August 2017 - Gary David Gillen

Killing the Rising Sun by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

Killing the Rising Sun by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, Book #6 of the Killing of Historical Figures Series

Introduction

The authors use eyewitness accounts and historical documents to tell their stories. It is written as a first person account of how America defeated Japan in World War II. There are many stories told in this book. Some were of Emperor Hirohito of Japan, American general Douglas MacArthur, Japanese submarine captain Mochitsura Hashimoto, American physicist Robert Oppenheimer, and American president Harry S. Truman. Why did the Americans drop two atomic bombs on Japan? This book attempts to answer that important question.

Summary – Origins of World War II

Japan’s military leaders convinced Emperor Hirohito that Japan must expand to get natural resources or die. The Japanese expanded into China but came to the point when they must cross American interests in the Philippines. The Philippines blocked Japan’s expansion into South East Asia. The war between America and Japan started with the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

The Philippines were aligned with America and their military commander was General Douglas MacArthur. The Japanese took over the Philippines in 1942 and MacArthur retreated to Australia. The Japanese expanded to the south in 1942. The Americans regrouped. In 1943 and 1944 the Americans employed the strategy of island hopping. They took the islands that were needed to drive to Japan one by one including retaking the Philippines. The last island taken was Okinawa. The Japanese fought to the last man, inflicting many casualties on the Americans. The island was secured on June 30, 1945. The invasion of Japan, called Operation Olympic, was scheduled for November 1, 1945, to be led by General MacArthur. The operation faced the possibility of huge casualties occurring.

Summary – The Manhattan Project

In 1939 the Germans sought to create an atomic bomb. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt approved the Manhattan Project which sought to create the atomic bomb first. The Manhattan Project was headed by Robert Oppenheimer. The Americans were successful and tested the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945, called the Trinity test. Two more bombs were constructed, called Little Boy and Fat Man. Little Boy was shipped on the U.S.S. Indianapolis on July 16, 1945, from San Francisco to Tinian Island. The island was in the range of the Japanese main land by using a B-29 bomber.

The U.S.S Indianapolis delivered the pieces of the atomic bomb, Little Boy, at Tinian Island on July 26, 1945. The ship then headed to the Philippines for a training mission. Mochitsura Hashimoto commanded the Japanese submarine I-58. The sub had been attempting to sink an American ship for the last six months without success. Hashimoto spotted and sank the Indianapolis early on July 30, 1945. The distress call is missed and many men die in the water before they are accidentally discovered on August 2, 1945. The ship’s crew was 1196 men. About 800 men entered the water and only 317 survived the ordeal.

Summary – Decision to Drop the Bomb

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president for his fourth term on November 7, 1944, with a new vice-president, Harry S. Truman. Roosevelt dies on April 12, 1945, which made Truman the president. The first atomic bomb was tested on July 16, 1945. Truman must decide if the bomb that was delivered by the Indianapolis would be used against Japan. It is a dilemma. He can either start Operation Olympic to invade Japan and lose up to a million American casualties or he can use the bomb to kill over 100000 innocent Japanese civilians and end the war. He chooses to drop the first atomic bomb ever used in war.

The bomb explodes over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The B-29 named Enola Gay dropped it and it caused 120000 dead and wounded. Hirohito sought to save face and would not accept an unconditional surrender. On August 9, 1945, the B-29 named Bockscar dropped the Fat Man on Nagasaki and caused 140000 casualties. Japan surrenders on August 14, 1945. General Douglas MacArthur accepts Emperor Hirohito’s surrender on the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.

Summary – Aftermath of the War

Emperor Hirohito remains the Emperor of Japan but has no power. Douglas MacArthur oversaw the occupation of Japan and was the leader of the United Nations forces in the Korean War. MacArthur wanted to increase the scope of the war to include attacking China but Truman did not want to do that so he dismissed Macarthur from service on April 11, 1951. Mochitsura Hashimoto helped bring the Japanese troops home from China and the retired as a Shinto priest. Robert Oppenheimer created a think tank called the Institute for Advanced Study. He lost his security clearance on suspicion of being a Communist sympathizer and died from throat cancer. Truman was elected president in 1948, but his dismissal of MacArthur in 1951 led to him not seeking re-election in 1952.

