what someone else would do with my beginning. While I waited, I went ahead and finished the story. You can see it below. Note: Someone, Ken Crump, did pick up my beginning and wrote a really good 2nd part. You can see it here: http://brickhousepiggy.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/terribleminds-com-flash-fiction-challenge-200-words-at-a-time-part-two/

This is fun! I’ll try and follow the story as others write it and post the links here. In the meantime, here’s my take on the story.

The Hacker and The Girl

Ewan Gilroy backed out of the library stack in a hurry. He peeked around the corner. Oh no.

He crept along the next row to watch the co-ed over the books. Ewan sweated as she checked the paper in her hand. She’s looking for something specific. Can’t be my book, no one’s checked it out in three years. She ran her finger along the titles. He froze as she pulled a book from the shelf. That book has the stolen code. I can’t finish this hack without it!

At the check-out Ewan walked up behind her with a random book.

“Nice to see you again, Brooke,” the librarian smiled. “Science of Computer MetaPhysics and Interdimensional Theory,” she stamped the lending card and her record book and handed the book to Brooke. “Research?”

“From Professor Ingles’ additional reading list for my final paper.” She tucked the book under her arm. “It looks like heavy reading.”

“You’ll do fine. Have a good day.”

“Thanks, you too.” Brooke left.

“May I help you?” the librarian asked.

“Uh, no, changed my mind, thanks.” Ewan dropped his book on the counter and hurried after Brooke. He’d follow her and with luck, get the book back.

Ewan followed Brooke to the Student Union. He called his partner. “Malcomb.”

“Yeah, where are you? I expected you fifteen minutes ago.”

“I’m at the Student Union. Some chick named Brooke snagged the book just before I could. I followed her but I don’t know what to do next.”

“Holy Guacamole, Ewan! If we don’t get this hack done the mob is going to string us up! Why’d you let her get the book?”

Ewan ran a hand through his buzz cut sandy brown hair. “Tell me something I don’t know, Malcomb! How do I get the book away from her?” He could hear the chair Malcomb sat in creaking. Malcomb was a good 300 pounds. He wouldn’t be able to run from the mob.

“I don’t know! See if you can’t borrow it long enough to get the codes out of it.”

“Yeah, good idea.” He hit the end button and hurried to the coffee urn. He didn’t need any more acid in his stomach but it was cheap. Until he could get out from under the gambling debt he and Malcomb owed the Mob, he watched every cent. Taking a breath, he strolled by Brooke’s table. She had the book open to the first chapter. Good, at least she’s not flipping through it.

He stepped past her table then backed up, staring at the book. She looked up at him. Ewan grinned, “Oh, sorry. Isn’t that Science of Computer MetaPhysics and Interdimensional Theory?”

Brooke’s eyes went wide. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“I read that four years ago. Deep topic.” He held out a hand. “I’m Ewan. Nice to meet you.”

She shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. I just started it. I’ve got a paper to write.”

Ewan pulled out the chair next to her. He could hardly breathe looking into those deep blue eyes. Keep your mind on business, he told himself sternly, but it was hard to ignore how fast his heart was beating. “Do you mind?” he asked as he sat. He put the cup down and deliberately tipped it over. Hot coffee sloshed all over the pages.

He leapt up and grabbed the book. “Oh no! I’m so sorry! Let me clean it up.” Ewan ran to the men’s room at the far end of the cafeteria. He ripped paper towels out of the holder and blotted the coffee from each page. The pages mostly dry he flipped the back cover open and pulled up the cover paper. There was a small square of microfilm. He pulled it out, tucked it into his pocket and smoothed the back paper down over the cover. Before he left the bathroom, he grabbed a few more paper towels. On the way to back to Brooke he made a show of blotting the pages. She had wiped up the mess on the table.

“Sorry,” he said. He wadded up the paper towels and gave the table a last wipe. “I hate defacing books. I don’t even write notes or highlight in mine.” He handed the book back to her.

She sighed. “The pages are still wet. I’ll have to dry it open tonight.”

“I’m so sorry,” he apologized again eyes on the table. He looked up at her out of the corner of his eyes. “I feel like such a klutz.”

His tone of voice finally got through to her. She stopped flipping the pages and smiled. “That’s alright. I guess it could happen to anyone.”

Ewan grinned. “Look, I’ve got to go, but I’d love to discuss the book. He scribbled his phone number down on a scrap of paper from his pocket. “Call me.”

She took the paper and nodded.

When Ewan got back to the apartment, Malcomb spun around in his chair. “Did you get it?”

“Yeah.” He pulled it from his pocket. “Who uses microfilm?” He handed it to Malcomb. “Can you read it?”

Malcomb held it up to the light. “Yeah, I can get the data.” He set to work. Now that they had the code, they finished the hack.

Ewan didn’t want to know what the buyer was going to do with a hack into the University’s research center. He only cared that they paid on time. The mob wasn’t going to wait.

Malcomb and Ewan were high-fiving each other when Ewan’s phone rang. “Hey,” he said after checking the screen. “I’m glad you called, Brooke.”

“Yeah, I’d love to meet tomorrow. Coffee at the Student Union sounds great. See you then.” He clicked off, grinning.

“You got a date?” Malcomb asked, wide eyed. “From the chick you poured coffee on?”

“I didn’t pour it on her,” Ewan protested. “But yeah, she seemed to like me.”

Malcomb shook his head. “Unbelievable.”

954 words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

End of November 2013

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I finished my National Novel Writing Month challenge. It’s the last book of my Gulliver Station series. I’m pretty excited about it. I release the first book of the series at the end of January so stay tuned for the announcements.
December is a grueling month for me. I need to edit/revise the first book of the Gulliver Station series. Why, do you ask, have I waited for so long? I wrote the 1st book in April of 2013. I’ve been in a steep learning curve all of this year. I want the book to be the best it can be at my current level of writing expertise. So, I’ve delayed and delayed. Now it’s time. I have to put up the book. Stick with me people. I’m getting better all the time. I also need to design book covers, write my Flash Fiction Friday posts and oh, yeah. Do all of the family Christmas stuff, like baking, candy making, putting up Christmas decorations. Oh, yeah, presents. People like presents to be under the tree!
Above all of that, it’s my husband’s birthday and we’re having a host of people over for a party. Well, I’ve got a lot to do!
Links:
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. http://conniesrandomthoughts.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8c24bb15bdf9245512f722298&id=0a097feea0
I have an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here: https://www.smashwords.com/interview/conniecockrell Don’t see information about me you’d like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I’ll try to answer it.
Christmas Tales released November 17th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!
Links:
Kobo: Still loading.
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-tales-connie-cockrell/1117497310?ean=9781494200572
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Tales-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1494200570/ref=la_B009O6199C_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385963121&sr=1-4
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/379010
Apple: Still loading

Chuck Wendig’s 5 week Challenge Part 2: A Million Cats

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I’m participating in a 5 week challenge by Chuck Wendig. The first week I wrote a 200 word story start. You can see it in last weeks blog post.

I sorted through the many fantastic story starts and chose one by Rebecca Douglas. Here’s the link to her blog: http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2013/11/wendig-challenge-first-200-words.html

My task is to write a 2nd 200 words, moving the story forward. See Chuck’s site, http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/11/29/flash-fiction-challenge-200-words-at-a-time-part-two/ to get this week’s rules.

I’m keeping the title Rebecca gave the story so we all have some way to refer to it. So, here’s Rebecca’s start and my addition.

Millions of Cats Part 1 by Rebecca Douglass
November 26, 2013 at 11:52 PM //

Things never worked out according to plan when there were cats involved. I knew that, and I should have known better than to take the job. Either don’t try to plan or stay far from cats, and I knew which would have been better for me. But Keelan made it all sound so easy: we just had to pick up the consignment from Alpha-Centauri 4 and take them to Exilion 17. Four days, max, and two of them in hyperspace.

“What could go wrong?” I should really have run when Keelan said that, because you know as well as I do that anytime those words are uttered you should run, very fast, in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately, we needed cash, and the cat people had it. So we went and picked up the load of cats.