Recommendation

I have only detailed five stories in the post, but there are many others in this book. The authors researched the story of the American defeat of Japan and presented it in a quick and compelling manner. I had heard of the historical theory that using the atomic bomb had saved many American soldiers lives, but had not heard it described as completely as the authors have done in this book. I would recommend reading this book to learn about that theory.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Killing the Rising Sun by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29370481-killing-the-rising-sun

This is the first book with history as its subject that I have reviewed. A fiction book that takes historical facts and put them in a fantasy context is American Gods by Neil Gaiman. My review of the book is linked below.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Website Anniversary Report August 26, 2017

This is my Website Anniversary Report August 26, 2017.

Introduction

On August 26, 2016, I created my website at garydavidgillen.com. Making a website was part of my plan to become a social media experienced writer. I had written a novel and a few short stories over the years but had stopped writing in 2012. In December of 2015, I decided to start writing again. I finished the story I was writing in 2012 (called Dystopia then, now called Kay-Eye.) in that month and created a plan for 2016.

My 2016 plan called for writing four short stories, begin attending conventions, creating Facebook and Twitter accounts, and starting a website. I wanted to become a better writer and then expand the short novel that I had written in 1995 (it was called A Gathering in New Marl back then and I have renamed it Assassin in New Marl City).

Joined a meet-up group called the Cleveland Writers Press, where we discuss self-publishing and marketing. Joined a writer’s workshop group at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Public Library and also one at the Parma-Snow Library. It has been a busy year and I expect a busier year next year.

Writing Progress from August 2016 to August 2017

Worked on Assassin in New Marl City. I wanted to expand the novel from 20 chapters to 36 chapters (100000 words total).

Wrote six chapters from January 2017 to August 2017, leaving ten more to write before the end of the year.

Bought a Map for Assassin in New Marl City from Fiveer in April 2017.

Bought a banner from Fiveer for my website, Facebook, and Twitter accounts in April 2017. (It is the banner at the beginning of this report.)

This is the link to the Fiveer website.

https://www.fiverr.com/

January 2016 to August 2016 I wrote 4 Humours and Space Station Sunyata.

August 2016 to October 2016 I wrote White Bracer and Mage Squad.

January 2017 to August 2017 I wrote the flash fiction short stories LARP Film Noir, Hybrid-Dog Confession, and Get to the Point.

Statistics of magazine submissions from December 2016 to August 2017 are; 3 different stories (4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, and Grognard) submitted a total of 12 times with 0 accepted, 2 pending, and 10 rejections.

This post is my 55^th post in this last year for the website including 29 Book Reviews, 12 Writing Progress Reports, 8 Conference Recaps, and 6 Which Posts.

Events from July 2016 to August 2017

July 23, 2016, Ohio Expos in Fairlawn, Ohio

July 30 and July 31, 2016, Confluence in Pittsburgh, PA

September 24, 2016, Western Reserve Writers Conference in South Euclid, Ohio

October 8 and October 9, 2016, Capclave in Gaithersburg, MD

November 12, 2016, Indy Writer’s Conference in Parma, Ohio

February 18, 2017, Winter Fiction Fest in Cleveland, Ohio

March 10 to March 12, 2017, Concoction in Cleveland, Ohio

May 13, 2017, Marcon in Columbus, Ohio

July 19, 2017, Cleveland Inkubator in Cleveland, Ohio

August 5, 2017, Confluence in Pittsburgh, PA

Writing Goals for August 2017 to August 2018

Complete Assassin in New Marl City (about 100000 words). Edit the novel and try to get an agent to sell it to a traditional publisher or prepare to self-publish it.

Get a cover for Assassin in New Marl City.

Self-publish Searcher of Riven (about 11000 words) and Ruins of Yarnud (about 24000 words).

My screenplay is called Cuba Liberto (about 24000 words). I want to turn it into a novel and expand it to about 72000 words. I plan to complete this novel by the end of 2018.

Complete the short story called Chemthurgy (about 6000 words)

Continue to submit 4 Humors, Space Station Sunyata, and Grognard to other short fiction magazines.

Polish and submit the stories White Bracer, Mage Squad, Time Traveller One, Prisoner of Tarnal, Kay-Eye, LARP Film Noir, Hybrid-Dog Confession, and Get to the Point for submission to short fiction magazines.

Planned Events for August 2017 to August 2018

September 23, 2017, Western Reserve Writers Conference in South Euclid, Ohio

November 4 and November 5, 2017, Book Baby Writer’s Conference in Philadelphia, PA

November 2017 Indy Writer’s Conference in Parma, Ohio

February 17 and February 18, 2018, Capricon in Chicago, IL

February 2018 Winter Fiction Fest in Cleveland, Ohio

March 9 to March 11, 2018, Concoction in Cleveland, Ohio

March 30 to April 1, 2018, Conglomeration at Louisville, KY

May 2018 Nebula Award Conference, Pittsburgh, PA

July 2018 Cleveland Inkubator in Cleveland, Ohio

August 2018 Confluence in Pittsburgh, PA

Links

In 2017, I wrote forty-seven blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my writing progress report for August 2017 linked below.

Writing Progress Report August 2017

Confluence Conference 2017

Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2017

The Confluence Conference 2017 was held from August 4 to August 6, 2017, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Introduction

I attended the Confluence Conference on August 5, 2017. I drove from Cleveland, Ohio to the conference that was located at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. The conference is run by the Parsec organization of Pittsburgh. It is a literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. I was focused on attending as many panels as I possibly could on Saturday. I attended seven panels, one writing workshop, one author reading, and the guests of honor presentation.

http://parsec-sff.org/confluence/

Summary

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 9:00 AM

At 9:00 AM Bud Sparhawk gave a presentation about Everything You Wanted to Know about SFWA. SFWA is the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America pronounced Sifwa. Bud Sparhawk is the CFO of the non-profit organization. It was formed in 1965 to protect the writer’s rights from the publishers. The organization funds three benevolent funds, a health fund, a legal fund, and a givers fund. They also give out grants for worthy causes. There are 2000 members, with 1600 members active, and about 600 active voters. They sponsor the Nebula Awards and the yearly banquet associated with them. An associate member has had one paid sale to an SFWA qualified market. An active member has had at least three such sales.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 10:00 AM

At 10:00 AM Timons Esaias gave a lecture titled On Killing: Our Misperceptions of Battle. I had enjoyed his lecture on The Basics of Ancient Warfare at Confluence in 2016, so I was looking forward to attending this lecture at the Confluence Conference 2017. He went over six instances in history where the number of casualties inflicted did not match the amount of ammunition expended. The weight of metal that it took to kill a Union soldier, Lexington and Concord, the Prussian musket fire study, the overcharged guns at Gettysburg, the battle of Zama, and historical hit rates. There were two books sited in this lecture. On Killing by Dave Grossman details the increase over time that soldiers have become more likely to fire to kill and how that increases post-traumatic stress disorder. It starts with the Marshall study about fire rates in WWII and also includes data on the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

The other book was Numbers, Predictions, and War by Colonel Dupey. I was most interested in this book because I bought a copy of it thirty years ago and recognized it from the cover. It detailed a way to numerically depict results of war based on a series of calculations. It was interesting for me because I could use the numbers in war gaming scenarios.

This was an informative lecture on the nature of killing in war.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 11:00 AM

At 11:00 AM Frederic S. Durbin presented a workshop on Doorways into Writing. His thesis is that all writing starts with character, setting, plot, or concept. The development of a character can be one way to drive a story. A setting can be the place to build a story around. Setting can be fluid to the demands of the plot. An idea can also drive a story. The workshop leader finds that setting is the thing that speaks to him. He then gave us thirty minutes to write a short story or scene of a larger piece using one of the four methods.

I had an idea about the career of a hybrid Dogman that I called Dogman. I wanted to write a narrative summary of his career. The narrative summary of an event of his career that I wrote totaled about 250 words. After I finished and edited the story, I called it Hybrid-Dog Confession. It was about 750 words and I intend to sell it as flash fiction. Two people read their work in the time remaining in the workshop.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 12:00 PM

At 12:00 PM Steve Miller presented his recollections of Clarion West, which he attended in 1973 and answers the question of Should You Heed the Call of Clarion? Clarion is a six-week-long science fiction writing workshop that was created in 1968 at Clarion State College in Pennsylvania. The workshop moved to Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan from 1972 to 2006. It is currently held at the University of California at San Diego. An offshoot workshop called Clarion West was established in 1971 in Seattle, Washington, and continues to this day.