That was where the trouble first began. They were supposed to be crated, sedated, and ready to be picked up by fork lift and stowed in the cargo hold. But when we arrived, a team of cat-wranglers was still chasing them around a pen. We had to wait an extra three days for all of them to be properly prepared for flight.

Part 2: 2nd 200 words Connie Cockrell
Now we were late. We hadn’t started and penalties were being assessed. “Don’t worry,” Keelan said. “There’ll still be plenty of credits. We’ll be able to pay off the bank as soon as we get to Exilion 17.”

I knew better, Murphy’s Law was in full effect. We loaded the crated cats and took off. The first day we built up to hyperspace speed and cleared the solar system. I hit the button. Nothing happened. I stared at Keelan. “I’ll fix it.” He unstrapped. I grunted in reply. He pulled the cover off of the panel after I got up to get some tea. He was tracing the wiring when I came back, cup steaming.

“Got it.” He held up a burnt wire. “I’ll just reconnect the two ends and we’ll be on our way.”

I knew what he meant. He was going to twist the ends together and tape it. I’m supposed to trust my life to that? “What if it fries again? We’ll never get out of hyperspace.”

“No, no,” he mumbled as he twisted the wires. “This will be fine. We’ll get it fixed the right way when we get to Exilion 17.”

Chuck Wendig Challenge: 1st 1/5th of a Story

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Found a challenge on the Chuck Wendig site: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/11/22/flash-fiction-challenge-200-words-at-a-time-part-one/

I’m to write the 1st 200 words of a story, anything I want. Each week for the next 4 weeks, we’ll pick someone else’s piece and write the next 200 words. Sounded like fun. Here’s my 1st 200 words.

First 200 words of 1000 Word Story (200 words exactly)

Ewan Gilroy backed out of the library stack in a hurry. He peeked around the corner. Oh no.

He crept along the next row to watch the co-ed over the books. Ewan sweated as she checked the paper in her hand. She’s looking for something specific. Can’t be my book, no one’s checked it out in three years. She ran her finger along the titles. He froze as she pulled a book from the shelf. That book has the stolen code. I can’t finish this hack without it!

At the check-out Ewan walked up behind her with a random book.

“Nice to see you again, Brooke,” the librarian smiled. “Science of Computer MetaPhysics and Interdimensional Theory,” she stamped the lending card and her record book and handed the book to Brooke. “Research?”

“From Professor Ingles’ additional reading list for my final paper.” She tucked the book under her arm. “It looks like heavy reading.”

“You’ll do fine. Have a good day.”

“Thanks, you too.” Brooke left.

“May I help you?” the librarian asked.

“Uh, no, changed my mind, thanks.” Ewan dropped his book on the counter and hurried after Brooke. He’d follow her and with luck, get the book back.

How I Did for October 2013

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Hoo! Four days into the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! Just settling into my rhythm, getting words onto the page. It’s an exciting month.

October was also killer, so to speak. Lots went on so let me show you how I met the goals for the month.

– Write 4 Flash Fiction Friday Stories (one per week)

– Done. Not only the four needed for October (and all of them with a Halloween theme!) but 5 for November, all Thanksgiving themed. I need to be able to focus on the novel so I got all 5 Friday flash fictions written and scheduled on my blog. You won’t miss a one.

– Update my Blog and Facebook Fan page (Both are titled ConniesRandomThoughts) weekly

– Did all of that. Indeed, I made quite a few changes to my blog. I changed the background color from boring gray to a more festive Autumn color. I added some new links to friend’s blogs and to a sign up for a newsletter for my fans. (See below for more about the newsletter sign up.) Not in the goals. I also update my Google+ page and my Twitter account, twice a day. If you aren’t a follower or friend on those sites I’m looking to build my communities there as well.

– Continue to revise short stories

– Did that.

– Continue to submit short stories

– I submitted one short to the Tucson Festival of Books and one to the Arizona ONE-BOOKAZ Goes Digital eBook Writing Competition.