Each week a different teacher representing a different background will teach the students. The students take classes in the morning and write at night while living on campus. The goal of the workshop is to prepare writers to become professional writers. Steve Miller says that the experience changes the students. Some become professional writers or editors, while others never write again. It was transformative for him, but he warns that the pressure can crack a new writer’s confidence.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 1:00 PM

At 1:00 PM there was a panel on forgotten fantasy classics called Help! What Should I Read Next? There were five panelists who listed their favorite novels that are not generally read anymore. Some of the highlights were Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrlees, The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison, The Silver Stallion, and Jurgen by James Branch Cabell, The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, and The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 2:00 PM

At 2:00 PM there was a panel on Marketing Your Work. The five panelists talked about their experiences with marketing their books. Some of their advice follows. Marketing is the author’s job because you are a business. You are the brand, not the book. Be involved in social media but stay away from politics because it limits your audience. Spend money on an editor and a great book cover. Know your audience so that you can market to them specifically. J. D. Barker was one of the panelists.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 3:00 PM

At 3:00 PM was the Guests of Honor Presentation. It was a talk and a Q and A with Steve Miller and Sharon Lee. They had met at the University of Maryland and began a friendship. Many years later they were married in 1980 and began a writing collaboration. They sold three novels in the late 80s of the Liaden Universe but did not sell enough to continue the series. In 1999, by the urging of fans, they wrote a fourth book called Plan B which was successful. The series is up to 20 novels and 21 shorter works currently.

I left the conference from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM to eat dinner.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 6:00 PM

At 6:00 PM was a panel on Avoiding Self-Pub Pitfalls. The five panelists told their tales about their experiences in self-publication. You must have a good cover, editing, and interior formatting of the book. Self-publishing gets the book to the readers who want to read it. Kristine Kathryn Rusch has a good website on the business side of publishing at http://kriswrites.com/ Writing is a business. Never use a running head; it is the sign of an amateur. Use thebookdesigner.com for interior book design. Use bowker.com to get your book’s ISBN. Send a copy of your book to the Library of Congress to get that extra layer of professionalism for your book. Find an editor. A developmental edit is the most expensive, and then comes copy edit, and the least expensive is the proofreading.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 7:00 PM

At 7:00 PM was a reading by the Guest of Honor, Steve Miller. Steve Miller read from the story called Intelligent Design by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller to a packed room. It is a story from their Liaden Universe series. It is one of the shorter works from their series. He read about half of the story in the time allotted and it was well received. The complete story can be found at this web address. It is a free story from the Baen website. Baen is the publisher of their series.

http://www.baen.com/intelligentdesign

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 9:00 PM

At 9:00 PM there was a presentation by horror novelist J. D. Barker on Making the Leap from Indie to Traditional Publishing. J. D. Barker told his story about how he became a successful writer. He stated that the presentation given was similar to what he does at book signings. J. D. Barker had been a magazine writer, a beta reader, and editor, a professional book doctor, and a ghostwriter but wanted to write something using his own name.

He wrote a book called Forsaken. It is a ghost story involving a writer researching his next book. He spent about 12 thousand dollars in editing and formatting the novel. The problems were that he had a bad query letter and no sales to traditional publishers. He sent Arc copies after he self-published it, so there were no reviews at the beginning to drive sales. What he did do was to write a list of what authors were doing to promote their books and he did promotional ideas that no one was doing.

Social media turned his book into a success. It has sold over 200 thousand copies. On the strength of his first novel’s sales, he was able to sell his second novel, The Four Monkeys, for a million-dollar advance. His advice for writers is as follows. Social media presence is important. He puts 10% of his profits back into marketing. Novels are a product; you can’t see it as art. He writes 2000 to 3000 words every day. Use Goodreads advertising. Spend the money for good cover design and editing. Bloggers, Goodreads, and Facebook groups lead to sales. This talk was an interesting behind the scenes presentation of the writer’s life.