– Finalize outline for November NaNo

– Done. I’m writing to that outline now. It’s the last of my Gulliver Station series. I wrote the first one last November (which has turned out to be book 3 of the series). I’m pretty excited about writing the final book. It’s taken me a year to do it.

– Other things

– I have begun looking into marketing for my books. I looked at some free training video’s by Jeff Walker, recommended by Holly Lisle. I was not able to take his course. But, based on the free information he published, Holly has put together an author-centric, free, self-monitored course on marketing. I’m going through the steps of that process as we speak. Most of the changes to my blog were based on the lessons of this marketing course.

– I put together a collection of Christmas themed stories. I already have the cover for it drafted and all of the stories. Also part of the marketing course, I plan to release the collection by the end of November. I had to write a couple of short stories to go into this collection. So I had plenty of daily writing practice for November’s NaNo.

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up.

Halloween Tales released September 30th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!

Links:

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/halloween-tales-a-collection-of-stories

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/halloween-tales-connie-cockrell/1116995365?ean=2940045288972

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Tales-Collection-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1492783072/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380515780&sr=1-2&keywords=Halloween+Tales

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/359689

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/halloween-tales-collection/id716418558?mt=11

Join My Team and Other News

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I’m finalizing my Christmas Tales collection. Would you like to be among the 1st to read it? I’m looking for beta readers. If you’d like to be “in the know” and a critical part of my next book, sign up for my Newsletter. You can do that two ways. There’s a link at the top right of the page and a Newsletter tab where you can sign up. In a week or so, I’ll be sending the draft out and looking for critical feedback on punctuation, missing or misspelled words and any other mistakes to be found in the stories. Sign up today!

Image

Other news, NaNo starts on Friday. My writer friends and I are gearing up, finalizing our outlines, cleaning our desks and stocking up on snack food. It will be 30 full days of writing madness.

Halloween Tales released September 30th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!

Links:

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/halloween-tales-a-collection-of-stories

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/halloween-tales-connie-cockrell/1116995365?ean=2940045288972

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Tales-Collection-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1492783072/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380515780&sr=1-2&keywords=Halloween+Tales

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/359689

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/halloween-tales-collection/id716418558?mt=11

Flash Fiction Friday: Three 3 Sentence Stories

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I was reading Chuck Wendig’s blog last week and he put up a challenge. Write a three sentence horror story. http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/10/11/flash-fiction-challenge-horror-in-three-sentences/ You can check out what other people wrote on Chuck’s blog, terribleminds.

Here are three that I did.

Story 1 – Mother’s Love

The wind whistled through the bare maple tree branches as the full moon shed its light on Toby Vertucci who stood just inside the cemetery gate. The flowers for his mother’s grave dropped unnoticed from his nerveless fingers as tendrils of icy mist began to encircle him. As the mist closed around him he heard, “Thank you sweetheart, I’ve been waiting for you.”

Story 2 – They Warned Us

The nuclear war lasted 3 days, 10 years ago, and nearly every city of any real size was destroyed. Parents dead and now alone, fourteen year old Anastasia worked her garden, napping in the sun when she could, so she could guard the garden all night to protect it from predators. Her heart fell at the chittering in the distance warning of the cockroach hoard approaching and eating everything in their path, including her.

Story 3 – The Choice

It was his own fault for honking his horn when the old woman reached the front of his car. Jump or be eaten, she snarled as she pointed at him from the crosswalk. Now Stan stood on the roof ledge of his 20 story apartment building, wind whipping around him, frozen with fear and had to choose between the jump or the red eyed wolf, panting on the roof behind him.

207 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

Happy Columbus Day 2013

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It’s a 3 day weekend! Since I’m retired, that doesn’t make a huge impression on me except that there’s a lot of holiday traffic; travelers, campers, etc., running through town.

What it does mean is that I feel more relaxed. I feel like I can set my normal weekday occupations aside and work on my writing. It’s October which means I need to have my novel for November plotted out. November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNo), where I again try to write a while book in 30 days. (Well, at least 50,000 words of it.)

I’m also involved in a challenge to make my writing more businesslike. And by that I mean profitable. So, I’ve promised myself to put together a book of Christmas short stories, put it out by the end of November, build a website and set it up so that I can email fans directly with the announcement of my newest book out.  Sigh.