Wrap-up

I had a great time at the Confluence Conference 2017. I learned many things and was glad that I made the time to take the trip. Steve Miller and Sharon Lee were great as the Guests of Honor. For me, the star of the Confluence Conference 2017 was J. D. Barker. I thought the information that he presented in the two panels that I attended with him as a panelist was excellent. As a result, I have checked out his new novel The Fourth Monkey from the library and intend to read it. I plan to go to the next Confluence Conference. It is scheduled for July 17 to July 29, 2018.

Links

Recap for the Confluence SF Conference on July 30 and July 31, 2016, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended 15 panels and the U.S.S. Improvise improv sketch comedy routine.

Confluence 2016 Conference

The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks

The Blinding Knife is Book #2 of The Lightbringer series

Introduction

Gavin Guile is the Prism, the leader of the Seven Satrapies. Prisms only live for seven years before the build-up of drafting luxin by the magic of chromaturgy forces them to die. Gavin has seven great purposes that he wants to complete before he dies. His problem is that he is losing the ability to draft colors, starting with blue, and he only has about one year left to live. In addition, the Color Prince has raised an army in Tyrea and is threatening to invade Atash. He must complete his seven great purposes and defeat the Color Prince or the whole foundation of the Seven Satrapies will fall.

Summary

The main characters are back from the first book of the series which was called the Black Prism. Gavin has taken the refugees from Garriston to an island. He leaves Corvan Danavis to lead them. Kip is Gavin’s bastard son, who becomes a Blackguard trainee. Gavin’s former fiancé Karris White Oak protects Gavin as a member of the Blackguards. Liv Davavis, Corvan’s daughter, is a member of the Color Prince’s army. Gavin’s prisoner has broken out of one cell only to be trapped in another cell. Gunner, a pirate captain, is added to the view point character list.

Gavin is the main character. He faces many trials. Prisms can draft all colors, but he is losing his ability to draft colors starting with blue. One of the Prism’s jobs is to keep the colors in balance. Keeping the colors in balance eliminates the appearance of colored banes. Gavin has lost blue and must defeat a blue bane, which can cause destruction if not stopped. Gavin’s father Andross is a member of the Prism’s advisory group. Andross is the Red member of the group and he tries to undermine Gavin’s position and get him to marry a woman Gavin does not love for political gain. Kip is almost as important to the plot as Gavin. Andross does not like having a bastard grandson and seeks to cause Kip to fail at his training in the Blackguards. Gavin, Kip, Karris, Andross, Liv, and the Color Prince are at odds in the climactic battle at the end of this novel.

Recommendation

I enjoyed this novel almost as much as the Black Prism. It does not suffer the issues of most middle books in a series, because it reads like a section of the greater work called the Lightbringer. Story lines are concluded and spun off into greater story lines. I only have a couple of nits to pick. It feels like the chapters with Gunner as the viewpoint character were tacked on. The author had a plot point at the end of this novel involving Gunner and he dropped Gunner’s chapters along the way. It should have felt more part of the narrative to be more believable. The other thing that I did not find believable was the resolution of the prisoner’s plot. I think there is something more here and it was resolved too quickly in this novel. I did like Gavin’s transformation, Kip growing character, the reveal of the Color Prince’s true identity, the addition of Kip’s buddy Teia who is another Blackguard trainee, and the use of the Blinding Knife as an important instrument of concluding this novel.

Cain X 3 by James M. Cain

An Anthology of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce, and Double Indemnity.

Introduction

The Cain X 3 by James M. Cain collection brings together James M. Cain’s three most popular novels. All three novels were made into successful movies in the 40s and were remade successfully more recently. Those original movies are the definition of film noir and Cain was championed as one of the founders of that style of writing. Cain didn’t believe that his novels were written as hard-boiled, but that is the category they are most put in. All three novels have characters that are pushed by love, ambition, and money to commit extreme actions. The writing is raw, sexual, and desperate. It was considered to be too sensational at the time but proved to be very popular. These stories are not about conflicted detectives, weary private eyes, or amateur sleuths. They are about people that commit crimes and about how they are morally destroyed by those crimes.

Summary – The Postman Always Rings Twice

The first novel is called The Postman Always Rings Twice. Frank Chambers is a drifter who drops by the Twin Oaks Tavern in a town outside Los Angeles, California. The tavern is run by Nick who is Greek and his wife Cora. The chemistry between Frank and Cora is undeniable. They decide to try to kill Nick so that they could be together. The story twists and turns leading to its dramatic conclusion. Cain is brilliant with his prose with lines such as Bite me, It was like a church, and Rip me. The novel oozes passion more than eighty years after its publication.

Summary – Mildred Pierce

The second novel is Mildred Pierce. It is an entirely different kind of novel, but just as powerful. Mildred Pierce is separated from her husband and has a young daughter to support. She takes a job as a waitress, creates a successful business, and longs for the support of her daughter. She suffers many setbacks through the years, but always finds a way to continue on. Mildred Pierce is a symbol of persevering despite misfortune.

Summary – Double Indemnity

The third novel is Double Indemnity. Walter Huff is an insurance agent and he has a scheme that he has spent many hours dreaming about. There is a possible clause in an insurance policy that pays out double if the insured has an accident on a train that leads to the insured death. He needs an accomplice that will take out the policy and help him murder the insured and make it look like an accident so the policy can be cashed in. Walter finds that accomplice in Phyllis Nirdlinger. He falls hard for her and puts this plan into action to kill her husband. Letting the events occur even though he realizes that the events are getting away from him. Barton Keyes is the insurance company claims manager who is suspicious of them. His pursuit of the truth leads to the conclusion.

Recommendation

I bought this book from the Mystery Guild Book Club more than 30 years ago. I came across it recently and decided that I wanted to read it. Reading these novels inspired me to watch the HBO series from 2011 on Mildred Pierce. It was excellent and was similar to the novel, unlike the original movie. I liked all three novels in this collection. It could be called noir or hard-boiled, but I would probably categorize it as fictionalized true crime.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Cain X 3 by James M. Cain.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25987233-cain-3

This is the link to my review of Somethin’ for Nuthin’ by M. T. Bass. It is a historical thriller adventure. A mystery, but different in tone than James M. Cain’s stories.

Somethin’ for Nuthin’ by M. T. Bass

Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference

The Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2017

Introduction

The Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2017 was held on July 29, 2017, at the Louis Stokes Wing of the Cleveland Public Library in Cleveland, Ohio.

The event was sponsored by Literary Cleveland. Literary Cleveland’s mission is to create and nurture a vibrant literary arts community in North East Ohio. The group sponsors writing workshops, author interviews, and a monthly group meeting mixer.

http://www.litcleveland.org/

Registration was on the second floor of the Louis Stokes Wing. Events were held on the second floor in five rooms and at one podium surrounded by chairs on the second floor.

Summary – Dan Chaon Interview

The events started with an interview in the downstairs auditorium. D. M. Pulley interviewed the author, Dan Chaon. Dan Chaon first read from his novel Ill Will. It was an engaging section describing when a drug-addled junkie goes into an ex-funeral parlor crack house looking for his lost friend. After the reading, D. M. Pulley asked Dan Choan about growing up in Nebraska, mixing literary and genre fiction, and his childhood correspondence with Ray Bradbury.

There were three sessions scheduled for the day. Conference participants could attend a workshop, a craft talk, or a reading in each session. None of the activities were repeated. There were a total of ten workshops, six craft talks, and five readings. I chose a workshop for each of the sessions that I attended because I was most interested in working on my writing skills.

Summary – D. M. Pulley

In session one I attended D. M. Pulley’s workshop on Facing the Blank Page. She presented this workshop using a PowerPoint presentation. It was effective. She had been a freelance forensic engineer but found herself in a case where she felt compelled to write a novel about her imaginings. There was an abandoned safety deposit room with many locked boxes that had been locked for thirty years. She came up with a story and wrote her first novel called The Dead Key. She won the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for the novel.

In this workshop, she ran the participants through a series of exercises designed to help the writer to discover the background of their novel. First, answer ten questions about your protagonist. Second, take seven minutes to write a scene using that information. Third, determine what the protagonist wants to know the most. Fourth, take seven minutes to write a scene where the protagonist overhears a conversation. Fifth, determine what is standing in the way from the protagonist in getting what they want. Sixth, write a scene where the protagonist has an argument with a family member.