I also have a short hiking trip in November and let’s not forget Thanksgiving.

Then I have to get my book Gulliver Station: Hard Choices, through the editing/revising process, design a cover for it (as well as the series cover ‘look’), get Gulliver Station: A New Start into revision, and publish said Christmas book. I still need to write one story for that book. A teaser for my Gulliver Station series.

None of that includes keeping up my blog posts (each Monday and Friday and one for Merry Go Round Blog Tour on the 18th of the month.) I wonder if I’ve reached my writer limit yet for a month’s work?

In other news, my short story, The Reunion, was not a winner in the Southwest Authors contest. That’s too bad because I really like that story. I’ll work on it a bit and see if I can submit it somewhere else.

Enough for today, I have to get writing and revising. And, talking about marketing; check out my latest book below.

Halloween Tales released September 30th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!

Links:

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/halloween-tales-a-collection-of-stories

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/halloween-tales-connie-cockrell/1116995365?ean=2940045288972

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Tales-Collection-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1492783072/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380515780&sr=1-2&keywords=Halloween+Tales

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/359689

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/halloween-tales-collection/id716418558?mt=11

How I did with September’s Goals

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How I did with September’s Goals

September

– Write 4 Flash Fiction Friday Stories (one per week)

Completed.

– Update my Blog and Facebook Fan page (Both are titled ConniesRandomThoughts) weekly

Completed. Did the Merry-Go-Round Blog tour too!

– Continue to revise short stories

Completed. Revised the stories for Halloween Tales and wrote a fifth one so there would be 5 stories in the book.

– Begin submitting short stories to publishers

Sent Where the Brown Things Are to WotF (World of the Future: a science fiction magazine that has a quarterly contest to select the best stories for the mag.) I won’t know until January if it is accepted.

A side note: I should find out in the next week or so if I won the contest held by the Southwest Authors. (The story is The Reunion.)

– Begin outline for November NaNo

I didn’t get the last Gulliver station book: Revolution, outlined. I’ll have to do it in October, 1st thing so I have time to let it mellow before I begin writing in November.

-Other things accomplished

– Released Halloween Tales on September 30th.

– Began planning my late November book release, a collection of Christmas stories. One story more story was written and another was planned and outlined.

– Took a mini-marketing class. The planned and outlined Christmas story is a teaser for my Gulliver Station stories. Trying to make the work do double duty here. The marketing class has also decided me that I need a web site, not just a blog. So that is planned for no later than the end of December.

– Signed up for a Holly Lisle challenge related to the mini-marketing class. Again, one of the items in that challenge is to release a book. My Christmas book is that project. The course is about how to do a new product launch, so the book and the web site are part of that launch.

Halloween Tales released September 30th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!

Links:

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/halloween-tales-a-collection-of-stories

Barnes and Noble: Not showing when I looked but search on Connie Cockrell

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Tales-Collection-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1492783072/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380515780&sr=1-2&keywords=Halloween+Tales

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/359689

Apple: Not found when I looked.

Merry Go Round Blog Tour – Research

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Research, investigations, searching. It’s all part and parcel of being a writer. Even if it’s nothing more than going to some baby name sites to pick a character’s name.

I like doing research. It’s fun to learn how something works, or where a thing comes from, or how something was made. History too. It’s fascinating to me to look at the background of a country. I’m working on a novel now that had me look up the history of Demre, Turkey, Vikings and ancient religions. What a hoot!

Of course, I loved going to the library and doing research when I was in school too. There’s something very restful about being in a library. Now of course, I can do my investigating from my computer desk with a cup of tea in hand. And, get more information. We’re no longer limited to what’s on the shelves at our local library. The bad part is the ease of research now means that it’s easy to get distracted by the linked information. I often have to remember what I’m actually looking for and get back on track.

So how do you research?

The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, travelling the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. There are all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s always something new and different to enjoy. If you want to get to know the nearly thirty other writers check out the rest of the tour at http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com!  Up next: Jean Schara!