Summary – Lance Parkin

In session two I attended Lance Parkin’s Workshop on The First Page of Your Novel. Lance gave the workshop attendees a handout with three sections. The first section is a page with his advice about the importance of creating a superior first page to your novel. He thinks that the first page must have a hook to get the reader to turn the page, must be bold, and must show the protagonist’s goal. He says do not waste a word on that first page. The second section is an article from the penguin random house website on what our editors look for on an opening page. They want a powerful opener, a unique perspective, a well-realized world, an authentic voice, and attention-grabbing characters.

The third section was copies of the first page of six different novels. The book titles were not noted and I recognized the four that I had read previously. In the workshop, Lance talked about the first two sections and then had two different workshop attendees read one of the first pages. The workshop discussed why those first pages worked. Lance then gave the workshop attendees thirty minutes to write the first page. At the end of that time, three workshop attendees read their work and fielded comments from the workshop.

Summary – Hillary Rettig

In session three I attended Hillary Rettig’s workshop on Values-Based Time Management for Writers. The first thing that she asked us to do was to think about what your dream schedule would look like. She said that most people would need 150 to 200 hours a week to accomplish everything that they would like to do. The problem is that with sleeping 8 hours a night, then you only have about 112 waking hours per week to accomplish the tasks that you want to do. There is a gap, so you must decide which tasks you most want to accomplish.

She had a handout called time reclamation exercise. It was used to brainstorm how the desired change could be implemented. Another handout described the five principles of good time management. They are; time is valuable, invest time and do not spend it, invest time in the things for which you most want to make progress, the purpose of time management is to eliminate the unimportant stuff, and all time is managed so choose what you want to do.

Conclusion

I enjoyed the programs that I attended at the Cleveland Inkubator and plan to attend next year. My highlights were Dan Choan’s compelling reading, the insightful brainstorming techniques from D. M. Pulley, realizing the importance of the first page in a novel from Lance Parkin, and the benefit of choosing to spend my time on the things that I want to accomplish from Hillary Rettig. See you next year.

Links

Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2017 is held at the Cleveland Public Library while the Cuyahoga County Public Library sponsors a similar event called the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016.

Recap for the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016 on September 24, 2016. It was located at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the new William N. Skirball writer’s center which is located at the branch. It was a one-day event with an introduction, a keynote speaker, three breakout sessions, and one Q & A panel.

Western Reserve Writers Conference

Writing Progress Report August 2017

This is my Writing Progress Report August 2017.

This is the first novel that I ever owned. It was about forty years ago when I got it.

Writing Progress from July 2017

I wrote five blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my writing progress report for July 2017 linked below.

Writing Progress Report July 2017

Typed Chapter 11 of Assassin in New Marl City

Wrote Chapter 13 of Assassin in New Marl City

Started Chapter 14 of Assassin in New Marl City

Submitted Chemithurgy to a writing workshop

Wrote a chapter of Torso novel to submit to a writing workshop

The stories 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, and Grognard are ready to be submitted to magazines.

Statistics of magazine submissions since December 2016 are; 3 different stories submitted a total of 10 times with 0 accepted, 1 pending, and 9 rejections.

Events from July 2017

Attended the Cleveland Inkubator at the Cleveland Public Library on July 29, 2017. It is sponsored by Literary Cleveland. It is a one day writing conference.

This is the link to the Literary Cleveland website.

https://www.litcleveland.org/

Writing Goals for August 2017

Continue to work on An Assassin in New Marl City. I want to expand the novel from 20 chapters to 36 chapters (100000 words total). Finish Chapter 14, write Chapter 22, and write Chapter 29 of the novel this month.

Type the Edits for Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of Assassin in New Marl City.

Edit Chapters 15, 16, 18, and 20 of Assassin in New Marl City.

Polish and submit the stories White Bracer, Mage Squad, Time Traveller One, Prisoner of Tarnal, Kay-Eye, Cosplay Film Noir, and Get to the Point for submission to short fiction magazines.

Submit 4 Humors, Space Station Sunyata, and Grognard to other short fiction magazines.

Planned Events for August 2017

Attend the Confluence Conference on August 4 to August 6, 2017 at the Airport Sheraton in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The link to the Confluence website.

http://parsec-sff.org/confluence/

Purchase an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City from Fiveer.

Put the first ten chapters of Assassin in New Marl City into the writing program Scrivener.

Work on completing a Query letter to use to find an agent for Assassin in New Marl City.